I knew I had better get a replacement computer set up ASAP though so I headed for the local computer stores only to be thoroughly disappointed by all of  today's off the shelf models. They were without exception amalgamations of low end parts housed in flimsy, plastic cases. I would also have to accept Windows Vista if I bought one off the shelf and I did not want it. I have Vista on my notebook but much prefer the tried and true Windows XP I had on the desktop.  

Though time was of the essence  I decided the only alternative was to build my own computer, something I had done once before (the machine I had prior to the ill-fated Compaq that barely made it to its second birthday before croaking).  Rolling your own let's you make sure that every component you get is top quality and that you can house it in a case that is easy to upgrade and has plenty of room for expansion. On the downside, I'm prone to use more colorful language than usual when I am trying to get a dozen different PC parts to work together, so my wife was not enthusiastic about the idea. 

The big box stores didn't have anything I 
wanted but all the computer gear I needed
was available online. 

None the less I decided that this time buying off the shelf was not an option. I got all of the parts I needed from NewEgg.com, a site that all of you computer nuts are undoubtedly familiar with. I probably shouldn't have ordered from them on general principals - after all they use a goofy domain name that has nothing at all to do with what they sell, almost an unforgivable sin to a died in the wool domainer like me. On the other hand, content is undoubtedly king and they have an astonishing array of inventory at good prices, very helpful user reviews and they get stuff to you quickly which under the circumstances was very important to me. I just hoped I wouldn't have to try to reboot the Compaq again before I had the new computer ready to go - and I made it by the skin of my teeth.

As soon as I got the last stuff I wanted off the old computer and onto the new, I tried rebooting the Compaq one more time to see if it was salvageable - but it was toast. The error messages informed me the BIOS could not find a hard drive period. At that point I no longer cared and just felt blessed to have averted what could have been a big problem. Plus I'll take any excuse to get a new computer purchase past Diana (she doesn't read what I write so this can stay between you and me).

Despite having owned computers all the way back to the second IBM PC model I've never had a hard drive fail - surprising given how many reports of disc failures that you hear about. 

The horror stories had gotten me into the routine of regular back ups and this crash reinforced the importance of doing that. I put a second identical 640 GB drive in the new rig to make it even easier (while still offloading another backup to the external drive).

That brings us to the part that will be of interest to only the geekiest of geeks (such as myself), which is detailing exactly what went into the new system. When NewEgg buyers review their 

purchases many like to list the parts in their rig in their signatures  (just like a lot of guys in the domain forums list their favorite domain names in their signatures). 

I wanted to pick the case first and all of the NewEgg customers raved about various models from Lian Li, so  that is what I zeroed in on, settling on the PC-60B Plus II model. Their cases are as sweet as everyone said - made of top quality brushed black aluminum (there is no plastic ANYWHERE in their cases) and every piece is removable, including the top and side panels, drives cages and motherboard tray, so hooking everything up and putting it back in place is a piece of cake. Everything is held 

The new rig doesn't look like anything special but it really rocks. I'm in front of a computer 12-16 hours a day so that's a good thing.

together with large thumbscrews so fastening and unfastening parts is also a breeze. Speaking of breezes, the case has four fans instead of the one you get in store brand models. The extra ventilation keeps everything cool so you can run high speed components at full throttle without shortening their life span. To power everything I added an Antec 650-watt power supply. 

For the motherboard I picked the just released ASUS P5Q Deluxe with Intel's newest P45 chip set. That mobo is loaded and included an external eSATA port that I wanted to run my external hard drive on instead of its current USB connection (the 500GB Seagate can use either). SATA transfers data 2-3 times faster than USB 2.0. The processor is an Intel dual core E8400 - a big favorite with the NewEgg crowd. I added 4GB of highly recommended Corsair DDR2 800 memory (the ASUS will accept all the way up to DDR3 1200 memory, but too cutting edge for me. Nice to know it is a future option though). The video card is an  EVGA 8800GS (I don't have time to play video games so no need to spend twice as much on the GT version for gamers). I put in a pair of Western Digital 640GB hard drives (I have actually owned Western Digital stock for years) and a pair of LiteOn DVD writers (it's just amazing to me that high quality internal DVD writers like this cost less than $30 apiece today). I also added a photo card reader to make getting pix out of my digital camera a snap.

For $1,100 you could not touch an off the shelf system that could match up with this one. Putting it together, transferring software and data, etc. did take up the better part of three days Friday through Sunday, but I'll be rewarded every day from now on until this one is ready for retirement so I'm a happy camper. I would also bet the new computer will live far longer than the Compaq that just kicked the bucket before reaching its third birthday.

Now, for those worried that this column will become a 

weak rendition of Tom's Hardware, not to worry - it will be back to our regular domain programming tomorrow :-)  I just had to share this with those domain fans who look at their computers like car aficionados look at hot rods. My wife had no interest in hearing about it so I turned to you! Hey, some days you win and some days you lose!
(Posted July 28, 2008)