It builds, slowly. It could be anything. A stutter in framerate. A texture tear. Just the feeling that things could look better when I’m shooting Skaggs in the wilds of Pandora. (Yep. Still playing Borderlands.) So I think about my current setup, and I have to wonder if there’s anything else I can do, other than reinstall Windows.
It’s mainly a gaming rig, so first it’s looking at the video card hierarchy on Tom’s Hardware. Then there is the requisite visit to the system guides on Ars Technica. Then there’s window shopping for components on Newegg. Maybe even a shopping list that gets created.
This process has repeated itself a couple of times over the last couple of months and it’s maddening. Then comes the reading. Dozens of articles to catch up with CPU, GPU, RAM, and storage advances that have come about since the last time I built a machine.
It’s approaching two years since I’ve built a new machine and I’m very much filled with the desire to build something new before I jump on the Windows 7 party bus. There is a feeling of accomplishment after successfully putting together a working machine. It’s something tangible.
Although ultimately, I may just scrap the whole project, pump two more gig of RAM into the rig, slap in a couple of larger, faster hard drives, configure RAID 0, install Windows 7 and then call it a day.