Updating the 'puter for hardcore ownage

[Wyrm]

I pgraded my PC last year around this time, boy was the selection a lot less than what it is... I went with an 8800GTS 320 because that was the only affordable dx10 option at the time, the ATi/AMD offerings weren't even out yet (if they were, it was only the 2900 XTX, which wasn't really all that great). But oh well, I wasn't exactly able to put the purchase off due to graphics card issues.

I don't like cases with a cover over the DVDs, but that's a minor point. Overall, it looks great for the price.

I'm not sure if I was ever against them, but after having bought one and used it for about 2 years, I don't think I'll ever go back to one without the door due to the amount of sound dampening you get from it. Yes, it's minorly inconvenient having to open the door every time you want to change discs, but these days once you install something you're pretty much done with the discs thanks to virtual drive programs or companies making patches for games so the discs aren't needed anymore. Unless you've got an open case, it's an easy way to get the ambient noise level of a computer down a bit.

AMD just isn't competitive right now compared to Intel.

True, in terms of price:performance ratio, but AMD's BE line is still the most power efficient system there is. I'm not sure what it is in Canada, but the price for electricity here in the states is going up quite a lot these days, so the power consumption of your PC is something worth looking into. Also, in terms of motherboards, the newer AMD and nvidia (not the 700 series) are better than Intel's current offerings. While it's true that AMD can't compete with Intel in the performance area, their ability to keep your power bill down still makes them worth considering for the average buyer that doesn't need a high performance machine.