Well...something good did happen today after all :P
This evening, I got my last piece of my new PC I'm about to build. I'd recently received some money from my Uncle Lou, who up until I saw him April 9th, hadn't seen in about 8 years. A significant amout of money. Enough money for me to be able to build my son his first PC (as a graduation gift for going into 5th grade - how time flies), build a damn-near dream-PC for myself, and still have enough to put a dent in my school loans and credit-card bills and car insurance payments.
So...for all you hardware geeks out there...I'd like you to meet "Orthanc", my new tower:
MoBo: Soyo CK-6 Dragon Plus for the Athlon 64, 800 Mhz FSB, AGP 8x/4x
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+
RAM: 1 GB PC3200 DDR
GPU: XFX GeForce FX 5950 Ultra AGP 8x Graphics Processor, 256 MB (You guys have to see the HEAT SINK on this thing...looks like the radiator off my 1976 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham)
SPU: Creative Labs Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Edition
Hard Drives: 1x Western Digital 60GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA, 1x Western Digital 250 GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA
DVD-RW: TDK/Plextor 8x +/- RW DVD-RAM drive
Assorted Cable mods, Fan Mods (blue Neon goes great with black cases....btw :) )
At least now, I won't have to upgrade my PC again for another few years or so...except for when PCI Express comes out. Then I swap out my MoBo and GPU and blow another $800 on an Asus PCI Express-compliant Motherboard and the GeForce 6800 Ultra PCI-Express 512 MB GPU...though I think that the video card MIGHT need it's own case and water-cooling system by that time :P
At least I'll be prepared for EQ II later this year...HERE WE GO AGAIN!!!