Wuddup all ya'll who peep this part of the Wu Forums. I'm gonna use this thread as a chance to get some insight into some computer shit. Plus I'm bored so this is giving me something to do.

Now even though I've been crowned the head of this here section, I don't ever claim to know everything. Robby, Fredy and Jet definately be holdin it down here as well on the shit I miss. But one thing we don't usually talk about too much is the rigs we get down on.

I know some of you here a PC gamers. I am to my heart, but honestly have never had a kick ass rig to play the latest shit on. I've either had to wait for them to come out with a console version or play the game years after it wasn't popular anymore when I was able to get a faster computer. I tried to combat that a while ago when I was looking into buying a new PC but ended up getting shafted. This is what I got...

- Dell Demension Desktop
- O/S = Windows XP Media Center Edition
- CPU = Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz
- 256 megs of RAM
- 8x DVD ROM drive
- 80GB SATA Hard Drive
- 19" flat screen LCD monitor

All came out to about $650 before shipping and handeling. Not a bad deal considering it came with that monitor which was going for $350 just by itself at the time. So I treated that as my Christmas present to myself for '05.

Well the plan was never to leave it stock, so once I got my tax return I used it to upgrade. This was the bad boy I went out and bought.


The BFG Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT

At the time that card was $320. I only had $500 to spend but I was willing to make the sacrifice in order to get this card. I also decided to buy Half-Life 2 so that I could see what this card could do Took it home and ripped open the box and my computer just to find out that it didn't have a PCI Express x16 port! Pissed off, I ended up getting the best graphics card you could get for a standard PCI slot...


The BFG Nvidia GeForce 5500... It was blue so I guess it was cool

Seeing as how that card was only $100 I had like $220 extra to spend so I decided to also buy

- 1GB DDR2 RAM Chip
- 6X DVD-RW Burner
- 160GB SATA Hard Drive
- Happauge TV Capture Card

Everything was cool at first. Put the crap ass graphics card in, the RAM and all that good shit and everything ran smooth. I was able to watch and record TV because of the TV card and that alone was worth the purchase. I was kinda scared as to how Half-Life 2 would run on a card that was half the strength, but I had no choice as I already opened it so I couldn't take it back. Suprisingly though, HL2 ran smooth with that card, even with full detail, can't go any higher than 800x600 without taking a hit though, but it was a small price to pay. Everything was lovely until I started getting these...


The dreaded Blue Screen of Death!

Turns out that this would be an ongoing problem, one that I'm still having today. After doing some research I found that it's most likely being caused by my RAM chip, the 1GB one I bought isn't getting along with my computer, and everyone I've talked to about Dell said that they usually are picky computers once it comes to other hardware and my best bet would be to just buy more RAM through them. I was gonna just take the RAM back and do that but I lost my receipt.... fuck!

Well one day I was on the phone with my best friend from San Antonio and he was telling me I should do what he did. Buy a new motherboard and just switch everything over. Sounded like a good idea outside of the fact that I didn't have the cash. Plus I also needed to buy a new case as well.

Well after months of saving (ok, more like weeks) and with my tax returns I am rebuilding my computer to make it what it should've been in the first place. Cause I'm a gaming whore, I'm basing my new computer off of the graphics card. Here's what I'm looking at so far....


That's the BFG Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS - a HUGE step up from the crappy ass GeForce 5500 I'm running right now. $400 card but I found a guy on eBay selling em for $350. Sexy ain't it?
It's the only graphics card on the market right now capable of running Direct X 10 applications. So strong it needs it's own power source, I expect my electricity bill to go up at least $3 a month off this alone

I'm gonna need a kick ass motherboard too to run this on so this is the one I'm considering...


The EVGA Nvidia nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel board. $230 - still trying to see if I can't find it cheaper.

Outside of that I plan on buying another gig of RAM and a new case to put all this shit in. I'm only keeping one of my RAM chips, my DVD drives, my hard drives, and my CPU.

Well that's my plan, it'll all cost me about $750. I can hear ya'll now, "Bloo, since you got it like that why not just buy a PS3 or a 360?" Why? Because I have a girlfriend, and she doesn't play videogames half as much as I do. This way we both get what we want, a more efficient computer and a kick ass gaming rig that will put anything the PS3 or 360 can do to shame.

Well what ya'll think? Got any suggestions as to what else I should consider or any parts I should get instead? Anyone know where I can get anything cheaper? Share your tech stories and talk about your systems or ask some questions and lets see what we can figure out together.

Holla!