Mike's Thoughts

That’s it! I’m officially done with High School! Graduation practice is Friday, and then graduation is June 1st! I’m so excited!

Just thought that I should share that!

Sorry for anyone who has been unable to access my site for the past few days. For some reason, my internet connection keeps getting dropped. I’m looking into it, but it appears to be ok *now*

Well, it’s official! My new computer is up and running smoothly. The hardware installation went through fine, without any real hitches. I wish that I could say the same for the software installation. After a blazing fast 27 minute Vista installation (I mean that genuinely, not sarcastically… that’s quick for a Vista install), I had the OS up and running, and all of the mother board drivers installed. However, when I went to run Windows Update, the system crashed. To make a long story short, every time I went on the internet, the system would crash. Great! I ended up reinstalling the OS, and since then, everything has been working hunky dork!

I will post pictures and specifications on a new page in my blog called “My Rig.” It should be up in the next few days. Now, the monitor is another story.

So, here is my quick review of the Westinghouse L2610nw 26″ monitor. My first impression was that it was absolutely huge. I mean nausiatingly huge. The unit overall feels quite flimsy considering how big it is. The bottom of the panel had what appeared to be a glass piece bearing the Westinghouse logo, which turned out to be a cheap plastic piece. As for quality, the screen displayed flawlessly using the VGA cable at 1920 x 1200 (the native resolution). However, the monitor is WAY too bright; but this is where the problem comes in. If you turn the brightness down past 90%, the unit starts to emit a whinning, screetching noise. It is definatley noticable when you are working, and becomes louder the more you turn down the brightness. After navigating Westinghouse’s rediculous support menu, I was connected with a very helpful agent on the first ring. I was quite impressed! He said that the noise is not normal, and that it could be the electrical current passing throught the components.

In the end, I returned it to newegg, who made an exception to their normal “non-refundable” LCD policy for me. I am awaiting a credit to my bank account, after which I will be buying another, smaller monitor, perhaps an HP. My final verdict on the Westinghouse… great support, but their products are not up to par. The unit feels too cheaply built, and the noise is completely unacceptable, especially considering the need to turn down the unit’s brightness. If you are stuck with this unit, you have two choices, live with the noise, or go blind from the monitor’s brightness!

So, I just wanted to shout out a thanks to Newegg.com.

I have ordered from them for years with nothing but great results. Usually, it takes them 1-2 days to ship my order, which I think is pretty darn good. However, when I ordered the parts for my new computer this past Friday around 3:00 p.m., the entire order (which is coming from 3 different warehouses) shipped by 7:00 p.m.!!! Now, if my calculus skills are correct, that’s only 4 hours! Absolutely amazing!

They are coming from 3 places, so the monitor and software are coming in two shipments on Tuesday, and everything else is coming on Wednesday. I can’t wait! Thanks again Newegg for what has been the best shopping experience ever!

P.S. – Check out this tour/photo gallery of Newegg’s main warehouse in California on AnandTech’s web site. Very cool! http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=2694

So, here are the final specs for the computer that I will be building. I thought long and hard about this, and I have also taken into consideration all of the comments and suggestions from everyone. Thanks for all of your input!

• EVGA Nvidia nForce 750i Intel Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.00 GHz 6 MB cache 45nm processor
• ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Heatsink
• 8 GB (4 x 2 GB) OCZ Reaper HPC Edition DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Ram
• EVGA GeForce 9600GT 512MB Video Card (SLI capable, though I won’t initially be running two cards)
• 1 Seagate 750GB 32MB cache 7,200 RPM Hard Drive
• DVD Burner and DVD Drive
• OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 12V 700 Watt Power Supply
• Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit (the SP0 version is cheaper, so I will get this version, then apply SP1)
• Westinghouse L2610NW-SP Black 26″ 2ms(GtoG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor (this is nice because I can hook my PS3 up to it via HDMI)

My rationale for the processor is that I have read a lot of reviews and benchmarking data that say that the E8400 runs much better than the Q9300. Also, I don’t think that I would ever utilize the four cores to a point at which it would be worth the extra money. Plus, the E8400 has a higher over clocking potential. Finally, although I am not a gamer, should I decide to become something of a game connoisseur, the E8400 typically outperforms the Q9300.

The best part? The total for this system is only $70 more than the laptop I was planning on getting, and that is really just because of the second monitor. However, when I initially looked at getting the Dell, I had planned on spending $1800 anyway. The new desktop is only going to cost me just over $1700, which I don’t think is bad at all!

Once everything comes, I will post some pictures of the components, and then a shot of the completed system. Plus, I will try to throw out some benchmarking data as well.