Audioslave apparently breeds architectural inspiration. Or it could be the jelly beans.

[ithika]

Totally fangirling Toyo Ito right now. So damn awesome.
All of those links are new windows/tabs if you're firefox.

So I'm going to an interview tomorrow.
An interview for an internship.
It's pretty exciting.
I'm also very nervous.

In other news!

Hokay. So I have to upgrade my computer. Would any of my friendly Friends-listers be able to reccomend unto me a good place to buy computer parts and then pay mans to put them together for me? At the moment I am just sourcing prices from different people, but I would like to do this properly this time, so I think it's fairly important.
What I basically need/want is:

- New Graphics card. I want an Nvidia GeForce something something. 7 or 8 series, I can't remember which one is apparently the good one. According to the Nvidia website these are much more affordable than I had thought. Budget for that is about $200 maxxxxxx.

- New processor. I want Pentium, and Dual Core or better. dailfire tells me that there's some special on the new crazy Quad Core so it's comparative in pricing to Dual Core. I want. What would I use it for, I hear you ask? Come watch how long it takes to render a 3ds MAX file sometime. :P

- According to a computermaans I spoke to earlier, this means I will need new RAM. I will not survive on less than 2GB. More Is probably unaffordable??

- And also according to computermaaans this means I need a new motherboard. I don't know what these do, really, except you stick everything in them.

-And finally according to computermaaans this means I need a new case. And I don't want some ugly brickbox either, I am a girl after all. Some kind of black and silver affair with some kind of awesome is preferrable. Floppy disk drive... is it even possible to get them anymore? I kind of half... oh okay, I don't use them any more, and Idril will be going to my parents, (sans HDD's) so I'll still have access to it... Front USB ports... Maybe a reset buttan would be nice. I hear fans are pretty important in built machines too. So that.

I have a keyboard mouse monitor and harddrives, is there anything else I need?

Nobody actually has to answer these questions if they don't want to, btw, because now at least I've written down the things I have been thinking, and then I can go and adventure for knowledge or something.

I SHOULD GET TO MODELLING NOW.

Comments

[the-icon-of-sin.livejournal.com]

Places to go...
PLE Computers - Bentley and Wangara http://www.ple.com.au
Navada Computers - Osborne Park http://www.navada.com.au
Trinix Computers - Welshpool http://www.trinix.com.au
(Maybe) Austin Computers - Osborne Park, Cannington, Rockingham and Joondalup http://www.austin.net.au (be careful here though, their service can be hit-and-miss at times and I'm fairly sure that on a bad day they may try to bait-and-switch on you)

Those are all stores with shopfronts. If you want to go online, some decent places are PC Case Gear or AusPCMarket. Stay the hell away from Nintek. I have heard way too many horror stories about these guys.

As for cases... these places may have shiny cases that are aesthetically pleasing, so it's worth browsing their pricelists to see what they have. Floppy drives can still be had, Front USB ports are fairly common, and yes, fans are a must, as well as a power supply. It may be worth paying a bit more to have something that runs a little more quietly, lest you end up with a system that has all the quietness of a 747 during take-off. :P

As for putting it all together, any one of the guys I mentioned above would probably be willing to put together your system for a price - or just ask anyone in UCC.

Good hunting. :)

[bloodied-aura.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that list! I'll check them out.
One of the guys at work mentioned Austin Computers... (But he seems kinda silly, hehe).

Ha, thanks. I don't know if I'd end up buying stuff online, since I don't really trust delivery companies so much with things as fragile as Computers/parts.

Haha, maybe I find that sound inspirational! (Probably not though :D).

Thanks again :D

[theducks.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of netplus, and I'll even buy stuff from Austin (though I'm not a fan, but they have a bigger range).

- Nvidia 8 series is good (PCI express)

- Intel doesn't call them Pentium anymore :P Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quadro is what yer after

- The magic PCI express won't be on older motherboards, and the new pin layout for Intel Core processors also means you need a new one. You're right, in that motherboards are basically what you plug all the bit into to make it work.

- 2GB RAM is a minimum these days (it's about $100 or less). Make sure you get an Intel motherboard that can support more than 3GB (a surprising and up until recently, common problem)

- New Case - I'd recommend the Antec Sonata if you like black and Chrome. Chas's computer at UCC is the mk2, there's also an mk3 - http://www.antec.com/us/pro_en_sonatafamily.php

- Yes you can still get floppy drives. You can also (for about $45) get a floppy drive with built in a built in memory card reader

- Unless any of the drives are SATA (a thin (usually red) cable instead of a really wide (usually gray) one) you should really get a new hard drive too.

- Also, you should buy a windows license for maximum legality (ha). Think if you want XP or Vista. I suggest XP :P

[bloodied-aura.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
Aww... I'm so behind the times! (hehe)
That's good to know about the RAM. And surprisingly inexpensive! 3GB would probably be epic. :D

Thanks! Those are pretty shiny. :)

Ah, okay. Thanks!
I brought my new harddrive only a few months ago though, but I suppose since it had to fit the mother board it would probably be one of the old ones. Ah well.

I was planning on just using my current version of legitimate XP? I called up Microsoft and they gave me a new key with no dramas, so I was just going to do that again. :D
Thanks again for your helps :D

[theducks.livejournal.com]

And that's a lot more expensive than it needs to be (the motherboard and CPU especially)

[http://users.livejournal.com/drayke_/]

Rather than deciding a budget for each component, it's probably a better idea to make a budget for the *entire* computer.

Have you considered a laptop instead? I know you're after POWER, but portability!

[bloodied-aura.livejournal.com]

Truuuue :P My budget is about $2000 max max. As I have spoken to you about... but I didn't want to make your comment all lonely and unappreciated. :P

Laptops... probably! Brwaaaaaaargh