A new PC

The release of Windows Vista at the end of the year means that I will need a new PC to run it on. My PC is over three years now, which makes it incredibly ancient in PC terms (the irony of this is not lost on me, which is why my current PC will continue to serve me or a member of my family for many years to come!). I suppose I have started to notice it creaking slightly - especially when I'm attempting to run other Operating Systems in VMWare alongside XP itself. VMware is perfect for testing solutions in a variety of different versions of Windows or Office or whatever without having to run multiple PCs to do so. Also, I've run out of USB ports...

I was planning to buy this PC in the summer around the time that Vista's Beta 2 is supposed to be released to the wider public. However, I've just been commissioned to write a cover feature for PCA on building the ultimate customised Windows installation CD. Part of this remit requires adding drivers for Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives, a newish technology that isn't recgonised by XP when you boot from its CD, so you need some jiggery pokery to make it work.

So, I've just ordered the first batch of my new PC's components. I'm going down the Intel route this time, and I've plumped for the BTX specification as it improves cooling and airflow inside the case. Gone are the days when you could pick up your processor for around £50 - because dual-core technology is in its infancy there's a premium to pay, so even a low-end Pentium D is going to set me back nearly £200!

For those who are interested (otherwise just glaze over or click 'Back' on your browser), here's the full spec:
Case - Zirco mBX mini tower (see here), with 550W PSU from OCZ Modstream (see here).
Motherboard - Intel D945PAWLK, with PCI-E graphics, six* USB 2.0 ports and two* Firewire ports (see here).
Processor - Intel Pentium-D 920 (see here) with appropriate cooling
Memory - 1GB or possibly 2GB from Crucial (see here)
Graphics - ATI Radeon X550 (low spec, but cheap!)
Drives - two 200GB hard drives, so I can run VMWare on a separate drive which should help speed it up even further, plus 16x DVD-RW drive and floppy disk for old time's sake

(Oh, and the click here links are incredibly geeky I know, but they're as much for my reference as yours!)

*It actually supports eight USB and three Firewire, but four and two of those are front-mounted, and the case only supports two USB and one Firewire at the front.

[Listening to: Is It Just Me? - The Darkness]