About six weeks ago, my main computer – nicknamed Barney – failed. The problem seemed isolated to Operating System, but when I went to double-check nothing came loose inside the case, I discovered the CPU Fan was hanging on by a thread. So I have no idea if the CPU was damaged or not. Thus, I convinced (i.e. – whined, begged, etc) Steph to let me accelerate the time line for the purchase of my new computer.

Behold – Godzilla.

Okay, Godzilla is cheesy but it fits the dinosaur theme. This computer was purchased from AVA Direct. I decided to try and have someone else build the computer. Aside from a long wait time (about 3 weeks) and some periods of no communication, the computer has turned out wonderful. It was shipped double-boxed with enough peanuts to feed an entire zoo. First step was to open it up and make sure nothing came loose. This was also my first introduction to the nVidia GeForce 9000 series video card. Wow.

Godzilla takes all of 20 seconds to boot up Vista. It was mercilessly free of any software that vendors usually bundle with their computers and I only had to disable a couple of things that I didn’t want. Another nice touch was the binder they included that showed all the test results (CPU Temp, Benchmarks, etc). The hard drive was split to allow for a total re-image plus I got a pair of DVDs that contained the same information (extra security). The case is nice.  It has front mesh bezel to allow for better airflow and a pair of 120mm fans (upgraded to silent fans).  The front has a pair of USB ports right near the top which has made it handy for my external drives in copying data.  So far I’ve only spent about 5 hours working with it, but I am quite happy.

Specs
Intel Core 2 Duo 8500
ASUS P5Q PRO Motherboard
4GB G.SKILL RAM
eVGA GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB Video Card
Seagate 640GB Barracuda
Samsung Super-WriteMaster DVD+/-R/W Lightscribe