Well, I've decided to finally take the step and get a new computer. I was going to buy one for college anyways, but decided might as well do it now and get out of the way. My intial budget of $600 was smashed, I kinda realized to get what I wanted I'd have to spend more.

Thanks to the help of my good friend Kevin, a design was hacked out and ready to be built. I decided to go to Fry's Electronics to compare the prices against those on the web at NewEgg. Everything was cheaper at NewEgg and they had a much better selection (despite Fry's being a huge ass warehouse with everything imaginable). My orignal plan called for buying the keyboard and mouse locally, but I didn't like what they had to offer so I just decided to buy everything online.

Really the only thing left was the case. I had orignally thought I'd buy that at Fry's too, to avoid the $15 dollarish charge for shipping. I didn't really see any that I liked very much there, and when I compared a similar one on NewEgg, it was $25 cheaper. So I went home and spent about two hours on NewEgg (the shit people will buy) looking through one fugly case after another until I found one I liked.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It was all over except for the purchase. I added all the items to my shopping cart and calculated the shipping. Twenty eight bucks. Not bad considering how much I'd be saving on all the parts. I put in for a bank transfer online to my checking account so I can purchase it, but that won't go through until Monday. So, I'll probably be ordering it tomorrow night and hopefully it will arrive by the end of the week.

I present to you, Thomas' new computer:

Also, my new keyboard and mouse (my first ever optical... heh):

Detailed Description:
-EVER CASE 4292B-M35 Silver/Black Metal ATX Mid Tower Computer Case w/ 350W Power Supply | link
-ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 865PE ATX Intel Motherboard | link
-Intel Pentium 4 520 Prescott 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor | link
-CORSAIR ValueSelect 512 (2 x 256MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM PC3200 | link
-Sony Black DVD-R/CD-R Combo Drive (4-in-1) | link
-Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 | link
-ATI PCI TV/FM Tuner "E-HOME WONDER" | link
-Samsung SyncMaster 715v Black 17" 25ms LCD Monitor | link
-Microsoft CA9-00001 black keyboard/mouse | link
-AMC AICR-01-BK 6-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader | link

General Overview:
-P4 520 2.8GHz
-512MB DDR SDRAM
-160GB Hard Drive
-GeForce 4 Ti4200
-Sony DVD/CD Combo Burner
-17" LCD Display
-TV Tuner Card
-6-in-1 Memory Card Reader
-Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Normal Person Overview:
-Decently good!

If you didn't notice, I'm transplanted a few things from the current computer. The 160GB hard drive I bought a few months ago will be the main hard drive for this computer (parents will have old 20GB from original) and my graphics card, GF4 Ti4200 will also be transplanted. Parents will be stuck with the old TNT2, but they won't notice obviously.

Also, I'll just be using the current speakers even though they don't really mesh with the current design. When I go to college, I'll be on a "quiet floor" so there'd be no point in loud speakers anyways. Headphones look to be the main source of audio.

Furthermore, I'll be taking my video capture card I got along with Pinnacle Studio. The new TV Tuner card will probably do the same job though, I could just route my camera through the TV. We'll see.

The main reason I'm spending an extra $110 for Media Center Edition and a TV Tuner card is so I can watch/record live TV on the computer. Kenny and I are going to split the cable, so my TV will essentially be the computer. The possibility of recording live TV (aka football games) then burning them onto DVD in near broadcast quality is what lured me.

Overall, I hope it's worth the $920 dollars (you've been dying for that, eh?). I also hope it will last until about junior year in college before I start having to make any major upgrades/replacements. The current computer is four and a half years old, we'll see how long my parents will clutch onto it before they decide it's time to replace it.