What do you do when you have five computers? Buy another one, of course! Actually, I was only using two of them (desktop and server), and I wanted to get a gaming box because I really despise dual-booting. There was only two requirements though: I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, and I wanted to get one with an AGP slot and a PCI-E slot, so I could use my older perfectly fine video card that I’ve already invested a lot of money into. Well, I never found a motherboard with both (that seemed like even halfway decent quality), but I did find the next best thing — a motherboard with a good onboard video card and a PCI Express slot.
So, here’s the specs of my new box:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
ASUS A8N-VM CSM
2×512 Corsair 400mHz DDR
I ended up spending a lot more than I wanted to overall, but this little motherboard really packs a punch into its mini-frame! It’s got an onboard nVidia 6150 with a standard VGA and DVI display output, 4 USB ports, 2 PCI slots, 1 PCI-E x16, onboard sound and nic (nvidia marvell, yuck). Plus, you can get one of those SPDIF attachments that connects to the motherboard. This thing would make a great mythtv box, I tell yah! The real irony in all of this though, is its the fastest box I have, and I’m not even putting Linux on it.
I’m off to enjoy my new investment, and play some great Windows games … like Neverwinter Nights! 😀