1.) Since I take code very seriously (even though it's a ton of fun!) I have a dedicated RAID card (HighPoint RocketRAID 2300)...the trouble is that socket 939 parts are impossible to find any more on Newegg which for our friends outside of the United States is the most awesome computer hardware e-tailor ever...at least in my personal opinion. I buy new for the warranty because well...I've had my shares of RMA's! So if my socket 939 board were to die I would not be in the situation to easily replace the motherboard and even less likely to come up with enough money to replace all the parts. With socket AM3 just recently made available (the first two Phenom processors are socket AM2+ only and aren't forward compatible) if something dies I won't have to sweat replacing my entire core system.
2.) I'd say I spend 70% of my time in front of the computer coding and 10% for games (and slacking the rest of the time hahaha!) Any way the most intensive 3D game I play and enjoy is Oblivion however after I replaced my dying 19 inch screen with the 24 inch beauty I now have I started doing everything at 1920x1200...and you know...can't run a game unless it's at max settings right?
The new parts are...
AMD Socket AM3 Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 95W Triple-Core
GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 F3-10666CL9D-4GBNQ
The total include("two_days_shipping.ups") was $447...however I sold my previous parts for $300 so I only ended up having to pay $147 for the upgrade.
...but most importantly...pictures!




I've tried taking screenshots to post here though even though I've edited Oblivion's ini file it's not working so you guys will just have to trust me that it's sweet.