[steve86]

I wouldn’t even know if we have a dedicated computer shop locally these days. All purchases off the net. Coincidentally, the e7300 is roughly what I am targeting as well.

[RSmithOpt]

I just built another box using a Q6700....that's a tough CPU to locate these days for under $160, then add S/H. That first box was built primarily for my homemade DVR and OTA (Raid 10) in the living room. Haven't upgraded mombos , CPU etc., at home since buying new my Dell XPS T600R in 1998...it is still running strong and will be demoted to a (blind to hackers) front line firewall / AV running Ubuntu 8.0.4 (LINUX) in front of the wireless router running WPA2, MAC filtering, etc. I'm catching a bunch of attempts since last June to hack in with tracecerts showing eastern Europe, Asia and the ME as the main culprits.

So, after looking around at the overpriced packaged systems being offered to fill my needs, the ol CCard and hrs of shopping in my recliner ensued. I'm doing these 2 for the price of 1 store bought frozen.

btw, that Q6700 is a great video processor if running a 8500 GT / 512 MB equivalent or higher.

My job also entails me to keep up with such though I work primarily with optical communications.

Anyway, still doesn't prevent downloading / uploading a trojan, virus etc.

Well, I can say one thing, glad I've managed my credit well as to have a CCard for the above....otherwise, I'd been stuck with shopping for less than I want for more money.