Well it finally arrived. I'm posting this new update from my new rig! The difference in performance is amazing! Its breathed new life into all those games that my old PC struggled with. I'll tell you, going from quake 4 on medium at 800x600 to ultra high on 1280x1024 is the best way to reassure yourself about your purchase! Here are the final specs:

Core 2 Duo 6300
Asus P5W Digital Home Deluxe
2Gb Corsair PC2 6400 C4 RAM
HIS x1950pro 512Mb
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music
2x Samsung 250Gb Spinpoint SATA-II
1x Samsung 160Gb EIDE
Sony 16x DVD+-RW (Dual Layer)
Asus DVD/CD-RW Combi
Floppy Drive
Hiper Type-R 580w PSU
Blue String Case Lighting
Coolermaster Centurion 530
Sharp LL172G-B 17" TFT
Logitech Z-5400 5.1 Speakers

I kept a lot from my old PC, like the case and DVD drives, so it was realy just an upgrade of the core components. The PC also seems to be alot qiter now, only spinning up in games when I have the speakers on anyway. I'll try and post pictures A.S.A.P., but until then i'm playing FEAR with full graphics settings!

Well, it's served me well but its time to retire my old rig. 3D modelling has really showed my computers age, and as its work related an upgrade is unavoidable. Games have been slow for a while so it'll be good to turn my old games up to max detail settings for the first time! Here's my current spec:

AMD Athlon 2800+ XP
1280Mb RAM
MSI KT4AV
9800 Pro (free upgrade from an AIW 9800SE)
Soundblaster Audigy

the rest of my kit like the case and keyboard etc will remain the same. The first addition, my X-Fi Xtreme Music, arrived over xmas and really shows the age of my other components! I'm hoping to complete the build over the course of the next fortnight, just in time for vista!