Hmm. It's a thought. But I swore I'd never buy from Compaq/HP again.
Besides, by that same argument... why spend $400 when I can get a brand new system that will last years longer for $1000 or less? Dell's got some basic systems that start under $400. (No monitor or AV software, but I've got those already...)
I don't know. The graphics cards I'm looking at aren't that expensive. The problem is that even the super cheap ones ($50 or so) seem to want more wattage than the comp is prepared to give. Which is what makes me think that maybe it is time to replace the thing, after all. But if I did, seeing how long it took to replace this one, I think I'd buy using the same principles as I did last time: go for something high performance (not bleeding edge, but not more than a couple of notches from top of the line), get the most for the $, and keep it going for as long as I can before it needs replacing. Spend an extra few hundred now, save myself $1000 or more down the line.
