Bobby Gonzalez

 

 

 

In "My Extreme Computer Upgrade, Part 1", I upgraded the internal components of my computer. That time, I installed the following components:

This time, I did a thorough external makeover of my computer. I upgraded the monitor, the audio device, the speakers, and the PC case.

 

 

 

 

Here are the newly added components of my extreme computer.

Like those components in Part 1 of this upgrade, these are all high-end components. I will discuss the items one by one.

 

 

 

My old 17-inch flat-screen CRT monitor has served me well for more than 5 years. I might have upgraded it sooner but it was only now that a worthy replacement became available. I was waiting for an LCD monitor with a response time of less than 6 milliseconds. This would ensure that I would see no undesirable ghosting effects whenever I play fast-paced games and view movies. Also, the monitor had to have the standard aspect ratio of 4:3. If you want to know why the aspect ratio had to be 4:3, read my rant on The Problem With Aspect Ratios.

 

 

This is a 20-inch monitor with a response time of 5 milliseconds and a native resolution of 1600x1200. You can see from that resolution that the aspect ratio is indeed 4:3. In addition, this monitor can operate in both landscape mode and portrait mode.

 

This monitor was not available locally. So I imported it. I bought it online at Next International (USA). The cost was US$355.00 plus shipping and customs duties. The shipping actually cost almost as much as the monitor itself.

 

 

 

My old 6.1 speaker system was already defective. So it was really time to replace it. And while I was at it, I decided to buy a new audio card as well.

 

 

This is it: the best of the best. This is the top sound card for gaming, entertainment and audio editing, with an industry-leading and THX-certified 116-dB signal-to-noise ratio. In the photo, the sound card itself tends to be overshadowed by the much larger and eye-catching external I/O Console. The package includes a remote control.

 

I bought this at Rising Sun Computers for P23,200.00.

 

 

 

The best audio card needs to be paired with the best THX-certified 7.1 speaker system on the market. Just look at all the stuff that comes in the package. This thing even has its own remote control. Moreover, each of the seven 70-watt RMS satellite speakers has a tweeter in addition to the midrange speaker. And all those items packed into one box makes for a heavy box, I mean really heavy. Don't even try to lift it if you have a bad back.

 

Viewed from the front, the subwoofer doesn't look very interesting. But turning it over to see the rear and the bottom, the quality of this subwoofer becomes apparent.

Look at those large heatsink fins. These give you a hint of the power of this baby. The speaker actually points downward. At 210 watts RMS, this really rocks the floor!

 

I bought this by special order at Rising Sun Computers for P28,200.00.

 

 

 

I had been planning the replacement of my old PC case for some time now. I just couldn't find the right replacement until now. So out with the old and in with the new.

 

 

I had read reviews about this case on the Web and this case looked like a worthy replacement of my old modded case. It has the features I had been looking for. But when I searched the local computer shops for it, I couldn't find it. Fortunately, I decided to search again one week later and voila! The case was available at PC Options. So I immediately bought it for P7,450.00.

 

 

 

 

After installing everything, here is the result. Let's start with the top front view of the PC case:

That thing at the top with the blue backlit LCD is my old Silverstone Eudemon temperature monitor and fan controller.

 

Now, let's look at the side:

I had a spare cold cathode lamp that was the right size for this case. So I installed it to provide that light inside the case.

 

Here's a closer view:

 

Let's look at the bigger picture:

There's my new monitor. That lighted keyboard with the LCD is a Logitech G15 gaming keyboard. Below and to the right of the keyboard is a Logitech G7 cordless laser mouse. Its receiver and charging base is on the far right of the keyboard and on top of the X-Fi I/O Console. Also on top of the X-Fi I/O Console is the control pod of the speakers. On the left of the mouse are six remote controls. Yes, you heard me, six. One controls an air conditioner, another controls an electric fan, and the rest control different parts of the computer itself. Also, notice how I have neatly hid and wrapped all the wires. By the way, I placed the center speaker right behind that monitor.

 

Here is the same view but with the monitor in portrait mode:

Portrait mode is useful when editing or viewing long pages of text.

 

Now, here's an even broader view so you could see where I placed the other satellite speakers and the subwoofer:

I bought those speaker stands at ACE Hardware in SM Megamall. The other parts of my rig that I haven't mentioned yet are an Acer scanner, an Epson Stylus Photo printer, a Logitech WingMan Strike Force 3D force-feedback joystick, a Logitech RumblePad 2 force-feedback gamepad, some external eSATA and USB 2.0 hard disks, and a 1400-VA UPS.

 

And finally, here's the view of the entire computer system. This time, I changed the camera setting so you could see the effect of the ambient light:

If you're wondering what that big black box is at the lower right of the picture, that's just my Behringer V-Ampire digital modeling guitar amplifier. It's not really part of the computer system.

 

 

 

 

At this point, I don't really have any plans of upgrading anything else. But if I were to upgrade something, I would probably replace the scanner and printer with an all-in-one (printer-scanner-copier) device so I could regain some desk space. But I already have an all-in-one device on my desk at work. So I probably don't need another one at home.

 

Right now, I just want to focus on enjoying this extreme rig that I now have.