No news for a while, all the more as I watch Civ5 from a distance...

[WARNING : GEEK POST]

After almost 8 years with the same computer (only replaced the hard drive), which saw me discovering fast Internet connections, forums, Civ3 and Civ4, GNU/Linux via Ubuntu and so many things, I moved to the next step. The computer got silent for some reason 3 months ago, and I had to get me a temporary laptop from a friend or two, or I was going to die from no Internet link.

This weekend I got new pieces for my new PC, which I set up on my own with my screwdriver. Installed Debian Testing on it, and there you go : a new toy in my hands, for less than 300 euros. :D

So far the CPU hasn't got mad after me, and the mother board is still fixed to the PC box, so I'm good.

Post written with Iceweasel, the replacement for Firefox in Debian. ;)

Cool. I like new computers.

Me too!
I'm still on Windows but having fun finding out how my new one with W7 goes. I was intending to build this one myself, but the old one was so old it needed everything replacing and in the end I found the local computer shop could put it together cheaper than I could buy the components. I have added RAM, replaced graphics cards, added interface cards and new/replacement hard drives before so was quite looking forward to building one complete, but the extra cost was too much.

Meaning you intend to take the (not so) giant leap to the free world someday ? ;)

I myself got a new box with the power supply already placed inside, a new motherboard, a new CPU + fan (Athlon II X2 245), new RAM sticks (2 GB, while I had 256 MB before) and a new DVD device (mainly because of switching from IDE to SATA).
I kept the mouse, the keyboard, the cubic screen and the hard drive.
Waiting for OLED screens for PC to arrive (not so soon) and SSDs' prices to drop further (a little sooner). Considered the Intel X25-V Value at 40 GB (for both the system and the data) but eventually postponed such an acquirement.

So far I've been pretty pleased with Win 7 so probably not at the moment, although I had been considering having a play.
I too will probably add a SSD when the prices drop, but at the moment it was just too much.
I even had to replace the mouse and keyboard! I was going to get a larger widescreen monitor but so far the PC hasn't moved from the living room since it came through the front door and is plugged into the TV (HD) so it would have to be a pretty big monitor to compete with that.

really thinking about buying a new desktop. Last one was a total disaster (thank you HP! Your service to your loyal customers sucks!), it never ran properly and totally collapsed 2 weeks after the garantee expired. A lot of reinstalling and phone calls later I gave up. Having a lot of trouble with my HP laptop as well, but as I have extended garantee, service is quite a bit better.

But I'm really noticing my laptop getting slower at start up after installing a few games on it. So I fear I need a new desktop for my gaming needs :) Still not sure what to buy though.

From the tech support posts on the CFC Civ 4 forum, don't by an HP, Dell or other brand that insists you use their versions of drivers rather than those from eg: ATI or NVidia. They soon stop updating them and you are left with outdated drivers you can't upgrade that cause problems with new games. Plus the price premium you pay for a brand name.

Currently engaged into a heavy process of job interviews. [ninja]

Best of luck, I haven't got past the heavy process of job applications stage.

Well, good luck with that!