Bleh...

So, uhm. Here! Here's a sample of what I have to write. It's an argumentative paper... Or, argument writing... Whatever you want to call it! It's where you try to prove that something is what you claim by using sources and stuff to back you up. So what am I writing about? Guess! Well, I don't know what you're saying, so I'm just going to tell you: I'm going to prove that Vista is secure. Yep. I mean, hey. My first paper was to explain my planned career, which was computers, and my second paper was to evaluate a product, which was also Windows Vista... Only fit that my final paper is also computer related, eh? Well, anyway... If you're curious, you can read this and tell me what I need to fix, because, frankly, I'm at a loss. Oh, I'm sure something will come to mind before the final draft, but barely anyone in the class reads my stuff, so I thought I'd try here:

Tyler Smith - Argument Writing (ROUGH DRAFT)

Make a comment, if you don't mind, if you find anything. I don't want an IM, because then I'll never be able to find what you told me... Maybe I can get a funky conversation going here and we can all learn stuff? Don't worry about the length of your comments. WordPress can handle it... Just spill it all out and tell it like it is so I can fix it! Also, I'm not sure if my subject is too broad or not... The idea was is Windows itself secure or not, not just any single aspect of it, but everyone else is only doing single aspects. I don't know. I made some notes in the paper, but... Yeah. I don't know. If I had to pick a single aspect, I'd probably pick Internet Explorer 7. Plenty of stuff there, I'd think, if I dug around.

In my off-time between recovering being sick (which, I am happy to report, I can finally breathe, which means that I am officially done being sick) and between doing school... I have... Been building computers! (And reading the Stargate Worlds forums, both of which you can obviously tell.) But I come to you all with a question. I've decided that it would not be in my best interest to splurge and get a massively bleeding edge system. As such, I've narrowed it down to two choices for now:

A system running at 1066MHz bus speed, with a 2.4GHz quad-core 65nm processor and DDR2 RAM and the appropriate eVGA motherboard. (nForce 680i) Actually, this is my cheapo system now. Without a monitor, this thing will weigh in at $2147.87, not including shipping or third-party CPU fans. I know some people were saying I should just get this, but... Hear me out, and try to stay with me, even if you don't know exactly what I'm talking about. Basically? There's this thing called DDR2. It's a type of memory chip... Old technology. It's pretty much at the end of its life. Anything that gets developed now is going to be DDR3. It was absolutely brand new and ghastly expensive last year, but it's managed to mature and is cheap enough for the upper class general public to mess around with. (I wouldn't call myself an enthusiast as far as my purchasing goes.) The catch is... It's not compatible with DDR2. Meaning, I can't build a computer around DDR2 and expect to upgrade it later on, because any new parts will be slowed down by the RAM, and I can't upgrade the RAM without buying all new parts. Get it?

A system running at 1333MHz bus speed, with a 2.6GHz quad-core 45nm processor and DDR3 RAM with the appropriate eVGA motherboard. (nForce 790i Ultra) This guy will weigh in at a slightly more expensive $2682.87, without shipping or third-party CPU fans or a monitor. (Which I will need. I have no monitors for a desktop here anymore... My CRT is officially dead, remember.) I asked an enthusiast forum a question about nVidia certified parts, and I was given the tip to spend the extra money on this new processor. If I explain why it's good, it'll blow your mind... So suffice it to say that it's a massive step forward for a negligible price increase. Also, the system is built around the new DDR3 RAM, meaning that I can upgrade the computer. If I buy a new piece, and then need to upgrade the RAM for some reason, I would NOT have to replace the entire system. It could save me a... Well, around $300 and the headache of making sure all the other equipment will move over and still have enough room. So while I don't necessarily see myself upgrading this stuff all the time, if I ever choose to, I have the option to upgrade without buying all new parts.

So that is my question. Do I save $500 and buy a system I can't upgrade, even though I don't know if I will, or do I spend the extra $500 and get a set of new technologies that will be at least a little bit future proof? Actually, to be honest, I'm seriously looking into upgrading some of the parts for the 1066MHz build, so, in reality, the price difference will be even less. That 45nm processor is amazing, for example. I would definitely want that processor no matter if I build around DDR2 RAM or DDR3 RAM. Of course, in the mix is also a ~$400 monitor and a ~$400 RAID 1 or 5 that I'd use to store all my sensitive documents, so the $2682.87 price is strictly for the computer. I will have to buy a monitor and RAID. Kind of expensive, but I can work 10 weeks at 7 hours a work day (Monday to Friday) and raise $3500. I sincerely hope that I have enough time this summer to raise at LEAST that much money. Personally, I would enjoy raising $5000 this summer but not use nearly all of it on the computer. I really need to have something set back for emergencies so I'm not running on a credit card balance. $5000 would be 14 weeks at 7 hours a work day, but I really don't see myself wanting to work that hard after I buy the computer...