And part 3…

I want a new hard drive.

Hmm – I’ll need a new OS for the hard drive – XP is so 2007 and was preinstalled anyway *curse preinstalled*

I’ll get some new memory to support this new OS. Too much for the OS in retrospect (Vista 32bit can’t use more than 3GB, I have 4GB…)

Whoops – motherboard is too old for the new memory (and indeed, the new drive). I’ll get a new motherboard.

Ah – the old celeron won’t fit the new motherboard – better get a new processor.

Oooo shiny – I need a 19 inch widescreen monitor – my 15inch just isn’t big enough. Better yet, I can have a mini swordfish moment and use both…

Bugger – new motherboard doesn’t fit into case (they come in different sizes?!). Can’t return board as it’s OEM – will have to get a new case.

New case for £23, or new case AND 450W PSU (power supply) £30… better get a new PSU. It’ll have SATA cables at least.

…..

Assuming the saga ends there (case + PSU arriving in a few days) the only orginal components will be the DVD writer (primarily used for installing games – that’s about it), the card reader (hasn’t worked for years – suspect USB not powered since last upgrade) and floppy drive (…does anyone use these? I don’t even know if it works). I found a floppy disc a few days ago – Dogz 1 – I’m only keeping it for sentimental value. Having said that, the Dogz 1 floppy was sitting on top of a 5″ floppy from our old BBC computer, so it’s obviously a trait I repeat.

Oh and my lovely 512MB NVidia card, assuming it’s old PCI-e works in the new motherboard (Google says it will work – seems a bit of a wonky bodge job to me but we’ll see).

PS it’s still cheaper and more fun than buying a readymade!