Age/Occupation/Location?
I am 27 years of age, and have been working in the computer industry for around 9 years now.  Currently I’m the IT administrator for a large aboriginal health services organization in B.C Canada.

How long have you been a member of Guru3D forums?
I registered only recently but I have used the forum as a resource for a long time.  Almost everything I can think of has been discussed in that forum and I’m not one to get involved in too many threads!

What did you first come here for?
Guru3d.com has been my favourite hardware and news site for a lot of years, and I loyally visit the site several times a day for the regular news updates.  To tell you the truth, I cannot remember what brought me here the first time, most likely a recommendation from a friend or link from another site.

What do you mainly use the system for?
This rig is used exclusively for games so there are no programs or process’s running in the background that may slow the system in any way.  Occasionally I will use it for some Photoshop and imaging, but that’s it.

How much did you spend on the rig?
My gaming rig is a continual upgrade.  I try not to spend more than $1500 CDN a year, but sometimes that’s not possible when a video card upgrade is required.  If I could guess, the complete system including all the audio equipment would be around $3500.00

How often do you update/buy a new rig?
At least every 4 months I buy some sort of toy for my system, be a fan, hard drive, optical drive, video card, power supply or the dreaded motherboard upgrade.  I usually fall victim to some new product or industry standard that catches my eye.

What components are used?

• Raidmax Scorpio 868 Tower
• Superflower SF-480 (480 Watt)
• Asus P4P800 – FSB @ 880Mhz
• Intel P4 3.2Ghz @ 3.53Ghz
• Asus Star Ice CPU Cooler
• 2 x Micron 1GB 2.5ns DDR 400
• Asus V9999GT 256MB AGP @ 400 Core – 1.12 Mem
• Samsung SyncMaster 900IFT @ 1280x1024
• Sounds Blaster Audigy 2
• Asus DRW-1604P DVD Writer
• 2 x Western Digital WD740GD 10,000 RPM in Raid 0
• Technics 5.1 Channel Dolby Digital/DTS Receiver 100wx5
• Yamaha NS-CC200C II (Centre Channel)
• PSB Alpha Mini’s (Front Channels)
• Paradigm Micro’s (Rear Channels)
• Sony SA-WM200 (8 Inch Active Subwoofer)
• Windows XP Pro SP2

Why ATI or NVIDIA, why Intel/AMD?
Some may call me a loyalist when it comes to buying my computer hardware, but I say why change when the product is always great.  Both Intel and NVIDIA continually satisfy my gaming needs, and only recently have I been tempted by their competition.  Who knows, maybe ATI or AMD will sneak into my system in the near future.

Does the system work as expected?
My gaming rig works as expected in every way possible.  Always being able to play the latest games at the highest settings, and enjoy excellent surround sound brings justice to all the hard work the programmers put into the games I play.

What's the best part of your rig?
If I had to choose a single part right now, it would be the Asus V9999GT.  I went from a Geforce 4 TI 128MB to the 6800GT, and was blown away.  I still find myself amazed at the quality and speed of the card.

What sucks and should not have been bought?
I love everything about my system and usually research the hell out of a product before I buy it.  The only thing that prevents me from being happier is the cost.  The difficult and sometimes frustrating part is finding the best hardware for my hard earned money which is just another reason to stick with manufacturers that always pull through.

Modified cases/video cards/other? Did you do it yourself? Walk us through it.
Everything is unmodified.  I like keeping the hardware warranties intact as long as possible.

3DMark scores?
3DMark 05 (free version) = 5574

Future upgrades?
With the recent transition to PCI-Express and new technologies like multiple core processors, SLI, and 64bit computing I foresee a lot more upgrades in my future.  How soon that will be solely depends on my budget.  It never fails; as soon as I can afford a major upgrade something new is released.  That’s ok as long as the games continue to progress a little behind the hardware.