RT - I was just mentioning a wireless card since Dr. Mike had expressed some interest. Certainly it would be easier to add a USB wireless network adapter after the system has been built. I've used a few in the last several years and all the "name brands" seem to work well enough. The problem I've seen is weak signal strength since the antennas in USB wireless adapters are usually not that good (simple physics - not enough room for a good antenna).

Personally, I prefer wired connections, at least for systems that don't move much.

- D

P.S. Closing in on 1,000,000 MOT points and 200 posts.

I could nitpick if you want, but really, it's a great build. Love the power supply. Way to spring for the hardcore CPU. Ask Blizzie if that's the right decision in the long run though... Also, ditch the 275GTX for a 260Core216 and pay some high school kid or local computer shop to install a new graphics card in 2 or 3 years when games surpass the 260. Right now mine runs everything flawless, Crysis included, and is a beast for crunching.

Sleep is for undergrads and working people. Grad students have only work...

FWIW, I'm about half-way through my master's thesis on the problem of suffering.

MyOnlineTeam Daily Statistics for 01/06 - Active Members

Active team members report
==========================

                                                     Current          Points
Active member name            Rank      Change       Points        This Period
=========================     =====     ======     ===========     ===========
marysduby                         1          0      41,188,996          33,053
RT                                2          0      28,346,308          87,878
Coingames                         3          0      19,977,806          49,401
parmesian                         4          0      19,123,907          20,953
nl59056                           5          0      15,032,424             524
Dave Bell                         6          0      11,590,008           3,268
Esteban69                         7          0      11,139,205           2,978
keithhenry                        8          0       9,826,051          14,434
Blizzie                           9          0       8,088,557             599
Jonathan Figdor                  10          0       7,537,555          27,381
Fanie                            11          0       6,759,598           3,046
brown chris                      12         +1       6,254,875          23,687
xroule                           13         -1       6,252,570          10,128
frans6nl                         14          0       5,905,513             896
PohSoon                          15          0       5,430,034           1,136
NiceMedTexMD                     16          0       5,390,570          17,154
sulcata                          17          0       5,283,706           4,993
Vuj                              18          0       4,274,259           4,719
Blueprint                        19          0       4,246,968           5,242
Tomwp                            20          0       2,590,764               0
Alain Bryden                     21          0       2,582,902               0
lawrencehardin                   22          0       2,348,557             423
wrr                              23          0       1,983,464           1,766
siseberg                         24          0       1,824,981               0
Sunny L. Kae                     25          0       1,717,194           3,694
Wunderwuzzi                      26          0       1,707,692             797
smcclarigan                      27          0       1,665,662               0
txjallen                         28          0       1,425,141               0
johng                            29          0       1,397,731           2,667
Rulkethecharon                   30          0       1,330,593               0
harry_i_c                        31          0       1,077,519           2,889
darth_vader                      32          0         994,652           4,732
Airwolf_Liu                      33          0         974,036           1,773
laughing66607                    34          0         933,469           1,015
Jockin                           35          0         851,485           3,862
elpe                             36          0         760,481           1,484
imin                             37          0         730,077           1,360
Bon Kuhlman                      38          0         576,986             480
Momentary Lapse of Reason        39          0         335,946               0
barney15c                        40          0         262,414               0
madambaster                      41          0         249,180             494
Natalino                         42          0         242,834               0
cknotty                          43          0         182,083               0
TheRoket                         44          0         105,875             906
Daeloan                          45          0          87,896           6,803
hne12359                         46          0           1,888               0

Note: Active members are those who earned points in the prior 30 days.

Top Twenty active members returning points today:
01: RT - 87,878 points
02: Coingames - 49,401 points
03: marysduby - 33,053 points
04: Jonathan Figdor - 27,381 points
05: brown chris - 23,687 points
06: parmesian - 20,953 points
07: NiceMedTexMD - 17,154 points
08: keithhenry - 14,434 points
09: xroule - 10,128 points
10: Daeloan - 6,803 points
11: Blueprint - 5,242 points
12: sulcata - 4,993 points
13: darth_vader - 4,732 points
14: Vuj - 4,719 points
15: Jockin - 3,862 points
16: Sunny L. Kae - 3,694 points
17: Dave Bell - 3,268 points
18: Fanie - 3,046 points
19: Esteban69 - 2,978 points
20: harry_i_c - 2,889 points

Total points returned today: 346,615
Active members returning points today: 35
Average points per member active today: 9,903.28571

Dr. Mike, found that CR info I mentioned earlier. At the beginning of the article, they have a in-column picture with this blurb: "The Dell Studio XPS 8000, with Intel's Core i7 processor, performed better that any other Windows-based computer we tested." In their Ratings chart, they refer specifically to the Dell Srudio XPS 8000-2361JBK with the Core i7 860 processor. It had a 1TB hard drive, 1GB of video memory, 8GB of memory priced at $1120. On a 1-100 range, it scored an 89, 12 points higher that the next best. However that was the only i7 they tested. The rest ranged from quads down to Celerons. I'd take away from that that you want to go with an i7 over a quad or something else. Seems like a bit of a no-brainer. A couple of issues ago, they had similar ratings on an HP Pavilion with the i7 920 though not with as much of a lead over the number two machine. That might support going for the 860 over the 920 but they both seem good enough that price/availability will most likely be the real decider. Also, the fact that this was Dell in one case vs HP in the other confirms what seems common sense, that two computers with the same configuration should do the same despite whose label is on them. Price/availabiliy and support would decide between labels. Interestingly, they also had a rating for web sites/catalog retailers that Amazon.com, Newegg.com, PC Connection and TigerDirect.com as the top four with just a three point difference in score (the full list of nine had a nine point score difference). You can get IBuyPower machines thru TigerDirect so if you have a specific configuration from IBuyPower, you may want to call Tiger and see if you can get it thru them at a comparable price. The thing about IBuyPower that I recall from past posts here was that you'll want to make sure you find out how to turn off the blue light in the case and watch out for key problems with Windows when you first start up. Windows uses that to validate that you have a legitimate copy of the OS and a couple of folks had a problem with that but Tiger resolved it for them. Another point that caught my eye was that January is apparently one of the better months to buy a computer. Decide on the configuration you want and then it might be worth seeing if a couple of other places can match well enough on price because, for you, I think support will matter more than for a number of folks here. Generally, support will matter most in dealing with problems/questions, if any, when you first get the machine and then later down the road if/when you need warranty service. This last part would be my concern with IBuyPower though they may well subcontract that out to someone else like Geek Squad. A question that may be well worth asking them before you buy.