document.write("<script language=\"javascript1.2\" type=\"text/javascript\">function emo_pop() {window.open('http://www.haloscan.com/commenthelp.php','Help','width=200,height=320,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');}</script><table width=\"97%\" align=\"center\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" border=\"0\" class=\"MainTable\">  <tr>    <td>    <div align=\"center\"><p>The rather mundane world of Rikaitch</p>    </div>    </td>  </tr><tr><td class=\"MessageCell\">    <a name=\"72711\"></a>        <p><img src=\"http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=b1f0c9d44196849d4df7285e8a263e32&amp;default=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FG%2F01%2Fx-locale%2Fcommon%2Ftransparent-pixel.gif&amp;rating=PG&amp;size=28\" alt=\"Gravatar\" title=\"Gravatar\" style=\"padding: 1px; margin: 2px; float: right;\" class=\"gravatar\" /><a href='http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/barebones.html' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>http://www.novatech.co.uk/novate.../barebones.html</a><br><br>and <br><br><a href='http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/bundles.html' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>http://www.novatech.co.uk/novate...ch/bundles.html</a><br><br>sometimes have some cost-effective gems for upgrading on the cheap. Novatech's where I get all my upgrades from anyway.<br><br>There's always scan.co.uk as an option too. Their \"today only\" section sometimes has the perfect option.<br><br>Without knowing your current system spec it would be hard to say for certain but whenever a PC is slow my first thoughts are: memory upgrade first, then check hard drive space where the paging file is located to make sure that's not a bottleneck (and remedy if it is with a new drive and paging file relocated if needs be). With modern PCs the processor speed seems to be less and less of an issue - just how fast do you want MS Word to start? - but if you're a games fan then graphics card would be next to dump off processing time.<br /><span class=\"byline\">           Mark | <a href=\"http://www.neonbubble.com/\" title=\"http://www.neonbubble.com/\">Homepage</a> | 18.02.08 - 12:13 pm | <a href=\"#72711\" title=\"Link to this comment\">#</a></span></p><hr /></td></tr><tr><td class=\"MessageCell\">    <a name=\"72713\"></a>        <p><img src=\"http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=223e26568e28a1355b6f20689c017496&amp;default=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FG%2F01%2Fx-locale%2Fcommon%2Ftransparent-pixel.gif&amp;rating=PG&amp;size=28\" alt=\"Gravatar\" title=\"Gravatar\" style=\"padding: 1px; margin: 2px; float: right;\" class=\"gravatar\" />Mark: I just ordered <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222527&DOY=18m2\">This</a> from the Maplin website. £67 all in, and I'll have a 3700 Athlon 64 which is a darn sight better then the Sempron 2200 I'm running now. As for RAM I'm on 1Gb, and I have a 512Mb X1650 Graphics card, so this should really run like lightning.<br /><span class=\"byline\">           Rik | <a href=\"http://rikaitch.blogspot.com\" title=\"http://rikaitch.blogspot.com\">Homepage</a> | 18.02.08 - 12:36 pm | <a href=\"#72713\" title=\"Link to this comment\">#</a></span></p><hr /></td></tr><tr><td class=\"MessageCell\">    <a name=\"72720\"></a>        <p><img src=\"http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=07313d40508070e41854f582bae79c40&amp;default=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FG%2F01%2Fx-locale%2Fcommon%2Ftransparent-pixel.gif&amp;rating=PG&amp;size=28\" alt=\"Gravatar\" title=\"Gravatar\" style=\"padding: 1px; margin: 2px; float: right;\" class=\"gravatar\" />I went to Coventry once. It was closed.<br /><span class=\"byline\">           Scaryduck | <a href=\"http://scaryduck.blogspot.com\" title=\"http://scaryduck.blogspot.com\">Homepage</a> | 18.02.08 - 4:29 pm | <a href=\"#72720\" title=\"Link to this comment\">#</a></span></p><hr /></td></tr><tr><td class=\"MessageCell\">    <a name=\"72733\"></a>        <p><img src=\"http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e&amp;default=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FG%2F01%2Fx-locale%2Fcommon%2Ftransparent-pixel.gif&amp;rating=PG&amp;size=28\" alt=\"Gravatar\" title=\"Gravatar\" style=\"padding: 1px; margin: 2px; float: right;\" class=\"gravatar\" />PC Format magazine this month (feb) had an article on dx10 upgrade for about £290, that included mem, graphics card, case, power supply and cpu<br /><span class=\"byline\">           Wald | 18.02.08 - 9:15 pm | <a href=\"#72733\" title=\"Link to this comment\">#</a></span></p><hr /></td></tr><tr><td class=\"MessageCell\">    <a name=\"72988\"></a>        <p><img src=\"http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e&amp;default=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FG%2F01%2Fx-locale%2Fcommon%2Ftransparent-pixel.gif&amp;rating=PG&amp;size=28\" alt=\"Gravatar\" title=\"Gravatar\" style=\"padding: 1px; margin: 2px; float: right;\" class=\"gravatar\" />Scaryduck - I stayed in Coventry for about 5 weeks three years back. It was closed then too.<br /><span class=\"byline\">           Aled | 22.02.08 - 11:24 am | <a href=\"#72988\" title=\"Link to this comment\">#</a></span></p><hr /></td></tr><tr><td class=\"MessageCell\">    <a name=\"73057\"></a>        <p><img src=\"http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=2b5a8180002ab5b9b7a2edad961ea22f&amp;default=http%3A%2F%2Fec1.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FG%2F01%2Fx-locale%2Fcommon%2Ftransparent-pixel.gif&amp;rating=PG&amp;size=28\" alt=\"Gravatar\" title=\"Gravatar\" style=\"padding: 1px; margin: 2px; float: right;\" class=\"gravatar\" />I too recommend Novatech's bundles.<br /><span class=\"byline\">           Quentin | <a href=\"http://quartzquill.blogspot.com\" title=\"http://quartzquill.blogspot.com\">Homepage</a> | 24.02.08 - 7:26 pm | <a href=\"#73057\" title=\"Link to this comment\">#</a></span></p><hr /></td></tr><tr>    <td class=\"InputCell\">                  <br /><div style=\"margin: 0 auto; width: 125px;\"><a href=\"http://www.offbeatguides.com/partner/12345/program/jskit104\" target=\"_blank\"><img src=\"http://www.haloscan.com/images/offbeatguidesbanner.jpg\" width=\"125\" height=\"125\" border=\"0\"/></a></div><br /><div id=\"newcomment\"></div><form method=\"post\" name=\"addComment\" action=\"http://www.haloscan.com/comments/rikaitch/5259299055302842412/\" target=\"_self\">        <p>    Name: <br />          <input name=\"name\" type=\"text\" size=\"38\" value=\"\" /><br />          Email:<br />          <input name=\"email\" type=\"text\" size=\"38\" value=\"\" /><br />          URL: <br />          <input name=\"url\" type=\"text\" size=\"38\" value=\"\" /><br />          Comment:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"javascript:emo_pop()\" title=\"Smiley and tag help\" target=\"_self\">?</a>&nbsp;<br />          <textarea name=\"addMessage\" rows=\"12\" cols=\"38\"></textarea><br /><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"subscribe\" id=\"subscribe\" value=\"1\" /><label for=\"subscribe\">Notify me of followup comments via email</label>        </p>        <p class=\"PSubmit\"><input name=\"submit\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Publish\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"SubmitButton\" />&nbsp;<input name=\"previewMessage\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Preview\" class=\"SubmitButton\" />        </p>      <input type='hidden' name='user' value='rikaitch' /><input type='hidden' name='comment' value='5259299055302842412' /></form>    </td></tr>  <tr>    <td><p align=\"center\">        Commenting by <a href=\"http://www.haloscan.com/\" target=\"_blank\">HaloScan</a></p>      </td>  </tr></table><img src=\"http://c5.statcounter.com/counter.php?sc_project=561713&amp;java=0&amp;security=01eeff58\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" /></body>");