Custom Computer Finished

Hours spent on final build: 10
Cuts from unburred aluminum: 4
Playing UT2k4 on max specs at 1280x1024: Priceless

After *weeks* of planning and tons of help from Kungfucius and my little sis, my custom-built computer is finally complete! I haven't done a full stress test, but I'm quite satisfied with the results so far -- gaming is silky smooth, MATLAB is wicked fast, and my Perl data mining scripts don't crash the system anymore (!!)

Anyway, the next natural step is overclocking the cores, which can eke out a +50% performance bonus compared to a stock processor -- all this stuff is quite amazing on paper, but it's ridiculously cathartic to actually go through the motions and see the speed literally ramp up in the flesh.