My beat-up homemade computer is 15 years old. Future-proofing my computer by building it myself worked but not as well as I’d hoped. The new motherboard with current technologies, for example, also requires a new CPU and memory.
I’ve upgraded it many times since I built it. This is its fourth motherboard. The white case is the only part left of the original build. I forced the latest-generation graphics card into the case by cutting a chunk out of it–the case, not the graphics card. Time to ditch the old case.
When the new case arrived, I thought I made a horrible mistake. The thing is enormous! It dwarfs the old case, as this photo illustrates.
And it weighs a ton! But by providing room for everything AND ample space to work it does everything I want. Adding anything to the old case meant removing multiple parts and then replacing them after installing the new bit.
This photo shows the old parts I’ve kept after previous upgrades. I’ve had success with Asus components in the past but was disappointed with the numerous problems I encountered with the new Asus motherboard.
The new board did not meet Microsoft’s requirements for Win 11. In Asus’ defense, Microsoft and Intel have experienced severe security bugs this year. Before I could complete the Windows installation, I had to flash the motherboard’s BIOS.
After fixing the Windows problem, I had to update the BIOS yet again with new WiFi drivers. But this board has everything I want and is working smoothly now so I’ll probably shop Asus again. The beast has 6 drives and room to add 3 more easily.