Before I begin, I would like to thank Azzo Computers for their great service. I ordered a boxed retail Pentium 3-550E processor using their on-line shopping cart. After placing the order, I was immediately sent a confirmation number via e-mail. Later on that day I recieved a FedEx tracking number and the processor arrived two business days later. OK then, let's get on with it.

Back in October of 1998, I purchased an Intel Pentium 2-450 based system. Yes, I realize that 16 months is an eternity to wait before upgrading a CPU, but I was satisfied with the performance of my system. Being fortunate enough to get an NVIDIA based graphics card every 6 months or so, it's no secret that the performance of my system continued to steadily increase.  Since 1998 I've had the opportunity to use the TNT, TNT2 Ultra, GeForce SDR, and GeForce DDR - all with the same processor.  For instance, take a look at the performance of Quake 2 during this period:

Quake 2 Demo1 - 16-Bit Color - P2-450MHz

Frames Per Second

Not bad, huh?

But alas, there comes a time during the life cycle of a PC that you begin to start thinking about upgrading or even purchasing a new system. At this time, I'm at the mid-point of that cycle and after careful consideration, chose to upgrade. Read on to find out why it was a good time for me to upgrade.

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