Another build

I once built an entire floor of an office building worth of cheap machines.
It robbed the joy out of it for me for many years.

The addiction only seems viable when you are dealing with high grade components on your own systems.

My addiction was cured by government intervention!

Our town transfer station added an electronics trailer - townsfolk drop off their old TVs, electronics, and computers for proper disposal.

I peruse the trailer each weekend and often find some decent older PCs. P4s, Core Duos, Celerys, Athlons. Take them home, clean them up, replace defective parts from other cannibalized systems, clean up the OS (XP normally- usually pathetically trashed), and get them running tip top.

Then I donate them to local organizations or people I know. They are usually happy to get them and they certainly do not need gaming rigs- they're just doing word processing, accounting, web and email stuff.

I putz around with them when I feel like it and it keeps me out of trouble. I don't find myself jonesing to build something and shelling out $1200 for a new rig every time a new line of video cards or processor comes out!