[cheald]

My workstation started life as an HP I bought at Best Buy in 1998. I've just upgraded it piecemeal over the years, and while none of the original hardware remains, I've never replaced it outright.

My two development boxes, also under my desk, are whiteboxes cobbled together from previous iterations of my workstation - the hardware gets handed down, and once it hits four generations old, it gets shelved in the garage. Those pieces occassionally get used to patch friends' computers. I've quadrupled RAM with old unused DIMMs for more people than I care to think about

If that isn't patched together, upgraded, and heavily worn, I don't know what is!

[davidw]

That sort of thing makes a great deal of sense with a "desktop" computer. Laptops are not designed to work like that, and in most cases are not robust enough in any event.

[sigh400]

I am guilty as much as anyone of riding my hardware pretty hard and for far too long but you're just moving into silly mode. Case entry alone would make a prudent upgrade.

[cheald]

What do you mean by case entry? I've replaced the case on my primary workstation twice; literally none of the original machine remains now. The current case is a nice big zero-tool-entry type with six drive bays and room for usually-large hardware like CPU coolers and video cards. I think I ended up selling the original case on eBay.

I don't do it out of some "hacker ideal" - I do it because it's cost-effective, and because I get a lot of pleasure out of building my own rigs. It just so happens that that ends up leaving me with machines that are patched together, well-worn, and well-loved.