What's more, if you saw the first part of this upgrade diary, then you'll know I was aiming for a trickier-than-average setup, with Windows 8 Pro running on a brand new and untouched SSD, alongside Windows 7 Ultimate running in dual-boot mode on my old HDD.

ENGADGET: Windows 8 upgrade diary: a defiantly successful installation

The Rock Band network has been running in a private, invitation-only testing mode since September.

WSJ: MTV Games Seeks Buzz for 'Rock Band'

But its PE ratio is running at about 26, which believe it or not is about mode-level for the sector.

FORBES: Connect

The folks there got their hands on a pre-release version of the system, loaded with a Core 2 Extreme QX6850 processor factory overclocked to 3.67GHz, 4GB of Corsair dual channel DDR2-8500 RAM, and two GeForce 8800 Ultra cards running in SLI mode, among other desirable specs.

ENGADGET: HP Blackbird 002 gaming rig reviewed