Alright, after a bit of research, I think I’m going to stick with WordPress. I’ve got a back catalog of articles I’ve written for other websites that I’ll slowly rotate up here, along with an update on Red Dead Redemption from 2010 (hah!) and my latest project: building a new PC. The new PC post was one of the first, a joint post with mattlindh, so it feels a bit like coming full circle.
and his name is a 24 inch dell monitor connected to a quad core computer.
I recently bought a new computer, mostly because I wanted to have a bigger screen to work with when I’m working from home. I figured if I was going to get a new monitor, might as well have something to hook it up to.
I picked up a dell because it was cheap. For a quad core machine, it was $850 with a 24 inch monitor included. Along with that, I picked up an ATI 4850 for about $150. Not a bad deal all things considered.
The last few computers that I’ve had were laptops, so high end horsepower was a distant dream. Last time I was anywhere near the power curve was with a Voodoo 3 playing unreal tounamernt . With that, I grabbed the Crysis demo and installed that. During the first bootup, it ran pretty well and I was satisfied. Of course, test number 2 was to crank all the detail settings up to high and change the resolution to 1920 x 1200. That’s a bit too much for my little graphics card to handle. Instantly, performance went from “That’s pretty good” to “Broken slow”. It did look really, really good though. People still look like 3d models, but they look like very sharp 3d models.
This puts me in a situation though. I am looking forward to Fallout 3. I’m asking myself if I should pick it up for the PC or for the 360? I mean the graphics are good on the 360, but there’s always the slider bar on the pc to allow for spectacular graphics on the pc.
Anyhow, I’ve found computer gaming again and it is my savior.
Steampunk Laptop
This guy turned his laptop into a steampunk-themed contraption. It even turns on with a clock-winding key. Cool.
Installing Vista on the new computer – What I needed to know
Installing Vista was not so bad. Really. I know, I know. “But, Phokal, Vista sucks #$#@.” or “Vista is ME’s and XP’s bastard grandchild.”
But on this machine, Vista has been as smooth as butter. UAC isn’t annoying when it is up and gone in under a second.
Not to mention, if I want to use more than 2 gigs of ram (3 in special circumstances), then I have to go 64 bit. And we all know how much worse XP 64 bit is in terms of driver support. I currently have 4 gigs, and for 80 bucks more I can bump that up to 8. Seeing as how I’m sitting at 2gigs used as I write this, I think it good to get more.
computer built
I built my computer. It turns on. I invite you to read the tale of how this came to be. Be warned, however, as these pictures are 2 megs each, and can be full screened by Viewing them.
computer update
The computer is built. I’ve been working on a ‘how I built it’ guide with pictures, but it has been taking more time than I would have liked. It should be up shortly.
For now, it seems the hardware is ok (no fire). I just need to get vista on there and updated (and not shut down improperly, causing the computer to get into a “Configuring Updates” loop on every start up, making me format once more).
Found the parts. When I flick the switch will it live?
I’ll think of a name for it over the next few days. My current desktop, ely4sm, is from June ’03, invoiced back in January of 2003. I just dug up the paperwork to double check that. That’s older than I thought. Of course, it was a beast when I bought it, costing over $3000. I worked the whole summer of Senior Year to get the extra $1k to buy my alienware (which lasted one year before they had to cough up a full refund…but that’s another story. With the refund I bought my current desktop). Anyway, this sucker, in its entirety, is still expensive but only a fraction of that: only costing roughly $1300. That’s including a custom heatsink (which I never did get on ely4sm).
Anyway, go check out the final build: https://www.donttellmetheending.com/2008/01/16/building-a-new-pc/
When the parts arrive, I’ll have to put it together. I hope it turns on.
PC Update
We’ve narrowed down some parts, and think we’ve got a good config. Anyone want to comment on it?:
https://www.donttellmetheending.com/2008/01/16/building-a-new-pc/