• Member Since 22nd Sep, 2011
  • offline last seen Yesterday

Chatoyance


I'm the creator of Otakuworld.com, Jenniverse.com, the computer game Boppin', numerous online comics, novels, and tons of other wonderful things. I really love MLP:FiM.

More Blog Posts100

Jul
3rd
2013

And... I am back! · 4:38am Jul 3rd, 2013

And... I am back!

- After building a new computer -

My old computer was dying. We tried to repair it, but the fact was the capacitors on the motherboard were going bye-bye fast. I'd had the machine for eight years or so, it was crashing three to six times a day... it was time for a new computer, one that would last me for another many years.

This is why I've been gone and derelict from my writing duties. I apologize for that - my long term readers will know that when I am at my peak, I do a chapter a day. I have this notion of an unspoken contract between us, you see. You, my beloved readers, come and play in the worlds I create, and (hopefully) keep my spirits up by saying nice things, and I, in return, write conscientiously, diligently, and regularly, so that you do not have to wait for your entertainment.

It's very frustrating to try to follow a story when it updates irregularly isn't it? It's difficult to get back into the flow, and to remember what happened last time. I certainly find it so. I am grateful for your patronage, for your attention and kindness. I don't want you to be frustrated, I want you to enjoy the stories I tell, and be able to look forward to a new chapter on a regular basis. It only seems fair to me.

But... I wasn't able to keep our little contract this week, because my computer was dying. I reckon it's only reasonable to let you know what happened with all of that.


One of my spouses, Stephen, and I laid out the components in my upstairs Happy Happy Fun Room. It took a couple of weeks for all of the components to arrive. Building a computer is quite the little puzzle!


Stephen here is working with the case. It's a very nice case, one which I chose for three reasons. It's amazingly beautiful, I'll get that out of the way up front, but it also is practical, too. It is very, very quiet. It is easy to clean, with filter trays to trap dust. And lastly it is very roomy so that both in construction, and any later alterations, it isn't cramped inside, so that means no cuts, no blood, and no problems with components not fitting. Fabulous case, really. See those swappable drives? They pop right out, and already have the power connections built in.


At his work, Stephen gets to play with cutting edge technology. One thing he really fell in love with was the SSD or Solid State Drive. Basically, it is like a super large USB memory stick, only it's a hard drive. A hard drive that has no moving parts at all. This tiny little biscuit-sized thing holds 512GB of data! He was very insistent to build my machine with an SSD for the C: drive because it allows everything to boot very quickly indeed.


The hard drive trays in the case are really huge compared to the tiny SSD. Happily, the case had been designed to allow the tiny wafer to be attached to the tray. It was very strange for me to think that a primary hard drive could be so tiny. I have to say things felt very futuristic to me at this point. Of course, I still remember being over the moon when I got my first computer - a Commodore 64. Wow... sixty four THOUSAND bits of raw power! It was like owning GlaDos!

Now, I make cover art for my stories that would fill the entirety of a pile of C64 machines. The thought boggles the mind, doesn't it?


If the CPU is the brain, or the soul, of a computer, then the motherboard is the... um... brainstem... and... spinal column... ? Okay, the simile is a bit imperfect. But motherboards are a big deal, you can be confident of that at least. This is the motherboard for my new machine. The chip, an Intel Core i7 (Haswell), still needs to be put into it.


Here is the underside of the Haswell chip. The picture did not come out well, the gray 'fuzz' there is actually a complex surface of contact points that have to exactly match the hundreds of tiny, tiny pillars inside the chip vault on the motherboard. If even one of those hair-sized posts becomes bent, the entire thing is ruined. I've lost a computer build before because of just that. The chip was dropped into place just slightly too hard, or too off center, or not flat enough and the whole motherboard was kaput.

Stephen here, unlike me, is a master at this delicate procedure, and dropped the chip into place like it ain't no thang.

After the chip - the very brain of the computer, the very soul of the machine - is seated, then it is covered, locked into place and covered with a massive, massive cooling device.


This futuristic city isn't Paris from my Conversion Bureau stories (though it really does look like how I picture it), rather it is the inside of the computer with the motherboard in place. The silver arcology in the middle is the cooling tower over the chip vault. It consists of tubes and stacks of radiator plates that dissipate the terrible heat that a CPU can generate. Hot enough to fry an egg, some chips! The Haswell is a fairly cool chip, but it still needs a lot of heat management even so.

Still to go? The rest of the drives, the twin SLI Nvidia graphics cards and lots and lots of plugging everything in.


This is my completed computer, under my desk. I feel bad that it has to sit there, because the case really is a work of art. It's just plain pretty. It looks like something from Moonbase Alpha. If I had more room, I would put the darn thing on a pedestal just because it is so attractive. But - artistic looks aside - the point of a computer case is practicality. This is a quiet, efficient and very functional case. I've just got an artistic soul, and... practical or not, damn. Look at that thing. I think it's unusual looking and pretty, anyway. Or at least science fiction-y.

Now actually building this machine only took four hours and it booted up first try, like magic.

That is when things went completely bad.

We couldn't find my Windows install disk, and had to drive an hour to get to a store that had a copy of Windows. Then we had trouble installing various programs and getting the machine on the house LAN. Then... I won't bore you, but it took several days of tearing our hair out to get the software to behave. That is always, in my experience, the hardest part of putting a computer together. The software. By comparison, the hardware part is nothing but simple. It's a big Lego set. But getting all the bits to work together inside the machine?

It is like making pacts with demons.


Speaking of demons, apparently there was some kind of kerfuffle that went on here while I was away from Fimfiction. Some of my friends have filled me in about it a little. I've been told that some trolls from the 'Alternative' (really 'Anti', just changed to avoid a total banning) Conversion Bureau viper-nest decided to make use of my temporary absence to try to - somehow- cause me trouble. The jist I've had explained to me is that my newest story - or some story of mine anyway - got posted in the kinds of areas that I would personally dislike the most. I'm told there are actually groups here devoted to - get this - 'rape fiction' and other horrible, awful things.

The hell?

Anyway, it seems that some members of Fimfiction were sitting down, kleenex box on one side, lotion on the other, to 'enjoy' some thick-and-heavy foal rape and torture and ended up being exposed to my innocent tale of a little girl, a pony and a bunny. This made these people very, very angry, and my friends tell me I have a lot of nasty messages waiting for me. Sigh.

I'm not sure if this is actually the whole story or not - I guess I will find out when I start trying to write more of HUMAN in Equestria tonight - but I have been told that Knighty himself stepped in, banned everyone involved, and made some kind of statement.

Some of you may know that I wrote about the abuse that made me leave Fimfiction for many months, and how that upset me. This... if this is all true, then... frankly, it's pretty funny. And sad. But the more I think about it, kinda funny.

Isn't it about time Fimfiction just jettisoned those idiots in the ACB and the group 26 version of the Conversion Bureau Group - which they infiltrated - and just be done with it all?

Sweet Celestia.

Anyway, I am back, I have a computer that won't crash on me all the time, and I intend to write pages and pages and pages of the best fiction I can produce for you. And also help out at the proper, original Conversion Bureau Group. Please forgive my absence, and, once I get things cleaned up, expect a new chapter in a day or two at the most. Maybe sooner, we'll see.

Thank you for reading my works, and for being my friend here on Fimfiction.


Petal Chatoyance, 2013


My Machine

Mainboard : ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z87-PRO
Chipset : Haswell DRAM Controller
Processor : Intel P6 @ 3400 MHz
Physical Memory : 16384 MB (2 x 8192 DDR3-SDRAM )
Video Card 1 : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
Video Card 2 : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
Hard Disk 1 : Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series ATA Device (512GB)
Hard Disk 2 : Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 ATA Device (3001GB)
Hard Disk 3 : Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 ATA Device (3001GB)
Hard Disk 4 : Western Digital WD5000AADS-00S9B0 ATA Device (500GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : ATAPI iHES312 3
Monitor Type : Samsung SAMSUNG - 32 inches
Network Card : Intel
Network Card : Atheros Communications AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter
Power Supply: Corsair 850 watt
Operating System : Windows 7 Professional Professional Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
DirectX : Version 11.00
Windows Performance Index : 7.8 on 7.9
Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition (VN10006W2N)
Mouse: Performance Mouse MX
Tablet: Intuos5 Touch Large

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Comments ( 51 )

The TT Level 10 case. It's a dashing design from BMW design works.
You're going SLI? Nice choice really, although I am a fan of single card solution.
32 inch Samsung? 2560 x 1600?

You return! Hooray!

Out of curiosity- what was the end cost on this new rig? I'm thinking about building a new gaming machine, and duplicating yours may be my ticket

:yay: Huzzah for new computer! May it give you many years of faithful service. :twilightsmile:

We tried to repair it, but the fact was the capacitors on the motherboard were going bye-bye fast.

Ah, yes. It's usually the cheap capacitors that make the smoking smell and then blow out.

Good thing you went for an SSD; even for someone like me who doesn't do much file read/writing operations, the faster response time makes it worth every penny.

I do like it, though I'm just counting down the days to when I can upgrade to the next desktop...

independent.co.uk/incoming/article8653857.ece/ALTERNATES/w460/mac_pro_new.jpg
Now I just need to acquire ten grand, and it shall be mine! *cue dramatic laughter*

Also, I don't know how many messages you'll have waiting, but at least your story isn't in those groups anymore. Fun fact, now you can see who actually submitted the story, so it's a lot tougher for trolls to remain anonymous and simply spam-submit to groups.

Does your computer have a name?

Welcome back. Good taste in the case.

Personally, I would compare the motherboard closest to the nervous system in its entirety. It facilitates the interactions between all the different parts of your computer... just as your nerves tell your muscles to flex.

Holy Canoli, double 660 ti's?! Sounds like you are going to have one beastly computer... I'm running off a single 540m... and I can generally run most visual things no problem... Although I haven't touched maya in a couple years... so I don't know how well it would handle batch rendering... :twilightsheepish:

1184729
I think it was around 2500, altogether. Not counting the expense of a new copy of Windows. Also not included are the peripherals, which I already had.

Sweet Celestia, are you planning to write on one word document or one million? @.@

Hard Disk 1 : Samsung SSD 840 PRO Series ATA Device (512GB)
Hard Disk 2 : Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 ATA Device (3001GB)
Hard Disk 3 : Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 ATA Device (3001GB)
Hard Disk 4 : Western Digital WD5000AADS-00S9B0 ATA Device (500GB)

Lemme guess, not RAID 0?

1184758 Yes, indeed. I noticed that little change rather quickly. It's already led to some... interesting interactions. And lack there-of. I think people were collectively shocked to find that there are features on this site that don't work the way that they expect them too -- which is actually the smart way. On the other hand, a recent blog post by one of the mods reveal that they're actually thinking about exploit-ability in their site now, and how to defeat it. Finally!

1184825
No... I am not a big fan of Raid 0. It just strikes me as a double vulnerability, you know?

3400 MHz and Nvidia! Good on ya!

Also, on the upside of that recent attack, knighty has now made it so you can see who uploaded a story where, as well as bringing up a new and improved report button. So it's a little bit of a July Christmas really, we can just consider the false story insertions to just be that stick in the mud who gets in a tizzy over someone not saying "Happy Holidays".

Let's see, first computer, must have been a windows '95. My dad woke me up in the middle of the night to show me the first time it turned on. I was three, and sitting on his lap, and completely unaware of any of the ramifications of that little glowing box besides: "Small TV".

Now, off to netflix once more! :rainbowlaugh:

"Intel P6"? I must admit that I've never heard of this designation. I assume that is how Windows is reporting it. Is it Core i5, or i7? I'm looking at getting a Core i5-4670K, myself. Either way, a new system is always nice to have! Look forward to seeing more writing!

Welcome back! Really nice rig, I'm actually kinda envious. The case is cool, too - Has kind of a Mass Effect vibe, actually.

Wait, an Intuos 5? OK, I'm actually extremely envious. How is it? I have a 3 that's starting to go a little bit senile, and really need to start looking for a replacement.
A manga artist friend of mine has a Cintiq that he loves, but I don't think I could fit one in my workspace in the foreseeable future. Which is a euphemism for not being able to afford it.

Looking forward to reading more of Petra's adventures! It seems like the haters have been chased away for the time being, as well.

That looks awesome O.O

1184816

As I was looking through the parts pictures, I was thinking - "This thing must have cost a fortune!"
That is some seriously impressive hardware.

What do you plan on doing with it, though? That's a huge SSD, so I'm guessing serious gaming, as supported by the 660Ti SLI. That sort of CPU cooler suggests overclocking, though for the life of me I can't think why you'd need to OC a Haswell. What do you mean by P6, though? The only thing I could find was an architecture which I highly doubt would work with the Haswell chipset.

If this is for gaming, what kind of games are you thinking of? They sound amazing.

Anyway, thanks for sharing - that was lovely piece of tech-porn to start off my day! :twilightsmile:

Ah...this reminds me of the two semesters of PC Repair I took at that trade school...too bad I couldn't understand half the damn reading material. Course, half of that involved networking type stuff anyways, so no surprise to me.

Sounds like you had fun building it though. I know I would.

That case is a BEAST... and I'm looking at my case that was purchased for me for my birthday back in September, and realizing yours is about twice the width. Also about twice as powerful, looking at those specs. Awesome setup all around.

Also, with the new change to seeing who submitted a work to a group? Makes our jobs as pre-readers a lot easier when something crops up in 'I Hate Equestria Daily' while it's also sitting in our queue.

Small steps, right?


As for the writing speed... well, being eight years old, you were vastly due for an upgrade anyway. That box will serve you well for probably the next decade, easy. Longer, if you're careful. On behalf of my IT guru roomie and myself, enjoy :3

1184901 1184905
She means "Core i7", not "P6". At least, I know she's got a core i7 for the haswell chipset.

1184859
You should think about RAID 1 if you don't just simply backup, though I don't know how well windows copes with RAID.

And for goodness' sake, just yank all the data off that ridiculous 500GB fourth hard disk and pull it out! you're wasting power on something which is 1/6 the size of one of the other two huge drives you already have! :derpyderp1:

1184740
An interesting tidbit I heard (no idea if it's true, but it'd be amazing if it was, so enjoy anyhow):

way back when, capacitors were the new hotness, and everybody wanted to make them. However, only one company knew how. So, naturally, other companies sent spies to steal that info. In an incredible twist of industrial espionage, the secret formula was stolen, and the modern-day mandarins of silicon valley began to manufacture their own, cheaper parts.

...but the tony stark of that bygone era had his revenge. The formula that was stolen was not only incomplete, but it was deliberately wrong. Thus, a good deal of the caps still made today are from the inferior, stolen method, and degrade horrendously fast compared to how they should degrade. This means they go bad, pop, and the electrolytic fluid leaks all over your board.

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you can do a cap replacement easy - just make sure you put them back the right way around! :trollestia:

While I'm impressed by its configuration, I think you got a Server Tower instead of a desktop one( and its configuration is that of a gaming computer). Desktops aren't supposed to have more than one graphics card. Another problem I have with this is that you got the Professional version of Windows 7. Are you going to manage a small network or integrate your computer into a VPN, or was it the only OS available?

Your spouse, though, had some very smart thinking with the SSD being the main partition, because, unlike hard drives, there is no head that needs to boost forward and back to find the little bits of data. Basically, it finds where the data is, then reads it. That's it.

Another bit of proof that your case is meant for a server is the name. You see that "VN"? It could stand for "Virtual Network" which means it was meant to be a Network server by basis.

It better have a damn powerful power-adapter as well as several cooling systems because the proximity of each of your material there can create immense amounts of heat, especially when close together. Also, when you installed the RAM, did you place them in the first and third DDR3 slots or the second and fourth? If you placed them in the first and second, you just lost dual-band transfer capability.:ajbemused:

I also hope you put some thermic paste between the processor and its radiator.

1185031 RAID has always been on WIndows.:ajbemused: As for the system, Raid 1 works well, here, although that fourth disk should be an external one to house imaging and whatnot for external backups.

Jesus, I didn't hear about the troll thing. Those people really are psychopaths.

SSD, huh? I considered it for my own machine, as it definitely has its merits. I decided against it for reliability reasons though - IMO, SSD is a technology they haven't quite gotten the hang of yet. A bit too prone to failures, and a little too expensive for what you get. Still, as long as you didn't buy from OCZ or Crucial, you should be fine. (Seriously, those companies are straight up con artists.)

Squee! It looks like a "futuristic" computer out of an 80s cartoon! I love it!

Yeah, your story was mass-submitted to a bunch of groups, some of them silly, some of them... eww. A bunch of us complained about not being able to identify the trolls, and *bam* suddenly we can see who added what to a group. Yay! :twilightsmile:

1185146
How do you tell who added what to a group? It doesn't look any different to me in the story collection in the Bureau group. Am I missing something?

1185153
In the notification stack, I get the name of who added a story following the story info:

Friendship is Madgic by Dafaddah (added by Dafaddah)

Edit: see, you just did one:

The Conversion Bureau - Past Memories by StrawberryFrosting (added by Chatoyance)

1185159
Ah! I see!
It's too bad it only shows up there, though. That is very ephemeral. I was hoping it would show up in the actual story archives within the groups themselves. Oh well. Better than nothing, I suppose, right?

1185031

Ah, thanks, I had a feeling it was an i7, but I didn't want to presume.

:twilightoops: about the capacitors. Hoping it's false. Might explain some of the poor quality mobos' reliability issues, though.

1185111

Now, now. I think that sort of incrimination is a bit strong. I have an OCZ SSD, and it's been working fine for quite a while now. The new OCZ Vector is viewed very well by plenty of people in the know, and Corsair makes plenty of reasonable quality products. I hope you aren't just arguing from anecdotal evidence.

1185111
OCZ actually do the memory chips for the upmarket intel SSD's, but they do their own branded controllers for them when they sell it themselves. SSD's have gotten better, but they're definitely not primetime material yet. Case in point, the older OCZ's of a year or so ago had a fatal flaw: randomly, at the whim of the gods, they would fuck up and nuke all of your data. They'd need a hard firmware reset, which wasn't exactly trivial to do. I, myself, lost a bunch of stuff including some unpublished stories and a lot of irreplaceable pictures on one of the newer intel ssd's when the controller committed seppukku. There was also some hassle with some other discs by some other makers, but that's a bit too complicated to get into. Basically, spinning media is mature, and solid state is not. Don't put anything you can't bear to lose on an SSD, or if you do, back it the fuck up.

1184768
it's an nvidia, and they lack the lowdown grunt of ati cards when it comes to things like opencl, but they make better graphics cards imo (I know the ati crowd will burn me in effigy for that). OTOH, those Ti 660's are pretty sweet. You'll not get a lot more bang for your buck elsewhere afaik - I've seen a graphics card that cost $1200, but when you get to that end of things, you're buying certification.

1184905
Why overclock? Whyever not!? :rainbowlaugh: Actually, the chips have a reactive system that ramps up or down frequency according to the thermal envelope. If you cool the chip enough, it'll overclock itself.

1185050
Meh, raid and windows... I've never seen good raid outside of proprietary controllers and unix, though win server's got some sweet tricks up its sleeve.

1185237 I've only studied and worked with with Windows Server 2003 and 2008, so...

Heh. I'm principally a Mac user, so for a moment, I misread "C: drive" as "Giant smiley face drive." :derpytongue2:
In any case, glad to hear you've got a new machine up, running, and reliable. And really cool-looking, too.
Oh, and great attitude about the jerkfaces and their jerkfacedness. Giggle at the ghosty, titter at the trolly. :pinkiesmile:

We couldn't find my Windows install disk, and had to drive an hour to get to a store that had a copy of Windows. Then we had trouble installing various programs and getting the machine on the house LAN. Then... I won't bore you, but it took several days of tearing our hair out to get the software to behave. That is always, in my experience, the hardest part of putting a computer together. The software. By comparison, the hardware part is nothing but simple. It's a big Lego set. But getting all the bits to work together inside the machine?

Normally I'm more of a desktop fan than a laptop fan, but laptops do have one major leg-up; what you sacrifice in customize-ability you get paid back in with guaranteed-functional driver/software packages.

That said; building a desktop is more fun and rewarding. And as I learned with my first one; a huge part of the lego puzzle is pre-planning and researching component interaction to ensure the parts will play nicely with each-other and with the chosen OS. I used to draw out a giant logic grid, then google each part name in conjunction with each other part name, and the OS, to make sure no one had listed any major complaints or hidden issues.

And if you like SSDs;

I have plans to do something similar in a future 'desktop' (if you can call it that once its become so large) build. I plan to build inside a server tower for the sake of space, cooling, noise reduction, etc.

1185237

Well, about the 660Ti, the new 760 outperforms it in most real-world benchmark tests. In fact, in SLI, they outperform a Titan. OC'ed versions sell for $260, similar to 660Ti's.

When I build my new computer in a couple of months, that's what I'll be putting in. :pinkiehappy:

Also, SLI far outperforms Crossfire in terms of reliability in dealing with micro-stutter. We can give that to the ATI crowd. :twilightsmile:

Yeah, the turbo-boost is nice (I'm assuming that's what you're referring to), but it doesn't pack the same oomph of a proper OC. I do see how the extra CPU cooler would be useful for the auto-OC, though, if it is dependent on heat.

However, in the 'why not?' category - because increased heat degrades parts more quickly, requiring more frequent replacement, even if the OCing doesn't cause any immediate damage. Considering Chat's looking for a computer to last 'many years', OCing probably wouldn't be worth it, especially with an expensive and already powerful i7.

1184816
Yep, it matches up with my pricing. Friend on steam asked me what it would cost to build a copy.
The tower (no monitor, mouse, tablet, etc. just internals) came out to ~$2,575 before shipping.

My own tower, i built two Febs ago is nearly as powerful.

Edit- Accidentally posted, below was added.
My specs (using your format as best i can)

Mainboard : ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z68XP-UD3P
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.7GHz
Physical Memory : 16384 MB (4 x 4096 DDR3-1600 SDRAM )
Video Card 1 : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 HD
Video Card 2 : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570
Hard Disk 1 : Samsung SSD 830 PRO Series ATA Device (256GB)
Hard Disk 2 : WDC WD5000AAJS-00TKA0 ATA Device (500GB)
Hard Disk 3 : ST2000DL003-9VT166 ATA Device (2000GB)
Hard Disk 4 : ST3250410AS ATA Device (250GB)
DVD-Rom Drive : TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203B ATA Device
Monitor Type :
1) Acer 24.6" 16:10 Widescreen (1080p)
2) Acer 24.6" 16:10 Widescreen (1080p)
3) LG 50" Plasma 16:10 Widescreen (1080p)
Network Card : Onboard Gigabit capable.
Operating System : Windows 7 Professional 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
DirectX : Version 11.00
Windows Performance Index : 7.6
Case: RAIDMAX Blade ATX-298WBP
Mouse: Razer Naga Epic Wireless/Wired mouse
Tablet: N/A

Edit2- Forgot Case.

In a nutshell, comparing your new computer to mine:
We've the same type of motherboard, just mine's two generations older.
Same CPU, just mine's one gen older.
Same RAM, just in a different physical layout
Similar Video cards, mine are slightly less than one generation older (570 vs 660)
Similar HDDs, just a generation older, not quite as much storage.
Same OS (or OS subset, aka: Win7 Professional, i'm not entirely sure.)
And the rest differs completely from there, being external components.
Not counting the externals, I paid ~$1800 for my computer, February 2012.

Chatoyance, i do have one single question for you. Why did you or Stephen choose the 512GB SSD over the 256GB? The real point of an SSD is quick boot times, drivers, updates, and for frequently used programs, like Photoshop, or in my case, that and a few games. The rest of the spinning-disk storage is used for everything else. Six and a half terrabytes of extra storage is plenty for anything else you might do. That single drive was the most expensive thing in your computer, at ~$520. I got mine for less than half of that, a 256GB drive for $210.

I'm not trying to put down your choices or anything, i'm just genuinely curious, being an IT major in college and all.

Nice machine! That is a lot of disk space though. Are you running a raid array on that thing?

[…] filter trays to trap dust

So jealous, you don't even know! I have to disconnect my computer from everything, lug the fifty pound thing outside, onto the porch, take the side off, and blow it out with the compressed air tank. *cough* *cough* *choke*

The motherboard… I would call it the nervous system, maybe even the circulatory system too. Although, the power supply might be more deserving of being called the circulatory system if we want to borrow from medieval medical philosophies, with blood being equated to life, and electricity being the life of the computer.


Ooooooee! If I had a Wacom tablet, I'd be using Krita (Wikipedia page) for my drawing program. I think you said once that you use some version of Paintshop Pro. Free and open source doesn't mean poor quality, it just means free and open source. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_raster_graphics_editors Sorry if I seem to be trying to sell you something, I'm a bit of an open source nut.

I'm glad to see that your back Chatoyance. ^_^

Sweet baby jesus that's a nice computer!

1185387
I think Stephen was trying to make sure that both my gaming and my painting were taken care of. I am a big gamer, and he gave me a nice little talk about programs versus data.

Programs get installed on the SSD, data on the D drive. I suspect his choice of big ass SSD was made with the concept that I am being expected to fill it with many, many installs, but also use it for everything from making radio plays to doing video work. He says that if I use the SSD for such work, but save to the D drive, the speed of the thing will make even the largest projects go very quickly. I do a bit of sound editing and other things, and that does take space I guess.

That, or he was just trying to impress me.

1185661
That sounds about right. The only reason i chose the smaller 256Gb drive is because my steam library is well over 750gb, with only half my games installed. On my SSD i've got Photoshop and two games i play nearly daily on it. EvE Online and World of Tanks. Pretty much everything else is stored on one of the other three drives.

I use my 2Tb drive for my steam library, schoolwork, other games, and for authors' stories that i edit. So far, it's roughly half full, but it's not that i don't have room to expand as necessary either.

Is the geargasm over? Is it safe to talk about other things yet? Oh, too soon...

Chews on lip.

Okay, how about now?

Grumbles...

Eats a few flowers.

Looks at a caterpillar crawling up a stem.

Okay. Now?


:facehoof:

I think one of the oddest things about this trolling situation is all the people righteously indignant that someone's violated the integrity of the "rape fiction" category, seemingly unconcerned about letting the world know they were hanging out there in the first place.

1185031
I was actually talking about the graphics tablet mentioned at the end, a really nice and big Intuos 5, but I have heard that's a really good chipset.
Unfortunately art supplies always have to be so danged expensive...

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I don't know too much about purchasing cards myself... generally I get sent prototypes... and I send back information on how shit runs... My favorite card was still a Sparkle-made 650Ti. Double fans were nice and quiet... but MAN that thing was a brick! They asked me to test it in my old "best buy consumer value" HP tower... and I had to ghetto-strap a 800W PS onto the TOP of my tower's insides... with the fan facing the roof... and then strap the card to the non-removable panel with duct tape. It scared the heck out of me, but man did my computer run nice!

My lil bro has that computer now and I'm a bit jealous... my current laptop is not quite as powerful... but it is Mil-specced... so I don't have to worry when I take it to stupid high altitudes, sub-zero temps, or to the sand-box... so that's a nice comfort I suppose. :raritywink:

SSD for boot drive: VERY YES. It is nostalgia for my very childhood, when I could flip the switch on the TI-99/4a and it would boot in a split second. Not quite so fast as all that, my current setup, but still blindingly fast compared to every other spinny-magnetic-plate-drive-based setup I've had.

For me, putting together a new computer is delicate work, and a thrill worthy of any adrenaline junkie. I hold reverence for the sheer magnitude of the technology I hold in my hands, I assemble with my hands, I bring into existence a working machine so many orders of magnitude more powerful than all the computing power in the world of merely fifty years ago... It might be the closest thing I ever have to a religious experience... :twilightsmile:

And then I try to get the software working and that floating reverence dissolves into simmering frustration. :twilightangry2:


P.S. If parts of a computer are analogized to a brain, then it would have to be the CPU and all the memory--chip cache, RAM, and hard drive. No wait... skip the hard drive, because the organic brain does not have anything like non-volatile memory. Even our long-term memory is simply what we have managed to compress through dreams into something small enough to fit in what remains of our ever-depleting RAM. Except that memory is associative, not indexed... which is rather like how Optimalverse Equestria is a graph, not a grid... (I've just finished reading Friendship is Optimal to have the background to read your story set in that universe.)

Air cooled CPU's make me a very sad panda. Spend 120 on a self contained liquid cooled solution instead like so CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i Water Cooler. It's self contained, so no worries about leakage, quiet as can be, and keeps those blistering i7 cores a cool 25-30c. Plus water cooled is just plain sexy. Installed mine in less than five minutes, and never looked back. Plus with that huge heat sink out of the way you can enjoy better airflow to the board and rest of the components, especially those two video cards. Additionally the water cooler brand allows for adjustable fan speeds for the radiator. Just my two cents.

Comment posted by Prince Solstice deleted Jul 8th, 2013

well the old girl had been through a lot it seems. 8 years is a long time for a computer. and I kinda feel sad that she's gone despite never actually being attached to that computer.
Ohwell. Here's to a new computer, me she last even longer then the first.

Hey, Chat, can you mail me one of those 660ti's?

I have but a measly 5200m in my laptop and a measly Radeon HD 7560D in my desktop...



Damn you, Windows 8! Not letting me play any games well...

A thumb drive can boot Windows. Why do you need four hard drives?

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