My (not really) new computer

[Arcanine]

I told Robo (Morkula) way back in January that I'd take a picture of the computer I built (I built it in Jan). And then I never got around to it... until now! I cleaned up my desk a little and thought "Might as well." and so here are the boring pictures of my ever unchanging desk.









The pics are a little brighter (and blurrier) then I wanted but whatever.


As you can see, nothing fancy about the case, but still I like the look of it. On top of that I'll be the only person who looks at it day in and day out, so as long as I like it that's all that matters. And I build it for gaming, so if I'm getting a 7.2 out of 7.9 on the Microsoft awesome meter (where my laptop got a 3.8) then I'm happy (even if it's not the best way to judge a system).

My computer's insides are...
CPU: AMD FX 4100 4-Core Processor
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked 1024MB
RAM: 8 Gigs
HDD: 64 Gig SSD that's used for the OS, and a 2 TB storage drive
Disc Drive: Samsung Blu-Ray Drive
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Case: Rosewill Challenger USB 3 edition

I also picked up a new mouse and mouse pad for it, a Razer Naga (pic 4). And I have my 7.1 surround sound headphones (Astro A40) hooked up as well.
What does all this mean? This means I can now play Minecraft without any graphics lag!!!!!! AND! I can watch YouTube vids in 7.1 surround sound!!!!!

I plan on upgrading my monitor (20 inch LCD) to a 27 inch LED and running dual monitors, but that'll be a month or so down the road.
It's the first time I built a computer, it was something I always wanted to do. Maybe next time I'll go for a more fancy case, higher end CPU, etc. But for now it's a good gaming PC.
(And yes, I play more then Minecraft... it can run Modern Warfare 3, and Battlefield 3 on the highest settings with no probs whatsoever)

 

[Cherrim]

I read through that and then stopped and was about to hop on a plane and smack you for building that whole thing just to play Minecraft. Good thing I finished the post. XD;

 

[Guest]

I did a triple take to check and double check if you really did post a blog!!!

 

[donavannj]

Get yourself a 2 TB external storage drive.

And how old is that Vaio laptop of yours? It seems to be running Vista, so I'm curious, as my Vaio is turning 3 within the month and I want to know if I can expect it to last a couple more years.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

I did a triple take to check and double check if you really did post a blog!!!

 

[Arcanine]

Erica: Yea that'd be funny. Spending $1000 on a computer just to play Minecraft. XD

Nick/Jon: I don't blame you, seeing how my last post was the end of 2010. In fact I didn't think anyone would notice this post. XD

Don: But I have a 2TB internal drive... XD
And I've had this one since around April-May of 2009 (yes it is Vista). It still runs really good if it's surfing the web, and even photoshop. I sort of want to install Windows 7 on it because I want a "fresh" computer. It's starting to get bogged down a little (takes a few minutes to boot up, etc).

 

[donavannj]

You need an external drive to match that!

So yours is not much older than mine. Not much you can do about the boot times except upgrade to Windows 7, but you could improve performance slightly by disabling Aero, which is what I did on my laptop over 2 years ago.

 

[Cherrim]

Why would he want an external drive though? XD; I mean, I guess for transfering stuff between his laptop and desktop but honestly I don't even see why he'd ever need to use the laptop anyway. :P

Besides, it's still too expensive to buy HDDs, internal or otherwise, isn't it? :( Or did the prices finally settle down after that flood in Thailand?

 

[Arcanine]

Don: Behind that monitor I've got a 1.5TB external, and behind the games rack I have a 250gig backup external. Is that close enough? XD
Yea, I didn't think there's much I could do. When I got this thing it was more or less top of the line for that model at the time (I think I could get a little larger HDD or something), and I still love laptops to move around, trips, etc. So keeping one in good working order is a good thing.

Erica: I think they might be close to what they were before the flooding... then again I didn't really look at HDD prices back then. I know my 2TB has went down $10 since March. And my SSD has dropped $30 since January.

 

[Kura]

Not bad!! Though once you start using dual monitors.. you'll never want to go back haha!

Apparently the whole "flooding" thing was a sort of scam to raise prices for demand. None of the factories actually got affected. Dunno how true that actually is but I heard it pretty recently and it's irksome!

 

[Cherrim]

The factories may not have been affected, but maybe it became harder for them to ship their items internationally/get them out of the country? I mean, I guess if it was all a hoax in the end anyway, so be it. I wasn't really affected since I don't need a hard drive upgrade so I can't really complain. XD;