it burns when i think » 2007

Synthesizer Hero

May 31, 2007 Entertainment
Posted by Dusty

Some people may have life-changing experiences when they recover from serious illness or deal with the death of a loved one. My life changed forever when I first played Guitar Hero. Now I see the world through eyes that have been opened by the power of rock. With two new GH games being released this year, those eyes will be bleeding from rock overload.

Partial track lists for Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s , and Guitar Hero III started showing up on the net a couple weeks ago. Most of the tracks for Rock the 80s look pretty weak. If the rest of the songs aren’t any better I may not buy it. I’ll still play it, I’ll just “rent” it. On the bright side, all the GHIII songs announced thus far are awesome.

1 Comment

New Computer

May 23, 2007 Projects, Tech/Gadgets
Posted by Dusty

For anyone interested in the specs of the computer I just built, here they are:

CPU: Intel Core2 Duo E6600. I was originally going to go with the x6800, but after looking at benchmarks I realized that the performance increase over the E6700 wasn’t worth all the extra cash. Then I dropped another level to the E6600 to save a little more money. I currently have it overclocked to 2.85 GHz.

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i SE SLI 775 TR.

Memory: 2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 PC2-6400.

Hard Drives: (2) 160GB SATA II Hitachi Deskstar. Right now I have these drives set up in a RAID 0 array.

Graphics: PNY 8800 GTS 320MB PCIe. It’s the bottom line of the 8800 series. I may get another one of these cards in 6 months to use for SLI.

Power Supply: 580W Hiper Type-R. Modular power supplies are the way to go. You don’t have those unused wires taking up space in the case anymore. This PSU came in a nice plastic toolbox that’s great for storing all my extra cables, screws, and other hardware.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred.

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700 NT. This thing is more massive than the pictures would lead you to believe. It keeps my CPU at 30C idle and 44C under load.

Monitor: Samsung 225BW. At first I was looking at 24″ monitors, but I thought that might be too big so I went with a 22″. Now I think 24″ might not have been so big after all.

I’m still using my old mouse and DVD burner. The only other new piece of hardware I got is a Merc keyboard.

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Grass, My Arch-Nemesis

May 10, 2007 General
Posted by Dusty

I was thinking about going to see Spider-Man 3 in IMAX on Saturday, but then I decided to mow the yard. Afterwards I was too worn out to do anything else for the rest of the day. I know I’m not in the best physical condition, but I thought I was in better shape than this.

It’s pushing the mower up hill that really gets my legs and back hurting. Afterwards I can barely climb the back steps into the house. Then I collapse into the recliner and lie there for about an hour before I’m able to move again.

I used to mow the whole yard at once. Now I mow the front yard on one day and leave the back yard for another.

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Delay

May 5, 2007 Projects, Tech/Gadgets
Posted by Dusty

I was hoping to be blogging from my new computer today, but there is going to be a delay. The power supply I bought does not have the 8-pin connector that my motherboard requires. I knew the motherboard needed the new P8 power connector for dual core processors, and I made sure that the original power supply I picked out had that connector. Later I decided on another PSU and forgot to check on the P8. I can still use the PSU I bought, it just needs an adapter for the P8. I ordered it on Thursday. Maybe I’ll have it by Monday or Tuesday.

Veestuh

May 2, 2007 Projects, Tech/Gadgets
Posted by Dusty

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been playing around with Vista at work. I like it. I like it so much that I bought it. Sure, it has a few issues that need to be worked out (mostly just hardware and software compatibility), but XP had the same growing pains when it was released.

That copy of Vista has been sitting on my desk for a while. The computer I’m using now is perfectly capable of running it, but it feels so outdated. Single core CPU. AGP graphics. Parallel ATA hard drive. 17″ CRT. I’m still computing in 2003.

Six months ago I spec’d out the components I wanted for a new computer. I’ve been reading reviews, looking at benchmarks, and watching price fluctuations ever since. Last week I began purchasing parts for a new system. I had to downgrade a few components to fit everything into my budget. They should start showing up over the next few days and by this weekend I’ll have a new computer.

Stupid Networks

May 1, 2007 Entertainment
Posted by Dusty

I don’t even know why I still watch TV. I’m pretty sure I’ve said that before.

Every season I’ll start watching a new batch of shows. Usually by the third or fourth episode I’ll know if it is a show I want to keep watching. In rare occasions a show will come along that is so good I will proclaim it as my new favorite. That usually turns out to be the kiss of death.

Last season the show was Prison Break . Luckily that show is still on the air, although the second season was a little weak. At the beginning of this season the show was Smith . CBS canned it after three episodes. Two weeks ago my favorite show was Drive . Now it has also been canceled. I guess FOX doesn’t like Nathan Fillion.