Good so far.

My parts came in yesterday (Friday) and I started the build immediately. Unfortunately, my case was still in the process of being completed, so the actual "parts and booting" didn't start until late Friday.

But, for the most part, I got the case where I wanted it: painted, windowed, and customized. Pictures will follow shortly.

I went to a TrueValue down the street and picked up a sheet of Plexiglass: $20, a can of flat black enamel: $4, and some 150 grit sandpaper: $4. Total spent today: $28. I rushed home and fired up the good old Dremel. Cut out the circular logo on the side of my old brand case, roughly a 5 inch circle. Grinded the edges to a smooth finish, and prepped for paint. Sanded the whole case as much as I cared to do (very little). Then I set to painting with this enamel. I've never tried (or thought about) using enamel for painting metal, but it worked great. Nice thick coats and even spread. I decided to go for a ruggedly industrialized look, and I hit my mark.

I cut a square of Plexiglass and stuck it behind the newly formed hole. It seemed unexciting. So I printed a picture to use as a stencil. See the Punisher? Yeah, the skull. Cut the outline into the Plexi, and hooked the Dremel up again. Filled in the skull with a polishing stone, and put the Plexiglass back behind the panel. Better.

Took a while to paint everything, it was cold out today. Paint apparently dries slower in cold weather (who knew?). Actually a piece is still drying right now, outside. I threw the new pieces in, and worked everything into the case gradually. Much drilling and moving of drives was required. Had a bit of trouble with first boot. Again.

But this time, it wasn't a video problem. This time it booted flawlessly to the BIOS on my shiny new 20" monitor piped through the shiny new HD 4830. But. Windows wouldn't install. It would hang after I chose my hard drive. Or more specifically, the "Extracting Files" part. Every time. I switched the cabling around, messed with the jumpers, but I could not get the drives to cooperate. Apparently the DVD drive was unmounting after it copied the files and couldn't remount again so it would hang. Annoying.

I had planned to give up for the night and go out tomorrow to buy a new SATA HD from a brick store for some crazy price. Then I remembered I have hard drives all around. All IDE, unfortunately, but still. I swapped the troublesome one with a really old 40GB drive. It worked. Great. I'm running on it now. Took 25 minutes to install.

Ran the 7 Index, a 5.3 this time.

Processor: 5.3
Memory (RAM): 5.5
Graphics: 7.9
Gaming graphics: 6.0 (higher than my 9800GT?!)
Primary hard disk: 5.3

Kinda low, but with a dual core and cheap ram, what did I expect? Well, I didn't expect the HD 4830 to get .1 better than my 9800GT. That's odd, especially since my 9800GT was $40 more. And the HD 4830 has a $10 rebate I can send in. The real test will be after I get WoW and Left 4 Dead installed.

Then the overclocking will come.

Picture time soon. Sleep time now.

Waiting is the worst part.

For shipping I mean. Ordered my new parts.

Athlon X2 4850e (2.5Ghz 45w)
Foxconn mATX motherboard
2GB DDR2 667
Sapphire Radeon HD 4830
and a shiny new 20" Acer LCD @ 1680 x 1050
plus assorted bits and pieces
all for under 400 shipped, nice.

Sounds meager, but all those parts should overclock like crazy. My Phenom 9600BE overclocks to 2.5Ghz before it needs a voltage bump and new cooling. Very lame. Especially coming from an Athlon X2 3800+ that overclocked to 2.5-2.6Ghz (from 2.0Ghz) with no noticable jump in temperature. Or my Sempron that ran at 2.4Ghz (up from 1.6Ghz) for 2 years straight, and still runs to this day. As you can tell, I buy AMD.

The video card is a change for me. The last ATI card I've purchased was a PCI-x x700PRO. That was a long time ago. Since then I've had all NVIDIA, a 7900GS OC and a 9800GT. The x1600PRO I use in my Athlon box doesn't count, because it technically isn't mine.

Going to use one of my old IDE hard drives and DVD-RW drives. My custom case will hopefully be done by this weekend when the parts should be in. But when has UPS ever been on time? For me? Rarely.

I'm planning on using extensive Acrylic on my case build. So far all I've done is added two fans. But my Dremel will also be coming into play soon. A turbine-looking intake may be in the future. I hope I can buy some Acrylic locally, I don't want to wait longer.

It has begun.

I started modding my case a little today. I cleaned it up, and added two fans. The back grill that covered the exhaust served two purposes: to make the fan louder, and to inhibit air flow. So I grabbed my Dremel and fixed that problem. Next will be paint, I have yet to decide on a color, but it'll probably be flat black.

My school refund (that I have to live off of) came in. So a new computer is in the works. I'm piecing it together online at this very moment.

My laptop's RAM should be coming in this week as well. Next weekend is going to be fun. I just hope the week itself doesn't ruin it.

Decided.

I don't need a netbook, or a notebook by any other name. All day in class I'm on a computer, and the one's that don't give me access are so short it doesn't matter. Plus, I'd rather not pay top dollar for a sub-par unit that might serve a purpose one day a week (for me).

I think I'm going to build a new rig. Partially because I'm sick of dealing with that Athlon64 (formerly a Sempron64, ouch) box, and partially because I have this constant urge to build computers. It's like, a drug. I want to do it when I'm NOT doing it and while I'm doing it everything is great. Until I come down, and shit starts to not work or I have dumb video output issues.

I've built computers that, upon first boot, would NOT output to a VGA connected monitor or a DVI connected monitor. Only a VGA connected monitor with a DVI adapter. Good thing I usually have several monitors around.

Anyway. Hope my school comes through with my refund faster than usual, I got that itch that no cream can cure.

I plan on modding the hell out of a microATX case I have from a PC maker who will remain anonymous. Extra fans, paint, holes everywhere etc.

New patch.

3.0.8 is out! Go download it!...for when the maintenaince ends.

It's nice to be back on Windows 7. I brought my main desktop to school, but some weekends I stay at home. So this past weekend I've been using that old Athlon64 box I installed Windows 7 on. Unfortunately I popped the XP hard drive back in so I could play WoW. I left my portable hard drive (I carry a WoW installation around to copy here and there) at school, and installing from scratch takes hours. I couldn't take it. I've never realized how often I take my measly quad core for granted. When did I ever think a single core could be fast? I'll be saying that about this old Phenom thing in a year or two, watch.

I finally moved away from IE8 and installed Chrome. I liked IE8, but it was becoming slow. Not slow in rendering pages, but in everything else. Not unbearably slow, but slow enough to notice. Sometimes opening a new tab with a heavy javascript-laden page in the foreground would grind it to a halt for a few seconds. For instance, in Gmail when I'd click a link to view an external page, it would choke for a second. It just doesn't feel right.

With my recent horrific experience with a single core machine, I'm wondering if I could really use a netbook or small laptop with an Atom or Athlon Neo. I mean, as slow as that Athlon64 is, and it's a 2.0Ghz 3200+ with 512k L2. It was impossible to have Chrome open while running a video. Hulu playing in a window while browsing made the system laggy. It was unbearable. I might have to build a new system for home. Those Phenom II's came down in price, you say? 

I might just have to invest in a small powerful laptop to take around with me and to replace that Athlon64 box. Or I could rebuild that box and with the money saved, buy a netbook for class. Hmmm, choices. Don't you love being a consumer?

Unfortunately.

The PCI tuner card didn't go the way I'd expected. WMC recognized it, and tried to set it up. Apparently it requires proprietary software to work, and I have no idea where the install disc is. I looked around online, and couldn't find anything for my specific model, so I gave up. That took about 5 minutes. Then, when I went back home, I picked up my external Adaptec Gamebridge tuner. It installed and works, slightly. The Guide is WAY off from the channels, even though it recognized the provider and location correctly. So I gave up on the Guide. More trouble came too. WMC will load a channel, then about a minute into watching, it cuts out and tells me the TV tuner cannot find a signal. So I gave up on WMC.

And installed the software that came with the Gamebridge. Works fine now.

Some more trouble came before this all too. I booted for the first time since Monday and my sound went dead. I installed correct drivers from ECS's web site, and it stopped giving me trouble. That's pretty much it.

School tomorrow, from 11 to 6. First day of class.

Back at home, away from home.

I'm now back in my apartment for the school semester. Well, for the moment. I have to make another trip to my house to get more stuff, so I'll probably stay over there for the next two days. Class starts on Wednesday, but I don't start until Thursday.

Just set up my desk and my desktop (my main rig). Moved my room a bit, I'll have to see how it works with the window behind my desk and all. I installed my PCI TV tuner card last night, and I'm trying to set it up in Windows Media Center at the moment. If it is anything like the rest of my experience with this new-fangled OS, it'll do everything for me and make me a sandwich too.

A turkey one, with tomatoes please.

By the way:

Not too shabby.

Surfing forums is bad for your health, and ego.

I was just surfing the WoW forums, trying to figure out why my 9800GT lags in game sometimes, and I come across people arguing (on the internet? never). "Why wouldn't a 9800GT run WoW at max settings on a crazy high resolution?" they say. "Are you dumb? I've got a [insert 5 year old card] and I can run it at max!" others say. And then there's the "just buy two GTX280s and you'll be set" crowd. I can't help but ask why. My 9800GT is overclocked and it can't keep up in starter zones at highest settings. Why does that make me feel so inadequate?

Anyway. Swapped a few hard drives around, made some backups, and bit the bullet (why do people still say that?). I reformatted my Server 2008 installation and installed Windows 7. Again.

This time it took 20 minutes from inserting the disk to a pretty desktop. And, now on my shiny SATA drive, my Experience Index Score went up. It was a 5.5 before, now it's a 5.9. This time the lowest score is a tie between gaming graphics and disk performance. Somehow, that feeling of inadequacy still remains. I guess it's time to invest in a Phenom II, another 4GB of ram, and a GTX295. Or I can eat for a few months.

I tried to install 7 on my laptop last night, to round out my testing of the OS. It failed. Apparently 256MB of RAM is not enough. It wouldn't get past the "Loading Files" part. It would finish, but then just hang until I'd get impatient half an hour later and hard reset it. Oh well, RAM is cheap these days, I'll have to buy another GB stick for it. My last one went bad just two weeks ago.

Success

Took 30 minutes this time. Here's the rig breakdown this time:

Athlon64 3200+ @ 2.0Ghz
1GB DDR 400
ATI x1600PRO 512MB
80GB 7200RPM IDE HD
Sony 16x IDE DVD+-RW
generic 500W PSU
17" LCD @ 1280 x 1024

Not what you'd call "top of the line" eh? Runs really well. Shockingly well. Aero works, the peek function works. Suprising, I thought those things needed DX10. Anyway, the Experience Index on this machine is a 3.8

Processor: 3.8
Memory (RAM): 4.1
Graphics: 4.2
Gaming graphics: 4.4
Primary hard disk: 5.1

And this time the processor is my bottleneck. A single core Athlon64 @ 2.0Ghz isn't a fire breathing dragon these days. Runs nicely though. It seems to be as snappy as XP in common tasks. Again, haven't tried any games or media so I can't remark on that point yet. I have a few more computers to try this build on, but they aren't much different than the ones I've already tested so I'll have just one more. A laptop for my last test.

7 Update

I really like these new features. I'm liking the window docking more and more. It's great at my resolution. A bit of scrolling is necessary sometimes, but nothing unbearable. It also makes the peek function that much more useful.

I also transfered over my World of Warcraft directory that I have stored on a portable hard drive. It runs the same as it did on Server 2008, which is the same as it did on XP. More testing ahead. It runs well on my (relatively new) mid grade rig. Going to try it on my very old rig.

Windows 7 Beta 32bit - informal Review

Let me start by saying that I am in no way a professional writer or reviewer of technology. I am merely an amatuer with ideas I need to get out. Consider this a formal disclaimer.

I have been waiting to get the Windows 7 Beta since the 7th, earlier this week. Following Engadget's CES coverage brought me to the "legal" release of the Beta this Friday. I was up at midnight Friday morning, to be one of the 2.5 million who would recieve a key. Unfortunately, the download and registration page did not open until near midday here (central US time). The servers crashed shortly after that. I stayed awake again well into Saturday morning to wait for the servers to come back up. Finally, at near midday today, I recieved my key and download.

I quickly rushed out to buy some DVD-Rs. That involved a trip to a nearby mall. Apparently a lot of people shop on Saturdays, go figure. That's why I shop online. Well that and price. But hey, $10 for a 25 pack of DVD-Rs isn't such a bad deal these days.

Burned it, swapped out a hard drive in my main desktop, and booted it up.

My main desktop is:

Phenom X4 9600BE @ 2.3Ghz
4GB DDR2 800
EVGA 9800GT 512MB
250GB 7200RPM IDE HD
Pioneer 20x IDE DVD+-RW
PCP&C 500W Silencer PSU
19" LCD @ 1440 x 900

Just for reference. My main OS is Windows Server 2008 retooled as a desktop OS running on a 320GB 7200RPM SATA HD, so that is the only difference.

Install
Went smoothly. Just as easy as Vista, but slightly faster. Reformatted the drive fully, so it was very simple. Took 25 minutes from first boot to full desktop. Instantly recognized all of my hardware, even my pesky PCI wireless card that NO operating system to date has installed by default. Installed my NVIDIA drivers via Windows Update. Nice.

First Boot
Fast, I was suprised. Looks like Vista, except for the neat boot up graphics and new taskbar, but more on that below.

Performance
For comparison, I've never run Vista on this specific pc, but I use Server 2008 every day. Since Server 2008 is already a stripped down version of Vista, I wouldn't expect to notice much of a difference. But for the sake of semi-professionalism, the number of processes at the moment (running 3 gadgets, three tabs in IE) is 37. That's right on par with Server 2008, which is 41 at boot. I've been using 7 for about two hours now, and I've been playing with everything. In total I've had nearly 30 seperate tabs spread across probably 9 windows in IE. Several Youtube pages have been opened, and Pandora and Hulu are currently open. I've run most of the applications included with the build. All of that, and I am using 33.34% of my RAM, which is exactly 1125MB (only 3326MB are available, this is the 32 bit build). My Experience Index is a 5.5

Processor: 7.1

Memory (RAM): 7.2

Graphics: 7.9

Gaming graphics: 5.9

Primary hard disk: 5.5

Obviously my slow IDE drive is hurting that score. It is still very snappy, with absolutely no hiccups or slowdowns. I can't say it's ultimately faster or slower, that'll have to wait until I can put it through its paces.

Form & Function
It's pretty like Vista. But now the aesthetics seem to serve a better purpose. Transparencies, for instance. The gadgets I have running include my Twitter feed, the weather, and a system monitor. The monitor and weather gadgets are on top of all windows, and 40% transparent. Works great. Like on OS X, except I don't have to hit a button to see them, they're just right there. And please, don't complain about me mentioning OS X. They are competing OS's, get over it. The new taskbar is also very visually appealing. Especially the peek function. I LOVE the peek function, and I've only had two hours to use it. Haven't quite gotten used to right clicking on the taskbar yet, but I'll get it eventually. It has great potential, I admit that very easily. I like the window docking. I'm using that right now actually to dock two IE windows. One with Hulu showing an episode of Family Guy (all of my media is on my other hard drive unfortunately) and the other with this window. Overall I'm very pleased with the new features and functionality.

Internet Explorer
I almost feel dirty for using Internet Explorer 8. Believe it or not, it's usable. Very usable. I've been a Chrome user since it was released because I liked the speed and intuitive way it worked. IE 8 is fast. Suprisingly fast. It hasn't crashed once. It hung once, but it was after I configured it for the first time and it tried to open 4 tabs at once. Only for 5 seconds or so, and it was while I was running the Experience Index tests. So far it has been very easy to use as well. I can right click on anything and search for it, or blog it, or translate it. It even has built in RSS feed support. It even automatically adds the feeds to the desktop gadget. I like that. It does seem to use a bit of RAM, but so does Chrome. So does Firefox actually, moreso than the others.

Accessories
Sadly, still no native Zune support. But my Windows Mobile 6.1 phone pops right up, just like in Server 2008. When I plug in my USB headset everything plays and records like it should, so that isn't different. Mice, keyboards, all good.

Yeah right about now I sound like a closet Microsoft fanboy. A zune? A WM 6.1 phone? MS undies? Perhaps. I guess it doesn't help that I also have a MSDN Academic Alliance account and a Dreamspark account? Oh, and the fact that I stayed up two days straight to get this Beta key.

I'm running out of things to review about it. I'll get some games on it as soon as possible to test for differences. Consider this my inaugural post, the last one was too short :P

Inaugural Post

I'd like to thank the American people for the granting me the right to post my opinion on the internet without fear of persecution (that means you can't sue me just because I piss you off :p).