Monthly Archive for July, 2005

Always read the item specs before you order…

Published on July 28, 2005 in Hardware and Video Cards. 0 Comments

Well, so much for the Geforce 6800LE idea. I’m sure it would have worked had we read the specs for the cards before we ordered them. Turns out, they only make that card in an AGP form factor (which was clearly stated on the Newegg item page had we taken the time to read it). It sucks to figure that out half-way through a build though. So now my poor machine sits in a state of partial assembly till we can get the new cards sent out. What’s worse is that the Chaintec boards we decided to go with will not boot with a PCI video card. For some stupid reason they require that a PCI-express card be installed before they will even boot. The boards do support a PCI card as a secondary display adapter, but not without a PCI-X card installed as well. AAAARRRRRRGH!!!

Well, I suppose it’s my own fault for assuming. Cause we all know what happens when you assume…

Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long for my new MSI 6600GT card to arrive, but at least I can play Guild Wars on my laptop till then =)

I guess it’s finally time…

Published on July 22, 2005 in Hardware and Video Cards. 0 Comments

Well, the 64 bit processing age is upon us, so I guess it’s finally time to take the plunge. I’ve been holding off in the hopes of jumping to dual core, but when the fair mistress Opportunity knocks on the door, I seem to be too weak to turn her away.

As it happens, Zach and I have been presented with an opportunity to upgrade so we decided to go for it. Now, my current system isn’t really THAT out of date. The following is the heart of my current system:

Athlon XP 3000+ (Barton core)
MSI K7N2 Delta NForce2 Ultra board
512mb Dual Channel 3200 DDR Ram
MSI GeForce FX 5900XT

This baby runs Half Life 2 like a champ at 1280×1024 with 2x AA. The only thing I’ve ever really thrown at it that it had a hard time with was Doom 3 so…

Continue reading ‘I guess it’s finally time…’

See? I told you.

Published on July 21, 2005 in Announcements. 0 Comments

Witness the birth of a miracle. We’re a little behind, but there’s actually a legit review posted. I break out what I like about Rio’s 5gb Carbon. You can learn from my experience using the links on the left. My heart’s all a-flutter, but I think I can contain myself.

Anyway, I’d like to thank Mike, and my special lady Starla, and all the little people who helped, wherever you are. Peace out!

Rio Carbon 5gb

Published on July 20, 2005 in Gadget Reviews. 0 Comments

For the past year and a half, I’ve been happily using a 20gb Rio Karma as my mp3 player. It had the great interface, a really nice docking station, and lots of storage. I even had it rigged up to the AUX inputs on the deck in my car. So why buy a Carbon? It’s only got 25% of the storage space. Well. . . I’ll try to explain.

Continue reading ‘Rio Carbon 5gb’

Speaking of being a doer. . .

Published on July 13, 2005 in Announcements and Games. 0 Comments

I promise I’ll write some reviews soon! I’ve been doing a lot of playing with some pretty fun toys lately, and want to get the word out about them. I also need to expound on why War of the Worlds sucked, in case any of you needed or wanted my unsolicited opinion.

The big problem I’m facing, though, is that I’ve been jonesing for Rome: Total War a LOT lately. I’m playing the Parthians, and I’ve just finished taking out the Egyptian trash and floating their bloated corpses down the Nile. Next stop: Rome!

Anyhoo, if anyone is hitting this page besides me and Mike, keep checking back. Now that the skeleton is in place, we just need to add muscles, ligaments, circulatory and nervous systems, digestive tract and possibly some sort of reproductive system. Stay tuned!

What the Mech?

Published on July 12, 2005 in Geek Fun. 0 Comments

I’ve gotta hand it to the people out there who are the ‘doers’. Me, I’m a talker and a dreamer. I’ve always got some big plan, but I never do anything about it. But there are other folks out there who take life by the horns and get stuff done instead of just talkin big. Like these guys, for example….

http://www.neogentronyx.com/

Any guy whose ever played Mech Assault or Mech Warrior or watched any number of ‘Mech’ shows like Gundum, Matrix Revolutions, Voltron, etc., has at some time wished they had a giant Mech to romp around in. Well, these guys decided to do something about it.

Now when I first saw this thing, the first thing I thought was “where the hell do these guys that kind of time and excess cash?”. I’m sure this little project hasn’t been cheap. Unfortunately the next logical thought is “why the hell am I stuck in this 9 to 5 office job makin barely enough to survive?”. I’m sure I have it better than some, but jeez. These guys are my hero’s. Even if nobody seems to want to purchase it.

It’s currently for sale on eBay

Oh well. Maybe someday my ship will come in and I’ll get paid a huge 6 figure salary to play Counter Strike all day long. But more likely I’ll just keep dreamin and comin to work to pay the bills.

A toast to us.

Published on July 11, 2005 in Announcements. 0 Comments

Well, it’s finally taking shape. We’ll be getting some reviews up soon; I’ve got some pros and cons for the Rio Carbon, Sprint PCS’s PPC-6600 Windows Mobile PocketPC Phone edition, and the neat little Holux GR-213 Bluetooth GPS. I’ve also been wanting to post some thoughts and recommendations for books and music based on recent reads and listens, so stay tuned. We’ll be filling the site out a bit more fairly soon. We’ll announce new elements as they’re live.

Talkin’ Smack

Published on July 9, 2005 in Games and Gripes. 0 Comments

So… what’s up with all the trash talk that seems to occur in every freakin chat room on the planet? Regardless of what game I happen to be playing, people are talking smack and worse. More than half the time the trash talk degrades to “what are you wearing?”.

I’m sure I’m not the first to notice this phenomena, but I first encountered it when I would log into Battle.net while playing Diablo. It didn’t matter when I logged on, there would always be somebody trying to raise hackles by telling everyone their mom said hi last night. I never figured out why. As time went on and I started spending more time online, I noticed it more and more. It occurs in chat rooms, forums, game rooms, etc. Everywhere one or more people join to discuss anything online, out comes the potty talk.

I’ve tried to figure out why this happens, but all I can figure is that the anonymity of the internet allows people to cast off the shackles of oppression that society has forced upon them. Once people log on, they’re able to let their true self out of the cage they’re trapped in when associating with ‘real’ people face to face.

Personally I find this trend a little scary. If this is the ‘true’ face of society, we’re screwed! I’m not sure if this bugs anyone else as much as it bugs me, but on behalf of everyone out in cyberspace that finds these smack talkers more than a little annoying… if you’re one of those out there talking smack in every chat room you log onto…

STOP IT!!!