24 May 2013
System build 2013 Prologue
In 2010 I detailed the process of putting together my first self-built, high end computer. This year, I'm going to be building another and applying the knowledge I gained from the previous build to make a more refined build. I'm going to be working a bit more on optimizing airflow and clean cable management in a larger case this time around. In addition, I'll be branching out a bit and experimenting with a few technologies that I've never played with before, namely a RAID 5 array and possibly a closed loop liquid cooler. I'll get to those later, but first let me expand a little on some other aspects of this build.
My budget is $2000 even this time around, which is an increase from last time by about $500. I'm starting this right at the edge of the release of two promising technologies, namely the Haswell Intel architecture and Nvidia's GTX 700 series video cards. I'll be waiting to see what each brings to the table- in the case of the GTX 700 series cards it's merely a matter of which one to pick, be it a 780, a 770, or possibly two 760 Ti's in SLI. On the other hand, I may eschew Haswell in favor of the "end of cycle" pricing on the Sandy/Ivy Bridge processors, though this of course depends on how much of a price/performance ratio the new architecture brings. It certainly looks impressive so far, but I'll withhold my judgement until the reviews are in.
I spent significantly more on a case this time around, to the tune of about double what I paid for the last one. Of course, in all fairness it is not a micro ATX case, but the Corsair 650D I purchased was initially not my first choice. The temperatures and noise levels it offered were middling compared to other offerings, and there were certainly cooler or quieter cases to be had for less money. That said, when I got to see a display model, I was impressed by the features it offered. The easily removable filters for the underside and the front are quite handy, the latched side panels are sturdy but easy to get apart, and overall it just has a very nice build quality to it. Looking at other cases, I just didn't see the same level of polish. It doesn't hurt that aesthetically, I find it very appealing as well. My only complaints after handling it were a trifecta of small issues; I could care less about the tool-less drive bays, the top vents frustratingly have no filter, and the fan situation is not optimized for a good "positive pressure" setup to keep dust away. None of those problems were enough to sway me away from it, and the fact that there was a $20 mail in rebate certainly eased the concern about cost.
On to the RAID array. After reading a little about RAID 5 and the fact that it can withstand the failure of a hard drive without a loss of data, I thought it would be a neat idea to try, now that I've realized my assessment that "I'd only ever really need ~1TB of storage" turned out to be a woeful underestimation. Having had good experiences with Western Digital, I chose 3 of their 1TB "Red" drives to set up in a RAID 5. They are inteded for NAS, but they also work well in a RAID array, being able to ramp their RPM up or down to simultaneously save power and keep up with demand. When not under load, they only spin at 5400, but hit them with a demanding data operation, they will spin up to the normal 7200 to accommodate. Seems like a really neat feature, and I can't wait to see how they perform in my RAID. Of course, I'll also be using SSDs to supplement my storage for gaming and/or OS applications.
Finally, I feel like it might finally be time to take the step over to water cooling and try a closed loop cooler. The technology has matured greatly since I last considered using one, and I feel much more willing to try one over a big air heat sink. Of course, air is still a bit more cost effective, and it is hard to beat some of the "big guns" in the air cooling arena even with a CLC. On the other hand, the CLC does allow for a "cleaner" airflow path and less clutter inside the case, when done right.
I'll have more to write as I acquire more components and information.
19 May 2013
Bioshock: Infinite and Tomb Raider
A quick rundown of my thoughts on the aforementioned games.
I know I'm a bit late to the party with Bioshock, but it bears mention nonetheless. It's good, very good. There's no praise that I can give it that hasn't probably already been said. The atmosphere is absolutely incredible. Elizabeth is an awesome companion, as well- the game could have ended up as an excruciating, never ending escort quest but thankfully she never ever proves to be an annoyance. To be perfectly fair, this is because she's invincible and her job is to avoid combat, so it isn't exactly a triumph of AI mastery. If I had to register any complaints about the game it would be the weapon balancing and the random, arbitrary difficulty spike at the end of the game. Regarding the weapons, I found that the hand cannon essentially becomes the only weapon you need to use, once it was fully upgraded. Exploding heads left and right made my second weapon slot and "vigors" (special abilities) collect dust for the vast majority of the game, and the fact that Elizabeth would throw you ammo nearly every time you almost ran dry, there was hardly any need to even touch other weapons. The difficulty spike at the end of the game was far more of an issue. The final battle ramps up the difficulty to the point where you don't even feel challenged, simply bashing your way through a trial and error sequence. That said, I would still highly recommend the game.
Tomb Raider is a thoroughly enjoyable reboot of the franchise that I'm really liking so far. I've yet to get all the way through the game, but it's quite fun aside from a few little areas where it becomes clear that it is a PC port of a console game. I don't like quick-time events one bit, and the fact that they often have obscure commands you need to follow that aren't exactly clear the first time or two though can get really frustrating. The upgrade system for the weapons and skills, though, is quite nice. Graphically, the game is amazing as well. Barring some sort of egregious shortcoming that I uncover as I continue through the game, I would also give it a good recommendation for players who enjoy adventure games.
I know I'm a bit late to the party with Bioshock, but it bears mention nonetheless. It's good, very good. There's no praise that I can give it that hasn't probably already been said. The atmosphere is absolutely incredible. Elizabeth is an awesome companion, as well- the game could have ended up as an excruciating, never ending escort quest but thankfully she never ever proves to be an annoyance. To be perfectly fair, this is because she's invincible and her job is to avoid combat, so it isn't exactly a triumph of AI mastery. If I had to register any complaints about the game it would be the weapon balancing and the random, arbitrary difficulty spike at the end of the game. Regarding the weapons, I found that the hand cannon essentially becomes the only weapon you need to use, once it was fully upgraded. Exploding heads left and right made my second weapon slot and "vigors" (special abilities) collect dust for the vast majority of the game, and the fact that Elizabeth would throw you ammo nearly every time you almost ran dry, there was hardly any need to even touch other weapons. The difficulty spike at the end of the game was far more of an issue. The final battle ramps up the difficulty to the point where you don't even feel challenged, simply bashing your way through a trial and error sequence. That said, I would still highly recommend the game.
Tomb Raider is a thoroughly enjoyable reboot of the franchise that I'm really liking so far. I've yet to get all the way through the game, but it's quite fun aside from a few little areas where it becomes clear that it is a PC port of a console game. I don't like quick-time events one bit, and the fact that they often have obscure commands you need to follow that aren't exactly clear the first time or two though can get really frustrating. The upgrade system for the weapons and skills, though, is quite nice. Graphically, the game is amazing as well. Barring some sort of egregious shortcoming that I uncover as I continue through the game, I would also give it a good recommendation for players who enjoy adventure games.
17 May 2013
World of Tanks, Revisited
It's been over 2 years since I last made mention of World of Tanks, and I do believe it requires another look. The rather close-knit gaming community I associate with would play it intermittently over the years since its initial release, but enthusiasm was lukewarm at best after the beta. Earlier this year, a number of us decided to really dig into it and get back into the swing of things.
What I found was much, much different than how I left it, and it was changed for the better. The meta game has undergone a rather sweeping metamorphosis, and no longer is it strictly a battle of guns versus armor thickness. Armor still plays a role, but mobility and flanking tactics are now heavily emphasized. Not having good terrain awareness or leaving your flanks exposed is nothing short of a death sentence, no matter how thick your armor is.
Other things have changed, welcome little additions like being able to purchase the "gold" premium ammo for regular in-game currency (albeit at an inflated price) and camouflage patterns to customize the look of your tank. A number of tech trees have been added as well. Chinese and British tanks have been brought into the mix, and I have greatly enjoyed playing the British medium tank tree.
Of course, the plague that still remains is the random pub matchmaking dredging up the most impossibly dense and idiotic players to fight alongside you, leading to incredibly frustrating losses where a flank will fall due to utter incompetence and the sensible players end up surrounded. Sadly, it is very difficult to carry a team.
All things considered, though, I found it a much more enjoyable experience to play, so I put some money into getting gold, and I put in a whole lot of matches to get myself up to tier 9 in two trees so far, the first of which was the mighty E-75 heavy tank:
What I found was much, much different than how I left it, and it was changed for the better. The meta game has undergone a rather sweeping metamorphosis, and no longer is it strictly a battle of guns versus armor thickness. Armor still plays a role, but mobility and flanking tactics are now heavily emphasized. Not having good terrain awareness or leaving your flanks exposed is nothing short of a death sentence, no matter how thick your armor is.
Other things have changed, welcome little additions like being able to purchase the "gold" premium ammo for regular in-game currency (albeit at an inflated price) and camouflage patterns to customize the look of your tank. A number of tech trees have been added as well. Chinese and British tanks have been brought into the mix, and I have greatly enjoyed playing the British medium tank tree.
Of course, the plague that still remains is the random pub matchmaking dredging up the most impossibly dense and idiotic players to fight alongside you, leading to incredibly frustrating losses where a flank will fall due to utter incompetence and the sensible players end up surrounded. Sadly, it is very difficult to carry a team.
All things considered, though, I found it a much more enjoyable experience to play, so I put some money into getting gold, and I put in a whole lot of matches to get myself up to tier 9 in two trees so far, the first of which was the mighty E-75 heavy tank:
Essentially a Königstiger on crack, the E-75 has an absurdly thick upper front hull that can ricochet an impressive amount of fire, but suffers from limited maneuverability considering the fact that it weighs 85+ tons. I also have the British tier 9 medium tank, the Centurion 7/1 unlocked, but haven't made enough money in game to buy it just yet. I've spread myself a bit thin (as you might be able to tell by looking at my other garage slots) by playing a number of other high tier tanks including Russian mediums and heavies, American SPGs, and French light tanks.
After 2+ years of tweaking and improvements, I would probably give it the title of the best free to play game currently out there, though it's still not for everyone, and might be a bit hard to approach if you're not particularly interested in the source material.
Give it a look if you're interested:
16 May 2013
A new direction for Telefpreen
So after a long, long hiatus from any sort of activity on my blog I've decided to retool it in the hopes of reviving it. My goal is to give it a new life and a new, more narrowly defined focus. As part of that, I should probably explain my motivations for this change.
To put it bluntly, no one gives a shit.
Now, as self-deprecating as that may seem, hear me out. Previously I had commented on various things that interested me, be it digital photography, motorcycles, cars, movies- the point being that there was no real unifying topic. On average, someone who is looking for a blog to read wants to see something more cohesive than what most personal blogs offer, which is a sort of context-free collage of random happenings in someone's life. I greatly enjoy talking about cars and motorsports, but someone looking for my thoughts on the F1 season probably couldn't care less about the vacation I spent in Tokyo. Likewise, I have a deep interest in military hardware and firearms, but someone here to see a range report on my AR15 chambered in .300 Blackout would likely be thoroughly disinterested in an article about the latest EDM I've been listening to. The problem I see is that the broader range of topics that I try to cover, the more and more dilute- and therefore less interesting- the blog as a whole becomes to read.
So, with that in mind I'm going to narrow the focus of Telefpreen into what the new subtitle proclaims it to be: "Video gaming, personal computers, and the occasional commentary on consumer electronics."
I mean, hey, the internet really could use another half-assed tech blog, couldn't it?
To put it bluntly, no one gives a shit.
Now, as self-deprecating as that may seem, hear me out. Previously I had commented on various things that interested me, be it digital photography, motorcycles, cars, movies- the point being that there was no real unifying topic. On average, someone who is looking for a blog to read wants to see something more cohesive than what most personal blogs offer, which is a sort of context-free collage of random happenings in someone's life. I greatly enjoy talking about cars and motorsports, but someone looking for my thoughts on the F1 season probably couldn't care less about the vacation I spent in Tokyo. Likewise, I have a deep interest in military hardware and firearms, but someone here to see a range report on my AR15 chambered in .300 Blackout would likely be thoroughly disinterested in an article about the latest EDM I've been listening to. The problem I see is that the broader range of topics that I try to cover, the more and more dilute- and therefore less interesting- the blog as a whole becomes to read.
So, with that in mind I'm going to narrow the focus of Telefpreen into what the new subtitle proclaims it to be: "Video gaming, personal computers, and the occasional commentary on consumer electronics."
I mean, hey, the internet really could use another half-assed tech blog, couldn't it?
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