• 3Jun 09

  New PC (for the price of a PS3)

  Well, the price of my PS3 - $500CDN latelast summer when I was running around trying to score a Metal Gear Solid bundle.

  It's interesting to see the price of technology fall, as the last computer I built back in 2001 cost me about $1700CDN, which is similar in price to the laptop I bought three or four years ago. Now, for $500 I can put together something that's not spectacular, but surprisingly competent, and more than capable of playing current (and future) games, most of them at my monitor's native resolution.

  Oh yeah, remember the monitor I bought the other month? It's now become a shared monitor as my girlfriend's old computer moves on to her sister and we start sharing this new one and my old laptop. Naturally, I want to use this computer more as it's better for gaming, even if the screen resolution is a slight drop (from 1920x1200 on my laptop to 1920x1080 on the SX2210).

  So what did $500 buy me?

  -AMD X2 7750 Black (haven't overclocked yet, if I will I doubt I'll bring it up to 3Ghz)
  -Middling Gigabyte motherboard sans Crossfire, because two videocards is nuts
  -4GB DDR2
  -512MBSapphire Radeon4830
  -1TB Western Digital drive
  -Samsung DVD burner
  -Antec Sonata III case

  I stuck the 64bit release candidate of Windows 7 on there to cut costs for now(plus, it's awesome), and the entire thing is plenty fast enough to run every game I own at the monitor's native resolution with details cranked. I have no complaints.

  

  My only real gripe is that it looks like a $500 PC inside - although I'm not about to buy a fancy CPU cooler and fan to create the illusion of something more.

  

  

  • Posted Jun 3, 2009 2:04 pm PT
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• 3May 09

  [Too Many] April Pick-ups

  I normally don't buy much stuff - however, a weird combination of events led to just that this past April. Only one of them was unexpected.

  First off, a video camera. I wanted something cheap, something that would do full HD, and something that would take decent stills in a pinch. The Sanyo FH1 fit perfectly, with it only real flaw being a lack of optical stabilization. I also learned in the process that 'Full HD' is marketing speak for 'Not So Full HD,' or 1080i. The FH1 is one of the few cameras that does 1080p at 60fps. Of course, that also means the end files are huge and do not play back smoothly on any device other than the camera itself, or until I get a really fast computer. They look great hooked up to my TV via HDMI, though.

  

  The unexpected one was a monitor, as my girlfriend's monitor died and (coincidentally) Dell was having a one day sale on their new SX2210 monitor. So I bought it.

  Now I want one. It's 21.5", 1920x1080, and I really want to try my PS3 on it.

  

  (it's off because her default desktop is a pink flower and I don't want to post that in my blog)

  The last couple of bits are related:

  

  I'm not sure I'm sold on my console layout, but I don't have much more room to stick any of them without buying a rack to go beside my TV stand or stacking them in front of my TV, which isn't going to happen. And yes, that's still my HD-DVD player at the bottom, holding everything else up.

  I also bought a few games for it, since the ones the previous owner had were all VC titles. No More Heroes isn't open yet as I heard one of my friends found me a copy before I did, and I think it's used...so I can't return that one. It also sucks, as I have this one staring at me and I don't have the other copy yet, so it's taking a lot of willpower to not tear open the plastic.

  

  So far I've played Mario the most, and it's awesome. It was worth the wait to pick up a Wii, I think.

  Oh yeah, I also bought a few packs of this:

  

  The cheapest (well, almost) and tastiest part of my purchases, by far.

  • Posted May 3, 2009 12:12 am PT
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• 9Apr 09

  The glory of hops

  Your fingers wrap tightly around metal, points digging into your skin. With a deft lift and twist, metal frees itself from glass with an audible whoosh, and the first bubbles of carbonation burst forth, gently pushing the surrounding scents into the air.

  It's crisp, bitter, full bodied, and after a long draw in the nostrils the massive brute force of half a dozen different hop varieties plows through.

  Tilting the bottle, you admire its colour - rich, amber gold swirling with bubbles, and the final few drops serve to accentuate the glorious white head formed on the top of the liquid. A second sniff reinforces the first, and your tastebuds poke your salivary glands into overdrive.

  Unconsciously, your hand wraps around the glass, squeaks gently against the forming condensation and lifts it to your lips.

  A moment passes as liquid obeys the force of gravity and slides and pools down the side of the glass, teasing your lips and then fully entering your mouth, bubbles dancing with glee.

  The first perceptible taste is strong, bitter. It's full. Clenched.

  The second taste is milder, crisp. Sweet. Citrus-like.

  You swallow, muscles contracting and sending the liquid gold further down. The lingering aftertaste is multifaceted, and what initially seemed like a single source of bitterness suddenly has five or six different notes.

  A second sip sheds no new light, but tastes just as delicious.

  The third sip is much the same. As you concentrate on the multitude of flavours, delighting in its depth, you realize that your glass is empty.

  You reach for the bottle but realize that it too has nothing left to give you. The mystery of flavoursshall go on yet another day.

  

  • Posted Apr 9, 2009 9:12 pm PT
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