The AFFORDABLE Gaming System!

I have said to friends on many occasions that I don't buy complete computer systems from companies like Dell or HP. I've been very succinct in my reasoning, and that is that I can build a better system for less. A few points to consider:

1. Part of what you are paying for is their labor. While I would have to charge some labor to build a system for someone else, I am sure it would still save that person some money.
2. When you get a system from one of the big companies, you get a lot of [what I call] crap loaded on your system that you may never use. Most of this is required by that company's partners in exchange for good deals. What it means for you is less drive space and unnecessary programs loading and using up resources.
3. While warranty seems nice, it means that you have to take (or send) your system to an authorized repair facility which can mean going without your system for a time.
4. Some companies still use proprietary hardware which means you can't upgrade yourself.

Why am I on this soapbox? There are many reasons, but one of them is THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR.

$

Recently, I went to Dell.com to price out gaming rigs. I priced out an Alienware and a non-Alienware system with mid-high specs. How much do you think those systems cost?

$3500-$5900

Ouch right?
This doesn't include a monitor!

Tonight, I finally got off my ass and priced out individual parts to build my own gaming rig from scratch. Look at these specs in my Gaming System Wish List. (Don't add it all up yet. The total is below.)

This system is a 64-bit system running a 3-core CPU, 8GB of fast RAM, 1TB Raid 0 configuration, two great video cards running SLI, a great sound card, gaming input devices, surround sound, and a 24 inch widescreen display. This will run any game you can buy off the shelf with the graphics cranked as high as it can go!!!

So how much am I out in parts for such a killer gaming system?

$2088.48

Not only is this a 40-60% savings in price for me, but it would benchmark faster than the Alienware! Even if I built this for you, you are talking about $420 labor at standard technician rates. Even more is that you can use this as a base to upgrade in the future meaning that you can spend a few bucks to upgrade a video card without having to take it in the an authorized dealer!

Now you know why I build my own.... and harp on others to do the same....

Update: I got a comment outside of this blog that AMD Tri-Core doesn't belong in a wishlist. This comment was based on that person's 'opinion' of either AMD or their tri-core processor and not based on any review I have read. However, if you are also biased against that processor (or any other item in my list) then just substitute whatever you like better. Either way, you will still come in WAY WAY WAY less than buying the Dell. That was the point of this blog... the savings. It is not my intent to shove a particular CPU down your throat. I encourage anyone to go put together their own list and compare it to the Alienware.

Still alive! (I think...)

If my life were to be expressed in BASIC it would look something like:

10 REM ***Daily Routine***
20 PRINT "Go to work."
30 IF DAY = "Wednesday" THEN GOTO 50
40 PRINT "Go to school."
50 PRINT "Go home"
60 IF TIME < "5:00" THEN PRINT "Play with kids."
70 PRINT "Do Homework"
80 PRINT "Go to sleep for 5 hours."
90 IF HEARTBEAT = 0 THEN GOTO 110
100 GOTO 20
110 END

While this doesn't cover everything, you get the idea of the endless loop that my life has become. This would be a great deal of the reason why I have not posted a blog in a long time. Add to that the computer problems I've been having, and you can see how it's been tough lately. So here's a little update on life in general:

Work:
I'm still working at the same old place making the same pocket change. While I like the work, I'm still not liking the pay or the company that I work for. I recently got some scuttlebutt from the guys at Range Control that a job will soon be posted for a job over there. It would be a civil service job that will net just about $3.00 an hour more. However, it would be a foot in the door for the GS wage grade and there is a possibility that they may add a job over there that my college work would qualify me for. If that happens, then I'd get another pay hike that would put me back to where I once was. Add to that the federal benefits and that I can apply my time in the army toward retirement an it's a win. Needless to say, I'll be watching out for that posting.

School:
I have one more class this semester, which is my final in my IT Essentials class. I'm in the process of scheduling my CompTIA A+ exam. I'm signed up for classes that start on January 21st. There was a scheduling conflict at the school, so the IT class I was supposed to have in the evening changed to afternoons. Luckily (or not depending on how you look at it) my adviser is also the instructor and was willing to let me do the class via independent study. While this means that I can still take the class, it also means that it will be more work and harder to make the grade. I'll have to see the lab schedules and do my studies during small windows of opportunity. It will be a couple of weeks before I see my final grades in the two classes I took this semester. I know that I passed, I just don't know the final grades yet.

Computers:
The Laptop.
Before classes started, I had a feeling that I was going to need a laptop for school. My feeling was strong on this, but my wife felt that it was less likely and we should wait and see. The verdict is in. I definitely did need one. Since my wife is a work from home type, she can write off a new computer. But that means she gets the new one, and I get the hand-me-down. Lucky her, but at least I have a school laptop out of it. (Since we got rid of the 7 year old one, I now have dubbed mine the "craptop.") It's not much, but I can write my papers on it separate from my gaming system and from darn near anywhere I can find quiet.

The desktop.
It's been up and down more than Pam Anderson on a pogo stick. Some of you may say, "You've still been checking email and Facebook!" This is true, but no one has seen me in Everquest II in a long time. The laptop and using my phone (to text updates to Twitter which also show in Facebook) go a long way toward keeping me connected.

First, it was a 500GB external hard drive that just stopped spinning. While this didn't take the system down as a a whole, it did take out my music and video collections. Then, I installed Windows 7. That went without a hitch, but soon afterward I started having problems. The short story is that one of my two 160GB internal drives bought the farm. Depending on time, I may blog my adventures in how I finally figured out the problem. Luckily, we were able to get a great deal on a couple of 1TB external drives. Too bad my hopes and plans of running RAID 0 are now going to have to wait.

So, as of this posting, I now have both of my computers up and running.

Let me also add that Windows 7 Home Premium is everything that the hype says it is. This really is the OS that Microsoft should have been producing from the start. Detractors say that it's geared too much toward amateur users, but they fail to see that 90% of the users out there fall into that category.


If you don't already have a 64-bit capable system, start saving now. That is where the computer market is going to very quickly. If you need evidence, look at the fact that the first 64-bit OS Microsoft offered was XP Professional (not home versions you notice.) Now, you have fully supported 64-bit versions of Vista and Windows 7. The hardware manufacturers are now up to par with device drivers as well.

The Project From Hell

THIS.... was the starting point. When I moved in with my wife, the wall was already this shade of pink. The desk, I'd acquired shortly afterward when we'd decided that we both needed new desks and wanted them to match. Over the course of a few years, this desk move twice. On the second move, one of the supporting vertical panels partially gave way. There was no way that this desk was going anywhere one piece. Now we have been trying to paint one room at a time whenever we have the time and manpower.... (ha ha ha... I said time.) We also have new windows that are scheduled to be put into place sometime in the next two weeks. We hope. So, in order to do these projects, both desks would have to be moved temporarily. My desk is the worst off as I said, but my wife's may not make it either.

So, since we are going to wait for the windows to get done before moving her desk, that made it a good time to tackle my side of the room..

So, the first step was to get all the shi'... err.. stuff off the desk. Then (as you can see to the right) it was demolition time. You can also see where the panel came loose a little better in this picture. It's to the top right of the drawer opening and about where my left leg would touch. Armed with trusty power tools and the 'Stanley' Hammer of Destruction, I began the only enjoyable part of the task. Me bash!!!




Ok, so I didn't make that big of a mess. I still got to use my hammer! Now that the main obstacle was demolished, it was time to get some cosmetic stuff done. Bring on the paint supplies!

You got me, it's not really that exciting, but hey I was trying to keep motivated at this point.

I'm not very experienced at painting as it is, but I'm really not experienced at the prep work. However, it was at this stage of the project that my wife could really help...

Scratch that. No sooner did I think that thought, and she came to me with a look on her face that meant bad news. The news was that she was feeling rather ill. So, if she were a star linebacker, the roster at this point would list her as questionable.
I was on my own for the prep. Out came
the spackle and the tape.

Since we were painting white over a color, it was time for the Killz primer. We had a can from earlier projects, thank goodness. Err... maybe not. When we opened the can, the stuff inside was hard as a rock on bottom and nothing but oil on top. Yay... a trip to the store to fetch a new pail of primer. (No, I didn't break my crown.) Ok, green flag restart. My wife had limited play time, but managed to do the edging.

Unfortunately, our camera ate a few pictures of the process here. So here we are with our beautiful new wall. At this stage I also have the thermostat re-installed, the doorbell re-attached, and the outlets back to normal. All that was left was to put the TV back, and I could start to build my lovely new desk!




Woah... .. there's 46 wooden parts and 17 pounds of friggen hardware here (shown to the left!)

There's 48 pages of instructions...

This could suck...






Silly manufacturer has you build the hutch part first. I would find out later why this is. Every single peg and screw had to be put in by hand, and the metal pegs were a pain in the anterior to get in straight! You're looking at a little over three hours work at this point in the assembly.



The kids mostly stayed upstairs to play (to my surprise and delight); but as I got the first pedestal built I had a little helper come down.

At this point, the project actually started to roll along quicker. The bottom half was a little easier to assemble.



Gee... only took a couple of hours to get the pieces together for the bottom half. Then I find out why the instructions had me build the hutch first. The hutch has to attach to the desktop before the desktop is attached to the bottom pedestals.

This is going to suck because the desktop is easily 65 pounds by itself, plus the hutch that is about 50 pounds of awkward.


The drawers and the cabinet were the final pieces, but I only got one of the drawers done before I had to get the computer hooked up. Three days without it and I was having withdrawals.

I tried hard to keep the spaghetti wiring to a minimum, but... well we'll just say that I have some more routing to do!


So, the desk is together.... but what ever am I to do with all the stuff that accumulated on the old desk?

Ugh.. it never ends. I have a lot of sorting to do...

But for now.... it's time to catch up on what's going on in the world!!

Between a Lake and a Sand Trap

Continuing on my theme here of bitching about my station in life; brings me to the subject of golf...

Tiger Woods celebrity profile

First let me say congratulations to Tiger Woods on win number 69. (What a great number!) His game is so up and down this year. Mine is too, (albeit about 30 stroke worse on average.)

I'm a bogey golfer. I've been a bogey golfer for years now. Part of my issue is lack of play time, much like my online gaming dilemma. The other limitation is money. I have the ability to hit great shots. I've had bad starts that I have pulled together and shot my average in the end. But just can't seem to reach that next skill level...


To test my theory, I spent more time at the indoor golf place this winter, and started hitting a lot of golf balls when the ranges opened outside. This put some stress on the home life, as I suspected. However, when I finally played a round it was like I hadn't taken nine months off. I played a couple strokes below my average. Great!

Then work and life stopped the trips to the range and extra rounds, and I've slipped a few strokes. I still hit the good shots, but I don't get on a roll like at the beginning of the season. Like many amateur golfers I can't seem to make the long game and short game both work on the same day. For non-golfers out there, that means that if I can hit the fairway on the drive I tend to have trouble getting on the green and in the hole from there. If I'm struggling off the tee, my short game tends to make a save or two in my favor. If those two elements would ever show up on the same day it would be epic!

So, it appears that I'm stuck between playing better (more enjoyable) golf and living in mediocrity on course in order to live in bliss at home. One day either my wife will tire of me (hasn't happened yet after nearly 7 years...knock on wood) and kick me out of the house to play, or the boys will be grown up and home responsibilities will be light enough to allow for more recreation time. Despite my bemoaning, I gladly accept what life has handed me and won't be giving it up any time soon.

Casual Gaming in Alaska

Anyone that knows me is well aware of my online gaming. Being a family man, I am forced to be a casual gamer at best. By no means is this a complaint about my status as a father. I love my family and would not trade them for the world. However, there is no doubt that there are things you just cannot do online when you have these responsibilities.

In the FPS games I play, it's not as critical. It means that I can't be an active member of a clan that does ladder tournaments. While I believe that would be fun, it's not really my play style anyway. Where I'm affected most in shooters is in skill. I get a few hours a night (shared between games) to play. There's no way I'm going to get as skilled (or learn all the exploits) that some punk kid that games 24/7 in his mom's basement obscured by the empty pizza boxes and energy drink cans. (In my day, it was Mountain Dew...)


Now when it comes to my other online vice, it gets more complicated. I love MMORPGs. I grew up playing AD&D, GURPS, and Earthdawn, and when my gaming group got too busy for the weekly game, they pitched in and got me EverQuest for my birthday. When EverQuest II came out, it was a natural move for me. I just got my Dwarf Templar to 80/80 before Fan Faire in June.

Challenge number one in my MMO adventures is time zone. The boys go to bed at 8pm my time, which is midnight EST. When I am logging on, many players are logging off. Raids are either over or full, and most groups already have a plate healer.

Challenge two is the amount of time I play. As a working man, I don't stay up till the wee hours like I did as a kid. This means that if I'm going to get in a raid (hard to do because of number one above) then it needs to be forming right when I'm getting on. Otherwise I either go past my allotted time, or log out and risk getting blacklisted.

All of this is very detrimental to getting my mythical epic. My options are to risk my marriage and kids' welfare, or make time to make raids during earlier hours. Not really an option. It would almost be like choosing to jump off a cliff rather than stand there and enjoy the view.

A little back story...

Greetings.

I've only just decided to start blogging. I resisted it for a long time. My wife has a blog, but I have always felt my time was better spent doing something more relaxing. I think the reason I'm starting now is because I feel like I have something to say on more than one subject. So, before I get into too much of the current events...

I'm looking for a new job. I'm going back to college in September. Why you may ask?

In September of 2007, I found myself in the job market. I got a job with a very large global company that had the contract for quite a few ranges here in Alaska. To avoid any possible legal issues, I will refer to them as "Company R." I started at about $24 per hour. Six weeks later, I moved to another range with a promotion and a new wage of $32 an hour. (Those numbers are base pay. Because the jobs are under the Service Contract Agreement Act, I got $3.16 more for every hour worked. That money was to go to health insurance.) Everything seemed to be going well. Until...

Fast forward to May 2008. The current contract that I was working under lapsed. A new one goes into effect. Under the new contract, my site has been sub-contracted to a native-owned corporation (Referred to here as "Company A.") The problem is that they changed the job allocations. No longer are there to be six technicians on the site. I am notified that I'm to fill the slot of Computer Operator for an insulting $17 an hour.

This is the first sign that this company is not one I'm going to be happy with. I have a background in electronics, audio/video, and computers. I have military experience, where I also did electronic work. Yet I was not awarded a job as an Electronic Technician. They will not give me an answer why. I'm pretty sure why, but to confirm my theory would mean I could site where they violate their own policy.

Unfortunately, this happened inn the mist of an economic downturn. I have applied for quite a few jobs, but to no avail. Most of them are GS grade federal jobs, that I got beat out on because a 10 point veterans preference candidate applied (I have 5 point veteran preference.) I have a resume in on three jobs now.

The reason this blog is called "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" is because in many facets of my life, I really am in a grey area between success and failure. Right now, we are getting by because of some assistance. The biggest help is a program called Denali Kid Care. Long story short, free health care for my children. If a get a twenty-something an hour job, we lose that but then have to pay for insurance on the boys. Doing the math on that means that I'd actually have less net pay! So, either I stay at the $17 per hour and get assistance, or I have to get a $30 per hour or better job to get us comfortable and all insured.

Here's the kicker... Company A has major issues in their HR department. The owe me a lot of money that is supposed to be in my 401k right now. They are in violation of labor laws. They lose official paperwork with my SSN on it. They take 4-6 weeks to process things that are supposed to happen by the next paycheck. They refuse to give me info that I request, like what deductions are pre-tax and which are post-tax... something else I suspect they are screwing up.

So, despite this long post, that is the very abbreviated version of my job situation. Stay tuned for background in other areas of my life, and hopefully some humorous anecdotes here and there!