the failure, in summary
I have built myself a new gaming PC.
Of sorts.
Basically, I’ve spent close to $1700 now and I’m still trying to play Crysis with an 8600GT. In summary:
- My ATI 4870×2 was a pain to order, and holy crap is it a pain to install. I’ll take it seal clubbing when I get bored of gaming.
- My motherboard doesn’t support my 4870×2. I bought an Intel board with reliability in mind, a complete crushing irony you can read about here.
- This is worth clarifying and repeating: Do not buy a DP45SG and a 4870×2 until I say so. I’m waiting for another BIOS update that’ll make everything better.
- Meanwhile, the power supply I picked up ran perfectly for ten minutes, and then I mailed it back to exchange it for a working one.
- Don’t assume modular power supplies are awesome. Anything is only as good as its weakest link, and if you forget to plug the *other* end of the cable in (or that plug is ever-so-slightly off and thus impossible to attach without removing the power supply from the box anyway), things don’t work too well.
- As an alternative to the Cooler Master Stacker, the Thermaltake Armor and the Antec Nine Hundred, allow me to suggest the Lian Li PC-A16B. It’s made of aluminium, it looks like an industrial refrigerator, and is the perfect case for a PC you want to name after Batman.
- Today’s new surprise: the recent grinding to a halt thing it’s been doing is not a sign of underdeveloped storage drivers, but that my 1TB hard drive is dying. I’m fighting my instinct to rush out and buy the most awesome mirrored RAID setup my money can lay its hands on; I’m going to stand by my intention of not spending money to back up data everyone else already has anyway.
- Having bought (in theory) a decent rig that’s comfortably close to the bleeding edge, I instantly became bored and wondered why I bothered. Dreams dissolve by the time you’re old enough to afford them on your own 🙁