I built a budget PC for myself this week. It is something that I’ve been meaning to do for awhile, but for some reason or another never could bring myself to commit the money to because I’m such a tightwad. D=

I can’t recall the last time that I used a Nvidia card. I’ve had a preference for ATI ever since I received my first ATI card as a hand-me-down; which was by no coincidence when I also became addicted to Source games. Most Source games were (and still are) optimized for ATI, so there was a noticeable difference in benchmark performance between comparable cards. Eventually though, I just stopped upgrading (and caring) enough to keep track of those things, and exclusively bought ATI cards. My love affair with ATI became so strong that once, I even bought ram simply because it was ATI certified. Yeah, I’m such a tool. =PpP

All of this ended once ATI sold out to AMD. Driver updates became slow (which wouldn’t have been bad if they weren’t also unstable) and every Catalyst Control Center from 9.4 onward had installation problems. I used system restore more times than I can count — routinely uninstalling and then reinstalling CCC, ATI drivers, and .NET Framework whenever there was yet another broken CCC update. It became so routine that I’d check the AMD forums before each update just to see if they had been deluged with the same old complaints. As for my registry? It was like fighting a losing battle to keep it from looking like something out of Cthulu.

So far, I’ve been happy with my GTX 260 just because updating drivers hasn’t caused anything to ‘splode. =B

I had to post a picture of the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R by itself because it is without a doubt the prettiest motherboard that I have ever owned. That is probably the last adjective I would use to describe the appearance of a motherboard, but… just look at it! Have you ever seen anything so SHINY?! LOL I have no experience with Gigabyte as a brand, but their Intel-optimized boards have good ratings on Newegg, and this board had so much upgrade potential (SLI, tri-channel). It is why I compromised on GPU and ram for now.

This is like its baby picture, because I took it the first time that I powered it up! It looks like it barfed up a bunch of wires in the photo because I hadn’t bothered to organize or tie them up yet. I know that some people consider that a top priority, but I wanted to check my fan speeds and temperature in bios first just to make sure that everything was working properly and I hadn’t messed something up. =X

The V8 is so huge that I was worried I might need to remove one of my fans to make it fit (CM Scout has a 120m fan at the top), but fortunately it didn’t turn out to be a concern. I did need my Dad’s help while installing the mount though because it was difficult for me to screw it into place in the back while holding the V8 in position on the front. He kept asking if I was doing anything that could electrocute him. =P LOL Oh, and the best part was applying the thermal compound (Arctic Silver 5), since it came with a little brush! It was like giving a manicure to a processor. The last time that I installed a heatsink, I used the stock compound that came with it in a tube, which was messy and scary (since there was no applicator). But this was so easy!

Anyways, I love my Scout(s). <3

Chassis: Cooler Master Storm Scout (Medium Tower)

PSU: XFX (P1-650X-CAG9) XXX Edition (650W)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (LGA 1366)

Processor: Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz Quad-Core (LGA 1366)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V8

Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (7200 RPM)

GPU: MSI Nvidia GeForce GTX 260

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

So, I was playing RDR with my Mom earlier today…

I think that she (we?) may have discovered the most awesome glitch ever!

Since this is already a YouTube post, I’d also like to share a video that some very talented people made as a tribute to Fallout 3. Thanks to Timothy Pape for forwarding this my way! (PS: NSFW and contains panties. =P)

Just to end this on a western note…

4:28 PM – Jalaman: You just need to update to SP2, looks like.
4:30 PM – Rachel: Thank you!
4:30 PM – Jalaman: Anyone would’ve done the same, ma’am.
4:31 PM – Rachel: If only more men were as gentile as you, sir!
4:31 PM – Jalaman: This is the part where I go crazy and run into her constantly to make her fall over
4:31 PM – Rachel: LMAO

I’ve always resented April Fool’s Day — probably because I’m the one whose always getting pranked! I like to think that it is because I’m a trusting person and quick to believe what my family or friends tell me in an earnest voice. What do they tell me on April Fool’s Day? That I’m just too gullible! *L*

Anyways, I figured that for April Fool’s Day, I would share some things in my life that you might not know about (old and new). There’s no “joke” or “prank”; I just consider it wacky/amusing enough to post.

Did you know that there is a secret room in my house? They were all the rage in the 70′s when my Dad rebuilt this wall and added concealing wood paneling to the doorway. It was intended to be a panic room, but has been turned into everything from a law library to a doll room over the years as it suited my parent’s needs.

When I was young and still attending private Catholic schools, it was always my house that got picked for slumber parties, because my girlfriends would love to play pranks on the girls who had never been here before. One girl would distract the “victim” with idle conversation as her back was to the wall, while the “accomplice” secretly waited on the other side for an opportunity. When the timing was right, our prankster would open the door (which silently swung inward) and grab the poor girl from behind — kicking and screaming into the room! Well, maybe not quite that dramatic, but there was definitely screaming once we turned on the lights and she saw dolls EVERYWHERE (Puppetmaster was popular at the time). XD

My local library was having a book sale recently and my Mom was really excited to go. When I saw the books, I understood why, because some of them predated my Grandma! They say that the best way to judge a generation is by its literature, and the politics of the times were definitely reflected in some of these titles.

The McCarthyist presentation of this one caught my eye. The primary motivation behind these reports were the Berkeley riots and socialist movement that swept through California in the 1960′s. This final report however wasn’t submitted until 1970; so it seems out of touch even by the standards of its own time! I find it humorous because it was the product of a state as notoriously liberal as California.

I pre-ordered Red Dead Redemption weeks ago when Rockstar announced the Best Buy War Horse. I literally made a deposit and got my receipt the day of that announcement. It was a bit of a hassle, because the clerk had to explain to me why they only accept deposits for pre-orders and not payments in full.

Then I received an e-mail from my Mom yesterday, saying that Best Buy had called several times asking for me to pick up my “Red Dead Redemption pre-order.” I was confused, since I hadn’t read anything on Kotaku about the game being released early. What could they possibly want me to pick up? As it turned out, this absolutely pointless, empty cardboard box that says “PRE ORDER ONLY – GAME NOT INCLUDED.” I seriously thought it was some kind of early April Fool’s joke, because it was really inconveniencing to go and pick up.

The clerk also refused once again to accept my payment in full for the pre-order. When I do go to pick up the actual game, I’ll have to wait in line to pay for it along with the same people who are buying it at launch. Doesn’t that totally defeat the purpose of pre-ordering? No wonder BBY keeps dropping…

I’m not ashamed to admit that for an Indie title categorized under the “Family” genre on Steam, Secret of the Magic Crystals is a very enjoyable game. The premise of raising fantasy horses is whimsical enough to appeal to my inner-child, while the strategy elements involved in their breeding and outfitting adds an element of complexity that I find engaging enough to keep me interested as an adult. I’ve clocked twenty hours into the game since receiving it as a gift from Ayakashi a few weeks ago — it is highy addictive!

I was surprised that for such a simple and multilingual title, virtually no information existed online for SotMC. GameFAQs only contains the official game description paragraph, which article stubs on game news websites merely regurgitate ad-naseum. Even the developer’s official website, which I only found by Googling their company name, doesn’t do much to promote the game. Running a basic WordPress install, it offers a minimalist game booklet for download. I found it useful as a game introduction, but still lacking as a tutorial in explaining even the more basic gameplay functions (most of which I had to discover on my own). It is a shame considering the obvious amount of thought and effort that they invested into developing the game.

I love my new horsey socks!!! >3< Aren't they adorable?! His sign says: “Will Work For Carrots!” *L*

Valve introduced a Steam UI beta recently and the prospect of eventually being forced to use it during my games is absolutely horrifying. It is like going from OPEN LOOK to Motif while breaking every GUI/window standard since 1994 (obviously, it wasn’t designed by a Californian). *L* Everything is so graphics-choked and cluttered (not to mention resource-intensive due to the Steam cloud) that the overlay now takes twice as long to open or close during a game. The more graphics-intensive the game, the more likely the overlay is to crash.

The purpose of the Steam overlay (to me) has always been communication; having a means of organizing things with your friends when you are already in a game. The browser was a welcome addition in that it provided a quick and forgettable distraction from L4D2 lobbies when you were waiting for people to join. Valve however seems to have re-evaluated the overlay’s purpose and concluded that it needs to be more browser (and distraction) oriented. They’ve provided “helpful” links to game groups and the forums in the upper-right of the overlay, since apparently we all can’t live without reading/making “+1 rep” posts during a game. If you’re the type of person to have more than one chat window open at a time, you’re likely to accidentally click one of these links while moving/closing the windows — which is as distracting as it is resource-hogging.

This all might be acceptable to me if some of the additions to the overlay were necessary improvements or beneficial to me in some way as a user, but they’re not. They do nothing to improve the appearance or functionality of the overlay and only serve to make it more unstable. Why would I need to see my most recent Achievement for a game in the overlay, when I could review that information in my Control Panel, or on my Steam Profile? Why do I need to read a three-month-old news feed for the game when I already belong to the Official Group and receive news in the form of Announcements? Why do I need to see a horizontal display of four random friends (who aren’t even playing the same game) when my vertical Friends List does a better job?

I really hope that we’ll have the option of continuing to use the old overlay once the new one is released.

I hate worrying about getting my riding boots dirty outside of the arena (leather and mud don’t mix), so I bought these wellies to wear when I’m lunging, brushing, picking, and otherwise seeing to the care of horses. I have no intention of wearing rubber boots with no grip in an English saddle; so without needing to worry about soles, I gave myself an excuse to browse Hunter’s RHS collection. I picked out this monochrome floral pattern to match my riding habit, which usually consists of dark grey or black jodhpurs in the winter. However, I forgot to pick a size larger than I normally wear (so that I could slip them off easily when muddy); so they’re tight around the calf. I already purchased a different pair to wear in the meantime, but I still haven’t decided what I want to do with these yet. It isn’t economical to return them and they’re too pretty to sell at loss. =(

Oh! I was reading about Battlefield: BC2 on Kotaku yesterday when something familiar caught my eye. XD