The 6GC Nerds Thread, For anyone that considers themselves a 'nerd' Options

[Bitter]

Yup, the last time I disappeared before personal reasons was why remember. Oh well, maybe will find the money after selling the Firebird and buying a Miata to get another.

I don't remember, anything. If you know what's wrong I could probably fix it

[Box]

For some reason it's lost the operating systems.

[Bitter]

For some reason it's lost the operating systems.

Disk show up in BIOS? Could be a failed hard drive, relatively simple fix if that's the case. I've got a spare 500GB platter drive, though they're fairly cheap to procure on eBay if it is a bad hard drive. I think that one has a hard drive caddy, but I'm a little fuzzy on which one it was I sent you. Pretty sure it was a Dell.

[Box]

It was a Dell. It's been so long I'd have to boot it up and see exactly what's the deal.

[Bitter]

It was a Dell. It's been so long I'd have to boot it up and see exactly what's the deal.

I theory I should be able to create a windows install and preload the needed drivers so it would just work or mostly just work, and of course include the drivers in a folder on the disk. It would be Windows 7 tho...

[Box]

Windows 7 is the best Windows though.

[Bitter]

Yes but support is ending which means it'll soon be a huge and popular target for all kinds of nasty internet stuff to happen to it.

[Box]

Don't go places that give you nasty internet stuff?

[Bitter]

Don't go places that give you nasty internet stuff?

You literally don't even have to go to bad sites anymore, good sites get hacked or advertising banners run malicious scripts or even innocuous websites like unsubbing from a mailing list run a script in the background that exploits a backdoor and opens the way for malware. Just 'not going to those bad sites' isn't good enough anymore, it sucks.

[Box]

Block all the things!

[Bitter]

Block all the things!

[Box]

Well that'll block you from getting to the internet.

[Bitter]

Got a RX580 8GB 'Red Devil' video card for my mini ITX 'gaming' PC build which I have dubbed 'the lil cube that could'. I'm still working on tuning it's power consumption somewhat because it gets a little louder than I like. Partly that's due to it being a power hungry card, at almost 220W running full boost clocks on a raised power limit, but also it's partly due to the fact it BARELY fits into the Core V1 chassis and is nearly pressed against the side panel causing bad turbulent air noise against the hex stamped steel side panel venting. So I'm going to make a fan guard for the side panel of the case out of some cabinet pulls from Home Depot! I bought 3 of these and they'll be in on the 10th, I'll update with some pictures before and after.

I still wish I could have sniped me a GTX 1070 used but a few things prevented that. 1, I couldn't get one for the price point I was willing to spend. 2, the broken ones I was finding all had the same problem with smoked VRM components, telling me a used one might be a poor choice for durability. 3. the 580 8GB was like 1/2 the price for a used like new in pristine shape (as far as I could tell) but hovers within 10% of the performance of a 1070.

Oh and I got the BIOS thing with the Asus H87 board figured out, so it's running the 4590 no problems now. I had to flash the BIOS from the Windows based tool to actually update it, there's a bug in the BIOS updater built into the BIOS where it appears like it's updated and everything reports the new BIOS number but it hasn't actually completed the update at all. What a ****ing ****up on the part of Asus, but it's fixed now and working fine. Got my 16GB of RAM, got my video card with adequate performance, got my decent CPU, got lots of fans, and Battletech DOES work. I just need to install some time to start playing it!

This post has been edited by Bitter: Jul 4, 2019 - 8:06 AM

[Box]

One of these days I'll have a sackful of money to build a super computer, but computers always fall behind cars and musical instruments in priority.

[Bitter]

Bought 32GB of DDR4 3600 for $150 to my door in prep for Ryzen 3000 stuff, RAM prices are at historic lows so I wanted to get some before it went back up. If prices drop more then I may get another 32GB assuming I end up with a board to support it. Also fingers crossed that whatever board and CPU I get works with the RAM I bought.

The cabinet pulls for the fan guard came, look nice. I'll get them test fitted later and maybe cut out the grill too. I forgot to get some door edge guard to help smooth the cut metal edges though, might just bend the metal over backward so it looks OK from the outside. I need to cut the 6 M4 screws down about 1/2 length to work with the thin metal instead of a wooden cabinet or drawer, they're really shallow heads so hopefully no interference with the things behind the side panel! I suppose I could always grind them down a little flatter if need be. If I like how it looks I for sure may get more and do the other side to match and maybe something on the top as an actual grab handle lol not that I'll ever take the computer anywhere ha.

[Box]

You mean you're not using DDR5? Gah.

So I started replaying Final Fantasy IX the other night, original PS1 on 4 discs, and got to the point that revolutionized my 8 year old life. The entire time coming up to this point they're talking about "the mysterious man" and even in his dialogue box he's labeled as such until he finally gets addressed by name as Kuja, then shortly after this happens:


My 8 year old self wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but it changed my perception of gender norms. Which even Final Fantasy VII did to a much smaller extent with Sephiroth, sure he had the long hair but was still very masculine in proportions. Kuja on the other hand, all I can say is damn just look at that hip to waist ratio. Which it was enough though to hold me over at the time, that maybe I wasn't a freak for wanting to be the way that I am and that I wasn't alone even if they were just a video game character. Which it wasn't until much later I better understood myself or knew of my options, but in a way Kuja taught me it was ok to be myself. Just because I wanted to be feminine didn't mean I couldn't like girls, or be hell bent on destroying the world around me for instance.

Also in replaying it you realize the FMV graphics are impressive for the time and especially to have been on the 32 bit PS1. Funny the leap between VII and IX in that regard as well as real time graphics too, as it was the same console.

[Bitter]

I like that story, that's a good story.

[Box]

I think FF IX is my favourite in the numbered series; between the story, characters, and setting. Even though I look forward to the FF VII Remake I'd prefer a remake of IX to be honest. There's also the story of Vivi in IX which hits you in the feels and is something I think a lot of people can relate to; who am I, where am I from, what is my purpose? That and Kuja isn't the typical villain and isn't evil for the sake of being evil(although it's not revealed until late into the game), and in the end repents for his actions. Probably the first sympathetic antagonist before they were a huge thing like they are now, and was first in the numbered series to have a really good story to it.

Sephiroth had his reasons for turning evil and doing what he did, but I think they're more a warning against genetic engineering and cloning humans than it is something you can relate to or are even supposed to. That and there was the whole "exploiting the planet" aspect by Shinra that's very relevant. VIII was more of a love story between Squall and Rinoa and then they remembered "OH YEAH, this is a Final Fantasy game we need a villain to defeat!" and threw in Ultimecia there at the end that wanted to compress time and space for no apparent reason(though she's working behind the scenes through others until that point). VI kinda had something there with Kefka in that he was experimented on, but really don't get told anything more than that and he's just evil for the sake of being evil otherwise but the story of the player characters makes up for that somewhat. I through V the villains are just evil for the sake of being evil, except for IV where Golbez was being manipulated but then the real villain is being evil just for the sake of being evil. X was good as a whole even though like VIII it's mostly a love story between Tidus and Yuna, but at least the story surrounding that and the villain is congruent to everything else. Though more so than it being a single villain with a purpose, it's more so a warning against blind faith in religion and their leaders. XII or XIII I'm not as familiar with since I didn't beat them, but from my understanding they're both good on the story aspect and having villains with some purpose besides being evil. I'd like to get around to them after replaying IX I think. Then XV I hear is supposed to be good on story and continues the sympathetic antagonist theme that XII and XIII kind of did.

Don't even get me started on Final Fantasy Tactics, I want to replay that one again but stupid father traded it off before I could save it like I did VII, VIII, and IX. That's ok now there's the "War of the Lions" version with updated graphics, translation, and gameplay, as well as added cut scenes. Sadly it's only on PSP, Android, or IOS though and not on PS3 or PS4. It has a great story about social levels and the dangers of religion, as well as friendship and family plus you get to see why the villains are doing what they're doing. That and I LOVE tactical RPGs, it and Tactics Ogre(made by the same guy, very obviously) are my favourite games probably.

[Bitter]

https://linustechtips.com/main/uploads/mont...f51341c0cd1.jpg
Not sure that'll link, but I need one more cabinet pull at the bottom. I decided on doing 4 so they're all spaced the same and there's better protection for the card and it's fans.

This post has been edited by Bitter: Jul 7, 2019 - 7:05 PM

[Box]

I miss the old school computer towers that were like huge and stuff, really had some weight to them. This whole computer being smaller than a toaster just isn't right.