Post by robbymac on Jun 29, 2007 20:03:01 GMT -5
OK,
well, I have no skin to show atm...
but short story long, I've had a decent year so far this year (self employed) and under advice from my accountant I am 'creating some expenses' to help offset the extra income this year lol. funny how that works.
Anyways... I finally bit the bullet and got myself a nice 200$ leather office chair. If I were smarter, I wouldve bought this 10 years ago, instead of trying several cheaper chairs which never really were comfortable through the long hours, and probably wound up totaling twice that of the leather chair.
Now I do graphic design of sorts for a living, so my systems are pretty much decent for producing flat art... but when it comes to 3d gaming, they tend to suffer... unfortunately, the 3d grafix cards pricing and 'not all that great' 2d performance, as well as heat issues with higher end systems really are a bit stand-offish to me for my work computers... so I am building a gaming system.
I didnt want to go completely crazy, since I now have to get a new desk for this computer and need to keep that in the budget...
I dont think my wife would approve of a full blown custom cockpit atm, so a really simple 5' wide flat desk that I can mod as needed has been ordered. Plus spending this much on a computer makes me a bit uncomfortable.
The system, is hopefully going to make my frame rates much better on the 3d gaming... Right now I'm getting around 30-40 fps alone. But once I get in a group my rates drop down to around 15-20 fps making it rather unpleasant. Plus, to help my wife ease into this idea, I picked up the new microsoft flight simulator for her. She'd tried flying years ago, but didnt keep up with it once we started having kids It's not the same as really flying, but perhaps she can get some enjoyment out of this new system also.
Amd 5200+
Asus Sli Mobo
OCZ Vindicator Cooling Kit for CPU
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX 768mb GDDR3
4 gb DDR2 Dual Channel memory (2 gb corsair, 2gb PNY)
2 WD 160gb SATA HD (I decided I wont RAID these, but rather use one for OS and misc, the other for GAMES)
IDE Sony DVD Burner
Wireless mouse
Wired KB
Ultra Mid Tower Clear Side Case, ultra 500w power supply.
Logitech 5.1 Surround SOund Speaker System
22" Westinghouse LCD Monitor with DVI, HD, S-Vid, Dsub inputs)
Win XP-Pro
In all, about $2000 spent so far... ouch.
1st day, I get the CPU, Memory, Case, and moboard assembled. Moboard and case go together like peas n carrots. I had to trin the 'cooling tube' on the clear side case down to nothing, in order to allow for the Vindicator (thing is huge) fan to fit, but thats understandable due to the size.
I spark up what I have gathered so far (mobo, mem, cpu), with just a basic pci grafix card, monitor and KB attached so i can start the burn-in and get a feel for the temps, etc... The moboard craps out on me... I try different memory without success. I try yanking my pci grafix card from one of my other systems, and its still acting goofy. Basically it boots when it feels like it, and never reboots after a change in the bios is made and saved.
So it's now RMA, off to Asus for replacement
So whether I spend $2k on a system or $400, I still run into the same damn troubles for no aparant reason lol...
In ANY event, I found inspiration with this new system, so as I progress with this, and get it built/finished, I will keep the progress updated here and I will also create some skins, using the component companies as sponsors. But I will do it like I do most of my cars... I will show the pencil sketches I develop first, and the prelims, up until the finished piece.
You'll also see how I go about creating a skin with sponsors in mind beforehand. (Which is usually more difficult than having the luxury of picking a sponsor after a kick-ass paint scheme has been created).
Right now, Im just all tuckered out after fighting with an unruly moboard and tech support for most of the day... besides, theres a slight chance ASUS may not be appearing on my skins afterall LOL.
So stay tuned, and we'll see what I can come up with.
As it stands, this is all I have for the moment... as with any job, you first have to start with gathering, or recreating the logos...
well, I have no skin to show atm...
but short story long, I've had a decent year so far this year (self employed) and under advice from my accountant I am 'creating some expenses' to help offset the extra income this year lol. funny how that works.
Anyways... I finally bit the bullet and got myself a nice 200$ leather office chair. If I were smarter, I wouldve bought this 10 years ago, instead of trying several cheaper chairs which never really were comfortable through the long hours, and probably wound up totaling twice that of the leather chair.
Now I do graphic design of sorts for a living, so my systems are pretty much decent for producing flat art... but when it comes to 3d gaming, they tend to suffer... unfortunately, the 3d grafix cards pricing and 'not all that great' 2d performance, as well as heat issues with higher end systems really are a bit stand-offish to me for my work computers... so I am building a gaming system.
I didnt want to go completely crazy, since I now have to get a new desk for this computer and need to keep that in the budget...
I dont think my wife would approve of a full blown custom cockpit atm, so a really simple 5' wide flat desk that I can mod as needed has been ordered. Plus spending this much on a computer makes me a bit uncomfortable.
The system, is hopefully going to make my frame rates much better on the 3d gaming... Right now I'm getting around 30-40 fps alone. But once I get in a group my rates drop down to around 15-20 fps making it rather unpleasant. Plus, to help my wife ease into this idea, I picked up the new microsoft flight simulator for her. She'd tried flying years ago, but didnt keep up with it once we started having kids It's not the same as really flying, but perhaps she can get some enjoyment out of this new system also.
Amd 5200+
Asus Sli Mobo
OCZ Vindicator Cooling Kit for CPU
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX 768mb GDDR3
4 gb DDR2 Dual Channel memory (2 gb corsair, 2gb PNY)
2 WD 160gb SATA HD (I decided I wont RAID these, but rather use one for OS and misc, the other for GAMES)
IDE Sony DVD Burner
Wireless mouse
Wired KB
Ultra Mid Tower Clear Side Case, ultra 500w power supply.
Logitech 5.1 Surround SOund Speaker System
22" Westinghouse LCD Monitor with DVI, HD, S-Vid, Dsub inputs)
Win XP-Pro
In all, about $2000 spent so far... ouch.
1st day, I get the CPU, Memory, Case, and moboard assembled. Moboard and case go together like peas n carrots. I had to trin the 'cooling tube' on the clear side case down to nothing, in order to allow for the Vindicator (thing is huge) fan to fit, but thats understandable due to the size.
I spark up what I have gathered so far (mobo, mem, cpu), with just a basic pci grafix card, monitor and KB attached so i can start the burn-in and get a feel for the temps, etc... The moboard craps out on me... I try different memory without success. I try yanking my pci grafix card from one of my other systems, and its still acting goofy. Basically it boots when it feels like it, and never reboots after a change in the bios is made and saved.
So it's now RMA, off to Asus for replacement
So whether I spend $2k on a system or $400, I still run into the same damn troubles for no aparant reason lol...
In ANY event, I found inspiration with this new system, so as I progress with this, and get it built/finished, I will keep the progress updated here and I will also create some skins, using the component companies as sponsors. But I will do it like I do most of my cars... I will show the pencil sketches I develop first, and the prelims, up until the finished piece.
You'll also see how I go about creating a skin with sponsors in mind beforehand. (Which is usually more difficult than having the luxury of picking a sponsor after a kick-ass paint scheme has been created).
Right now, Im just all tuckered out after fighting with an unruly moboard and tech support for most of the day... besides, theres a slight chance ASUS may not be appearing on my skins afterall LOL.
So stay tuned, and we'll see what I can come up with.
As it stands, this is all I have for the moment... as with any job, you first have to start with gathering, or recreating the logos...