PC build project – odds and ends at i live in science land

the new machine works great and while it blew past my original budget of $700 because i did not reuse any old parts, i’d consider it a mid-level “gaming” pc (i’ll do a final tally on it soon, but around $900-950 i think). i hesitate on saying gaming because i don’t know what that implies and my term would probably be more along the lines of ”creative” pc

maybe “3d creative” computer?

all of us in the OpenSim community are 3D creatives, whether you think so or not. for example, let’s say you like pulling together music events like they do on 3rd Rock Grid – that is a true talent which involve the very real profession of meeting planning. Meeting Professionals International, the international certifying and governing body for planners, even had Second Life event planning sessions at past conferences including virtual world certification. pulling together musicians or in-world meetings takes real skill and because you need to do it in a virtual world, you are doing real 3D work!

dang, that was a tangent and all i’m trying to say is that OpenSim might be a fun hobby for you, but it is a real world skill that is worthy of resume mention! =)

okay, so back to this mid-level 3d creative pc . . .

i loaded up most of my big programmes – MS Office, Adobe Design Creative, Sony Vegas, Fraps, and of course my beloved CCleaner and Defraggler! i also installed Speccy which is made by the CCleaner peeps and lets you know the temperature of your components

i finished up the build last night with some last minute odds and ends that i had not planned for but should add to it. one thing is a more formal surge protector (thanks ZZ). i have used one of those super cheap power strips for years and have been lucky i guess with no problems. i now have a formal, but inexpensive, surge protector that includes ethernet too. it’s a $21 Belkin thing and is only a surge protector, no battery backup at all

i decided to try a wireless adapter card because i have blue painters tape holding up a 100 foot ethernet cable running from the basement, through the kitchen and upstairs – it’s a very charming look *rolls eyes*

the pci-e wifi card was $28 on Amazon and seems to work fine – it is slower than the ethernet but still pretty fast (ping times were the same though)

the other thing i added was some sound proofing foam. the machine really does not need it, especially now that i figured out how to set the cpu fan to normal rather than turbo – it was pretty loud! now it is set to speed up if the cpu gets hot, but since i don’t plan on doing any overclocking, i doubt i’ll ever hear the cpu fan – there is a low “white noise” type sound from the box, but it is quieter than my old XP box which only had two case fans (this one has seven!). the case is very open for airflow so the ability to dampen sound is minimal but i have always wanted to try acoustic foam and found some for about $14 USD

sound proofing is mainly accomplished via sheer mass - the more mass something has, the quieter it will be. the surface of the material is important and materials like foam work well. the stuff i got is called Acoustic EPOM foam and is a very spongy feeling open cell type material. it may have reduced the sound and it makes the case feel more solid