New PC Build - Planning Phase

It's that time of year again, when the Tax Return fairy visits and leaves a giant wad of cold hard cash in your bank account. I got lucky this year starting a new job and not quite hitting a certain tax bracket before the end of the financial year ended, so my tax return will come out to just shy of $5,400 this time around.

Since my PC is about 5 years old and I bought it initially at Harvey Norman (so it's probably even older than that, especially since it was the floor model :/ ), it's about time to upgrade! :D

So many parts to choose from!

Since I still have to wait about 2 weeks before the Tax Fairy visits my particular bank account, I've been looking for a list of parts that will work best for me. I'll be updating with progress on the build as parts arrive, but it's likely they may all arrive at once anyway.

Initially, I decided to go all out and spend as much on graphics power as I could, but it quickly became an expensive list and the rest of the parts suffered as a result. The final list I've come up with is a good balance of power and affordability, specifically focussing on making sure that my upgrade path is as wide as possible in the future.

The Case - $150 (Recycled)

The Cooler Master HAF XB EVO case is a different case than you would normally get. It manages to be a great gaming case by providing space for the largest graphics cards and plenty of options, yet somehow also functioning well as a test-bench case by providing quick access to parts through three removable panels and a motherboard tray.

I bought it a little while back and it should serve fine as a shell for the new components, so I can save some cash by not fixing what isn't broken here.

The Power Supply - $149 (Recycled)

The Cougar CMX1000 V3 1000W 80 PLUS Bronze Modular Power Supply is nothing particularly special. It was the cheapest power supply that I could find above 1000W. I can always upgrade this later if I end up getting more power hungry components, but at least it's a modular power supply so there won't be a mess of unused power cables dangling inside the case.

Also, it has a switch...
Frankly, I'm surprised you can still purchase power supplies that don't have one by default...

The Motherboard - $759

The MSI X99A GODLIKE Gaming RGB Motherboard is the best x99 motherboard for the 2011-3 series of CPUs that I could find. My reasoning is that you need to have the best motherboard you can get in order to make sure you can upgrade for a long time without having to swap it out in the future. The rugged looking armour, built in wireless, bluetooth and high quality audio would be enough to sell me, but there's also a cool RGB lighting system that resembles those found in modern keyboards and it has the ability to expand all the way to 4 way SLI in the future, should I want to go to that extreme.

The CPU - $539

I chose the least powerful of the i7 CPUs available for the 2011-3 socket, the Intel Core i7 5820K, simply to lower the price of the overall build, but for the extra 2 cores it didn't really seem worth another $1000 to get the Intel Core i7 5960X Extreme Edition. Especially since the clock speed is the same anyway.

Should they release more powerful CPUs for the 2011-3 socket, I can always upgrade anyway.

CPU Cooler - $89

Since this is my first self-assembled PC, I've decided that a full water cooling system would be a bit too risky. Instead, I opted for the Corsair Hydro Series H55 CPU Cooler enclosed water cooling loop for just the CPU until I have a better understanding of what I'm doing.

This should allow me to test the added benefits of water cooling without altering my graphics card/s or risking water getting in the components when putting it together. 

The RAM - $490

The number one reason that I didn't pass my Information Technology course was helping other students or playing games when I should have been more focussed on my own work.

Close second, however, was the fact that I could never run a virtual machine of Windows 8 Server Edition to do a majority of my work at home because my computer only has 8GB of ram. 

This would be fine for most people, but when you're running a virtual machine that needs a bare minimum of 4GB or higher to run faster than a crawl, your own operating system, and perhaps you need a client virtual machine to test your work... Well, you can see why RAM has taken such a priority for me this time around.

I was actually hoping to get the 128GB kit of ram (8 x 16GB sticks), but the overall budget decided on 2 sets of G.Skill Ripjaws 4 F4-2400C15Q-16GRR 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 instead, for a total of 32GB.

The Graphics Card - $1089

The MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6GB was a design choice mostly. You may have noticed that the majority of the parts I've decided on are MSI or red. I decided to go with an MSI GTX 980 Ti instead of a Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti, which has a higher clock speed, simply because it matches both my MSI motherboard and the secondhand GPU I'm testing Phys-X with. The RAM just happened to be red even though I chose the cheapest RAM available.

With an almost identical card to the Titan-X, this seemed like the logical choice since I can get roughly the same performance for 2/3 the price.

The Phys-X GPU - $519 $350 (second-hand)

Initially, I had decided just to get a single GPU, but a friend of mine is upgrading to a Titan X, so I'm getting my hands on a MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4GB for considerably less than the retail price, even though he hasn't had it all that long.

This was going to be my primary GPU for a while, however another friend told me that you could have two mis-matched GPUs from the same manufacturer (Nvidia/AMD) and set one to take over all the physics calculations by allocating it as a Phys-X card instead. This pulls the physics processing away from both your primary graphics card and CPU, and thus should provide a noticable performance boost.

I haven't tried this before and my current GPU is AMD, so this secondhand GPU seemed like a perfect fit, both thematically with the rest of the build, and to provide a dedicated Phys-X solution. Should be fun to experiment with :3

Storage Drives - $350 (some recycled drives)

So I'm splurging a little bit and getting an 8TB archive drive from Seagate, since I keep filling mine at LAN parties, but I already have a 128GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive to use as my primary and secondary drives, so I'm not spending a great deal on new active drives.

Since I'm also getting a capture card, this will provide a good place to stick raw footage until I get a chance to edit it and produce a YouTube video from it.

Additional Case Fans - $39

Grabbed myself a new 120mm fan since my existing one has blue LEDs and I got myself a 200mm fan for the top panel of my case and two 80mm fans to go behind the hard drive rack.

Blue LEDs don't really mix with the existing theme of red, so the new fans are all black as much as possible.

Mouse - $79

Originally, I wanted to get a Razer Naga, however after recently purchasing it and giving it a try, I realise that the grid of 12 buttons for your thumb is actually really poorly designed for general computer use. The grid is over the space where you would typically put your thumb when you lift the mouse to turn around in an fps and would often cause mis-pressed keys and just wasn't really useful for me. 

The Corsair Vengeance M95, however has the area where you would normally place your thumb free and places a similar number of buttons around the thumb space in what seems like a much better thought out design. It should be cool to use with macro keys and stuff :3

Keypad - $135

I've had my eye on getting a dedicated gaming keypad for a while now. Mostly it's because I love the feeling and sound of a mechanical keypress for gaming, however when I'm typing I like a quiet keyboard.

My current keyboard is not super noisy, so the Razer Orbweaver 2014 should be good for gaming sessions.

I also grabbed a PC toolkit and a USB drive and a few other items, so the total came to just under $3,645 plus $45 postage.

Keep an eye out for my next post when I'll be unboxing and assembling each part :3

Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions or improvements.



*EDIT*

Since this post, I have also purchased a Logitech G710+ Keyboard, a professional recording microphone and a 28 inch 4k Monitor, so most of my tax return is now spent...

I'm kinda bad with money :/

But, that does mean more cool things to play with! :D \o/

The Stanley Parable - Review

I've been playing The Stanley Parable over my birthday. I have played it over, and over, and over again... you may ask, why would I play the same game over and over? Well in The Stanley Parable, it's kind of the point.

You play as a everyday worker called Stanley. Stanley works in an office building at a computer terminal in room 427. He is given commands on his monitor. These commands tell him which buttons to press and for how long. One day he finds all his coworkers gone. Where did they go? Maybe Stanley missed a memo. From here, Stanley's fate is in your hands. Will you follow The Narrators instructions or will you destroy the game he spent so long making? Maybe you will help him test out a new game he is making.

When I first started playing The Stanley Parable, I thought it would be a puzzle game. From the trailer I knew it would restart again and again with slight changes so I assumed I would be finding the things that made those small changes in order to reach a final ending. I spent time and time again doing slightly different things, taking notes of numbers to access codes and paying close attention to the small things.

It took me some time but I soon realised this was not a puzzle game. This was an adventure game. Maybe an art game. I'm still unsure. The Stanley Parable has multiple endings. In fact the point of the game is to find all the endings. There is no right or wrong way to go. Follow the narrator's... well narrations... or don't. Its really up to you.

The Stanley Parable is full of comedy. The humor reminded me of Portal's humor. The narrator basically tells the story but as time goes on he can get a little annoyed or frustrated at you not doing as he says. I had a real laugh when I went into the broom closet in two games and on the second time he said "Oh not this again.". The 3rd time around the broom closet was boarded up to prevent me from going in there.

I do like this game a lot, however, I like games with a little more... I don't know... direction I guess. I wanted to actually have a true ending I was aiming for. I loved the idea of starting again and again with slight changes. I suppose I expected The Stanley Parable to be a puzzle game so I went into it, trying to "complete" the game. But there is no true ending. Its just lots of different endings.

So how do I rate this game.

Graphics: 6 / 10: I don't really know what to write about them. they were okay.

Music: N/A - There wasn't really any music. Except in the... other game part (without giving too much away)

Story: 8/10 - This was an interesting story because is was every changing. Is the narrator bad or good? The comedy in the story is what really made it.

Gameplay: 8/10 -The gameplay was fun. It is fun trying to find different ways to change the story.

Overall: 7.3 / 10

An interesting and funny game. Gets you addicted for a few hours but you don't know why?

Beyond the Veil: Demonic Invasion

Well I just finished update 1.3 of the Beyond the Veil HUD system for Second Life and everything seems to be going really smooth. With thirty seven demons already roaming the lands and twenty one Angels holding them back, the battle is on the verge of an all out war. The demons are taking over so if you know anyone that wants to be an Angel get them on board.

I want to first start by saying Thank You to all the players of Beyond the Veil. This game is my passion and to see people playing the game, competing with one another and being excited about updates really gets me fired up too. I have a lot of ideas for this game and I really want to see it become one of the biggest games in Second Life.

I want to start with a quick chat about an issue with Bloodlines players. These people are getting upset that a Beyond the Veil players have stolen a soul. This is a misunderstanding about the term soul within Second Life.

A Beyond the Veil demon was in a club cursing people and taking souls. Someone in the club had a device that allowed them to see all hidden chat and saw that a soul from a person they know was stolen. They thought that it would effect the bloodlines stats.

Avatars in Second Life do not have a soul. Linden Labs never gave them one. Bloodlines emulates this with a piece of information in a database. Beyond the Veil does the same thing however both "souls" are not the same. A soul can be owned in Bloodlines and owned by someone else in Beyond the Veil. They do not effect each other.

Now to prevent this confusion from happening again, when the HUD tells you you have taken a soul, it now does this in an IM to you. I was using llOwnerSay displays the message in local chat but only to the owner. My guess is his device could read Owner Say. I am not 100% sure if people can access private messages but I would think that would be a violation in privacy so wouldn't be possible.

Another frequently asked question from non players to me is the collection of information about non playing avatars and how that information is being used. I thought I would address that here.

The only information I collect about an avatar is the name. In the database I would have something like Name: Sigh Parx, Soul Condition: Blessed, SoulLocation: Raiden Faxel. If a player was to join the game then their avatar key would be stored also for in game reasons. Any and all information kept is solely for Beyond the Veil's use and will never be used for any other reason. The only time a non player will hear from us, is when a player speaks to them about the game and asks them to join. Non player's information will not even be shown anywhere except when they are scanned by an avatar and they must be within range. The information will not be visible on our website or any other location.

Okay, with that out the way lets have a quick look into what is coming. The next step for me is to build a Website to get all the stats for all to see. It will take some time to design and build so you have to be patient with me. I have a designer to do the design work. Some of you may know her as Bella Parx.

After the website comes the big update, the battle system. A lot of people have been asking me how this will work. Well to be honest, I don't know yet. We have started designing it and I'll give you an insight to the thought pattern.

First of all I do not want the battle system to be just target click dead. Although that would work I think you guys deserve a little more than that. I want to have more than just 1 button to click.
I am hoping to have multiple skill trees. These may be something like Range, Melee and Protection. You wont have to select a class and will be able to select skills from either skill tree. I want to add an experience bar which will give you skill points. These skill points will be spent on skills.

Range: Battle from a distance safe from harm of Melee attackers.
Melee: Up close and personal.
Protection: These spells will be things like heals, shields and things that can protect other players.

Now all of this is just theory. It's what I want but it's not a promise. Things may change. Also, when the battle system comes out, if it is done like this, only one of the skill trees will come out, then in a later update another skill tree and so on.

The next thought, and this as well is not a promise, just a thought; is animations. I want these battles to look awesome. Now my biggest fear with this is lag. If we get too many people doing these amazing effect it could cause bad lag. We will see what I can do.

The last thought, and my most favourite, a battle sim. I want a FULL sim where all Angels and Demons can come and kick arse. But it won't just be a place to kill angels or demons. No no. I want to add another objective to do on the SIM. This WILL be kept a secret though so until then, thats all the info you will be getting.

Okay so that's it guys. that's the plan and the idea with absolutely no promises.... except to the non players. I promise I will not use your information for any reason other than the Beyond the Veil game.

Ori and the Blind Forest - Review

Well I finally did it, I finished Ori and the Blind Forest. There were happy times, there were sad times and there were times I wanted to throw my keyboard across the room. But it is done.

Now normally I don't have much expectations for arty games. I have played my fair share of them and have found that a majority of them are just that... arty. The developers want to make something very artful and they do. Looking upon them in that perspective, they succeed. Limbo is one of those games. Yes it has some challenges and the gameplay is so so. I enjoyed it. I really did. But a game needs more than a few minutes of play. I found Limbo lacked bulk. It was over before it really began.

Now I was worried about this when starting to play Ori. Bel got this game because she likes pretty games and, well look at it, Ori is beautiful.

But unlike a lot of pretty games that is not all. You play as a little creature who is trying to bring balance back into the world. He is the last of his kind as all others have died off. You must go to all corners of the world and restore the elements.

The game itself has really good gameplay. The controls are smooth, and there are so many different kinds of movements. Some are locked at the beginning. As you kill enemies you get experience which fills up a bar. When the bar is filled you get an upgrade point. These upgrade points can be used to give Ori a new ability for a full ability tree.

The abilities in the ability tree are not required but really do help out. You also get skills through the world. These are all required to progress in the game.

Now the game isn't small either. The world map is a lot bigger than some pretty games I have played. Okay lets be honest, its bigger than ALL pretty games I've played.

The red arrow I have drawn is where this next image is...

 

When you get to restoring the elements in each area it is not an easy task. They took me a lot of turns before getting them right. I won't go into what is required because that may be a spoiler.

So my score for this game...

Graphics: 10/10 - These are some of the most beautiful graphics I have ever seen.

Music: 10/10 - The Music paints the mood for the game so well.

Story: 8/10 - I have had better stories but this is a good one. It pulls the emotion strings and has twists and turns.

Gameplay: 9/10 - I would have given this game 10/10 but when I completed the game I couldn't continue to play. It should have offered me to start again with a harder setting or something.

Overall: 9.25/10

 Well Done Microsoft. This game was worth every penny spent.

Tinkering with Windows 10 - Preview Build

Oooh! It's so pretty! :D

Microsoft have done something unprecedented this month and made a public statement that states any preview copies of the latest build of windows 10 that are installed before launch next month, will become a free activated copy of windows 10 once it's officially released!

The only catch is that you have to create a windows insider account (which is free) and log into the copy of windows 10 preview using that same Microsoft windows insider account. A small price to pay for a free copy of the latest and greatest operating system :3

Go get it! :D

As a response to this, I have decided to install the preview version of windows 10 again and see if the issue I was having was fixed. Since I was able to access my Network Atatched Storage device, I figured it was ok and I've been poking around it for a few hours since. Here's a few of the things I've noticed

Multiple monitor support is fantastic. The new workflow changes that allow you to snap a window to any of the sides or corners of a screen have been fixed to work with multiple monitors now, rather than just letting your windows drag straight from one screen to another. Now, if you move the window from one monitor to another in a fast motion, it will pass through, however a slower movement will instead pause at the edge of your screen as if you want to snap to that side of your monitor. I didn't figure that out straight away and was annoyed that it wouldn't move to my second screen, but after some furious mouse shaking, I finally figured out what was happening :3

I also noticed that some key settings that I would normally have to tweak manually with a registry edit or other hacks were just available as drop-down boxes or options to turn on or off. Over-all it seems as though windows 10 has been thoroughly improved, based solely on changes that were suggested by the users and it eliminates a lot of the hassle that was associated with acclimatizing to windows 8 or 8.1.

Long overdue changes!

Every windows should have this option! :D

One of the largest and most welcome changes to the operating system of choice for the 21st century, has been the addition of a native screen reader in the form of Windows Narrator. No longer do blind users have to rely solely on third party applications that cost hundreds of dollars (sometimes upwards of a thousand bucks!) or have small teams that barely ever update, in order to use their computer for daily tasks! This is also a boon to developers who wish to make software that is compatible with blind accessibility solutions, as they no longer have to buy the expensive software in order to test their own software. Small game developers will now be able to make games for blind users that require nothing more than windows in order to play :3

My house-mate is completely blind and will find this insanely useful :3

All-in-all, I'm quite happy with how Windows 10 has turned out for me, however results may vary as with any software, so we'll see how it goes. It's still early days yet.