OT: Big Mac's Bar & Lounge: Mancouver Chases the Dragon
- Thread starter Big McLargehuge
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Ogrezilla
Nerf Herder
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
I finally got it to work...my hands are bloodied and covered with silvery goop, I'm down about two shirts, and I haven't had access to my primary PC since Saturday...but it's working.
I'm down 8 GB RAM and about $300 in new components, but it ****ing works.
Now to spend the next week re-downloading everything and resetting forgotten passwords.
I'm down 8 GB RAM and about $300 in new components, but it ****ing works.
Now to spend the next week re-downloading everything and resetting forgotten passwords.
Penguinator
Kesselator
clefty
Retrovertigo
A chief reason why I don't own a desktop.
There are a million things I'd rather do than tinker with the guts of a computer, (and spend a lot of money in the process) up to and including my own tax returns.
Ogrezilla
Nerf Herder
that seems like a silly reason not to own a desktop. Its not like you are forced to tinker with a desktop just because you can. Certainly not to the degree that Big apparently did.
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Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
I love my laptop, but sometimes you just want a real computer. A comparably powerful laptop would cost triple what I've put this thing together for...and would have to be purchased at once instead of at mixed times. Upgrading the motherboard & CPU means that the only thing "original" about this computer is the internal hard drive and the CD/DVD-RW drive.
After the week this thing put me through, though...I feel like I almost have to overdose in some Civilization V just to warrant it.
After the week this thing put me through, though...I feel like I almost have to overdose in some Civilization V just to warrant it.
clefty
Retrovertigo
Things break, things get old and need replacing. I've got no interest in the hassle of dealing with that.
Plus I have very limited space and don't like sitting at desks.
Does that meet your standards as ample reason now?
Ogrezilla
Nerf Herder
do you just not own a computer? Things break and get old in laptops too.
Size and mobility obviously make sense for wanting a laptop. But the ability to tinker with it can be completely ignored, leaving you exactly where you would be with a laptop in that regard. I obviously don't care what kind of computer you have, it just seems like tinkering with the insides is a very illogical chief reason not to want one.
clefty
Retrovertigo
It doesn't, because there's nothing I would do on a desktop that I can't do on my laptop. So owning a desktop in lieu of a laptop makes no sense for the reasons I've already said, and owning both would be a superfluous waste of money.
Ogrezilla
Nerf Herder
I never said you should get a desktop. Not wanting a desktop is perfectly logical for all of the other reasons you've said. Tinkering with the insides being a chief reason you wouldn't want one is illogical though, because you literally never have to do it. If you choose to, you can simply replace a desktop when it breaks the same way you would a laptop. That's all I'm saying.
Yeah, if you don't need your computer for anything really intensive, a PC would likely be cheaper than a laptop. But you pay for the portability, so there's that.
As for tinkering inside the case, it's pretty simple nowadays. Components are essentially big LEGO blocks that just pop into place. It's pretty difficult to break something, and most places have really good return policies.
As for tinkering inside the case, it's pretty simple nowadays. Components are essentially big LEGO blocks that just pop into place. It's pretty difficult to break something, and most places have really good return policies.
Ogrezilla
Nerf Herder
Unless you're Big apparently. I think he must have got his hand into the heat sink fan trying to shove thermal gel through
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
Unless you're Big apparently. I think he must have got his hand into the heat sink fan trying to shove thermal gel through
Yeah, I dunno what happened there.
Thermal paste is a ***** if you get it all over, but you don't really need much at all on the processor.
I'm building a new streaming PC around Christmas and I'm just gonna go with liquid cooling.
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
FWIW the thermal gel is from installing the CPU fan that came with it, not getting it to work, and after a while realizing that I bought a ****ing Cooler Master one and then trying to get that to work.
If I had an actual work area to do this it wouldn't have been so bad, but I was in a cramped corner of my kitchen because...studio apartment.
If I had an actual work area to do this it wouldn't have been so bad, but I was in a cramped corner of my kitchen because...studio apartment.
Ogrezilla
Nerf Herder
none of this explains the blood
depending what you're doing, working inside can be annoying. But usually I get much more frustrated figuring out the problem than I do with actually fixing it.
depending what you're doing, working inside can be annoying. But usually I get much more frustrated figuring out the problem than I do with actually fixing it.
clefty
Retrovertigo
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
That would be thanks to dealing with screws and plugs without any room to actually move my hand.
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
I thought I had one...nope, mid tower (NZXT Phantom 410). It was practically empty a few years ago, now it's packed to the gills.
BlindWillyMcHurt
ti kallisti
- May 31, 2004
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Primarily using a desktop is a cost/benefit thing, for me. Laptops are expensive, underpowered and in my opinion... pretty ****, honestly. The whole "portable" thing becomes extremely debatable if your battery starts taking a crap after a year of regular use and you have to be tethered to a wall 90% of the time, anyway.
If I didn't use Steam as my primary gaming platform and only needed a computer for "practical" needs... maybe that would be different.
I've never found tinkering particularly frustrating or difficult. But then again... I'm a bit odd and actually kinda LIKE troubleshooting, taking things apart and getting them working, again. I've certainly been in the bad place Big is, right the moment. But I mean... it's thankfully rare.
Besides... if it were a laptop instead of a desktop... more than likely the only real solution to the problem would be "buy another laptop."
If I didn't use Steam as my primary gaming platform and only needed a computer for "practical" needs... maybe that would be different.
I've never found tinkering particularly frustrating or difficult. But then again... I'm a bit odd and actually kinda LIKE troubleshooting, taking things apart and getting them working, again. I've certainly been in the bad place Big is, right the moment. But I mean... it's thankfully rare.
Besides... if it were a laptop instead of a desktop... more than likely the only real solution to the problem would be "buy another laptop."
Laptops are a pain in the butt to mess with. Was super difficult to plug my keyboard back in after removing it and the best I could get it is with it not recognizing the shift keys or audio part so I just got an external keyboard
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
I'll always prefer desktops just because, despite being completely inept and technologically impaired, I have the capability to swap things in and out as I deem necessary.
If I had this trouble with a laptop, which I have had, the troubleshooting basically boils down to, as you said, "buy another laptop."
My laptop does two things - Final Draft and streaming videos so I can have a dual set-up (Pirates game on the laptop while I do work on the desktop, for example). It is, effectively, a work computer that doesn't have anything superfluous installed on it - that way I was able to keep the cost down (still cost far more than my desktop) and can sustain battery life whenever that is necessary (which is frequent, I use that thing in Burbank more than I do at home and I don't want to be tethered).
My desktop does everything else. I'm not a huge PC gamer, I grew up with consoles and didn't get a computer until I was in high school, but I like having that option for stuff like Civilization, Cities: Skylines, and Football Manager (doesn't require fancy graphics, but you need a beastly machine if you want to have as many leagues running at once as I do).
The ********* thing of all this is that I lost all of the work I've done on making my custom database for Football Manager...I was down to the 6th level of an intended 7 level pyramid for promotion/relegation US soccer. That's 100+ hours of work just lost to the ether.
Winger for Hire
Praise Beebo
Just bought a new graphics card for my desktop... and now it has me spec-ing out a new PC. It's a sickness once you build your first PC. I love it.
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