the beast is back!

Got the motherboard mid-day, and by the early evening I had everything installed and working! Strange how magical a computer seems until you really get your hands dirty and put one together. I used to think that the processor would be the hardest thing to deal with, but now I'm getting tired of all the PSU connections.

I got a new fan from Thermaltake, which can blow up to about 90cfm. It's like having a tiny Vornado fan in your box! It has a dial that you can install in the rear PCI opening so you can control the rpm. I wanted it to be controlled by the system board but the stupid power cable coming from the fan is too freakin' short to reach! Whatever. I have it hooked to another fan control, but it doesn't register on the system board. Anyway, it can drop the interior temp 5+ degrees when you light it up full blast. I checked the temp after playing COD2 and it hadn't gone above 105°!

I added 2 PCI usb cards so I don't have to use a hub anymore. I think that a board based card is going to be more stable than the hub. I've also added a SATA/IDE adapter but I haven't figured how to get that to work yet. I have too much work to do to worry about that right now.

get no love.

I just have to say I haven't experienced the joy of NewEgg's fast shipping. I order the board on Tuesday and it won't get here until Monday. Why did I change the shipper to FedEx and pay $5 more than UPS, to get it later...

I see all the reviews on NewEgg and they all finish w/ how NewEgg rocks, and I got it a day early, and BLAH, BLAH ,BLAH! I've even received the wrong product from them and they gave me shit when I tried to RMA it. That was a long time ago, but DAMN! No love. Maybe they know I still get my hard drives and memory from Tiger...

Still, NEWEGG ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

You think they're reading?

i hate you! NO WAIT...i love you.

Ahh, the love/hate relationship we have w/ computers. Just as I build them up, they break me back down. It's starting to sound like a bad one-sided relationship.

My IOGEAR card reader and USB hub decided to eat my flash card. To add to the fun, I'm pretty sure that the event killed my mobo. Dude, I like can't even achieve post! Maybe some computer Viagra will cure that...

So I'm ordering another Gigabyte board, but I'm adding 2 USB PCI cards to the mix so I don't have to use a hub anymore. I don't think that they're stable enough anymore. Maybe I've just had some isolated bad experiences, but I'm trying to learn from my mistakes. I'm also going to get a new 120mm fan to replace the OEM, which was nice, but had no ability to run off the system board; therefore no temp readings. Finally I'm going to try using a SATA to IDE adapter for my unused 250gb HDD. I can't add another IDE drive so this is the only option. Hopefully this won't kill the board too.

I'm not looking forward to all the work lying ahead. At least I've done it before...