Lemur's New Rig

[Lemur]

what you were using the PC for?

In order of PC-taxing activities:

• Gaming
• Transcoding video for work
• Work (mostly in MS Word and Outlook, I know, I know)

[H]ave you worked on the build yet? That case looks huge.

The case really isn't that big. Fat, but short. The way I like my men.

I will confess that I am going to cheat on the build. My Wisconsin BFF is a guy who ran his own IT company for years, and has built hundreds of rigs. I'm going to supply the beer, and maybe open some boxes. He can whip a machine together in the time it would take me to figure out the pin-out for the front panel. So yeah, I am a lying cheater and a cheating liar, and Imma let my buddy do the build.

Will post pics!

[Xiahou]

The case really isn't that big. Fat, but short. The way I like my men.

I will confess that I am going to cheat on the build.

Phony!

[Lemur]

What a day. Seriously, I was having one of those, I have had it with these monkey-fighting snakes on this Monday-to-Friday plane kinda days.

Drove through a whiteout blizzard to work, only to find that 80% of the staff didn't make it in. Felt like a complete idiot. Who commutes from Wisconsin to Chicago in one of the worst storms of the year? This idiot, that's who.

Seriously, today I was making Theon Greyjoy-level bad decisions from start to finish.

Ahem.

Anyway, me and my Nerd Prime buddy met up in my dining room, and we put together the new rig. I told Nerd Prime about how I was cheating by using him, which resulted in him forcing me to do an awful lot of the assembly and wiring myself. I blame all of you for shaming me.

Anyway, pics were promised, so here they are:

The Lemur rig build, live, in 3D, colorized, and with a happier ending.

[HopAlongBunny]

Glad to hear you had a safe trip :)
The "rig" looks very nice; keep us updated on how it performs

[Beskar]

Where is the Linux, Lemur?!

[Lemur]

Where is the Linux, Lemur?!

Wasn't planning on loading this up with hippie commie Linux anytime soon. It's a gaming and work machine, both of which do well under Windows.

But hey, should the need arise, there's always a nice distro out there ...

[drone]

There is no way the Org will fit on that thing. You need more disk capacity!

[Myth]

I like your SSD. I would also have gone for the I7. The 16 GB of RAM is good. What is medium speed for you? 1333 MHz?

[Husar]

Instead of an i7 you can also get a Xeon I hear. A Xeon is apparently a cheaper i7 without the on-board graphics (that you don't need for gaming anyway).

[Lemur]

I would also have gone for the I7. [...] What is medium speed [RAM] for you? 1333 MHz?

Y'all are a bunch of i7 snobs.

In this instance, I meant 1600. Any faster and the price gets nutty.

-edit-

Forgot to mention, I am also experiencing Windows 8.1 for the first time on this rig. Speaking as a Lemur whose experience has been limited to Win7, OS X, and (recently) the Cinnamon desktop in Linux Mint ...

... this interface is kinda infuriating. I mean, I'm a little bit of a nerd, so I can figure it out, but I have feels for the normal user.

Seems like almost every screen has a different metaphor for navigation. And the default setting do not nudge you toward the Microsoft apps—they buck and shove and grunt and basically try to force you into the Microsoft apps, many of which you really don't want to touch. All of these traps can be undone, if you have a vague idea of what you're doing.

But for the average user? Like Bill Clinton, I feel their pain.

[Xiahou]

Dude, why would you inflict Windows8 on yourself?

I've pointed all the hapless Win8 users I know towards Start8. It seems to at least make the unbearable bearable. Now, if they'd just listen to me in the first place and not get Windows8....

[Husar]

That's the most useless extension there is, it's like using a wheelchair when you could learn to walk instead.

[Xiahou]

That's the most useless extension there is, it's like using a wheelchair when you could learn to walk instead.

I think that's a more apt description for Windows8 itself. Microsoft has removed functionality in order to meet their arbitrary decision to (attempt) unify the desktop & tablet experience. There's no valid reason for removing the Start menu.

[Gregoshi]

There's no valid reason for removing the Start menu.

Sure there is. Microsoft is getting back at us for joking all these years about "Why do we have to click the 'Start' button to stop the computer?"

Surely they were saying, "Who's laughing now, wise guy?" when they released Win8.

For the record, I think Win8 is a turd. My latest annoyance regarding Win8 comes from wondering why I couldn't play a DVD on my computer with Windows Media Player. After searching Microsoft's knowledgebase, they apparently decided that hardly any PCs these days have DVD/Blu-ray drives, hence it was easier to remove the functionality to annoy everyone than it was to leave it in there. They made a lot of bad assumptions about their market with Win8. I'm also THRILLED that they own Skype now. My user experience with that went from nary a problem to problems just about every time I try to use it. Buying Win7 is looking better and better every day.