I'd liked to, but I really don't think I should...

I've been researching an upgrade to my computer so I can play SupCom. To be honest that's the prime reason for wanting to upgrade now, but certainly there are other reasons. Other programs I have that have updated (iTunes, Sound Forge, etc) can run sluggish and/or don't allow certain feature use on my existing computer. And editing video, while possible, is dreadfully slow. Upgrading, as can be expected in computers, is a must.

So I've been doing a lot of reading. I got a lot of useful info from Tom's Hardware and NewEgg. Both sites I recommend. Anyway, this is the system I've come up that I'd like to buy:

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz ($222)
• Mobo: Asus P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ($130)
• RAM: Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 2x1GB ($192)
• Vid Card: EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB, 500Mhz ($260)
• PSU: Corsair CMPSU-520HX 520W ($110)

My upgrade is looking to cost $913. That's more money than I should spend right now... So I don't think I'll be upgrading/playing SupCom for a while. We'll see, but I really shouldn't.

Then there's the idea that I really don't want to tear down my existing system. It's working fine for what it is. It might take a few days during which time it would be best to have a separate, working system, from which to download drivers, etc. for the new computer. Then when I'm done Sandy can have her own computer too. To do that the $913 upgrade goes up because I have to add at least a case, HD, DVD burner, etc.

On the upside, the longer I wait the cheaper the parts are likely to become. It's really not a good time to upgrade anyway, what with all the new equipment being released right now... Yeah, that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

Arg. lol

Look before you Leap.

I really wanted to play Supreme Commander, but my existing video card won't support it. I thought at first I was doomed as my 3 year-old computer wouldn't support the new PCI-E cards that are out there.

But the other day I found an AGP card I thought would do the trick. I bought Wednesday it for a great price even after paying for Two-Day Shipping. Last night I bought SupCom and installed it (I was curious what would happen if I ran it on my old card - it simply didn't pass verification, and wouldn't run).

So today I got my new card. A PNY GeForce 7600GS 512MB AGP Video Card, and it was pretty and smelled fresh and silicony. My nips were hard. We went out to dinner and I got home, cracked open my case, installed, turned on, and no workie workie. My motherboard is kind enough to have useful voice error messages, and it tells me it failed VGA test.

And here's where I blew it. I bust out the motherboard book and RTFM. Now. I should have done it before I bought the new card. It turns out my Motherboard doesn't support AGP 3.3v cards, only the 1.5v AGP cards. I can't have a new powered card on my motherboard.

I'm not sure what the return policy is on my video card. I'll look into that. Or I can buy a new computer, which isn't something I really wanted to do (though it would be nice, heh).

I'm just sad, very frustrated, disappointed and angry with myself. I should have known better. I should have researched further. I was just so excited and now I've gone and made a series of bonehead mistakes.

I suppose it could have been worse. At least I was able to put my old card back and everything is working fine the way it was. So that's good at least.

Bah.

Update - Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 9:45a
I'm currently researching which parts I want to use to build a new system. I decided to send the AGP card back. Though it was a nice one, I found a similar card that's cheaper and PCI-E, and if I'm upgrading I may as well make sure to get the latest architecture.

So Amazon let me print out a pre-paid UPS retun label and I sent the PNY card back for a refund. That's nice.

In the meantime I get to read in Jay's Blog how totally awesome is SupCom.

Update - Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 4:41p
Yesterday I got an e-mail that Amazon received my RMA and gave me full credit, including what I originally paid in shipping. So that's all worked out. Thanks Amazon!

As for what else I'm doing with my PC, check out this.

As the world turns...

Well, it's official. I am no longer employed for Factory 2-U. I have been laid off. F2U has been in Chapter 11 since January and was just purchased by a collection of interests lead by National Stores (who operates Fallas Paredes). Though technically it still exists to finish up all the paying off of creditors, etc. and to assist in the transition of assets to Fallas. Larry was also given his leave today too.

You can read about the news in this San Diego UnionTribune article.

On the up side, Sandy and Amy are still employed with F2U, though for how much longer is still unknown. Probably at least for another month, maybe more. Also, my bosses (Mark and Maris) both really like Larry and I as employees. Those two have been given offers by Fallas and they in turn are expecting to re-hire Larry and I soon. So basically, if all goes well we'll be employed again doing the same job with the same people, just for a different company. I should have a better idea of what's going to happen on Tuesday.

In other news, I took my bad DIMM back to ChipsandMemory. The DIMM is under warranty with the manufacturer and I was told if I brought it in they would send it off for me. However, they just did a straight out exchange. How cool is that? Now I just got to install it, I hope I can find the time... HA!

And finally, it looks like GoDaddy got their shit together and propagated my domain forwarding. So, bobclemins.com is working now after my registrar transfer.

Sandy Update, PC Issues

Sandy's still having problems with the allergic reaction, but otherwise she's doing much better after her surgery (see Post 08/11). I'm sure she'd love to hear from you, drop her an e-mail.

Several days ago, I found out what was causing all of the problems on my home computer (see Post 08/05). Turns out one of my DIMMs was bad. I just don't have any luck with Memory, do I? Anywho, the other DIMM was fine and I reset up my system with only 512MB of RAM. I had to reinstall WinXP, which was a pain, but timely as SP2 has just come out so I was able to install that. I like the new version too. To those of you on WinXP, I highly recommend you update.

PC Issues, Kirt's Birthday

Yesterday I was working on my PC at home, trying to get WinXP to reinstall. The damn CD is bad. I kept getting copy errors. I've tried three different drives to no avail. Great, now I'm going to have to get another WinXP disc.

Last night, Sandy & I took Kirt out to Oggi's for his Birthday (with Karen & Trevor, of course). Then we all came back to our house to hang out and eat a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Good times, good times.

PC Issues

Friday I installed the latest MS patch and since then my home PC has been failing. WinXP sometimes won't finish booting (when the log on screen appears it just reboots). Or if it does, it immediately "encounters an error in Windows Explorer". Nice, eh? Grrr... Anyway, I tried deinstalling that update last night and now it seems even worse. C'est la vie. Looks like I'm going to have to reinstall XP (and everything else).

>sigh< :(

New Printer

I bought a new HP PSC 2175 All-in-one printer. It's a printer, scanner, and copier. Additionally, it has a built-in multi-card reader. The card reader is handy and acts as a "removeable drive" for my PC. Oh, and it prints nicely.

New Jump Drive

I received a Lexar 512MB JumpDrive Elite in the mail. I bought it off eBay for a nice savings (about 40% off retail)! Great for transmitting files from PC to PC.

New Computer

My home computer has been chronically freezing now for the last few months, and progressively getting worse. I tried reinstalled W98 to no avail. I ran an assortment of diagnostic programs and found that either the RAM was bad, or the motherboard's RAM ports were bad. The computer (1GHz AMD Athlon, Via motherboard, built-in sound, 512MB RAM, 60GB IBM hard drive, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DLink 10/100 PCI NIC, GeForce2 32MB AGP card) was two years old and I didn't feel like wasting any more time. I'd been wanting to upgrade anyway, and here was a good excuse.

I had originally purchased the RAM from ChipsandMemory.com in San Diego with a Lifetime warranty. When the system went down I contacted them and the owner Alex told me that the Lifetime for that style of RAM was over, the manufactuer had stopped supporting it, as had they. However, he would give me store credit of my original costs if I bought new equipment. Excellent Customer Service!

Today I went by ChipsandMemory.Com and Best Buy to purchase hardware to assemble a new computer.

[06/15/04 Update: You can see a full list of the completed computer here.]