Where is the Star Child?
The view from Asteroid X57. (Mass Effect)
On the personal and professional fronts, 2009 was the worst year ever. I think it started on.... Know what? I had a full entry before. Took me about half an hour listing down all the negatives that happened last year until I realized this was wrong and erased most of that text. Twenty-oh-nine does not deserve to be immortalized this way. It will probably be a lost year, something I can forget and not look back upon with any kind of nostalgia.
Things picked up a little by the last quarter, though. Not by much but still noteworthy. I think that was around the time I recovered from a severe flu. There's still some debate whether or not I got the AH1N1 -- most probably, not. But I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out it was. The denouement to that was a much gentler September to November. It was still rough sailing, but it seemed to just level out at the time.
In December, I managed to do a little DIY on my PC. At the latter part of the year my video card got fried as I attempted to play a demo of Batman: Arkham Asylum. It is true what they say, the Internet has everything. I've never messed around PC hardware before but, a little research and some pestering of the company MIS people and I was able to get the right suggestions (in my mind) for some serious gaming.
First, I got myself a decent power supply. The old one was chugging along at just about 200 watts or so. The video card I planned to get needed at least 400 watts to suck on before it could even consider farting out some decent graphics. So, I opted for a power supply that could generate 700 watts of power.
OK, I may have gone a little overboard needing that much power. It would have been neater if those green bolts of lightning came out for real. We can't always get what we want.
I ended up getting a Nvidia GeForce 9800GT Green 1GB GDDR3 edition video card. The "Green" meaning low power consumption. So, it didn't even need that much wattage to work.
From what I've read here and there, this thing can run on the same power as a fluorescent light bulb. Oh well, at least I have enough wattage for future upgrades.
With just a phillips screwdriver it took me about an hour to set up. I almost had a heart attack when I first turned it on then nothing happened. Turns out it wasn't seated in the motherboard's PCI-E slot correctly so, with a small push and tap, everything ran smoothly.
As expected, all my games are running fine and better than ever. I've turned up all the graphic settings to their maximum without a hitch. Playing Street Fighter IV at a full 60fps is priceless. The above screenshot is from Mass Effect's Bring Down the Sky expansion and it is beautiful.
Like most guys who have a car to tinker with, I just kept calling different shops for their prices and available merchandise. This is my car -- it has Windows and a nice Vista up front and I spent a day going across the city hunting for the parts to make it work. I had to commute because... I don't have car :( I have a racing game, though. And a fake wheel controller ;(
The whole PC upgrade thing also inspired me to get a new computer table and chair. I'm satisfied with what I've accomplished during my holiday break.