I can’t believe how quickly two and a bit weeks have passed since the start of the Olympics. A superb performance from team GB who have had me well and truly on the edge of my seat at times. No doubt about it, I can report that they certainly gave me a feel good factor but now what, I feel lost without it.
As a Brit and hearing plenty of rumours surrounding the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, I admit I was cringing at the thought of how bad it all sounded and I was wondering what the world would be thinking, looking at us in bewilderment as to what on earth was going on. Within 5 minutes of the start my fears turned to joy as the ceremony got under way and what a spectacular show it was. Truly British and if some feel too British for other countries to fully understand I don’t care, it is our turn to host the games and despite being a multi national country I felt it made a pleasant change for something to show off what makes Britain GREAT.
From the scenes dipicting the green grass and fields making way for the industrial revolution and the way the five rings were made to look like they were forged from iron right through to Mr Bean showing that we have a great sense of humour and even the Queen joining in as she was escorted by James Bond himself – I loved it. Personally I would have not have had Paul McCartney bringing the end to the nights proceedings, partly because it really is time for him to retire and second I just get fed-up with him closing every event that we hold here in the UK but I won’t let that spoil what I felt was a fantastic opening ceremony.
I was excited about putting all my pc parts together, at the same time a little anxious wondering if it would all work. I had sat in front of my other computer for what seemed and probably was hours upon hours of watching youtube footage and reviews, now it was time to assemble everything.
Starting with the Motherboard I popped in the CPU pretty straightforward, the processor has a little nick on one side so you can only pop it in one way. I pressed down the leaver which holds it in place, that was a worry as it is a very firm fit and I hoped the pins were all straight and that I wasn’t going to hear a nasty crunch.
Next the cooler, again I had watched this cooler being installed on a youtube clip and it was a pretty simple task. Remember to get yourself a tube of thermal paste. I had seen various tips about spreading this, I opted for half a pea size spot in the middle spreading it as fine as I could with an old credit card, actually it was an old membership card for somewhere.
Now I had these in place I secured the motherboard into the case and slotted in the RAM and graphics card. I had also purchased myself varied SATA cables in a variety of lengths which was a good thing as this case was big and the distance between the mothboard and some of the components was quite a stretch.
Hard drives connected, fans in place and it was time for a quick test – Bingo everything booted up exactly as it should, I couldn’t believe it, not a single error or problem, now it was time for a cup of tea before installing the operating system.
Tips
- Remember to purchase thermal paste
- Check the lengths of cable are long enough
- Fix cooler before securing motherboard to case
- Plan fan configuration in advance and check arrows on the side for air direction
My fan configuration was two large fans sucking in air from the bottom (image 2), heat rises so three fans in the top (image 3) and a fan also expelling air out the back away from the CPU cooler as well as a CPU cooler fan and another fan in front of the hard drive enclosure (image 2)
RAM - Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3
Cooler - Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler
System Drive - 1TB WD Black – Second hand
Western Digital 2TB storage drive.
Fans – Three Sharkoon Eagles – Two 140 Eagles - 140 Akasa Illumination - 140 Corsair
OS – Windows 7
The RAM was on a pre Christmas offer and at the price I paid (£37.00 delivered), well it spoke for itself. I didn’t want to go overkill on a cooler as I couldn’t see myself pushing the CPU with a large over clocking. I had a new WD 2TB drive sitting in an unused media player so that was always going to be used as a storage drive. My hardest decision was my desire to go for an SD boot drive but I could not avoid negative reports of SD drives failing all the time no matter where I looked. In the end I found someone with a 1TB WD black drive for sale at £50.00. It was used as a media back-up drive with very little use so I took the plunge and paid £50 for it. I grabbed myself a Windows 7 operating system and a few braided cables and now I was ready to sit down and assemble everything together.
Yes what a crazy world we live in. I watched the news yesterday and wondered what must go through the minds of these murderers when they start shooting innocent people. Yes I am talking of the guy who killed 12 and injured many more at a cinema in Denver. Today I also see it is the first anniversary of the Breivik killings in which 77 people lost their lives in Norway. I then wondered how much it costs governments when these people go on trial, and solicitors acting on behalf of the guilty trying to claim they were suffering mental health or trying to get them off on a technicality. Why can’t a high ranking judge just deem these people guilty and throw them in jail when it is as clear cut as it is with these mass murders? Why when it is such an obvious case can they not be just thrown in jail and forgotten about until the day they die, why have a court case costing millions??
Where do you start when deciding on which graphics card to install? It has to be down to personal choice and it largely depends on what you are going to be using your PC for? I might play the odd game on mine but I am not into the role playing games or games that require large powerful graphics cards in order to get the best out of the game. I opted for the ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCU 2 TOP
It receives decent reviews, it runs cool, it runs all games without a hitch and at the time I found it on a special offer at OCUK which was £20 cheaper than I could find it anywhere else.
Summer is on it’s way, it is now two months ago that I purchased a new BBQ and I still haven’t been able to use it. After the wettest June and what is likely to be the wettest July on record the forecast for next week is 27c. You have to admire the Greeks and the approach they take. Petroula Kostidou is a rather controversial Greek weather girl, I have no idea why!?.
Did anyone else see the Olympic torch pass through their town or city centre? I went along with my wife to watch it pass through my home town of Northampton. The skies were grey, there was a light rain falling and it was on a Monday morning. A friend of mine commented ‘riveting’ in a sarcastic manner and although I knew where they were coming from I would have still done it all over again. Yes it was all over within a few minutes and the torch past by in the blink of an eye but there was a happy atmosphere emanating from the crowds, one which made the small hairs on the back of your hands stand up.
I have no idea who the torch carrier was. I did read a few days later that Lewis Hamilton was a torch bearer for Luton just a week later and I couldn’t help but wonder why Northampton had not lined up a celebrity like this. Northampton with a McClaren head quarters and home of the British Grand Prix surely it would have made sense to have Hamilton or Button carrying it for at least one leg of the journey, both drivers were in the area at the time for the Grand Prix anyway.
While on the subject of the Olympics I see the good old British press are still focussing on what we do best – complaining. From the Olympics being over budget to delays on the road and security issues, it isn’t like we haven’t had seven years warning that they were on the way – hello? I just wish everyone would stop with the negativity and get behind what an honour it is to have such a massive world stage looking on us all and the extra income it will bring from tourists and foreign money being spent.
As for security issues and the disgrace that call themselves G4S I ask the question again who would you rather have providing security? We have the British Army trained and dedicated to protecting the country or a group of unemployed temporary workers who have little to no security background checks, the majority not having a clue what to do should there be an issue, I know who I would prefer.
My current PC is second hand, cutting a long story short it was purchased from someone who built themselves a gaming machine. The gaming machine received little use as the owner preferred his Xbox. Now wishing to raise some funds for a MAC, they decided to sell their PC and there I was, right place at the right time. Being a gaming machine it has a decent spec and it is housed in a large Corsair Obsidian 800D case. My initial plan was to build my new PC around the Bitfenix Colossus however a change of plan. I felt it would be a good idea to take the inners out of my second hand 800D and pop them into my Bitfenix Colossus, freeing up the 800D for my new build and giving me just a little practice at the same time. The 800D already had a Sony Bluray drive and a Pioneer DVD-RW installed, I would leave them in place and purchase a cheap DVD drive for the Bitfenix.
All went ultra smoothly, if it hadn’t then I would need to question myself if building a new PC was the right thing to do. Some might question why do I need two computers? Why do we have two television sets in many homes, because we want to and convenience. I do a lot of work from home and as someone who has suffered from malware and virus infections in the past it was time to have my work PC which was dedicated to just being that and a PC that I would use to surf the Internet, play games, download files and write blogs.
A quick recap of components purchased or obtained to this point for my new build: Obsidian 800D Case, Intel i5 2500k CPU, ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Motherboard, Sony Bluray Drive, Pioneer DVD-RW Drive
I have a big of a gripe towards the London Olympics 2012. My gripe isn’t the negativity that has amassed towards us holding the games, but at those winging and whining about them being held here. This week I have read or heard negative press reports regarding the transport system and roads, the GS4 security group, the cost of hosting them and the impact it is going to have on London workers who fear long delays in getting to and from work.
1) The Transport System – We have known about the games coming to London for 7 years now. We have had seven years to plan holidays and alternative arrangements, this isn’t something that has been sprung on us. Could the government have done more to improve the roads?
2) While I feel sorry that our servicemen are having to cancel leave I would much prefer our soldiers providing security than a bunch of temporary workers who haven”t got a clue from the GS4 group. Why the government ever trusted such a shoddy outfit in the first place is beyond belief. I don’t see the army being called in to replace GS4 staff as a negative in the slightest.
3) Reports state that the cost of hosting the Olympics are the equivalent to sending every UK citizen on a £2000 Caribbean holiday. Fact - had we not had the Olympics the government would have not sent us on a two week holiday or even given us a penny. The influx of tourists spending money on food and snacks, travel, memorabilia, hotels, gifts and on other tourist attractions while in London will all filter through the economy. Unlike the governments answer to print more money for the banks and asking them in turn to lend more to the public (and we all know they never do) at least the income from hosting the Olympics will filter through.
4) Yes I feel sorry for those that have to get too and from work in London itself, however would I like to suffer a little for the chance of having the Olympics and the cash flow it will bring and the excitement to my home town, of course I would. Once again though we have all had a seven year warning, if your company is not prepared then they only have themselves to blame.