Woo hoo! His parts came, so he can tear his system apart, put in the new cooling, then do the same to my old box! Probably two weeks or so. He is putting in phase change cooling, so his water cooling is getting ripped out.

Meanwhile, my roommate has started tearing apart his computer to put in water cooling. This includes what looks suspiciously like a small car radiator.... I told him that he should go all out for a steampunk look.

The Auld Grump

My computer is getting ready to be winging its way to me as I type. He is giving it a smoke test when I get there, then will leave it running over the weekend.

Not quite what was originally discussed - he changed what he was planning to do, so he had a freakin' huge case, about twenty feet of cooling hose, and a gallon (!) of florescent cooling liquid, so rather than grabbing my old case he used the case that he had to hand. He originally planned to use the glowy stuff for his cooling system, then decided to use phase change instead.

This is more computer than I bargained for, but he had the stuff for three months, and couldn't send it back, so.... I am getting the computer he planned to build for himself, except for CPU and graphics cards - the motherboards we had chosen were identical Rampage 3 boards.

I got his big case because he decided that it was too big, it would not fit in or on his computer desk, and his computer desk fills the wall of the room it is in. (He has four monitors, one huge, two big, one tiny.) So he is taking my old big case, increasing the power supply, and using it instead - it exactly fits the space left in his desk, about 1/2" to spare on height and width, dead on for depth.

He has a really nifty computer desk - the computer itself rests on a wheeled cart, there is a telescoping handle so it can be used as a dolly when moving his computer. The big monitors are on these swing arms like giant Tensor lamps. Smoked glass and shining metal. He got it from the local Office Depot when it was going under, paid something like half of list. I want one, but at half price he paid something like a grand for it....

Now I feel overpaid - he has run cooling to the graphics cards, the case is a lot more expensive than the one he is getting in return, and a bigger power supply. So, I will be doing some extra material for the game, either writing or, if I can build up the gumption, building a Maiden and adding a PCs as Naval Adventurers theme. I can pull out the maps I did for the Pirate's Grotto and the Smuggler's Inn....

I'd offer to run a game, but this is now his baby. (I feel so proud.)

The Auld Grump

Da-yum the case is huge! Dang near a cube. I can't see how he thought that it might fit his desk, Hell, I'm going to have to move some furniture around. The thing is also freakin' 'eavy! The case is by a company that I have never heard of - UFO. Looks... solid. Very solid. *GOOGLE*


Looks like it is a product of sunny Canada!

Smoke test went well, the puppy is louder than I might like, but watching the graphics of his benchmark program go by... nice! And yeah, the thing glows, which means I might not want it in my bedroom. (A loverly radioactive green. )

I'm pretty sure that the smoke test wasn't - that he had already fired it up and done some trouble shooting. But hey, I don't blame him for wanting to make a show of it.

He didn't want further recompense, but I insisted, so I will be painting pirates, mostly Black Scorpion. He does not want a Maiden, and had me look up some 2D ships instead. (They have a Siamese cat that likes the taste of printed cardstock.)

Dang, I'm feeling excited now! Actually seeing the brute up and running somehow makes it real.....

The Auld Grump

Well, I think I figured out why he thought it would fit when it obviously won't... he must have looked at it too many times, 'cause every time I look at it it seems to get bigger.

I have dubbed it Das Brute, and it is now sitting in my kitchen because I realized that the Brute plus an air conditioner would just be asking for trouble - the Brute uses two outlets.

I managed to forget to get a keyboard and mouse, but I remembered the monitor (another brute - 23" Samsung SyncMaster). So, I am waiting for UPS, then running to Best Buy for a keyboard and mouse. After that - BED! (Up late last night statting NPCs, then up early....)

The Auld Grump, which means no playing with Das Brute until tomorrow.

OMG thats big, looks the same size as my bedside table.

as to mice - get this things big brother the R.A.T.9

Its wireless and so gadgety you will be fiddling with it for ages.

If you get the gaming Keyboard you can have loads of D&D functions programmed in.

Das Brute has eleven fans... none are really big.

I went with the Logitech Performance - in my head I am playing with DTP more than FPS, but the TLA are AOK. (Sorry. ) The game I want the high end for will not be out for more than half a year.... 'You should have acted! They're already here! The Elder Scrolls told of their return....' Damn it looks purty.

I am thinking about hooking it up to a 42" monitor that serves as a TV, my roommate picked it up 3 or 4 years ago when a hotel went under, planning to use it as a monitor, he tried it, decided that it was way too big, but that it is great for watching DVDs. Either that or hook the monitor up to a C=64....

The Auld Grump, it really is a great monitor - the magnificence of mighty A'Tuin moving across the screen, disc, elephants, and all....

You may want to reconsider you C=64 Plans

between $250 - $890 USD !!