Topics

1

Off Topic / Building a computer: A few questions

« on: December 17, 2010, 11:59:06 AM »

As you all know, Christmas is quickly approaching. I was talking with my dad about building a decent gaming rig. He agreed, and I began browsing Newegg for parts and started looking through their "DIY PC Combos". Although most seemed either way too expensive or unsuitable for my needs, I came across one that I thought seemed good. However, I have a few questions about it, and if you guys could help me out that would be great.

The combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.563968

For the sake of organization I'm going to break my questions down based on individual parts.

Case: No questions or complaints here really. From what reviews I've read about it this is a nice case for the price. If anyone has any other recommendations though I'll gladly take them into consideration.

Motherboard: I'm not completely aware of what makes a motherboard good or bad, but from what I've read other people have been satisfied with this. If anyone has a better suggestion, then go for it.

Video card: This is where the questions begin. In the combo deal I'd be getting two of these video cards, for a total of $270. Would this be worth it? I was browsing through other cards and found that I could buy a GTX 470 for an equal or lower price. Which would be better? From what I've read of MSI's GTS 450, that cyclone cooling system they used works really well and keeps temperatures relatively low compared to other cards, but I'm not sure if having two would be a better decision than having a better card such as one GTX 470.

PSU: I think my only major question about the power supply would be this: would 650W be enough to power everything in that combo? I'm no expert but that seems somewhat low for everything being put into the build. Other combos I looked at had somewhat higher power, but they could just be going overboard.

Processor: No complaints here.

RAM: Again, I'm no expert, but from what I know this seems like decently fast RAM. That being so, would I really need 6GB of it? In my opinion I think I would be fine with 4GB for what I need.

Hard drive: From what I've read of reviews on Newegg, this hard drive seemed like a hit or miss deal. A lot of people complained about it either being DoA or dying shortly after getting it. Regardless, most people who reviewed it had no problems with it, so I'm assuming chances of it failing would be somewhat slim. Either way if anyone has any better, cheaper solutions feel free to give them.

Optical drive: No complaints here. I don't need anything more than a $20 optical drive.

CPU cooler: From what I read of the i7-950, the only complaints people had were related to the heatsink that came with it. This CPU cooler is included in the combo, but do I really need it? I honestly don't think that Intel's default heatsink would be that bad.

That's about it. I'd end up saving $150.90 through the combo discount and mail-in rebates, but it wouldn't surprise me if you guys provided cheaper and better solutions for building a gaming rig. Thanks ahead of time.

2

Off Topic / Samsung Vibrant/Galaxy S Review

« on: September 05, 2010, 02:19:01 AM »

Let me begin this by explaining that for the past 22 months I have owned and thoroughly enjoyed using T-Mobile's G1 phone. It was the first Android phone available, and I loved the variety of features it had. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of leaving it on the charger too long. The battery life grew progressively worse until yesterday, at which point it wouldn't stay on for more than a few minutes. My account was eligible for an upgrade, and I had about $350 to blow, so I settled on buying the Samsung Vibrant.

Best decision ever.

Hardware
All of the major providers in the U.S. carry a variant of the Galaxy S phone, the Vibrant being T-Mobile's. As far as hardware goes they are all very similar. It has a 1 GHz Hummingbird S5PC110 CPU, 512 GB of RAM, the most powerful GPU in any Android phone to date, and most importantly, a 4" super AMOLED touch screen. The picture on this phone is beautiful. I can't stress how crisp the image looks. The interesting thing about it is that it is 20% brighter, 80% less reflective, and uses 20% less battery than a normal screen.The lack of a physical keyboard and trackball took some getting used to, since I owned a G1 previously.

The Vibrant in particular feels extremely light for what it can do. While reading about it, I saw some complaints about battery life, but I haven't had any issues so far. It has a 5 MP camera and can record video in 720p HD. Also it comes with some pretty decent headphones.

Software

If you've used an Android phone before, this won't feel much different. It runs on version 2.1 with Samsung's Touchwiz 3.0 interface. 2.2 should be available later this year. Live wallpapers are cool, but eat up the battery a bit more quickly. It comes with both the standard Android widgets, as well as some widgets by Samsung. A really big feature is the Swype keyboard, which lets you trace a word out instead of typing. It takes some getting used to, but once you get it down it's very efficient (I typed all of this using the Swype keyboard).

The big thing about the Vibrant in particular is the things that are on it. Out of the box it comes with James Cameron's Avatar preloaded onto it (this was great to watch on the 4" screen), as well as an exclusive version of The Sims 3. Some other neat exclusives include a month of free television, online radio, and in-flight internet services.

tl;dr

Great phone. Thinking about buying it? Do it. Don't want to buy it? Buy it anyway.

3

Gallery / giraffe duck

« on: June 16, 2010, 02:36:07 PM »

i accidentally created this and felt it was worth posting



everyone loves giraffe duck!

4

Gallery / Generic suburban house

« on: June 09, 2010, 06:21:51 PM »

This is the house I built while I was hosting a suburban neighborhood build. I haven't played Blockland a lot recently, but this was pretty much the last thing I was working on. I never got around to finishing it, but I think it's complete enough to post. Keep in mind that I built this well before any brick packs came out, so everything aside from JVS stuff and the colorset is default.

Front:


Back:


Entrance:


Dining room (I should probably recolor the chairs):


Kitchen:


Living room:


Garage:


Upstairs hall:


Upstairs bathroom:


Bedroom:


Not pictured:

• Downstairs bathroom; not a whole lot to see anyway, the room was too small to get a good image.
• Second bedroom; I didn't build anything in it.
• Basement; not built yet.

5

Games / TF2 guest pass

« on: December 28, 2009, 05:09:48 PM »

I bought the Orange Box a moment ago, since it was 50% off. With that comes TF2, and with that comes a guest pass. Who wants it?

6

Off Topic / Backwards Thread

« on: October 17, 2009, 11:55:07 PM »

I saw this on another forum, and thought it would be neat to do here. Anyway, the basic idea is that this thread should make sense when read backwards. This post would be the most recent, and whoever posts most recently would be the OP. Since it wouldn't make much sense, don't quote any posts above yours.

7

Off Topic / Barack Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize

« on: October 09, 2009, 02:35:35 PM »

Some of you may have already heard this, but I had just found out about it this morning, and I don't see any other threads about this. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

Here are a couple of links with more information:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nobel_peace

8

Drama / http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee130/Vladameir/Mah%20Artistry/Noooo.png

« on: September 12, 2009, 08:41:42 PM »

You seem to have stumbled upon these forums and are now mumbling incoherently.

And you're totally loving in, Cry. I really love the BFG.



Ninja Edit: Thanks for the models Absolution! Just send them to Amade, he can give them to whoever wants to script them.

What program do you use?


And what's your opinion on this?

I just made this, and I like it. I can't wait 'till my tablet comes in, though.

Leave Otis alone :C

stop spamming this picture please
9 times is enough for one day

9

Gallery / Parthenon (WIP - sort of)

« on: September 11, 2009, 04:10:49 PM »

The Parthenon
also known as Παρθενών

Description
I started this build a while back, some time around April maybe. I had made a lot of progress, but stopped because of a lack of ideas. I had most of it finished, rather accurately too, but I could not seem to find out what went in the west chamber. I kept putting it on hold until I finally just started working on a new project, and the Parthenon sank into the depths of my save files. Recently, after seeing Placid's thread here, I decided to start work on it again.

Now, before I post pictures, I'd like to clarify a few things. I am not going entirely for detail in this build; historical accuracy is my goal. This is the full scaled Parthenon, and it is surprisingly close in accuracy. It has the exact same number of columns, extremely similar dimensions (it even matches up with the golden ratio, a ratio that was common in ancient Greek architecture), and similar details. Considering the Parthenon was severely damaged by the Venetians in 1687, I figured that it would be much better to build it as it was when it was constructed thousands of years ago. Because of this, I sort of had to make some guesses about the colors and finer details.

Currently its dimensions are 272x128 studs, and it is 19,464 bricks.

Pictures

overview


front/back (I'm sitting on the steps for size comparison)


side (again I'm there for size comparison)


the doors into the chambers


the east chamber, with the (rather fat) statue of Athena


the west chamber, sadly empty :(


What needs to be done
As mentioned in the topic title, this is still a WIP for the most part. What I need to do is:

• finish the west chamber - high priority
• possibly redo the Athena statue
• add more details to the east chamber
• add statues on the roof and in the bare area on the front/back (that area has a name but I forget it)
• add smaller details here and there to make it look less bare

What you can do
Considering that this is a large undertaking for just one person, I'm open to any help that you'd like to give. The ways you can help include:

• suggesting ways in which the build can be improved
• suggest things I can add onto the build to make it look less bare
• help me build - I may or may not be hosting while I'm working on this, so if you want to get on and possibly help do some things you can, with my permission of course

Q&A/references
With this post I'm expecting a few specific replies from those who don't know about Greek architecture or from those who just didn't read a majority of what I typed. So, here are a few predetermined questions/complaints and my response to them; if you ask these in the thread I won't reply to you.

Q: the columns are plain
A: these types of columns are from the Doric order; I really can't get much more detailed than this while still maintaining historical accuracy

Q: there's nothing in the west chamber
A: you're handicapped

Q: the roof/front/back are plain
A: I'll be adding statues later

Q: the walls are plain
A: I'm sort of using the current walls as placeholders, I'll most likely replace the current walls with more detailed/less boring walls later

References for those unfamiliar with Greek architecture:
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/introtogreece/lect11/img22architordrs.html
http://www.willamette.edu/cla/wviews/parthenon/images.htm
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Parthenon.htm
http://www.uncp.edu/home/rwb/parthenon_crosssection.jpg
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/Parthenon/Parthenon1.jpg

You'll notice that the last picture has more than just the Parthenon. This is Acropolis, which I may or may not attempt to build at a later date depending on how many bricks the Parthenon ends up using and whether or not I am feeling lazy.

Hope you like it.

10

Gallery / Tank Man

« on: August 05, 2009, 02:46:56 PM »

 

Credit to Destroyer for posing, and Gage for building the bus.

11

Drama / Don't password Rotondo's server without permission!

« on: July 14, 2009, 01:28:21 PM »

yep

12

Gallery / Randomguy and Jetpuff's citadel

« on: July 07, 2009, 02:54:49 PM »

Not much to say here. Jetpuff and I built this, and I'm still not entirely sure what it is.

A few screenshots of the build:















Lastly, an overview:



Feel free to leave ratings or constructive criticism.

13

Drama / Somebody knows my key

« on: June 22, 2009, 08:36:46 PM »

Apparently, though I have absolutely no idea how, somebody is using my key. I can't really provide pictures or anything for proof, but while hosting, "Randomguy" connected. I'm rather surprised at this, and would like to know if there's any way to identify who is doing this, and if there is some way that I could get a new key or something.

Edit: ID is 4508.

14

Gallery / Little Jack

« on: May 27, 2009, 09:31:21 PM »

This is a more recent build of mine; you won't recognize it unless you've played Skies of Arcadia for the Sega Dreamcast. The Little Jack is the small fishing vessel piloted by Drachma. The game's protagonists (somewhat literally) run into him and his ship early on in the game, and he saves them on many occasions. I had recently dug the game up and started playing, so I decided to build the Little Jack. Some of the parts were a bit hard to form with bricks, so they may look a bit odd. The only reference I used was the game itself.

Anyway, pictures.

Exterior:







Interior, middle floor:



Top floor, along with the wheel:



Bottom floor and engine (the gear moves):





Emergency life boat:



Bunks (hammocks built by Destroyer, modified slightly by me):



That's all. Feel free to leave ratings/constructive criticism/whatever. If you want to see it in-game, it's currently on the NWB server.

15

Off Topic / Wolfram|Alpha

« on: May 19, 2009, 05:03:47 PM »

I'm not sure how old this is, but I just recently found it.

http://www29.wolframalpha.com/

Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method, and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.

Wolfram|Alpha aims to bring expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible range of people—spanning all professions and education levels. Our goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them with maximum clarity.

Wolfram|Alpha is an ambitious, long-term intellectual endeavor that we intend will deliver increasing capabilities over the years and decades to come. With a world-class team and participation from top outside experts in countless fields, our goal is to create something that will stand as a major milestone of 21st century intellectual achievement.

Basically, you can enter in a term, and it gathers loads of information about it. It lists some examples on the site. These include:

Dates: If you enter in a specific date (i.e. June 23, 1988), it shows how long ago that date was from today, major holidays on that day, major events that occured on that date, the moon phase on that date, and even sunrise and sunset times.

Cities: Entering in a city will bring up that city's location on a map, its population, the current time and weather, and its elevation above sea level.

Stocks: Enter in any number of stocks, and it will bring up latest trades and returns, price histories, performance comparisons, and projections for those stocks. It will display this information side by side for comparison if more than one stock is entered.

Calculations: Enter in any sort of calculation, and it will give you an exact result.

Mathematical formulae: Entering a formula will bring up graphs, alternate forms, roots, and much more.

These are just a few examples of what this website is capable of.