Did a little bit of initial testing of some games with my new computer and the ATI Radeon 4200 gfx card.
World of Warcraft
1600x900 rez, graphics all set to Highest (including View Distance!), shadows set to lowest
* 30-60 fps in Dalaran city (depending on player population & architecture) -- up from 2-5 fps on my laptop!
* 35 fps and no lag in the thick of a 20-on-20 brawl in Wintergrasp (PvP Battleground) among cannon fire galore -- up from like 2 fps on my laptop in those situations
* 45 fps average in Stormwind city with medium-high player population near the bank&AH area
Morrowind
1024x786 (max) rez, all graphics set to highest
Couldn't get the fps counter up in-game, but I used to get an average 9-15 fps in the game on my laptop, with the main open area of Balmora city dipping to about 7 fps.
Now, everything is perfectly smooth & fast with gfx cranked.
DOOM 3
1154x864, graphics set to High
35-60 fps, depending on architecture & number of NPCs/monsters.
My laptop ran at 5 fps with 800x600 rez and all gfx settings to lowest, ew.
Left 4 Dead runs perfectly smooth with graphics set high, though it has support for multiple processors which is very nice.
Still to test: Oblivion, Halo 1.
Update:
I installed Oblivion, maxxed out the graphics and can play it smoothly.
Also installed Halo 1, maxxed out the gfx and it plays fine. Halo 1 as a benchmark is more because its code is poorly written, causing it to be a resource hog. Not so much because the graphics are intense (they certainly look dated as compared to Halo 3).
10.30.2009
10.29.2009
New computer
This week I bought a new desktop computer. It's an HP Pavillion.
Stats:
Quadcore AMD Phenom II 810 processors
8 Gb RAM
750 Gb HDD
ATI Raedeon 4200 gfx card (integrated, not bad but not all that great... I will be upgrading this in the near future).
Windows 7 Home Premium
It has a digital video output, and a built-in wireless card and came with an antenna that attaches to it. The computer is very quiet too. ^_^
I also bought an LG 20" widescreen flat-panel monitor. Very nice.
In the near future I'm going to dual boot the latest version of Ubuntu (which came out today actually). But first I want to get a little used to Windows 7.
Stats:
Quadcore AMD Phenom II 810 processors
8 Gb RAM
750 Gb HDD
ATI Raedeon 4200 gfx card (integrated, not bad but not all that great... I will be upgrading this in the near future).
Windows 7 Home Premium
It has a digital video output, and a built-in wireless card and came with an antenna that attaches to it. The computer is very quiet too. ^_^
I also bought an LG 20" widescreen flat-panel monitor. Very nice.
In the near future I'm going to dual boot the latest version of Ubuntu (which came out today actually). But first I want to get a little used to Windows 7.
10.25.2009
Favorite Week of the Year (2009)
This week is my favorite week of the year. The weather's nice & cool, the trees are changing colors, and Halloween is at the end of it and that decor abounds! =)
This week this year is going to be great because I'm going to buy a new desktop computer & a 20" flat-panel LCD monitor (for a good price too). I may need to upgrade the gfx card, but there's no rush on that (the only game I've been playing in months is WoW, you know).
I already ordered a nice new keyboard: the Saitek Eclipse II -- it's LED illuminated. B-)
And I just discovered that the new version of Ubuntu (9.10, which is released Thursday) supports my current laptop's wireless card! So I installed it over the old Ubuntu version I was dual-booting with. If I can get Photoshop CS4 and WoW to run in Linux under W.I.N.E. then I won't have any need for Windows... 7 or otherwise. ;P
I downloaded the 9.10 beta official .iso and burned it to a CD. Then I did a live boot from the CD to boot up into the OS to see what's new. It detected the gfx card settings and wireless automatically -- previous versions of Ubuntu weren't off-the-bat compatible with the Intel integrated gfx cards (ugh) and needed heavy tweaking to get the GUI up and running correctly. And a separate wireless program was needed to get the wireless card to work, and the set back with that program was that it didn't allow all cards to connect if the network has WEP on it. Guess what... yeah. :-/
All that's changed. =)
Now come Thurdsay all I'll have to do is automatically apply the updates and I'll have the full hot new version. Of course, I won't be caring much about this laptop, as I'll have a shiny new desktop replacing it. ^_^
10.18.2009
Art Therapy
Mmm... I created some new digital art today and suddenly feel... well, I don't know what feeling it is, but it feels good.
I haven't actually done anything productive [as in, produced anything or created something, or put work/effort into accomplishing anything] since I started the new job. And so I've felt that my free time [what little I have nowadays] was just flying by, used up by just relaxing. Ok, I did watch both seasons of True Blood, so while that is something to show for some of the time, it's nothing I created or did.
So, this piece isn't anything particularly stupendous and didn't take very long at all, but it's swell. In fact, it took me as long to make my Halloween playlist in WinAmp as it did to make this piece of art while listening to that.
Artist's commentary & full-quality version found where I uploaded it in my DeviantArt gallery.
No One Lives Forever (grunge wall)
I haven't actually done anything productive [as in, produced anything or created something, or put work/effort into accomplishing anything] since I started the new job. And so I've felt that my free time [what little I have nowadays] was just flying by, used up by just relaxing. Ok, I did watch both seasons of True Blood, so while that is something to show for some of the time, it's nothing I created or did.
So, this piece isn't anything particularly stupendous and didn't take very long at all, but it's swell. In fact, it took me as long to make my Halloween playlist in WinAmp as it did to make this piece of art while listening to that.
Artist's commentary & full-quality version found where I uploaded it in my DeviantArt gallery.
No One Lives Forever (grunge wall)
10.11.2009
Samsung Rogue U960
Today I bought the Samsung Rogue.
It's quite nice... basically all the features of a Blackberry. It's full touch screen, with a full keyboard that slides out of the side (and the on-screen display rotates 90 degrees). That on-screen display is 480x800 and gorgeous.
This phone must have a powerful processor in it because when I call up new menus and stuff it happens instantly, no lag. My previous phone had that lag, it got annoying. ;P
It lets me surf the net in html format, not that puny "Mobile Web 2.0" that's on normal cell phones (and thus why it's more like a Blackberry).
The main screen is similar to the iPhone in that you can put icon shortcut to apps & jazz on it, tho you can arrange them anyway you want 'em; think of a computer's desktop screen. And there's also a fly-out sidebar that can hold 'em, which you can scroll thru. That's where I keep mine, on the sidebar, and then have the sidebar tucked off screen, with just a tab sticking out to summon it. ;P
And txt messages are threaded by person in the same way that Gmail threads emails! =D
Unfortunately since the Rogue only recently came out, there are very few apps available as of yet. It did come preloaded with trial versions of Need For Speed Undercover and Resident Evil Degeneration... and I was impressed at the graphics level.
I'm not allowed to check my personal email at work, during work, on my work computer. So this new phone will allow me to easily check it and easily write emails during my hour-long lunch, and two 15-min breaks.
It's quite nice... basically all the features of a Blackberry. It's full touch screen, with a full keyboard that slides out of the side (and the on-screen display rotates 90 degrees). That on-screen display is 480x800 and gorgeous.
This phone must have a powerful processor in it because when I call up new menus and stuff it happens instantly, no lag. My previous phone had that lag, it got annoying. ;P
It lets me surf the net in html format, not that puny "Mobile Web 2.0" that's on normal cell phones (and thus why it's more like a Blackberry).
The main screen is similar to the iPhone in that you can put icon shortcut to apps & jazz on it, tho you can arrange them anyway you want 'em; think of a computer's desktop screen. And there's also a fly-out sidebar that can hold 'em, which you can scroll thru. That's where I keep mine, on the sidebar, and then have the sidebar tucked off screen, with just a tab sticking out to summon it. ;P
And txt messages are threaded by person in the same way that Gmail threads emails! =D
Unfortunately since the Rogue only recently came out, there are very few apps available as of yet. It did come preloaded with trial versions of Need For Speed Undercover and Resident Evil Degeneration... and I was impressed at the graphics level.
I'm not allowed to check my personal email at work, during work, on my work computer. So this new phone will allow me to easily check it and easily write emails during my hour-long lunch, and two 15-min breaks.
10.09.2009
T. Rowe Price
By now everyone should know I got a job working at T. Rowe Price doing technical support.
Finally a full-time day job that pays well [quite well in fact]. I'm so happy! =)
Sara was able to suggest my name to Beth at Comsys when the openings came in that very morning. I had an over-the-phone interview later that week, and an in-person interview that next Monday. Everything flowed so smoothly; the process, the interviews, etc that I was destined for this. And thank you everyone who was praying for me!
The group of people I'm working with are all around my age, and are all friendly and helpful. The company is solid, and has a good culture and cares about their employees. This is great.
The transition has been a little rough but I'm getting used to it. I was used to going to bed whenever I wanted (usually around 4am) for the past year and a half, and getting out of bed whenever I felt like it (noon? 1pm? no prob!).
Now I'm working 9am-6pm M-F (with an hour lunch in there), tho it takes me roughly 40 min to get to work in the mornings and 45-50 min to get home, so a lot of my time each day is eaten up by the commitment to this job. Ick. :-/
Going to bed before midnight is new to me... in fact being in bed by 11 is almost mandatory to make sure I get enough sleep. I'm working on getting adjusted to the new sleep-cycle tho.
Hopefully by Feb 1st I will have located & secured an apartment in the Owings Mills/Reisterstown area and be moving into it. That will cut down my commute time drastically, down to only 5-15 min each way, depending on the exact location.
Before then, I'd like swap my car with something more enjoyable, and I've set my sights once again on the PT Cruiser.
After Windows 7 drops at the end of the month I'm going to buy a powerful desktop computer (then dual boot Ubuntu Linux on it).
And either this weekend or this coming week I'm going to buy the Samsung Rogue, the same cell phone Sara has.
Finally a full-time day job that pays well [quite well in fact]. I'm so happy! =)
Sara was able to suggest my name to Beth at Comsys when the openings came in that very morning. I had an over-the-phone interview later that week, and an in-person interview that next Monday. Everything flowed so smoothly; the process, the interviews, etc that I was destined for this. And thank you everyone who was praying for me!
The group of people I'm working with are all around my age, and are all friendly and helpful. The company is solid, and has a good culture and cares about their employees. This is great.
The transition has been a little rough but I'm getting used to it. I was used to going to bed whenever I wanted (usually around 4am) for the past year and a half, and getting out of bed whenever I felt like it (noon? 1pm? no prob!).
Now I'm working 9am-6pm M-F (with an hour lunch in there), tho it takes me roughly 40 min to get to work in the mornings and 45-50 min to get home, so a lot of my time each day is eaten up by the commitment to this job. Ick. :-/
Going to bed before midnight is new to me... in fact being in bed by 11 is almost mandatory to make sure I get enough sleep. I'm working on getting adjusted to the new sleep-cycle tho.
Hopefully by Feb 1st I will have located & secured an apartment in the Owings Mills/Reisterstown area and be moving into it. That will cut down my commute time drastically, down to only 5-15 min each way, depending on the exact location.
Before then, I'd like swap my car with something more enjoyable, and I've set my sights once again on the PT Cruiser.
After Windows 7 drops at the end of the month I'm going to buy a powerful desktop computer (then dual boot Ubuntu Linux on it).
And either this weekend or this coming week I'm going to buy the Samsung Rogue, the same cell phone Sara has.
10.02.2009
"Dear Die-ary,
There's nothing terribly wrong with feeling lost, so long as that feeling precedes some plan on your part to actually do something about it.
Too often a person grows complacent with their disillusionment, perpetually wearing their "discomfort" like a favorite shirt.
I can't say I'm very pleased with where my life [was] just now...
But I can't help but look forward to where it's going."
As usually, Nny & I agree! =)
A post on my new job is forthcoming...
There's nothing terribly wrong with feeling lost, so long as that feeling precedes some plan on your part to actually do something about it.
Too often a person grows complacent with their disillusionment, perpetually wearing their "discomfort" like a favorite shirt.
I can't say I'm very pleased with where my life [was] just now...
But I can't help but look forward to where it's going."
--Johnny, Johnny The Homicial Maniac
As usually, Nny & I agree! =)
A post on my new job is forthcoming...
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