Elementary, Dr. Watson

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I barely even use my PC anymore. I mainly used it for o­nline gaming, but the Xbox has taken over that spot. But all it took was a post in the forums by Flux asking what kind of scores we were getting in 3DMark's tests and I started planning my next upgrade. Mind you I o­nly just finished upgrading it a couple months ago. I upgraded it to a state where it would handle any game o­n the market and still haven't actually bought a game. I really don't even enjoy using my PC because it's crammed into a small corner of a room and my computer chair is a rickety old wooden affair. Splinterbottom would be a good name for a hobbit. The room is always a few degrees colder than the rest of the house. And it's lonely up there. So why must I be plagued by the constant desire to upgrade? I've since come to my senses, but at the rate I fill up o­nline shopping carts, it's o­nly going to be a matter of time before I click "Checkout".IL Comic

Comments

That's pretty Zen.

Snort - 'Needs More Ram'. How ridiculous! Clearly, the sauce just needs to be rebooted.

Wait, Sway knows how to cook?

I never understood why people put their computer in the most uncomfortable of places where you would not really want to sit and use it. My mom had hers in the corner of the kitchen for a while with this crappy fold-up chair. Who would want to sit and use that? One of my friends has theirs stuck in a little room between their garage and their basement. How inviting is that?

Gnome, my theory is that, despite 60 years of rapid innovation, computers are still really ugly as home deco. Vastly more important than, say, an end table or a writing desk, to be sure. But ugly.

I find if you reformat your sauces and replace its graphic card, you get a fresh taste.

Ygdrasil, that's a whole other conversation. What do you look at when you are using your computer? Your monitor. What do you actually touch while using your computer? Your keyboard and mouse. And yet people just go out and pickup the cheapest $75 monitor they can find and take the $10 mouse and keyboard combo and use that. I never understood it.

They're not just ugly. Computers are not comfortable. At least for me. I know all about proper monitor placement and good keyboard ergonomics. I've still never found a setup that is anywhere near as comfortable as sitting in my living room and playing my console.

You are right, though, LG...my current computer location is terrible. I'm just working with limited space right now and the computer always loses when it's fighting for position against another piece of furniture. I'm working on setting up shop in my basement, but that's a dungeon compared to the place it's sitting now. I'm going to have to be very careful when making the basement livable or it's just going to end up being another room I never want to hang out in.

BTW, LG, I think the other half of the duplex I'm living in might go on sale in the spring. If you want to move in, I'm sure we could figure out some unique networking and save on ISP fees. First thing you'd have to do, though, is go halfsies on replacing the busted fence in our backyards. We could also have dual ownership on The Box.

Don't bring up the box if you're not going to dish, dammit. You've allowing that thread to stagnate for the better part of a decade, you selfish gimp.

Gamers with Duplexes.

Glad to help

I don't know Sway, I'm pretty cushy up here in Mt Washington, but I might come down and take a look to get half of The Box.

I'm actually probably moving out of Baltimore sometime in the second half of next year, but you never know what happens with the crazy job market.

They aren't supposed to be comfortable. The content of the PC should be so engrossing that you will happily sit for days as the blood pools in your legs, your muscles atrophy, and you lose the ability to have children from too much body heat around the wedding tackle.

Ygdrasil, that's a whole other conversation. What do you look at when you are using your computer? Your monitor. What do you actually touch while using your computer? Your keyboard and mouse. And yet people just go out and pickup the cheapest $75 monitor they can find and take the $10 mouse and keyboard combo and use that. I never understood it.

You know, LeapingGnome, I agree with that. When I bought a nice, new Intellimouse Explorer (most comfortable and accurate mouse I've yet used) when they were new for $50, my friends thought I was crazy.

"You spent $50 on a mouse?!"

Well, 2 years later that mouse still works as well as the day I bought it and still feels as comfortable. Meanwhile, they've gone through multiple $5-10 mice, waiting until they can't stand banging the darn things against their mouse pads because their mouse balls are all whacked out.

Same with my monitor; nice 19" affair that I picked up just over a year ago with a good selection of high refresh rate resolutions. It's a CRT, as I'm waiting until LCD's catch up for gaming purposes at a reasonable price (I'll pay 200-300 for a good monitor).

My PC case, on the other hand, is this 4 year old grey crap-box that still works. Reasonably quiet, too. They have all these crazy tricked-out cases, but who watches the case on their computer and feels it up while trying to play a game?

I view my computer differently since I got a gyration mouse. http://www.gyration.com/ultragt.htm You can use it on your desk like a regular optical mouse, but the best part is that it has a gyroscope in it, so you can pick it up and use it in the air with minor wrist movements. Now I can kick back in my comfy chair with my feat up and surf the net. Sure beats being hunched over the desk.

Same thing with a trackball CB. I've been using them for as long as I can remember, I just keep buying the newer models whenever the old ones wear out. Converted about 10 people over too.

Now I know why you were plugging gamers with jobs.

When you get a chance, play Cat and Mouse on PGR 2. Two teams, yellow and black. Each team has four cars; three extreme/ultimate models and a mini cooper. The first mini cooper across the line wins. The black team try and stop the yellow mini and vice versa.

It's like bumber cars, street racing and presidential protection using supercars. As the mini tries to hug the course, the supercars are smashing into each other behind it - at one point in my game the black mini was out in front, behind it were three black saleens blocking the entire road - behind them three yellow saleens screaming hellfire, trying to find an angle to slip through and attack the leadcar.

That would be good by itself, but being able to shout sh*t on Xbox live like "I can see three on your tail! THey won't be there for much longer!" and hear the person you're addressing yelp "I'm trying to drive [fast]! I'm trying to drive!" - it became less like racing and more like an assault on the deathstar. (Although Wedge Antilles never shouted "Get outta my way Female Doggoes, I'm coming through!")

Fantastic.

Hey, 1Dgaf, welcome to the fray. I know all about the phenomenon called Cat & Mouse, also MINIs & Saleens, Big & Little, and my personal favorite, The Ultimate Cooper. It was my gametype of choice for hours 30 - 90 and Kudos Rank 6-13 in PGR2, probably. I've got nearly 1,000 miles on the MINI and the Saleen from that game. It's that addictive!

However, you play it at the expense of your racing skills. It's the reason why you find me struggling to keep up at rank 15 with a room full of rank 8s. So I've spent the last week ignoring my game invites from the well known Cat & Mouse devotees. If you want a good game, though, find me one evening and we'll get into JSMOKLER's room. He's got the best in the business in there.

Now I'm going to see what I've missed over at your forum.

I have no idea what Big and Little or Ultimate Cooper are. Perhaps some kind of Christian Wrestling tag-team.

I look forward to checking out JSmokler. Nothing much happening on the forum - it take a while to get into it. It's quite cliquey.

See you in game.