Keyrock

Ah the ol' buckling spring design switches. Classic. I prefer Cherry MX Brown switches myself, but tons of people love the buckling spring switches, and with good reason. Those IBM keyboards are built like a tank. You could fire a mortar shell at them and they'd still function. There are a ton of people that use IBM Model M keyboards dating back to the 80s still to this day. The 80s!

Which custom logo should I print out for the rig (I didn't draw these just swiped images off the net and pasted them together all amateur like)?

Yeah, moving the fan to the other side of the block and turning it into a pull instead of a push setup is always an option, but in my experiences, push works a lot better than pull on a CPU cooler (push/pull is obviously best). I'll look into those coolers you listed and take another look at the measurements of the Noctua Sarex listed before I make any decisions.

Yeah, I haven't played in several months, since B12, I think (they're on B18 now), and tons of stuff has changed. Heck, I haven;t even reached the new act 2 area yet (though I did rebuild the bridge, just haven't had the stones to cross it yet). I started a new character rather than picking up one of my old characters since it's been so long. THey added a whole bunch more dialogue and lore into the game. I'm sure a lot of people just skip through that stuff so they can get back to hacking and slashing, but I enjoy reading every piece of lore, even in a loot em up. I hope B19 comes soon, we should get 2 handed melee weapons in that next build. The graphics certainly aren't bad, especially if you can push max settings. The HBAO+ lighting effects during the day are pretty amazing. My biggest gripe is that the game looks a bit disappointing at night. Not bad, certainly, it's just that I played Sleeping Dogs recently, and that game looks amazing at night.

I was thinking about getting this Cooler Master liquid system. All the professional reviews I've read say it does a great job keeping the CPU ice cold, even under heavy load (In one video review the guy ran Prime95 for 3 1/2 hours and it never broke 38 degrees). The one negative everyone mentions is that the fan, when at full speed, is very noisy, but that can be easily remedied by spending 10 bucks to get a better 120mm variable speed fan. Most reviews also mention that the Hyper 212 Evo air cooler works just as well, is less noisy, and even costs less, the problem with that, same as the problem with the Noctua Sarex linxed, is that it will interfere with at the very least 1 of my RAM slots, and I want to avoid that at all costs. The water cooling system avoids that completely since the water block and pump are not much bigger than the chip itself, and I can get a better fan and mount a push/pull system on the radiator in conjunction with my existing 120mm exhaust fan at the fack of my case, which should keep the radiator super frosty, which in turn should keep the chip super frosty, which in turn should allow me to overclock to my heart's content. I'm really thinking I may have to go liquid cooling, since with all the good air coolers I keep running into the same problem of the cooler (usually the pan pushing the air through the block) likely interfering with my RAM slots because my OC'd RAM sticks have the giant heat spreaders on them.

Are you going for air? If so then definitely go after market, you won't go wrong with a Noctua. There is even a new edition out that has pmw fans and is molded to clear high ram modules. I need to make sure I get a cooler that's either pretty slim and/or spreads out high enough above the chip that it gives me about 2" of clearance. I have OCed RAM with giant, tall heatspreaders. With the current 2 stick configuration in slot 2 and 4 it won't be a problem if I lose slot 1 due to the cooler, but I'd like to have the option to slot in 2 more sticks to go to 32GB in the future.

For reference, my settings. All maxed except AA, AF, and shadows (as an aside, I know it reads Intel HD Graphics, but I can assure you it's running off my GeForce GT 650M): My pops would love this cave. Look at all those mushrooms to pick! I'm about to have a smashing good time with that giant mosquito Probably not jams and compotes

Who knew Prosper worked at a creamery?

Mostly aesthetic. Having the WASD keys be a different color, like the bright red, makes them easier to pick out and can help you not hit the wrong key in a tense game, though my fingers generally sit right on top of theose keys by default when I play games. As for the super keys, purely aesthetic, as the super key is not something I'll be pressing during a game anyway. I suppose it might help me not hit it by accident, since the orange key will be super easy to see and differentiate from the other keys, but I doubt it will make any difference. Anyone here running Haswell care to comment on the stock coolers they come with? I'm wondering whether it might be wise to spend 30 or 40 bucks on an aftermarket cooler.

Do they make wired versions? I don't like wireless controllers. I may scoop up a wired Xbone controller in the future if they make wired ones, once they work on PC and once the Linux folks reverse engineer a driver.

Since my cheap ass aftermarket 360 controller bit the dust (The right trigger broke. I had previously glued the piece back together but it broke again. I have a one fix policy, I'll try to fix it once, if it breaks again in the same spot, it's telling me to get a new product), I'm setting Watch_Dogs aside until the new one I ordered (an actual real deal Microsoft one, this time) gets delivered, since driving with m&kb is not something I want to do. Instead, I started playing Grim Dawn again, after having taken a several month break from the game. The game has changed a whole bunch since I last played it. Not only did they add the second act, crafting, new item types, artifacts, new quests, and so on, along with the constant balancing that goes into making a successful loot em up, but they also significantly improved the graphics while also making the game run a lot better than it did before. The game looks really really nice now. The textures are really sharp and the colors are really vibrant, which I actually kind of like in a dreary desolate wasteland type setting. There are also much better particle and lighting effects now than pefore. Really good work by the folks at Crate Entertainment. I'll take some screenshots when I get back from my bike ride and play the game some more.

I ordered a pair of orange super key keycaps printed with the Tux logo. Sort of like the black one in this picture except orange like the keycap next to it:

/bites knuckle Excuse me, I'll be in my bunk

I gotta hand it to the advertising folks at Dimension Films for a BRILLIANT piece of advertising. So they put out a bunch of character posters for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, standard practice, including one featuring Eva Green and her sweet baby Jesus awesome breasts, knowing full well the MPAA would reject it because lord almighty Eva Green's amazing breasts. Predictably, the MPAA rejected the poster, turning it into a "story", which in turn means 1000% more people will see the poster than would have otherwise, which in turn, likely means a lot more people going to see the movie because great googly moogly Eva Green's awesome breasts. In a related story, I'm so going to see this movie (I was going to anyway, since Sin City is one of my favorite movies ever).

Since I failed to deliver a cleavage shot of the 780Ti, I thought I'd try to make it up to you with full frontal of my keyboard: It came with regular WASD and Win Key keycaps (show below), the ones in the above image came separate, though included with the keyboard, plus a keycap puller. It's tough to tell from the image, but the red WASD keys have the letters written on the front of them so that you can see them when sitting at a desk. I may still purchase some custom keycaps in the future. The keyboard feels very sturdy and well put together. Unfortunately I cannot convey the sound the keys make when pressed, nor the subtle, yet satisfying bump you feel, via picture.

Ubisoft has generally been the best of the big publishers at doing 'niche' titles- it's not so long since M&MX which it is very hard to imagine EA/ 2K/ Actiblizz etc doing. Outside of Civ there's very little tbs or even rts from the other big publishers now, but Ubis till do the Anno and Heroes series. They certainly give the best impression that they care mostly about titles being profitable rather than being all blockbuster all the time and going solely for the super profitable. I would agree with that. Whatever their motivations, Ubisoft, as of late, has been a lot more inclined to go against the grain than other behemoth publishers. Sure, they still churn out their annual AssCreed and SphincterCell cash cows, but they've also put out the aforementioned M&MX, plus Child of Light, and now Valiant Hearts. Even Rayman, though an established franchise, saw a return to 2D platforming. What other behemoth publisher, outside of Nintendo, is putting out 2D platformers these days, or any kind of platformers, for that matter?

My rankings of worst 1st pitches of all time: 5) John Wall 4) Baba Booey 3) 50 Cent 2) Mayor Mark Mallory And, STILL, the reigning and defending Heavyweight Worst First Pitch Champion of THE WORLD 1) Carly Rae Jepsen

I'm still Watching_Dogs. I've mostly been doing side stuff and am only 2/3 of the way through the 1st act. I just finished unlocking all the ctOS stations and bugging all the ctOS towers. I really enjoy breaking into the ctOS stations, so many different ways to get the job done. I broke into one sniper style, simply finding a good spot to set up, breaking out my SVD, and using lures and distractions to get good shots on goons. I broke into one pure stealth style, sneaking around and cracking skulls with my telescoping baton. I broke into one Rambo style, guns blazing, explosions everywhere. I even broke into one without ever setting foot in the restricted area, simply by hacking gameras and creatively using distractions to lure the guy wearing a camera to where I needed him to go. Good times. I just wish the cars didn't feel like they were all made out of styrofoam. For the sequel, they need a much better driving model.

Pretty sweet goat backpack, dude

Does it matter whether Ubisoft bought the game to show off "look how indie we are" or whether they legitimately thought "hey, this sounds like a neat project, let's fund this"? Bottom line is they funded Valiant Hearts and it's coming out as a result. I'm a results driven guy. I don't much care if the famous actress visited the sick children out of her own volition or whether her publicist had her do it as a way to gain good publicity. In the end, the result is the same, some sick children got a visit from the famous actress and were made to feel happy.

Metro Redux screenies:

You didn't miss much, it was a blowout. The game was over before the half. Miami looked terrific, though.

It's a tasteful sideboob shot of the 780Ti, that's the best you're getting. For a full-on cleavage shot I'd have to unscrew it and take it out of the motherboard. I'd rather not handle it any more than I have to.

Adam Morrison has a ring, what's your point? Guys warming the bench just happen to be on championship teams all the time.

This is the game I've been waiting to see from the Heat, the game they put it all together. Firing on all cylinders and just straight steamrolling the Pacers.