Keyrock

I'm not at all worried about DirectX 12. There are 2 reasons for that: a) I'm moving away from Windows anyway. I'm building the next rig very much with Linux (SteamOS) in mind, hence why I'm all about Nvidia and not even taking AMD GPUs into consideration (I like AMD's hardware, but their proprietary Linux drivers, although improved from where they were 5 or 6 years ago, are still far behind Nvidia's proprietary Linux drivers in terms of quality [Nvidia's Linux drivers are virtually the same quality on Linux as on Windows]) b) DirectX 12 is not coming until the very end of 2015, presumably with Windows 9, at the earliest. You're not going to get DirectX 12 games immediately. My most generous estimation of DirectX 12 games actually showing up is mid-2016. That's 2 years from now. I'm not worried about 2 years from now. 2 years from now I may be upgrading the GPU anyway (or not). Too far away to worry about.

Divinity: Original Sin is the one soon upcoming game that I'm drooling to play. I've had to use maximum willpower to not play the Early Access, which, as a backer, I could do right now without paying anything extra. It's been touted as the closest thing we've had to a spiritual successor to Ultima VII, which makes me go I'm also pretty excited for Shovel Knight. It was supposed to already be out, then got pushed back an unspecified amount of time for final polishing. Right now the release date is only "Spring", which, I guess, boils down to "Before June 21st" I'm in wait and see mode for Watch Dogs. I don't know what to think about that game. Based on what I've seen recently it could land anywhere on the quality meter from "well, they sure ****ed that up" to "holy ****, this is awesome!".

Don't get me wrong, I would love to get Maxwell instead of a Kepler card. Even the ones that have come out so far, like the 750Ti and 750, are quite impressive, matching (on average) the performance of the Kepler cards they are replacing with far fewer cores. It's just that I have no clue what is happening with the higher end Maxwells and when it's going to happen. There are so many conflicting reports out there, most of them probably straight bull****, that it's impossible to plan ahead at all. Some reports are that TSMC can't get their **** together and 20nm ain't happening this year because they're getting bad yields. Other reports are saying that 20nm is doing just fine and will arrive this year. Other reports are saying that because of the bad yields at 20nm Nvidia had to alter its plans and taped out the GTX 8xx Maxwell cards at 28nm sometime in April. From tapeout to cards appearing on store shelves is generally about 6 months, if everything goes perfectly. That would put the GTX 880 (Nvidia generally leads with the x80, then introduces a x70 and x60) at October at the earliest. But I've also seen reports that the GTX 880 is going to drop around June or July. I don't know what to believe. I'm going to operate under the assumption that the GTX 880 ain't happening until very late in the year, if it happens this year at all. If firm, trustworthy news come out before I make my build roughly a month from now that the GTX 880 is coming much sooner than that, then I'll hold off. Otherwise, I'll just get the 780Ti and be happy with it (that card is not exactly lacking in power). If something comes along where the 780Ti is not enough for my tastes (/glances in CD Projekt RED's direction), then I have options: a) get another 780Ti for SLI b) eBay the 780Ti and get a newer card (presumably 880) Whichever fits the budget/is more economical. Or, I turn the settings down from Ultra to Very High or High and be happy with what I got until Volta or Pascal comes out a few years down the line.

Not going to wait for Maxwell? Unless firm news of it comes before I make my build, and it's due to arrive much sooner than thought, then no. As it's looking right now, we might not see Maxwell until very late in the year, like November or December. I'm not going to play the waiting game, that's a perpetual game.

So, I've done some calculations and I'll have the cash put away to build my next rig next month. The plan at the moment is as follows (I don't have it narrowed down to certain brands/models yet): 27" 1440p monitor i7-4790K Z97 Mobo w/ 2xPCIe 3.0 slots 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR3 (probably 2400 or 2666) GTX 780Ti 480-512GB SATA3 SSD (I also have over 1 TB of 7200 RPM HDDs left over from my defunct old desktop build) Case with 2x120mm fans, or better 700W PSU In my calculations that fits my budget, and the hardware should be able to run almost everything at 1440p maxed out. It also leaves me potential upgrade path in the near future, both in terms of CPU (Z97 motherbord will work with Broadwell), picking up another 780Ti for SLI, and filling the 2 open RAM slots with another 16GB of DDR3.

Indeed, checking in with a doctor is a sensible precaution. I find that when you start doing strenuous regular exercise, after not doing so for an extended period of time, you're going to feel extremely sore the day after, even two days after, in some cases, for a little while. That will pass if you stick with it as your body gets used to it. When I was in my 20s, it was generally only about a week and a half long period until my body adapted. Now, in my late 30s, it took my body about 3 weeks to adapt, to the point where after strenuous lifting the day before I don't feel really sore the day after, it actually feels quite good. Also, proper nutrition is always suggested with strenuous exercise. That doesn't necessarily have to mean sucking down a protein shake (though that is an good, easy way to get a bunch of high quality protein quickly) and popping other supplements, but you should definitely at least eat a good hearty meal with a good bit of protein in it within an hour of finishing exercising.

I feel like that describes every Spiders game ever made. How does this game compare to Mars: War Logs? Obviously, the setting is completely different, but in terms of quality and depth of the combat system.

So, there is word that the i7-4790K and the i5-4590K will both drop on June 2nd, no surprise there. What is surprising is that supposedly the i7-4790k will be getting a 400MHz (to 4GHz/4.4GHz max turbo) upgrade rather than 100MHz, like the non-K variants already out or the i5-4590K. That sounds great, but keep in mind this information is coming from wccftech, which is about as reliable a source as a Daewoo Lanos. I guess we'll find out for sure soon enough.

A Japanese comic. They may or may not involve tentacles.

I'm playing Tesla Effect: A Tex Murphy Joint. I just got to day 4 and

It happens on PC too, I can speak from experience. Ini tweaks can lessen the effect, especially if you have a lot of memory to work with, but you can only really lessen the problem, never completely get rid of it.

Though great looking is the only positive thing one can say about that garbage. It's too bad since the setting was great and the concept was good, but the game was dreadfully boring. Ironic that a game called Remember Me was so forgettable.

I can't recall what pop-in is Here's an example from Mass Effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiKy4LrnymM Maybe the most glaring texture pop-in I've ever experienced was in GTA IV: And in Rage:

The graphics in the Mass Effect games were never particularly remarkable, but they worked well with the mostly clean and industrial designs of the areas, which worked miracles to mask the lack of fidelity. What always stood out the most for me, and this isn't confined to just Mass Effect games, this is symptom of Unreal Engine, is the horrendously jarring texture pop-in.

God is Jerry Garcia? I always suspected, but now it's been confirmed.

Similar. I weight lifted and went for a bike ride yesterday before visiting my folks for a few hours to give my mom flowers for Mother's Day (they're away today so I had to go a day early). Today I went for another bike ride and I'm going to hit the weights shortly. Unlike Raithe, I had a big greasy breakfast (hash and eggs), so I had plenty of energy for the ride and have some left over for the upcoming lifting. After that, I'm going to suck down a protein shake, then kick back, pour myself a glass (or two) of Malbec, and watch some basketball.

Where are you getting a $330 CPU for $100?

Haswell refresh, supposedly, launches tomorrow, with the K variants coming next month. I've almost got my new build budget fully set aside, so the timing works out well for me. Part of me is gnawing at me to wait for Broadwell and 20nm Maxwell, but who the hell knows when desktop Broadwell and 20nm Maxwell will actually show up? If it even happens this year, it will be very late in the year. Plus, the "wait for the next thing" game is almost never a smart game to play, simply because there's always a next thing coming soon. Not to mention, the die shrink for Broadwell in no way guarantees any significant increase in IPC. So, I guess I better start looking out for a good deal on a 27" 1440p monitor and a Z97 motherboard. I have yet to dabble in the SSD business. Should I specifically look for a mobo with SATA Express or do I just get a SSD that goes through PCIe? To me, it seems that there is no real reason for SATA Express to exist if you can just use an existing PCIe slot and get the extra bandwith (over SATA III) that way. Of course, I have oly the most basic knowledge of the technology involved, so I may be looking at this all wrong.

There are obviously similarities between Fallout and S.T.A.L.K.E.R., with the irradiated wasteland and mutants, but, to me, the games feel completely different. I just don't develop the same kind of relationship with the Mojave Desert, or Washington DC, for that matter, as with The Zone. I'm not sure if it's the anomalies and/or the emmissions, but The Zone demands a certain level of respect and constant vigilance. I've never had that same kind of reverance for any of the areas in Fallout. Plus, Fallout, while not exactly a comedy game, is a lot more lighthearted and humorous.

Not even close, and I love Fallout NV.

The vigilant alpaca

I'll just leave this here: