Nosh Builds a PC: Update - The shift from OnBoard to Discreet Graphics

Now i know what you're thinking can this actually be a fresh post after so long. Yes, it's true i have finally managed to persuade myself to actually write something, it isn't that i don't have enough time or things to write about; I'm just Lazy!

So confessions and apologies aside i will get on with actually writing something of worth (i use the term loosely). I have recently built a new PC (see first post) for those who have visited the blog before and didn't get accidently directed here from some slightly dodgy looking Russian websites, BTW it's not us it just seems to happen every so often. However when i built my PC it was at best basic as it consisted of reclaimed parts for the large part with a scattering of new components to take it a few steps above a giant paper weight. It did however have a few glaring holes Physically (as anyone who has seen the pics in the previous post can tell you) as well as technologically.

Drum Roll please i have now plugged some of those gaps in both senses with a graphics card. About time you may well say and i agree it has been a long time coming. I can now play actual games and have a frame rate in the double digits. You may or may not know i am broke so you may be asking where this new addition came from. Well like much of the rest of my PC it isn't new, it came 6 months old from a friend and fellow gamer who was upgrading and gave me mates rates on his old card (check out his YouTube Page: Ratchet34321).

What is the card you may be asking and to be honest a good question as we are 3 paragraphs in and i haven't mentioned it yet! It is a Saphire Radeon HD6850 1GB. Can be seen here to buy and for specs

So an AMD card which is fortunate as my motherboard supports CrossfireX but not SLI i believe. Gives me a chance to add in another card when i have some cash if i so choose. How has it been so far? Well the step up from the onboard graphics of my I3 3320 processor has been stratospheric, i can now run many games at full or nearly full settings comfortable including Planetside 2 which before ground to a halt if there was even one person near me, League of legends is looking much nicer with the settings on high, Metro 2033 is looking really rich and detailed now. All of these running at respectable frame rates and actually enjoyable to play opposed to headache and rage inducing slowness and poor quality.

Now this wouldn't be a post by Nosh if there wasn't still a problem or new ones occurring  Well you would be correct, when putting the card in i did manage to set the resolution too high on all outputs so i couldn't see anything when i booted which was problematic for a day or so. I have also found the monitor i have "acquired" is a none standard size/resolution, with its maximum being 1280x1024 and this has proved unhelpful when trying to record anything, as it just becomes garbage on any one with a normal ratio screen (so pretty much everyone else in existence!).

So what else is there to upgrade/fix you might be asking. In all fairness everything is ok at the moment but money is available a decent monitor, SSD and an Optical drive are on the agenda. So if you have any tips/suggestions for any of those fell free to leave them in the comments section.

Nosh, Signing Out. 

Nosh Builds a PC - And Rises from the Dead!

To all and sundry who have followed the shambles that is HardlyAChannel for any length of time will know that i (Nosh) have been using what could only loosely be termed a PC. I am of course referring to the loving known "Hunk of Junk" that was my laptop. It is safe to say it was never meant for gaming and in fairness it was never meant for it either. However i valiantly tried to put its poor inadequate silicon coated ass through its paces and unsurprisingly it failed miserably.  It's greatest success was being able to play LOL with almost every setting at minimum.

I bring you news of both great joy and sorrow, the laptop is dead! Don't mourn for it as i shan't, in it's later months i had more BSOD than i could possibly count and it had to be propped up on four candles to even manage to stay on for more than an hour. However, from the ashes of the laptop and a few new parts a ugly miss-shapen phoenix has arisen! I won't lie it isn't pretty and it won't be winning any awards for cable management or sheer power. It does on the plus side work and has only BSOD once since i painstakingly built it without frying anything with static two weeks ago. 

View Inside: No Cable managment

Gotham City Cost Cutters

Gotham City Imposters is a great game. Honestly, it’s something I can play with the same religiosity as I play Team Fortress 2. It’s also just gone free to play this week, so you have absolutely no excuse not to play it yourselves. However, this sudden move towards the free to play model has got me thinking. What inspired the move, and are free to play games always inherently successful?

My first thought of the free to play model has to be the way it has shaped the MMORPG world. Since World of Warcraft essentially has a monopoly on the genre (you can disagree with me, but that don’t change the facts) other MMO’s with a subscription based payment model just haven’t been able to survive. Heck, the first question anyone asks when they hear an upcoming title will come with a subscription is: “How long do you think until they’re forced to make it free to play?” I should know, often those words are coming out of my mouth. A subscription based MMO going free to play, is often a sign that not enough people are playing the game to make it profitable, which as far as I’m concerned is never a good sign. It reeks of a last ditch effort to get people through the door and playing their game before they must inevitably resort to shelving it.

Hardly a Podcast - Episode 10: The Dolphin Walk-In Bath

This week, Nosh buys some qualifications, Simon wants you to click a link, and Jamie robs old people!

Play League of Legends and click Simon's link so he can earn more IP :D http://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4f64dd283cb5d211598395

Music is credited to bosonHavoc, KtA, CyberSon and Progress105.