Napalm Riot

So, I've moved house to Oxford, changed jobs and all that. More importantly, BT finally got off their rear ends and connected the phone line after sitting on it for a month. BE* then installed the ADSL line, which is purring happily at 22.8mbit downstream. Hell yes.

Back on NR

It's that time again, house moving!

This time I am chasing my job rather than being a student, so I'm moving to Headington just outside Oxford, a five minute walk from work at the John Radcliffe Hospital.

This does mean that I'll be losing internet access soon, and I'll also be rather busy with getting everything sorted. Oh well.

So, I'm looking for a new GPU to go in my Mac Pro for use under Windows VIsta. At this point however, I'm stuck. So, my requirements?

- Has to be a good upgrade over an nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512Mb
- I play at 1920x1200, on a dual quad-core 2.8Ghz Xeon, 4Gb RAM
- It can only have ONE or TWO 6-pin PCI-e power sockets. No 6+8 solutions (like the 9800GX2). One would be great, but I'll settle for a double if needed
- I'm willing to look at ATi, but I want hard proof that the card is significantly better than nVidia's offerings

Currently I'm looking at the BFG GTX 260 OC, retailing around £270. The 280, unfortunately, requires the 8 and 6 pin power leads. Any other offerings?


Secondly, I need somebody in the US to buy me a $12.99 cable from AMD's website and ship it to me. Obviously I'll compensate you

So yes, here's a long shot.

I am in need of an Apple 23" Cinema HD Display (Aluminum model) box for when I move house, in order to prevent damage to one of my displays. Has anybody got on I can have, or even borrow, for August? Otherwise I'll have to risk damaging the screen, which makes me sad.

I've been playing with my Steam account recently, and you know what? I've decided I actually like Steam after all...even though I've been cursing it's existence since Valve released it.

Why the hate? I have boxed (!) copies of Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Episode One, Counter-Strike, Blue Shift...blah blah blah. I really hated the fact that Steam screwed me around with the boxed editions, and it was a pain to install them all. Further, the constant nagging to update my games before I could play them really got on my nerves - I used to curse and wish it was back to CounterStrike 1.2 days when you had to manually download any patches - if you wanted them that is. I hated 1.6, so was quite happy with 1.3, and refused to download the upgrade.


But it all went a bit wrong when I got round to buying The Orange Box. I noticed that a copy on Steam would cost me £10 less than a UK retail copy...interesting to say the least. I fed Steam my PayPal details, and two minutes later I was downloading the whole frigging lot. I was most impressed when Steam told me that due to the fact I already have 3/4 of the Orange Box installed it would like me to send my original licenses as presents to a friend. How nice I thought, waste not want not after all. Off went Half-Life 2 and Episode One to a deserving individual.

About four hours later, I was chuckling my way through Portal when I realised that this was my first time of using these so-vaunted digital distribution systems (well, okay, I lie, I use iTunes Music Store, but they're a handful of Mb each). Despite my fears, it was actually a seamless experience.

From then onwards it was a slippery slope. My Steam account now covers a total of 26 titles...but the best bit? Only three are installed...but I can get the rest at demand, without having to find my discs. I've also used StarDock's DDS to get Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations II - okay, their software isn't as good as Valve's, but it does the job and saved me a trip out the house.

It seems that DDS may be the way forward, the ultimate snap-purchase. Want a game? Hit a few buttons and you'll have it in a few hours...connection depending. Not only that, it removes our reliance on physical media, allows universal patching for developers and can be used to develop whole communities.


Still, what happens when Valve close? Time to stick my fingers in my ears and hum to myself so I can ignore the chorus of "Told you so".

A few weeks ago I was bored, really, really, really bored. I'd just finished Half Life 2: Episode 2, and was sitting looking at the stack of game cases wondering what I'd play next. Civ IV: Beyond the Sword looked tempting, but I'm getting too good at it at the moment...I now have to disable Space Race victories as well as score.

So, what the hell to pick?
Unfortunately, I then saw an EVE advert. I clicked on it and ended up downloading the client with a 14-day trial. Blame the 800k/s I was pulling off the server, but the waiting didn't put me off and I didn't click the big cancel button.

Uh oh, I was about to have my first real brush with an MMO. Sure, I own a copy of World of Warcraft - but don't ask me where the disc is, nor where I got to in the trial that came with it (okay, 2 days before I decided it was shit). EVE is unlike most MMOs in that you don't have to be logged in to "skill up" - it happens over time, logged in or not. Oh dear. I rapidly skilled my character and began lusting over bigger ships...frigates for a start, then I landed a destroyer. Oh boy.

Next step? Cruisers! Yep, I was flying a Vexor on a 7 day old account. Not only that, I'd spent far too long playing this game. Sure, it was nice to be able to log out, but I found myself thinking about the game when I was at work, what skill to pick next, what weapon rigs to go for and maybe whether I should try some pirating and go gank some newbs (yeah, the irony right there...) When I wasn't playing the game, I was reading some website for Agent tips, skills...the whole lot.

I was on the slippery slope to paying. Uh oh. 3 days were left on the trial when it happened. I sold my PC.





Thank god for that.
Once the Mac Pro arrives and I put Vista64 on the second drive, EVE is not going on there. I've realised what a time and money sink it is, even if you can skill when logged out. Give me a pause button any day.

It'll be here soon, k?

- Two Intel Xeon 2.8Ghz "Harpertown" E5462, 1666Mhz FSB
- 4Gb RAM (800Mhz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM)
- nVidia 8800GT 512Mb (OS X) PCIe 2.0
- 1.32Tb HDD
- Dual Superdrives
- AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth
- Dual Apple Cinema HD Display 23"


Only thing left to do is decide what GPU I want to add into the second PCIe 2.0 slot for Windows. I'm thinking a 9800GX2 when released...