DOOD.CA: Guy Stuff

Intro
I don’t know how many of you guys reading my blog are computer hardware geeks, but I would suspect not too many. I secretly harbour computer hardware geek tendancies, but when it comes to dropping the big money on computer hardware, I still cower. I do like to purchase individual CPUs, Motherboards and Video Cards and swap them out as the need arises, however. Part of the reason I am writing about this is to let you guys know how easy it is for a non-hardware junkie like me to install a new computer from raw parts. The key is making sure the parts you buy are compatible.

Having run my AMD Athalon 64 for the last 2 1/2 years, I felt it was a time for an upgrade, seeing as I only purchased it as an emergency computer when my last Intel CPU died on me. I remember it costed me about $650 to upgrade because I had to buy all new Ram, Video and a new Harddrive in addition to the CPU and Motherboard. My previous motherboard used RDRAM, which had become somewhat obsolete.

So I set out buy the stuff I needed to do the latest upgrade to my machine, and wanted to keep it within the same budget as my last one. I wanted good stuff, but I wanted to keep the expenses on the down low. My old computer parts I was going to give to my dad for his computer.

What I bought:

Asus P5QL Pro Mainboard – I bought this primarily because it was cheaper than the P5Q because of the somewhat cheaper chipset. I am not an overclocker but I do like Asus products, so I bought this one for that reason. Cost: $109CAD

Intel Core 2 Duo 3.0Ghz Wolfdale E8400 – I was contemplating buying this or the Core 2 Quad at 2.33Ghz, but decided that I would stick with the 3.0Ghz Duo since it is faster for most applications since not a lot of stuff is written to take advantage of Quad Cores right now. Cost: $199

OCZ Reaper HPC Ram 4Gigs – I purchased the 6400 stuff because it was cheap, and for no other reason. I got a good deal on it, and its a 2Gig x 2 Dual Channel pack. I’ve heard some bad things about OCZ ram but we’ll see if I experience the problem. They are a Canadian Company which makes RMA easier. Cost: $35

Asus Nvidia EN8800GS Video Card – Another bargain buy. I picked this up because I got a great price and according to reviews this card outperforms the 9500GT cards which cost roughly the same price or higher. Since I got a great deal on this one it came out to about half the price of the 9500GT’s. Cost: $55

OCZ GamerXStream 600W PSU – I bought this PSU because I wanted a decent powerful PSU, and this guy was on sale. Works pretty well, and is pretty quiet for a 120mm fan. It has a strange blue LED on the back that glows, though. Plenty of power cables, more than I needed. The only thing that this PSU is missing that more expensive ones have is the module plugs, which isn’t too bad. I keep my computer under my desk. Cost: $79

What I have Already:

Lian Li Aluminum Tower Case
Seagate Baracuda 250GB SATA2 HD
Western Digital Caviar 500GB SATA2 HD

So I Swapped out the old Ram, 2 Gigs of stuff which is DDR, not DDR2. Swapped out the old Video card, and just about everything else!

Here are some pics of the process (click to enlarge):

This is the new OCZ Power Supply that I installed. It looks really cool!

Those are my two Hard Drives. They are mounted into the Lian Li harddrive holder. I am a firm believer that a good case dissipates heat better and makes your computer last longer.

There is my new Intel CPU installed into my Asus Mainboard. I haven’t installed the cooling fan yet.

There it is with the stock Intel cooling fan installed. I am not an overclocker so I usually tend to just use the stock stuff. NCIX gave me an Overclocking Guide with my latest purchases but I don’t think I am going to risk it.

There’s the final shot with everything installed. My Video card is ther with the Gold colored fan/heatsink. and my OCZ Reaper ram is there with the copper heat pipes and black head sinks.

Hope you enjoyed this, though its probably not the most interesting article in the world to a lot of you. 🙂

Just so you guys know, on my recent trip to the Mediterranean, I needed to make some phone calls from the airport because my flights screwed up. DO NOT USE THE CREDIT CARD PAYMENT FROM GERMANY’S AIRPORT! I was charged over $100 to make 2 phone calls not more than 5 minutes each. There are no rates posted in the airport, and very little english. It just tells you to dial this number. It is a scam and a ripoff. I can’t believe I paid around $15/minute to use a payphone in an airport.

The Company is BBG – London. Don’t get scammed like I did.

I really have had a bad experience in Germany. Their flight attendants on Lufthansa are rude and literally make you feel like you are a hassle when you ask for water. The payphones rip you off for $15/minute – And the reason I had to make the calls was because the airline screwed us up!

Check out a fellow with the exact same experience:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/389/RipOff0389985.htm

If you’ve never been to www.ssense.com, do yourself a favour and check it out! This is a Canadian retailer based out of Quebec, which means that unless you are in QC, you should only pay GST on purchases. Also, prices are in CAD$, which at current exchange rates, is a blessing!

Right now they have a huge sale, with up to 50% off on thousands of items. Additionally, they are having a Black Friday sale on purchases until Friday which gives an additional 30% off ALL ITEMS, including sales! Free shipping too. They carry brands such as G-Star, Diesel, True Religion, Juicy Couture, Junk de Luxe, D&G, Energie, Nudie and tons more.

Thanks to Frank for pointing this site out to me.

Coupon Code is BLCKFRD but its big and bold all over the site so you can’t miss it.

I own a GM vehicle, a Cadillac CTS to be precise. I bought one because I saw the car in the Matrix, and it looked so darn cool I had to have one. Mine is a 2005, so i’ve had it about 3 years, and I love the car. I love the way it looks, and I love the way it drives. For the money, I think it was a great deal and its not as common as the Mercedes C-Class, BMW 3-Series and Lexus IS’s out here.

As a car, the CTS is great. I like it a lot. However, I will never buy a Cadillac, or any GM ever again.

Why? Because of the service, and particularly Dueck GM on Marine. When I lived in Nanaimo, Tom Harris was okay, but not great. They were always acceptible, but I was never happy with them. They screwed up my car a couple of times, requiring me to take it back, one time even causing my car to make a clacking sound every revolution of the tire because of something they screwed up, and when I was driving home at midnight, at 10km/h because I was afraid it was going to fall off, I freaked out on their answering machine. This kind of stuff should not happen.

When I moved to Vancouver, I needed to have my car services at a new dealer. The only GM dealer of Cadillac in the vicinity is Dueck. There are four Duecks. I don’t really have a choice. I went to Dueck GM, and sat in a poorly labeled garage while NO ONE served me, or offered to tell me where to go, while 3-4 other people were behind me, stuck in their cars because it was so full in there. There were 3 service writers helping one snobby guy and his dog in his Hummer H2, none of which even offered a “We’ll be right with you”. So meanwhile I am standing in this garage that I have never been to, unsure of where to go. There are no desks with someone to help you. Apparently you are supposed to just pull up to one of the cabinet-like things where no one is standing anyway. But when they are all full you really don’t know what to do.

I’ve had other cars, and the service was always a lot better. I really do like my CTS… and like the commercial says, when I turn my car on, it does return the favour. However, there are other cars that do it for me too, and I don’t have to deal with a bullshit service department that doesn’t give a shit about their customers. So Goodbye GM, you won’t be getting anything from me, and I think there are a lot of people out there that share my experiences, many of which are less vocal.

Hope you guys survive the recession. I won’t be helping you out 🙂

Indeed, there are tons of magazines directed for men who are into fashion, gadgets, trends and whatnot, but is there one that is dedicated to strictly clothing? I thought in this day and age there is always that perfect something for everyone…apparently not, as I found out today after visiting 4 stores that, IMHO, have decent selection of magazines.

I epiphanized that the perfect magazine for me in the moment would have all-out articles after articles discussing, criticizing and comparing different pieces of clothings. They would include brands, models, different washes and perhaps durability of say, denims, cardigans, scarves, accessories, etc. You get the idea. More importantly, the background of each company, just a brief summary is all I need.

The hunt today started off at London Drugs; the selection was decent enough, they had the usual Esquires, GQ, Details, UMM, Men’s Health (which is decent overall for their health section, workout routines, Q&A section and clothing section), plus whichever else I’ve missed. Gone through them all and to my dismay, nothing really wowed me and so the hunt continues. Next stop is Coles, which is like a mini Chapters, and of course, no luck. Then Superstore comes next. From what I remembered from a long time ago, Superstore has a decent selection of books and magazines and yet, they still carry the usual stuff LD carries.

Finally, I stopped at Chapters, which I was hoping I wouldn’t because it was the furtherest of all stores, and eventually found something that is somewhat what I am looking for, though still not quite. The magazine is called Nylon for Men and in a smaller print, it says “not for girls.” Damn, finally something that is meant for just guys and is mainly on clothings. The price, at $3.99 is good, though the magazine itself is relatively thin, but it does have some of what I was looking for.

Nylon has a few pages that list different articles of clothings with their brands, though not models, and price, plus pictures, so I guess the magazine is halfway to what I was hoping to find. However, Nylon is still filled mostly with interviews of people that I actually have no idea of, so that is kind of pointless.

Supposedly, if a magazine is strictly on clothings for men and no other stuff such as interviews, Q&As, health sections and an article on some chick, then it probably won’t be a hot seller, which then explains why such magazine doesn’t exist. Smart business strategies I guess, though unfortunate for me and the teeny market of people like me out there.

The hunt shall continue and until I find that perfect magazine, it will never cease.