Spacehamster’s Blog

I’ve been looking for a pathetic excuse to upgrade my PC to a Dual-Core CPU for quite some time now. The only reason I haven’t is because I lacked confidence in upgrading my CPU, and also because Dual-Core CPU’s were grossly overpriced. After upgrading my entire PC, replacing a tiny CPU is a snap. And AMD have cut the prices of their dual-core CPU’s by 40-50%.

I bought my CPU from Pluscorp. I also recommend AusPCMarket. Of the two online retailers, I recommend the former. I ordered my CPU at 2pm and by 5pm, Pluscorp had accepted my payment and dispatched the order. Talk about fast service!

Removing and/or installing a CPU is very straightforward.

• Firstly, remove the cooling fan from the old CPU. In my case, I bought a Zalman Fan that’s secured by screws, so it doesn’t do any damage to the CPU when I remove it. The stock AMD cooling fan will be more difficult to remove.
• Clean the smooth surface of the Fan, either with Lens Cleaner or with Arctic Silver ArctiClean. Use a lint-free cloth or a tissue paper.
• Now remove the new CPU from its packaging. Be very careful not to bend or damage the pins on the underside of the CPU. Smear the silvery smooth side of the CPU with Thermal Compound - this is a small tube that should either be supplied with the CPU or you can buy yourself. I recommend Arctic Silver Compound, but standard Thermal Compound is good too.
• Now install the new CPU into the socket on the Motherboard. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE MOTHERBOARD MANUAL!!! I can’t emphasise that enough. The Athlon Sockets have a lever that you pull up, and then push down when installing the CPU into the socket. It should slide very easily into the socket. providing you plug it in the right way around.
• Very carefully place the CPU Cooling Fan on top of the CPU. With my Zalman cooler it’s very very easy - I just rescrew the whole thing into place, and it’s all done within 10 minutes.

Installing a CPU is an unbelievably easy thing to do. If more people realised just how straightforward it is to upgrade their own PC’s, an awful lot of computer retailers would be out of a job (**coughharveyNormancough**).

At exactly the same time, my faithful but two-year-old Pioneer DVR-108 DVD Burner finally died. After giving it a nice burial, I bought myself a brand-spanking-new Pioneer DVR-111D, and an upgraded version of Nero 7. Both work great, provided you don’t verify the disc after you burn it.

All-in-all, I’m really pleased with both my purchases. And I’d recommend that anyone looking for a good deal on Dual-Core CPU’s at the end of the financial year (hint, hint) start buying now.

Unfortunately, we don’t get Jon Stewart here in Australia. I wish we did, because his stuff is just hilarious. That being the case, thank goodness for YouTube.

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20060719_stewart_slams_lebanon/

Recommended viewing.

It’s been a awfully quiet time for new PC games, which means its time to play the oldies but goodies. I had a go at Sid Meier’s Pirates, and it’s still as addictive as ever - which is bizarre when you consider how limited that game world actually is. I lost an entire afternoon to that game.

Another game that I stumbled upon, almost completely by accident, was Freespace 2. I confess that I’ve never played this game before. When it was first released, my PC wasn’t fast enough to run it and I’ve avoided it ever since. What an idiot I am. The iiNet servers had a free legal copy of it available for download. I installed the game and played it last night.

Wow.

For a game that’s almost a decade old, it still packs quite a punch. The graphics look quaint nowadays, but there’s still something about the presentation and gameplay that’s still very appealing.

It’s pretty obvious that I’m on a “space simulator” kick at the moment, probably as a response to way too much turn-based gaming. So I also pulled Freelancer and Independence War 2 out of storage as well. They still hold up incredibly well - Freelancer for its strong storyline and excellent voice acting. And IWar2 for its great graphics and solid gameplay mechanics. Which shows that even 7 years later, when you get the fundamentals right a game will last and last.

Well, the second season of Doctor Who has ended, and what a season-ender it was too. What’s interesting has been seeing the reaction from hardcore fans to the newly revived series. While the mainstream public loves Doctor Who more and more (the ratings for this season were higher than last), it’s very clear from reading Outpost Gallifrey Forums that the new series has completely alienated its hardcore fan base.

By hardcore fan, I mean the kind that buy every single Big Finish Audio CD, no matter how bad the quality might be. Or obsess over the smallest plot hole, and are quite happy to give an episode 0/5 if what was on screen didn’t line up with exactly what was inside their heads. That’s the problem with taking an “obscure” cult series like Doctor Who, and successfully bringing back into the public zeitgeist. You run a very real risk of alienating the “True Believers” and “The Gatekeepers”.

You only have to look at the overwhelmingly negative reviews on Behind the Sofa to see that’s the case. The website isn’t a Doctor Who blog anymore - it’s an anti-Who blog which exists only to bash the new series. Isn’t it amazing what a difference two years makes? I have no problem with constructive criticism - Shaun Lyon’s book “Back to the Vortex” is a great example of this. But when the creator of the website says he’s sick and tired of Doctor Who and prefers to watch “more adult fare” like Battlestar Galactica, then why continue blogging Who in the first place?

I’ve been a fan of this series since I was 12 years old, but I haven’t (and won’t) allow it to take over my life to such an obsessive extent. I have a fulfilling professional career and a happy personal life - I’m buggered if I’m giving up all that just to religiously follow a single TV show. I still love watching both classic and new series, and I’ll still quite happily discuss ‘Trial of a Time Lord’ and ‘Time and the Rani’ - even if it’s only to commiserate what awful stories they were.

As for the second series - it’s taken a while for me to really get into it. Rose and the Doctor’s excessively cloying lovey-dovey behaviour is easily forgiven after watching the last episode. And David Tennant has very definitely claimed the role of the Doctor as his very own. Of the new episodes, ‘New Earth’ hasn’t held up all that well. ‘Rise of the Cybermen’ was a bit too slow moving for me, and ‘Love and Monsters’ wasn’t my cup of tea. And ‘Fear Her’ was the first average new Who episode I can recall. Apart from that, there have been some outstanding episodes this season - ‘School Reunion’, ‘The Girl In the Fireplace’, ‘The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit’ and ‘Army of Ghosts/Doomsday’ have all been standouts. And ‘The Idiots Lantern’ is definitely one I’ll come to like more over time. All in all, this season has been an outstanding success.

I look forward to Torchwood in October, and the third season starting next year. But just who exactly is Catherine Tate? And just how big is the new Torchwood sets? Time will tell!

Peter David has been one of my favourite author’s for almost a decade now. In addition to being the Incredible Hulk’s longest-serving writer, he’s also written several excellent Star Trek novels. The most prominent example being his ‘New Frontier’ series - which I strongly recommend reading. NF has that modern hard-edged optimism that Enterprise was seriously lacking. He’s also written the brilliant why-wasn’t-this-turned-into-a-film Vendetta.

He’s recently answered several questions on his blog. His answers are witty and funny, so if you like what you read, give his books a go - you won’t regret it.