Summer!!!

It's summer!!!!

That sounds so much better in my head than in reality.  Now that high school is over, there is much more to do.  Working, planning what my future will be, among a slew of other tasks.  I have some plans and things I would like to do.

First, a reflection of my first year at university.  The best part about my year at university was collecting a group of contacts and friends.  However, I am completely disappointed in myself otherwise.  I wish I hadn't fallen flat on my face this year.  I feel like I have fallen off the radar (or RADAR) of whatever I am supposed to be doing with my life.  Next semester is going to be different.  I can feel it already.

Now on to some plans for the summer.  I am going to working all summer at the job I have had for a year now.  I am not only going to be working all summer.  I am hoping to chill with my friends, stay in contact with  people at the university, and build my own PC.

Yes, build my own PC.

It really isn't that hard to build a PC.  Its hard to choose what you want your PC to do, and then acquiring the parts necessary to do the building portion.  Unfortunately, this all comes at a cost.  A particularly high cost that makes everyone gaze at you like you're mad.  The benefits of this build will outweigh the costs.  I own an Xbox 360, and it is the same one I have had since 2008.  I love my system, but with the advent of the newer Xbox (720 or Infinity, I can't remember what it will be called) costing in the vicinity of $300 to $500, and its lifetime of greatness only to be 3-4 years, I think I more money will be saved by building a rig that can be upgrades when the time comes.  The problem I see with at home consoles is that they have a great run for the first year or three, but their quality is never the peak that a PC, which all games are originally  made on.  With the exceptions of some Xbox and Sony exclusives, the available PC games are the same, and are better in quality overall.  Now, i have already done a lengthy rant on this difference, so see my previous post "Holiday Gaming, Part 1... Maybe...".

So with this build I have been doing a lot of research for pieces and parts.  One of the problems I have had upon starting was the amount of technical speak that renders any first time builders in a certain spot.  The different tech specs for every piece of hardware without basic "translation" for what you were buying.  This puts one in the spot of either "I am going to immerse myself in a world few have tred" or "what the hell have I gotten myself into?"  I was somewhere in the middle, lost in numbers of processor types, motherboards, and graphics cards.  Despite this I found the most helpful website that translates this and makes it a bit easier to understand.  Rob Williams made a site called mysuperpc.com, which is updated regularly.  He outlines his own hardware, what each piece does, and how to put the entire thing together.  The information is clear and concise, giving beginners the first step towards building their own PC.

Now I think I will add a little bit about my own process of building.  So far I have cued up the necessary materials that I want in my PC, and have priced them out (its quite a lot).  Now I need to get back to work so I can pay for my books next semester and this journey I am about to embark on.

Until next time