January 25, 2025

"Pusiko no Tegami" by Shinsei Kamattechan.

January 23, 2025

You know, I find it so funny to listen to "Money for nothing" right up after finishing Dune.

January 22, 2025

I've completed a huge milestone. I have managed to walk 10000 or more steps for the last 100 days without breaking the streak.

Now that I'm thin I'm thinking of just walking at least 5000 steps, and dedicating the extra time to drawing.

Regarding reading - Dune

Some days ago my dad got interested in Dune, and watched some of the recent movie adaptations. I got interested too, but I'm reading an audiobook adaptation of the book, while drawing or playing games (mostly Minecraft, since I can listen to anything while building)

Now I'm near the end of the book. I was reminded of a friend who showed me there were sandworms in Lethal Company, and I mentioned Dune. Heh, if I ever play that game I'm gonna refer to the worms as "makers".

So... how's the computer?

It's pretty good! When idle, it's usually at 30-40c degrees, and never goes beyond 70c. It can handle modded Minecraft pretty well, since I can go into my 4-year old world with hundreds of mods, and it remains above 60 fps. I can even leave it there and go back and forth between drawing and gaming, and it doesn't feel like it struggles at all. Retro and indie games run pretty well on it as well, of course.

Now the next objective is to gather the money for a graphics card.

January 21, 2025

So back when I was setting up the new computer, I was listening to stuff on the old computer, since I was using bluetooth headphones and didn't want to deal with pairing them with two devices at the same time, even if that was possible. And I thought I was off to the races.

But, apparently there was still a big thing to do. Thing is, the motherboard uses a Bluetooth 5.4 Realtek driver. It is offered on the motherboard's site along with the manual, which I often look at... but it's only available for Windows 10 and 11. And the issue was that I needed a driver for Linux, because I was unable to turn bluetooth on. My previous computer was fine, since the bluetooth driver was already supported by Linux by the point I got in, but this Realtek driver was apparently added in very recent versions of the Kernel

And, in order to update the kernel, I had to update to a new version of the OS. I'm now on Kubuntu 24.10. I had to swap my desktop gadgets for some brand new ones, due to the change from the Qt 5 GUI to Qt 6. I think I still managed to pull of a fresh look on my desktop, and I think there's a good side to it, since it looks different from the previous computer.

But I'm still not able to turn bluetooth on. I'm gonna get an USB dongle with bluetooth. It's one that has worked for other people using Linux.

Regarding Cooking

The ice cream has been made and tested. I can tell you, making ice cream by beating cream while slowly adding condensed milk (and a bit of vanilla extract) and then freezing it for 6 hours is probably one of the easiest meals one can make (that isn't a sandwich) I think this helped me with my issue of finding food to maintain my calories. I put some kind of caramel-like sauce and chocolate balls on top. It was packed in terms of density, it was like the feeling of eating honey, it was like "too much of a good thing". Later I'll be making my own battered hake. Thinking of covering it with a bit of actual wheat flour so the eggwash sticks, and then covering it in ground peanuts.

January 20, 2025

Today is the day I make the jump.

This is the day where I settle on using my new desktop computer (The Pangea Tricouni Station) as my main machine. I've been quite busy last week. For most the week, I've been waiting for packages to arrive, and I couldn't focus on drawing. After everything arrived, I couldn't wait to build the computer. And after that came the setup of the OS, which included downloading all the apps I use, making it look good, logging into accounts, moving data, and making sure the settings are all working as intended

Today I'll finally be able to focus and draw without worrying about setting up stuff. However, there might still be some little things I have to move or copy from the previous computer, but I'll deal with that later, tonight.

January 18, 2025

Do the Dad Dance.

After posting yesterday's post, I waited for the PSU to arrive. I couldn't focus well on drawing, but, at least, I was able to do some progress.

Then, at the evening, the PSU arrived. I was almost thinking it was getting too late for the delivery service to give me the package, and thinking of switching my plan of building the pc to Saturday instead of Friday (and making ice cream on Friday instead of Saturday)

I immediatly started working, I pulled out the motherboard and let the 7800X3D get in there. I inserted the RAM, applied thermal paste, installed the cooler, and then tested the PC. I plugged in the second monitor I got for Christmas, and the $50 keyboard. It worked!

But, one thing I noticed is that it reported my RAM as running at 4800MT/s, instead of the 6000 that were advertised on the box. Apparently, 6000 is the number it gets if one overclocks it (by using AMD Expo), but I think that voids the warranty, and it's something one shouldn't have turned on while installing the OS.

Originally, the next step after this was pulling out the storage out of my laptop (The Fairmont Audain Station) and inserting it on the new computer (The Pangea Tricouni Station), I told my dad the previous day, and told him that the OS will download new drivers if it happens. The only reason why I didn't buy a new SSD was because I was only buying the parts that would make the computer work, while working with some placeholders (the laptop's storage being a placeholder for the storage, the portable monitor being a placeholder, and the integrated graphics being a placeholder for the GPU)

My dad then came to the rescue, and ordered a brand spanking new SSD. Will be 1 TB, like the laptop one, but I'd like to make the whole terabyte-ish a Linux partition. I'd like to later down the line get a second NVMe SSD and install Windows there, and I still have that spare SATA SSD with only 128 gigabytes, which I plan to use for yet another different OS.

So I just decided to move onto the case. I put the motherboard inside the case, and started plugging things in, starting with the CPU and motherboard cables, followed by that infamous USB 3.0 cable, then followed by the 3.2 USB-C cable, then the HD audio and then the tiny ones (power, reset, LED)

And then I paused the build since it was getting close to midnight. I think I got plenty of progress done. Of course this is my first build, and it is expected that it has taken me several hours. I think Linus Sebastian takes like an hour to build a PC.

That is until I decided to finish the build off (at least to the point where I had everything except for the NVMe SSD), I plugged in the sata drive, the case fans, and screwed in the PSU. And then I tested the PC again to see if things were okay. And yes, things were okay according to the UEFI. It did show that the SATA drive was plugged in. So for now I'll be closing the case and sleep for now.

Regarding cooking

Been undernourished. I'm eating healthy foods, as in, the ones that do have the macros I need, and little calories. But, I think I can't bring myself to find good calorie heavy foods. The last two birthday parties I went too didn't have the kind of cakes I like. I want something tasty, not something that is 95% wheat. I've been adding some cheese to my foods, I think that'll help.

And so my mom came to the rescue and served battered fish. I like it when she does it.

Back to the tech

So it's Saturday after lunch, and the SSD just arrived. I'm now installing Linux on it. This is gonna be so cool!

January 17, 2025

This might be the last post I write before I move onto the new computer.

Yesterday, after the arrival of the case, I got the RAM sticks. Just like last time, it's 2 sticks of 16 GB each, but this time I'm upgrading from DDR4 to DDR5, and moving from 3200MT/s to 6000MT/s. I'm fine with my laptop's memory, but, you can't put laptop memory into a desktop motherboard. Plus, AM5 motherboards apparently make DDR5 memory obligatory.

I also got a $50 keyboard. Semi-mechanical, and with RGB coming from the keyboard itself. I don't have to install anything for the lights to work. It wasn't like that with my laptop's keyboard, where the keyboard's backlight was controller by an app, and I had to troubleshoot things when I moved to Linux.

That's all that arrived yesterday. It's Friday now, and I'm waiting for the last part to arrive: the power supply. I think I'll start shortly after it arrives, unless it gets too late and it gets too dark to do stuff.

January 16, 2025

Stuff started arriving! My motherboard arrived yesterday at lunchtime. I'm so happy with it! It's got 10 whole USB ports!

After that, in the evening I got the cooler: A Thermalright Peerless Assassin. I realized one thing. This cooler does come with thermal paste syringe (and I bought standalone syringe on Tuesday without knowing that)

Well, I don't know what to do with a second thermal paste syringe. The one with the cooler doesn't come with a spatula, and I think I need that spatula since one has to be very careful when applying thermal paste to a Ryzen 7000 CPU. I could use another thing at home as a replacement for the spatula before that standalone paste arrives.

I could perhaps use the second syringe... on the Fairmont Audain Station (the laptop I'm using before I move onto this new pc), as a way to repaste it and fix its thermals.

That is... if it arrives. I contacted the shop that is selling me the standalone thermal paste. I hope this doesn't cause any trouble.

I'm sorry if thermal paste prices go up.

Yeah, the cooler. The fans smell like a fresh copycat NES console. Mmm, that smell, I like that smell.

I also got the CPU, it looks so beautiful inside that box. I took photos from each face of the box. I'll take the "anti-tamper" seal once I start building the PC though. It'll be on my bedroom for now, on that same place I once used to place my quartz pieces.

Let's move into today. This morning I got my case, the Corsair 4000D Airflow. I found a perfect place to put it: to the left of my desk. That seems like the perfect place to put it, since I'll have space for my legs, and I can reach the back I/O to plug USB and other stuff.

Also, I can't believe the anxiety that the USB 3 naming scheme has given me. The case has a front "USB 3.0" port, and the motherboard has a "USB 3.2 Gen 1" header, and I thought "Oh, no, I think it's not going to be compatible." I look up on the internet, and then realize that these are just the same type of USB.

It's just that the USB Forum first made USB 3.0, then, when they made USB 3.1, they called USB 3.0 "USB 3.1 Gen 1" and USB 3.1 "USB 3.1 Gen 2" and then made USB 3.2, and called 3.0 "USB 3.2 Gen 1", 3.1 "USB 3.2 Gen 2" and 3.2 "USB 3.2 Gen 2x2".

I have no idea why they called it like that. Imagine if others did that. Imagine Nintendo announcing the Switch 2, and then referring to the previous console as the "Switch 2 Gen 1" and the new one as "Switch 2 Gen 2".

By the way... I'm also looking forward to the Switch 2!

January 15, 2025

You know, one thing I forgot to mention yesterday about these gaming benchmark videos was that there's a trend of them using one of those "Subscribe and like" button popups.

These pop-ups often have a loud click sound. It has taken me to the point I use the preview function on Youtube to look for any of them, and then skip the part where they appear, or mute the video.

And, to be honest, I don't think it would work to have that pop-up on a benchmark video like that. Why would someone want to subscribe to a benchmarking youtube channel? Think of it. I come to a video to look for... a benchmark on the 7800x3d, or the 7800x, or a GPU like the 4060, the 4070 Super, or the 6900xt. After watching these videos I can get an idea of what I'll get when I build my computer, I can know what should be the next decision. If I were to subscribe, then my feed would get filled with videos of pc parts I don't need. It would get even worse after I complete my build, because I wouldn't be looking for any parts for years to come. There's no reason to subscribe.

So, let me spell it for you. Adding that pop-up to a video is not a good way to earn subscribers. The way to earn subscribers is by promising to make videos that one would continuously want to watch in the future. It could be gaming news, or tech news. It could be a let's play. These are the kinds of video that would make people want to keep watching.

Regarding life - Quartz bed

Yesterday I found out that people go to spas and they have beds covered in quartz to make them relax. I even found out that one of these beds costs $200 (if you want to make your own personal spa)

Meaning that the CPU I bought is worth 2 whole beds of quartz and then some.

Regarding art

Drawings will keep going at a high pace this month!

Regarding cooking

I think I should make a dessert now. I've been eating too little (in terms of calories) and want something tasty to maintain myself. Thinking of making a copycat McFl*rry (gonna call it the HackFluffy) with condensed milk, whipped cream, and then fill it with other ingredients like chocolate, caramel or cookies. And I want it to be heavy on that chocolate/caramel, unlike its inspiration.

January 14, 2025

Not many tales are told of the Ryzen 7000 series iGPU.

Most people benchmarking that line of CPUs tend to pair it with a dedicated GPU, but not a lot of people have made videos that show the performance of the CPUs without having a GPU. At least some have done it. Since I'll be building the computer without a dedicated GPU and then buy the GPU later, I'll be dealing with integrated graphics for over a month.

Perhaps the reason why people make videos with GPUs more often is because it's more common to get the computer with the GPU, and for people who are upgrading from one GPU to another, since it's easier to swap a GPU.

But I think I'll be doing fine with the iGPU. I think Minecraft will be running really well, since it's the one game that cares more about the CPU instead of the GPU. I want to go into my Enigmatica 6 world and run it with a 32 chunk render distance. I bet it'll be so smooth.

I also have some retro games to finish. I'm playing Yoshi's Island, and Kirby's Dream Land 2.

Of course, I can play games in other devices. I still got my 3DS, I can play Earthbound and Rhythm Thief there. I'm also gonna start playing PMD.

January 13, 2025

Nah, not really.

So I started buying the PC parts. The CPU is secured and on its way, same for the cooler.

The only caveat is that I'm buying by transfering money directly to the sellers' accounts, because that saves me some money. But, since I'm giving such big amounts of money, the bank nags me and tells me I can't give any more money for the day.

Which means I'll have to wait until tomorrow to spend more money.

But I did get the most important thing checked off the list! I remember when I was a kid, and I once picked up a piece of quartz off the street, and would put it on a bookshelf at my bedroom thinking of how valuable it was. Well, I'm getting a new piece of quartz now.

The motherboard will be bought this Tuesday, while the thermal compound, case, and memory will be bought this Wednesday, and I'll buy the PSU and keyboard this Thursday.

I think that's a good plan, I can get everything this week, since, you know, prices might start increasing this coming week.

Stores say that parts arrive in 1 to 2 days after they are bought. So I might either have everything either on Friday, Saturday, or on Monday.

January 12, 2025

Okay, I've decided to make the jump. I have gathered the funds for my next computer, which I'm calling the Pangea Tricouni Station.

It's called like that because it's named after two places in Whistler BC, it's a running in-joke I have. My current computer is called the Fairmont Audain Station. Fairmont is one of the hotels there, and Audain is the name of a museum in that place. Pangea is the name of a capsule hotel, and Tricouni is the name of a mountain that is close to Whistler.

Previously, I mentioned I wanted an AMD 5700X3D for the processor, but, I have decided to instead pick a 7800X3D. The reason behind this is that I will buy and build most of the computer right now, and then later buy the GPU. The 5700X3D doesn't have integrated graphics, so if I had picked that one, I would have been forced to buy the GPU immediatly.

This means I will be getting an AM5 motherboard instead of an AM4 motherboard. People say this is good, since I will be able to upgrade later in the future. However, I'm not sure I would need to buy a new CPU for the rest of the computer's lifespan. The 7800X3D is already so good, it wouldn't be a wise decision to move to that to a 9800X3D or a 9950X3D. It might be good for 8 years even. And even if AMD releases a late-AM5 top-tier CPU (let's say, a 19800X3D), the 7800X3D would still be able to accomplish what I want at that time. So, in the far future, when I need another computer, I might wait until AM6 is good enough.

I have a motherboard already on my radar, it's got 3 slots for NVME drives, and at the moment I'm thinking of just pulling my laptop's SSD and plugging it into my new computer. I won't have to deal with installing everything again, and I'm saving some money by doing that. The memory should be DDR5 now, and I got a good 2x16 kit on my radar, it runs at 6000MT/s, I think that's also something that will last a while without getting obsolete.

The cooler, a Thermalright Peerless Assasin. I heard that one is good. The case, a Corsair 4000D Airflow, which I also heard is good. The PSU will be an 850 Watt one, to make room for whenever I get that GPU.

I found a $50 dollar RGB keyboard, that'll do for now. And, as for the monitor, I'll be using the portable monitor I got for Christmas. I'll later upgrade by getting a monitor meant for desktop PCs, and just use the portable monitor as the second monitor afterwards. As I said before, I like gaming at 1080p with a high refresh rate, so this build is meant to be like that, more focus on the CPU and not so much on the GPU.

So, at the pace I'm earning money, I think I'll be able to fund the GPU by the end of February. No worries if I don't make it by then, I still have some retro games and some Minecraft to play. I'm still building that 16x16 chunk pyramid on Minecraft. I bet I'll be able to put a 32 chunk distance on the new build.