Wanna see my new rack?

I have the best husband in the whole world. My rig had a few years on the neck and some games lagged a bit, so my darling promptly ordered a lot of good stuff from Komplett.se and set to work. I paid for the parts of course, but as I have no clue whatsoever on how to build a computer I am grateful to be able to sit comfortably on the couch with glass a of wine and watch my favorite geek do his magic. This is the new configuration:

Intel Core i7 Quad Processor i7-860 Quad Core, 2.80Ghz, Socket 1156, 8MB, 95W.
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD5, P55, Socket-1156 SLI&CrossFireX, DDR3, ATX, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA 6Gb.
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU Kylare Socket 775/1156/1366, AM2/AM2+/AM3, 1300 RPM, 92,3 m³/h, 19,8 dBA, 120mm Fan
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600MHz 4GB CL9 Kit w/2x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24,
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium EN OEM, 64bit.
For my video cards he used two Nvidia 8800GTS in SLI, which should do the job for the time being.

The old table in the living room is great to work on. It didn’t take him long to eviscerate the old comp, clean it and start mounting the new parts.

Parts unpacked.

Almost done and ready to be fitted into the4 case.

The new rig works perfectly and I’m glad that I skipped Vista and went directly to Windows 7 from XP, which I never liked in the first place. Startup time is now significantly shorter and my games don’t lag. Not even on the road between Skingrad and Anvil. I look forward to riding that beautiful road again soon, but I’m not done with Fallout 3 yet.

As for performance, I don’t know anything about it, but hubby recommended the Windows Experience Index test. I couldn’t explaint it even at gunpoint, but here is…

Edit: I got CTD problems with both Fallout 3 and Borderlands so we replaced the two Nvidia 8800GTS cards by a XFX Radeon HD 5870, 1 GB GDDR5. The fan was noisy like Niagara Falls to begin with, but Per got a program to make it STFU until the temperature got too high. If the problem still persists I might need to upgrade the PSU.

Free Radical

My beloved knows that I’m a great fan of System Shock II. He also knows that I’m sometimes bored at work while waiting for the incoming snailmail. So he sent me the link to Free Radical by Shamus Young.

It’s a great story. I’ve always wondered what took place before the start of the SS2 game. I’m also touched by the author’s humbleness and generosity. The classic Internet. Free for all to share and enjoy. Share something today and you risk getting sued right into next week. I’m not even halfway through the online story, but I’m already itching to start SS2 all over again and play as a technical expert with a lot of PSI.

Meme

1. Where’s your cellphone? Right beside me
2. Where’s your significant other? Right here.
3. Your hair? In a pony tail.
4. Your mom? Dead, since 2006.
5. Your dad? Dead, since 1972.
6. Your favorite thing? My husband, champagne and the blackbird’s song in spring.
7. Last night’s dream? I returned to my mother’s womb. Now, that’s perverse.
8. Your dream, and/or goal in life? Comfortable retirement.
9. The room you’re in? The (computer) hall.
10. Your hobby? Gaming.
11. Your fear? Ghosts (yeah, I know *blushes*).
12. Where are you 6 years from now? Right here.
13. Where were you last night? In my sweet husband’s arms.
14. What are you not? Sober.
15. A wish? That the new kitchen was ready and paid for.
16. Where did you grow up? Nyköping, Södermanland, Sverige, Europa.
17. The last thing you did? My last breath, but that won’t happen for a while.
18. Your clothes? Sweatpants and a black Turnover top.
19. Your TV? A Samsung 40″ flat screen.
20. Pets? None so far.
21. Your computer? A gaming PC that my husband has built.
22. Your mood? Tired, tipsy and content.
23. Miss somebody? Grandpa, as always. Bless his sweet soul.
24. Your car? Top Cab.
25. What are you not wearing? Hose.
26. Favorite shop? NK.
27. Your summer? Birthdays, cleaning after the kitchen rebuilding and working.
28. In love? Oh yes.
29. Favorite color? Black. Or blue, or red, or…?
30. When was the last time you laughed? This morning. At an ad for coffee.
31. When was the last time you cried? Day before yesterday, in front of the TV. Can’t even remember why.

Brigitte

Brigitte is my second Oblivion character. When I created her I wanted somebody totally different from Skade who is very down to earth. So I created a bombshell. She is Breton so she needed a French name. Brigitte Bardot came to mind and Brigitte it is.

Brigitte is all fun flirt and fashion. She loves attention and has no sense whatsoever when it comes to money. When levelling she favors skills that boost her personality and charm so those are maxed already. Now she plans to invest a bit more in illusion training to further her grasp over people in general and men in particular. She has no pet as she wants all attention for herself, but she might consider the adoring fan if she decides to do the arena quest. After all, she loves to be adored.

Brigitte likes to have fun and surround herself with beautiful things and garments. She flirts a lot and likes to have men fawn all over her. She joined the Thieve’s Guild, but doesn’t shoplift much. She likes the thrill of bartering too much and the feeling of buying something beautiful for herself.
Here she is charming the ears off poor Maro Rufus at Best Defense. Brigitte wears the snowfur outfit that she just bought from him using a Fortify Mercantile 100 pts spell on herself and a charm spell on him. Poor sod.

My First Oblivion Doll

When my husband got me the game I thought I’d just create a char and fool around with her for an hour or two. I mean, I was so hooked on Morrowind and planned to at least complete half of the main quest before starting the new Elder Scrolls game. Yeah, right. I’m still obsessed and has been so since Day 1.

I had long thought about creating a character that was true to my own nordic background and heritage. Searching the old Nordic mythology gave me Skade, the beautiful godess of winter, skiers and hunters. I intended her to be a warrior/ranger type specializing in archery. She turned out quite good. As I’m not a fanatic RPG player in the respect that everything my character does has to be according to her role, she’s got the basics from my own personality (loves alchemy, wild pets, the great outdoors while being a bit of a fashionista at the same time) and the the rest from the idea I have of the role per se. Thus, Skade is a great fighter and adventurer who wears her daedric armor like a second skin, but as soon as she comes back home she drops it and slips into something more stylish. I took a pic of her in full armour in the mountains close to Bruma. Bow at the ready and Grace, her pet mountain lion, close by awaiting her mistresse’s orders.

Here she is in her Anvil house. She’s wearing her favourite blue velvet dress. Very Lady of the Manor.

Playing With Dolls

That’s what it is really. Playing RPGs, mean. I create a character, dress her in various kinds of armour and weaponry and then I play with her. If there’s a house for sale I buy it and furnish it. When my char is at home she drops her armour and slips into something more comfortable. What’s that if not playing with dolls.

About Gaming

When I met my husband-to-be he worked hard as a reviewer. He gave me Shadows of Undrentide, an expansion of Bioware’s Neverwinter Nights, to play and the addiction was instantaneous. I have played it three tims with my main character, Akela, a half-elf Druid/Fighter/Weapon Master. My main char is always named Akela, which is also used to be my favorite internet nick. I have recently started to use the nick Cougar as I find that more appropriate. Yeah, I have a young husband. Sue me.

Noticing that I loved fantasy but hated anything that looked even slightly childish or had poor graphics, my husband introduced me to Morrowind. So I was stuck again. I created a Khajiit, whom I trained in melee weapons and alchemy. I got tired of him after a while and created Miko, a human asian beauty who loves flowers and learns anything she can about herbalogy and alchemy. She is also a merciless assassin. When I started started her I was unsure about her development character-wise. As a new gamer it was hard for me to alienate my characters too much from what I personally thought and felt so I couldn’t play hard-core evil characters. Chaotic good was an alignment that I felt more comfortable with. Now, after more than 5 years of serious gaming I have learned to distance myself enough from my characters to be able to play both thieves and brutal bandits.

Morrowind was followed by Dungeon Siege. I wasn’t too happy about the map, but the story was good and I had quite fun with it. Unfortunately I saved the game in the worst possible spot and got stuck between a rock and a hard place. I have restarted it with a new character, but got tired of it for some reason. The same has happened with Guild Wars. Guild Wars is my first MMORPG and I started playing it during the alpha test. Continued with all the beta test events and my husband gave me a pre-ordered copy for Christmas 2004. I played it until my eyes bled. I don’t remember how or why I got tired of it, but I haven’t touched it for more than a year.

Somewhere bewteen Dungeon Siege and Guild Wars I bought Sacred. I built a Vampiress character, had a lot of fun and got tired of it all before beating the main quest. Somehow I never seem to beat the main quest. The only games I have really completed so far are the NWN series. There is something about open RPG:s that make me want to stay in them, explore everything and let the character go about his/her life. Why end a good thing, sort of.

The current obsession is Oblivion.  My husband got it first and at the time I was deep into Morrowind with Miko doing fairly well with her Morag Tong career and her lovely Japanese house off Vivec. I didn’t care much for the new game, but decided to give a 30 minute’s try when hubby was busy on the Xbox with GTA or whatever. Those 30 minutes are still ongoing and I’m completely absorbed with the vastness and beauty of Oblivion. I have played it on an almost daily basis since it’s launch and have a large family of Oblivion characters. All of them with different personalities, skills and ambitions. It’s nice. Just like playing with dolls when I was little.