PC Overhaul
I haven't been updating my blog much recently. Sorry readers (if there are any.) The reason for this is because I have been busy working my other job, serving food. Well, I've been investing in my computer over recent weeks. In 2010 I bought this system as Windows 7, with a NVIDIA 430 graphics card, a 40 gigabyte sshd, a 1 TB drive, 9 gb ram, etc. I also was given a few various sized hard drives from other computers, I think this thing is running 10+ TB storage capacity now. After upgrading to Windows 10 a few years ago, and upgrading the 40 GB sshd to 480 GB solid state hard drive, I decided it was time to replace some of the other components.
I don't know if anyone else has had problems loading large text files, it shouldn't be an issue that a writer has to face though. 3 Chapters into my book, 12,000 words or so, and my computer took forever to render any of it onscreen. This issue, plus issues related to Games on Steam prompted me to replace the 430. After some research, I decided to buy 2 NVIDIA 710s.
(This is a picture from the day the two cards arrived in the mail. The unboxing ceremony.)
After placing the order online, I had to wait a few days (because I'm too poor to afford express shipping.) Normally I would have just gone to the store to pick up new components, but graphics cards are kind of an exception. Stores usually have a basic selection, but there were very specific requirements for this build. I selected low profile cards to make the wiring easier, and went for the fanless version for more efficient power consumption. Both 710s boast a 2 GB/s GRAM speed, much faster than the single 430 at 564 MB/s. My PC has 2 main fans, and a CPU fan for internal cooling, any more fans would have been too redundant, and unnecessary for my intended computer usage.
(Here is a picture of one of the new 710s(bottom) and a previous legacy video card I had purchased. (430 not pictured))
The video card in the picture above is a card that I bought to play Counter-Strike: Source. It's been many years since then. It was probably one of the first cards on the market with DVI output. I'll probably retire that card until I can get some PCI extension adapters to build a Bitcoin Mining rig.
(This is the internal view of my PC with the two new 710s. It's a mess with all of the power and SATA cables running around. It's reliable though, and still works like brand new after 7 years.) To ensure that my system stays running during storms or line work, I went out today and picked up a Universal Power Supply. I've had issues with previous backups not providing enough juice when it's really needed, so I decided to get one that was rated for the maximum power consumption my computer can handle. With a 750 watt power supply, and a 150 watt monitor, that means a 900 watt backup. Thankfully I ordered one online for instore pickup and it was ready within the hour. I'll only be able to have one monitor on backup, just enough to shut down the system in case of emergency. Now with the Video cards out of the way, power issues solved, there are a few more issues to address. I think that upgrading the RAM will greatly increase performance. This motherboard can handle 24 GB of DDR3 memory, so there's room to improve. Also, I'll have to upgrade the storage space once again, or maybe get an external rack for more hard drives. There is a lot to do in order to improve this system. It gets better every day though.