Building Commenced, Part 2

As my package of parts gets closer to its destination, I've begun to have second thoughts. The doubts have started to creep in.

What if the motherboard needs a firmware update before it can use the processor? When I search for BX80637i53330, the number that's part of the item description on Newegg, it tells me it belongs to a processor that's "Step E1". Which the processor compatibility table over on ASRock says should work (or at least i5-3330(E1) has worked) since firmware version P1.10. But is that accurate? Or rather, am I reading the tables right? Will I actually get the E1 version, or will an N0 version show up instead, which isn't supported until P1.20. And if so, will the BIOS (or rather, the UEFA) be factory updated? I don't want to have to pony up the money for a Sandy Bridge processor just to run an update and then swap, even if it is only $50.

Speaking of processors, or rather, processor accessories; the i5 retail box I bought comes with a fan and heat sink, but does it come with thermal compound? If not, do any of the local shops carry it?

Does the hard drive I'm planning on using even work? I mean, it's not like I could test it. The only computer I have with a SATA connection was the one it came from, and that couldn't even make it to the POST. I mean, yeah I could run -- for instance -- Puppy Linux from USB, or maybe even a Ubuntu LiveUSB image, assuming I can dig up a flash drive big enough. It's less than optimal, but it will work. Especially since I don't have a SATA optical drive to boot a LiveCD. Something that is quickly moving its way toward the top of my "buy next" list.

Does the power supply work? Again, hard to tell since I'm pulling the potential one from the broken box.This one I'm actually going to test when I get home, by swapping it out with the bigger one in my Debian/Pentium 4 box. That way I know if a new P/S (for one or the other) is next on the agenda.

As of this writing (6:30 AM Wednesday), the parts have gone from Memphis on Monday night, to Lenexa, KS (a suburb of Kansas City) on Tuesday morning, and then on to a brief layover in Salina before heading to the "local" office in Great Bend to spend the night. They are listed on UPS's website as "out for delivery" about half an hour ago. If all things go my way, I should be able to answer at least some of the questions by the time I go to bed this morning.

Update, 10:00 am:  Well, the parts haven't arrived yet, so no love there. I was mistaken on both of my power supplies, though. The one from my salvage box was a 350W, not a 400. Unfortunately, after I got the one from my Debian box out, I discovered that it was also a 350 instead of the 750W that I apparently had in the box I sold off. The good news -- and the whole reason for pulling them out in the first place -- is that both of them work. I'm going to use the P/S from the Debian box, for no other reason than I was too lazy to take the salvage P/S back out of my Debian machine.

Building: Commenced

After over a year of prep-work, set-backs, and worrying, I finally took the plunge. The building blocks for my new desktop are on their way.

Since before my mother-in-law moved in with us (and subsequently moved out), I've hemmed and hawed, vacillating on whether I could afford this project, or even if I had the ability to put it together once it got here. But with money saved from both Christmas presents and holiday pay, and more importantly with my bills budgeted for, I bit the first bullet.

First?

Well... yes. You see, this is the first step. I bought the core components last night, but there are massive upgrades needed before I will be ready to call this thing ready to roll out. So, last night's shopping list.

• Processor: Intel Core i5-3330 @ 3.0 GHz. 
• Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3
• Memory: ADATA XPG Gaming Series DDR3-1600; 8 GB (2x4GB)

Total cost: $325. You may notice quite a few things missing, especially for a build that aims to be a complete computer, much less a gaming machine. You know the old adage, "waste not, want not?" This is a prime example. Last year, my uncle came to me with a computer problem that boiled down to a faulty motherboard. He was short on money, so I sold him one of my older machines -- powerful enough for email and Skype, which is what he used the computer for anyway -- for trade-in plus a little cash.

Why would I do this? Mostly, I wanted to get my hands on a SATA drive. All of my other hard drives are IDE which, if it isn't already, is quickly on it way to being a legacy interface. As evidenced by the motherboard, which does not have an IDE connector. It also gives me access to an empty case and a (more than likely) working power supply; though at 400 watts, it is fair to consider it under-powered for my purposes. I also have a mouse, keyboard, and a monitor on hand that can be re-purposed quite easily. 

Which brings us to the elephant in the room. What am I going to do for discreet graphics? For the time being, the answer is nothing. I spent the extra $10 on the i5-3330 instead of the 3350P to get the integrated graphics. A mid-range graphics card would probably end up taxing that 400 watt power supply to brown-out levels even if the PS had the right plug on it. As it is, between the integrated graphics of the 3330 and the VGA output on the Pro3 (because the monitor I'm salvaging was bought when DVI was optional and HDMI was expensive as heck), I'll be in business pretty darn quick.

So, if processor, motherboard and memory were round 1, what's round 2? More than likely, a new case (something along the lines of the Rosewill Blackhawk) and power supply; probably in the 600-750W range, so another $150-200. Round 3 looks like a new, smaller desk and chair because as much as I look forward to gaming marathons, the idea of sitting by myself in my office all day is not particularly appealing. I was looking at the WalMart specials and found a combo in the $75 range, pretty good for me. Then Windows. Yes, I'm waiting that long to put Windows on this computer. I'll decide what flavor when the time comes. Then will come the graphics card; and again, the flavor will be decided by costs at the time.

All in all, looks like a good start.

Spoilers Ahead: Cloud Atlas

The hotel the wife and I stayed at for her birthday gave us free tickets to the Warren Theatre in the Old Town district of Wichita. Or rather, I paid a little extra to get a "Date Night" package and a pair of tickets were part of the deal. In either case, with it being the weekend before Halloween, the majority of the offerings were horror films; a genre which my wife has negative interest in seeing. That left us with an action-thriller, a biopic, and Cloud Atlas. By the title of this piece, you may have already deduced we chose the latter. I went into it mostly blind, having never read the book and only seeing a teaser trailer and the cast list.

Do you remember reading Catch-22 for [High School/College] lit class? Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings' screen adaptation of Cloud Atlas reminds me a lot of the style of Heller's classic, if not the substance. The focus jumps around at seemingly random intervals, introducing characters in story-lines throughout different points in history. Each of these different time periods seem to be self-contained and cross-referential; such as a young composer in one time period reading the published journal of a young lawyer in another, or an writer's story in one section having a movie adaptation in another.

Let's get the accolades out of the way: it looks amazing. The movie boils down to four period pieces, a dystopian sci-fi piece and a post-apocalyptic piece: even with the three parts that are supposed to be fairly close in time, there are enough differences in the clothing that if you pay attention you can tell which story you're watching by the wardrobe alone. The makeup effects are also amazing, to be expected when each actor is playing multiple parts. The score is wonderful as well, adding to the story rather than distracting from it.

Now, flip the coin. Remember how I said it reminded me of Catch-22? That's not necessarily a good thing. This movie tends to bounce back and forth between its various stories; filling in blanks, and forming new questions in a way that can be not only jarring but downright confusing at times. We never stay on one character or sequence for very long, which is a trick for a movie that clocks in at just under 3 hours.

I really enjoyed the film. I found it thought-provoking and a decent, if not great film. My wife, not so much: she found it a confusing, jumbled mess. It's like someone took six concept albums from the same group and rotated albums between tracks.

Hopefully, when the movie comes out for home viewing, the disc will have an option to show each of the stories separately. There are six enjoyable stories in this movie; and doing it that way will let more people enjoy all of them.