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Sunday, March 23, 2014

No News is Good News

So after a look hiatus from blogging I've finally returned and in the time between my last blog post and now not much has changed, thankfully! I've just been chugging along through my last semester, studying like there's no tomorrow as my usual self does. Luckily, I haven't caught any senioritis. Actually let me rephrase that, I haven't caught any extreme form of senioritis. A little laziness never hurt anybody, right? Classes so far have been very relaxed, although I have this frustrating habit of making every class seem like the end all be all of my future so I make a big deal out of every little lecture detail I misunderstood or missed. Everything else has been pretty much routine and business as usual. Wake up, go to class, pay mild attention, go to research lab and stare at the computer screen for hours on end pretending to do meaningful science-y work, go home, study the day's lectures, get engrossed in the latest TV show or Dan Carlin podcast, sleep. Rinse with Listerine mouthwash before going to sleep and repeat. I take my dental hygiene very seriously!

So what else is new? Today is the last day of Spring Break but it doesn't really feel like it to me since all I've done this whole break is pretty much work at my research lab for some extra cash flow or at my good ol' ophtho clinic I love and despise so very much. Although lab work for during the school year consists of mindless staring at the computer and acting as a glorified custodian, paid lab work is a whole different beast. See, at the rate that they're paying me I can't afford to not be productive so instead of mindless staring at the computer I engage in mindless productive staring at the computer! What is that you ask? Is there a difference between the former and the latter? Why of course! The latter involves a basic repetitive process where I take raw data and mine out of it a polished gem of a neuron if one exists! Sounds complicated right? Well it pretty much involves clicking and pressing the same buttons over and over again so that is what I do ad infinitum (at least that's how it feels).

But, for more exciting news, I recently built my own PC! The backstory to that is my old PC just crashed on me and had been doing so for a good amount of time so after weeks of nagging from my mom to get a new PC I decided, hey why not just build one, right? Can't be that hard? And actually, it really isn't. Granted, it did take me a dozen hours or so to learn everything I needed to know, watch all the necessary videos and read all the necessary articles so I didn't make a huge blunder in ordering the stuff (which isn't cheap!). And if any of you are interested in building your own, visit http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/wiki/beginnersguide. It's basically what I used to learn everything I needed to know about ordering the parts and such. But if you're really strapped for time just check out Tom's Hardware (google it) and educate yourself on all the different parts of a PC and what each one does (there's only about 8, including the case):

Here's a cursory overview:

1.) CPU-Central Processing Unit, A.K.A. the "thinking" part of the computer that integrates information sent to it and carries out basic computer operations
2.) RAM/Memory-Random Access Memory is the place where information is transferred to from the hard-drive when you open a picture for example and the CPU (processor as it's colloquially known) accesses this information to actually open the picture. RAM can range from 1GB-16GB and the more you have the faster you can access things on your computer and the smoother it runs since RAM is more easily accessed than your hard-drive (another component of your computer!). Most people have 2GB-4GB of RAM and I personally have 4GB which is good enough to do most things and even great for gaming in my experience (Crysis, Mirror's Edge, Dead Space).
3.) Motherboard- It's called a motherboard for a reason and that reason is because all of the other parts of your PC connect back to the motherboard which acts as the major circuit for everything and basically innervates all the other parts (sort of like a Central Nervous System for the body).
4.) Hard-Drive-This is where you have the bulk of your memory and where all of your data and files are stored long-term. Most people nowadays have 1TB hard-drives (at least I do) and they're not that expensive to snag.
5.) PSU (Power Supply Unit)-Self-explanatory. Gives power to all of the parts in the PC
6.) Optical Drive-The outside drive you put your CD's/DVD's into. There's even BluRay optical drive players which blew my mind partly because I'm a technological dinosaur when it comes to PC's and because I never knew BluRay could be had for your PC!
7.) GPU/Graphics Card-Graphics Processing Unit/GPU is an important part of your PC if you want to have a kick-ass video display and potentially game. Best ones are nVIDIA and GeForce video cards.
8.) Case-Where everything goes! That rectangular prism shaped metal contraption where the motherboard and everything else fits!

After you've done that, go to http://www.logicalincrements.com/ for a great look at your options and which ones fall into your price range. From there, go to http://www.pcpartpicker.com and pick all the parts you're going to buy, and find the lowest price for each! The best part about it is that the site makes sure all your parts are compatible and will notify you when they're not so it doesn't go all to hell.

Check out parts I used for my PC: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/vishal4321/saved/3Y3j

So, at this point you should know what each part does, have your budget squared away and the parts chosen, and have bought all of them! Before you buy anything though, remember to check the warranty policy on each part because some are very delicate! Ideally, you want them to be replaced even if the damage is your fault.

Fastforward a week or two and all the parts are now in! Time for the fun part! Set aside a day or two and watch Carey Holzman's video on "How to Build A PC" (link in the guide on reddit) to really make sure you do it correctly. Someone said it's like putting together legos the way he shows it to you. The video's a couple hours long but so worth it because it's one of the few videos you'll need to reference. With that, you should be done! For me building a PC was a huge accomplishment and something I thought I'd never ever do seeing as how I'm barely qualified to use a screwdriver. But after many hours of hunching over I managed through it and now it works like a beauty.