Pickups – Tech Leopard

New MacBook Pro

31 Mar 201423 Mar 2014 by Drea

Tech enthusiasts like to stay current with their technology, especially their computers. Alas, with a mortgage and bills to pay, it’s easier said than done to stay up to date these days. I’ve only just got myself an iPhone 5s after upgrading from an iPhone 3G, and am currently working on an early 2008 24″ iMac. It’s not bad, does enough of what I need it to do without choking too much, but there are occasions where it’ll struggle or hang when I’ve got a few apps running at the same time as playing some music or streaming a video. It’s also a desktop, which prevents me being mobile and while I don’t often need to carry a computer around with me these days, I find myself missing the freedom to sit on the sofa or in bed with my laptop when I want to be lazy or change up my scenery a little. I’ve been using my late 2007 white MacBook to allow me this option, but it struggles even worse than the iMac does. The solution to all of this?

RamblingEpic’s Dying Graphics Card

27 May 201327 Nov 2012 by Drea

A little while ago, I swapped out RamblingEpic’s old PC case for a Bitfenix Merc Alpha & added a new power supply when the old one split up the side (never good, right?!) and started making a God-awful vibrating noise! Since then, we’d done everything we could to source and solve the small whine from his graphics card. The culprit has eluded us to this day, but currently at best guess, it’s something on the inside of the small fan included on the cooler attached. I’ve had the heatsink off completely, the fan’s been painstakingly cleaned out several times until completely spotless and yet the noise remained. We were happy enough leaving the card in as performance wasn’t being affected and it was apparently something RamblingEpic could live with – not so sure I could’ve done the same if it had to sit right next to me!

At the end of October, completely randomly, the whine suddenly evolved into an all-out mechanical cranking noise! Fearing any sort of proper damage, we removed the graphics card altogether and finally caved in on buying a new card. Time to say a fond farewell to the Asus Nvidia ENGT 220 1GB DDR3 and welcome the next phase of RamblingEpic’s gaming!

Tech Pickups: Oct 2012

10 Nov 201215 Oct 2012 by Drea

After a long debate over what to do when it comes to my gaming PC, I’ve held back on frequent urges to blow a load of cash on upgrading the entire thing. It’s 4yrs old, it’s running an old socket 775, DDR2 motherboard in an Antec 1200 full tower case. Let me begin by saying I’ve LOVED the Antec 1200 case to bits, you’ve no idea the geekjoy I’ve experienced over the years tinkering with hardware in it, but alas its time has come. The case is fantastic, but I’ve reached the point where I’m fed up with the entire thing roaring like an aircraft carrier even with the fans on their lowest setting. It never used to bother me that much, but after building the gorgeously, sleek & silent ANBU earlier this year, I’ve come to appreciate the quiet you can achieve with PCs!

Since the hardware’s pushing dated, I’m still adamant I’ll get another year out of it, but I WILL be looking at a full, new gaming build next year. For now, I’ve done a bit of a tidy and stuck a lot of old tech, games, etc up for sale to garner some spare cash for future upgrades and just in time for Christmas. Currently, a new Antec 1200 case still gets around £120! Granted, mine is several years old, but I’ve taken very good care of it and at this point in time I’m feeling the need for a change. This won’t be an upgrade, it’ll be an interim case to fit my needs initially and see me through until the new build next year.

Tonight, to this end, I’ve ordered the following goodies: