Mar
8

What Are You Doing, Dave?

Posted in computers, Dell Fail | Leave a comment
So I built my first computer last week. Or really, my awesome coworkers did (and all for the low, low price of several boxes of Cadbury Creme Eggs and my leftover RAM.) And thus far, it’s been running brilliantly.  I’ll have to take a picture of the inside of it when I get a chance, but for those of you who like know what’s inside, here’s a happy list of components: 1)ENERMAX Uber Chakra ECA5001B Black Aluminum / Steel Trim w/250mm Intake/Exhaust LED Monster Fan ATX Full Tower Case w/Front I/O 1 eSATA, 4 USB2.0, Audio I/O Pictured to the left there – although we had to yank that fan on the side and just go with a standard 90 mm, since the aftermarket heat sink and fan on the CPU were just too wide to fit it. 2) GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard – small and… Read more
Feb
27

Dell Must Die.

Posted in Dell Fail | 15 Comments
Now, remember in one of my previous posts I mentioned that one probably shouldn’t get too ranty on one’s blog? You know, so people didn’t think you were batshit crazy? Well, you’re about to see me go batshit crazy. And yes, I know I have a bit of a hot-button when it comes to technology not working. Nothing will set me off faster than when a program doesn’t work or a computer has issues. But even aside from that, what really pisses me off is when I pay a massive amount of money for a piece of technology that 1) breaks a lot and 2) has shitty support. Warning: This is an exceptionally LONG and ranty blog post. And so I offer Exhibit A.  This is the inside of my Dell XPS 710. Notice the 1000 Watt Power Supply.  Notice the rather large and beefy looking CPU down there in… Read more
Jan
31

*grumbles*

Posted in Dell Fail, grumpy as fuck | 3 Comments
You know, just ONCE, I’d like technology to work. The third replacement video card Dell sent me finally blew out tonight, but this time it pulled the entire motherboard down with it. Yeah, nothing like that lovely burning smell to solidify the sudden “Oh Shit” feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had a spare NVidia GeForce 260 GTX kicking around, so I replaced the burned out card, but the computer booted up realllly slowllly. Eventually the monitor came on, but after a subsequent reboot, nothing. My warranty runs out in May, so Dell is sending me a new motherboard and a new video card. (both probably refurbs, of course). I dunno. I’ve had nothing but issues with this thing since I bought it almost 3 years ago – and considering it was over $4000, I’m feeling a tad ripped off. Think I’m just gonna build one of my… Read more
Aug
31

Random Things

Posted in Dell Fail, random | 2 Comments
Just thought I’d mention today that I am a bit of a pen freak. I love them.  The weirder the better – Hello Kitty, light-up pens, pens with goofy shit hanging off of them, whatever. I’m particularly fond of gel pens…especially the ones with sparkles or glitter in the ink.  Who knew I was such a girly girl?  (And apparently Lucy has picked up on this, as she immediately made for the big box of shiny gel pens when we went out school shopping for Connor.  And yes, I bought them.) Also randomly, a big fat boo to Dell for sending me a replacement monitor that was worse than the one I have.  Now I have to hang at home for *another* day (Wednesday) for the second one to be delivered…and best of all, I have to arrange pickup for two.  *eyeroll* Bah.  I’m going to go back to reading… Read more