World in Conflict.

Hey, everyone.

No, I'm sorry, this is not going to be a review. It's just me typing away. I feel like writing and I don't know about what, so I decided I might as well write here on my Blog/Journal.

To be honest, I don't really know what to write, so I'm probably going to rant about something, or just talk about my day. OOOOH! Alright, here's something I could talk about.

So coming home after a hard days work, I decided to sit down and enjoy some gaming. I had recently downloaded Crysis (integrity fail, but it was free). I figured I'd play it. So I installed it and the stupid file I downloaded installed two old GPU drivers. One was an ATI driver, the other an nVidia. So guess what happened? That's right, my System crashed. So, I tried uninstalling the nVidia driver, I was successful, but there was no way of getting to the ATI driver, since the only "ATI" component I have is my CPU, which is an AMD (Yes, AMD bought ATI).

So I Uninstalled my graphics card (I got a GTX 460 1GB), then I reinstalled it. For some reason, I was thinking that would work. It's not called Troubleshooting for nothing, after all. Of course, it didn't. I got home from work at 11:40pm. I was troubleshooting 'till 4am. Then I said screw it and I ended up reformatting my hard drive. I lost everything (Including my OverClocks), which I don't really care. Thankfully, a lot of my games are on Steam, so they're easily downloadable.

I got my System reformatted by 5am, then I fell asleep. Woke up around 9:30am and got my Rig up and running. I even OverClocked my CPU, GPU, and RAM, again. That's not even the highlight of it. My package finally came in the mail. I ordered a Razer Goliathus mousepad. It's huge, but every gamer that takes their gaming seriously, needs a good mousepad (And a good mouse; I rock a Logitech G9x). Left 4 Dead 2 also came in my package.

My wife wanted to go to the Library today, so I figured it'll be good to spend some time with her, since today's my day off. So while I was browsing the Library, I stumbled upon a PC Game section. It had a lot of old games, but there was one in particular that I noticed. WORLD IN CONFLICT. I always wanted to play it. When it first came out a few years ago, I didn't have the money to buy it, all my cash was going to bills at the time (I was pretty heavy in debt).

So I borrowed it and here I am, typing this post out, waiting for the World in Conflict Update to finish installing so I could play it. I'm excited.

Anyway, today was so much better than yesterday. That's all I have to say.

Logging Off,
Epiclepsy.

P.S.
Here's a picture of my Battle Station:

Borderlands

I love this game. I played it for the PS3 when it first came out, since at the time, my computer was down. Now that I got my computer up and running, I decided to give Borderlands another shot and once again, I'm addicted to this game. Sure, it reminds me of Fallout, but hell, it's still a good game and very unique style of graphics. The only thing I could complain about is the lack of classes/characters. I wish there were more, but hell, it's good enough to make this game extremely fun.





One thing I love about this game, besides the unique and extremely cool graphics, is that it's not just a normal first person shooter. You could also jump into some nice rides and blast away with a gatling gun or missile launcher.





And that's just the Single Player game. Even the Multiplayer game is fun. There's versus games and there's co-op games. Any of them are really fun to play and it's fun seeing other characters.





And of course, an awesome little mascot that helps you out throughout most of the game. The one and only Claptrap.





As I was stating earlier, I wish there were more characters, but it doesn't take away from the fun of the game. There are only four characters (which you can rename).


Mordecai - The Hunter





Roland - The Soldier





Lilith - The Siren





Brick - The Berserker





Each character has a back story, which I'm not going to ruin here, you'll just have to play the game to find out. Trust me when I say, you won't be disappointed. It's fun, action packed, and looks amazing.


All-in-all, I give it Four and a Half Stars out of Five.


Logging Off,

Epiclepsy.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

I decided to do some reviews on parts I already have, so here we go. The first product is a CPU (Central Processing Unit) Air Cooler. Now, what types of Cooling are there for CPU's? There are two basic types of coolers: Air and Water (Liquid). Air Cooling is the old school, and more simple way of cooling. Water Cooling is the more advance, but most dominant way of cooling. Mind you, you can Cool all PC Components either way.

"How would I decide on what cooling type I go with?", you might ask. It's simple. If you plan on just using your computer for simple web browsing, casual gaming, and maybe OverClocking ever so little, I'd suggest going with Air Cooling. It's a lot cheaper, so if you're on a budget, stick with Air Cooling; However, if you're into heavy OverClocking, you plan on SLI'ing (ScanLine Interleave Mode) or going Crossfire X, I'd suggest going with Water Cooling. Be wary, water cooling is pricey, and for a GOOD water cooling kit, you'd probably spend $200 dollars on.

Now that's out of the way, I could go on and talk about the actual CPU Cooler. It's called the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. I actually have this CPU Cooler running in my Rig right now.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus Specifications:

CPU Sockets:
Intel: Sockets LGA 775/ 1156/ 1366
AMD: Sockets AM2/ AM2+/ AM3

Heat sink Dimensions: 116 x 51 x 159mm

Heat sink Material: Aluminum Fin with Copper base

Heatpipes: 4pcs

Fan Dimensions: 120 x 120 x 25mm

Fan Speed: 600 - 2,000 RPM (PWM)

Fan Air Flow: 21.2 - 76.8 CFM

Fan Life Expectancy: 40,000 Hours.

Connector: 4-pin

Noise Level: 13 - 32 dBA

Weight: 626g

Now, as you can see above, that is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. It's a beautiful CPU Cooler. It comes with adjustable mount to fit the sockets it supports. It also come with a fan, it also comes with extra fan attachments, in-case you want to add another fan to the heat sink. It comes with Cooler Master thermal paste, but I wouldn't suggest using it, especially if you plan on OverClocking a slight bit. If you want the BEST Thermal Paste out there, I HIGHLY suggest getting Arctic Silver 5 compound.

Arctic Silver 5 costs about 5 dollars, but it really does make a difference for your CPU to be at good temperatures. Now, if you don't plan on doing any OverClocking what-so-ever, then feel free to just use the Cooler Master thermal paste provided with this Air Cooler.

With the experience I have with this particular Air Cooler, I have to say it's THE BEST Air Cooler out on the market. It really keeps my temperature down on my CPU. I have an AMD Phenom II X6 core 2.8GHz CPU OverClocked to 3.7GHz and I get outstanding cooling. Hell, my temperatures beat that of some Water Cooled CPU's, but that's most likely because I have a good Case (Which I'll do a review on in later Blogs).

Here is a screen shot of my CPU Specifications after my OverClock:

And here's a picture of my CPU temperatures after OverClock:

I get a 12c (Celsius) - 15c degrees when idle, and the max I've gotten during stress testing with OCCT, Prime 95, and LinX was 35c degrees, so this CPU Cooler does an outstanding job. It does in incredible job at doing what it's supposed to do.

Now for the Cons. I have only two things to complain about. First off, this CPU Cooler is incredibly hard to install. This is one of the most, if not the most, difficult CPU Coolers I've ever installed throughout the entire time I've been building computers (I've been building Computers since 1998). Whenever you install hardware such as a CPU Cooler, expect to get a few cuts or bruises. I expected such, but the difficulty with getting this mounted just right onto the CPU and Motherboard was a pain.

Second Con I'd complain about is that this CPU Cooler is MASSIVE. I definitely wouldn't suggest getting this Cooler if you barely have enough room in your case. Anything smaller than a Mid-Tower case, DO NO BUY THIS PRODUCT. It'll be far too large. I have a Mid-Tower case which is larger than most Mid-Tower cases and it fits just right inside, I couldn't imagine putting it into anything smaller, so remember to check your dimensions on your case before purchasing this product.

Here are some pictures of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus inside my case:

Notice how the CPU Cooler's fan goes over my RAM (Memory). I had to actually install my RAM first before installing this Cooler. It's not much of a hassle and believe me, the end product is worth it.

All-in-all, I give this product 5 Stars out of 5.

Logging Off,
Epiclepsy.

GIMP.

What could I say about GIMP? It sucks. It definitely isn't anywhere close to being a Photoshop . I'm so disgusted with it, I'm not even going to link GIMP to it's site, because I'm not advertising for them, I'm... DISSadvertising them. Sure, it's a free program you could download and they say it's like Photoshop. Yes, I understand you could edit pictures and all that, but where Photoshop makes things easy, GIMP makes things harder. On Photoshop, with a single click of the button or a hotkey, you could make effects happen, on GIMP, you need to do twenty things for that one effect to occur. No thanks. I miss my Photoshop. :(

Enough ranting. Time to introduce this post. I wanted my first post to be something epic. I wanted it to mean something, but I've got nothing on mind besides complaining about GIMP. I'd suggest to everyone that they should avoid this program at all costs. It's nothing but a hassle (Yes, I do realize I just started ranting again), download it if you want to feel like a kindergartner. It's like learning to walk all over again, at least even in learning to walk again, I'd have a limp, not a GIMP.

Now that that's out of the way, I might as well let you know the plans I have for this Journal. I plan on not only talking about my life, but also do small reviews on programs, computers, computer components, and games (Mainly PC, but I'll try and do some for every system). I really have nothing else to say.

Logging Off,
Epiclepsy.