Don’t Ruin This for me, Gates

Today I’m doing something I said I would never do again. I’m building a new PC.

I started playing with video, and I downloaded Davinci Resolve, a very nice free editing program. Problem: my main PC was my dad’s old business computer. I would guess it’s a 2015 model, although it might be 2013. He spent something like $500 on tower with no monitor or keyboard or mouse. It was not the kind of machine NASA uses.

When you edit a video in Resolve, you make all your changes, save the project, and then tell the program to compile the video. This was like telling a senior citizen with a bad leg to move my books to the top of a 5-story building, one at a time. It took a very long time. Also, I couldn’t edit very well because I couldn’t replay videos while I was working on them. They stopped and started, and I couldn’t really see what I was going to get.

There is a guy on the web who puts out videos to help people put together video-editing computers without going broke, and I took a look at his latest offering. I decided to go for it. Of course, because of the C19 epidemic, I could not get the motherboard he recommended. Apparently, people hoarded motherboards for a while. For roughly the same price, I found a model which was better in every way. After all, 4 months had passed since he made the video, so it only made sense that better stuff had come out.

By the way, I learned that Australians are typing “C-19” instead of “coronavirus” and “COVID-19,” so I’m very happy today. Not long ago, I arbitrarily and unilaterally decided to call coronavirus “C19” because it was easier to type. Now I feel vindicated.

They need to get rid of that hyphen.

I quit building computers because it was a pain in the butt. Years ago, it was fairly easy, and then, for various reasons, it got difficult. Components didn’t seem to want to work together. I also had problems getting Windows to run. It seemed to me that the whole business had changed to the point where building your own computer was a bad idea.

I’m surprised at how easy today’s build was. I guess it took two hours, and it wouldn’t have taken that long if I had had real instructions instead of tiny cartoons and Youtube QR codes.

Right now, I’m downloading stuff from Microsoft to make a Windows 10 installation disk. I guess I’ve been downloading for over 90 minutes. Rural Internet speeds are really something. I’m at 97%. I’m excited. I may actually be able to get back to work in 15 minutes.

I would guess that the PC I’m building will be quick by 2018 standards. That will be good enough. I bought a gaming motherboard. My impression was that gaming and video are nearly the same thing. Gamers need good stuff.

The processor came with a giant heat sink and fan. The whole mess must weigh a pound and a half. When I held my breath and turned the PC on, I noticed that there was a bizarre light show included in the CPU fan assembly.

Gamers. Do you really think you’re going to impress girls with your CPU’s LED’s?

Maybe there’s a way to shut the lights off. I’ll find out.

Microsoft is “validating” my download. I’m on pins and needles.

The cabinet I bought has a glass side, because gamers. That means the flashy lights will light up the gun room, where I plan to put the computer. Who thought this would be a good idea? What if you stream movies on your PC? Do you really want huge LED’s lighting up your wall while you watch Fast and Furious XVIII?

I think the last time I had a relatively fast PC was in 2007, when I built a couple for my dad and myself. I would guess that the PC I just built is the fastest one I’ve ever built, for its time. The possible exception is a two-CPU PC I built in about 1995 for physics and calculus. There is an asterisk, though. I never got around to installing the second CPU, so while the potential was there, the execution was not.

I was startled when I opened the package containing the SSD I ordered. Last time I bought one, they were about the size of a pack of cards. The one I installed today is the size of a stick of gum, and it screws directly to the motherboard. No cable. It’s magnificent. It’s blistering-fast compared to a disk, and if I ever need to travel and I want to protect my data, I can pull it in two minutes and hide it where no one could ever hope to find it.

I got a 500-gig drive. I plan to get 4 or more terabytes for storage, but my plan is to use an external USB drive instead of solid state memory. Storage doesn’t have to be as fast as programs. I may change my mind, though. Maybe there are older SSD’s which are cost-effective and still much faster than disks. I think replaying videos from external disk drives may be slower than replaying them from SSD’s.

Maybe I should forget external drives. Maybe SATA is faster than USB, and that would be good enough. I will check.

I’m looking around. It appears that there are still no huge cheap SSD’s. Oh, well. I paid $89 for a 4TB external last year, and one just like it should be fine for hobby use.

I also plan to use the PC for CAD, which was not much fun on the old PC. I could almost hear it wincing.

I may go totally nuts and spring for a small 4K TV to use as a monitor. My existing monitor is an “old” 1080p TV. Who ever thought we would think 1080p TV’s weren’t sharp enough to use as monitors?

My download is validating. Thank you for helping me kill time.