EPTI'd thought about just replacing the Mac Pro with one of the supposedly-upcoming Sandy Bridge replacements, but some recent car repairs got pretty expensive and I realized I wouldn't be able to justify the price for a 6- or 8- core Xeon-based Mac Pro with a decent video card.
Off to Fry's, then, with the credit card, just to see what I could pick up for a reasonable price.
If money were really the major bottom-line issue, I probably should have built my own system, but the truth is that I've done it and I'm over it. The last time I built a computer, it required like four return trips to Fry's to replace parts that for whatever reason didn't quite work for what I was doing, or just didn't work period.
So, I figured I'd buy an off-the-shelf system and upgrade the video card. I wound up settling on a Lenovo K330 model with a 3.4 GHz 4-core Sandy Bridge i7 with 8 GB RAM and a 1.5 TB disk drive, with a 3 GB Nvidia GTX 580 video card to replace the stock one.
Well, if you've owned a high-end video card, I'm sure you know where this is going -- the power supply in the Lenovo wasn't sufficient for the card. Didn't even have PCI-e connectors to power it.
Went back first thing this morning, after doing a little research on power supplies, and picked one up that was pretty good. Also, since I am still going to be using the Mac, I bought a dual-link DVI KVM switch.
Got it all home, and started replacing the power supply. I started to have "building a computer" flashbacks. But, at least the power supply had the right connectors.
I got everything hooked up, flipped the switch on the power supply, and my worst nightmares were confirmed. Nothing happened. Nothing whatsoever happened at all.
Visions of standing in line at Fry's to replace the power supply flashed through my head. For those of you who have never visited the place, they have an amazing selection of computer components, consumer electronics, electronic parts, junk food, and a liberal return policy -- and the most surly employees known to humankind.
But then, somehow, I connected (slowly) the dots in my head, and realized that in addition to the switch on the power supply, the Lenovo has a power button on the top front of the case. On a hunch I hit the button -- and the computer came to life.
I got everything set up and it seemed to be working fine, but for some odd reason when I run the test suite or install certain software (including SC2) it will play this video, full screen, at random times:
Hitting Esc stops it, but it made me a little worried that it was going to continue when I started using the machine normally. That would be awesome, right? Halfway through defending a bunker rush, the Intel Inside "ding ding ding ding" and some Lenovo marketer's idea of what makes a gamer's heart go pitter pat-interrupt my experience. NO.
Fortunately, that problem seems to be specific to calculating the system's "Windows Experience" rating or installing software. OK, I guess. I'll figure it out later.
Finally, got SC2 installed and running. The game recommended maxing out the settings. "Ultra" on everything. OK, I'll give it a shot.
Fired up the campaign and OMG THE CINEMATICS ARE FUCKING AWESOME. As I described in my last blog entry a few months back I work as a digital lighter, and the subtlety of the cinematics was just unbelievable. If I could make pictures this beautiful, I would cry. Literally.
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Then, I played a game vs. the computer on Xel'naga Caverns and the frame rate never dipped below 100, despite the graphics settings.
So yeah, I could get used to this new machine. Just in time for my Diablo III beta invite, huh? (Huh, Blizzard??)
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