Misguided Geek

Im just a guy trying to rediscover his inner geek. Check back daily for more insights on my quest, and for all the fun things I find along my journey.

[misguidedgeek]

Doctor Who Season 8 First Full Trailer Featuring Capaldi's Hypnotic Eyes

Beyond Capladi's searing retinas, this is our first full look at what we can expect to see this year.  Look out for TONS of Daleks, half faced androids, and plenty of darkness.  Im excited for the shift from the last two Doctors, both in age and in attitude.  Although Matt Smith and my beloved David Tennant had their dark moments, they were very much more up beat and fun loving (generally mind you).  I get the impression that Calpaldi will not be that kind of Doctor, and I look forward to watching this new version find himself.

The new season of Doctor Who premiers on August 23rd.

[misguidedgeek]

How to Build a PC - With Misguidedgeek

So, we know you made the decision to build a PC, you picked out the CPU, your motherboard and RAM, and then your case, cooling, power supply, and drives.  All that's left is to put that that bad boy together!  Im not going to lie, I have been collecting these parts for a few months, just buying components when I had the money, and watching them pile up without being able to put them together was torture.  So, without further preface, LETS BUILD!

POWER SUPPLY

  Before we install the mother board and CPU, lets get the power supply and our drives installed in the case.  The power supply is easy, simply slot it in and secure it with either the four screws provided with your case, or those that came with the unit.  I chose the case screws, only because they were black and matched the case.  You do have to make the decision on the orientation of your supply.  I chose to have the fan on the bottom sucking fresh air into the case rather than on top pulling hot air out.

DRIVES

Next I went ahead and slotted my HDD and DVD drives.  You can see the multitude of options to place the HDD, I chose the second slot down in the cage just for added air flow.  You can also see I ran the previously installed front fans through the SDD cage, since for the moment that space will not be used.  The DVD drive slid right in and mounted flush using the tool-less snaps which are a nice feature of the case.  Although both the HDD and DVD drives felt secure, I went ahead and added a couple of the fine threaded screws provided with the case just to be safe.

CPU, RAM AND COOLER MOUNTING

As you can see, using the MB box and provided static bag as a platform, you can go ahead and slot the CPU into the mother board.  Now, there are not many places where you can really ruin anything, but if you bend one of tiny CPU pins, you are done, so be VERY careful when dropping in your processor.  Line up the tiny gold triangle on your processor with the same triangle on the MB and just drop it in, once seated lower the tension rod and you are done.

I installed the RAM next, typically if you are running dual channel ram and have more than two RAM slots, you use the colored slots first, this MB has all black slots so I had to consult my manual to make sure.  I mounted the RAM first because I was worried it may hit the big cooler, mine didnt, but be mindful of this if you are using RAM with high profile coolers.

Installing this cooler was perhaps the trickiest part of the build.  The stock cooler has thermal past pre-placed and all you have to do is snap it in.  With these aftermarket cooler's, you have to do the work yourself.  The Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo comes with its own little pack of paste, no need to drop $10 on anything else.  I went with the spread method, and then used the provided tension mount to seat my cooler on top of the CPU.  This was a little tricky, but not too hard.

MOUNT YOUR MOTHERBOARD

    First off, snap in your IO shield making sure it is oriented correctly, then you can dry fit your MB to make sure it lines up with all the correct standoffs.  As I mentioned in my previous post, the Corsair 200R has all of these pre-installed, I did have to remove one which I think it set up for ITX boards.  Once that is done, if everything looks good, you can then mount your board using the provided screws.  Make sure to only hand tighten these, and then lightly going diagonally across the board first to keep the board from shifting or flexing, you can make them snug after.

CONNECTING... EVERYTHING

Perhaps the most daunting part of the process is connecting everything.  From CPU power, to SATA connections, USB hook ups and fan headers, there are seemingly a never ending bundle of cables that need a place to go.  As you can see above, my case was messy with everything that needed to be run and connected, luckily the case offers many ports to run your assorted cables, and its really not that bad.  Just take it one connection at a time and you will be fine.

TEST IT 

The moment of truth!  Double check your connections, plug it up and hit the power button.  IF everything starts up, mine did not the first time only because I didn't have the power switch on the power supply turned on, check your power and reset LED's, and then make sure you boot into your MB bios.  As noted above, my great relief my my PC booted into the bios... after I flipped the power switch.

CABLE MANAGEMENT

Do this AFTER you test to make sure everything is connected and running, its a pain to have to take all of this apart and snip all the cable ties.  How nice does that look!  Noting nicer than a clutter free PC.  Now all thats left is to install your OS and you sir are computing!

This will complete the MisguidedGeek budget build series.  To see all the posts on one page you can click here, or just click the MG PC Build tag below.  Let me know your thoughts and suggestions, as well as any questions you may have about building your own PC.

[misguidedgeek]

2014 Steam Summer Sale Begins Today....?

Rumor on the street is that the 2014 Steam Summer Sale is supposed to start any minute now and run through June 30th, although Valve has made no official announcement, this rumor has been reported so much it must be true right?  So, that said... prepare your wallets for the assault!

This will be my first Steam sale and so I for one am very excited/nervous.  As we all know, I am building a gaming computer (spoiler I already built it, final post coming most likely tomorrow), so I am pumped for the opportunity to fill it full of cheap games.  Budget games for a budget system, this was the whole reason I am getting into PC gaming in the first place, bang for your buck, and there is no greater time to do that, then during one of the Steam sales.  If you are REALLY trying to maximize your spending and bargin hunting, load a bunch of stuff into your Steam wishlist and then head over to Is There Any Deal.  There you can import your steam wishlist and get notifications if any of your games go on sale, through steam or 30 other game sites.  Yes, Steam has the big sale, but all these other gaming sites have to keep up, so they ALSO tend to have a lot of great deals to!

For any of you veterans of Steam Sales, do you have any advice for someone, like myself, who has never experienced the craziness brought on by Gabe and his Steam monster?

[misguidedgeek]

New Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer; a little more epic, little less slapstick.

The newest trailer for Marvel's and James Gunn's Guardians shows that the movie is not going to just be an comedy dressed up as a action/comic book flick.  There are some genuinely goose bump inducing moments here reminiscent of the Avengers and Iron Man trailers that got us all so pumped for those films.  Ultimately though, Guardians IS something new, something we have not yet seen from Marvel Studios, so maybe this trailer is trying to make a statement  not scare off those who are saying "Why is that raccoon talking, and WTF is a Groot?."

One thing I particularly love about this trailer, which we haven't seen much in the previous releases, is the interaction between the real life actors and their CGI counterparts.  Its going to be shocking to see a raccoon as a superhero for many people, but seeing the interaction between Starlord and Rocket be so natural was reassuring.So yeah, if you were not already goosed to your gills for Guardians, here is another reminder that this film is going to be amazing!  

Guardians of the Galaxy will be released on August 1st.

[misguidedgeek]

Is Amazon's Prime Music a Spotify Killer?

If you dont already know, Amazon just launched its "Prime Music" service for its premium Prime members.  Now, as a Prime member, you just don't JUST get free two day shipping AND access to a large collection of free streaming TV shows and movies though its prime instant video service, but you also now have access to over a MILLION songs, streaming ad free, for no additional cost... except maybe for the recent $20 price hike in membership fees.

So, that said, is this a Spotify killer?  In short no.  Prime Music doesn't have the depth (only 1 million songs compared to Spotify's 20 million) nor does it have the accessibility ($100 a year for Prime when you can get Spotify for free) of the existing champ.  That said, if you are already a Prime member, you have just another reason to justify the now $100 cost of prime, and an additional avenue to get your music fix.  

I played around this morning with the service, and Amazon has made it easy to consume, a skill they have become very good at.  All you have to do is enter into the Prime Music section of Amazon to see a massive list of music and pre-selected play list.  Then simply add what you want, either as a playlist/album/song, launch your library either in the web app or mobile app, and you are good to go.  The music is just added to your library so you can make your own playlist and as a kicker, taking one from Spotify, you can download your music for offline use.  You can do this with Spotify but only as a premium member.

So although Amazon's catalog is much shallower than Spotify's, for a Prime subscriber this new music service offers a nice alternative to the king of music streaming.  I'm planning a long road trip this weekend to a family reunion (no wifi, spotty LTE coverage) so Im planning on creating several offline playlist to keep me and the wife entertained.

Have you seen enough to drop Spotify for Amazon's Prime Music service?

[misguidedgeek]

Misguidedgeek Summer Reading List:  Space Operas

I know, I know, I already did this one, but since last summer, I started reading a new series, recommended by a reader on the last post, that I need to share.  Also I have another must read classic that I wanted to get out there, but couldn't really find the right genre, Space Opera seemed as good a place as any... you will see once I get there.

Classic Must Read:  The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)

I have come back to the space opera recommendation post in part because I could not find a more appropriate genre for Douglas Adams' classic (my beat up, dog eared copy of the "ultimate edition" pictured).  What other genre would you use to identify this book?  Comic Science Fiction?  Sure.  Speculative Science Fiction?  Yeah that fits.  But for me, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is firmly a space opera.  It's big, it's expansive, it's long, there is melodrama and romance, action and adventure.  You follow the protagonists from the beginning of time to the end of time, from earth to a restaurant at the end of the universe.  What else do you want from a space opera?  

If you have never ventured into the world of Douglas Adams, then you are doing a disservice to yourself and society.  These books can be hard to follow, but once you accept the whimsy of the world that Adams has created, then you can simply sit back and enjoy the crazy, CRAZY ride.  I have spent many a summer day with this mostly harmless tome, trying to figure out the meaning of life, the universe and everything (42), discerning the beauty of perfectly formed fjords, and falling in love again and again with Arthur Dent, Ford Perfect, Marvin the depressed robot, Trillian, and the two headed Zaphod Beeblebrox.  This is one of my all time favorites, by one of the all time greats.

Contemporary Must Read:  The Honorverse (1992 - Present)

The second reason I wanted to revisit the space opera list, was because on my last post, a reader recommended the Honor Harrington series.  I would like to consider myself well versed in most of science fiction, yet David Webber's Honorverse, as fans call the collection of novels, had slipped below my radar.  It just so happened at this time the first two books of the series, On Basilisk Station (April 1992) and The Honor of the Queen (June 1993) were free, the e-book version anyway, on Amazon.  So I picked them up and I am very happy I did.

The series follows Honor Harrington, crafty and fearless military heroine and officer of the  Royal Manticoran Navy.  This militaristic series examines a large variety of themes from the obvious duty, honor (an oft used pun), chain of command, and relations with civil authority, to broader themes of human rights, gender norms, and xenophobia.

As we all know, I love Star Trek, the adventure, the technology, the crew relationships, yet I haven't found many book series, including the majority of the Start Trek books themselves, that have been able to balance all of these factors without being down right boring.  All the books I have read so far in this run, I am through the fifth book, have kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end.  These are fun, simple reads, perfect for a summer day spent by the pool.

Just to jog your memory below were my other recommendations in the space opera genre:

Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov

Ringworld and the Known Space Series - Larry Niven

The Culture - Ian M. Banks (RIP)

Star Trek New Frontier -  John J. Ordover and Peter David

Coyote - Allen Steele

Seeker and the Alex Benedict series -Jack McDevitt

Xeelee Sequence -  Stephen Baxter’s (be warned its MASSIVE) 

Expanse Series - James S.A. Corey (upcoming TV show)

Dune - Frank Herbert

Let me know if I missed your favorite.  You see MY recommendations, what space operas would you suggest?

[misguidedgeek]

Budget Gaming Rig:  Case, Cooling, Power Supply, and Drives

So, as we know already, I decided to build a computer.  First we looked at the tough decision of picking a CPU, then last week we discussed Motherboards and Ram, this week I look at... well everything else.  I thought about breaking this up into multiple post, but really these are all utility parts that are not very exciting, although they can be IF you have a ton of money... which I dont.  Anyway, lets look at what I chose, as well as other options you may want to consider for your build.

THE CASE:  Corsair 200R

In my opinion, I think the 200R is the BEST value case on the market.  It features heavy duty steel construction, a removal plastic front plate, two USB 3.0 front ports, as well as a headphone and microphone jack. 

Remove the side panes, which are nicely constructed, not the super flexy panels endemic to cheaper cases, and you see a spacious interior work area.  On the left picture above, note that there is plenty of room to house a full ATX board (like our ASRock model) and of course anything smaller.  Because this case is tool-less Corsair has pre-installed the motherboard stand offs, which is nice, but for me I had to remove one one of those stand offs not needed to secure my board so make sure to "dry fit" your MB, the last thing you want to do is have a rogue stand off short out your build.  You can also see a nice big cut out on the back, perfect if you are changing out CPU coolers and don't want to remove the motherboard.  There are also plenty of cut outs and notches to help you with your cable management, but these do not feature the nice rubber edge covers typical of higher end cases.  On the right you can see a really nice storage bay, a configuration I havent seen used anywhere else.  It features four 2.5 HDD bays and then stacked on top are four more SSD bays, all of which are tool-less in design, the drives just snap into place.  This gives you space to run eight total storage drives, in a budget case, which is very nice.  

I fell in love with this case when I first saw it  It is simple enough that it blends in to the office, but sill looks great.  Sharp lines, understated touches, its a well built, good looking case, which I was able to pick up for $49.99.  There are other great budget options with solid reviews, like the Antec Three Hundred Illusion, the Rosewill CHALLENGER, or the Cooler Master Elite 430.  I considered all of these, and more, but most in my price range were geared more towards gamers, the design was too aggressive for my taste.  Another nice thing about my 200R is that is a perfect canvas for modding, so if I do want to drop a window in, or put some handles on it an turn it into a LAN box, I could.  Parts are cheap too, most of the panels are only like $10, so if you mod and dont like, you can get a fresh panel for next to nothing.

COOLING: 2 Cooler Master Sickle Flow Fans, Cooler Master HYPER TX3, and the built in Corsair exhaust fan.

Cooling is important, a hot machine is slow to run and quick to die.  The great thing about the 200R is that it is well ventilated and spacious which allows for some great air flow.  The case comes with a front fan and a rear exhaust, but I replaced the front fan with two Cooler Master after market fans, one over the drive bay, and one pushing air over the motherboard.

 These fans are a slight upgrade over the stock unit, and I noticed a pretty nice drop in temps on the MB and on the CPU after installation.  I caught these on clearance for $3 each, so they were a worthwhile purchase.  I did not replace the back exhaust fan, it seems to be doing a fine job on its own.

For the CPU cooling, I went with the Cooler Master Hyper TX3, this is the little brother of the more popular and powerful Hyper 212 Evo.  

First off, let me say that you do not need an after market cooler.  Your CPU will most likely come with its own heat sink, which will keep your CPU nice and cool... unless you overclock.  Because I am not running a dedicated GPU, to squeeze the most performance I can out of my AMD A-10 6800K process, I am planning on overclocking while gaming, this means I need the extra CPU cooling afforded from an aftermarket cooler.  I was able to pick up this guy for about $20, while the HYPER EVO was $40.  If you can swing it, the EVO is going to give you a little better performance.  Watercooling has also come a long way, no longer do we have the expensive, bulky water tanks that you have to regularly refill, most everything today is self enclosed, and down right affordable, you could grab this Corsair Hydro cooler for $60!

POWER SUPPLY:  Corsair CX500

Simply, this 500W power supply is all I needed, in fact its a little overkill for this build alone, which is only estimated to pull 210W by PC Part Picker, but it gives me the power to run a GPU or another HDD or a SSD should I add them later.  This is 80 plus Bronze rated, its solid, its cool, its all you need.  The only knock against it, is that this model is not modular, but for $30 (after rebate) its hard to beat.

DRIVES:  Asus DVD Drive and Burner and  Segate Barracuda 1TB HDD

Who uses disc drives anymore?  Most likely, if you are gaming today you are using Steam or Origin (ugh) to download your games directly.  Hey, you can even download your OS and install it from a flash drive.  But for me, not having a disc drive for the past few years on my laptop, I have missed the option to burn CD's for long car trips,or having to rip a program or an old CD from my wife's computer, put it on a flash drive to move to my laptop.  For $15, its a worth while addition for me.

The Segate Barracuda is not the fasted on the market, but its rock solid, and its cheap, $55 shipped.  For the moment I will be running everything off of this guy, but to boost my performance Im planning on adding a 120 gig or 240 gig SSD to use as my boot drive, and to run games, at which time this 1TB drive (it still blows my mind how cheap storage has become), will just serve as my warehouse, storing all my photos, videos, and music.

So there we have it, all our components are in house, the next post will outline the build itself, and then hope that it works!  If you want to see my build broken down you can check out my PC Part Picker list.  Play around on this site, it not only will make sure your parts are all compatible, but it give you the best price per part.

Let me know what you guys think of the build, and if you have any questions.  Concerning my case, cooling, power supply and dives let mw know what would you have done differently?

[misguidedgeek]

AMAZING Cosplay from MomoCon 2014!

Friend of the blog, and friends IRL, Matt, Blake and the great guys over at Beat Down Boogie were recently at MomoCon in Atlanta and gave us all the gift of this fantastic cosplay video!  When I go to cons and see the folks putting so much work into stuff they love and are passionate about, it always makes me smile... while also reminding me that I have no talent whatsoever.

If you don't know about Beat Down Boogie, make sure you check them out, they are good people making good quality content like my favorite web series OF ALL TIME, Mario Warfare!  If this is the first your hearing of this, stop now, check it out, and thank me later.

[misguidedgeek]

Budget Gaming Rig:  Motherboard and RAM

One of the disadvantages of my CPU choice is that there are not a ton of high quality board options out there for the FM2 (or FM2+ for Kavari APUs) socket, so my choices were fairly limited.  I knew I wanted a full ATX board as my build will feature a mid tower and I wanted to take advantage of that space, and all the extra expansion slots that go along with a larger board.  I agonized over this decision for weeks, as really most of the boards from the major manufactures, MSI, Asus, ASRock and Gigabyte had many of the same features, at around the same price point but none of them were a slam dunk in my mind.  So, I "settled" on the ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+, here is a quick review:

I picked up this MB on sale for $82.99 from Newegg, not a bad price considering the features, and the fact this is considered a "flagship" AMD board by ASRock.  I am not going to spend a ton of time breaking down the boards detailed specs and benchmarks, this has been done very well by other, smarter folks than myself, but I do want to discuss my reasoning as to why I chose this particular motherboard.  First, again was price, this is a budget build, and it just so happened this was a well-reviewed board, with all the things I wanted, again... price.  If say it was Gigabyte's GA-F2A88X-UP4 or Asus's A88X-PRO that had gone on sale, then I would have picked those up instead.  But all that said, this motherboard has everything I want, the price was right, it looks good, and price... did I mention price?

ASRock

Briefly, you can see the FM2/FM2+ (meaning it is backwards compatible with both Kavari and older APUs like my Richland) socket in the center right surrounded by 3 fan headers.  Below that you can see the 4 DRAM slots, 24-pin ATX power connector, a USB 3.0 port, then six of the SATA 6 Gbps ports, the dual, replaceable BIOSes (nice), another SATA 6 Gbps port and a BIOS selector switch.  You then have, above the SATA ports, the A88X chipset covered by its heatsink, power and reset buttons coupled with a two-digit debug LED, three USB 2.0 headers, a COM header, a Front Panel audio header, a front panel header and another fan header.  Ok, now for some slightly more fun stuff, we go two PCIe 2.0 x1 small slots two PCI slots, two PCIe 3.0 slots and a final PCIe 2.0 x4 slot.  You can also see up top, left of the the IO, the sound section of the board, featuring ASRock's "Pure Audio" sound element, which is a slight upgrade over most on board sound chips, a nice bonus for someone not planning on using an audio card immediately, or ever for that matter..

ASRock

Turning out attention to the IO, we have two USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 combination port, VGA, dual-link DVI-D, a DisplayPort, a HDMI-out, a HDMI-in which is a unique feature, an eSATA 6 Gbps, two USB 3.0 ports, another two USB 3.0 ports, the Ethernet port an optical SPDIF output and audio jacks.  

So what we have in total is a big board, with a top shelf sound chip, plenty of expansion space, four ram slots, TONS of USB ports and the ability to run four monitors without a graphics card.  This is stupid, I know, but another selling point for me was a black IO shield (you will see it later), I bought a black case and I hate those silver stock shields, so having a black one to blend in was a nice (stupid) selling point for me.  I also have the option to add another input HDMI device to run through my monitor, which is great for the day my wife or kids necessitate the removal of my PS3 from the living room.  Not too bad for $83!  My only complaints is that I wish it was a little flashier, I'm not a huge fan of the brown/black board with the gold accents, and I wish I had alternating color RAM slots, as I will go ahead and tell you, I installed my RAM incorrectly the first go around.  Speaking of which...

I have 8 gig of G-Skill Ares SDRAM DDR3 2133, which I found on sale for $62 (BUDGET!), to drop into this mother!  Now, I'm of the opinion that RAM is RAM is RAM, I don't think there is a ton of functional difference between the no name chips in most pre-built kits, and the super expensive "Nipple Ripping Gamer Edition" sticks the big guys sell, except maybe a slight higher build quality and of course the flashy heat sinks.  That in mind, I picked the G-Skill Ares for two reasons.  1 - they were the cheapest RAM rated to run at 2133 MHz, the highest frequency the Richland APU can run.  Now, since the graphics are being managed by the CPU, not an additional card with its own RAM, you need fast memory, and benchmarking has shown some marked frame rate gains using fast RAM (higher frequency) over the standard 1333 or 1600 MHz.  2 - they are orange... yeah, they flashy orange heat sink got me, but being able to customize your PC is one of the major advantages of building your own rig, and hey, I have a dull board; I needed to add a little flash.

So there you have it, not the most exciting part of the build, but perhaps the components with the most selection.  What you want and want you need in a motherboard and RAM will wildly affect your cost.  Intel boards are going to be, generally, a little pricier which is something to be aware of it you choose an Intel CPU, but they offer a MUCH wider selection and higher build quality.  You can spend several hundred dollars on RAM alone.  If you really need 32 Gig of "Teeth Breaking Ultra Edition RAM" then pick up a couple packs of Corsair's Vengeance series, but that's probably more than you need (I promise), also be careful those high heat sinks don't interfere with your CPU cooler.  For me though, 8 Gig is a nice sweet spot, and thanks to a great motherboard choice, I have plenty of room both to grow my RAM and expansion cards should I need to, or choose to later.

Let me know your thoughts about my selections, or reasons for building in the first place, in the comments!  What would you have recommended or done differently?

[misguidedgeek]

How to tell the FCC that you disagree with net neutrality regulations

Im copying this post in its entirety from Gizmodo, who will be re-posting it everyday so long as commenting is open which goes until September 10th.  I will NOT be re posting this (I promise) but obviously as a small time blogger a free and open net is very important to me, and as a consumer who has gone out of their way to cut ties with the cable company, this ruling will directly hit me in my wallet.  So I encourage all of you, make your voice heard, and hope someone is listening.

Image Credit:  Neo Seeker

"How to Yell at the FCC About How Much You Hate Its Net Neutrality Rules

In spectacularly bureaucratic fashion, the FCC just voted to start the formal consideration of itshorrible net neutrality rules. That means the floor is now open for public comment, and the future of the internet is at stake. In fact, it's up to you. "But how do I comment?" you ask, "How do I politely but firmly express my rage as a member of the public?" Let us show you the way.

This post originally appeared on Gizmodo on May 15th. We're going to repost it every day until the comment period ends on September 10th.

Step one: Visit FCC.gov/comments and find the proceeding with the title "Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet." It should be the one on top and should also have over 20,000 filings in the last 30 days.

Step Two: Click the proceeding number "14-28." You can also try to click this direct link, though it might not work every time. This will take you to the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System. It looks a little janky, but hey, the government built it.

Step Three: Fill out the form. Write about your feelings. Express your concerns. Air your grievances. Provide your real name and address. Hope for the best.

Step Four: Click "Continue" and make sure you like what you wrote. If you don't you can modify your comment. If you do, click "Confirm."

We asked the FCC what actually happens to these comments, after you send them off into cyberspace. This is their response in full:

To be clear: the NPRM approved by the FCC today has tentative conclusions on which we're seeking comment, and many broad questions that we are seeking comment on. Once the comment period closes, we review the comments and apply them and the law to our proposals / questions, to come up with final rules. The Chairman has a goal for voting on final rules by the end of the year. Right now, it's just proposals.

The comment period is until September 10, but you might as well get started now while the news is fresh. And do let us know how it goes!"

GIZMODO

[misguidedgeek]

FIRST DOCTOR WHO SEASON 8 TEASER TRAILER!... wait that's it?

In perhaps the teasiest of teaser trailers, the BBC released this 16 second clip which shows all of .75 seconds of Peter Capaldi's silhouette back lit by sparks presumably falling from inside the Tardis.  Also, the BBC wanted to remind us that the Doctor returns this August... like they needed to remind us.

In less official, but more revealing, news the DailyMail recently released the below photos showing the new Doctor in an Orange spacesuit(?) standing in the desert(?) in front of the Tardis.

Other shots show Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, and, I believe Hermione Norris, along with another unknown actor struggling up a dune..

So there you have it, some Doctor Who teasers to lead you into a long and hopefully relaxing 3 day weekend.  See everyone on TUESDAY!

[misguidedgeek]

Which is Best, AMD or Intel?

That's the question right?  The first decision you have to make when building your PC is which processor do you pick to be the heart of your system.  When I started looking into building my budget gaming PC I mistakenly Googled "Which is best, AMD or Intel" and man the rabbit hole opened up and sucked me in.  There are a variety of AMD and Intel chips, and I think the term "best" is going to vary depending on your build and budget.  Are you building a massive rig for professional video editing and have an unlimited budget?  Then Intel's $1000 i7 6 core monster, the 4960X is probably the "best" cpu for you.  Want a small, low powered quiet rig to run simple applications on a shoestring budget?  Well AMD's $40 single core Sempron 145 Sargas may be the "best" cpu for you.

For my entire build, I had a budget of only $450, and what I wanted was a multi-core processor that could handle day to day workstation task, do some light video editing, and be able to hold its own gaming.  For all of that, I narrowed my options down to three chips; Intel's i5 4430 Haswell ($199), AMD's A-10 6800K Richland APU ($139), or AMD's FX-4300 Vishera ($109).  These are three fantastic processors, with their own pros and cons, what I had to do is figure out which would be "best" for my build.  

The quickest and most powerful of the above is Intel's i5 "Hyper Threaded" Haswell but it's also $60 more than the A-10 and nearly $100 more than the FX.  $60-$100 doesn't seem like much, but that difference alone represents a big part of my total budget.  For a pricier build, the i5 would be the obvious choice, but I didn't have the room in my budget to justify the cost, so sorry Intel, this will be an AMD build.  The FX's benchmarks are far and away above the A-10, (6 core vs 4 core) but the biggest pro to the A-10 is it's built in graphics cores, as it somehow fits a Radeon HD 8670D graphic chip right into the CPU.  If I had, maybe another $100-$150 in my budget, I would have gone with the FX and paired it with a solid graphic card, but I didn't, and as this is a budget build, I believe the A-10 is the best bang for your buck, giving you the power to handle ever day task, while being able to game right out of the box.  So, for my cpu, or APU as the A series is referred, I picked the A-10 6800K, which I caught on sale for $129.  

This is a quad core, 4.1 GHz processor with some of the most powerful integrated graphics on the market.  It's also an "unlocked" processor, meaning with some tweaks (and a good amount of cooling) it can be overclocked to boost both the processing and gaming cores.  It's budget friendly, and the integrated graphics allows gaming without a gpu, which I was not able to fit in my budget.  Now, even within the A series line from AMD, there are options, but for me it came down to the A-10 6800K Richland or the A-10 7850K Kavari which was (at my time of purchase) about $60 more.  When I started looking at benchmarks I did not see enough of a marked improvement over the last gen Richland to justify the added cost of the Kavari chip, plus I think with the pricier newest APU we begin pushing out of the "budget" realm.  I could pick up a FX processor and drop in a decent graphic card which would give me better performance and graphics for just a little bit more than the 7850K. I like the idea of Kavari, but the cost is just too much for the small performance bump, unfortunately I think AMD is beginning to price themselves out this market. For me, the 6800K was the perfect sweet spot for price and performance.

Let me clear up the gaming side of these APUs, because there is much debate on the interwebs of what they are, and are not capable of.  These processors can play really any older game at high setting with good frame rates no problem.  As well, they will play as the vast majority of the newest games on the market, sans gpu no problem... so long as you adjust your expectations for what you are going to get.  This will not play Crysis 3 at 1080P at ultra settings at 60 FPS obviously right?  Most moderate priced cards can struggle with Crysis 3 at its highest settings, but surprisingly the A-10 WILL play Crysis 3... at 720 on medium settings, and not only will it will run, it will still get you a very playable 30 or so FPS.  Now at first that doesn't sound great, but take a second to think about it.  This processor alone, with just its integrated graphics will run the most graphically demanding game on the market WITHOUT a standalone graphic card.  To me, that is damn impressive, especially for processor coming in at less than $140.  I'm not a big FPS shooter, or MMORG player, I like my RPG's and less demanding, graphically anyway, sims, sandbox games and world builders, which I have seen this APU run at 1080 or 720 at high or ultra settings without missing a beat.  You also have the option for adding a gpu later, but if that's what you want to do, here is what I recommend.

If you have the money, or don't mind waiting to upgrade later, the most cost efficient path is to pair a i5 or FX with a stand along graphic card.  You will get better performance, both for gaming and in applications with either the Intel or FX chip over the A-10.  Also, although AMD boast its ability to crossfire, utilizing both the on board graphic and a lower cost gpu for comparable performance of a higher cost stand alone graphic card, I don't think it's worth yet.  Technically yes, you can get better frame rates at higher setting, but from what I have seen and read, the crossfired APU/gpu doesn't hold a candle to even moderately priced standalone cards.  So, if you are planning on including a gpu in your build from the start or if you can hold off gaming at first and save up for a card, go FX or Intel both for cost and performance.  I MAY add a card later, and if you have an APU or plan on buying an APU you can still do this and see a significant boost in your performance with or without crossfiring with your APU, but realistically for me it will probably be a year or more.  So for this build the A-10 is the right fit at the right time.  It has played pretty much everything I have thrown at it at a graphics standard that I am happy with, with no gpu, while still being very affordable.

So, if you want to run the newest or upcoming games at the highest settings, my Richland APU is not the "best" processor for you, if you have a massive budget, or a tiny budget, the 6800K is probably not the "best" cpu, and if you are an Intel fan-boy, then the A-10 (or the FX for that matter) is DEFINITELY not the "best" processor for you next computer.  That said, if you are looking for a budget processor, that can give you some solid power and performance AND be able to play most games without the added cost of an independent graphic card, then AMD's A-10 6800K, or any of their other APU's maybe indeed be the "best" cpu for you. 

[misguidedgeek]

MG Summer Reading List:  Graphic Novels

The long days of summer are returning which should give you plenty of time to start on that forever long reading list right? 

So I started this last summer, and only made it through two posts (one of which I want to revisit), but this year I want to make a concerted effort to keep this going.  As a reminder, I suggest one classic and one contemporary "must read" for each "geeky" genre, along with some other suggestions.  As an addition, I am also going to add a section for what I want to knock off my list.  Please feel free to add your suggestions, by either "answering" this post in Tumblr, leaving me a comment on the blog, or tweeting, and I will update this list.  I should be doing these bi-weekly, so keep checking back for more recommendations!

What easier way to start your summer list, than with a comic book!  These are typically easy, quick, fun reads and are great jumping off points for the heavier volumes on your list, or a nice break in between reads or series.  There are a hundred "Best List" of graphic novels, but for simplicity sake I'm only going to be looking at superhero themed novels here, Ill do a  post for indie or non-hero novels latter in the summer, again to give you a break.  Let me also add, to dowse the flames before they start, Im going to include some trades (TPB) here as well.  Some people believe that graphic novels and trades are different mediums, but for the purpose of this post we will agree to disagree.

  Classic - Batman:  The Dark Knight Returns (1986)

For me this the definitive story about perhaps the definitive superhero.  Miller's Batman IS the Batman we know today, the dark, brooding, complicated character was created by Frank Miller.  Beyond that comics as we know them today can be traced back to this graphic novel.  Miller sought to destroy the campy, cartoony comics of the 60's and 70's and made a statement that comics and these characters are deep and complicated, and able mediums to carry a complex story.  

This is the tale of an aging, beaten down, tortured Batman who is forced to deal with the changing times, and his reduced capacity.  Its a redemption story, where a decrepit, corrupt, dangerous city full of criminals but no heroes, finds itself once again embracing its fallen savior.  The depth of this book is bottomless, Miller examines such ideas as aging and modernity, as well as storytelling, apathy, and hero worship.

In my mind, this is the must read of must reads, more so than Watchmen or V for Vendetta or Marvels, as this is the ancestor of nearly every superhero book or movie that's come out in the last 25 years.  Yes, its heavy, and its dark, but damn its fun!

Other classic superhero graphic novels to check out:

Watchmen (1987)

Batman:  Killing Joke (1988)

Kingdom Come (1996)

Contemporary - Hawkeye:  My Life as a Weapon (2013)

Matt Fraction's run with Hawkeye has been a revelation, and My life as a Weapon trade collects the first five issues of Volume 1 of Hawkeye as well as Young Avengers Presents 6.  Where Miller's Dark Knight is heavy, brooding, and heady, Fractions Hawkeye is fun, self effacing, self deprecating and light.  This would be a great pallet cleanser after TDKR or other tough read.

What I love about this book, is how mundane it is.  Fraction looks at the life of a superhero, not just their exploits.  Lets be real here, unlike Captain America, a super solider, or Iron Man, a billionaire, Clint Barton is just a regular dude, who has a government job and an apartment in Brooklyn.  That's what I love about this book, and why its so refreshing, unlike Spider-man Barton isn't out to redeem his uncle's death, or unlike Daredevil hes not trying to fight social injustice, he is trying to get the job done in time to make it home in time for Jeopardy.  This isn't to say its boring, there is a ton of action, featuring brawls, and car chases, and even a super villain or two, but Fraction coats it all with a snide sense of humor, an put Barton in context with the rest of the Avengers, stating clearly that he is NOT exceptional, he is just a guy trying to do his job.

I would be remiss if I didn't also discuss the artwork, which is really reason enough to pick up this book.  Its unlike anything I have seen in comics outside maybe Daredevil:  The Man Without Fear, black and white with varying shades of purple. Its beautiful, and sometimes jarring, and a nice break from the vibrancy of most of what you find on the shelves. Matt Aja's art tells as much of the story as Fraction's writing.  PICK UP THIS BOOK, and then thank me, this is my favorite trade out right now, and the best I have read in a long time.

Other Contemporary Works to check out:

Astonishing X-Men Vol 1 (2012)

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear (2003)

Hellboy:  The Midnight Circus (2013)

I have read all of these books (most multiple times) , and recommend them all without reservations as great summer reads in the genre of graphic novels of the super hero variety, but I still have a massive list that I am working through.  One of the books I have been meaning to get around to for years but haven't is Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.  This is, like Miller's TDKR is a foundation work of modern comics, and Im ashamed that I haven't read it yet, but I have The Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes & Nocturnes which is the remastered version of the book, which I plan to knock out this summer.  Another Vertigo book Hellblazer: Volume 1: Original Sins is also on my list, I have only randomly read the exploits of John Constantine so it will be nice to get the full run.  

Now I have only mentioned 10 books here, I know there is some Im missing, so let me know and Ill update this post.  What super hero graphic novels or trades are on your list? 

UPDATE:

- beside-the-seaside recommends Batman Li’l Gotham Vol 1 saying "By fans (who happen to be professionals) for fans. Fun, happy, at times profound, BTAS influenced, beautiful art."  I have not heard about this one, but it sounds interesting!

Any more suggestions?

[misguidedgeek]

NBC's Constantine looks amazing surprising EVERYONE

So I heard rumor a while back that NBC was thinking about bringing DC's/Vertigo's Hellblazer protagonist John Constantine to the small screen for his own, stand alone series.  At the time I thought, "Hey, NBC is is hedging its bets by jumping on both the Comic Book and supernatural drama bandwagons at the same time... man that is going to suck."  And that was the last I thought about it, until I saw the above trailer and the below first clip from the show:

WOW, that looks awesome!  Tell me that dude doesnt look/sound/act just like John Constantine?  Suck it Keanu!  Now, if you are a long time reader of the blog, you know already I tend to get irrationally excited about new series (See Terra Nova, Alcatraz, Revolution, Almost Human), so the fact that I WAS NOT excited early about Constantine probably bodes well for the viability of this show.

I think networks are finally starting to get that they cant just take an interesting premise or existing product, slap it together, and expect the viewing public to lap it up consistently without giving a second though to quality.  This has been especially evident with superhero or Comic Book movies as of late, so its refreshing to see this transition evident in television as well, see Arrow and hopefully Flash.  

So, my dear readers, what do you think, are you excited about Constantine or will this be just another flop?

[misguidedgeek]

Misguided Geek's Budget PC Build

Ok, so now that we have started to figure the kids out, and I have finished my degree, I can turn my attention to endeavors of the geeky kind, specifically building MY FIRST PC!  As many folks have told me, this is a right of passage of sorts, so I am quite excited to share with you guys my expreinces with process, from the rational behind building a PC in the first place, to expectations and needs, to the parts selection and then the build itself.  Along the way I plan to offer alternative options, and I hope that my experience can serve as a guide to any of you thinking about building their own PC

So, the first question is; "Why Build a PC in the first place?"  Its a valid point, with the dropping cost of components you can pick up a great workstation PC from any big box store or online retailer packaged in a way that it will fit any budget.  I chose to build my PC for three main reasons:

1)  Components - from what I read, and experienced with my own PC, most pre-built computers use effectively "builder grade" parts, meaning, to keep cost down, they are typically using the cheapest components possible for your build.  In the long run, this may impact nothing, after all there is debatably  little difference between cheap no-name RAM and "Gamer Edition FACE RIPPER" RAM.  But by selecting each and every one of you components, you have complete control of how your machine operates, what bells and whistles you get/dont get, and should something break, you not only know exactly what that component is, but how to fix it.  Another added benefit with choosing everything is lack of bloatware.  Computer manufactures and retailers are able to keep cost low because they prepackage your system with tons of crap, that is both annoying and slow down your system.  When you do it yourself, you do it bloatware free!

2) Cost - yeah I know, I said you can get get a good machine to fit almost any cost point, but what I wanted was a solid little gaming PC that could also operate as a sturdy day to day work station, but still be super inexpensive, need I remind everyone again that I have TWO kids to feed.  I started looking around in my range and just couldn't find anything that satisfied me.  After playing around on PC Picker, which is an amazing resource that will come up often in these posts, I quickly found that I could indeed have my champagne dreams on my PBR budge, if I cut a few corners and did all the labor myself.

3) Simply I want to build a PC - I always liked the idea of building my own machine, but never had the need nor the resources to do so.  We needed a new computer for the house, and since I now had some time, and had a little bit of extra funds, this is the perfect time to dive face first into the "build" experience.

Make sure to check back weekly through the summer to see how the build is going, and feel free to ask questions about why I did what.  Next week I will discuss my first, and perhaps most important, decision, what CPU to use.

[misguidedgeek]

First Shot of "Baffleck" and the new Batmobile!!!

HI-RES

I know, Im way late on this, and every blog and geek/movie site in the world has already reported on this, but.... ITS THE NEW BAT SUIT AND THE NEW BATMOBILE!

Yesterday around noon EST Zach Snyder released the below tweet:

I shot this with my @Leica_Camera M Monochrom. #Batman #Batmobile #Gotham http://t.co/WPHKLxgBLM pic.twitter.com/p5DEf6fLzJ

— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder)

May 13, 2014

// <![CDATA[ // ]]>

He had previously teased the back end of the new 'mobile covered mostly with a sheet, but then surprised EVERYONE by not only showing off the new Bat Car in all its glory, but also posing Affleck in the newly designed bat suit next to it!

This is just One Geeks Opinion mind you, but I love NEARLY everything about this.  Lets start with the Batmobile and get it out of the way, in my mind its close to perfection.  Snyder and his team did a fantastic job blending in the tactical, realistic Tumbler from the Nolan series, with the long, sleek lines reminiscent of Keaton's and Burton's run with the Dark Knight.  Its got realism, its got spectacle, its the perfect!

Now, on to the Bat Suit, I really like it, but there is just something that bugs me about it.  I love the Jim Miller inspired short eared cowl, I love the large Bat Symbol and pocketed utility belt reminiscence of Frank Miller's Dark Knight, I'm assuming the body suit may actually be grey with a black cowl and cape, a first for the movices, and all that is great.... but there is something that just doesnt seem right to me.  Maybe I have just gotten used to the body armor of Bale and Nolan that going back to a rubber/latex body suit seems strange, maybe its the weird veiny/muscle texture that's throwing me off, or maybe Im just so used to seeing this particular look in the comics and cartoons that it hasn't translated, in my mind anyway, to reality.  All that said, I really like this, I just need to see more images, preferably a color image, before I can say I love this.

So there you have it folks, the world didn't end, Snyder didn't put nipples on the Bat Suit, and Affleck looks pretty damn good as the Caped Crusader.  Im happy and excited to see how Batman V Superman comes out.  Just a quick message to Zach Snyder:  KEEP LEAKING STUFF! 

UPDATE:  Thanks to friend of the blog Dan Sellers, director of the upcoming Hank vs The Undead, for sharing the below photo.  Im not sure if this is a true to life color shot or if its a fan made re-coloring of the above photo, but we could be in store for a gray/blue, gray/black Batman!

[misguidedgeek]

A lot can happen in five years... .

A lot can happen in five years. In the past five years I've had the opportunity to work with and learn beside some of the most intelligent, hardest working people I have ever had the distinct privilege to get to know. I have read roughly 350 books articles and papers 140 in the past year alone, written around 30 papers and enjoyed nearly 500 hours of lectures and high level discussions. Over the past five years I've worked toward something I never thought possible a Master degree yet during that time I did not gain any additional student debt and I paid nothing out of pocket for tuition and fees. Things change after five years, I've lost my mom my dad and my grandpa but my family has also grown, I have gained two beautiful daughters Penelope and Nora. I want to take an opportunity to thank my professors, Dr. O'Brian, Dr. Kriger, and especially Dr. Elliott. I also want to thank my coworkers and University of North Carolina Greensboro for giving me the opportunity to take classes free of charge. And most importantly I want to thank my lovely wife who put up with me, my early-morning study sessions, and my many annoying stacks of books for all these years. Thank you to everybody who helped and supported me along the way, for now I am a MASTER!

This will be my last non-geeky post for a while I promise, but I wanted to share with everyone my joy in completing my Master's Degree.  As I said above, this has been a long road, full of bumps along the way.  This semester alone could quite possibly be the toughest ever, supporting my wife and helping to raise these two little kids while completing SO MUCH work to wrap up this degree, but some how I survived and find myself in the strange position of not really knowing what to do next.  Maybe its because these last five years have been so tough, losing my parents, working through all that emotional mess, being buried under work and school work, and then the highs and lows of twins... It feels like climbing a massive mountain, you can see the top from the base, but as you climb it gets lost in the clouds.  I feel like I have made it to the top, and although the views are amazing, you already begin to think about the next challenge.  There will be a next challenge, there is ALWAYS another challenge, but for now I am going to revel in this accomplishment.  I was the first of my family to complete a Bachelor's Degree, that felt like a responsibility both to myself and my family that helped get me there.  I am now the first person in my family to have a Masters Degree, this one was a privilege.  

Along with my family, friends and coworkers (check out the MG themed sign above!), I want to take a moment and thank you my faithful readers.  I have used this blog for a lot of things over the years, an outlet, a distraction, a crutch, but more than anything I use it as a compass.  I am forever misguided, like most of you I still have very little idea of what I want to do with my life, so this blog in many ways has helped me find my way.  When I find something cool, I talk about it here, when something great happens in my community, it gets a post, and when things happen in my life good and bad, I share it here.  I may still not know where I'm going but I'm starting to get the general heading... we're getting there friends.

-Josh Artrip, the forever MisguidedGeek