Posts tagged ‘high definition’

Rant – Console Wars And Who Can Suck The Most – Sony PS3 Firmware Update Overheating Throws Another Log On The Fire

Reports are filtering in (and simultaneously being squashed by Sony) that the latest PlayStation 3 firmware update, version 3.61, is causing older model PS3s to overheat and shut down. Typically these older PlayStations are the bigger “fat” old-school models, usually with a 60GB or 80GB hard drive. (Umm … like mine. Hmm…) So far the overheating seems to only occur with the new firmware, and can take as little as a half hour to happen when playing games like Rockstar’s L.A. Noire, something that’s probably on many PS3 owners’ agendas!

If you have an older model PS3 it is perhaps suggestible to not upgrade to firmware 3.61 just yet until this is sorted out.  In theory. Unless, of course, you actually want to use your PS3 online, in which case Sony gives you no choice since this firmware update is a mandatory part of their solution to their network being hacked…

Oops!

Sony, Sony, Sony… Seriously? Can you do nothing right anymore?  Your PSN login and password reset pages can be used to hack the accounts that had their data stolen, so you can’t change your password there anymore.  And the other solution, your firmware update, breaks PS3s!  What’s a PS3 owner to do?!

Let’s hope a newer firmware version becomes available soon that doesn’t cause your Playstation3 to overheat so that you can both go online and play games reliably.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is doing only marginally better, as they’ve admitted that an Xbox 360 firmware update may make some games unplayable as they’ve switched to a new Xbox disc format to prevent piracy that some machines just can’t support.  Doh!  Though they, at least, have promised to replace your Xbox should that happen. Although sitting around without an Xbox360 for weeks would be about as much fun as … hmm … sitting around waiting for the PlayStation Network to come back up? Yeah. Something like that.

No reports yet on if Nintendo has royally screwed-up lately. Is no news good news? It might be if the Wii were capable of HD by now… Oooooh.

Yes, that’s right, it’s burns all around for each and every video game console maker today, because frankly, it’s all rant-worthy. I long for the old days when the worst that happened was that you’d need to blow on your cartridge to get it to play.

Dun Dun Dun! Building Myself A New PC

Warning, this is going to be a long graphics-intense blog entry!

So you may be wondering where I’ve been all week.  Well, I finally am getting around to my own new computer, to replace my aging AMD Athlon build from many years ago.  And this time, my budget is just a little more than a couple hundred bucks like it was when I built the old girl, or when I built my wife’s computer for that matter.  So I’ve been busy, assembling the PC, installing software, copying files, etc.  And here is my build!

Case: In Win IronClad

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 RX-850 Black Widow 850 watt

Cooling: 2 front intake 120mm Cooler Master Excalibur fans, 1 side intake 220mm (came with case) fan, 2 top exhaust (came with case) 120mm fans, 1 back exhaust (came with case) 120mm fan

CPU: Intel Core i7-860 quadcore hyperthreading 2.8GHz (3.46GHz) 8MB L3 cache Lynnfield processor with stock cooler

Motherboard: Asus Maximus III Formula

Sound: Asus/Via X-Fi SupremeFX high definition audio with some Creative Labs features added (came with mobo)

Graphics: EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 470

Memory: 8 GB G.Skill Eco DDR3-1600 PC3 12800 low-voltage 1.35V CL7 CAS 7-8-7-24-2N

Hard drives: two 1TB WD Caviar Black SATA drives in a RAID0 array

Optical drives: Asus Blu-Ray/DVD reader and Plextor DVD/CD +/-RW burner with Lightscribe

Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and Ubuntu Linux 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx

Additionals: Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers, Logitech G500 wired laser gaming mouse

The Components!

The Components!

So, there are the parts.  Here we go!

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