Bit dead in here!

Silicon Skum · Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 11:31 pm Post subject: Bit dead in here!

Damn, this place is a little TOO quiet, what happend?

I'm still alive folks, busy as usual. I drifted out of the overclocking scene for a while (not time to do it, no money to pay for it either), but I'm getting back into my machines again......slowly.

I will post a little bit more in here, seems the place could do with a bit of life injected into it. Just gota get rid of some of the tumbleweed thats collected in here.

I have a few up coming projects I could post up too.

Later dudes.

SS
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[TN] Nathan · ALMIGHTY PWNER! Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Posts: 7406

It is happening a lot in a lot of hardware forums.

With PC's being so fast right out of the box, a lot of people really don't tweak a lot, and overclocking is there, but not nearly as popular as it used to be seeing everything is getting more and more powerful than needed.
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Xal · Posted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 1:30 am Post subject:

Yeah, sadly overclocking is somthing that seems to be becoming more of an enthusiast hobby. In other words mostly being done by pros who don't really have much need to post of forums. Things will pick up again I'm sure, we just seem to have hit a point where most new hardware is more advanced than the games and software require. When that changes I'm sure we will see a lot of people comming back to the tech sites again trying to get that little bit more from their systems.

Good to see you are still around SS

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alasdair2000 · TweakNOOB Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Posts: 136 Location: Chicago

Part of the problem is that people's lifestyles change and finances change with them.

I was on the verge of buying a brand new PC - during the AMD Athlon X64 phase. Then I got a gf and subsequently engaged. I got promoted and I'm emigrating to the US. Money is incredibly tight so right now, I don't even have my own PC - just a Dell Optiplex GX260 from work.

I missed out on the whole WoW scene - I'm still playing Diablo 2 1.11.

But I still read TweakNews, even if I don't post. I still want to build and overclock.

We're definitely in a period of uncertainty though. I have no intention of gaming in a Vista environment, despite the lure of DX10. I'm sticking with XP and will choose either Ubuntu or get a Mac... never thought that would happen.

sickofsoyo · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 10:33 pm Post subject:

still here, busy as hell though. I got college visits, school, SATs\PSATs, etc. not to mention swimming which takes up most my time. I am also spending a little more time on my car. Im still trying to figure out what I want to do with it. But I am always lurking in the shadows.
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[TN] Nathan · ALMIGHTY PWNER! Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Posts: 7406

I am find a lot more people are getting informed much faster with the relative wealth of information that is on the net now.

Most questions can be answered with one google search.
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Silicon Skum · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:14 am Post subject:

Then maybe it's time to re-focus Tweaknews, there are many other "tweaking" activities that could be incorporated. Hardware hacking seems to be gaining popularity at the moment, there are a number of websites like Hackaday and Hacked Gadgets, that seem to be doing well. I read these almost daily, and even contribute to one or two.

Then there is the tech news sites, The Register, THG, et-al all seem to be very active each day.

Maybe it's time to add some of that into the tweaknews mix? Might help to bring a little more data traffic this way, and the users to the forums. Tweaknews would still be a computer oriented site, just with related tech info that doesn't just stop at the PC's case. Not changed - just augmented!

alasdair2000 Got it right though - people's lives DO change. I'm now a full time landlord, I have no other income apart from the rent money. Normally that would be enough for a comfortable life, but I've had to invest A LOT of money on bringing the properties up to the Council accreditation standard (I'm a registered and accredited landlord with them) - so thats eaten my funds up, then I've had to do major work on a couple of the properties that HAD to be gutted to a shell, due to damage and abuse by the previous tenants. Still in the middle of doing one up now - hopefully finished by next March........

But, while I've been out of the overclocking and general computer scene for a while, I have still been dabbling. I built a media center computer from standard PC parts (with a few modifications to ports and connectors) that has a 500Gb HD, 2Gb RAM, half-decent graphics card, digital TV tuner, home built optical audio out and a DVD RW drive.....all inside a standard slimline VCR - I even reused the front panel buttons, and all work to control the software (play / pause, rewind, F-Forward, stop, eject, power and chanel up / down), and the SCART connectors on the back are wired directly to the TV out on the graphics card, and S-vid input of the tuner card (so only TWO cables are needed to use the machine - power and SCART). Reused the IR sensor on the front panel to drive the IR keyboard / mouse controler (fitted internal), and a seperate hidden IR sensor for the remote for the tuner card. Works a treat - even gives a better TV picture than my real digi TV box! Not bad for £210. :)

Computers in a VCR case mod - been done before, I know. But mine is fully functional, can record directly to DVD or HD, plays a decent game and drives my TV and projector for TV / movies / games. Oh yeah - and it LOOKS GOOD TOO! (which most don't). I only built it to prove I could make a smaller cheaper computer with the same capabilities as the MPC computers that are being sold for silly money, and usually in a case that the size of a normal desktop PC case. Best bit is, unless you try to shove a tape in the front, you would'nt know it wasn't a VCR !

I have other plans for some "specific task" media machines too.

SS
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Xal · Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:22 am Post subject:

We want pics SS

Good to see you still have the bug

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fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

I've been out of the loop lately due to a new job. Two shifts 10:30pm to 6:30am and three shifts 2:30pm to 10:30pm, so I haven't had time to do much other than work and sleep. Pay's good, though, so I don't mind too much.
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Ham_fisT · Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:34 am Post subject:

My rig just can't be Tweak'd any further

Actually, I'v been spending every spare second in the woods, deer hunting Very Happy

Still read all the reviews here though!
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Zero_Fresh · Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 10:46 am Post subject:

I'm still around. I pop in here and there to read the reviews. I haven't done much tweaking at all. I'm too broke to replace my now out-dated hardware because I am trying to reach a savings goal I set for myself. Not to mention I don't have much free time and I don't really talk to Toggle Head much anymore (nothing bad, just doing different things with our lives) so I don't have a tweaking buddy around to push my nose back into my machine.

I’m currently working on finding a new apartment with the girlfriend. We finally made the decision to move in together. The roommates and I are getting ready to close down the old Caldwell house. We're debating throwing one more theme party to see the place off properly. However, with all of us having long-term girlfriends now, we just don't think we can make it as visually pleasing as the parties of old; or at least not without getting in trouble. =P

Work has picked up with the approaching tax season so I don't get to browse the net often anymore. Going to finally go to college and get a degree so I can stop answering the question "Where'd you go to school?" with "I didn't, I just got lucky by landing the career I did." Plus I'll be able to transfer out of the IT department and move into audit with a nice pay increase. =)

Other than that, just living life one day at a time. Bitching about gas prices and the falling value of the US dollar. Hoping our moron president doesn’t start WWIII and that the next one can repair the damage he’s done. (Even thought about going north and joining Nate in the land of Canada.) Playing video games and drinking when I can. Reading about new technologies and worrying about the livelihood of AMD with their lack of cutting edge products. Wondering when I’ll get a chance to build a new rig. (It’s so long overdue.) Thinking about popping the old question and wondering how long I should wait before I do. Trying to keep in touch with friends now that we’ve all started moving on into our adult lives. Still struggling with kicking the habit. You know, the usual stuff. =)
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[TN] Nathan · ALMIGHTY PWNER! Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Posts: 7406

Good to see that you all pass through from time to time or even daily.

I don't deem the forum traffic to be abnormal at all seeing hardware is much more straight-forward now and the art of overclocking is very much a part of the elite computer lifestyle.

Plus with the speeds of these chips, people aren't seeing huge real-life performance increases in most applications seeing the chips are so bloody fast out of the box.
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