Month: December 2011

The Quest for Power

Power supplies are the most overlooked component on any computer. However, in many ways, it is the most critical part of the entire machine. Without enough power to the components, even the most capable system on Earth will behave poorly, if even boot. For me, my OEM 250 Watt power supply (a Lite-On 5251-08)  just […]

Why do you like yourself so much?

If you use facebook, then you HAVE to have seen this happen more than you would like: Someone posts a status, and then, they like their own status. Now, if this is a post celebrating something major, or if the person has finally expressed something they have wanted to say for years, then it is […]

The Woes of Display Scaling

Why can’t video cards ever keep correct aspect ratio?   It’s very simple: If you are playing a game on a widescreen monitor, and the game is in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio, the game should display in that ratio, with black columns appearing on the side of the monitor. It should not be stretched […]

Video Cards, Dust, and Heat

It was bound to happen within the first 2 years: I thought my video card was dying. Well, more correctly, I though the fan on it was dying. The card, a PNY produced Nvidia GeForce 9800GT, was overheating, reaching temperatures of just over 100 degrees Celsius, in effect cooking itself to death. Even with the […]