It is easy when
your kids want something, a book, a toy and even a mobile phone. As a father,
you just need to reach for your wallet and volla...
After many years of easy give and take, things had gone a
little complicated during Xian’s recent birthday…
During a dinner season,
Xian had told us that he envies those who build his own computer and he would
like to learn the skill and do so in the future. Ving however had told him that
he doesn’t have to wait; there is someone in this house who can teach him to do so. Xian
had shown an astonishing look and told me that he wanted to build his own
computer as a birthday present.
I picked up the
skill during my college days but I had opted to buy built up unit later when I
returned for my training. As I figured the training might be quite hectic and I
would have no time for gaming. I had acquired 2 units in the past 10 years
and all of them had failed recent 2 years
Xian's request had
pushed me to the difficult part, to build and not to buy….
Well, he had
actually wanted something more than a simple desktop. He wanted something that
can powered 3 monitors – inspired by the scene in Rogue Nation where Benji
played Halo at work….
So we are not
talking about an entry level i3 with all in one mother board; it is something
at the high end with i7 and GTX10x0.
Well, I had
started to read up since then. There was a lot to learn from even though the
concept did not change but lots of technical details were updated since then.
Over clocking was definitely out of my plan as it requires a good liquid cooling system and the risk of leaking would haunt me everyday. I had some struggle making up the list. Some decisions were easily made and some were not. But the principle was to get components sub par to the best in the market.
After our trip
from Malaysia, I had a discussion with Xian again and he had shown
determination to build his own unit. I had caught a window between my shifts
few days prior to his birthday to do the shopping round. I visited a whole-seller
in Kaohsiung and grabbed everything on the list.
During the
purchase session, I had asked Xian again “Why don’t we let the seller to help us to assemble the unit, after all it is free of charge”
Well, he had
firmly told that he wanted to proceed with our plan.
Handling a few
hundred RM component is one thing, assembling a few 1+K RM components together
is another story. Anything could happen and I just can’t bear to think about
it...
The assembling
process was complicated. The casing was mATX and the mother board I bought was
ATX; we had to wait for one more day for the replacement. It took us 3 nights
to get the mother board LED light to turn on. A further 3 more days to get all
three monitor working in surround mode.
Xian did most of
the assembled job under my instruction, minus the insertion of CPU and graphic
card of course (you should see me shake while inserting both of the devices).
Triple monitor
with surround mode is a something new to Xian and me. Not many games support
the mode but yet it is an extraordinary experience.
The triple monitor
setup requires a table with decent depth to unable a good view; thence I had modified
my working desk by adding a keyboard drawer. It extended my desk depth for
about 30cm.
While Xian is
roving in the world of watchdog2 (Which gave me a severe vertigo even watching
him played).; I had added a thrustmaster hotas x and rudder to my gadgets
recent few days.
I did a night
airfield traffic pattern flight at Kaohsiung airport on FSX today morning prior to my
shift and it was amazing…
It was truly an
adventure for me; without Xian request and enthusiasm, I would not have the motivation to perform such task.
Thanz to the birthday boy...
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