Building my first desktop computer, part 3: The finishing touches

Find Part 2 of the series here.

Now that the computer is functioning, it is time to close up the case. Before that, though, I really needed to finalise the insides, which necessarily means cable management!

Cable management is often seen as that unenviable thing not strictly necessary yet has to be done to avoid the look of a sloppy assembly job. I, for one, see it as a form of art, right up there with case modding. In fact, the reason I chose a case with both side panels of glass is to display my skilful taming of the marine-like flowing beauty of long cables.

The cables
My cable management paradigm, which I share with at least one YouTuber, is to treat the cables as having distinct start points and destinations, and grouping and splitting them as necessary. The end result is what looks like a network of highways each going to where they are going for a reason. My strategy is liberal use of zip ties; I am strongly against letting adhesive spoil the fine paint job, so I try to avoid using cable clips. The In Win 904PLUS does not have very many holes to which I could secure cable ties, but I ended up not needing them.

Building my first desktop computer, part 2: First build in an In Win 904PLUS

Find Part 1 of the series here.

Now that I had chosen the parts, it was time to put it together. One thing about ordering parts from different sources is that they rarely arrive at the same time, and so there is an excruciating wait while your hopes are up. They all came in eventually, so it worked out in the end.

I was quite surprised with the size of case's carton. It was much bigger than the actual case, probably because of the generous protection for the tempered glass inside. The salesman even commented on its size, despite the case only being a mid-tower!

Opening that box, I found the case inside a cloth bag; nice! I will definitely be keeping that. After removing both side panels, I proceeded to install the power supply:

Building my first desktop computer, Part 1: Choosing the parts

So my current computer, a Dell Studio XPS 8100, is starting to show its age. Apart from not natively supporting USB 3.0, I am also getting random errors I cannot reliably reproduce. With eBay's 20% off sale on computer parts, I think I found the best time in the foreseeable future to upgrade, as well as learn how to build my own computer. As a highly proficient computer user, that learning experience was bound to arrive sooner or later.

The use case
This computer will be used for midrange computer gaming, so it will need to, at a minimum, be able to handle graphics for moderately demanding games, as well as those I may want to play in the future, including World of Warcraft, Fallout 4 and Borderlands 2. Otherwise, I may also need to burn the occasional Blu-Ray disc, watch the occasional Blu-Ray film and transcode the occasional video. Of course, a computer that meets these requirements will be more than enough for web browsing and emails.

My Computer and I: One Way Out

My Dell Studio XPS 8100 has served me well for years now. Sooner or later, however, problems will arise, often ones that are difficult to troubleshoot. That goes with any computer system, anyway.

I have no formal training in information technology, yet I try to troubleshoot computer problems myself. With that arises a somewhat crude scientific investigation, testing one component at a time until the issue is located and fixed. So, what is the problem this time?

The problem:
While playing World of Warcraft, the game would go through random cycles of lag spikes and catch-up, lasting up to minutes at a time, sometimes disconnecting completely. While surfing the Web, webpages would randomly take minutes to load, if at all, and refreshing would sometimes retrieve the webpage in full.

Succeeding at giving way

A rolling mass of stone and earth is loose around the room, devouring anything, living or inanimate, in its path. Turning a corner, you breath a sigh of relief, having gained distance from the voracious being known as Oregorger. You are safe for now.

Unexpectedly, as if in an instant, the unstoppable goren zips to the intersection you just passed. Dazed by the collision against the wooden picket fence, it halts for a bit, although you know it will be mere seconds before it makes off again, almost certainly in your direction.

Run away: Turn to page 87
Try to run behind it: Turn to page 155
Turn the next corner: Turn to page 172

In the second phase of the Oregorger encounter in Blackrock Foundry, the namesake boss drops whatever it is doing and enters a Rolling Fury. At first it may seem random, but the motion observes a few very simple rules:

WoW Mathematics: Scavenging for Resources

Garrison missions are a great way to earn Garrison Resources, of which rewards may be further boosted by assigning followers with the Scavenger trait. Unfortunately, followers with Scavenger may not also have the required counters for the mission, and so a question arises: maximise the success chance of the mission, or boost the potential rewards up for grabs?

This commander has received the mission Out of His Element, which offers 48 Garrison Resources as a reward. He or she has the choice of assigning Auriel Brightsong, whom has a needed Group Damage counter for a 100% success chance, and Greatmother Geyah, whom has Scavenger, adding a further 200% Garrison Resources for a successful mission. Whom should he or she assign?

Treasure awaits!

Summary:

• To maximise Garrison Resources over the long term, the commander should assign Greatmother Geyah to Out of His Element.

Succeeding at not getting motion sickness

It is commonly accepted that normal computer use will not physically harm humans. While flashing images for epilepsy sufferers is a well-known exception, another can be found in the Hans'gar and Franzok encounter in the Blackrock Foundry.

This encounter is characteristic in that most of the floor area is moveable conveyor belts, filling much of the screen (and, by extension, the field of view) with apparent motion, even though none is felt sitting at the keyboard. In the more queasy of players, this can result in motion sickness, producing dizziness, nausea and maybe even vomiting. Given how crippling this is to raid performance, how are you supposed to handle it?

The Lightwell method

Look deep into my eyes... if you can find them.

Since nausea can arise when you see movement but do not feel it, the most obvious solution is to look at something on the screen that is not moving. The user interface (UI) elements, such as actionbars and nameplates, are options, although they might be too far into the peripheral field to focus on. Some environmental alternatives include:

Plight of the Pandaren

Meet Pguinto, a pandaren Holy priest on realm Frostmourne-US. When not administering hugs on short notice, he likes to disrupt the operations of the Iron Horde with other, like-minded adventurers. Thus far, he enjoys life and what it has to offer, but has recently noticed smoke on the horizon.

Living on a PvP (player-versus-player) server, Pguinto has had his share of being ganked, but has noticed its worsening since his entrance to Draenor. Now, when he survives another day unscathed, he breathes a sigh of relief for not needing to die to a random Alliance adventurer, killing him for reasons he cannot fathom. Unfortunately, this fearful experience is common to all Wandering Isle pandaren, Huojin and Tushui alike.

Description

Common name: Pandaren
Scientific name: Ailuropoda sapiens
AUCN conservation status: Endangered
Estimated individuals remaining worldwide: 1.1 million (6.3%)

Gatecrash Investigation: A Wrinkle in Time [Documentary Transcript]

The trial of Garrosh Hellscream. The world's most wanted war criminal is due to answer for his many atrocities.

Lorewalker Pao: What a tense atmosphere it must have had! Needless to say, the whole thing was a powder keg ready to go off.

Suddenly, during Garrosh's crucial sentencing, a storm breaks out in the courtroom, with no apparent reason why. In the midst of the chaos, the Accused is nowhere to be found. Investigators are to uncover a minor flaw in the procedures and a plot to span the ages.

Anduin Wrynn: It felt quite surreal, to have held yourself as you died...

GATECRASH INVESTIGATION

This is a true story. It is based on "official reports" and "eyewitness accounts".

N.B. Spoilers for World of Warcraft: War Crimes after the jump

A WRINKLE IN TIME

Azeroth v Hellscream [31] ToWT 1 [Law Report]

TEMPLE OF THE WHITE TIGER
Pandaria

N.B. Spoilers for World of Warcraft: War Crimes after the jump

Case title	Azeroth v Hellscream
Medium neutral citation	[31] ToWT 1
Year of decision	ES 31
Jurisdiction	Customary international law - Criminal
Before	Yu’lon (juror) Xuen (juror) Chi-Ji (juror) Niuzao (juror) Taran Zhu (fa’shua (judge))
Parties	Pandaria (prosecution) Grand Alliance (prosecution) Horde (prosecution) Red Dragonflight (prosecution) Garrosh Hellscream (Accused)
Chu’shao (counsel)	Tyrande Whisperwind (Accuser) Baine Bloodhoof (Defender)

Charges

Charge	Plea
Genocide	Nolo contendere (no contest)
Murder	Nolo contendere
Forcible transfer of population	Nolo contendere
Enforced disappearance of individuals	Nolo contendere
Enslavement	Nolo contendere
Abduction of children	Nolo contendere
Torture	Nolo contendere
Killing of prisoners	Nolo contendere
Forced pregnancy	Nolo contendere
Wanton destruction of cities, towns, and villages not justified by military or civilian necessity	Nolo contendere

Guide to the Pandarian Judiciary [Brochure]

Welcome to Pandaria's court system! If you are reading this, you are probably sitting a court session right now. The Pandaren population prides itself in its judiciary, delivering a fair and well-considered outcome for all.

The foundation on which Pandaria's justice system is built is the rule of law, that no one person is above justice. Pandaria thus takes due process seriously, and will do that necessary to uphold it. To help make sure you do not find yourself at the wrong side of dungeon bars, please read on.

N.B. Spoilers for World of Warcraft: War Crimes after the jump

Judge, jury and executioner
Pandaria acknowledges foreign court systems in which the one person, usually the head of state, ultimately decides the fate of the Accused (defendant). However, in keeping with the rule of law, Pandaria separates its roles:

Guide to the Siege of Orgrimmar Ending Cinematics

This is it; the Siege of Orgrimmar, as well as the (substantial) Mists of Pandaria expansion, concludes. The final cinematic may only be two or so minutes, yet it is steeped in context and prior lore.

Take it all at face value and much will be missed. However, armed with the right knowledge, not only can these events be fully appreciated, but insights into Azeroth's future can even be gained...

N.B. Spoilers for the Siege of Orgrimmar raid after the jump
N.B. Unless otherwise noted, references to "execution" refer to the execution of the death penalty

The (obligatory) synopsis
As is to be expected of any partisan affair, the Horde and Alliance each have their own version, although much of the experience is shared.

Eulogy at the Funeral of Kinndy Sparkshine [Eulogy]

As delivered by Archmage Jaina Proudmoore

Apprentice Kinndy Sparkshine… how so full of potential you held. To see your life – and living – cut short by a most heinous, brutal, and cowardly of ways to wage war… it shocks me, and no doubt all others of reason, down to the very essence of the being. Even though you have passed on, dearest Kinndy, your legacy yet lingers, one that may well herald peace in this world mired in conflict.

You had always showed a passion for your studies, Kinndy. Your youthful energy, unrestrained like the arcane itself, got you through your gruelling readings and lab sessions. It had fed the asking of endless questions on the most mundane. <Caesura for laughs> And, perhaps, it had galvanised your optimism for the future, one of quiet devotion to magic, innocent of the horrors of battle…

ARCANE EXPLOSION [News Article]

Horde razes Alliance-controlled Theramore Isle with both sides committing fully to War
Warchief Garrosh Hellscream questioned over tactics used

[Pguinto-Frostmourne-US], 17th day of 9(1) KC 621
N.B. Spoilers for Golden, C (2012) (World of Warcraft: Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War) after the jump

RUINS OF THERAMORE – The Horde attacked Theramore Isle today in the latest development of the Alliance-Horde War. Despite historical reluctance, this attack drew fully the Grand Alliance into it for the first time.

The razing was intended to weaken the morale of the Alliance; instead, the violation of sovereignty gave reason to fully commit.

Azeroth Mass Transit Network Map [Map], updated for Mists of Pandaria

Note: The omission of node Theramore Isle and route The Lady Mehley is tentative until further information is made available.

The following series of maps serves as a reference for mass transit services provided to citizens of the Alliance and Horde.

 

The style used in the map departs from traditional methods of accurately charting landmasses and routes; instead, it aims for simplicity. It has been inspired by the highly stylised representations of real-life transportation networks, characterised by straight lines, highly simplified geographic features and regularly spaced nodes.

Notices: Azeroth Transit Authorities

• Following the exit of the Alliance and Horde from the Convention, the remaining Sovereign States have resolved to terminate it. The Azeroth Transit Authorities will thus cease to exist.
• All regulation of travel now falls on the individual transit authorities. Please consult your own for enquiries, as well as any laws that may apply to you.

Notices: Transitalliance

• In response to the razing of Theramore Isle by the Horde, the Grand Alliance has exited any and all Treaties, Conventions and Protocols to which the Horde is party, including the United Azeroth Transit Authorities Convention. All enquiries on travel within the Alliance's territories must now be directed to Transitalliance.
• Theramore Isle: Following the razing of Theramore Isle by the Horde, The Lady Mehley service to there has ceased.

Notices: Horde Transit

• To further safeguard the sovereignty of the Horde, it has exited any and all Treaties, Conventions and Protocols to which the Alliance is party, including the United Azeroth Transit Authorities Convention. All enquiries on travel within the Horde's territories must now be directed to Horde Transit.

Definition of mass transit

Non-instantaneous methods of transportation carrying several concurrent commuters and provided without charge.

Note that:

• Walking and mounting do not fall under this definition because they have not been 'provided' to the person in question.
• Orbs of Translocation do fall under this definition because of the cast time involved in using one.

Bibliography

• Boat - Wowpedia - Your guide to the World of Warcraft, wiki article, Wowpedia, viewed 25 November 2010, <http://www.wowpedia.org/Boat>.
• Zeppelin - Wowpedia - Your guide to the World of Warcraft, wiki article, Wowpedia, viewed 25 November 2010, <http://www.wowpedia.org/Zeppelin>.

Appendix A: Coincidence of Alliance and Horde mass transit network maps

 

EDIT 31Aug12: Updated from <http://criticallyanalyse.blogspot.com/2010/11/azeroth-mass-transit-network-map-map.html>.

Sheet of Coal [Wallpaper]

Fancy a skeletal formula pattern on your computer desktop? This one, resembling a portion of coal, can be tiled to give a 'random enough' effect. All valencies have been adhered to, although I have not checked if all of the heteroatoms and functional groups can actually fit. Click through to access the full image.

As a 'Where's Wally?' game, see if you can find the following groups:

• Methyl (CH₃), valency 1
• Oxygen (O), valency 2
• The such as a ketone
• Nitrogen (N), valency 3
• The such as part of an aromatic system
• Sulphur (S), valency 2
• Alcohol (OH), valency 1
• Primary amine (NH₂), valency 1
• Secondary amine (NH), valency 2

Living in the Age of Innocence

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Skyrim), despite its liberal violence, does not allow depicted children to die, by fault of the player's character (or avatar), NPCs (non-player characters) or the environment. Because of this, a player going by the name of Kharmah published a mod, 'Killable Children', on the Steam Workshop that disposes of this restriction. Needless to say, this caused quite a controversy, with supporters of its release pointing out improved realism and freedom for the player, and others raising morals and ethics against it.

The ingame killing of children, with the special status their real-life counterparts enjoy, is a contentious issue for many computer game developers, who are well concerned about their business and social standing. In forming an opinion on it, two matters should be considered:

1. Whether the killing of real-life children is unethical
2. Whether the killing of ingame children raises material real-life consequences.

Especially heinous
Almost anyone of sound mind would agree that killing a fellow human being is immoral. In reaching that conclusion, it may be raised that life is sacred, that every human being has a natural right to it from birth, that every member of Homo sapiens has a duty to further the species, or that one's automatic dignity and self-worth is to be respected. Indeed, virtually all governments on Earth outlaw homicidal acts, be it murder, manslaughter or (in many cases) assisting in suicide. With unnatural adult death depicted so frequently in print, cinematographic film and computer games and that of children rather rare, one may wonder what makes the latter an exception.

Computer Games as Literature

Despite the bad press that video (computer) games get, they still are a multimedia text type. Utilising all five components of media (text, still images, audio, animation and video), they combine them along with interactivity in a way rarely seen with other forms of literature. This combination gives it great potential for immersive and effective storytelling.

Considering that, I will treat computer games as fictional literature and engage in a summary kind of literary analysis. To help with this, I will pretend to try to convince a public library to include some examples as part of their collections. Please note that, because of strict licensing requirements, this is often not actually practical, despite a strong supporting case!

Standard form
As part of maintaining its collection, this library solicits suggestions from the public for works that should be added to or removed from it. It does so through a form a member of the public fills out. Thus, my 'literary analysis' will take the form (mind the pun) of a filled form. As the form may have been designed with more traditional text types in mind, some questions will take some interpreting:

Yor'sahj's Law (of Deep Corruption)

Of all of the blobs of blood Yor’sahj the Unsleeping may call from Shu’ma, none are more confusing than the Shadowed Globule. Its unique buff (debuff to the raid), Deep Corruption, means that:

Receiving healing or absorption effects will trigger a detonation at 5 stacks.

So, which healing and absorption effects generate Deep Corruption? Apparently, this is a matter of law that requires some interpretation.

Summary
Abilities that generate Deep Corruption are:

• Single heals
• Heals-over-time (HoTs)
• AoE heals
• Aura AoE heals
• Ground AoE heals.

Abilities that do not generate Deep Corruption are:

• Non-heals
• Non-healer abilities
• Trinkets and the like
• Summoned totems
• Abilities with secondary effects for as far as the secondary effect(s) is/are concerned.

Non-heal rule

An ability without any healing or absorption effects does not generate Deep Corruption.

The Faction: The Age of Mortals

Out with the old and in with the new; the Aspects' vigil has ended, and the age of mortals has dawned. With the discharging of the Aspects there is no turning back, so will the sunshine and daisies last? Can Azeroth's mortal races forge their own destiny, or will the world degenerate into dystopia? Join me, Deeve Spairs, as we address this age-old question on The Faction, only on Critically Analyse.

Participants

• Deeve Spairs [Deeve]
• Alexstrasza [Alexa]
• Drek'Thar [Drek]

Sound bites
From 'The meaning of life':

• Alexstrasza says: Contrary to what many might think, it does not necessarily mean invulnerability. To be immortal [in the Warcraft universe], it means two things: first, that ageing yields at adulthood; and secondly, that illness and disease cannot befall.
• Alexstrasza says: With all due respect, elder Drek'Thar, you yourself must understand how difficult it is for your brash youth to heed [advice]? Despite all of your assurances, there are some things that, for mortals, at least, can only be learned the hard way [through actual experience].
• Drek'Thar says: Despite our days' being numbered, we are very productive, and seek out the best life has to offer. I hardly think we are as - what's the word - complacent as what you ever-healthy types are quite likely to be.

From 'In defence of flaw':

• Alexstrasza says: As far as I can tell, every little issue, for you mortals, must be reduced to power play, to the imposition of the superior will on the inferior.
• Alexstrasza says: ...an endless see-saw between the conservative and liberal ends of politics... It would be nice if the path between stagnation and overwhelming change were found.
• Deeve Spairs says: [The Alliance-Horde conflict] is a rivalry with cause long lost to history... at least for the common folk.
• Alexstrasza says: [:;concerned] That is very worrying to me. Law enforcement, the threat of violence to avoid violence? One of mortal life's greatest ironies.
• Alexstrasza says: Of course, use of force is not simply constrained [to law enforcement]. From a parent's disciplining their child to a rather zealous interest group's getting their voice heard, mortals seem to want to talk with their fists... | Deeve Spairs says: Yes, there is a word we mortals use to describe it, 'terrorism'.
• Drek'Thar says: Deeve, despite our flaws, we [mortals] possess one major redeeming quality. We may be a slave to our emotions, but there is none more powerful than remorse.

From 'Rebellious youth':

• Deeve Spairs says: But surely [Alexstrasza's clutch's] former status as your sons and daughters still matters... | Alexstrasza says: You must distinguish between those events that do not affect that infinitely precious bond between mother and child, and and those that do.
• Deeve Spairs says: So if one were the Aspect of Life, they would actually have a licence to murder. Alas, we mortals are not readily endowed it, and we have a duty to take care of the sick and injured while waiting for the greater powers ... to pass their judgement... Otherwise, well, remorse kicks in, and it sure kicks hard.