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: