Deskspace January 2018

Though this entry says that it’s a January edition for my Deskspace series, it’s really more of a 2016 to 2017 recap since a certain someone (me) didn’t bother posting a single post for a long looooong time.

 

 

Fun fact, I actually wrote this last January 2017. P

 

Let me start off by saying I wasn’t really interested as much with a lot of things. The past three or four years even were huge burnout years for me really. I placed a huge chunk of my hobbies under hiatus, like figure collecting and gaming, to focus on work which contributed to me getting burnt out. Since I don’t have an outlet, my stress was building up and it negatively affected my health and a lot of other things. It was a learning experience for me to say the least. I’ll talk about that in another article after I have an actual solution to dealing with burnout. ^^

 

Now that we have those negative things aside, lets talk about some of the good stuff that happened in 2016. Since this is the ‘Deskspace’ series and not a ‘How my life is like’ kind of entry (though soon we’ll have something like that), we’ll be focusing around the things here happening at my desk area.

 

Time for Upgrades

 

FINALLY! I managed to upgrade most of the gear I have here at home during 2016. My previous gear was completely outdated in more ways than one and it was a miracle that I’m able to do some production work with that.

 

My first priority was obviously the desktop instead and I decided to go for a high-spec build. I couldn’t be bothered with getting something super top of the line like a high end gaming rig since I don’t play PC games as much and I really can survive with minimal frame drops with PC games. Some people may say that being able to survive with low-spec gear is like a badge of honor. I used to think that way until I really need to efficiently use up my time. Spending 3 times the amount of time rendering on a low-spec versus a middle of the line computer is a big deal for me these days.

 

I asked a friend to help me build my PC. No more buying prebuilt PCs or buying second hand ones as I’ve been disappointed by them phenomenally.

 

 

Yes, i know I have cable management issues, I’ll fix them as soon as i come home from my trip XD and I havent removed the plastic yet either. I’m not much into showing off my PC or the internal componentss so I keep it on the floor. Funny thing, the case’s name (Dukase) is almost the same as one of my nicknames which is “Deux” or Duqs”. I would’ve gotten a larger case, or at least a wider tempered glass sidepanel, but the name suckered me in.

 

CPU: i5 6400
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA H170M D3H
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x4GB
GPU: Palit Geforce GTX 960 Jetstream
HDD: WesternDigital WD Caviar Green 2TB 64MB (WD20EXRX model)
SDD: Crucial BX100 250Gb SATA (CT250BX100SSD1 model)
PSU: Seasonic M12II EVO 520w
Case: Deepcool Dukase v1

 

Total cost was around 42,000php, which was around 1,200 USD at that time. Now a lot are gonna point out why I didn’t opt for a GTX1060 or I should’ve souped up my CPU to an i7 already. Reasons for that are:
1.) I don’t play a lot of PC games to begin with
2.) Frequency and amount of production work isn’t as high to begin with

 

Since I don’t play a lot of PC games (not even DotA or Overwatch), I don’t see the point of having a PC that can play 120fps thanks to all the RAMs that only a PC master race can deliver. Though yeah upgrading things to i7 would help in terms of streaming things like Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds.

 

 

As for production work, I’m unable to do as much due to my main line of work taking up a huge bulk of my time. Given the specs that I have I can still produce a lot of good videos, edit photos, et al without my computer slowing down at all. Yes I can make it ULTRA FAST, but I don’t think it’s necessary given that I don’t do production work for a living. Perhaps in the future I would.

 

 

Also, do you guys have any suggestions on what to do with old PCs? I’m thinking if I should:
a.) Salvage the parts and send whatever parts that wont be used to a scrapshop or recycling center
b.) Donate an entire unit
c.) Turn it into a server

 

What do you guys think? Any takers? 😛

 

 

So I got a 32GB USB3.0 thumbdrive made by Sandisk for Christmas and I decided to use it as a pseudo USB cover to help drive off dust and potential static problems which might kill my I/O. How do you guys cover your USB ports?

 

 

Just, seriously clean your mouse guys =___=

 

The keyboard and mouse needed to go not only because of functional reasons but also due to hygiene too. Opening and cleaning them up has proven to be a more futile task since opening a mouse and removing grime isn’t exactly easy…

 

 

It was a toss up between the Logitech MX Master and the Logitech 502 spectrum in the mouse department. I really prefer a wired mouse over a wireless and also the weights on the 502 really lets me feel that I’m holding a premium piece of equipment in my hands.

 

 

Love the weights in the 502. If you guys play FPS games a lot you’ll prolly need to lessen the weights. I prefer a heavier mouse personally as I feel that lightweight mouse could fly off at any given time from my hands.

 

 

Also got a mouse pad to replace that DNA ridden mouse pad I used for *drum roll* ten years

 

 

As for the keyboards it was a toss between the Corsair K900 versus Logitech Orion G610. Chose the Logitech not only because it was 3,000 php cheaper, but also because the G610 uses Cherry MX browns which aren’t as noisy compared to Cherry MX blues/red. Another reason for the G610 was simply because the G610 was using white leds and that was the color I was going for. I’m not really an RGB person here as you can see ^^

 

 

Also decided to use my current 24” monitor (Chimei) with an IPS monitor for better color accuracy so I decided to go with this nice Asus monitor from our local store. Didn’t go for the model with high refresh rate since my eyes are just bad I can’t see frame differences between 50 and 60fps and my priority is more on the color accuracy. So far so good.

 

 

Finally, at the end of the year, my four year old Samsung S3 gets replaced with it’s younger brother, the Samsung S7 Edge. My older phone was already slowing down from typing SMS message even upto simply opening up the actual menu area of the phone. The S3 also didn’t have a sizeable amount of RAM to support the mobile games of today as well. I still use the HTC M7 for gaming while my S7E is more for daily driver use.

 

Why not an iphone 7plus or a Oneplus 3? I considered getting one of the two but what won me over was that the Samsung S7 had the better camera compared to the two across a lot of comparative tests (especially night shots).

 

It still has some grain when you zoom in and without post processing. Still head and shoulders above the rest of the current crowd. Upgrading my gear isn’t over yet. I still need to buy more hard drives, and upgrade the PS4 hard drive to 1TB, What sort of gear are you guys using at home?

 

 

Minor upgrade I bought this wooden phone stand from Daiso which costs only 70php.  I would prefer having a metallic looking one but I have two phone placed there. The Samsung S7e for my daily use and the HTC for mobile gaming. I use two phones for one simple reason: battery life. Playing games takes a toll on the phone’s battery, especially when internet is involved. I’m not keen in using battery banks all the time (though I have one) because it just feels bulky with wires around you. I tried.

 

Streaming

 

Trying out a new thing here which is streaming. I’ll discuss in another entry why I got into streaming and the stuff that.

 

 

Really love how clear and crisp then images from the C922 pro webcam and got it at a very good price too (thank you Black Friday). Aside from really clear pics even under lowlight and the fact I can record on 720p, the C922 also has a chromacam which allows green screen integration without the green screen, albeit it still needs some work

 

 

You guys also watch Linus Tech Tips or other Youtube tech videos? Where do you get your tech news?

 

 

Also got a HyperX Stinger since there was no Antlion mic to be found anywhere near my place aside from amazon. Not a bad price and it also doubles as a recording device for the PS4 since the console a 4pin jack instead of the usual 3.5mm jacks which normally the mic from the headset.

 

 

I do have other equipment which arrived for streaming/skype/i dont know what i’m doing really ^^ I guess I’ll discuss in the said article. If you guys want to take a look at what I’ve been streaming kindly go to twitch.com/miruward Trying out for affiliate at least.

 

 

Just testing out the new equipment, I’ll be fixing the desk as soon as it gets repainted. If the overall cost of the paintjob is as high as buying a new table, then i might just get a new desk area to go with it 😛

 

 

Hmmm maybe i should’ve gotten two. One for my PC and the other for my PS4 because Sony forgot to put extra USB ports and also a larger hard drive on their consoles =\

 

 

This boom arm isn’t going anywhere until I’ve fixed the paint job… and probably RGB LED strips too 😛

 

The Year of Mobages (and 1P Gaming)

 

If it’s anything I got hooked to mobile games (or mobage) this year by a lot. Even went through paid lotteries during a summer event wherein everything was limited in that paid lottery.

 

Been playing Love: School Idol Festival (the English version) since day one and this has been the rhythm game to go to for me. Too bad I never have any luck with idol games as I have the hardest time getting Ultra Rare cards (1% drop rate cards).

 

 

If asked I guess I’m more of an Umi fan for Muse (Maki a close second). For Aqours on the other hand, it’s really hard to pick for a favorite one. If anything top three are Kanan, You and Zuramaru.

 

 

Speaking of rhythm games, I also dipped my hands into idolm@ster Cinderella Girls: Starlight Stage or as the Japanese have affectionately shortcutted it, deresute デレステ .  Personally, I prefer the gameplay and it’s hard to believe that this is a mobage given the 3D dance numbers we see. The songs aren’t that bad too.

 

 

Currently I’m not playing Deresute as much unless I really love the song like Evermore, Beyond the Starlight, Radio Happy or ∀NSWER!!

 

 

I’ve also come upon the other idolm@ster game, Theater Days, which is made up of the older generation idols (the old 765 crew) along with new ones.

 

 

Theater Days has a pretty nice roster of songs despite being fewer than Cinderella Girls. Personally, I prefer the PVs (really good camera work) and the beatmap in Theater Days than in Starlight Stage, but that’s just me. Lately though Deresute has been catching up in PV quality though!

 

Picking a favorite in these games is hard and IMO a must (in any idol game for that matter),  otherwise you’d prolly be doing paid gachas for too many times . Y’know what they say, “too many waifus will ruin your laifu” and all that. I also actually

 

 

Fate Grand/Order is the perhaps, the game that reeled me the most this entire 2016. The game is very simple as it is, but this completely got my time, money and attention the most. Been a huge TypeMOON fan since ten years ago so seeing it come alive during 2015 was a big deal to me!

 

 

Still a big Tamamo fan even after all these years. Maybe I should make a separate article about Mobages otherwise I can keep on talking about them (especially Fate Grand Order). Any of you guys play these games? Give me friend codes so I can add you too!

 

 

I also did manage to pick up Granblue Fantasy as of late and I got to understand why this game is dubbed “Grindblue” by some. Been playing since March 2016 so I’m pretty much left behind and it’s prolly going to stay that way since I can’t play everything haha

 

Just leave a comment with your friend code in case any of you want to add me up 😛

 

Workbench Area

 

Currently, I’m working on modifying a gunpla to look like a really good looking modular grunt Gundam unit.

 

 

The moment I saw the Gusion Rebake I was completely head over heels at the design. It looked like one of those mecha from Aldnoah:Zero which I enjoyed watching as well.

 

 

Kitbashing it at the moment. Stay tuned to see the final product which should be due around February since I have an incoming Japan trip this January.

 

Moving forward

 

Revisions for the blog will be put in a more modular format. Don’t expect one huge change, I’ll be modifying elements one portion after another until I feel that it’s good enough to even call it a version 1. At the moment I’m using the SSMag theme since it’s the closest to the design I have in mind, but I’ll have to touch and add more code to do just that.

 

 

So far I’ve been able to some of them, but the site still has a long way to go.

 

 

Also all the previous content made from my previous blogs (duqs.wordpress.com and actigrade.com) might get placed underneath a subsection called “past articles” until I figure out how to 1.) make a submenu for categories and 2.) what the categories of the blog are to begin with ^^;;

 

Aaaaand then there’s mobile which is an entirely different beast altogether. If you guys know a site that can give a comprehensive, yet-easy-to-understand articles on fixing HTMLs and CSS for wordpress feel free to let me know so I can further enhance your viewing experience here!