superman – The Pensive Reverie

After nearly 8 years of service, my Lenovo G505s laptop had enough of it. While still performing pretty well, it was obvious I required a new computer.

Having always wanted to build a custom PC of my own, I spent several weeks leading up to Christmas 2020 researching on the topic before finally getting my build completed over the last week of 2020.

Building a computer from scratch provides one the perfect customizable machine for one’s needs, but it can be daunting the first time around.

Altogether, it was a wonderful learning experience which I would like to share here today, alongside some tips and resources that I found real handy for those among my audience who might want to give this a try as well.

The immediate pros of building your own PC is that it offers a viable option for a customizable workstation at home for a price range that you get to fix for the most part. With most of us still working from home during this pandemic, it is also an awesome project to have at hand as a thoughtful distraction. The cons to building a PC is largely restricted to one’s own dedication and patience. It is one particular endeavor where some prior research and reading can really pay off, and that is where my journey began as well.

Even before I started on building the PC, I spent nearly a month reading through tutorial guides online, and watching several Youtube tutorials to get the general gist of things. This gave me the initial courage required to put my foot through the door. My top three resources on this note would be the following:

How to Build a Computer: The Complete Guide

How to Build a PC! Step-by-step (2020 Edition) – Robeytech

How To Build A Gaming PC COMPLETE STEP BY STEP Beginners Build Guide 2020! – PC Centric

Having done my relevant research, it was time to choose the type of system I required. I wished for something that was in the middle of the road with options for upgrades if ever required, but having enough juice to satisfy my gaming and artistic interests. It was then time to select the parts of my system, the Lego blocks that I would put together.

Every fully-functioning computer is made of pretty much the same basic components:

(1) The Central Processing Unit (CPU) – the brain of the computer. The better the CPU the more tasks it can perform at once, and perform them faster. At the same time, unless you’re performing intense tasks like video editing, streaming, or high-end gaming, you will most probably not take advantage of your CPU’s full speed.

(2) The Motherboard – the foundation/base of your system upon which all your components get aligned. The motherboard is no different than a circuit board and provides all the relevant features your machine would need like USB ports, expansion card slots for audio, video, and Wi-Fi etc.

(3) The Random Access Memory – the RAM is the short-term memory of your computer. It stores data and also helps your computer run programs faster and more than one at a time. The larger the RAM the more programs you can run simultaneously.

(4) The Graphics Card – basically handles the graphics. Your monitor hooks to the graphics card and basically draws what you see on your desktop. Some motherboards usually come with an integrated graphics card, and others don’t. The more high-end games you wish to play, the better your graphics card must be.

(5) Drives – Basically your storage, and long term memory of your computer. Hard drives (HDD) were the norm and still are to a certain extent though there has been a shift towards Solid State Drives (a miniature version of the bulky HDD). SSDs are generally more expensive, less bulky, faster, and use less energy while HDDs are less expensive, more bulky, slower, and use more energy.

(6) Power Supply- Directs electricity to the components in your machine. Generally, the higher performance system you have, the higher the wattage power supply that will be required. The last part to buy, once you’ve finalized all your other parts and how much electricity they require.

(6) Other Parts to Consider – If you are old school and still have some CDs and DVDs lying around, consider buying an Optical Drive (I did). A computer case will hold all your parts together. If you wish to have Wi-Fi rather than wired Ethernet, you may require a Wi-Fi card. Most obviously, you will require a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and of course the relevant operating system software you wish to use (Windows or MacOS).

While at first read, this may seem overwhelming https://pcpartpicker.com/ provides a wonderful System Builder resource alongside an in-built catalogue of PC parts on the market with their pricing information to assist in making your builds. Upon choosing your parts, the System Builder checks for any compatibility issues in the parts chosen, and also offers suggestions for the estimated Wattage which helps gauge the type of power supply you want to buy. The community at PC Part Picker is a friendly reference where you can get the opinion of other amateur PC builders and pros alike for their opinion on your build.

Once you have decided on your parts, I would ideally choose a sales period to make your purchases so that you can save as much money as possible. In my case, I purchased all my parts during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. My purchases varied directly from the vendor or through third party services such as https://www.newegg.ca/, https://www.memoryexpress.com/ (for those in Canada), Amazon, Bestbuy, etc.

Building the PC in and of itself was quite similar to building a Lego House from scratch. The videos referenced earlier alongside the PC guides were my go-to references. The PC parts themselves come with straightforward instruction pamphlets on putting the components together. At this stage, my biggest advice would be to have a clean surface, a magnetic/ordinary screwdriver kit, and a timely reminder to discharge any static electricity on yourself by touching a metal surface (like your PC case) regularly.

With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed building my PC. It is a confidence boosting exercise on its own, and it feels damn good when you complete it. If at all one does get stuck at some point, as I did on many occasions, DO NOT GET frustrated. Take some time away, and return to the puzzle with a fresh mind. If at all possible, reach out to your gamer friends as there is a fairly high chance that some of them have built their own PC. In my case, it helped for pure enthusiasm that Superman aka Henry Cavill started and finished building his PC around the same time that I did.

It took an entire day’s focus to put it together, but the effort was worth it!

For those among my readers who have any questions related to building a PC or are in the process of building their own PC, feel free to leave a comment.

I will see you all soon with a new post!

The last month of pseudo-relaxing has followed a successful reset of my PhD research accompanied by a boatload of reading of graphic novels and comic books. Marvel’s Endgame was the initial spark that set ablaze my voracious appetite on revisiting various titles from the past. While Endgame signaled

in the marvel cinematic universe (MCU), a moment met by mixed emotions among the fans, I was glad to move on from what was a decade of movies and get back to roots with the comics that had been in my reading list for several years.

This would be most apt for fans of Captain America and Iron Man.

Although I lean more towards DC as a comic book fan than Marvel, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading stories from both universes. Considering the recent MCU releases, I found an obvious choice to begin with The Infinity Gauntlet, following which I have been on a blatantly biased run of DC titles. But at some point, you need to call a break and get your head out of the books, so I’ve decided to use this opportunity to briefly review the titles I’ve read thus far for both the experienced and amateur comic book fans among my readers.

While Marvel and DC have both gone through major relaunches of their respective universes over the recent years (New 52, DC Rebirth, Marvel Legacy) the titles I have chosen to review predate these events, and involve a mix of standalone novels that serve as perspectives into leading characters from the respective universes as well as sagas that span lengthy series.

The Infinity Gauntlet

If Thanos in MCU’s Infinity War was draped in shades of an anti-hero or a pragmatic villain, the Thanos of The Infinity Gauntlet identifies strongly with his sobriquet of The Mad Titan. The Infinity Gauntlet is the stage of a climactic struggle (and yet the first of many to follow) that pits the Avengers and literally all of Marvel’s pantheon of heroes and cosmic entities against the Mad Titan in the backdrop of what is largely a friend-zone drama between Thanos and the female entity that is Death. To capture the heart of his eternal love, we follow Thanos in what is an enjoyable and at times weirdly comical adventure that pits the balance of the universe at stake.

Superman: Red Son

Swinging into the DC universe, we have a title that is literally one of the best stories in the history of the Man of Steel. Superman: Red Son is a groundbreaking title from DC with a twist on the familiar tale of a Kryptonian rocketship that crash-lands on Earth carrying an infant who will one day become the most powerful being on the planet. Rather than being raised in Smallville, Kansas and become a hero who fights for “…truth, justice, and the American way,” in Red Son, Superman finds a new home in the Soviet Union where he becomes “…the Champion of the common worker who fights a never-ending battle for Stalin, socialism, and the international expansion of the Warsaw Pact,” making us all look up toward the skies and say, “Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…Russian Superman!”

supermanredson

Batman: Year One & Batman: The Long Halloween

A foil to Superman in many ways, Batman ranks among the most popular superheroes of the DC medium. Written by Frank Miller, shortly after the publication of The Dark Knight Returns (a storyline that inspired several sequences in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy), Batman: Year One is another reinterpretation of a classic hero, and provides a detailed perspective on his origins, the humanity behind the caped crusader’s rationale, as well as his struggles, and growth to become the seemingly invincible hero we know him to be.

batman

alfred-is-tired-of-batman-amp-039-s-crap_o_6047215

The end of Batman: Year One (1986) transitions perfectly into Batman: The Long Halloween (2011) where we follow a compelling adventure in Batman’s early career. The humanity of the Dark Knight, often overlooked by most readers, is in plain view in a story where Batman confronts a former friend turned foe in Harvey Dent.

‘I believe in Harvey Dent,” a line repeated frequently to great purpose in *The Long Halloween.*

Alongside Superman: Red Son, these two titles hold up as great standalone stories that focus on the inherent humanity and fragility behind the essentially unbreakable beacons of justice, and truth these characters serve to be, making them suitable for amateur comic book readers.

Infinite Crisis & Final Crisis

Rounding off this blog post, we have two more titles that serve as DC’s counterpart to Marvel’s The Infinity Gauntlet. Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis span events that can be considered as the DC Universe’s darkest days. Infinite Crisis serves as a lead-in to the events of Final Crisis. In both cases, our heroes are faced with crises of cosmic proportions that bring together many familiar and unfamiliar faces in the pantheon of DC heroes.

crisis

Infinite Crisis highlights a critical moment that has divided Earth’s three greatest heroes: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. As such, the burden falls upon long-lost heroes from the past and other less recognized faces from the DC pantheon to set things straight in a crisis that spans infinite universes. On the other hand, Final Crisis follows the efforts of DC’s “Thanos” (but much better, in my humble opinion) Darkseid who takes advantage of the fallout from the prior crisis and decides to remake reality and the universe in his dark image.

Both Infinite Crisis and Final Crisis are among the last set of publications that preceded DC’s ultimately unsuccessful relaunch in the New 52, and their stories involve hero slug-fests and bouts on a global and universal scale. While these two titles would be most suitable for the well-versed DC fan, the stories are nonetheless a joy to read through for the pure fun, and escapism they provide into the world of DC’s superheroes.

: Pretty similar to what Darkseid essentially tries to achieve with the anti-life equation in Final Crisis.

This completes my reviews of the works I have read so far. I’m pretty sure the coming week will see another visit to the public library as I strive to go through the remaining books in what seems to be my endless reading list. See you all next week!

Tag: superman

Building my own PC