#how to monitor cpu in game

[carlos2023tudo]

[solemntitty]

redistributing government funds to support the gamer community

[anbuselvi1]

Top best CPU And GPU Temperature Monitor Windows 10

Top best CPU And GPU Temperature Monitor Windows 10

Keeping an eye on your PC’s core temperatures is extremely important, especially for those who like to delve into the art of overclocking. A processor running at high temperatures can not only have huge ripple effects on system performance but can also shorten the life of your hardware exponentially. For this reason, monitoring the temperature of the processor is extremely important in…

[commodorez]

Cactus fascinates me, does it run on code similar to an existing instruction set or is it completely original on that front?

What can you do with it? What's it's storage?

Both the Cactus (the original wooden prototype from years ago) and the new PCB Cactus(es) are essentially derived from a minimal 6502 computer design by Grant Searle for their core logic. Here's what that would look like on a breadboard:

There isn't much to it, it's 32K of RAM, 16K of ROM containing Ohio Scientific's version of Microsoft BASIC, a 6850 ACIA for serial interaction, some logic gates, and of course a 6502 microprocessor (NMOS or CMOS, doesn't matter which). You hook it into a terminal and away you go.

Grant's design in turn can be best described as a distilled, modernized version of the OSI Challenger series of computers. Here's an OSI-400 and a Challenger 4P respectively:

The left one is a replica of the 400 circa 1976, also called the Superboard. It was affordable, endlessly reconfigurable and hackable, but ultimately very limited in capabilities. No BASIC, minimal monitor ROM you talk to over serial, but you could connect it to a bus to augment its features and turn it into a more powerful computer.

Whereas the OSI C4P on the right from about 1979 has more RAM, a video card, keyboard, BASIC built in, serial interface, cassette tape storage, and that's just the standard configuration. There was more room to expand and augment it to your needs inside the chassis (alot changed in 3 years for home computer users).

Grant's minimal 6502 design running OSI BASIC is a good starter project for hobbyists. I learned about the 6502's memory map decoding from his design. I modified and implemented his design on a separate cards that could connect to a larger backplane.

Here are the serial, ROM, RAM, and CPU cards respectively:

Each one is 100% custom, containing many modifications and fixes as I developed the design. However, that's only half of the computer.

I really wanted a 6502 machine with a front panel. People told me "nobody did that", or couldn't think of examples from the 1970s but that seemed really strange to me. Especially since I had evidence to the contrary in the form of the OSI-300:

This one I saw at VCF West back in 2018 illustrates just how limited of a design it is. 128 bytes of RAM, no ROM, no serial -- just you, the CPU, and toggle switches and LEDs to learn the CPU. I was inspired the first time I saw one in 2015 at VCF East, which is probably when this whole project got set in motion.

Later that year I bought a kit for a miniature replica OSI-300 made by Christopher Bachman, and learned really quickly how limited the design philosophy for this particular front panel was. It was a major pain in the ass to use (to be clear, that's by OSI's choice, not any fault of Christopher in his implementation)

So... I designed my own. Took awhile, but that's the core of what the Cactus is: my attempt at experiencing the 1970s homebrew scene by building the computer I would have wanted at the time. Over half of the logic in the Cactus is just to run the front panel's state machine, so you can examine and modify the contents of memory without bothering the 6502. I added in all of the things I liked from more advanced front panels I had encountered, and designed it to my liking.

Here's the original front panel, accompanying logic, and backplane connected to the modern single board computer (SBC) version of the machine:

And here's the new Cactus SBC working with the new front panel PCB, which combines the logic, physical switch mountings, and cabling harnesses into a single printed circuit board.

So, what can you do with it? Pretty much the same things I do already with other contemporary 1970s computers: play around in BASIC, fire up the occasional game, and tinker with it.

I've got no permanent storage designed for the Cactus as yet, it's been one of those "eventually" things. The good news is that a variety of software can be ported to the hardware without too much trouble for an experienced hobbyist. A friend of mine wrote a game called ZNEK in 6502 assembly which runs from a terminal:

Right now, you have to either toggle in machine programs from the front panel from scratch, burn a custom ROM, or connect it to a serial terminal to gain access to its more advanced features:

Here's it booted into OSI BASIC, but I have also added in a modern descendant of Steve Wozniak's WOZMON software for when I need to do lower level debugging.

I've also got a video card now, based on the OSI-440. I have yet to implement a keyboard, or modify BASIC to use the video board instead of the serial connection. Even if I did, screen resolution is pretty limited at 24x24 characters on screen at once. Still, I'm working on that...

Anyway, I hope that answers your question. Check the tags below to see the whole process stretching back to 2017 if you're curious to learn more of the project's history. I'm also happy to answer any more questions you might have about the project.

[milkemie]

Hi Kemie!

I have a question, I'm thinking about investing in PC and I was curious what PC setup do you use. I was scrolling through your Tumblr for past 10minutes but I can't find any post about it so I just wanted to ask, sorry if you published something about it already but I really can't find anything.

I love the quality of your content and your content too of course. Your sims are beautiful and have heartwarming vibe to them. Keep going and don't listen to haters. You're my favorite sims content creator out there <3.

Sorry for my bad English, it's not my first language :(.

hii! ♡ what a coincidence! someone asked me what my pc's specs are but i answered right as you sent this question! you couldn't have seen it yet so just in case, i'm going to list everything i use to make content so that everything can be listed in one post:

PC SPECS:

RAM: 16GB

Storage: 500GB

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500

Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060

Cooling: Watercooling Azza Galeforce 120mm ARGB here is the link of the pc i actually got, though it has changed a little bit, the pc now has a AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU while mine was AMD Ryzen 5 5500

KEYBOARD & MOUSE:

i use a logitech mk470 keyboard & mouse, i like them because they don't make as much noise as my previous keyboard and mouse, i found it annoying how i could hear myself clicking and typing in my youtube videos

MONITOR:

KOORUI Gaming Monitor 27Inch, PC Monitor 165Hz, FHD (1920×1080) (HDMI, DisplayPort) here is the link (this is very optional but i needed a second monitor to be able to keep track of OBS as i film my videos, but instead of buying a second monitor i decided to just use my iPad Air 5, which i also use to make cc!)

MIC:

Razer Seiren Mini

thank you for supporting me ♡

[canmom]

very brief torrent security primer

some brief comments on piracy safety for @goblin-thembo who has been asking a lot of questions in the notes of that post...

OK, so when you download a torrent, you are downloading some files. The BitTorrent protocol makes it almost impossible to substitute a different file than the one you request, but you have no way to be absolutely certain that the original file is 'safe' - that depends on the properties of the file, and what you do with it. Some types of file are safer than others.

Here's some jargon you may find useful.

torrent: a file that describes how to download some files through the BitTorrent protocol. we won't go into the technicalities, but when you load a torrent into your torrent client, you will connect to other people who have parts of the files, download the pieces, and reassemble the files you want.

seeding: providing a copy of the files in a torrent to other people.

ISP: Internet Service Provider, the company that connects you to the internet.

IP address: your computer's identity on a network, notably the public internet. When you connect to a website, they know your IP address. Your IP address is assigned by your ISP.

From an IP address, you can determine someone's broad geographical location (which country they're connected in) and which ISP they are using. You can contact the ISP, who will be able to associate it with a specific user.

swarm: the collection of users downloading or seeding a particular torrent.

VPN: Virtual Private Network, a relay service which hides your IP address from the public internet. People who connect to you will see the VPN's IP instead of your real IP. Your ISP will be able to know that you connected to a VPN, but not what you send through it. So they wouldn't be able to tell if you are using BitTorrent. VPNs usually cost a fairly small amount of money as a subscription service.

Threat model

In security we talk about a 'threat model', which is what you think you need to protect yourself from. There are two major threats when downloading files using BitTorrent.

copyright claims: your computer's IP is broadcast when you use BitTorrent. Copyright holders will often put 'sniffers' on the network which will monitor the IPs in the swarm of popular torrents. They will then send a takedown letter to your internet service provider (ISP), who will usually send you an email to stop sharing copyrighted media on their network, and then cut off your internet on multiple offences. This can easily be circumvented using a VPN. I strongly recommend using a VPN if you download any copyrighted content through BitTorrent.

attacks through the file you download: someone might upload a virus as a torrent, presenting it as a file you might be looking for (e.g. cracked software). So let's go over different types of file you might download and how they could be used to attack you.

Executable files, such as pirated software, are not safe. If you download a program and run it, you are potentially giving the author full control over your computer. So you should make damn sure the uploader is trustworthy. If you're downloading open source software from the maintainer's github release page, you're probably good. If you're downloading cracked art programs or games... good luck lol.

On a public torrent tracker, to which anyone can upload, there is no guarantee that any file is what anyone says. You have to make your own determination of which uploaders are trustworthy. I can't give you great advice on this, since I generally do not download cracked executables. For games, FitGirl Repacks is generally a pretty good source.

If you are on Windows, the default Windows Defender software should be used to scan any file you download. (Paid antivirus software is of somewhat dubious utility, often pushing ads and using CPU resources in its own right.) Fewer attackers will target desktop Linux or OSX, which doesn't mean you're guaranteed safe, but Windows is the biggest target as the most widely used operating system.

Videos, music and images are generally safe. I say 'generally' because it's possible, in theory, to create a video that exploits a vulnerability in your video player (e.g. mpv or VLC) and uses it to execute code. So far as I know this is largely theoretical, and known vulns have been patched, but make sure to keep your player up to date to mitigate against known vulnerabilities.

Any compressed archives (zip, rar, 7zip) can be used to create something called a 'zip bomb', which is a file which goes into an infinite loop when you try to decompress it, swallowing up more and more memory and hard drive space. I've never seen this actually be done, but it's possible. More subtle attacks would attempt to attack the program you use to decompress the file. Keep your software up to date to mitigate against known vulnerabilities.

Besides taking care about what you download, on Windows you should either not run your main account as an admin account, or make sure to set User Account Control to require a credentials check for admin operations, and also keep your operating system and software up to date. Make sure file extensions are visible so you don't get fooled by a file disguised as a different file type. And y'know, if the torrent tracker has comments, check to see if a lot of people are saying it's a virus.

What could happen if your computer gets infected? Well, they might use your computer to mine crypto at the cost of your CPU performance, they might encrypt and ransom your files, and they might steal your credentials for online services (including banking and the like). There are various measures you can take against this, such as making sure to encrypt sensitive data such as passwords, but the best defense is to not infect your computer in the first place.

The most likely time for people to upload viruses is when something is in high demand and there isn't a single authoritative high-quality source out yet.

Ultimately you get to decide what you consider an acceptable level of risk. There is no such thing as perfect safety. I would recommend using your own initiative to learn about computer security and not badger random tumblr users to explain it to you, but hopefully the above guidelines should help you avoid doing anything too dangerous.

[genericpuff]

welp, this kinda sucks

I'm currently at odds with the PC that I got a couple months ago, it's started freezing and soft-resetting randomly for seemingly no reason. It would usually be after hours of use that I could chalk up to the memory overloading, but now it's happening as soon as I boot up the frigging thing. And just to make it clear how much I've done on my own to diagnose the problem, our attempts to fix it have included the following:

Limiting startup applications

Running virus / malware scans

Swapping out display monitors

Updating the GPU drivers

Setting a lower overclock profile in the BIOS settings

Swapping out power cables and outlets to check for power surges

So far none of these things have worked and if anything, the issue has just gotten worse in the last two days. Like, it can barely make it to the startup screen sometimes, despite the memory and CPU usage being >20%, there is zero reason it would be the PC overclocking itself just from startup.

(and no, it doesn't even compel me, i'm just annoyed to shit LOL)

So I dropped it off with the guy who built it (he runs an electronics / pawn shop downtown that's very reputable and well-known so it's not like I don't trust him or anything, he's been building PC's for people in the area for years) and it's now in his care for the next day or two while he tries to isolate the problem. Right now the only thing I can imagine being the problem is the power supply or my display monitor, which is my old Huion Kamvas 22 Plus that still works as a monitor, just not a drawing tablet - but if something's still fucking around in the tablet, it could be causing problems through the PC, maybe.

When I dropped it off with the guy, he went and set it up in his office and came out and told me that so far it seemed to be running just fine, when he asked me if I was doing anything specific I told him it was crashing even after startup so I gave him permission to overclock the shit out of it, run 53879205893 browser tabs, run my games, software, anything he needed to do to push it to its limits and see if he could replicate the problem.

I am terrified if it has to do with the motherboard, because that will be an expensive replacement that will also potentially lead to losing files / installations / etc. depending on how big an issue it is. It could also potentially be Windows 11 having a hissy fit especially seeing as how it's freezing up on startup, but doesn't freeze on the BIOS screen when it loads up in safe-mode after hard resets, so something is clearly happening between the hard boot-up and the startup of Windows 11 itself.

Thankfully I do have Google Drive sync support and plenty of external HDD's that I can back my stuff up to, but with the freezing and restarting getting as bad as it's been, I haven't been able to back anything up, and I don't want to risk doing it manually if it'll just freeze and potentially corrupt my files in the process. So I told the guy to call me if he needed to mess with anything concerning the system storage so that, if he could at least keep it running stable in the shop, then I could swing by and get everything I needed synced up safely before he messes around with anything.

It could also very well have something to do with the power supply itself, the house that I occupy the main floor of isn't exactly built with electric optimization in mind, we've had fuses blow on us before just from running the hair dryer at the same time as the TV, so if it's something to do with the PC drawing too much power for the electrical system here to keep up with, either (hopefully) the guy will be able to instruct me on how to lower and manage that power intake through the PC's BIOS (I believe you can but I'm still a massive noob on custom builds and I don't want to go tinkering with it myself) or, idk, maybe I'll have to get my landlord to drop by again with his electrician and check out the fuses to make sure they're all operating properly. I'm not an electrician either, so fuck if I know at this point what could be going on. I feel like it can't be the house itself because everything else is running fine and it's just become a recent issue, but our city's power grid is also not exactly praised for being good at its job, especially not in the winter.

So yeah, I'm a little - well, a lot - stressed right now, but all I can really do at this point is wait. Fortunately, I have my iPad and also remembered that I still have my old PC, so I've hooked it up, at best if the problem repeats itself on this PC then I'll know it has to do with the display monitor, at worst I'll just be stuck working with my clunky old hardware for a couple days, which is annoying, but it'll get the job done. Fortunately I had the newest episode of Rekindled uploaded to the cloud in Clip Studio so I can still download it and work on it, which was my biggest worry when everything started to go belly-up (next to just, like, having a working PC).

Sooooo yeah. It's annoying, but I'm hoping for the best. Send good vibes y'all, I really could use it rn, between this and slow traffic at work and some other personal shit that's been going on, it's been a shitty few days (╥﹏╥)

And yeah, I'll keep y'all updated on if it affects this week's update, it really shouldn't honestly as most of the work left is doable from both my iPad and PC, but obviously at this point anything can happen so if anything has to be postponed or changed to accommodate the current situation, I'll update y'all as soon as I can! Thanks everyone, y'all are the best, wish me luck <3

[kraviolis]

someone liked one of my TOH headcanon posts from earlier this year and it reminded me about the specific headcanons i have for exactly what types of games the hexsquad plays and how they play them.

luz is obv an RPG fantasy fan. anything with a juicy story and a character creator and complex lore she’ll love. she definitely plays series like elder scrolls and baldur’s gate and final fantasy. she also plays final fantasy 14 and has her character as the good witch luzura and she isnt good at playing it like an mmo is supposed to be played but she loves the story. when endwalker came out luz couldnt stop sobbing to the point that camila was actually worried about her. also enjoys roguelikes such as hades or binding of isaac even if she can only play for so long before getting too frustrated. she also 100% plays genshin impact and gets into arguments online with other genshin fans.

amity is a fighting game girl. she is highly competitive and practices combos with her eyes shut. she prefers the tekken series but when luz wants to play with her they play guilty gear bcus luz likes it’s art style the most. she also likes fantasy RPGs but is way more picky about which ones she plays. she likes fire emblem. she also plays ff14 with luz and is actually good at the game (she carries luz sometimes) but isnt a huge fan of MMOs. she also is the one in the friend group with the NASA ass PC rig with a custom case and the most organized wiring you’ve ever seen with the lcd screen on the liquid cooled cpu and the azura figurine inside the case. she also does custom wraps for all her consoles.

hunter likes games that are very much like, micromanagement sims. like civ5 or cities skylines or factorio (i dont know anything about it but ive been assured by my sister that hunter plays modded factorio) but he’s also a fan of like, old school FPS games like doom and half life. i can see him doing speedruns of those games. (also he 100% once got addicted to some game like fuckin. galactic pinball or something to the point where he was staying up all night and not sleeping so he could play more pinball. in order to get him to stop playing so much and actually get some sleep, gus used illusions to make hunter think he was hallucinating about pinball and scared him into not looking at a single screen or monitor for like three weeks.)

gus is a very chill gamer but he likes games that he can sink hours and hours into. instead of playing a wide variety of games he has a select few that he dedicates his time into learning every last mechanic, but there’s also some games he just plays casually. like with pokemon games he’ll put hundreds of hours into them and carefully curate his team and does like nuzlocke runs but when he plays on his and willow’s shared-custody new horizons island he’ll just walk around and catch bugs and shit and not really worry about upgrading his house and make matching fits with his favorite villager.

willow prefers cozy games, like slime rancher or stardew valley or the aforementioned shared new horizons island, but she’s also a fucking menace about them. like she goes HARD on the min-maxing and automation and shit. while gus is wandering around their island catching fish, willow’s busy rearranging her fully upgraded mansion up in the hills and harassing any villagers she doesnt like with nets and deciding what hybrids to plant in front of her bell trees (she only has bell trees for the aesthetic. gus isnt allowed to harvest them) she would also be running the most high profit slime ranch ever but the way she treats her slimes makes hunter upset whenever he sees her just fuckin throwing them off a cliff the second they arent useful to her anymore. (meanwhile hunter names each one of his slimes and always feeds them their favorite foods and cried over casey & beatrix)

vee enjoys survival/strategic horror games, like DBD, resident evil, deadspace, or even FNAF. she’s the type of person to see the goriest most violent death in a video game ever and just go “ew yucky” then carry on. masha and her are often playing DBD together while in a call and are the most annoying pair of suvivors ever. she also likes games such as original katamari and pikmin 1 and chulip. she's also the undefeated DDR champion of the friend group.

and of COURSE they all play video games together. they all have a terraria world they play on together where they all are focused on their own little projects while still working together and are slowly building up their own village/mansion/castle/fort but luz keeps rushing ahead of everyone just bcus she's so excited and she definitely somehow ends up summoning the wall of flesh accidentally

they DID have a modded minecraft world for a few months with both tech mods and magic mods but while hunter, amity, and vee all focused on their factories and computers and technology, gus, willow, and luz fucked around with all the crazy magic and accidentally found out by blowing up a factory. this is where heightened tension between the the warlocks & the scientists began. this spark eventually turned into a full fledged war that lasted two months before it ended in mutually assured destruction to the point where no one could actually load into the server without their game crashing.

bonus: camila isnt much of a gamer with one exception-- when she was in college manny introduced her to WoW and got her hooked. it was Their Game that they played together all the time. they made cosplays of their characters together. they had several dates in game. they optimized their characters to perfect compliment one another when they ran dungeons with their guild. even since manny passed camila still plays every so often and keeps in touch with their guild members. for the longest time luz has 0 idea that camila plays WoW at all and only finds out after the whole secret nerd confession.

[andrevasims]

I was thinking about how difficult it is to get all my favorite 2000s games to run on my PC, and one part is the mismatch of my current CPU/graphics with what the game expects to run on, but the other part is those games specifically were never remastered or updated.

because some older games still work fine, but only if you use the version from specific retailers like Steam or GOG because those are the ones that have been updated (apparently the GOG version of Oblivion has the NTCore 4GB patch already applied upon install lol).

then I was thinking about how people interested specifically in older technology, not just games, actually have older PCs running Windows 95 or whatever else, with the giant CRT monitor and everything.

which made me realize, if these older games never get optimized/updated, the ever-changing PC parts are gonna reach the point where you have to get a dedicated 2000s-era PC just to play them. or an emulator, like DOSBox is for DOS, but idk as much about that in relation to XP-era games.

[jenroses]

I just ordered a bunch of pieces parts that I'm gonna turn into a computer.

I've built systems before, like eh 15 years ago or more, and I cannot overstate how delightful it is that the persistence of modularity means that while the system I'm building now will be functionally the equivalent of dozens of times the power of the computer I built then, the bones of it are all pretty similar.

Motherboard. Cpu. Cooler. Power supply. RAM. Storage. Case. Fans. Graphics card. Operating system. Monitor.

Now some things have changed. You can now buy literally everything with vivid rainbow lights, and for a few minutes I stared at the pretty modern cases with their windows and rave -like interiors, and dreamed of the gayest computer on the planet.

Then I remembered that I'm a photophobic mushroom who computers in a darkened room and hates bright high contrast lighting and spent more dollars to get a case without a window.

Also, water cooling terrifies me. Not because the idea is unsound but because while I'm confident in my ability to insert tab a into slot b to assemble a computer by going slowly and following instructions, the very notion of me handling liquids around electronic components sounds inherently fraught.

So I did not go with components which require such things.

Infodumping below the cut.

(for the curious: fractal design define r5 case, msi pro z790-p WiFi ddr4 mobo, i5136000kf (14 core), 64gb ddr4 RAM, radeon rx6800 16gb, deepcool ak400 zero dark plus cooler, 4x 140mm case fans, Corsair 850w modular platinum ps, 1 tb ssd for the os and a 2tb ssd for the games, both pcie4x4 nvme, and a curved 27 inch 2k monitor. This is upgrading from a 2015 laptop which is still very robust with an i76700 quad core processor, 16gb RAM, 1tb ssd and a gtx950m 4gb graphics card which just this year stopped meeting minimum specs for the games I want to play. I figure the new system could last me another 8-10 years.)

Is 64 gb of ram overkill? Hahahaha yes. But it's about a hundred bucks. Is 3tb overkill? No but it's also about 120 bucks. Do I need a 27 inch monitor? Mayyyybe but it's $200. The real splurge is the video card and CPU, but I'm not going to regret those at all when I'm playing starfield and bg3.

(I'm also going to play every game I've been playing at low settings on ultra just because I can. Subnautica is gonna be so pretty.)

Interestingly, the parts come with three games, including the one I initially decided to build a system for (starfield). The processor comes with assassin's creed mirage and something I didn't recognize. Going with Intel for the processor and AMD for the GPU ended up being very much in my favor that way as if I'd gone ryzen, I'd have ended up with two copies of starfield.

I think the last time I built a system from scratch it had 4-8 gigs of RAM and a 2gb video card and maybe a dual core cpu maybe not. I've done some bare bones systems since then and a lot of upgrades, but not from-the-ground-up.

Amusingly, while doing this, I thought I was going to hand my laptop down to my son. Then I realized that in a pandemic fugue state in 2021 I bought him and my husband computers with part of the stimulus that were basically maxed out refurb systems that somehow are running 32g of RAM each and the only real weakness in their systems are graphics, which hubby doesn't use and which can be easily upgraded for my son for like <$150 to double his vram.

I have minimal memory of buying these systems but it makes sense for how little they complain about them. (old Dell optiplex systems. I think I spent 400 on each of them at the time. With upgrades.)

So since I've been hyperfixated on this process I've been watching a lot of pc building YouTube and it's been very helpful but also very popcorn. So much drama. Le gasp.

My one regret about not getting a flash light up system with lots of rgb is that it would impress the hell out of my 11 year old but I seriously can't deal with that much light up distraction and the extra cost for the components has been spent on a better GPU.

Anyway this is all going to be much cheaper than trying to find a system with equivalent stats prebuilt, and it's been a while since that was true when I was in the market for a computer.

[legacydevice]

Do you know what old pc I should get for retro gaming?

Thanks for the question! Keep in mind that this is written from the assumption that you have no/very basic knowledge of older computers, so I apologize if this comes off a bit patronizing! Even if you know quite a bit, other people reading may not and I want to make sure people are knowledgeable before making a purchase!

If you dont care about hardware, and your current pc can handle it, I'd recommend setting up a VM with the operating system of your choice (windows xp would probably have the most flexibility). Look up a tutorial on how to set up a VM with VirtualBox, and you can easily find .iso files of your operating system of choice online. (Obviously be careful of what you download). This is also convenient because if you dont own physical copies of your games it's pretty easy to get the files from the internet archive and transfer them to the VM! If you need any more help with this, feel free to send me an ask and I can help you out!

If you're a hardware lover like me though, I definitely understand wanting to have the experience of the real thing! Please keep in mind im not totally educated about specs and technical stuff, so take my opinion with a grain of salt and look for others input as well (followers please add on / correct me)!

A lot of it depends on the kind of games you want to run, if you're fine with only 2d games you should be fine with most computers that have an appropriate cpu/ram for the year it was made! However, running 3d games will definitely need a good gpu. There are plenty of people on ebay who sell custom built computers geared towards retro gaming, I'd recommend looking into listings of those even if you do not want to buy on eBay just to get an idea of what you would like!

I personally use Facebook marketplace to look for old computers that I want to buy. A lot of times you can get pretty good deals on there! While not a gaming oriented computer, I got my micron millennia, including the crt monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers all for $80! It also runs pretty much any games I want to play on there, but I haven't tried any beefier 3d games yet so I'm not sure how it will do with those. You can also check local thrift stores around you as well, I've been able to find a Dell optiplex for $40 once before. I would recommend local shops rather than goodwills since most goodwills usually sell their good stuff online for auction, but it doesn't hurt to check if you're feeling lucky!

Keep in mind that buying locally very much depends on if you can drive/have access to a car, so I totally understand if this isn't an option for you. I also have only ever lived in the US so your buying options will probably be different if you are in another country. If you know of any local retro tech enthusiast groups, they could probably help you out specific to your location! Again, Facebook is a good resource to find local groups.

The other option is buying from eBay. It will be more expensive because of shipping but you can at least get something more geared to your specifics and it's more convenient if you do not have access to transportation. Searching up something like "custom retro gaming pc" or "vintage gaming pc" should help you out!

Also, if this is your first time buying an old computer, or you do not have any experience with technology repair, you may want to buy from someone who has that experience and has already refurbished the computer for you. Blown capacitors and shitty power supplies are no joke, they can be very dangerous! If you absolutely need a computer that is advertised as not working/not tested, take it to someone who knows what they're doing before plugging it in. Again, I apologize if this comes off as patronizing but I want to make sure everyone is safe and no one has any bad experiences that may turn away people from this hobby!

Another recommendation I'd give is to get something you like! I know this might be a bit obvious, but I really like windows 98 because of nostalgia reasons, and my roommate would often ask me why I didn't get a pc with windows XP. Personally all the games I want to play run fine on 98, and i'm willing to use a VM for games that need XP. Get something that makes you happy if it is within your budget and convenient for you!

I apologize if this is a bit rambly! I'm waiting for an oil change and im bored lol. Other people feel free to add on and im willing to answer more questions if needed :)

[carlos2023tudo]

[blubberquark]

Resolution Independence, Zoom, Fractional Scaling, Retina Displays, High-DPI: A Minefield

I already explained how CPU dispatch is a minefield: It doesn't cause intermittent bugs. It often doesn't even cause crashes. Badly implemented CPU dispatch means you build something on your machine that runs on your machine, but doesn't perform the dispatch correctly, so it crashes on somebody else's machine, or something build on a worse machine still runs fine on a better machine, but not as well as it could. Some of the bugs only manifest with a different combination of compiler, build system, ABI, and microarchitecture. CPU dispatch is a minefield because it's easy to get wrong in non-obvious ways.

I recently played an old game on Windows 11, with a high-DPI 2560x1600 (WQXGA) monitor. Text was too small to read comfortably read, and the manufacturer had set the zoom level to 150% by default. When I launched the game, it started in fullscreen mode, at 2560x1660, which Windows somehow managed to zoom up to 3840x2400. The window was centered, with all the UI elements hidden behind the edges of the screen. When I switched from fullscreen to windowed, the window still covered the whole desktop and the task bar. I quit the game and switched to another. That game let me choose the resolution before launch. At first I tried 2560x1660, but nothing worked right. Then I started it again, at 1920x1080. It didn't look quite right, and I couldn't understand what was going on. Windows has scaled the game up to 2880x1620, which looked almost correct. At this point I realised what was happening, and I set the zoom to 100%. Both games displayed normally.

The first game was an old pixel art platformer from the early 2000s, with software rendering. The second is a strategy game built with OpenGL around 2015, with high-resolution textures based on vector art, and with a UI that works equally well on an iPad and on a PC.

It was hard to read things on that monitor, so I set the font scaling to 150%, but somehow that made things harder to read. Some applications did not honour the font size defaults, and others did, and still others had tiny UI elements with big letters that were spilling out.

Next, I tried to run a game on Ubuntu, with Sway (based on wayland) as the desktop environment. It's a different machine, a 15.6 inch 1920x1080 laptop with an external 1920x1080 23 inch monitor attached. I zoomed the internal display of the laptop by 150% in order to have windows appear equally sized on both monitors.

What is happening on Windows 11 seems to be that even OpenGL games that don't think in terms of pixels, but in terms of floating point coordinates that go from -1 to +1 in both the x and y dimension, (so 0.1 screen units are different sizes in different dimensions) are treated the same as software rendering games that give a buffer of software-rendered pixels to the operating system/graphics environment. Making an already resolution-independent window bigger feels pointless.

What I would want to happen by default, especially in the case of the software-rendered game, is for the operating system to just tell my game that the desktop is not sized 2560x1600, but 1706x1066 (or just 1600x1000), and to then scale that window up. If the window is scaled up, mouse position coordinates should be automatically scaled down from real pixels to software pixels, unless the mouse cursor is captured: If I am playing a DOOM clone or any first-person game, I do not want relative mouse sensitivity to decrease when I am playing on a 4K monitor or when I am maximising the window (if playing in windowed mode). If I have a retina/zoomed display attached, and a standard definition/unzoomed display, and there is a window overlapping both screens, then only the part of a window that is on the zoomed display should be zoomed in.

What I would want to happen with a "resolution-independent" game is this: The game queries the size of the monitor with a special resolution-independent query function. There is no way to "just make it backward compatible". This is a new thing and needs new API. The query returns

Size of all desktops in hardware pixels

Size of all screens in real-world centimetres

Preferred standard text size in pt/cm (real world) or pixels

Zoom factor (in percent) of all desktops

Which screens are touch or multi-touch screens

Is dark mode enabled?

Which desktop is "currently active"

The "preferred" desktop to open the window

This information would allow an application to create a window that is the appropriate size, and scale all text and UI elements to the appropriate size. We can't assume that a certain size in pixels is big enough for the user to comfortably hit a button.

Even this information might not be enough. What should be the behaviour if a windowed OpenGL application is dragged between a 4K monitor at 200% zoom, and a 640x480 CRT? Should the OS scale the window down the same way it currently scales windows up when they aren't "retina aware"?

I don't really know. All I do know is that Windows, Mac OS, and different wayland compositors all handle high-DPI zoom/retina differently, in a way that breaks sometimes, in some environments. But it looks fine if you don't have scaling set. There are ways to tell the windowing system "I know what I am doing" if you want to disable scaling, but these are easy to abuse. There's a cargo cult of just setting "NSHighResolutionCapable" or "HIGHDPIAWARE" without understanding why and why not. Win32 provides all the information you need, with a very complex API. Wayland has a very different approach. SDL is aware of the issue.

I really hope SDL3 will make this work. If you get this wrong, you'll only realise when somebody on a different operating system with a different monitor tries to get your game to fit on the screen by fiddling with the registry, and it goes from not fitting on the monitor to text being too small read.

[hikikolol]

*ready, action*

ham wonjin

there's no one better than asking your best friend to help you film a content

warning!! use of sex toys, reader being in OF, edging (r), dacryphilia, use of "sir"

— 2.5k words

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"fuck please fill me up, oh my god" you glanced at the viewfinder that was connected to your monitor to see if the angle of was right. your set up was hella expensive and thanks to your viewers, you could afford it the month you joined onlyfans. a triple monitor hooked onto your pc that was also powered by the most high-end and powerful cpu ever to date, it was also helpful having so many monitors to use as your viewfinder for your cameras, the four movie-rated cameras that are always propped up onto their respective tripods. two light boxes that are on either side of your room to fix the light fixtures for your film, it was all too great, very professional.

you were too lost in your own world to notice what time it was, pleasure building up more and more as your viewers paid a ridiculous amount to see you suffer— pleasure —you were doing a live stream, for every tip you got; depending on how much, the vibrator you held against you would automatically heighten in speed. you had no control over it and your ability to cum was in your viewers' reach, it had your legs shaking for about two hours now, they had been denying your climax for that long and it had your eyes pool with tears but they can't see it for you are a faceless streamer. strings of polite requests dripped out of your mouth as you begged for them to make you cum, a generous viewer had pain plenty, finally urging the vibrator to go on full speed for ten seconds making you squirt inevitably.

you took your time to breathe as you gave them encouragments of gratitude for making you come, you changed the camera angle from your little remote and started bidding your goodbyes as you turned it off. heaving a deep sigh at the mess you were about to clean up, you stood up and took your equipments off piece by piece as you placed them back into their respective bags to stuff them into the closet door in your room. you have always kept your business private from your friends; most of them being men, you didn't want them knowing what kind of stuff you do for a living. going by an online streamer when they asked but never gave them the id.

putting your stuff aside and hiding it by a huge blanket, you started putting on some fresh clothes that you put aside before you started streaming. a hoodie you came to love from your best friend and some shorts that were very overworn. wonjin, the said best friend, was going to come over tonight to play some games on your set up. he had always adored your set up since he deemed it as the powerhouse of all pcs and therefore, he loved playing his games on it. most of the apps being his and his account logged in, you never minded it, it gave you a piece of mind that it was worth paying so much money for.

filling a cup with some water, you jumped at the sudden loud ring of the keypad being unlocked, wonjin inviting himself in with some bags of take-out in his hands, "there's my hoodie, i was wondering if i lost it" "hello to you too, what's the take out for tonight?" "chicken and beer" you nodded as he made himself home at your living room, setting on the coffee table as you reached for some plates and cutlery. moving to his side, you took your remote and chose a movie to play as a background while you both ate and talked. it's something you loved doing with wonjin, despite his busy schedule in his university and part time job as a growing actor, he has never failed to spend his off days with you. though at times he knows you love your space, he also knows you like having company around so lounging without even talking was the norm between the both of you.

-- -- --

"hey, i'm going to download some mods for my game, would that be alright?" wonjin asked, "yeah, sure, just make sure it's from a safe site, i guess" both of you were now in your bedroom, wonjin sat in front of your set up while you laid on your bed, scrolling through endless tiktoks from your phone. the clicks from your keyboard as well as the mouse filled your room as you fell into a light nap from the therapeutic noises.

"what the fuck?"

followed by a moan stirred you up into your sleep, a shriek coming from wonjin's moth soon follow after, making you sit up on your bed. "why the hell are you screaming?" your eyes trailed onto one of the monitors by wonjin's side as you hear another moan coming out of your speakers— your moan. you scrambled off of your bed to wonjin's side as you exit the video he was watching, it was a video you filmed earlier in the day as a pay per view for your fans. you looked over to your side, a wide-eyed wonjin staring back at your face, "y/n what the fuck was that?" you sighed and sat on the corner of your bed. "first of all, why were you snooping around?" "i wasn't! i was fixing my mods and it wasn't starting up so i looked at the files and that video somehow ended up in the folder!" you looked down, you couldn't look at him in the eye after he watched you basically fuck yourself with a plastic dildo. deciding it was best to tell him the truth, wonjin wouldn't turn a blind eye, you trusted him too much to do that. he may feel a little awkward but it would pass, it's wonjin afterall.

"i do it as a living, i stream and i upload videos for my...uhh... followers" starting to lift your head up to look at him properly, "you...you're a pornstar?" "what? no! i mean, technically, but i do it by myself and anonymously. they can't see my face and i edit my voice so it isn't my real one" "since when?" "since i moved here. when i got fired, this was the fastest way to earn money at the little time i was given to pay the rent" you both fell into an awkward silence, his finger now tapping at the side of your table, cheeks puffed and eyes wide as he took in everything you said, "is it forced? i mean you know you can ask us for help with finances, right? we'll lend you any amount just say the word" he stood up from his seat to take both of your hands in his whilst he made you look into his eyes, "no, it isn't, i mean- yeah maybe at first but i grew to really enjoy it" he was taken aback that's for sure, he leaned onto your chair as he melted onto it, it was like his whole world collapsed onto his shoulders as every word came out of your mouth.

-- -- --

a few days passed since the conversation with wonjin had happened, thankfully, he grew calmer and accepted the fact that you were doing something very...erotic for a living. he never did grow awkward after the encounter which you were grateful for, but now is your recent problem. your viewers grew tired of you doing things alone, they wanted spice, something new, they wanted thrill. now you could have looked for someone in your field to do it with you, a collab per say but you weren't too comfortable doing it with someone you didn't actually know. here you were dialling the very person that came across your sex tape, you trusted him enough, you know he wouldn't judge, and you have his files ready to be deleted if he said something degrading (out of sex), it was all too perfect.

"hello?" a groggy voice answered,

"are you just waking up? wanj, it's 3 pm"

"and? why did you call?"

"come over please, i need help. i'll explain it when you're here" you ended the call right after, not wanting to explain it through the phone with him just waking up. screaming into your pillow from the tension you were feeling, you were nervous of course, telling him about your job and asking him for help was completely different and it could lead to a very awkward atmosphere when he does reject it. your video was due in four days too so it wasn't an ample time to find another guy to do it with.

you heard your door open about 20 minutes after, you took the time to set your equipments up just in case he approved on doing it, it would save you time and him backing out last minute. you walked out into your living room before he got the chance to look into your bedroom. you motioned for him to sit on the couch as you went to get him some coke from the fridge. "what's this about?" he asked, "you're the only one that knows about my job and...i kind of need your help that uhm.. involves my job" the words came out ever so slowly, handing him the now opened can of coke, "what about your job? are you planning on quitting?" "no, it's uhh... to explain it plainly, my viewers wants more, they're tired of seeing me do things alone so they suggested i find someone that could...help me" voice trailing off as you looked to the ground, it's as if you could feel the heat radiating off of wonjin's body with what you had just told him. he stood up and paced around the living room a bit to process what you just had said, there's another thing to note about all of this; a few years ago, wonjin had confessed that he liked you. you rejected him as you weren't sure if you were quite ready to be in a relationship just yet and thankfully, that didn't ruin your friendship with him— it actually grew from then on, you were almost inseparable by now. asking him to do this was almost sending him to his deathbed, you knew this but you still chose to be selfish and asked him for the favor.

"wait. what kind of help of help are we talking about here?"

"well i was thinking you could be in the video, no face included of course, and you'd be holding onto this remote. it's kind of like a pov set up so you'd be holding onto the camera while-"

"hold up, sorry, step back a bit. you want me in the video helping to pleasure you?"

"well, that's the plan...listen, if you're uncomfortable to do it, i can look for another pers-"

"no! i'll do it! just..teach me for a bit, i'm new to all of this so, let me learn"

you looked back at him surprised, you didn't think it was that easy to convince him to do it. he might still have some feelings for you afterall. you gave him a nod and led him to your room, showing him your set up and how it worked; handing him a handheld camera to let him get used to the pov camerawork, holding it up to his face, he turned to you, seeing you doe eyes looking up at the camera from his upper angle, "how is it? are you doing okay?" oh he is not gonna be able to live through the night "yeah just fine, you? you sure you wanna do this?" a smile and a curt nod followed through the viewfinder of the camera, his cheeks flaring up at the confidence you were oozing out of. sharing more bits of how you usually did things around when you'd film, telling him how the monitors were your viewfinder and how you could tell the video was being filmed right. he listened diligently and tried to remember which was which.

"now this; is the remote, there are buttons there to fasten the vibrations and such. experiment around it, it'll be fun!" handing him the small pink remote, its silicone body fit in his hand perfectly, running his thumb lightly on the buttons that were on the device, his eyes widened a bit this must be a fucking dream.

-- -- --

you were a whimpering mess. you could've came a long time ago but no, wonjin has been edging you for three hours now. your videos came up to only an hour and a half at most, you had plenty of footage already but he still kept on going. "please, please sir, please let me cum, i can't take it anymore, please!" sobbing into the pillow, you felt your stomach tighten from the upcoming orgasm.

before filming the video, you had asked wonjin what he wanted to be addressed, giving him examples of names and such but what surprised you the most was when he said sir. he said it so confidently too, giving you a smug look whilst you fumble out words but decided it was best either way. there you were now, ass up on the bed whilst he sat on your office chair by your desk, his right hand on the camera nearing his face while the left held onto the remote. your legs were shaking at this point, barely keeping your back in check, you didn't even bother looking at the monitors about an hour in, you were just desperate in releasing your high.

you didn't even notice how wonjin stood up from his seat and slowly walked towards you until you felt his hand push you back lower to raise your ass up, his hands finding their way to the middle of your legs to stretch them apart giving him the most perfect view. he couldn't help it, his hands lingered on for a bit longer, caressing your soft skin finding its way higher and higher until it reached your clit. you screamed for him as he circled around, "cum for me, baby" his direct command sent chills down your spine, speeding his actions made you lose your mind as you came, screaming and shaking whilst you emptied yourself. slowly moving your legs to close; you felt your sheets oh fuck you squirted...a lot. muttering curses under your harboured breaths, wonjin ended the recording and walked over to your desk to get the towel you put earlier and started cleaning you up.

"you mind helping me next?" wonjin asked as he reached to pat your head, if looks could kill; he would've been six feet under as you glared at him, "you edged me for three fucking hours, ham wonjin" he let out a breathy laugh whilst helping you up. "and you did great" "take your clothes off and lay down. i'm getting my fucking revenge"

• ₊ ༝ · ˖ ₊ ˚ 。 . ⋆• ₊ ༝ · ˖ ₊ ˚ 。 . ⋆• ₊ ༝ · ˖ ₊ ˚ 。 . ⋆

hello luvs!!! hope you like this HAHAHAHA specially 🫠 anon, noah, and sam ehem i might make a part 2 for here since it was mostly plot and little smut, i'm not too sure when that will be posted but yeah! i had a lot of fun making this and i was supposed to release it as a bday gift to myself but i got busy so ig this is a belated bday gift HAHAHAHAH see u soon luvies!!

[drunkenskunk]

So there's a fanfic I've been trying to write for the last several years, and I haven't been making much progress. On average, I've been writing 5000 words in it every 6 months or so. I keep trying to make progress, but it's difficult to find the motivation to continue, since it seems like nobody gives a shit. And it's just a feedback loop of the longer it takes me to write, the less interest there is, and the harder it is for me to motivate myself, which takes me longer to write...

But there's also another project I've been working on: creating a whole bunch of redacted documents about an OC of mine, and then putting them all together in a physical file folder, as if some fictional agency of multiverse space cops has been building an intelligence dossier. The latest document is a 10-page-long transcript of an operation where they tried to capture her, but it went very wrong.

But also, I've been trying to work on a short story about the character I've been playing in the weekly Lancer game. It's called "Scarlet's Last Normal Day on Hell's Gate," and it is exactly what it sounds like from the title: following her life on the station, the literal day before the Class 2 Printer breaks, and the campaign of In Golden Flame kicks off.

But also, I've been stressed about my computer so much that I haven't streamed in over a week. This in itself has caused a slight crisis, because see it's making me question if this whole streaming habit hobby is even worth it. I've been doing it for 2 years, and haven't seen any tangible results. It's just made me more stressed and tired and it takes up valuable time I don't have that I could've been spent trying to write or draw and oh god the streaming is why my hands haven't been working in years, isn't it?

But the computer situation is also stressful. See, I'm just knowledgeable enough about my computer to get me into trouble, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to get me out. I think there's some kind of overheating issue: sometimes, when I play or stream some games, my computer will unexpectedly stop. The fans spin like a jet engine, everything freezes, the monitors go black and display the words "DVI NO SIGNAL" and the only input it will accept is me holding down the power button to force shut down. And it's like, I don't know what the problem is. Is it the case fans that need replacing? Is it a problem with the fans and/or heat sink on the graphics card? Is there a fault in the liquid cooling system? Has the thermal paste on the CPU worn out because the computer is just over 5 years old? Or is it something else entirely that I'm just not knowledgeable enough to even be aware of?

So that means there's the issue of what to do about this computer. Because even getting it to a shop to figure out what's wrong is going to be tricky, as I don't own (can't afford) a car, so how would I get it there? And even if I somehow found a way to get it there and back, is getting it fixed to keep this old bitch limping along for a few more years even worth it? Even before (what I assume are) the overheating issues, it was still showing its age. The computer might be 5 years old, but the graphics card was low-mid range, even when I got it. And it's becoming increasingly clear that 4 tb of space split between 2 hard drives might have been fine in 2019, it absolutely isn't enough now.

But if I decide to get a new computer, the only way I'd be able to pay for it is by pulling money from what used to be the "Emergency Bug Out Fund," an amount of money I had squirreled away in case of "emergency." Problem is, that moment of "emergency" where that money could've been useful already came and went. It's not enough for me to escape the United States. And even if it was enough, I never made a proper plan, because I was too busy surviving. And even if I had enough and put together a proper plan... where the fuck could I even escape? Setting aside how hostile to trans people most of the world seems to be now anyway, the reach of the Imperial American Hegemony is global, and they've proven time and again that they do not give a shit about sovereignty or international law. And it's only going to get worse after the election...

Pulling from that fund feels like me admitting defeat. I'm going to be stuck here in this hostile police state of a country, working until I die, desperately trying to make just enough money to pay off my increasingly absurd ransom rent each month, as it feels like all the things that used to bring me joy are just causing me stress.

I'm so tired.

[easyshoppi-blog]

How to Build a Gaming Computer

Building a gaming computer is a rewarding and enjoyable experience that offers the dual benefits of customization and cost savings. Whether you're a seasoned gamer or a tech enthusiast, assembling your own PC can be an exciting project. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you build a gaming computer.

1. Determine Your Budget and Needs

Before you begin, it's essential to establish a budget. Gaming computers can range from a few hundred ruppe to several thousand. Consider what games you'll be playing and at what settings. For example, if you plan on playing the latest AAA titles at ultra settings and high resolutions, you'll need to invest more in a powerful graphics card and processor.

2. Choose Your Components

Each component of your gaming PC plays a crucial role. Here’s a rundown of what you'll need:

Central Processing Unit (CPU): The CPU is the brain of your computer. For gaming, a mid to high-end CPU from Intel or AMD is recommended. Popular choices include the Intel Core i5/i7/i9 and AMD Ryzen 5/7/9 series.

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU): The GPU is the most critical component for gaming performance. NVIDIA and AMD are the leading manufacturers. Consider a current-generation GPU like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series or AMD Radeon RX 6000 series for optimal performance.

Motherboard: The motherboard should be compatible with your CPU and GPU. It’s the main circuit board that connects all components. Ensure it has enough slots and ports for future upgrades.

Memory (RAM): At least 16GB of RAM is recommended for modern gaming. RAM affects your system's ability to run games smoothly and handle multitasking.

Storage: Solid State Drives (SSDs) are much faster than Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). A combination of an SSD for your operating system and games, and an HDD for additional storage, is ideal.

Power Supply Unit (PSU): A reliable PSU ensures that your components receive a stable power supply. A unit with an 80 Plus rating and sufficient wattage for your build is recommended.

Case: The case houses all your components. Choose one with good airflow and enough space for your parts and future upgrades.

Cooling System: Proper cooling is crucial to prevent overheating. This can be achieved through air cooling (fans) or liquid cooling systems.

Peripherals: Don’t forget a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and headset. A gaming monitor with a high refresh rate and low response time can enhance your gaming experience.

Building a gaming computer is a fulfilling endeavor that allows for complete control over your gaming setup. With careful planning and attention to detail, you can create a system that meets your gaming needs and provides a platform for future upgrades. Happy gaming!