Nothing fills me with the same kinda joy I feel when I get my hands on some old CDs from the local thriftstore - specifically ones that where made for someone with messy marker writing on the CD itself - ripping the files and putting all of that on my clunky little mp3 player.

Special shoutout also to really obscure music that gets put up on the internet archive free to download. I thrive off that on so many levels!

Alright, so, ram modules that are about 3600Mhz is just enough, esp for 5xxx Ryzens. Then the more ram sticks you have, the better the performance thanks to the channels. God, my head is boiling from all this computer information.

Then Ryzen has something called Infinity Fabric, and it matters the most when it comes to AMD’s CPUs and memory; timings matter too, but seems like IF matters more. Still don’t exactly understand it, but it’ll be something to think about once I actually have the new pc.

Rant goes below.

Then there are PSUs. Man, I wanted a Fractal Design build like a dumbass I am, but... their PSUs are not so good when it comes to oscillations, and that’s a big thing apparently for stability. Looked at all the reviews about ion gold, decided to switch back to the Cougar PSU I bought last year, and then decided to switch to a be quiet! PSU because of the CPU I chose... but something tells me I may actually revert back to my Cougar and buy the second one. AAAAAAA

Then there’s mobo. The first one I picked was ASUS ROG STRIX B550-A, because good VRMs and heatsinks on them. And watercooling compatibility. Then it’s 4 gen PCI-E, but whatever, ‘cause I picked gen 3 SSD, and the video cards don’t utilize gen 4 in full. Also its heatsinks are whitish. And I’m a girl. And I want pretty things. Like an idiot, I chose the mobo based on looks, what a retard, but I can’t make myself get me one of those ugly shroud-less mobos, I’ve had enough with my current one, SO UGLY. Luckily, the mobo doesn’t seem to be faulty. Then I heard people recommend MSI B550A PRO for 5xxx CPUs. Picked one, granted it also costs 7k lower than the strix. And everything would be okay, but turns out this mobo has a lot of failures. So I went back to strix. Also, initially, a year ago or so I wanted an MSI board, something-something ace meg whatever with SLI compatibility. But they’re gone, and SLI’s dead, and games don’t really support SLI anyways. So lucky me here, otherwise I’d spend more on the mobo like an idiot I am.

Anyways. Since my mobo is white, I changed my FD case to white, lmao, it’s also couple rubles cheaper than the black one. Also note - I hate RGB stuff, and there’s not glass panel in the case I picked, it’s just solid block of metal... So why the idiot me needs a pretty motherboard? Logic, but I can’t fight it, I want me a pretty thing.

And I changed my AIO, which is FD Celsius S36 to Noctua NH-15D. Had a fight here with myself, ‘cause the AIO looks nice, and the NH-15D looks ass ugly in Noctua’s brand colors; Celsius performs slightly better than the NH-15D, and... THREE FANS. Wanted to place it in front of the case, but then... evaporation is a thing. Fuck it, went with the Noctua, esp since I found it in stock in black, yay. Then again, watercooling is good for short bursts of temperature spikes, then it equalizes and performs maybe worse than an air cooler. So Noctua it is.

Then come SSDs. Fuck me. That’s just hard to pick, there are so many drives. Initially I planned on a 512 GB Samsung 970 PRO because it’s probably last of the MLC guys when everyone went for TLC and QLC. But it’s pricey as fuck. Reliable, but pricey. With great tears I swapped it to an Aorus SSD. Same capacity, but TLC, similar speeds, similar write span, only almost 4k cheaper. But it’s new, no reviews whatsoever, kinda sus. So I just sat and thought about this all and went for a 512 GB NVMe WD Blue, ‘cause I don’t really need it besides having the OS installed on it and all that. And it’s cheaper. And I’m not going to be writing anything on it myself, it’s all for Windows.

Ha, also found some cheap memory sticks at a retail electronics store, 64 GBs of ram would cost me around 20k. 3000Mhz, low timings, could forgive it having rgb lighting. Next day I open their internet store and... there goes my el-cheapo HyperX. Send everything to hell and opted for four sticks of G.Skill RIPJAWS V 3600Mhz CL18. Gonna be fun making it marry the air cooler.

Damn, HDDs got pricey, thanks to the chia mining. Wanted a WD Gold, had it bookmarked, it was around 12 to 14 grand before, and now it’s just unobtanium with its price. Fuck it. And el-cheapo ones, a-la barracudas and blues got more expensive. But I need me some storage, for went for a 2TB WD Blue anyways... and for a Seagate SkyHawk, 1TB.  

Man, I wish someone else would pick me parts and build the thing, but last time my father bought one (not for me ofc, I’m the devil child, even tho I eventually took over it), it almost fried my new shiny 2080 thanks to a cheapfuck of a PSU.

Do not ever cheap out on PSUs, ever.

Also got me a single high static pressure Noctua fan (but it’s black, ugh, and the case fans are white) for the video card cooling. Dunno if it’s going to fit in between the PSU and HDD cage in the end, but if not - it’ll have to do on the front panel in the middle of two white fans pushing air to the 2080. At least the case doesn’t have a glass panel. And finally no fans with light, I swear I hate my shitty Thermaltake fan with passion - it shines blue through the small window on the side panel of the case like a beacon it is, no way to turn it off (except for smashing it, but I ain’t no barbarian).

Low key regretting I went for the bachelor in civil and industrial engineering instead of electric stuff, would’ve been so much easier for me now, lmao.

Hoping I won’t change my mind yet again about the parts, tho honestly I really want to wait till the DDR5 hits the market, and AMD releases their DDR5 compatible CPUs, but I don’t want to wait a year, and then DDR5 will be a lot more expensive than DDR4... and I just can’t wait, I need me more power and less bottlenecks.

UWU

Fuck I’m excited for it. Also dreading it, never dealt with PGA CPUs, wonder how fragile the pins are.

Also, I’m finally excited for a game, ready to shit-piss my pants. Stalker 2 is coming next year, baby! Gotta get me that retail version of the game to put it in my Stalker collection... 

((Don't mind me, just dumping some stuff that's been on my mind. Feel free to comment or rb if you have advice!! Long post ahead tho!!!))

Tbh I'm wondering if my 3ds can even actually be fixed... how are they gonna replace that screen? Is it even possible to get inside the system to replace it?? I don't wanna send my 3ds all the way to them for them to say it can't be fixed and is broken beyond repair...

The thing is, though... I don't wanna give up my 3ds for good and replace it, not really. When they first showed that video, when Reggie held that new 3DS in his hand and said they were coming out with a new style, in my mind I said "I gotta have it. One way or another I am getting that 3DS and I will make it mine." And the opportunity presented itself, and I got it, and I've loved it ever since. I'm very attached to it.

On the other hand, though... there are things I don't really like about it, those things being the "super stable 3D". It doesn't work as well as it says it does, and tbh the 3D feature did NOT need fixing. The original system did it perfectly. But on the New 3DS XL, if you put the 3D slider up all the way, it creates a double image, and no amount of adjusting it in settings can actually fix that. It gives me a headache, so I can't use the 3d feature at all, and as a result I don't.

Another minor gripe is the SD card. I have to actually unscrew the back every single time I want to upload pictures from my SD card. And currently, I am without a compatible screwdriver (and a computer but that's a separate issue). Makes it impossible to run my Animal Crossing blog how I want to. And, because even though they announced the wireless connectivity feature between Windows and the 3ds, it is absolutely not compatible with Windows 10 (I've tried and got super frustrated), which is so extremely stupid as Windows 10 was already out when this 3ds was released, and most people have Windows 10, so I don't see the reasoning behind why they didn't make it compatible, considering it's extremely difficult to downgrade from Windows 10 to a lower OS.

I was considering buying a New 2DS XL instead of trying to fix my 3DS, especially since both the problems I have with my 3DS are eliminated with the 2DS (which makes sense, as it's supposed to be child-friendly). No headache-inducing, improperly-implemented 3D feature, and the SD card is easily accessible (AND the game cartridge is protected by a slot cover so when I drop my 3DS or press too hard somewhere it won't remove the card in the middle of playing). But, as I said, I'm very attached to my 3DS, and on top of that the only colors are black and turquoise or orange and white, if I get the standard version. If I get the Mario Kart 7 bundle there's a purple one, but... I already have Mario Kart 7 and really don't need another copy (in fact MK7 was my first 3DS game!)... so am I really willing to spend more just to get an actually not-ugly-looking 2DS?

Idk what to do here. I get my stipend soon and my money is going towards fixing and replacing my broken stuff, and I wanna be smart with this part of the money I'm spending...

Is it smart to try and see if my 3DS can be fixed? Or should I shell out a little extra cash to get a nice-looking 2DS instead? Either way I'm expecting to spend a lot on whatever I decide -- which is another issue: I have no idea how much fixing this screen is gonna cost me. I really actually don't know. It could be way more than I'm expecting (like, $300-$400 or more), or less than I'm expecting (like around $100-$200). Whereas the 2DS I have my eye on is a solid, affordable $150. But then I have to purchase another microSD card (I have a REALLY high capacity microSD card in my current system... 64 gigs I think?? Way more than I need, which is how I like it), bc all the recent DS systems come with only 4 gb and that's not nearly enough for all the games and apps I have on it, so that'll be extra money coming outta my pocket. And that doesnt include shipping and tax for both. But at the same time... I'll at least know exactly how much I need to pay for each, whereas I still won't have any clue how much fixing my current 3DS will be, and I don't think I'll know until right before I send it in, after the support stuff has all been filled out and I've contacted them; worst case scenario is I send it all the way there and don't have enough to pay for the screen fix. I'm not sure fixing the screen would end up costing more than the system, but I know that's how it is with TVs -- sometimes if you want something fixed, it costs more than what you paid for the TV in the first place, so you might as well just buy a new one because it's the cheaper and smarter option (which is exactly why we are not fixing our broken tv, but I digress). But idk. I dunno what's the smarter choice.

TL;DR: I'm attached to my current 3DS XL, but don't know if it can be fixed or if I'll have enough to fix it, and don't know if it's just smarter to replace it with a 2DS XL instead.