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Monday, January 29, 2018

Help Ludwig Learn How To Use His New Gaming PC (Windows 10?!)

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Don't worry, I won't suddenly become a PC master race weirdo.

I didn't tell anyone but my closest confidantes, but... my PC was failing. Big-league. I did get it as a birthday gift in 2011, which is... a really long time ago, and it showed by failing to properly play even the most basic of games. (Still managed to play and develop all of KoopaTV's own videogames just fine, including 2017's Best PC Game, Soviet Missile Run!)

In late 2017, I was getting scary hard-disk drive failures on start-up. That was fairly indicative that my hardware wasn't going to be around much longer, and Ludwig without his desktop means you won't see him around. He'll also be quite unhappy. Unfortunately, suddenly switching to the third person still won't make it so someone else would solve the problem for me, so since my favourite console manufacturer did nothing I cared about for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, I got a new PC on sale. And it's not immediately outdated, I don't think.

Dell Inspiron Gaming Desktop glowing blue computer tower
Say hi to Ludwig's Dell Inspiron Gaming Desktop.

I'm quite new to this whole talking-about-a-PC thing, so I know the first thing people ask are the “specs”, or specifications.

The processor is the AMD Ryzen™ 5 1400 Processor (4C/8T, 10MB Cache, 3.4 GHz Precision Boost)” (I don't know what that means) and the graphics card is the “AMD Radeon™ RX 580 with 8GB GDDR5”, which is the first time I've owned a computer with an actual graphics card and not some integrated Intel shit. The computer has 8 GB of RAM (same as my previous one) and 1 TB of hard drive (same as my previous one).

What do I plan to use this for? Well, now I can finally get a Steam account and play games on this thing. Did you know my old computer couldn't even play Final Fantasy IX since it had that crappy Intel graphics? Well, Final Fantasy IX is one of the first things I want to play, along with Wild ARMS. (...Oh my gosh, I am NOT letting ARMS retroactively ruin other things.)

Even better, the Steam version of Final Fantasy IX isn't published by Electronic Arts, so I can maintain my boycott of EA. ...Also, the Wild ARMS franchise isn't even on Steam, and I assumed this entire time that it got ported there at some point. Huh. My bad. In that case, then maybe I'm not entirely sure what to do with this thing. Anyone have ideas on what to fill this with?

Donald Trump eating pizza crust first computer desktop wallpaper
Ludwig's desktop is... quite empty right now, but at least Donald Trump is having a filling pizza dish crust-first.
In the transition from his old PC to his new one, Ludwig never stopped watching Hariet Wins By Doing Absolutely Something on loop.

That picture segues into a couple of other points. First,  I just had to learn what a DisplayPort is, and now I'm back to using a single monitor, since my old dual-monitor set-up involved two VGA monitors, with one of them using a VGA–HDMI adapter thing. Now, this graphics card has one HDMI port and three DisplayPorts, so I need a DisplayPort monitor. I'm tasking Kamek to research one, but your suggestions are welcome as well. (It needs to fit rather constrained physical space, so no more than 24 inches horizontally.)

Second, this is my first experience with Windows 10, after avoiding anti-privacy Windows 10 for years. I dodged constant Windows 10 free upgrade offers on my old Windows 7. And I justified it a year later by talking about the death of Paint. Well, now I finally have been unable to avoid Windows 10, and I gotta say that I dislike it. The Start Menu (If you can call it that) is a total disaster, so now I have to actually pin stuff to my task bar. I hate whatever this Microsoft account is. Cortana creeps me out. Rawk said it's the CTRL + F of Windows 10, but Windows 7 didn't need that to find what you needed. While Paint is still on the system, tools like Windows Movie Maker are not, so I need to find a replacement to that and soon.

And there is so much bloatware on this and I don't even know what the hell these things are. And what's with them calling things “apps” instead of “programs” in some places but not others?

Windows 10 Dell McAfee Security bloatware uninstall navigation to the webpage was canceled
...And how do I get rid of McAfee Security if clicking Uninstall opens up a canceled webpage?


Ludwig at least hopes this new computer will run faster, smoother, and more effectively than the older one. If you have tips for Ludwig the new Windows 10/gaming PC owner, ranging from recommended software to basic PC maintenance and upkeep suggestions, he would love to hear them since he doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't anticipate that KoopaTV will get a new PC-oriented focus or anything, since the only big PC gamer on the staff is Wendy, and all she does according to Discord is play through like, 10 games a day.

20 comments :

  1. Well, would you be open to "indie" Steam games? There are several I could recommend if so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Possibly, but not if it's something I buy just to have a big backlog.

      Delete
  2. 頑張ろう!

    good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. はははは。あなたの一番悪い恐怖だよ…いいえいいえ、ふざけていたぁ。マイナーで、日本人だ。よろしく、ルードヴィッヒさん。

      hahahaha. I am your worst fear… nono, joking. I am Miner, am japanese. nice to meet you, mr. Ludwig.

      sorry for bad English.

      Delete
    2. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miner!

      We have wanted KoopaTV to appeal to those in Japan for many years now, so we are very happy that you are here!
      Welcome!

      Delete
  3. Stop using windows, period. A fast new machine means that you can run a better OS as a host to a Win10/7 or whatever virtual machine for the windows games you like.
    My suggestion is GNU/Linux using the new KDE Plasma 5 -- great desktop and UI is a lot like your familiar Win7 and prior. distrowatch site will have a list of 'windows user friendly' Linux

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment...

      I've generally been of the mindset that technologically inept people — such as myself — should not be using Linux. Am I wrong?

      Delete
  4. cant you just buy a display port adapter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I could, but the non-used monitor is kinda crap anyway and has a defective vertical red line when it's on.

      Delete
    2. ...Yeah a new monitor is a good idea.

      Delete
  5. My favorite thing to do with Windows 10 is using Microsoft Edge to earn points to get Amazon gift cards. This month alone, I have already redeemed two Amazon $5 gift cards by using Edge on both my laptop and my phone. I don't really use the browser besides searching on Bing, but it gets the job done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been a member of the Microsoft Rewards program for a few years now and I've earned over a hundred dollars in Amazon credit just by searching on Bing. I do not think Amazon gift cards is available for new users, though I could be wrong. By using the pre-installed Edge browser on my Windows 10 laptop, I earn bonus points that help me reach the goal faster.

      Delete
    2. ...Yeah I want more details on how this works.

      Delete
  6. Let me know once you've set up your Steam account, and then I can send you a friend request.

    And sadly no, the Wild Arms games have never been on PC.

    You can stop Cortana from giving you suggestions and stuff, to make it function more like a normal search bar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (Maybe you could also send me that spooky game.)

      Is Cortana still gonna try to absorb my information?

      Delete
    2. Which spooky game?

      I think you can turn off any information absorbing. XD

      Delete
    3. (Haven't figured that out yet.)

      Yeah I set Cortana's stuff to off and didn't accept its privacy-violating question.

      Delete

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