Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle

 I have just upgraded my CPU from a Ryzen 9700x to a 9800x3D. The 9700x was plenty fast enough for my 5070ti  but I wanted to try one of AMDs much vaunted x3D cpus for myself. It is the most expensive CPU I have ever bought but then again my 5070ti is the most expensive GPU I have ever bought.  At least the €400 9800x3D is currently the best gaming CPU on the planet. My €800 5070ti on the other hand offers less than 60% the performance of an RTX 5090ti. Given that the RTX5090 currently costs around €2.7k I don't think I will be upgrading my GPU again any time soon.   I haven't noticed much of a difference in Windows or in Games yet. Total War Warhammer seems a bit quicker over the end turn but that could be wishful thinking. I ran a few synthetic benchmarks and the 9800x3D is a bit slower than the 9700x in single threaded tests but faster in multi threaded. That makes sense because the 9700x has faster clocks but a smaller cache. The single threaded test probabl...

I have just spent €802 on a PNY Triple Fan OC Nvidia  Geforce 5070ti . This is actually a good deal for a card with US sticker price of $750 taking into account Ireland's 23% VAT and the extra costs associated with living on a small island. It is also the most expensive PC component I have ever bought. I am definitely not OK with the fact that enthusiast level GPUs  cost double what equivalent tier cards cost ten years ago.  I chose this version because it is one of the cheaper variants available but it is well built and one of the faster overclocked models with a large 3 slot heatsink that keeps it cool and quiet under pressure. It has no RGB or other frills but I don't care about that.  Initial impressions after playing around with it for about an hour: In 3D Mark, Total Warhammer 3 and Cyberpunk the card does seem quite a bit faster than the 7800Xt particularly at very high graphics settings. On the other hand the Nvidia Control panel still looks archaic. AMD's Ad...

Life is infinitely complex. In the language of mathematics it is everywhere continuous and nowhere differentiable. This is the definition of a fractal.  The thing about fractals is that you can zoom in as far as you like and it never gets any less complex. I think life is like that. At one level you see kings and emperors and their epoch defining movements. Zoom in and you see common people arguing over the price of corn. Zoom in further and it is just one person trying to decide what clothes to wear. I think that God, if there is a God inhabits all of these levels and all of the complexity that each entails. 

I am not an audiophile and yet my life has been touched by music.  One of my older brothers was an audiophile. He loved music and he was passionate about audio systems. He gave me my first lessons in music appreciation and in audio quality. We became close because of it. Coincidentally I was also very good friends with several very talented musicians who went on to make careers out of music. I spent my teenage years surrounded by music and musicians.  It is important to realise that music was more important to young people back then than it is today. Music was the foremost cultural phenomenon of the age. If you were a teenager back then the bands you followed defined you. Despite this I didn't follow any bands and I didn't buy any records.  My brother suffered from serious mental illness. When he was in the grips of psychosis he would use music  as a weapon to disturb the neighbourhood and to deny people from sleep.   I had a complicated relationship with m...

I have been experimenting with the premium tier of PlayStation Plus which allows streaming a limited selection of PlayStation 3 and 4 games to a PC. This allows non PlayStation owners to experience some of the platform's highly regarded exclusives.  The up front cost involved the purchase of a second hand PS4 controller (€20) and a one month subscription to PlayStation Plus Premium (€16.99). The lower tiers of PlayStation Plus do not allow streaming. Although other controllers can be gotten to work the PS4 controller is highly recommended for maximum compatibility. Apparently even owners of newer PS5 controllers need hacks to get them running with the service.  For some reason the PS Plus app requires the controller to have a wired connection even though I can connect it to the PC via Bluetooth and Steam recognises it just fine via wireless. Google and Reddit sent me down several rabbit holes trying to get the wireless connection to work but in the end I gave up and just went ...

 When I immersed myself in Elden Ring for several weeks back in January / February I invested in strength and tried to build a melee focussed character. Last week on a whim I reinstalled the game and started over as magic using glintstone sorcerer prioritising intelligence. Now I find I am progressing through the game far more quickly and enjoying the experience more. A lot of this is due to my familiarity with the game born from experience but I am enjoying the playstyle more as well.  Before I go much further I must address the elephant in the room. There is a section of the Elden Ring community who look down on magic as easy mode. They consider it an inferior playstyle to the carefully timed parrys, dodges and counters that are a hallmark of Souls games. I would like to think I am above being influenced by this kind of snobbery but that isn't entirely true. I am pretty sure that my decision to initially play as a melee character was influenced by a niggling feeling that tha...