New Toys

So my old Chieftec power supply was getting, well, old. And I needed a new mouse. So today after clocking out I went and took a look at what we had to offer in price for a new power supply. The old box was a 2-80mm fan 430W PSU. All told, a really good power supply, especially after I replaced the crap fans that came with it. But my box has grown beyond the scope of efficiency with the power supply I had. Enter the Antec Neo HE550. 550 watts of power. MODULAR design, which means I don't have a bunch of power cords I don't need that I have to tuck away somewhere. There are many benefits to this power supply.

1) The modular design means there's less crap stuffed in my case, so there's more air-flow, which helps keep the temperature down and increases the efficiency of my machine.

2) More wattage. Power supplies work best at around 60-80% load. More efficiency, less power needed. Also, this is a higher efficiency model, so it produces less heat AND runs more quietly than my old unit.

3) Getting the unit meant I had to unplug everything in my rat's nest of a PC. So I went with that all the way and took out everything, motherboard included, and blew out the whole case, clearing out all the dust. Then I rearranged all the cords to tidy things up and help the flow of air.

All told, I think Skywarp's pretty pleased with the arrangement. And my mouse is pretty rockin', too. Supposed to last 6 months on 2 AA batteries. We'll see if that holds true. But my old mouse I was pretty happy with when it lasted a few weeks before the need to switch, especially with the rechargable batteries. But hey, 6 months is 6 months. And it came with a pair of Energizers, so it frees up ALL of my rechargables for other things.

In money news, comfort is mine! The employee stock purchase program has netted me an extra $700 or so, which should be arriving my way sometime next week. I need to do something productive with the money, but I don't know what, yet. But if nothing else, this check has guaranteed my trip to OKRF in late May. Huzzah!

love and darkness and my sidearm