Category: Gaming
Fallout 4 Vacuum tubes and Nixie tubes
8th February
Fallout 4 Vacuum tubes and Nixie tubes
I have been working my way through Fallout 4 and during my explorations I noticed that the labs and military installations are loaded with vintage vacuum tube equipment. I thought I recognized the front panel of at least one piece of gear:
Front Panel render from Fallout 4 (Bethesda Softworks):
Fallout 4 Front Panel
Now compare this image with the front panel of the Racal RA-17:
Racal RA17 Front Panel
The resemblance of the Fallout 4 render to the real Racal RA17 is striking. This Racal-like front panel appears in nearly every lab and/or military installation that I have explored.
Another rack of equipment very frequently seen in labs and military installations is this one:
Fallout 4 Equipment Rack (Bethesda Softworks
Fallout 4 equipment rack
This image clearly shows:
A nixie tube … Read More »
Xbox 360 Power Supply Replacement
17th January
Xbox 360 Power Supply Replacement
If you own one or more Xbox 360 in its various incarnations, including the newer 360S and 360E, you have likely experienced a power supply failure. These units all use an outboard power supply which plugs into the wall outlet at your local voltage, and connects to the 360 by a special power cable. I say special cable because the cable and plug design has charged numerous times over the years. The failure modes that I have experienced go something like this:
1) The power supply (“brick”) begins to get noisy on power up, but then settles down to its former noise level in a few minutes. This behavior continues for a few weeks or months. At this point I generally take the brick outside and blow it out with a super duster (canned air).
2) The noise … Read More »
No Video Card Upgrade this round: No compelling reason
15th November
No Video Card Upgrade this round: No compelling reason
AMD recently came out with their reference design for the R9 series of video cards (Hawaii Chipset): R9 Video Cards Overview . I have read the reviews and the benchmarks, including comparisons to the 7990, GTX690 and Titan. I see no compelling reason to “upgrade” my GTX690. In fact, based on the benchmarks and reviews I have read GTX690 to R9 290X is more of a downgrade in power consumption, noise and mulit-monitor (2560 x 1600 X3) performance. Crossfire is out of the question, since it does not support individual monitor color calibration, and I don’t even want to think about the TDP of such a setup.
I have looked through many benchmarks which have the GTX690 and HD7990 in the top spot for most games at the resolution I mentioned above. The … Read More »
Mass Effect 3 Omega DLC
24th December
Mass Effect 3 Omega DLC
I played through “Omega” last night and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. There are new adversaries and weapons, and if you choose to take them on you will have a blast. I have read reviews about this DLC suggesting it was shallow and lacked focus. Well, I guess it depends upon how deeply you have explored your relationship with Aria in ME2 and ME3. I committed to helping her in ME2, and she (at least) respects my choices. I wish I could have recruited Nyreen along with Garrus earlier on….