now that I have a modern CPU, I bet I can run virtual machines smoothly again! for a while virtual machines got slower and shittier for me and I think it’s because they were optimized for modern CPUs that have hardware-level virtualization acceleration

so I’m thinking about eventually setting up some kind of Linux install that can run inside of Windows - that way I can tinker with it but if everything is borked then I can just turn it off and not face any consequences

I’m definitely not going to work on this now though lol. my patience for technical problems, after setting up my new hardware, is exactly zero

@kasdeya Sounds like things are working though?!? Awesome! Time to enjoy a game! :D

(Also, just floating a usb live boot as an option too. That was my gateway into running linux on my laptop. And I set up my old desktop as a server running FreeBSD, much better to mess around with when not worried about doing anything to your main computer. But just mentioning them, enjoy the new computer working, not technical problems!)

@Shivaekul yess they are! I had some scary moments where I thought things were going to go terribly wrong, but everything is working fantastically now and my computer (or, I guess this is a new computer now? it’s a Computer of Theseus) is running so. much. faster. it’s a night-and-day difference

I definitely considered doing a live boot, too! the problem is that I’m very averse to turning off or rebooting my computer since everything has to be closed to do that. I really like being able to keep everything open so that there isn’t any cost to booting into Linux if that makes sense. but thank you for the suggestion!

@kasdeya Awesome! It is terrifying at times (I remember putting in my CPU being worried I was using too much force lol, that I was doing something wrong and going to ruin a very expensive part), so I totally feel that. But glad you got it all working! And awesome, cool to be able to feel that upgrade!

And totally fair, sounds like a VM is better for your use case then! Should go a lot better with more hardware anyways, so good luck when you do decide to give it a try again :)

@Shivaekul omg I worried about using too much force every single time I plugged something into my motherboard. you have to use so much force for the PSU power cables 😨 I’m glad it’s not just me

yeah this new computer is so much better. I put myself in a bad mood today by trying a few different AAA games that I probably shouldn’t have :/ but the games that I’ve always loved run incredibly smoothly now

and thank you! hopefully I won’t run into too many problems when there isn’t any hardware for Linux to have compatibility problems with. but idk - the next time I have the patience for troubleshooting and learning new tech stuff I’ll hopefully give it a try

@kasdeya Oh no, it definitely isn't just you. I remember worrying about snapping my motherboard when I first secured it to the case, and when I put in the cpu, and even snapping stuff into the expansion slots or plugging them in (like the power cables). Heck, I remember being terrified I was going to break something the first time I put RAM in, before I was comfortable with the snapping mechanism.

Aww, I can see that, but I'm glad that your computer is now capable of running those games should you feel like them, and that it can run your beloveds even better! (Does oblivion remaster count as the former, the latter, or still in the future?)

Haha, hopefully! But just built your own computer, so that's already a big new tech step and something fun, so you can take your time and enjoy your accomplishments! (I also need recovery time after big tech initiatives, it is a lot!)