Some van painting

I painted the interior of the back and side doors of the van. I've since installed the timber panels in their respective locations. Looks pretty tidy.

Pix' was a big help.

Van floors mostly installed.

video on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7nwCvA0bc8

New PC build

I've been running the same beast PC since 2008. That's thirteen years on the same PC. Un-heard-of. It's been an absolute monster. I built an absolutely incredible machine on the X58 chipset and I've never regretted it. It's never even broken a sweat under the most intensive gaming or activity.

...then the other day I needed to do something that was estimated at eight days to complete...so like my cars, I bought a new one the next day. (ps: the task takes less than 6hrs on this new machine)

Currently there are no modern equivalents to the X58 which was a hybrid server/desktop, so I've chosen the Z590 chipset and dropped in a freshly released (2 weeks ago) i7-11700(k) processor. If you check the specs, you'll see it's indistinguishable from the i9-11900 which is the top of the range.

The primary boot and OS drive is a Western Dig' Black 1-Terrabyte M.2 SN750. The games drive is a Western Dig' Blue 1-Terrabyte M.2 SN550. I also have a regular 1TB platter drive for storage (photos/files) that transfers from machine to machine. The M.2-SSD's hold nothing of value so I can always reinstall the OS on a whim. This has been a boon for keeping the X58 in peak condition for years. I reinstall the OS and anything I care about every 6-8months.

This install took SEVEN AND A HALF MINUTES from unconfigured disks to full windows bootup. The final boot speed into Windows is under 7 seconds after the bios POSTS. My old system took ~15mins to install on the current W10 itteration. Windows install has come a LONG way. It was taking much longer on the same machine on W8+ and until recently on W10.

Processor heatsinks have come a long way. This monster (image below) is not even warm to the touch at 40%+ core load for 6hrs straight. Such a win. My X58 constantly overheated during monster tasks, it would throttle, and I'd perform aeration rituals. This new thing is great.

The only piece of old hardware here is my GTX960 vid card. It still has what it takes to do everything including the Vive. Properly setup hardware > expensive hardware.

Some budget brand 8gig ram sticks sit in all 4 slots on the new motherboard. It's 3600 spec so despite being cheap...should be premium silicone and run at the required 3200 bus speeds just fine. I can bump to premium grade stuff and 64gig later if I need to.

The end