Nothing

I've got nothing. I cannot think of one thing to write here tonight, and I have no issue admitting it. Sometimes I have an idea, sometimes I can think of one, but today nothing is coming to mind. Pretty boring and useless, but then that is why I have the Not Worth Reading label. Not that I really think anyone reads these, but sometimes you learn to not write to be read, but to write. It can provide its own reward.

At Last I Have the Third...

I really could not think of a better title without making the post itself irrelevant, so forgive me for that. Anyway, yesterday I got a Dualshock 4 controller and I am sharing that here not just because I could not think of anything better to share but because it is something mildly meaningful for me. I already have a wired Xbox 360 controller and a Steam Controller, so with this I now have what I consider the big-three PC controllers that I can pull out whenever I need to. Sometimes a PC game just does not support KB/M properly, and sometimes you want a specific feature of a controller. For example, the D-pad of the Dualshock 4 is indeed, very nice. It has a healthy firmness to the action and that makes me very happy. I do prefer to have a joystick on the top left though, which is the Xbox design, so I have that controller as well. Then there is the Steam Controller, that I have gotten used to and I do even prefer for some situations. The trackpads are nice for some situations, but also the grip buttons and double-action triggers are so nice and I enjoy taking advantage of them.
Anyway, I am now happily set up with these three controllers. I'll keep to my KB/M when I can, but when I need to experiment or overcome poor controls, I am ready.

My Curious View on Things

Over the years I have learned something I do not think many people share. I have learned to at least try to not keep expectations. They can be dangerous because you may find yourself becoming more attached to the expectation than to reality, so when the two do not agree or even align, the result is pain, of one kind of another.
I do not consider this a pessimistic view, after all expecting the worst is an expectation, isn't it? It is a protected or hardened view though, because how can failure hurt you if you were not expecting success, or did not even define what failure is?
Lacking expectations can also be somewhat relieving, as it can remove certain fears. The other day I found a job that I would love to have and I will admit I have had day dreams about being in just such a job. Based on the listing, I am qualified for it, perhaps not perfectly, but pretty well, so I applied for it. I have no expectations of getting it, getting an interview, or even being told I have been rejected. (If anything I expect to not get any of those based on how other employers have treated me over the years.) In part this is because while I am qualified based on the listing, I cannot doubt that better candidates are going to apply and they will be the recipients of that attention, as they should be. Knowing this, I still applied because I set my expectations aside.
I also applied because I had to. I had to apply because this is too much a job I want. It would be unfair to myself to not apply; to disqualify myself. Oh I believe I will be disqualified, but I had to apply. There is no chance without applying, and even if the world has taught me again and again that I will be rejected, that I will not achieve my dreams, there is always going to be that satisfaction of trying anyway.

The Importance of Being Patient

So this past week the Ryzen CPUs were released by AMD and almost immediately the Internet started taking sides. One half declared it a failure for this that and another reason, while another half chastised the first for being overly harsh, but in some cases themselves were too harsh. Now I will say that some of the reviews I have seen were... lacking in a certain level of professionalization. That's how the world is though, so move on. Here's what is worth remembering though: new hardware launches are rarely ever perfect. There are too many pieces involved for it to be perfect, and in this case many people have already been pointing out that Windows' scheduler is not treating the Ryzen processors appropriately, thinking the caches is larger than they is, and trying to move threads between modules, not just cores. Basically once Microsoft fixes these issues, performance will improve. Also once the microcode in the BIOS/UEFI gets optimized, again we will see performance improve. As the specific programs, especially games, are optimized, performance will improve. What we have now is a product in need of polish no product ever gets prior to launch. Bulldozer lacked support at first, and while I do not specifically remember it, I do not doubt the claims that when Intel launched Hyperthreading it too lacked support.
Patience is a virtue and something I believe those who already purchased Ryzen will enjoy, and those waiting to purchase it will also enjoy (especially as the process is refined and we get more performance headroom).
Oh, and something else I want to point out. Some people have been focusing very heavily on the gaming performance, saying that it is horrible and so the chips are a failure. Well, the points I made about optimization above are relevant here but I want to remind everyone of the strengths these same doomsayers point out. For professional payloads, Ryzen is performing far above its price-class. Where does that matter? Servers, where AMD has lost a lot of ground. Ryzen is the consumer chip, so imagine what the professional/server-targeting Naples CPU is going to do. AMD was suffering in many markets. In gaming it has good legs now and in professional it has strong competitors. This is still a success with still untapped potential. Let's see where it is in a month or two. Just be patient.

Ryzen is Coming!

Not here though. Ryzen is coming to the world, but not my house. Can't afford it. Ah well, besides the later I build a new computer, the later the stepping and more refined the process. Good combination for if you want better performance.
Anyway, so much of the news and rumors I have been seeing about it have been very positive, which I am very glad to see. AMD directly competing with Intel again, in multiple segments is a very good thing in many ways. Hopefully Vega too will directly compete with NVIDIA very well in all segments too. Sadly though, because of how the world, and some marketing departments work, superior products in performance, feature, and price can still lose because of misinformation, manipulation, and fanboy-ism. I think AMD will have an easier time challenging Intel than NVIDIA for that last point, but only time will tell.
One idea I had though, but I cannot predict when or if it might happen, is to do some Ryzen Return videos or something on (one of) my YouTube channel(s). The idea is that because some games are a bit much for my A10-5800K (but it still does very well) that if/when I have a more powerful Ryzen CPU to translate the higher performance to videos and share what the difference is like. Not all games would be worth doing this with, but it still could be a fun idea. Plus it would give me a good reason to return to some games. (Any reason is a good reason to replay a good game, right?)
For those of you who are fortunate enough to get a Ryzen CPU, enjoy it. I hope I will be able to join you before too long.