A Look At My Rigs – My Gaming Space
Over the time, my computer setup had underwent some changes. Being slightly different then last time, I believe it’s time I make an update on it.
My computer has a graphic card which is seemingly powerful to even install 3 monitors on it. The reason I didn’t do multiple monitor setups earlier was ignorance at first, I admit, though when I actually did try it, there are a lot of problems; my monitors sometimes won’t boot up, and the screen sometimes froze when I left my PC untouched for too long and so on. I’m not sure what’s the problem but I’m guessing it’s the electricity (?)
Despite my rants, as you can see I still use a dual monitor set up anyway. After experiencing it, it just doesn’t feel right without a second monitor anymore. This is actually my 3rd time re-setting this dual setup and so far, I had the “can’t boot” issues for about 4 times so far, not as worse as back then but we’ll see.
Also, as you can see, both of my monitors has different wallpapers. You can’t do that normally, but I managed it with a program called DisplayFusion. I think some of you should already been aware of this by now but if not, definitely check it out! It’s the perfect software for multiple monitors configurations. You can use different wallpapers, enable dual task bars and so on.
Of cause, the main point of this post is this wonderful addition, my PS3. At first, I held off buying a PS3 due to the fact that I had to buy a TV cabinet, a LED TV, a proper sound system and I had to even relocate some of the furniture in my room, a lot of work and purchases, just to accommodate a PS3. I never thought about it at first but after awhile, I thought why not connect it to my PC monitor? It’s already at 24 inches, a size perfect for widescreen HD gaming, though still a bit small compared to standard LED TVs. What’s more, it already has a satisfying sound system.
So I bought a new PS3, a 500gb super slim version, and until now, I wonder if I should had picked the slim version instead (I prefer the latter’s design better). Connecting to the monitor wasn’t much problem, the video worked almost immediately after connecting the HDMI cable, though I faced some difficulty with the audio. I had to get an RCA adapter to get it to work. By connecting the PS3 RCA male plugs to the RCA adapter, I then connect the adapter to my speaker’s AUX port. The sound then worked like a charm, I could even use headphones if I want to using the headphone jack on the speaker.
Playing Final Fantasy XIII on my computer monitor.
I prefer to leave my computer on when I’m playing PS3 since sometimes, I still need to get on my computer midway to do something. In this regard, my second monitor is pretty much a definite compulsory by now. While playing on the PS3, my computer will boot using the second monitor, which worked wonders when I’m multi-tasking. There was one time when I was grinding in a RPG game, and watching anime on another.
The slight problem I’m having is that I feel it’s annoying to “switch”. Say for example, I’m using my computer at the moment, and in order to start playing my PS3, after I turn it on, I had to literally shut down/restart my computer so that the monitor would “switch” to the PS3 screen. Are there any ways you guys can recommend to remedy this?
Also, on an unrelated note, do any of you own a PS3? Feel free to add me, KuroMaho, or perhaps leave your PS3 nick here so that I can add you, whichever works.
deluscar 
My workspace is so simple compared to yours. Just a laptop and nothing else. Not even figures, let alone extra monitor.
I’m opposite in the sense that I connect my PS3 to the TV and sometimes, if I feel like watching movies on a bigger screen than my 13″ laptop, then I’ll connect my it to the TV.
I’m sure you could get around with it, though I’m sure you have some figures which you could certainly display together or something.
Connecting the PS3 to the TV is the most normal approach, lol, I’m sure most would definitely do that if they are not restricted. Ahh yea, you could certainly do that too, my sis connected her laptop to the TV as well. I just watch movies or anime on my good old PC monitor though. Super jack of all trades ftw.
I just use a laptop + cooling pad combo. The damned thing still overheats though, which is why it’s currently in the shop and I can’t play any more visual novels =/
I like the setup, especially your Rin figurine on the side there ^_^
Nice wallpapers too. I’ve taken to finding one wallpaper for each game/VN/anime I like and having them change every 30 mins or so. Can be hard to find some decent images though.
Lol awww, what about your Kamidori playthrough D:
I had been placing her there for the longest time ever, lol. That reminds me, I need to do some cleaning on her soon >_>
I’m more to stick to one wallpaper for one time then change, lol. If I get attached to one, then I just don’t feel like changing, if I do so, it just doesn’t seem right.
Thankfully it should be in for no more than a few days, so it won’t be long before I can get back to SRPG/VN goodness ^_^
I suppose I like changing wallpapers because it reminds me of the games i’ve enjoyed in the past. I can look at my screen and think “Oh! I remember those characters, they were awesome!”
Granted I only have 20 something wallpapers at the moment. A friend of mine has over 200…and they change every 5 minutes XD
Yea, hopefully you backed up your saves, lol. xD
As for me, it depends on both the characters and the design. I like using wallpapers of characters and shows I’m familiar with, but as I’m somewhat of a gfx person myself, I also prefer ones with satisfying designs. But some of the visual novel CGs are already quite good wallpapers lol (the small wall I used on the right monitor is from a VN CG raw).
I don’t just keep wallpapers myself. I keep all kinds of images, some are so high-res it hits about 4000px, lol.
Yeah, I resort to using CGs occasionally, but I can never find an in the size that I want. My wallpapers for Deardrops and Dengeki Stryker are a little pixellated, but I just couldn’t find anything in the right size.
Ahh, Dengeki Striker. Finished some time ago, and it does have some nice battle CGs. What resolution is your laptop?
1440×900. So it’s a bit odd. But the best resolution pic I was able to find for Dengeki Stryker was only 800×600 =( I still use it, but it doesn’t look as good as it could.
I got a larger version of this one: http://tinyurl.com/a86pzrl
I would have liked a larger version of this one: http://tinyurl.com/b3zxprv
That’s because Dengeki Stryker plays at 800×600, lol. So most pics should be at that size, gfxers would probably know how to edit it to suit widescreen or specialized sizes though.
My PS3 isn’t connected to the same screen as my computer screen. One day I will also setup a proper TV screen so I could use it for both the computer and the PS3 xD I love the convenience and unlike you, It’s either I’m playing PS3 or I’m on the computer, I can’t do both at the same time xS
And yeah I also have a dual screen setup! It’s so GOOD how much you can multitask with dual screens and the best thing is that you’ve got more resolution space to open up bigger windows instead of making small windows for multitasking on one screen XD
My PSN account is: tofu-kunzz
If it’s not then something similar to that, I’ll add you anyways when I log on one day (which might be a very long time since I’ve clocked all my PS3 games and haven’t played the PS3 for a long while now).
Is DisplayFusion easy to use? I actually never heard of the program! xD Will check it out
So how’s your PS3 connected? Is it connected to another computer monitor? Yea I would pretty much prefer a proper LED TV as well, an almost 40″ screen probably ;p Well, with my computer on, sometimes I need to go online to check some guide if I got stuck ;D In a way, I’m still just playing games, lol.
Making small windows is annoying, lol. With multiple monitors, I can just dump random things all with full-screen xD
Something similar? You forgot? D: I’ll try to add it when I get back home later. So your PS3 has spider webs now? ;p
Think it should be easy enough. There are quite a lot of things I haven’t try yet. I only want the different wallpapers configuration xD You can also set a wallpaper for your login screen.
My PS3 is connected to the lounge room tv xD Just the normal setup but I’d like to combine it with my computer setup one day.
Ohh I see :D Playing games in such place is tough especially if you need privacy, not sure what would happen if you play games there like Catherine with so many suggested sex scenes ;p
I don’t do much gaming on the computer these days since I use a Macbook Pro and my graphics card is already outdated (it’s a NVidia Geforce GT 330m from 2010) with no upgrade path like most laptops do. Besides, I do most of the gaming on gaming consoles as there are more games that I enjoy such as Japanese RPGs. As you would expect, I own a lot of Nintendo consoles and also a PS3 and Vita. All of this is hooked up to a Samsung 32 inch TV since I prefer gaming on a TV instead of a monitor (and my monitor does not have a HDMI port).
Aside from that, there are a good number of good JRPGs on the PS3 if you into it… I just didn’t like Final Fantasy XIII since it’s too linear and the battle system is meh compared to other Final Fantasy games I played (X, XII and VII). I enjoyed Tales of Graces f and Atelier Meruru more. Aside from that, I play mostly Japanese games and don’t really play any western games at all besides the Portal series. I also play visual novels, but I only touch the Key ones (Clannad, Kanon and Little Busters is what I played so far).
If you want to, my PSN is chikorita_157, which is my Japanese PSN account that I usually use on my Vita and for Idolmaster on PS3.
I do have quite a few PC games I want to play, but I’m priotizing more on PS3 and Wii now (the former connecting through my PC monitor and the latter using an emulator). Connecting the TV is definitely the most normal and logical approach. I had to use my monitor instead due to restrictions, it’s a good thing my monitor has an HDMI port.
I wasn’t expecting much when I played it as well. As dumb of a reason, I played it due to some sort of.. tradition. Before this, I had played/finished FF I, II, IV (nds), VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2; more then half of the series, so I thought I should play XIII as well. I have Tales of Graces but the lack of dual language support is slightly disappointing. It kinda depends for me, RPGs sometime takes a lot more time to finish (perhaps 30 hours minimum and a whopping 100 hours max) so if I dont’ want to commit myself to a new RPG yet, I just play some shorter games, including some Western games you mentioned. Visual novels… haven’t got the time to keep up with it myself..
Okay, I’ll add when I get back home later.
Believe it or not, I never finished any Final Fantasy, but came close to beating it though. But yes, the lack of dual audio is kind of disappointing. Only a handful of games have this option, which is rather disappointing. English audio is okay, but since I’m learning Japanese, it just feels funny. Even with the Japanese audio, it doesn’t really help much with my studies and basically I need to have it completely in Japanese to make it useful… but still, I have fun either way.
I see, I have a few FF titles where I come cross to beating as well, lol. I think quite a of games has dual language support though (or maybe some with Japan voice only with eng text). The only games I played that don’t have are takes of graces and catherine. Though I think takes of series and atlus usually don’t have this feature anyway.
So you have to buy raw games lol. Why not try getting some untranslated VNs?
I actually do that as I have Little Busters Converted Version on my Vita… It just takes a long time to get anywhere, but I do understand 70% what they say after looking up words and with all the grammar I currently know.
I think if you were to reach the true ending, it does takes time, you have to play every single route to access it.
You’ll have to check out my PS3 collection to see if you have any similar games that I do if you want to go a round in one of them. We can also discuss which multiplayer games (FPS excluded) we’ll both purchase to face off online sometime. However, be warned that I’m not often online. Expect an invitation from OGMan316 soon.
Briefly checked, though now that when I think about it, I don’t think I have any multiplayers orientated games yet. Mine are mostly RPG or action-adventures that are more single-player orientated, lol. Think I could get a fighting bout with you sometimes (though I’m incredibly bad with it) though as said, I don’t have any of those games right now, lol.
I am also a single player guy. I like fighting games and all but prefer offline local matches. I only asked just in case you were interested. Ah well, at least we both have PSN accounts now.
I’ll tell you if I bought/borrowed any fighting games. Think there’s a new blazblue sequel coming out, though I prefer to play them on the PSP (finished the two previous ones on the PSP port). But still anyhow, we’ll see.
I used to have my Xbox 360 connected to one of my monitors so I could switch back and forth, but then I just got overloaded with work and the games just got in the way. Now my desk is used mainly for watching anime and doing work.
You mean you used two computer monitors? One for your normal computer use while the other for gaming? Nice setup, but I can’t do that here, lol, not enough space for two widescreen monitors, my table is too small.
…So what you’re saying is, your gaming rig is better than mine, am I right xD
My space isn’t all that cool. I have my laptop, my LCD HD TV (16 inch), and a BD player. But my internet kinda sucks (or maybe it’s my laptop or a combination of both), so doing much of anything is kind of a chore D: I do have my 360 hooked up to it as well.
Yes, that’s what I mean xD
A TV at 16″? That’s.. kinda small, lol. How big is your laptop? My internet is insanely slow as well sometimes, lol.
Uh…not all that certain, but maybe between 12-16″? Whatever the case, it’s small enough to fit in my bookbag, so…good enough I think!
Nice xD I have a 10inch netbook now but is considering changing it with a bigger 14inch one. If not, perhaps just switch to a dell netbook.
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Happy Birthday Kai.
lol.
I know, Tuesday 22nd.
Lol, you stalker, you.
We both have Hotmail dood. It was posted there.
Ahh, so you got it from there >_>
I have a PS3. My nick is RedPhoenix15. Add me if you like.
Regards Phoenix.
Sure I’ll add you when I on my PS3 soon.
Haha I also run dual monitors. I can’t live without them. And I also have my game consoles (PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U) hooked up to one of them via a HDMI switch so I can switch between each one. It’s handy playing on one monitor and having the other one with your computer stuff. Makes looking on Game FAQs real easy lol.
Ahh HDMI switch, I guess I can use that for my problem… or not. The only thing is that both my monitors has different ports, my main monitor has an HDMI indeed but my second monitor only has a VGA (old standard styles), I don’t think the HDMI switch will be able to do what I had hope for, though I might buy it if I’m going to connect multiple HD game consoles on it. For now, I guess I just have to do the shut down/restart trick D;
And indeed, if I face some difficulty with my gaming, I can immediately lurk around on my second monitor xD Very convenient.
Lololol, same comment as top, my workspace only has my laptop, soon-to-be outdated PC setup, and a Saber Lily nendoroid (can’t leave that one out) As for game consoles, well, after some consideration, I decided get myself a PS3 next month, hopefully. HDMI is the best :D
Not sure if your PC has an HDMI port but if it had, you can connect the PS3 to it as well :D You love your Saber Lily nendo eh ;p
My Workspace
Computer (old as hell, bought it in 2006)
Large TV (even older, family bought it in 2004)
PS3- Older, black box. Almost platinumed Devil May Cry 3 HD
for a strange reason, my internet for the PS3 ain’t working so well, either way add hippiefreak12 for just..anything
Wish I had a dual monitor, time to add that to my list. Nice figures man, too bad my computer desk is too small to spare room for a nice figure
At least there should be no CRT monitors, lol.
Ahh, must be the oldest-type model PS3 xD
I’ll add when I get on my PS3 soon lol. Believe me, my desk is quite small too, if it’s big enough, I would had replaced my second monitor with a widescreen one as well, I’m stuck with old-resolution type monitors like those because of the lack of space.
Hello Kai-chan.
This is actually the post that really made me go out of my seat as I’ve went over your blog (go here through Canne’s “Why do we watch anime” post).
The recent NIS PS3 exclusives are pushing me over the edge to getting a PS3, but as getting space to sit in front of the TV is going to be sort of hard in my house I’ve held off. Recently I’ve looked at my baby brother’s X-Box 360 to see if I can connect it to my monitor via HDMI, and it seems I could. Your post gave me the final assurances I needed, since I am looking to play it within my room, and using headphones is kind of required.
Now, while my room and my table are not as busy as they used to be, I still don’t have room for a dual monitor setup. I did change to a 24″ monitor, and I can certainly appreciate having a stream (League of Legends, say), or a video game open on one monitor while having reddit/chat/messengers open on another, I just don’t have the room, and am having trouble justifying it anyway.
I mean, even on my monitor, I don’t like having my browser take the whole screen as it just feels too wide and limit it artificially. And even for some anime, I prefer not to have them full screened… I guess I’m weird :P
Your blog definitely seems interesting, and I’ve got multiple places to opine and be pedantic and hopefully insightful at, so I’ll make sure to post a few more comments as time allows, probably this weekend :)
Also, I’m going to go for the Slim, not Super Slim. Reviews make it out to be better constructed.
Yea, I recommend that too. I buy things on a rampaging instinct. If there’s one thing I should advice myself, is that I actually need to look around first before actually buying. When I was at the shop checking out the slim and super slim versions, my greed took over me and chose the bigger 500gb super slim version, but I’m slightly regretting it now.
I might make too much research. Often I see something on sale – like when I needed a new headset for a while, or a new mouse, and I’ve seen one on sale, or when I purchased my Tablet-laptop (Asus Transformer Infinity Prime) – I see them on sale, then I rush and spend 4-6 hours reviewing countless models, etc.
In the end I may not even get what is on sale, but the sale gets me going. I also know if I drag it out I’ll end up not buying anything, which is what I sometimes do when I don’t really want to buy it ;)
That’s actually a good habit, since you can actually save money, lol, even more so if you’re not regretting you didn’t buy it. I don’t really need to do much research on mine though since I’m mostly burning away my monies on figures nowadays, it’s just a matter of finding a site with the best offer, and buying them before they went out of stock. If the actually went out of stock, then it gets difficult to buy them. I had to rely on more untrustworthy sites to buy them, which may be several times expensive, or could even perhaps be a scam. Sometimes I may even need a proxy, either way, if I’m too late for figures, it gets very difficult to buy them back, so I guess I can justify my “speedy purchasing” lol xD
Then it seems you’re new here, welcome^^
And may I know which titles are those? Yea, I don’t even have enough spaces for TV in my room, let alone finding spaces to sit for it. I also need to replace the table my room had with a TV cabinet, doing so much things is probably the reason why I held off buying PS3 for so long. Indeed, if the 360 has a HDMI port, then I don’t see why it couldn’t connect to widescreen PC monitors, since they also mostly have HDMI ports too.
Lmao, dude, you joined Danny Choo’s Otacool contest? Forgot the details by now but it’s a contest where otaku shown their room (holy sanctuary) to everyone else right? Would had joined it too but 2009 isn’t a year my room is “anime-fied” as much. Actually having two monitors while playing PS3 is best for checking out gamefaqs. It’s comfortable to be playing your PS3 at front view and if stuck and need to check gamqfaq, then you can do so with just a slight turn of the head.
I love them full screened myself, even with browser and anime full screens. If I’m watching anime with exceptionally small resolutions (they wouldn’t look good stretched at my 1920×1080 monitor), then I would rather transfer them to my smartphone and watch them there.
And thanks, I see you’re making a return into blogging as well too :D
1. TokiTowa, Disgaea D2, The Guided Fate Paradox, The Witch and her 100 Knights. IGN described 3 of them recently. I found out via Siliconera myself.
2. Yeah, my sanctum sanctorum. TBH, most rooms displayed showed the same logic you just did, where things had to be “Anime-fied” or mostly “figurified”. But, that’s not what the charter of the contest said – it was showing an otaku’s room. If I’m a geek, and it’s my room, then it’s a geek’s room, no? Also, there are “X-otakus”, I think I definitely qualify as a “Book-Otaku”, at the least :D
3. Yeah, I have a laptop, so I can always do that, and yeah, not as comfortable.
I remember playing Persona 3 FES in one room and using a guide on a computer in another room, it was sort of a pain :) But also meant I didn’t use it for everything. And then I made print-outs, and also had a notebook where I wrote down things that were useful for me in the game. Felt good.
Yea, all those games just reminded me that I still got a lot of backlog PS3 games to catch up on. TokiTowa is that game that feature full HD animation right? Even in gameplay, think PS3 and future consoles should go for more visuals styles like this instead of making them more and more realistic.
I see, I think my room kinda lacks identification before though. Sure I have guitars and some books, but not so much I can say I’m a music person, or a book otaku. Then of cause, there’s my computer. Guess it was like my blog, a little of everything. I’m slowly anime-fying my room now though progress is slow.
Yea, I remember when I don’t have my own PS3, and had to run in and out of my sis’s room to check guides. Especially there are some where I need to carefully check each details, I tire myself out checking the guide even before facing the first boss, lol. Now I had it much easier.
320 GB sold out in my country, so ordered a 500 GB, should have it next week.
And well, for me it’s about size. Recently I’ve moved to watching almost everything full screened.
Except 480p anime, can’t do that.
Lol, that’s too bad. Maybe they aren’t manufacturing the 320GB one anymore.
Yea full screen HD is good, size of the videos are overwhelmingly big though.
They probably stopped manufacturing them when they began making the super slim. Just took a while for the stocks to run out.
Sort of a late reply. But just like you I made a similar decision some years ago. I bought the PS3 at launch and had been using it with a old CRT TV in SD. I felt like I was missing the new HD bandwagon but I didn’t have a HDTV. So instead I decided to get a new monitor with a HDMI port. The visuals were incredible as it was my first time experiencing HD and even a higher resolution on my computer as the previous monitor could not support higher resolutions.
Now as for tips for using your PS3 and PC together then its really simple. There is no need for you to restart your computer when playing PS3. All you need to do is to keep it on and move all the windows ( like your browser) that you will be using and drag them to your second screen. That allows you to use your computer on the second screen while playing your PS3 on your main screen. You can also use “Screen Resolution” settings on the PC to temporarily make the secondary monitor the main display. This will allow you to use the second display as your main pc monitor while you play and use it normally even while playing PS3. This was my preferred method back when I had my PS3 connected to the main monitor.