Sorry to read that. If you allow me, my 2 cents:

If you are not talking about GPU, I suggest you search for programs that test the video memory, they were limited to 128mb I guess and are rare pieces but exist: I think I found only 2 or 3 and they only work with 10+ years old video cards. Those diags could give you a hint if faulty memory.
Also, some of those benchmark programs (Sandra, PCBench) I think have benchmarks to video stuff that could give you a clue: Faulty video cards won’t finish the test, the PC will hang during the test.

Another easy: After some use, turn off the PC and carefully sense with your clean fingers how is the temp of the chips on the board (the black plastic surfaces), you will really notice if any is hotter than the rest (the magic of using a bare hand vs costly & sophisticated tools)... or if the board is in general hotter: give it more ventilation! :)... and being there, take the time & space opportunity: Give some loving cleaning the board with isopropyl alcohol, don't forget the contacts that fit on the mobo. Expand to some compressed air to the whole case internals maybe? Dust can create resistance, and resistance heat, and heat....

Once everything perfectly dry, re connect making sure contacts fit firmly.

(Not covered: Some video cards had fan, others glued/thermal-paste heat sink instead, others the whole combo. After years, the contact between the chip and the heat sink is loose and the heat dissipation is not the best. If thermal-paste: Enjoy just replacing it. If not: then imagine a proper specific solution & implement)

Good luck and keep alert of weird screen effects, sudden BSOD, strange slowness.
Hope this helps

Forgot to bring headphones when getting my COVID-19 booster shot.

Fortunately, the place I got it wasn't playing music or other audio, so it wasn't so bad. (I actually don't like the fact that background music is extremely common in public places like stores.)

Just the usual arm soreness after being injected with mRNA, but it's not as bad as it was the previous times.

Ffs, stage 4 loadshedding again >:( Looking forward to 4 to 6 hours without power a day, or rather 5 to 7 hours (can't switch on sensitive electronics just after the power comes back on) probably for the next few days. And I have important work to do on my laptop. Luckily the battery life is long enough for each load shedding session, but it sucks that I can't use my big 24'' monitor.
I think I am going to have to invest in a battery and inverter kit, because this is seriously disruptive.

Dibs on your stuff if you die from the clot shot. :D

It's been long enough for that to not have happened. Furthermore, death rates from the vaccine are so low that it's significantly more likely that the shot would prevent a death rather than cause one.

(Also, I haven't heard of that happening from Pfizer or Moderna.)

https://www.gog.com/forum/general/what_made_you_happy_today/post10586

My wife accidentally found out about my gaming laptop purchase. :(

I was supposed to do it in total secrecy, timing it just as my wife was 165 km away from home with her friends... but she happened to video-call me with Google Duo just as I was driving back from the computer store with my new gaming laptop. Naturally she asked where I was, so no lying at that point.

Yeah yeah, why do I need to buy a new PC, don't we have several already, blaa blaa blaa... Oh well, the life of a married man, you are accountable on every euro you spend on yourself, and not her or "the family". But I guess she will get over it, eventually.

Was that the second or third shot?

Me and my wife got the shots much later than most here as my wife fears needles so much, and we got the second shot maybe a month ago. So I was just wondering if you are also that late getting the second shot, or is it maybe the third already? (I think here they are still debating whether or not, and who, will get the third shot...)

3rd shot.

Here in the US, anyone 65 or older can get it, as well as anyone 18+ with comorbidities like being overweight (where "overweight is defined as a BMI o 25, which is not actually that heavy I believe, so it includes the majority of the population I believe) can as well.

Since you just got your second shot, you should be be fine until the spring, and the situation might look very different by then.

By 3rd do you mean the booster?

Yes.

Okay, yeah. I'm still waiting on mine. I wasn't too worried about the wait until we had someone here who said covid hasn't actually killed anyone and in fact everyone is dying from the vaccine.

Now I'm desperate to get my booster before anymore loonies like that show up and breath on me. I won't feel 100% secure until I get that 3rd shot.

Fact check: Compare the number of COVID-related deaths up through the end of November 2020 to the number of vaccines administered during that time. You will find that there were more COVID deaths than there were vaccinations, which is enough to contradict that that other person is saying.

(November 2020 is chosen because no COVID-19 vaccine had been approved at that point, so the number of people who got the vaccine was small (limited to those participating in trials, which in the US was tens of thousands IIRC), yet the number of COVID-19 related deaths during that time was likely much bigger.)

I don't want to drag out a funny comment but the mRNA isn't a vaccine as commonly known and doesn't provide full protection.The numbers are all over the place on this.


I saw a new antiviral pill for covid which probably explains the attacks on cheaper generics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTE5pmg32Pg

I hope you don't mind if I post something else in here than about Covid or the Vaccine. Back in the mid 90's there was a show that I used to watch. I watched it for only one woman on there. Rather not say her name. I do want to say that when I've seen her, each and every time, she floors me. Her eyes, her smile. Her attitude. I just can't get it out of my head. Yes I can hear the shouts from the peanut gallery. "Hey, this is 2021, how are you even thinking about someone from over 20+ years ago??" It's simple. In my heart I feel she's 'The One'. No one has made me feel the way she does. I'm not talking about anything behind closed doors, oh no. I'm talking about going around the world w/ her. Seeing all the sites, walking all the sandy beaches. Helping her where I can. Doing what I can to make her life better.

Yes. She can very much take care of herself. I've seen it. She don't know me at all but I can say that I'm proud of what she's done, what she's accomplished. The cries from the peanut gallery: "So what are you bitching about?" Okay, here goes. Whenever I see her or think of her, my heart skips a beat. I want to drop everything for her. In reality, she'd probably be like, "No thanks," and walk away. There's nothing I can do, and I'm not the kind of person who'd force myself on anyone. All I can do is suffer and bitch about it. I only wish the best for her, but I sincerely wish I could be a part of that. I bitch about love. I bitch that I've fallen so hard for someone and there's nothing I can do but move on w/ my life. I bitch that when I'm so high for someone the fall to Earth is one of the most painful things you can ever feel.

Somedays I wish I hadn't seen that show. Or seen her. Maybe someone else would've come up. I don't know. My mind is a hurricane of feelings, thoughts, and ideas. I just want it to stop! Or at least slow down. I think I'm going through a midlife crisis. Is it survivable? I don't know. I suppose we'll see. Thank you for your time.

I see one negative thing with most people having gotten their shots now: more and more people are not wearing the mask anymore.

One or two months ago I would feel weird and kept getting angry looks if I didn't have my mask on because I forgot to just put it on when entering a store or McDonalds. Nowadays I feel a bit weird wearing the mask on as most don't seem to do so anymore. I guess they feel "I have my two shots, so why bother? No worries anymore.". And if you wear a mask, others might think you are one of those loonies who HAVEN'T taken their shots yet!

Anyway, I presume people not wearing the masks is the primary reason that Covid infections and people going to hospital for it are on a sharp rise again here. Yes most of them appear to be non-vaccinated, but IIRC one third of people needing to go to hospital have been vaccinated already.

So... it would appear to me that the vaccination gives only partial protection, and people should still keep using their masks?