ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:
...
Well at least it's 3d. Run a demo scene program or 3d benchmark to
really get the heat pumping!
Seems illogical. How could that warm me up more than a picture of a
fireplace? ;-)
But, more to the point, the nice thing about the fireplace screensaver
is that it's so subdued; a demo or benchmark would be too frenetic to
keep running in the corner. All that action would keep catching my eye
and distracting me.
Although now I am tempted to put something like Farbrush FR_041 Debris
on loop. Not because it wouldn't be distracting, but just because I
think it looks so cool. I think it is by far my favorite demoscene
demo. ;-)
I used to have a sun screen saver that cooked nicely. :)
You'd think that would give serious burn-in, defeating the whole purpose
of a screensaver in the CRT era.
On 1/1/2026 7:55 AM, Xocyll wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading theI just feel the need to point out that either of those methods is
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:
<Just a random vaguely-computer-game-related day-in-the-life of yours
truly, 'cause I'm bored and what else will I write about?>
So, I've problems with the heat in my home. Specifically, the controls
for the radiators are broken, so if I turn them on, they're not likely
to turn back off, which is both wasteful and turns the place into an
unlivable sauna (I'll be getting it repaired, but this holiday season
was too busy to schedule anyone to come in). So I just keep the heat
turned off.
But now I'm cold. What to do?
I light a fire, of course. But not just any old fire. No, I'm a gamer.
I light a VIRTUAL fire.
More specifically, I fire up the old Windows XP box and fire up a
3D-rendered approximation of a fireplace that takes the form of a
Windows screensaver.* And wouldn't you know it, it actually does warm
the room up. Not all at once, and it only rises up to the cool side of
comfortable... but the icicles hanging from my nose do melt away. It's
good enough that --with a sweater-- at least I'm no longer shivering.
God knows how efficient this is; not very, I expect. I'd probably get
better results with an electric heater. But it wouldn't look as neat
Besides, ever since I caught a chair on fire using an electric heater
back when I was a kid, I've been wary of those machines. My virtual
fire is much safer ;-)
But I'll be even happier when I get the heating system up and running
again. ;-)
Space heaters are your friend.
Alternately, oven will heat a small apt up pretty quick.
MASSIVELY power intensive and will drive your utility bill into orbit.
I know this from personal experience.
On 1/1/2026 7:55 AM, Xocyll wrote:
Alternately, oven will heat a small apt up pretty quick.
Gives an excuse to bake too, or vice versa.
On 1/1/2026 7:55 AM, Xocyll wrote:
Alternately, oven will heat a small apt up pretty quick.
Gives an excuse to bake too, or vice versa.
<Just a random vaguely-computer-game-related day-in-the-life of yours
truly, 'cause I'm bored and what else will I write about?>
On Tue, 30 Dec 2025 19:24:50 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
<Just a random vaguely-computer-game-related day-in-the-life of yours >>truly, 'cause I'm bored and what else will I write about?>
My ancient XP computer warms the room slowly but noticably with the >screensaver... but if I really want heat, maybe I should do what this
guy did:
"Modder turns their RTX 5090 into a 1,500W space heater, but please
don't try this at home" >https://www.pcgamesn.com/nvidia/rtx-5090-1500w-space-heater
Of course, title aside, the real goal of the modder was overclocking
(and not evern real overclocking with practical use, but just to get a
world record)
But I bet their room was nice and toasty while it was running.
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the >entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:
"Modder turns their RTX 5090 into a 1,500W space heater, but please
don't try this at home" >>https://www.pcgamesn.com/nvidia/rtx-5090-1500w-space-heater
Seems kind of pointless when you can buy a 1500w space heater for $20 or >less. Especially pointless when a fire prone cable is pushed well over
it's limits.
600w rated, 936 actual.
Sniff, sniff, is that a combusting computer I smell?
On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:33:12 -0500, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> wrote:
Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:
"Modder turns their RTX 5090 into a 1,500W space heater, but please
don't try this at home"
https://www.pcgamesn.com/nvidia/rtx-5090-1500w-space-heater
Seems kind of pointless when you can buy a 1500w space heater for $20 or
less. Especially pointless when a fire prone cable is pushed well over
it's limits.
Pointless if you're doing it for the heat. As the article mentioned,
instead the modder is doing it to achieve the temporary fame of
holding a world record that will doubtlessly be topped in a few
months. So completely acceptable! ;-)
600w rated, 936 actual.
Sniff, sniff, is that a combusting computer I smell?
I love the smell of magic smoke being released in the morning.
(No wait, I don't. I /really/ really don't. Don't get any ideas,
computers of mine!)
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