Okay folks, I have yet another update.
I'm after (somewhat reluctantly) buying a new motherboard for my new CPU, as I believe that the one I have ultimately chosen (albeit for the best possible price vs time it'll take to get) is the best one I can get moving forward for the future, as it facilitates better overclocking, but also allows me some additional storage options, and is more suited to a gaming system, as it is, in fact, a gaming motherboard! I'm hoping that this will mean that I'll no longer need to worry about motherboard upgrades from this point onwards, as the board is actually quite highly specced.
In any case, the old motherboard, CPU, and cooler will be removed from the case in the near future, and I'll be retaining the drives, RAM, and cards connected to my current board (where possible) to transplant into the new build. That said however, I still need to get myself a new cooler to go with this setup, so there's going to be a delay before I fully use the new setup; it'll be likely that I'll just do a CPU swap for now and keep my old CPU somewhere safe to be reunited with my current board later on. This gives me ample time to test the new CPU and put it through its paces, as the new motherboard will take around 2-3 weeks to arrive roughly, though I am hoping that I'll be at least able to purchase a new cooler around the time it arrives, along with some case fans (or perhaps a new case).
My current cooler does a good enough job, but I feel that whilst it would probably be good for up to non-overclocked i5, it may struggle with overclocked i5s and possibly regular i7s, and likely OCed ones too! I'm going to be somewhat cautious with regards to streaming via my PC, although at the very least I've tested streaming (to the test stream address) with GZDoom and Isaac and things remain pretty stable CPU-wise, although naturally, the CPU is averaging ~95% usage like before as I have no way of reducing the usage rate on my current CPU if I want to have overlays; NVENC at least stops the CPU from becoming more stressed than usual, so it's a great boon in that regard as it means that streaming should at least be possible, though understandably, I won't push my luck too much in that regard.
I am hoping however that the i5 I'm getting will counteract some of the high usages, as rather than having 2 cores and 4 threads, it has 4 cores and 4 threads, so there's 2 additional full cores that can be used, and there is also the option to overclock as well, but I'll need to invest in a better cooling system first before going down that route. I at least feel that I've started to reach milestones re streaming, especially considering I've levelled up my motherboard and CPU setup; I do have plans in the future to eventually get another 16GB (2x8GB) of RAM, and give the 8GB (2x4GB) to the i3 and motherboard so I can deploy the system elsewhere in the future (though I'd probably need a new case and power supply beforehand, plus a graphics card for it as well).
Either way though, I hope that this series of upgrades will allow me to produce better content on the whole (as it allows me to play more demanding games, and have more resources for recording/streaming) over time, although I still amn't where I want to be in that regard, though I am getting closer! One thing that the new board has that will be quite useful is an m.2 slot, so I can eventually take advantage of that option in the future as well, though I still do need a new hard drive as I'm running out of space on my 2TB SSHD.
All that said though, I probably should see when the Linux Mint 19 point release is happening, as I may as well start doing full-on upgrades in line with that time, seeing as I'll have to reinstall Windows 10 anyway to take into account the new CPU and motherboard, giving me ample time to gather up the required components to follow through with the proper upgrade, though at the very least I'll be using the new CPU not long after I've gotten it.
Either way, these upgrades (along with a few essential household items) have virtually wiped out my savings, so I will definitely need to start focusing on my beer money activities so I have more money in reserve (though the current idea is to build that up and let is generate some income, as small it may be), as well as trying to build the savings account back as much as I can as there shouldn't be anything major that needs addressing after this... or so I hope!
I suppose there could be worse complaints in that regard, such as not having a PC that works at all! Although at the time I had my initial setup, I was pretty much going for the cheapest motherboard to go with the CPU and RAM I bought at the time, so I'm in-line for a core upgrade anyway, if I think of it like that! The Intel 4th Gen architecture is still a solid one, so I will be able to find a use for the i3 eventually at least, when I can get more components to facilitate that!
Either way, I imagine that between now and the end of January, I'll probably be performing some much-needed upgrades, and hopefully nailing down my schedule at least somewhat permanently. I know I was supposed to start streaming Monday afternoons, but that got affected by OBS behaving badly, so I may just stick to doing 3 sessions a week, and roll out the additional sessions when I'm ready to, and announce it around a week before.
Therefore, I'll be doing Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the evening for now. I'm also delaying my pilot episode of Pickups & Thrifts till the start of next year, so I have more time to work out how to go about that and help better manage my time so I can make sure I've made time to do my streams, my eventual Let's Plays, first look videos, and also some other Stormhaven Media stuff, as for the time being I'm doing most things solo, and I want to find ways of lightening the load somewhat, and allocate time to things properly.
With that in mind, I'll also be around on the Digitiser Discord server on Sundays 20:45-23:00+ (UK time) to do a watch party with some of the other members of the server, which means that I'll need to reconsider how I'll be handling the Sunday Chill segment anyway, so it may be that I split it in 2 when I finally roll it out once again.
Anyway, I've rambled on enough methinks! I'll catch you guys later on, or perhaps tonight at 21:00, as I have a stream happening with UberFate around then.
In any case, take care and I'll catch you all later on at some point.