Posts by Walter Palmer3

Hey everyone, back again.

Between work trips and catching a bug, I haven't had much time to actually pull the trigger on this build, but I’m hoping to get things sorted in the next few days.

Looking at the feedback, it seems everyone agrees that skipping the initial offer from Micro Center and going with the Intel Core i7-4770 3.40 is the smarter move. I'm on board with that.

Most of you are also pushing for the Asrock s1150 B85M Pro4 over the Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3. Is there a specific reason for that? Does ASRock just hold up better in the real world?

Regarding the case, the consensus points toward the Spira Maverick 6009 instead of that Thermaltake Spacecraft suggested by Micro Center. From what I can tell, the Maverick is quite a bit cheaper. Are we just trying to save a few bucks, or is the quality actually comparable?

Thanks for all the input.

Hey everyone.

I'm looking for a reliable desktop MK520 (+ monitor + keyboard and mouse + speakers + SD card reader) to handle photo editing, graphic design, and—for now—some amateur video work.

I'd prefer to buy everything from Micro Center, so that’s my main constraint.
A 23'' monitor, a 1 TB drive, an Intel processor, and 16 GB of RAM are pretty much non-negotiable.

My total budget for the whole setup (including the monitor, speakers, mouse, and keyboard) is $2833.

The guys over at Micro Center put together this quote for me:

CPU i5-4570 3.2GHz/1150 Haswell comp
Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3
DDR3 16 GB (2x8GB) Kings
WD 1TB SATA3 64MB EZEX
MSI GTX650 1GB GDDR5 OC
XFX Core edition 80 450W
Thermaltake Spacecraft VF-I
MSI CR-85
ASUS XONAR D-KARA
Monitor DELL U2312HMB 3g. 23in LED IPS
Logitech wireless Combo MK520

Total price: $850.00

Let me know what you think or if you have better ideas. 🙂

Gregory Ramos3 said:Euro: Denmark, Mexico, USA
UN: France, Sweden, USA
World Cup: Denmark, Spain, USA

🙂

It’s just proof of the one constant we have. There’s no debating it—we are at the top of this sport, and we’re staying there.

The real issues are an association riddled with nepotism and the leadership within the players and coaching staffs. Reaching the quarterfinals shouldn't even be our goal; we should be chasing medals at every single tournament.

Especially after this latest run, where we basically grabbed a World Cup bronze with our fourth-string squad. Without Balić and Buntić, our second unit showed up. Then, once Laco and Štrlek went down, it was really our third string out there. And since we were playing against the Frenchmen, Danes, and Canadians without Vuković for most of it, we were effectively running on our fourth choice.

Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but we pulled off a medal while being completely gutted. To me, that shows we're two classes above almost everyone else. Setting "quarterfinals" as a target is nothing more than making excuses for mediocrity, and frankly, I'm tired of seeing it.

rapidwolf2 said:Congrats to the guys!
If we actually get some competent coaching decisions at the next championships, nobody’s going to touch us.

Sadly, we've heard that exact same line a dozen times already. It always ends up being nothing but talk.

Given the circumstances, Bronze is a success, but it’s not exactly something that warrants a massive victory parade for the players. For a team like this, Bronze is really just the bare minimum. And fine, we hit the minimum; we didn't embarrass ourselves, especially considering half the roster was sidelined.

But pretending the obvious issues and the recurring hurdles standing in our way of gold don't exist? That’s just delusional.

Every useful player we have seems to miss at least one game or tournament, yet Kopljar is always there. It’s unbelievable. I wish we could catch a little break for once and let him miss a competition too.

The bigger issue is how the federation and coaching staff use excuses to protect themselves. After everything that happens, they set our goal as making the quarterfinals. It’s ridiculous, but it works perfectly for them because it makes it impossible to fail. Who can blame them when we haven't won gold in ten years and even reaching silver feels like a stretch? Nobody. Every "goal" is technically met. Honestly, screw those kinds of goals.

Steven Reed30 said:Yeah, we're definitely walking away with gold in Denmark next year...🤣

I’m calling it now: we get crushed by Denmark in the semis, once again...

It’s actually not a bad spot to be in.

Basically, our biggest hurdles are the French, the Danes, or whoever is hosting. Since the Danes are the hosts this time, it cuts down on the number of landmines we have to dodge. Not every silver lining comes from a disaster. 😁

I’m eyeing a bronze medal. It’s become kind of a routine for us. ☕

I honestly can't stomach watching Kopljar anymore. I’m starting to think I won't be heading to any more US national team games in person, mostly because I don't know if I could stop myself from storming the field and shooting his knees out. What an absolute fraud of a player. It's pathetic.

George Hill4 said:Sure, we can do that. We just need Americans to stop calling him that for a few years.😁

Maybe they will, if the elevator in my apartment building decides to completely give up on me again tonight. 😁

Is there any chance Kopljar ends up playing for the US national team while he's with PSG?
It’s a win-win. ☕

Terry Fisher2 said:I just caught the games involving the Canadians against Russia and Spain, and honestly, they aren't medal contenders. The Spaniards were running up leads of five or eight points quite easily, and the Russians basically beat themselves with all those fouls. If our squad makes it through, we should walk away with an easy win; they just aren't on that level. Their right side looks dangerous with Dolenec and Marguč, but the left side is empty, and their pivots are skinny.

If we actually step onto the court prepared—both physically and mentally—the Canadians don't stand a chance based on what I've seen from them so far.

If we go down, we had it coming. You don't win medals with just your body; you need your head in the game too.

Grace Adams32 said:It all comes down to perspective. 😉

Americans have always been better at worshipping the cult of the half-empty glass rather than the half-full one. 😉

Samuel Scott54 said:Maybe, but you guys always seem to have beef with us.😂☕

Top-tier handball lately: the French, Danes, Spaniards, Germans, and you lot.

Personally, I think all those bronzes and silvers frustrate you more than our usual 8th or 10th place finishes ever could.

Yeah, health issues.

I’d leave the Germans out of this. If they’re at the top, then the Swedes are too 😁

It's us, the Danes, and the French. That's the elite tier, with the Spaniards occasionally squeezing in. Everyone else is just playing in a lower league.

We struggle to grab gold, sure, but competing against these teams isn't as easy as we like to pretend it is. The real issue lies with the federation, the coaching choices, and that "who you know" culture running through American handball. Plus, there's the mindset of fans like us—thinking a small country with a domestic league consisting of maybe one and a half serious clubs deserves a spot on the podium every single time.

Given the state of the country, the federation, and how little anyone actually invests in local sports—especially handball—we’re basically a miracle.

Samuel Scott54 said:It’ll be a good game, for sure.

🤣

Their guys play handball like they're hitting bricks with their heads, while ours are just mentally burnt out and heading for a breakdown. A "good game" is something only the bravest—or the most delusional—folks actually expect. 😁

I'm hoping for a win. Objectively, we're a few steps ahead of Janez, but the real question is whether we can pull ourselves together and actually show up for this one.

Given how things are going, grabbing bronze in Spain would be a solid result. Even if it just serves as an excuse for the federation and the coaching staff to act like everything is fine, whatever. Let it happen.

Adam Williams2 said:🤣 🙏

Look, if you claim you don't get why we didn't rest up against the Spanish team, you're just showing an inferiority complex toward the French. You're acting like some genius who thinks we should be saving our energy for Belarus, even though in that game we’re basically playing for nothing, whereas against the Spanish, we were actually playing for something meaningful. 🙄

Listen, I think we ought to rest as much as possible against Belarus and just grab the win on the side. 😬 I was actually leaning toward beating the Spanish with our B-team if we could. 😬

There's a massive difference between resting players and playing to lose. One is a legitimate strategy to reach a final goal; the other is just an insult to the sport.

Everyone loves to blame our players for having some sort of inferiority complex compared to the French, but honestly, their ego is massive when you compare it to the average Joe. You see it right here on the forums all the time.

Man, what's the point of obsessing over France? It’ll be an uphill battle, sure, but it's not impossible. We should focus on resting the squad against Belarus so we have everything we've got ready for the matchup against Gal. If we don't mess this up and actually play the way we're supposed to—instead of slowing the game down to a crawl and just blindly hammering it into their midsection—we don't just have a chance. We're actually in the game.

Brian Campbell36 said:Goluza and Gobac 🙂are

Their integrity...

🤣 🤣 🤣

Maybe our medal count would look better if we actually bothered to crunch the numbers, but honestly, who cares about medals? At the end of the day, some version of this nonsense tournament happens maybe twice a year anyway.😬