azzx.org » Hardware

My new 2011 gaming and media PC Build

AzzX — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:20:34 +0000

With my current system struggling with The Witcher 2, I have decided to upgrade my PC with the latest and greatest Bang for Buck Gaming and media orientated hardware. Here is what I have selected and some reasons for doing so:

Intel Core i7 2600K $319.00

I was deciding on this or the 2500k, probably won't make that much difference to be honest but at least the 2600k will have some decent longevity. The 2500k and 2600k are currently the gamers CPU due to being able to easily hit overclocks of 4.9ghz on Air cooling.

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Motherboard $199

To go the Extreme 4 or Extreme 3, that is the question. Further inspection revealed the Gen 3 doesn't gave USB3 pins on the mobo so I grabbed the gen 4. It costs an extra $50 in Australia though its worth it to have the front mountable USB faceplate.

CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler $33.00

Appears to be the best AIR bang for buck overclocking option in order to achieve those 4.5 - 5ghz speeds with the i2600k.

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ $69.00

Will be using my current hard drives with this as an added extra, may just use this for my Steam install. I was tempted to go SSD though other than windows starting up quicker I cant really see that much of a benefit. My current Steam games load in a timely manner – maybe in the future. I have an existing Seagate Barracuda ST3320613AS which averages 120ms read for my OS install.

G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 $65.00

Most suggestions for a gaming config suggest buying the cheapest possible ram option at 1333mhz though I decided on the 1600mhz at $7 more, I could have also gone for lower latency for about $20 more but the performance advantages hardly seem worth it looking at available benchmarks.

Silverstone Strider Plus 750W ST75F-P $145.00

Gives me room for SLI in the future without overdoing it.

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with SP1 OEM $105.00

A second copy will come in handy.

Silverstone Fortress FT02B with Window USB 3.0 $259.00

My Silverstone HTPC case was the deciding factor in purchasing a premium case design – yes it costs a premium but the build quality over the $100 over dollar cases is justification enough. Hopefully unlike the last few dodgy cases I have, this will last me quite a few years of PC upgrading.

I am going to try see how my existing 9800gtx goes with this system in the meantime as I really want to hold out for one of the next gen video cards. If it is too much of a bottle neck I'll go and buy a 9950 at MSY or similar.

Future plans:

AMD Radeon 7000 series

Due out between now and the end of the year, Can I hold out that long with my ageing overclocked 98000gtx?

Samsung S27A950 $500

A 1080p 120hz 3D monitor, not sure about this though it is hugely popular - in fact it is sold out everywhere. No nvidia 3D though it makes use of AMD's variant AMD HD3D. Not too fussed about the 3D aspect though 120hz is definitely where it is at in regards to gaming.

As per usual, my current unused PC hardware will be integrated into my HTPC bringing it up to a gaming spec system. (once I remove the current overclocking profile) Will post some unboxing pics when I get this delivered.

Nintendo Wii price Drops for Australia

AzzX — Thu, 06 May 2010 01:40:22 +0000

The Wii console buying craze appears to be diminishing so in an effort to boost some sales, Nintendo has dropped the price on this incredibly popular console by $100. The best price I have found for a really Cheap Nintendo Wii in Australia is for $269.95 available online from Fishpond and also comes with Wii Sports and all the accessories you need. I would highly recommend getting some component cables and upping the resolution to 480p as the supplied composite ones don't look great on a HD TV.

My Top 5 Wii games you must play

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. An adventuring masterpiece.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The greatest 2D platformer ever made.
Super Mario Galaxy. A unique 360 3d take on the 3D platforming genre.
Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus. Works Much better than watching a DVD exercise Vid.
Mad World. Adults only mindless violent Mayhem.

Eastmall Riva Ego Impressions

AzzX — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:55:26 +0000

Yesterday I received my Eastmall Riva, so I haven't had much time with the device but so far I am actually quite impressed. Considering the price in comparison to other Ego models, the EM Riva Kit would make a great impact for anyone wanting to give up traditional tobacco smoking and has struggled using the old 501 ecig brands.

The EM Riva is Eastmalls version of the ever popular EGo with similar but slightly improved specs, most notably the battery which has been going for 8 hours of normal use so far:

Riva Specs

M-Riva is a specially made product for Eastmall .

No issues with the manual button .
Better battery quality
The shape for Riva is better looking than similiar ones.
You saved at least $18 from any other sellers

Starter kit includes:

2 pcs of 510 atomizer
2 pcs of 750mah battery
1 pc fast charger (only takes 2 and a half hours to fully charge the batts) plus Wall charger
10 pcs blank cart
1 pc cone

Eastmall will give 6 months on warranty for the RiVa kit and 3 months on the battery.

Compared to my HG 501's the quality of the Riva is substantially better, it doesn't feel cheap at all.
Thank god it doesn't have the LED at the end – just the button glows blue making stealth vaping a whole lot easier. It also stands upright with no issue because of the flat tip.

I couldn't calculate charge time as the two batteries only took 10 minutes to charge indicating they were pre-charged at the factory though I will post more thoughts on this device after some more use.

Obligatory Box Shot

Front of the Riva Box, it is magnetic.

Inside the Riva Box, nicely packed!

All the contents of the EM-Riva with bonus Large Atty

The Riva Blue Led Button

The EM Riva assembled

Gizmodo’s fake iphone 4G leak

AzzX — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:40:56 +0000

A prototype Iphone was lost in a bar in in Redwood City and amazingly made its way to Gizmodo:

After reading the Gizmodo article it is entirely evident that this phone prototype was leaked to Gizmodo by Apple themselves. This viral marketing attempt is actually quite humorous as Gizmodo have infused what is obviously a list of Apple prerequisites to be included in the blog entry:

It feels completely natural up to your face, and the fact that both the front and the back are glossy makes no difference on how well you can hold it without the phone slipping. And because it's thinner, it feels even nicer in your pants.

I mean really, It feels natural to your face and pants, not the sort of typical tech perspective there Giz, enjoy your free hits while it lasts.

Xbox RROD Project – Cheap way to buy an XBOX 360?

AzzX — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:16:15 +0000

I recently just bought 2 RROD Xbox 360's off Ebay after doing a bit of research on common Xbox 360 RROD problems. I must admit, I quite enjoy getting my hands dirty with this sort of thing and being a long time PC builder, this exercise was quite easy.

Upon initial inspection of the console, the previous owner had attempted an xclamp fix and had got thermal paste absolutely everywhere. It took a while to clean all this off and re-apply some Artic Silver.

After turning the console for the first time I got the error code 0031 which appears to be a Southbridge Issue. Undeterred by this, I tried pushing down on the Southbridge chip and then powering up again - which unbelievably actually worked, green lights to be had all round! I applied some pressure on the chip with a clamp and then gave the Hot air gun a spin for a while. Now the Xbox 360 boots without issue and works for long periods without a single fail.

Sometimes you get lucky, some fixes take no time at all.

The last thing I need to do is fix the fan as it sounds like an Aircraft carrier at full throttle:

Xbox 360 fixed RROD loud fans

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot4OCRDh77g

If you are going to try and do this yourself, be aware that there are quite a few bricked 360's for sale which are usually due to a failed attempted at patching a 360's DVD firmware.

Xbox 360 ELITE RROD PROOF Microsoft Seal Intact 2009 150W Jasper Cool HDMI 120

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1d 15h 49m

Xbox 360 Console HDMI RROD

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AU $.99

2d 19h 13m

Microsoft Xbox 360 Game Console w RROD includes all cables Red Ring of Death

0 Bid

AU $40.00

6d 21h 44m

XCM CORE COOLER V2 TWIN FANS BLUE STOP RROD XBOX 360

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AU $60.00

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AU $40.00

1d 14h 47m

faulty xbox 360 console rrod hdmi xbox360

6 Bids

AU $11.50

5d 19h 13m

List of Xbox 360 RROD error codes and how to determine what error you have can be found HERE>

Broadcom Crystal HD in Australia

AzzX — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 23:21:41 +0000

The Broadcom Crystal HD Hardware decoder comes as a PCI Express Mini Card that enables support for H.264 and VC-1 video compression like the playback of Blu-ray discs and streaming 1080p high definition multimedia content. It is designed to reduce CPU utilization and allows for full HD real-time decoding support for mobile platform solutions and it is also the perfect solution for small form factor HTPC's running compatible software like the mighty XBMC. There are solutions for Windows, Linux or OSX platforms.

The Windows driver binary and Linux source code for the driver and library can be found at the Broadcom web site. For OSX, the binaries and source codecan be found at google code. Users in the USA can purchase the Crystal HD mini PCIE card from Logic Supply for $69 though Ebay appears like the only solution for those outside the USA.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhIZqOePps

HP BCM970012 BroadCom BCM70010 BCM70012 HD Decoder new

AU $13.87

12h 10m

Broadcom BCM70012 BCM970012 BCM70010 Crystal HD Decoder

AU $13.87

15h 4m

Broadcom BCM970012 BCM70010 Crystal HD Decoder hp mini

AU $27.75

4d 17h 48m

Broadcom HD Decoder BCM970012 Card Dell Acer Toshiba

AU $27.75

4d 17h 48m

new hp Broadcom BCM70012 BCM970012 Crystal HD Decoder

AU $27.75

4d 17h 48m

Broadcom HD Movie Decoder BCM970015 BCM70015 Apple TV

AU $61.07

6d 21h 5m

Denon AVR 790 Unboxing and setup

AzzX — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:22:15 +0000

Recently purchased this little beauty, The Denon AVR 790 as an upgrade for my aging Pioneer.

It is interesting to note as per this AVS forum post from user Batpig that:

Q. What is the difference between the three-digit models (e.g. AVR 790) and the four-digit models (e.g. AVR 1910)?
A: Essentially, NOTHING. Denon puts out two parallel receiver lineups, with four-digit and three-digit model numbers. The four-digit models are generally sold by high end stereo shops and custom installers, and the three-digit models are the "consumer" version sold in retail outlets like Circuit City and Fry's.
However, there is ZERO difference in terms of power, specs, sound quality, build quality, etc. between the two lines. Denon has been doing this for years, it is exactly analagous to the Yamaha HTR and RX-V parallel receiver lines.

Batpig also has a very handy DENON-TO-ENGLISH DICTIONARY Setup Guide and FAQ. Definitely worth checking out as he has put a significant amount of effort into helping with the Denon setup process.

The Quick Specs

The AVR-790 features the latest high resolution audio decoders, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, and is one of the first to include Dolby Pro Logic IIz, which provides front height channel effects for an incredibly expansive front soundstage.

The video section features the latest Video Reference Series processor from Anchor Bay Technologies, providing analog-to-digital video deinterlacing and upconversion to HD, with both component and HDMI outputs, and features 1080p 24Hz/60Hz HDMI pass-through, allowing a single HDMI cable run to your HDTV.

Audyssey’s advanced MultEQ room acoustic measurement and correction system analyzes the speakers and the listening room and automatically corrects the response for the smoothest, most natural tonal balance.

Audyssey Dynamic Volume and Dynamic EQ are provided to ensure rich, natural tonal quality at any volume level, and with no annoying volume jumps during commercial interruptions.

On to the unpacking:

Unpacking with the help of my eldest!

Awesome Remote Dad

Some of the AVR-790 contents

Bye Bye Pioneer - you have done well.

My old Pioneer Receiver, never failed and has been fantastic.

Connecting everything up

Plugging in my HTPC, TV and Wii. Everything is pretty straight forward at this stage. Just one HDMI cable to the TV.

Almost done!

The Denon Audyssey Setup Microphone

The automatic calibration using the Audyssey Setup Microphone is simply amazing - especially if you have not witnessed anything like it before. The official Audyssey FAQ can be found here.

Here is a screen of the setup taking place:

Audyssey calibration in progress

All done, testing some HD audio.

I thought my old Pioneer was good but never realised how under utilised my Subsonic speakers were until testing some HD music and the Batman Blu-ray. I raised the volume for the Bike scene in The Dark Knight and was completely blown away by the sound quality. No distortions with the volume up and the surround separation from the Main listening position 1 was spot on. I pushed it to the point the woofer was blowing the curtains and vibrating the roof but then dropped the volume - kids bedtime

The sound is as precise as I was after and it is also excellent for stereo and even standard mp3's. The Denon upscales all analogue sources to 1080p which was a straightforward process and works well for the wii console I have connected. Denon dropped last years Faroudja scaling method in favor of Anchor Bay and proprietary video processing chips - and it shows. The pulldown Jitter I was experiencing seems to also been eliminated.

Great stuff.

The Denon AVR 790 gets a big 9.5 out of 10 from me.

DENON AV SURROUND AMPLIFIER RECEIVER AVR 1000 GOOD CONDITION

AU $249.00

17h 29m

Denon AVR 3806 Surround Sound Receiver Amplifier Dolby 71 2 Zone

3 Bids

AU $105.49

2d 20h 15m

Vintage Component Stereo System Denon Amp Kef Speakers

9 Bids

AU $202.40

2d 13h 47m

Denon AVR3311 Black Ex Demonstration Clearance Model 3D AV Receiver

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5d 11h

HOME THEATRE RECEIVER DENON 2309 71 HDMI SUROUND SOUND AMPLIFIER

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NEW DENON AVR1611 51 AV RECEIVER BLACK

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8d 10h 55m

Denon AVR 890 AV Surround Receiver As New with Warranty

0 Bid

AU $675.00

18h 11m

HTPC Setup

AzzX — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:27:10 +0000

Finally got round to finishing my HTPC room with a nice bargain entertainment unit from Dare Gallery. Had a few issues with trying to get the HDMI cable into the HTPC - was a bit too short though finally managed to squeeze the damn thing in.

Here are some pics of the destruction in action:

Now to cut into the wall.... Again!

Cables everywhere.

Looks like fun dad

Making a mess

Thanks for our new cubby house dad!

Almost done - testing HTPC with a JJJ x264 rip of Lily Allen.

DVD Test - Yes its Bob the builder.

All Done! The PC HDMI cable was a pain - Too short.

Overstock Australia

AzzX — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:19:58 +0000

The incredibly popular US Internet online retail outlet overstock.com is now shipping to Australia.

Overstock.com now accepts orders from 34 countries. Available products, shipping rates and fees may vary though you can find some great gear not available anywhere else at great bargain prices.

The most noteworthy aspect about this big online retail giant would have to be their Worldstock concept:

Patrick Byrne, CEO created Worldstock, providing artisans in the world's poorest regions with opportunities to sell their unique creations to a wider variety of customers. Worldstock 's goal is to create jobs for tens of thousands of people throughout the world, thereby enabling them to help themselves.

Get a Mac campaign

AzzX — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:04:54 +0000

Apple have made it a fine art marketing style over substance. Its a concept born from creating mediocrity and hiding it with fancy window dressing.

Apples latest round of adds prove (only to themselves), theres no better way of hyping a product than with constant bashing of your competitors products.

Get A Mac Campaign

Selling and promoting products in this way doesn’t work in all markets, and the mean spirited nature of the commercials helps alienate a significant portion of their potential customers.

The adds are also insulting to the intelligence of people who know better, the topic of each add fails to provide any evidence why you should “Get a Mac” other than a repetitive smug and evil overtones.

The trolling and fanboyism that you can find on the likes of DIGG and various forums is a direct result of these marketing efforts and pretty much a reflection of the Apple brand in general. You cant have a conversation with a Mac enthusiast without constant Apple marketing slogans being thrown at you.

Apple, its time for a change - GROW UP.