Due to a failing Samsung hard drive that shipped with my system, I decided to do a full upgrade on my system. I went to a 10000 RPM Western Digital (WD3000GLFS) drive for starters, then upgraded my system RAM from 3 Gigs (all that is really useful under 32x Windows) to 8 Gigs.
Even though I got the fastest RAM available (upgraded from 667 to 800), the Windows Experience program only boosted my RAM rating from 5.3 to 5.5 (everything else is 5.9).
Since there is a dearth of 64x applications, I have yet to see the system utilizing more than 3 Gigs of RAM at any time. So basically I have 5 Gigs of RAM sitting around being bored and wishing they were in a server.
I can say though that overall performance is much faster and crisper. Then again perhaps I am just imagining that to compensate for the $500 ($300 for the drive and $200 for the RAM) upgrade price.
Let Nader Debate
Ralph Nader is on the ballot in almost every state. He is intelligent, articulate and concerned about America.
He should be in the Presidential debates, even for nothing more than raising issues that need to be discussed.
Unfortunately the debate process is controlled by the two major parties so that isn't going to happen.
That's too bad as we all lose out when our two party candidates gloss over the issues.
Thermaltake cools the XFX 8800GT
I haven't posted in 5 months but wanted to mention that I did research cooling the nVidia 8800GT that I bought from XFX. To cut to the chase, I purchased the Thermaltake DuOrb which sports a lot of copper and two fans. It only cost $50 and was well worth it. It keeps the 8800 cool and runs silently.
Thermaltake no longer sells this model as they are always improving their product line, but I highly recommend them for cooling your video board.
Thermaltake no longer sells this model as they are always improving their product line, but I highly recommend them for cooling your video board.
Sony BDP - S300 Blu-ray player
Yeah, I broke down and bought a Blu-ray player after Toshiba threw in the towel on the format war.
A few things to note:
1. The Blu-ray player takes much longer to start up than the HD player which I thought was pretty slow. This is like a couple of minutes, I swear, even with the latest firmware.
2. The upscaling of SD DVDs is not anywhere near as good a quality as the Toshiba HD player.
3. Blu-ray DVD prices (which were already high) have actually gone UP since the end of the format war. $40 as a retail price for many Blu-ray titles is ridiculous.
Well, my price point is first any Blu-ray DVD under $15, then $20 and on rare occasions, $25. $15 to $20 being the sweet spot.
A few things to note:
1. The Blu-ray player takes much longer to start up than the HD player which I thought was pretty slow. This is like a couple of minutes, I swear, even with the latest firmware.
2. The upscaling of SD DVDs is not anywhere near as good a quality as the Toshiba HD player.
3. Blu-ray DVD prices (which were already high) have actually gone UP since the end of the format war. $40 as a retail price for many Blu-ray titles is ridiculous.
Well, my price point is first any Blu-ray DVD under $15, then $20 and on rare occasions, $25. $15 to $20 being the sweet spot.
XFX GeForce 8800GT review
The XFX GeForce 8800GT video board is just so over the top in value! This is one of those purchases where you say to yourself “why didn’t I buy this sooner?”.
My previous video board was an EVGA GeForce 8600. The difference between these two boards, for example, in viewing and playing a game such as Hellgate: London is like comparing a drawing done with a crayon to a high resolution photograph. Without any performance tweaking other than installing the 8800GT, the frame rate in that game went from 7 frames per second to 42 frames per second. So not only was there a massive visual improvement, the speed of game play was also greatly enhanced.
The Alpha Dog graphic theme of the board, rendered on the box and the board itself looks very professional. In the box there is also an “I’m Gaming Do Not Disturb” card to hang on your door.
Although it is not documented on the XFX web site, you do need to have a 400 watt or higher power supply unit (PSU) with a PCI-Express power cord to plug into this board. I have an HP Pavilion with a quad core cpu and 3G of RAM that only had a 300w PSU. I purchased a Raidmax 650w modular PSU just to install this board. Uninstalling your present PSU is very straight forward. Simply unplug all the PSU connections in your PC, take out the four screws holding your PSU to the case and remove it. Reverse that procedure to install your new PSU. When you are shopping for a new PSU, get a modular one so that you only use the cables you need inside of your PC, which will help keep it cooler.
While the XFX GeForce 8800GT video board does have its own cooling fan, with the large fan on my new PSU as well as the case fan on my PC, I have not had any overheating issues and I tend to run my PC 16 hours a day.
This is a great board, and I highly recommend it.
April 19, 2008 - P.S. The board is too hot for me to run with my PC case cover closed. Unfortunately my PC is an HP Pavilion and the space inside is too tight for me to add a cooler to the video board.
My previous video board was an EVGA GeForce 8600. The difference between these two boards, for example, in viewing and playing a game such as Hellgate: London is like comparing a drawing done with a crayon to a high resolution photograph. Without any performance tweaking other than installing the 8800GT, the frame rate in that game went from 7 frames per second to 42 frames per second. So not only was there a massive visual improvement, the speed of game play was also greatly enhanced.
The Alpha Dog graphic theme of the board, rendered on the box and the board itself looks very professional. In the box there is also an “I’m Gaming Do Not Disturb” card to hang on your door.
Although it is not documented on the XFX web site, you do need to have a 400 watt or higher power supply unit (PSU) with a PCI-Express power cord to plug into this board. I have an HP Pavilion with a quad core cpu and 3G of RAM that only had a 300w PSU. I purchased a Raidmax 650w modular PSU just to install this board. Uninstalling your present PSU is very straight forward. Simply unplug all the PSU connections in your PC, take out the four screws holding your PSU to the case and remove it. Reverse that procedure to install your new PSU. When you are shopping for a new PSU, get a modular one so that you only use the cables you need inside of your PC, which will help keep it cooler.
While the XFX GeForce 8800GT video board does have its own cooling fan, with the large fan on my new PSU as well as the case fan on my PC, I have not had any overheating issues and I tend to run my PC 16 hours a day.
This is a great board, and I highly recommend it.
April 19, 2008 - P.S. The board is too hot for me to run with my PC case cover closed. Unfortunately my PC is an HP Pavilion and the space inside is too tight for me to add a cooler to the video board.
Margot At The Wedding
Almost unwatchable. A serious waste of time for any viewer. Nicole Kidmann, Jack Black and the rest of the cast mumble their lines, allude to characters that aren't in the film and generally laze about doing nothing of any interest or meaning. Don't rent this film on DVD. It is terrible.
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
A film about a back alley abortion in Communist Romania. I'm not anti-abortion, but this was possibly one of the worst films I have seen in a long time. It was boring and pointless to say the least. The acting was dreadful as was the dialogue. Avoid this one at all costs, even on DVD. Amazingly, metacritic.com gave this a rating of 97, which pretty much reinforces my belief that most media film critics are uneducated and totally lacking in taste or any amount of artistic experience.
Hillary for President and Bill for First Lady
Vote for Hillary!
Plus, as an added bonus we get Bill back! Woot!
Microsoft Zune 30 gig
Well Microsoft missed reading a study from the 70s that indicated that BROWN and GREEN were the two most negative colors for consumers.
So, as Microsoft evidently has a lot of unsold BROWN Zunes, they were on sale on Black Friday for as low as $79, which you have to admit is a pretty good deal. In their infinite wisdom, Microsoft is going to replace the BROWN Zunes with GREEN ones. Doh!
Like when you are working out or whatever, who cares what color your Zune, iPod or any other MP3 player is? Really! Although we have every single model of iPod here at home, I bought one of the brown Zunes to see how it compared to the iPod.
Well the Zune software is different to say the least. In some areas it's easier to use in others it's not. It is definitely flashier than the iTunes software, but it also offers fewer songs in its marketplace.
The Zune is ok if it is your first MP3 player or if like me you have used others over the years and just want to check it out from a technical standpoint.
January 2008: After owning the Zune for a while, I think one of its most outstanding features is the built-in FM radio for those of us who lack massive MP3 collections of music. The worst feature is the PC software for the Zune. Apple's iTunes software simply is superior to the Zune software and I don't find iTunes that intuitive to begin with....
So, as Microsoft evidently has a lot of unsold BROWN Zunes, they were on sale on Black Friday for as low as $79, which you have to admit is a pretty good deal. In their infinite wisdom, Microsoft is going to replace the BROWN Zunes with GREEN ones. Doh!
Like when you are working out or whatever, who cares what color your Zune, iPod or any other MP3 player is? Really! Although we have every single model of iPod here at home, I bought one of the brown Zunes to see how it compared to the iPod.
Well the Zune software is different to say the least. In some areas it's easier to use in others it's not. It is definitely flashier than the iTunes software, but it also offers fewer songs in its marketplace.
The Zune is ok if it is your first MP3 player or if like me you have used others over the years and just want to check it out from a technical standpoint.
January 2008: After owning the Zune for a while, I think one of its most outstanding features is the built-in FM radio for those of us who lack massive MP3 collections of music. The worst feature is the PC software for the Zune. Apple's iTunes software simply is superior to the Zune software and I don't find iTunes that intuitive to begin with....
Toshiba HD-A3 DVD player
As one of the bits of Black Friday swag, my daughter got a Toshiba HD-A3 DVD player from Amazon.com for $175. While we don't have actual HD programming via satellite or cable yet, playing an HD DVD was STUNNING to say the least! In the box was 300 and The Bourne Identity. If you purchase an HD DVD player, go to www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com where you can print a page that entitles you to five free HDs.
Even watching non-HD DVDs was a whole new experience as "up-verting" by the Toshiba was absolutely amazing!
Hey! I'm not anti-Blu-Ray, but Blu-Ray DVD players are still much higher in price than the HD players. I could see ending up with both formats until the high definition DVD war has a winner.
In the meantime, if you find a reasonably priced HD DVD player, buy one!
By the way, use HDMI cables to connect your HD player to your HD TV, and buy the cables off of the Internet for $5 or more instead of purchasing HDMI cables at Best Buy, Fry's or Circuit City for outrageous amounts like $50 or higher. There's only two states with an HDMI cable: It works or it doesn't work. End of story!
Even watching non-HD DVDs was a whole new experience as "up-verting" by the Toshiba was absolutely amazing!
Hey! I'm not anti-Blu-Ray, but Blu-Ray DVD players are still much higher in price than the HD players. I could see ending up with both formats until the high definition DVD war has a winner.
In the meantime, if you find a reasonably priced HD DVD player, buy one!
By the way, use HDMI cables to connect your HD player to your HD TV, and buy the cables off of the Internet for $5 or more instead of purchasing HDMI cables at Best Buy, Fry's or Circuit City for outrageous amounts like $50 or higher. There's only two states with an HDMI cable: It works or it doesn't work. End of story!
Don't give to the Salvation Army this holiday season
This religious organization spends more than $300 MILLION on "Administrative Costs" in the US alone. Kind of makes one wonder what high level quality of life is being financed for the leaders of this organization by your donations.
No need to discuss their dogma of being anti-homosexual or encouraging the breeding of large families. Maybe they can out breed the Mormons and Catholics.
I'd rather hand my charitible donations directly to a homeless person or to a locally managed shelter or hospice.
Avoid charities and religious groups this holiday season that have massive administration overheads or that just don't actually move their cause forward.
No need to discuss their dogma of being anti-homosexual or encouraging the breeding of large families. Maybe they can out breed the Mormons and Catholics.
I'd rather hand my charitible donations directly to a homeless person or to a locally managed shelter or hospice.
Avoid charities and religious groups this holiday season that have massive administration overheads or that just don't actually move their cause forward.
Vista Service Pack Release Candidate 1 is OK
The ONE thing that makes the first of what I expect will be many, service packs for Windows Vista is that for us unfortunate users (retail beta testers?) of Vista Ultimate is that now one's Internet connection is established immediately instead of five minutes after Vista Ultimate has booted up.
Performance? HA! My startup time is SLOWER now, but I'm confident that Microsoft will label that as being "more secure" by using some new mystery code that we don't see while the PC boots up.
Performance? HA! My startup time is SLOWER now, but I'm confident that Microsoft will label that as being "more secure" by using some new mystery code that we don't see while the PC boots up.
Windows Live OneCare failure
Well, Windows Live OneCare is finally off of the last system in my home. My wife had been using it under Windows XP. Recently OneCare downloaded an "update" that made it totally unuseable. Using Microsoft's OneCare repair tools (kind of says something about the product when they have repair tools, eh?) and doing a total uninstall and reinstall could not get OneCare back in operation.
So, I installed Symantec's Norton 360, which offers everything that OneCare does. Norton 360 also has many additional features over and above OneCare, such as regularly tuning up your PC.
I use Norton 360 on three of my PCs and find it to be an excellent for securing and protecting your PC, especially if you are a heavy Internet user.
So, I installed Symantec's Norton 360, which offers everything that OneCare does. Norton 360 also has many additional features over and above OneCare, such as regularly tuning up your PC.
I use Norton 360 on three of my PCs and find it to be an excellent for securing and protecting your PC, especially if you are a heavy Internet user.
Windows Live Messenger is risky to use
I logged in to Windows Live Messenger this morning to find that all of the people on my Coworkers group (a group that is built into Windows Live Messenger) had disappeared!
At first I thought possibly that I had been fired, but fortunately that is not the case.
Microsoft simply lost all of my data. This shouldn't surprise me because as I contractor I had to reconstruct all of the MSN internal InfoPath help desk forms from screen shots because they somehow managed to lose that data.
The lesson learned here is to keep a seperate copy of all your IM contacts on your local PC. You will need that list if Microsoft loses your IM data, as Microsoft obviously has lost for me.
At first I thought possibly that I had been fired, but fortunately that is not the case.
Microsoft simply lost all of my data. This shouldn't surprise me because as I contractor I had to reconstruct all of the MSN internal InfoPath help desk forms from screen shots because they somehow managed to lose that data.
The lesson learned here is to keep a seperate copy of all your IM contacts on your local PC. You will need that list if Microsoft loses your IM data, as Microsoft obviously has lost for me.
Best HD TVs as of October 2007
The Panasonic 42” Plasma HDTV (Model number is TH-42PX75U) is currently the best 720p on the market.
The best 1080p HDTV out there is the Westinghouse LVM-42w2. This is a true 1080p that has beaten out Sony and JVC in testing.
The best 1080p HDTV out there is the Westinghouse LVM-42w2. This is a true 1080p that has beaten out Sony and JVC in testing.
HP Pavilion a6152n
Currently the best priced desktop with a Quad Core processor. Amazon, Fry's, Circuit City and many other retailers sell this PC for $800-$1000. It uses an ASUS IPIBL-LA motherboard. Comes with 3GB of RAM (2 1GB and 2 512MB. 32 bit OS like Windows XP and Vista don't recognize RAM beyond 3 GB so this is optimal unless you "upgrade" to a 64 bit version of Windows, and if you do that, all I can say is good luck finding device drivers!)
I got one awhile back, and while the LightScribe/Roxio software won't burn a LightScribe label, everything else works fine and it's good PC. I did stick an EVGA DX10 compatible PCI-E board and a wireless-n board in it as well.
It also has an HP Pocket Media Drive bay, but as I already carry around a pocket USB drive, I haven't used that feature yet. No need to buy another drive at this time point anyway.
I got one awhile back, and while the LightScribe/Roxio software won't burn a LightScribe label, everything else works fine and it's good PC. I did stick an EVGA DX10 compatible PCI-E board and a wireless-n board in it as well.
It also has an HP Pocket Media Drive bay, but as I already carry around a pocket USB drive, I haven't used that feature yet. No need to buy another drive at this time point anyway.
Vista Ultimate versus Vista Business versus Vista Home Premium
OK, go for the weirdest situation created by Microsoft to date.
Vista Business (installed on one of my notebooks) works fairly normal. I installed it for the scanning and fax capability that comes with Vista Business. The Microsoft scanning software won't work with my older scanner, but that's OK, as the old scanner software will allow me to scan documents onto my notebook. The only good news here is that the Microsoft Fax software does function. God only knows what scanners will work with the Microsoft Scan software.
I recently bought an HP (made by Asus!) Pavilion with a Quad Core processor. The PC came with Vista Home Premium installed. This version of Vista worked pretty well. I had also recently "upgraded" my daughter's PC from Vista Home Basic to Vista Home Premium. Basically Home Premium seems to work much better than Home Basic.
Now I recently had to "upgrade" my new PC to Vista Ultimate in order to run Virtual PC 2007 for my work. Talk about a step backwards! As opposed to Vista Home Premium, Vista Ultimate takes several minutes after booting up the PC to connect to the Internet. Very annoying. In addition, Ultimate forced me to create a static IP address for this PC as it couldn't seem to handle accepting or working with an automatic IP address from the router. Oddly enough, Vista Home Premium had no problem connecting to the Internet instantly and receiving an automatic IP address.
As one wag put it, "Windows Vista users are the largest beta testing group in the world."
Vista Business (installed on one of my notebooks) works fairly normal. I installed it for the scanning and fax capability that comes with Vista Business. The Microsoft scanning software won't work with my older scanner, but that's OK, as the old scanner software will allow me to scan documents onto my notebook. The only good news here is that the Microsoft Fax software does function. God only knows what scanners will work with the Microsoft Scan software.
I recently bought an HP (made by Asus!) Pavilion with a Quad Core processor. The PC came with Vista Home Premium installed. This version of Vista worked pretty well. I had also recently "upgraded" my daughter's PC from Vista Home Basic to Vista Home Premium. Basically Home Premium seems to work much better than Home Basic.
Now I recently had to "upgrade" my new PC to Vista Ultimate in order to run Virtual PC 2007 for my work. Talk about a step backwards! As opposed to Vista Home Premium, Vista Ultimate takes several minutes after booting up the PC to connect to the Internet. Very annoying. In addition, Ultimate forced me to create a static IP address for this PC as it couldn't seem to handle accepting or working with an automatic IP address from the router. Oddly enough, Vista Home Premium had no problem connecting to the Internet instantly and receiving an automatic IP address.
As one wag put it, "Windows Vista users are the largest beta testing group in the world."
Windows Live OneCare is the spawn of Satan!
One has to wonder if the people behind Windows Live OneCare even have any computer programming experience!
Amongst the many stupid things committed by Windows Live OneCare are:
1. Automatically downloading Internet Explorer 7 onto a notebook that already had IE 7 on it, thus corrupting the registry and knocking the browser back to IE 6! This cannot be undone, believe me!
2. Randomly shutting down Windows Vista to install updates without any warning.
3. After practically any update, Windows Mobile Center is knocked out, thus requiring that one totally reinstall the Windows Mobile Center configuration with the Windows Firewall.
Well, there's more but those are just the high points of this crappy program.
Amongst the many stupid things committed by Windows Live OneCare are:
1. Automatically downloading Internet Explorer 7 onto a notebook that already had IE 7 on it, thus corrupting the registry and knocking the browser back to IE 6! This cannot be undone, believe me!
2. Randomly shutting down Windows Vista to install updates without any warning.
3. After practically any update, Windows Mobile Center is knocked out, thus requiring that one totally reinstall the Windows Mobile Center configuration with the Windows Firewall.
Well, there's more but those are just the high points of this crappy program.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie
Absolutely the worst Harry Potter film to date!
Yes it is as true to the book as filming time could allow
(Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes)
but it is Very S-L-O-W and BORING!
Wait for it to come out on DVD.
Yes it is as true to the book as filming time could allow
(Running time is 2 hours and 15 minutes)
but it is Very S-L-O-W and BORING!
Wait for it to come out on DVD.
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