Thinking about Computer Upgrades

(crosspost from my games blog)

My computer had been acting a bit sluggish recently so I figured it was time to wipe the OS and reinstall it. However, the system kept bluescreening my Vista install. I couldn't get around it with whatever BIOs setting changes I had available, so I decided maybe it was time for this hardware to retire. I mean, I'd run it since about 2005. I figured I could at least save the CPU, which was a decent dual core AMD Athlon II 64 x2 4800+, which was a Socket 939 like my wife's single core computer. But when I installed the CPU on her system, it started crashing too. Also, putting her CPU in my system revived it.

It looks like my CPU had decided to go loony.

So, it was time to start thinking seriously about upgrades.

My system is at the point where if I buy a new CPU, it would start an avalanche of upgrades:

• Another motherboard with a modern socket to fit the CPU, since Socket 939 is obsolete.
  
• New RAM memory as well since my old DDR 400 is not viable for the new CPU/mobo.
  
• New power supply to match the sockets on the mobo and video card (why are they 6pin and 8 pin now instead of 4pin and 6pin? sigh)

The only things that I would be able to salvage would be my video cards, hard drives, case, and fans.

Each of the 4 new components - mobo, CPU, memory, and power, would mean $100 for a base model or a $200 for a future proof economical model, or even more for a hobbyist model. (Hello $400 motherboards and $700 CPUs) So I would be spending somewhere between $400 to $800 for the parts.

Those prices are fairly reasonable, however the problem is - what should I get? Or more accurately, which motherboard should I get? Everything hinges on the motherboard.

I want to have full bandwidth for my 2 video cards. SLI or not, I want it to have 16x1 PCIe for EACH card. Often, the data path is one 16x1 that they break down into 8x1 for each card. Thus you get reduced performance for each of the cards. I mean, you get more performance than a single card, but probably nothing like if you have 2 cards each with a dedicated full PCIe path. However, there isn't really a lot of data that I've found that tells me just HOW much bandwidth my video cards use, so I'm not sure if I REALLY need this or if I'm just being a hypochondriac when I think that 2 card SLI isn't running much faster than 1 card.

As a side note, I do want to run a 3 or 4 monitor setup someday. Probably not tomorrow though. The price of an ideal minimum bezel 3x1 monitor setup seems to be just under $2000 right now. I could get some regular widescreens and plug them in but I dunno how that will be. Plus, gaming - 3d games performance is geared for 1680x1050 or 1900x1200 screens, not... 3600x1900 or 4800x1900 screens. I would probably have to turn every detail off and it would probably still bring my video cards to their knees. Sigh. eyefinity gaming, which would handle it, would cost another $550.

I want it to support 3 Gb/s SATA, or even that new 6 Gb/s SATA and USB 3.0 However, I don't have any devices that go anywhere close to that sort of speed. I've always bought the best bang for the buck kind of drives usually. These still rate way higher than my bottleneck CPU and RAM though, so I'm not too concerned about that part of it. I definitely want it to have eSATA since I have an eSATA/USB2.0 HD dock. Especially since 1.5 Terabyte drives cost like $100 now. Currently I plug it in through USB2.0 and it's pretty slow - workable but.... slow.

I want the SATA jacks to NOT get covered by my video cards. My current mobo has 4 SATA jacks - and half of them are covered when I put in the primary video card. Is that on purpose? I mean I could understand if it was the 2nd card that covers the jacks, meaning you should either run the 2nd card OR 2 extra SATA devices due to bandwidth restrictions, but why is it under the FIRST graphics card?

Anyways, this means I am still looking for a good motherboard. Nothing really fits my criteria right now except maybe a 790FX or a 780n board, but those are like a year old now, shouldn't there be something newer/better?

Here's my two best bets right now (with google links):

• GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (crossfire)
• ASUS M3N-HT (sli)

In the meantime, I bought a used Athlon 64 x2 3800+ CPU for $35, my mobo claims it peaks up at about 100 degrees Celsius when running. :P I don't know if the CPU is bad or if my mobo sensor is bad, haha. It's still working, I mean, but I dont really have much hopes for it's longevity.

Allen.

btw, ebay is selling my old dead Athlon x2 4800+ CPU for like $200! That's crazy!

Shouldn't eggs be refrigerated?

This is at the local Chinese supermarket.


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Sent using BlackBerry

Baby Explosive Bowel Movements

If a crib was an aircraft carrier, and Connor was an F-14, I guess I could say that we have been having some surprising and powerful liquid jet blast accidents. I mean, the jet wash sweeps right over the deck to places we prefer to be untouched by jet wash. It even jets uh, things, right off into the ocean sometimes. Rescue and recovery efforts are a difficulty we don't like to deal with on a regular basis.

Yes, I know these are F-18s

So we jury-rigged a Jet Blast Deflector on the deck, in the form of a rectangular plastic tub, placed on its side, and aft of the engines. It's done the trick, preventing an accident just last scheduled maintenance even.

These F-14s can be tricky to maintain. :P

Allen.

Edit:

Click the button if you want to see sprayed poop below:

Messy but at least we didn't have to replace kleenex boxes or clean the whole bed and carpet beyond again. Just the underpad and the basin. :D

Salt & Pepper Shakers

These are on every table in the cafeteria at work, and are absolutely cute.

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry.

Bottle Warmer

This is a pretty effective bottle warmer, though it has a totally inconvenient filling system.

What is with this weird precision water measuring test tube? (its like it came out of a science lab or something) What is with this completely arbitrary 1 - 10 numbering scheme? Why not use millilitres, cc, teaspoons, or seconds' worth of steam?

Trying to put in exactly 4 units of water in the tube is so annoying. It is so easy to go over the limit.

Sometimes, if I'm not heating the exact amount I've measured out for the bottle warmer, I just use a bit of boiling water in a mug instead. Its faster than trying to figure out how many units of water I'll need for various amounts of milk.

Allen.

Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry.

Peeling a Kiwi

Where the spoon fits

Given that peeling Kiwis is not something I commonly do, I didn't know exactly how to do it. I always knew it was with a spoon, but I didn't know what else was involved. So I cut the Kiwi lengthwise in half, and then the ends off. I wedged the spoon between the skin and the flesh and scraped the flesh out, worked out okay. I guess I should have checked the hundreds of how-to instructions that are available on the net, but when you're already up to your elbows with kitchen stuff, its hard to clean up and then go look it up. :P

What a curvaceous beauty!

Kiwis and more kiwis

P.s. the white stem part in the middle is hard to eat. :P

Baby Connor

Maybe I should get Photoshop...

Here's a pic of Connor. Just a few things to say for now, since it's only been a week or so:

• there is a lot of food and bottle preparation involved
  
• there is a lot of diaper changing involved
  
• there is very little sleep involved

One interesting thing I didn't know is that babies can drink from cups. During the first few days when Kathy was still in the low output colostrum stage, we supplemented Connor with formula from a medicine cup. The cup was a suggestion from the nurse at the hospital. The amount was so small (and frequent) that bottles would have been a pain to use. We're talking teaspoons (like 10-20cc) at a roughly hourly feeding

Cup feeding without spilling takes a bit of skill and practice for both you and the baby. The trick seems to be touching the liquid level to the baby's upper lip, while keeping the bottom curve of the cup pressed closely enough to bottom lip and tongue to prevent spillage, without pressing so hard that baby can't sip. It's what we do when we drink, if you have ever had to hold a cup to someone else's mouth so they can have a drink, you'll sort of know what I mean. The only difference is that the baby doesn't know to keep his lower lip touching the cup, so you have to do that.

The same trick seems to apply to bottle feeding too - if you keep the bottom round of the nipple touching his lower lip, you get a seal and don't get any spill. (unless you feed him so fast that he regurgitates something) The last day or two, I haven't even needed to tuck a napkin under his chin.

Anyways, I'm using up precious sleep time so I'm off.

Allen.