Average Idle Temperature for GeForce 6600GT?

Dias — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:11:19 +0800

I'm using a desktop and currently am experiencing frequent PC sudden shutdowns (more like as if someone suddenly hit the off switch) for quite a long time. From what I read in the old threads, I think that it is most probably due to my GPU overheating. But then, the PC was running fine for almost a year before this problem started occuring regularly.

As per below picture attached, the GPU temperature is at 81 degrees Celcius (which seems rather high). No other applications were running other than Firefox, GetRight, AVG Antivirus, GoogleTalk, NVidia System Monitor and Core Temp 0.99.5 (CPU temperature monitoring software). I'm not a gamer, so no 3D games to contribute to high temperatures.

System unit side panel is left opened with a tabletop fan blowing at its insides (that's the only way to keep the PC from suddenly shutting down up till now).

What's the normal average idle temperature that I should expect from GeForce 6600GT? Other forums put the average at around 40+. Is there any solution to the heat problem for the GPU if it is the cause of the shutdown?

TGV Online Reservation (Payonline by Credit Card)

Dias — Thu, 28 May 2009 23:45:56 +0800

For those who do online reservation at TGV's website (E-ticketing), have you encountered any problems with the Payonline Reservation option and choosing the "Pay by Credit Card" selection?

Somehow I am constantly getting the processing error message each time I submit my credit card reservation details. All details have been keyed in correctly as per site instruction.

If there's any trick to doing a successful pre-paid reservation (eg. timing), I'd appreciate it a lot. Thanks!

State of the Industry: Quality vs. Quantity

Dias — Sun, 10 May 2009 08:34:00 +0800

I subscribe to Robert's Anime Corner's weekly e-newsletter which is delivered every Friday night (US time). So this was what came up in today's edition.

QUOTE(RAC Weekly Newsletter)

Yasuo Yamaguchi, managing director of The Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), described the anime industry as a "bubble several years ago that burst" in an industry report that came out in Japan this week. He added that he thinks that the industry is heading from times of surplus toward restructuring (ya think?). AJA reported that the number of anime television programs rose from 124 in 2000 to a historic high of 306 in 2006. However, that number has since fallen to 288 in 2008. In 2006, a record 60 anime programs premiered in April, but only 30 anime programs were expected to premiere this past April, a 50% decline.

Well, it's good to see that the Japanese are finally speaking publicly about what we've known for more than two years. Let's face it, too much of a good thing is almost always bad. The consensus in Japan going forward is that Anime production must now focus on quality over quantity, something we've also known for several years. The worldwide anime market NEVER had the potential to support anything close to 300 shows a year, and the Japanese producers never had enough resources to make even a fraction of that into good shows. Even back in the 90's I remember that they had to produce about 100 shows a year to give us 25 or 30 that were actually worth purchasing. I will say that I think the theory in the fan community is way over blown that publishers failure to adapt to a digital distribution model is the culprit for much of the contraction in the industry - rather than the negative influence of fansubs and P2P which have made it extremely difficult to monetize Anime in a digital environment. Free Anime is never going to inspire good Anime. What many fans and studios alike never want to admit is that the real problem the industry has had for several years now is that unadventurous studios have caused the overall Anime audience to contract by churning out too many recycled moe (aka: character fetish) and mecha Anime rather than take risks and explore new ground. It's a creative art after all. Hollywood could take a lesson from this as well.

Additional Reads (additional materials which I looked up which are related to the above):
ANN: [Anime is a Bubble that Burst]
The Japan Times: [Future of 'anime' industry in doubt]

It's 6:40am in the morning and I am somewhat half asleep as I draft out my post (not sure will be what time once I click the submit button). So my post below might not be well thought out or properly phrased. So please excuse me for that .

Too many anime chasing too few resources. Quoting from ANN, AJA reported that the number of anime television programs rose from 124 in 2000 to a historic high of 306 in 2006. However, that number has since fallen to 288 in 2008. Still a lot of anime being produced in my book. Rather than spreading resources thin over too many lackluster titles, cut down the number of output (this is already happening), thereby increasing the resource allocated per title to at least come up with original megahits with the potential for merchandise. tie-ins, royalties, etc on the level of Evangelion (might be asking for too much here).

Rehashing. How much of a good thing is a bad thing? Are we sure that everyone loves moe? Or fanservice? But does the industry needs so much of it? An individual might not mind the moe/fanservice overdose but on aggregate, is it overkill? An online community is only a small portion of a larger anime watching audience but does it represent the taste/infatuation/fetishes of the larger unknown audience? If the domestic anime industry is suffering from declining sales, is it due to the lack of interest on the consumer's part (aside from expensively priced DVDs) as a result from being over-exposed to such elements up till the point of developing the "seen them once, seen them all" mentality? People who have watched the series on TV just aren't keen to pick up the DVDs it seems. Again, lackluster titles are partly to blame as they try to bank on cliches/fads/fetishes to pull in viewers. Heck, even deciding which fansub title to follow is a pain since the choices available for this season aren't exactly appealing. Good ones are far and few in between. The rest are just eye-candy material good for a first watch but not really something worth spending a single penny on due to low re-watch value.

Personally I feel that the anime industry is in dire need of a large infusion of creative thought. Each season when I look up what's going to be released, the descriptions never fails to mention the words "Adapted from a popular manga/light novel..." or "Adapted from a popular game...". Whatever happened to original titles not born out of any printed or game medium? Back then, we had a good mix of both original and adaptation titles. I miss those good ol' days. Not that adaptations are a bad thing as the nineties had its fair share of good enjoyable adaptations but lately there's just too many of them. When constraint by an episode count, if unlucky, the anime tends to end up either;
01. hanging halfway through; <- the must read the manga/play the game to know the whole story type
02. rushed to come up with some original (unsatisfactory) ending; or
03. a combination of 01 and 02

Actually there's a lot more rephrasing and re-editing that needs to be done to the above and there's a large chunk of what I haven't posted (it's on notepad but I'm not happy with the wording and the contents of the post) but meh...I'll post what I have done so far.

So what are your thoughts on the state of the industry lately?

Fiber Optic converter price inquiry

Dias — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 23:13:15 +0800

Hi guys, was wondering if anyone knows what is the current market price for a fiber optic converter? It's the one where the fiber cable connects to the converter and a Cat-5 cable connects between the converter and the switch. The fiber optic cable is the one with the square head (I believe it is the latest design).

Got a quotation from an outsourced IT-support vendor for the converter (unfortunately I can't remember what is the model) and it was priced at RM550.00 per unit. I need to know the market price to find out if the item is being excessively marked-up and whether there are anyplace where we can purchase it at a cheaper price.

PS: Does Lowyat sell this item? My assumption at the moment would be a no as it is not something one would buy for normal household use.

Thanks in advance.

Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by Dias

Average Idle Temperature for GeForce 6600GT?

TGV Online Reservation (Payonline by Credit Card)

State of the Industry: Quality vs. Quantity

Fiber Optic converter price inquiry