Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by lex

Directory of HiFi & HeadFi shops/stores

lex — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 14:26:07 +0800

Announcement:

Please note, all shops/stores directly selling their wares can advertise their sales topics/thread directly here in this pinned thread.

Each shop/store is limited to one post in this pinned thread. They may advertise their wares (brands, models, etc), official website and their shop/store address, as well as pointing directly to their sales topic/thread in this forum.

Sales topics/threads should be in the Trade Zone section area here: Trade Zone -> Garage Sales -> Entertainment Garage Sales -> Music Players and Audio Accessories

This also allows potential customers to quickly have a directory or reference to a particular shop/store.

Seems many so called "discussion threads" for shops/stores are beginning to look more and more like sales thread rather than a discussion thread. Thus all ongoing topics/threads for specific shop/store will be closed.

Distributors and official brand representatives who do not sell directly are exempted.

Rules in this forum section:

Sellers may post recommendations in discussion threads, but do not directly advertise his/her sales inside the post (can do it thru the use of the signature).

Please use the PM method to discuss personal sales directly.

Too many (excessive and/or successive) "call me", "PM me", "UGPM" and/or "visit us" type posts will be treated as selling openly, and seller's account can be suspended.

New topics/threads about shop/store openings, new product introductions, events and promotions (depending on discretion of moderators and staff) can be posted but must be closed after 7 to 14 days (maximum), and any prolonging the life of the thread will be prohibited. Any promotions greater than 7 to 14 days may continue in the shop/store/seller's own sales topics/threads.

[WTS] HighPoint and Promise ATA RAID controllers

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 07:30:00 +0800

[SOLD] Samsung BN44-00122A IP-19125A IP board

lex — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 19:06:41 +0800

Item(s): Samsung BN44-00122A IP-19125A power supply and inverter board

Package includes: Power supply board.

Price: RM40 or nearest offer (price is negotiable)...

Warranty: 2 weeks personal

Dealing method: Preferably COD, though postage can be entertained.

Location of seller: Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur

Contact method/details: PM me...

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Item(s) conditions: Used but still in good working condition.

Picture:
[attachmentid=4058166]

[attachmentid=4058169]

[attachmentid=4058170]

Reason for sale: Taken from a Samsung SyncMaster 540N LCD monitor with bad panel, which was collecting dust...

Comments: This power board works in quite a number of Samsung LCD monitors other than those listed. Intended for quick replacement of a failed power supply board.

Update: Sold to Mudmaniac as part of a LCD monitor repair.

[SOLD] Philips 150S6, 15" LCD color monitor

lex — Fri, 27 Dec 2013 11:26:03 +0800

Item(s): Philips 150S6, 15" LCD color monitor

Package includes: Power and VGA cable

Price: RM70, negotiable or nearest offer

Warranty: None from manufacturer, one week personal, can test on the spot before buying

Dealing method: Preferably COD

Location of seller: Setapak Jaya / Wangsa Maju, KL

Contact method/details: PM and/or reply here.

Age of item: Unknown.

---

Item(s) conditions: 7/10

Picture:
[attachmentid=3787673]
[attachmentid=3787674]

Reason for sale: Selling for friend (not my monitor)...

Update: Sold on Mudah.my

[Guide] Gaming mouse repair: Razer Imperator 2012

lex — Tue, 20 Aug 2013 02:14:20 +0800

Introduction
Majority of gaming mouse will likely to suffer from a glitchy left click button due to constant abuse from usage in intensive games (especially those first person shooters). This is due to the microswitch wear and tear, which eventually the internal contact becomes loose, bent and/or have abrasions. In this case, a Razer Imperator 2012 Battlefield 3 Edition mouse suffers from very glitchy left button with false double clicks (click once but system detects double click instead), unable to keep the focus when holding down the button (such as dragging and/or resizing a window) and problems clicking (somtimes require multiple tries before click was successful).
[center]

[/center]
Dis-assembling the mouse
First, dis-assembly of the mouse is required. Tools required are a "Phillips" screwdriver, a flat-tip screwdriver (to probe and pry open the cover) and a jeweler's screwdriver set (for very tiny screws). Flip the mouse to reveal the bottom/underside area.
[center]

[/center]
Peel and remove the smooth "mousefeet" at the bottom, which is actually just a plastic sticker. This will reveal a screw that holds down the top cover.
[center]

[/center]
Use a screwdriver to remove the screw. After that, probe around the cover to figure out how to pry open the top cover. For Razer Imperator mouse, slide the top cover forward (towards the front), and its not easy as the plastic latches can be pretty tight and very tricky. Once the cover is removed, you will be able to see the circuit board attached to the bottom cover. Unplug all connectors/cables from the circuit board board and remove the screws that hold the circuit board down.

Microswitch replacement
This is the circuit board after removal from the mouse bottom cover. That Omron microswitch for the left button needs to be replaced.
[center]

[/center]
First, remove the old glitchy microswitch from the board. Tools required are a soldering iron, some solder wire, solder flux and de-soldering pump (solder sucker). First remove solder from the microswitch pins on the bottom side of the circuit board, and pull out the old microswitch. Then put in the new replacement microswitch, and solder the replacement in place.
[center]

[/center]
This is the new replacement microswitch I've used which is much more easier to click and a bit more noisier as well since its switch lever (the red thingy) is raised slightly higher than the original microswitch.

Preliminary testing
Place back the circuit board into the mouse bottom cover including the screws in place, and with the USB interface connector plugged in properly.
[center]

[/center]
Perform a short test first to make sure the new microswitch works properly by plugging into an USB port on a computer and trying it out on several tasks. This is to make sure the new microswitch is fully working and soldered correctly. You do not want to go through the trouble of dis-assembling the mouse again after finding out the new replacement doesn't work properly possibly due to a faulty new microswitch, and/or due to bad or dry/cold solder joint.

Re-assembling the mouse and we are done!
After the preliminary testing is successful, then can re-assemble back the mouse. Make sure the other connector (for the top two buttons) is plugged back in as well. Note the two horizontal latch holes on the top cover, and match/align it to two protruding fins at the back of the mouse bottom assembly. Push/slide the cover towards the end/back. After successfully putting back the top cover, put the screw back in and then cover the screw hole with the smooth "mousefeet". That's the end of the repair. Now the mouse is back to normal and in good working condition again.

Epilogue
That's it. Hopefully this brief and simple guide will be helpful to users whose mouse warranty has expired and have glitchy button problems. Besides gaming mouse, its applicable to any type of mouse as well.

Creative GigaWorks S750 7.1 speaker repair

lex — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 02:32:13 +0800

Preface and symptoms
A client brought in a Creative GigaWorks S750 7.1 speaker system for repair. Main problem is the speaker system cannot be powered up at all. Usually many people would assume that it was due the fuse blown whenever their equipment lost all power, however very often that is not the case. The fuse on this speaker system is easily accessible from outside (right under the power socket) and the fuse was found to be OK. Thus the fault is definitely internal (possibly on the power supply board).

First look inside
The first thing to do is to look at the power supply board. This speaker system uses SMPS (switched-mode power supply) for all its power requirements. There are two SMPS sections on this board, one for standby power and the other for power amplifiers. As with other Creative GigaWorks series, a relay is used to switch on/off the power to the power amplifier section.
[center]
The light blue thingy labeled "Goodsky" is the relay.[/center]

Visible signs of failed components
Right away can see those big CapXon HP series capacitors in various stages of bulging, a blown diode and lots of degraded glue (the brown stuff). The design of that heatsink towering over the capacitors would have easily caused to capacitors to bulge due to prolonged heat exposure from the toasty heatsink. Anyway CapXon is not a good capacitor brand at all and is very well known for bad capacitor problems. In fact, its very common to see failed CapXon capacitors in many electronic equipment such as computer PSUs, LCD monitors, AC-to-DC adapters, etc...
[center]
Bulging capacitors, blown diode and degraded glue on the primary side.[/center]

Beware of degraded glue
Thus, why repeatedly the concern on degraded glue? Because degraded glue can become conductive and creates all sorts of weird problems (including short circuits)! You can read more about it here: Conductive Glue Carnage. Thus removal of degraded glue was essential.

One of the snubber network ceramic capacitors literally cracked and fell apart into pieces when removing more degraded glue...
[center]
This is what was left after degraded glue was removed. One of the ceramic capacitor legs can still be seen there.[/center]

Degraded glue and standoffs plus GND connection equals trouble
These standoffs are connected to the aluminium heatsink and to GND rail! Thus the degraded glue around other standoffs had to be removed to prevent current and future problems.
[center]
Metallic standoff with connection to heatsink and GND!

The plastic standoff with degraded glue removed reveals a pad to GND connection also![/center]
Its also possible that the diode blew due to degraded glue plus that metallic standoff (which is connected to GND!). This is the closeup of the blown diode and the blob of degraded glue that extends all the way to the metallic standoff. This diode is in the primary high voltage section! The diode is blown to beyond recognition (very little left of the markings). Later I did found out the actual part number for this diode from schematics...
[center][/center]

More signs of possible future problems
Simply said, more CapXon junk. These capacitors with blue sleeve are all CapXon GS series 85C general purpose type which are not really suited for SMPS (switched-mode power supply) usage. Usually for SMPS, they should be higher temperature 105C low ESR or low impedance type. How did Creative engineers get away with this? Notice those disc-shaped ceramic capacitors besides them? By using ceramic capacitors in parallel to serve/function as the low ESR side! Anyway its quite common to see this configuration in some power supplies (as a method of cost cutting).
[center]
Capacitors for the power amplifier side right after the rectifiers...

Capacitors for the standby power side right after the rectifiers. The cracked ceramic capacitor and degraded glue were cleaned up as well.

Capacitors for the standby power output side right after the linear voltage regulators.[/center]
Besides those CapXon, there were also a Su'scon SL series 85C general purpose capacitor and a S.J.E RH series 105C general purpose capacitor. Thus my recommendation to the client was also to replace/upgrade all those el-cheapo crap capacitors with high quality low ESR and low impedance capacitors suitable for SMPS.

[SOLD]Dell UltraScan D1025TM 17" CRT color monitor

lex — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 18:38:49 +0800

Item(s): Dell UltraScan D1025TM 17" CRT color monitor (Sony Trinitron), specifications here: Specifications: Dell™ D1025TM (UltraScan™ 1000HS Series)

Package includes: Monitor and power cable (VGA cable attached to monitor)

Price: RM30 or nearest offer (negotiable)

Warranty: Nil, 1 week personal

Dealing method: COD only

Location of seller: Wangsa Maju / Setapak Jaya, KL

Contact method/details: PM me or reply here

Age of item: 11 years+

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Item(s) conditions: 7/10. Still in good working condition, stand base crack a bit, and a few scratches.

Picture:
[attachmentid=3864800]

[attachmentid=3864801]

[attachmentid=3864802]

Reason for sale: Clearing room, extra monitors.

Update: Sold on Mudah.my

[Review] FiiO D3 24bit 192kHz DAC

lex — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 16:49:12 +0800

Introduction:
Acquired this tiny FiiO D3 DAC not long ago. Given its low price and impressive 24bit 192kHz specification, does it deliver bang-per-buck?

Specifications...
- Maximum support: 192KHz/24Bit
- Power supply: DC 5V
- Output amplitude: 1.6V (0dB Fs)
- Frequency Response: 20Hz~20KHz
- Signal to Noise Ratio: ≥90dB
- Crosstalk: 75dB
- Total harmonic distortion: <0.01%(10mW)
- Size: 61.6mm×49.1mm×21mm
- Weight: 50g

Hardware...
This DAC is really small, and can easily fit in the palms of your hand...

The main I.Cs in this unit are...

- Wolfson WM8805 SPDIF receiver
- Cirrus Logic CS4344 24-bit 192kHz DAC
- Texas Instruments LMV358 low power opamp

The Wolfson SPDIF receiver and Cirrus Logic DAC will be familiar to HiFi enthusiasts. However the opamp used is not exactly HiFi class but given the unit's low price, I'm not surprised. This DAC target market is for users with LCD TVs which only has optical or coaxial audio outputs for external audio equipment. This is an older version of FiiO D3 series (ie. there's a newer version at the manufacturer's website here: FiiO TAISHAN D03K). However being a generic DAC, it can also be used for computers with SPDIF output. For those who are not satisfied with their soundcards or integrated audio solutions, this DAC would be the simplest solution.

Testing:
The test setup consist of my old PC with the following specifications...

- Processor: Intel Core i5 760 (stock speed)
- Mainboard: GigaByte GA-H55M-USB3
- Memory: 4GB Kingston DDR3-1333 ValueRAM (2GB+2GB in dual channel mode)
- Graphic card: Palit 9600GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
- Soundcard: Realtek ALC889 integrated HD audio
- CD/DVD drive: Lite-On SHW-160P6S 16X/8X/16X IDE DVDRW
- Power supply: AcBel E2 Power 470W
- Operating system: Windows XP Service Pack 3

As for storage, there are at least 1.6TB spanning multiple HDDs and not including external hot plug eSATA drives.

Methodology...
Source testing material are audio CDs and lossless audio files. Players used are Foobar2000 and Winamp. All audio tests are done at both 96kHz and 192kHz sampling rates with integrated ALC889 thru SPDIF optical connection. Refer to the image below on the settings...

The Realtek drivers will automatically upsample all 44.1kHz audio data to the specified output sampling rate. The Realtek integrated audio solution can also simultaneously output both SPDIF and analog Line out. Software upsampler/resamplers such as SoX and Audioburst FX are also used. Output resolution set to 24bit/32bit. Output device set to "Realtek HD Audio output", Kernal Streaming output and/or ASIO. For your information, for best quality audio avoid the "Primary sound driver" or Directsound (which is why I'm not using Windows Media Player).

Listening equipment...
Not exactly super high end stuff, but highly adequate for listening purposes.

- Philips SHP1900 headphones
- Edifier M3300 2.1 speaker system (already repaired and modified)

The headphones are a little shy on the low frequencies but not too shy on the high frequencies. The speakers are very sensitive to high frequency spectrum (literally can even pick up any spurious noise present from the inputs) and can be used to distinguish between my other soundcards (Creative Audigy SE, Creative SoundBlaster Live!, Yamaha XG, CMedia CMI8738, etc).

Listening results (compared to baseline integrated ALC889)...
Sometimes a bit more detail is revealed (depends on the music/audio being played). Certain music now has a little more "air" to it. However the high frequency spectrum is somewhat laid back (when compared with the integrated audio solution). Slightly finer trebles but not much presence. The middle frequencies such as vocals sounds normal (nothing special). The lows sounds fine though. IMHO overall the sound is somewhat "laid back".

Problems encountered and my modifications
This DAC is not without some hiccups which may not be noticeable or apparent to most users (those who are not picky on the audio quality, and/or have muddy sounding speakers).

Noisy AC-to-DC power adapter...
The DAC's power section has simplistic filtering and regulation. As a result, any power supply with noisy rails will affect the audio output. And sure enough there was noise. The issue can be heard easily on my speakers rather than on the headphones. There was significant buzzing and audible high frequency crackling.

The original (noisy) AC-to DC adapter...

The problem was solved by powering from USB port of my PC. The USB cable used has a ferrite bead which should filter most of the EMI as well as some high frequency ripples of the USB power supply line (refer to the image below)...

But that's not the end of the noise problems, see the next paragraph below....

Crappy main filter capacitor...
After changing the power source (switched to computer's USB port), the buzzing stopped but still noticed some low level hiss and high frequency crackling on the speakers. Thus decided to change the DAC's main filter capacitor...

The original (crappy) "Cheng" capacitor removed from the DAC...

The replacement Nippon Chemicon KZG capacitor (miniature ultra low ESR) from my old stock....

After this modification, the low level hiss and high frequency crackling has now disappeared. The baseline high frequency whine of my speakers (can only be heard by pressing the ear against the tweeters closely) has increased slightly, which means not all the ripple on the USB power supply line is fully suppressed. But still considered a very significant improvement (noise levels have dropped dramatically and almost inaudible).

Possible future modifications...
Perhaps some future modifications especially replacing those ceramics in the signal path or simply bypassing the opamp can improve it a little more. Also (DIY) dedicated USB power line filter is in consideration.

Disclaimer...
Please note that modifying any unit still under warranty will VOID the warranty!

Conclusions:
Considering its relatively low price, do not put too much high expectations.

The pros...
- Cheap and affordable 24-bit 192kHz DAC
- Has both optical and coaxial inputs
- Switch to select either inputs, can be used for 2 different audio sources
- Optionally can be powered using USB port on the PC (for those who lacked enough power sockets to plug in the AC-to-DC adapter)
- Plug and play, no drivers required
- Gold plated connectors

The cons...
- Does not sound significantly better than integrated audio solutions such as Realtek ALC889
- Line outputs cannot be used to drive headphones directly, inevitable since its using very low power opamp.
- Line outputs levels are a little low thus need to increase the speaker volume a bit more
- Noisy AC-to-DC power adapter
- Insufficient power filtering with crappy main filter capacitor
- For DIY modders, not easy to perform modifications due to SMD components plus enclosure's limited internal space

[SOLD] Level One KVM-0201 2-port cable KVM switch

lex — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 02:58:05 +0800

Item(s): Level One KVM-0201 2-port cable KVM switch (user manual & specifications here: KVM-0201(EN).pdf)

Package includes: Box, manual and KVM switch (cables are attached)

Price: RM40 or offer me

Warranty: Nil, 1 week personal

Dealing method: Preferably COD

Location of seller: Wangsa Maju / Setapak Jaya, KL

Contact method/details: PM me or reply here

Age of item: 7 years

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Item(s) conditions: Still in excellent working condition

Picture: Will upload later...

Reason for sale: Upgraded to KVM switch with DVI+USB ports...

Update: Sold to kethon27

Optical Drive and Media Thread Ver 3.0

lex — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:24:12 +0800

Proceed here, since the previous Optical Drive and Media Thread Ver 2.0 topic has exceeded the 2K limit.

You may salvage any useful stuff and re-post here.

Intel Releases Atom D2500 and D2700 Processors

lex — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:56:40 +0800

News of Cedar View: Tom's Hardware > News > Components > CPU > New 32nm Atoms Surface on Intel's Website...

QUOTE(Douglas Perry @ Sep 28, 2011, 1:30 PM)

New 32nm Atoms Surface on Intel's Website

1:30 PM - September 28, 2011 by Douglas Perry -
source: Tom's Hardware US

The latest version of Intel's processor price list includes the company's first 32 nm Atom processors.

Zoom

Two yet-to-be-announced Cedarview Atom CPUs, the D2700 and the D2500, are now officially listed as available for tray purchases. Both versions are clocked higher than their predecessors, but are offered at lower prices.

The D2700 arrives with 2.13 GHz and support for four threads, while the D525 was available with four threads support and 1.80 GHz. The D2500 is clocked with 1.86 GHz, supports only two threads and will replace the D425 with 1.80 GHz.

Intel also responds to criticism that its Atom processors are too expensive. The D2700 has a tray price of $52 and the D2500 carries a $42 price tag. The D525 is currently offered for $63.

The Cedarview processors are still in a lofty price range, even if we hear from Intel that these new processors may be substantially faster than their 45 nm counterparts. For tablet applications, we already know that good-enough processors dominate the market and Intel will have to come much closer to the $20 to $30 price range to have a greater chance to become a rival for ARM implementations.

And from Intel's own product pages: Intel® Atom™ Processor D2500 (1M Cache, 1.86 GHz) and Intel® Atom™ Processor D2700 (1M Cache, 2.13 GHz), also Intel® Atom™ Processor for Entry-Level Desktops Product Brief.

Earlier news of this platform: EXPreview >> Hardware News >> Sike APU, SOYO Atom D2700 motherboard platform lead exposure...

QUOTE(Blade @ Sep 21 2011, 16:48 PM)

Sike APU, Soyo motherboard platform for Atom D2700 lead exposure

2011-09-21 16:48 | Keywords: Soyo, Motherboard, Atom, D2700

According to Intel's plans, a new generation of Atom processors D2500/D2700 in the fourth quarter, to replace the existing D525/D425 and other products, and AMD's mobile version of the APU under a high.

Alleged Atom D2500/D2700 processors feature dual-core design, clocked at 1.86GHz and 2.13GHz, which D2700 also supports Hyper-Threading technology. Both integrated PowerVR SGX545 graphics. Both integrated PowerVR SGX545 graphics core, supports DirectX 10.1 and a variety of hardware decoding of HD video formats, TDP of 10W, with NM10 motherboard chips still use.

Although the new generation of Atom processors have not yet officially released, but the domestic first motherboard manufacturer SOYO has exposed its use D2700 and NM10 chip build motherboards. The motherboard uses integrated passive thermal design, equipped with two DDR3 DIMM memory slots, one PCI-E x16 slot and two PCI slots, and provides 2 SATA connectors.

Rear I / O area, the board provides two PS / 2 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, an RJ45 network interface, a parallel interface and a set of 5.1 channel Audio interface provides a VGA display section , DVI and HDMI interfaces.

In the one under the radiator, from chips and motherboards Intel Atom D2700 NM10 processor. As the two low heat, even if passive cooling is no problem.

Atom D2700 processor

NM10 motherboard chip

At present this has not been announced Soyo motherboard specific time and price, but we believe that the earliest until after the release of next-generation Atom processor.

Beware of fake external USB hard drive

lex — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:58:36 +0800

Beware of fake USB hard drives: Chinese Magical Hard-Drive....

QUOTE

A Russian friend of mine has posted this absolutely amazing story.

He works at a hard-drive repair center in a Russian town right next to the Chinese border. A couple of days ago a customer has brought a broken 500Gb USB-drive that he had bought in a Chinese store across the river, for an insanely low price. But the drive was not working: if you, say, save a movie onto the drive, playing the saved movie back resulted in replaying just the last 5 minutes of the film.

The whole service center was rolling on the floor laughing. This was not the first time someone has brought a disk like that. And the previous drives were also bought in China... They opened up the drive right in front of the astonished customer. This is what they saw:

It's a 128-MB flash-drive. Working in a "looped" mode - when it runs out of space, it starts overwriting from the beginning. My friend said they're still trying to figure out how did the Chinese do that. Because the drive reports "correct" file sizes and disk-capacity. And the "looped-overwriting" does not touch the other files present on the drive.

The device looks pretty convincing - lots of tech labels and stuff... The Chinese salesman even saved something to the drive to demonstrate that it "works" in the store.

[WTS] GlobalWin FOP38 HSF Socket-462/Socket-370

lex — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 07:13:22 +0800

Item(s): GlobalWin FOP38 HSF with 6800rpm ball bearing fan for Socket-462 and Socket-370

Package includes: Heatsink, fan & original box

Price: Offer me

Warranty: None

Dealing method: Preferably COD

Location of seller: Setapak Jaya, Kuala Lumpur

Contact method/details: PM or reply here

Age of item: around 6 years+

Item(s) conditions: Working.

Picture: [attachmentid=2066052]

Reason for sale: Clearing room, no longer using for long time already.

Comments: This is one of the top HSF in its heydays. Also one of the noisiest due to its high speed fan, however the huge wind power can reach (and cool) the surrounding area even the NorthBridge! Example review here.

LEADTEK-WE MAKE DREAMS A REALITY

lex — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:27:05 +0800

Check out Win A Free WinFast GTX 570 From Leadtek! It is easy!. Anyone else want to try his/her luck?

Might spawn too many "LEADTEK-WE MAKE DREAMS A REALITY" threads..

Aava Mobile's Intel Moorestown prototype plays WoW

lex — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:47:49 +0800

Source: Aava Mobile's Intel Moorestown prototype plays World of Warcraft beautifully...

QUOTE

Intel has managed to make Moorestown-based phones do an awful lot of things on stage. Multitask, scale photos sans lag, and automatically correct your grammar before it comes out of your mouth. But believe it or not, one thing we haven't seen the Aava Mobile-built reference design do is play the full PC version of World of Warcraft and / or Quake III (from within Moblin) for over an hour on a full charge. Well, until this week's Computex event. Peek a couple of videos just past the break if you're in disbelief, and trust us when we say that it had no issues keep the frames flowing at a comfortable clip. The future is bright, people.

Check the videos on that website link..

Others: COMPUTEX: World of Warcraft on Moorestown

The world's first test Intel Core i7 875K

lex — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:37:16 +0800

Source: [XF] the world's first test Intel Core i7 875K Unlock the first to experience the non-locking...

QUOTE

Intel will launch a non-locking frequency doubling "Core i7-875K", "Core i5-655K". 和去年的Pentium E6500K以及AMD的黑盒版一樣，都是開放倍頻的特殊版本，允許玩家自由超頻。 And last year's Pentium E6500K, and the black box version of AMD as a special version of the multiplier is open, allowing players to free overclocking.

[YOUTUBE]zTPsHdtsML4[/YOUTUBE]

CES 2010: ECS Shows off the Vase PC

lex — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:55:01 +0800

Source: CES 2010: ECS Shows off the Vase PC

QUOTE

The more interesting things there was this Vase PC. As you can see it looks just like a normal Vase
Press the barely visible button and the Blu-ray ROM pops out! This "Vase Case" has an ION heart, with two USB ports and an HDMI out. It is not yet scheduled for sale, but if reception is strong enough we could see this and other "hidden" gadgets in the future. Let us know what you think!

Fancy some decoration on your desktop or home?

Intel new IGP vs HD4350 & GT210

lex — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 08:05:22 +0800

Source: H57深度:Intel集显超越HD4350/GT210?

Alternate (summary): [벤치] GMA의 환골탈태? 클락데일 밴치마크:

Translated: "H57 Depth: Intel sets significantly exceed HD4350/GT210?"

More here (translated): "King Xian of 785G built-in challenge to set GPU processor performance in the first test"

As for the translated titles, not my translation..

Intel Larrabee finally hits 1TFLOPS - 2.7x faster

lex — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:05:14 +0800

Source: Intel Larrabee finally hits 1TFLOPS - 2.7x faster than nVidia GT200!

QUOTE

During the recently held SC09 conference in Portland, Oregon - Intel finally managed to reach its original performance goal for Larrabee. Back in 2006, when we first got the first details about Larrabee, the performance goal was "1TFLOPS@ 16 cores, 2.0 GHz clock, 150W TDP". During Justin Rattner's keynote, Intel demonstrated the performance of LRB as it stands today.

At SGEMM Performance test [4K by 4K Matrix Multiply, QCD], Intel achieved 417 GFLOPS using half the cores on the prototype card, and reached 825 GFLOPS by enabling all the cores. While looking at the numbers alone, one might think that these scores are below the level of ATI Radeon 4850 and nVidia GeForce GTX 280/GTX 285. Of course, there is a "but" coming - unlike theoretical numbers that are usually disclosed by ATI and nVidia - this was an actual SGEMM benchmark calculation used in the HPC community.

The keynote continued while the engineers scrambled at the back to try to beat the 1TFLOPS barrier. A couple of minutes before the end of the keynote, Justin added the infamous "And one more thing…" Initial overclocked performance was 913 GFLOPS, moved slowly past 919 GLOPS, bounced up to 997 GFLOPS and ultimately passed the 1TFLOPS barrier with 1006 GFLOPS. Now, we can debate the numbers all we want, but the fact of the matter is that nVidia Tesla C1060 delivers only 370 GFLOPS in an identical SGEMM 4Kx4K calculation. Thus, Larrabee today comes at 2.7x math performance of GT200 chip.

Source: Intel’s Live Demo of Larrabee at SC09

QUOTE

At the recent Supercomputing2009 Conference in Portland, OR, Intel’s Justin Rattner talked about the Rise of the 3D Internet as a tool for collaboration and presentation of HPC resources in a friendly way to users. Disguised in the middle of his talk was a few slides about the upcoming Larrabee chipset with a live on-stage demo.

[YOUTUBE]ynjYuS1J3jI[/YOUTUBE]

Side note: I have a feeling that this is the source of NVIDIA's presidents's whinings and criticisms on Intel lately (he already knew)..

[WTS] HighPoint and Promise ATA RAID controllers

lex — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:21:14 +0800

Item #1: HighPoint RocketRAID 133 PCI ATA RAID controller (specifications here)
Package includes: Card only.
Price: Offer me (negotiable)
Warranty: 1 week personal
Dealing method: Preferably COD
Location of seller: Setapak Jaya, Kuala Lumpur
Contact method/details: PM or reply here
Age of item: around 4 years+
Item(s) conditions: Last time it was working fine, recently tested still OK.
Picture: [attachmentid=1275523][attachmentid=1275525][attachmentid=1275528]
Reason for sale: No longer using for a long time.

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Item #2: Promise Ultra66 PCI ATA controller modified to FastTrak66 PCI RAID controller
Package includes: Card only.
Price: Offer me (negotiable)
Warranty: 1 week personal
Dealing method: Preferably COD
Location of seller: Setapak Jaya, Kuala Lumpur
Contact method/details: PM or reply here
Age of item: around 9 years+
Item(s) conditions: Last time it was working fine, recently tested still OK. One of the fastest RAID controllers during its time, and you can find many reviews on this card. Example here.
Picture: [attachmentid=1275522][attachmentid=1275526][attachmentid=1275529]
Reason for sale: No longer using, for a long time.

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Item #3: Promise Ultra66 PCI ATA controller

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Update: SOLD to jason881110

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Useful for people looking to connect old IDE HDDs on newer motherboards. Nowadays most motherboards have only a single IDE connector usually used for CD/DVD drive, and some do not even have any IDE connector at all.