3.1GHz Quad Core System on the Cheap: $200
Posted by J.D. in Building, Computers, Daily Updates on January 31st, 2010
The need for cheap speed!
Yesterday I read a nice little article over at Anandtech about unlocking the extra two cores in AMD Phenom II X2 555 CPUs. This lets you take a dual core CPU and turn it into a quad core CPU*.
*The extra two cores aren’t guaranteed to unlock and be 100% reliable, but it’s easy to stress test and see if your particular CPU can handle it. Reading other people’s experiences it looks like the success rate is 70%+ which is good enough for me to give it a shot. Worst case I’m left with a nice dual core system that could still be overclocked even if it couldn’t be unlocked.
I’ve been wanting to build a nice little system when I return from Hawaii, but I didn’t want to spend much money on it. This build looked perfect so I decided to bite the bullet!
CPU: X2 550 $90.99
I couldn’t find the X2 555 anywhere so I went with the AMD Phenom II X2 550 from NewEgg. That CPU is one step down from the 555, so a 3.1GHz CPU instead of 3.2GHz. The cooling fan was a bundle special on NewEgg, ending up only being $4.99
Memory: DDR2 $0 (already owned this)
I’m using spare DDR2 RAM that I already have at home. I should have at least 4GB and maybe even 8GB.
Motherboard: ASRock for $69.99
This was the toughest choice. I wanted cheap, reliable, and compact. I think I found all three 
. The ASRock A785GMH/128M. It supports a wide variety of AMD CPUs: AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G, has HDMI out (with audio passed through I believe), and is a nice small Micro ATX format.
It was a tough choice between integrated graphics or discrete (add on) graphics. I decided to get a board with integrated b/c it would cut costs and I can always disable it if I need more power. The built in HD 4200 graphics are actually decent enough for modern 3D games at lower resolutions: Sims 3, World of Warcraft (WoW) [29.4 FPS at 1280x1024 Source: AMD PDF], Left 4 Dead, etc. You can find some more gaming benchmarks here. I don’t do much hardcore gaming so this should do just fine for now .
Storage: SSD $0 (already owned this)
I’ll be putting a spare 80GB X-25M SSD in this machine, it should scream!
Case: ASUS TM-211 $25 (300 watt power supply included)
ASUS TM-211
I used some spare “eBay bucks” to get a case and power supply for $25. I would have liked to add a nice super-efficient power supply, but for now this one will do (and there’s a chance I already have a spare high efficiency PS at home). Plus I’ll be running it off of solar energy so there won’t be any adverse environmental effects if it sucks a little extra juice.
Total cost: $198.52
The total (including case) should be about $198.53. Of course I’m using RAM and a storage device that I already had. If you didn’t have those on hand then you could probably get RAM & HD for $50-$100 bucks. So you’re looking at $250-$300, still not bad for a pretty darn fast system!
Order Date: 2010.01.29
Order Summary
| Qty | Product Description | Price | |
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| Shipped from TN, USA | |||
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| Subtotal | $165.97 | ||
| Tax | $0.00 | ||
| UPS Ground | $7.56 | ||
| Order Total | $173.53 | ||
Alternatives to Drywall
Posted by J.D. in Household, Remodeling, Work on January 31st, 2010
We’re planning on turning my office into the baby’s room. That means a couple things: #1 I need to find a new place to work, and #2 we need to redo the room to be more appropriate for a baby.
Samantha already has a plan for #2, we’re putting in new carpeting and we’re going to paint the existing wood paneling.
My new office is still up in the air. We have some spaces that we could convert, but all of them will require some work. Since we don’t like (installing) drywall much, I’ve been looking at some alternatives. Just to see what’s out there. Here are a few misc links…
R.I.P. Sun Microsystems
You will be missed, but not forgotten.
Sun is no more. They completed their merger with Oracle.
I have fond memories of Sun. They were always trying something different. Sometimes with great success, other times with failure, and often with something in between.
When I was in college (1999-2003) studying CS and CIS, I liked Sun because they were pioneering with Java. Which at the time seemed to hold great promise as a “write once, run anywhere” language that might just take over the world. It didn’t quite take over the world, but it made an impact.
When I was in law school (2003-2006) I liked Sun because they were making some awesome Opteron x86 rackmount servers. I had some of those servers* (purchased used) in a datacenter in downtown Tulsa. What was particularly cool was that on my way to the datacenter I would walk past a Sun office suite in the same building. I always thought Sun was cool and I liked being in such close proximity to one of their offices.
*We still use a SunFire V20Z at Weblogs.us today. In my opinion, Sun made some of the finest server hardware ever made. Better than HP, better than Dell.
After law school and passing the bar exam (2006 and beyond), I liked Sun because they were pioneering the multi-core, low power draw CPU. Specifically the UltraSPARC T2 a.k.a coolthreads. This was an exciting CPU after the bad taste left by Intel’s high GHz, high power draw, low performance P4 series. Sun was also pushing a file system, ZFS, that was capable of some very impressive things.
In their later years, Sun was a company that was very accessible. Via their employee blogs, via their attitude, and via their push for open source. Getting to read their developer blogs and learn cool tips and tricks, as well as insights into what was happening inside the company. This was a very nice change from companies like Apple where we get spoon fed info by Steve and company at sporadic “events”. Same deal with MS where we get big glitzy shows that don’t really do much for the end user. I can’t tell you how nice it was to have a company that seemed to really be trying to be open and responsive to their customers.
Of course there are criticisms that can be leveled at Sun. Mistakes that can be pointed out… but in the end I like to think of their wins and not their losses.
Thanks for all the great memories Sun, I’ll always remember the good times…
Question: starting P90X workout
Posted by J.D. in Uncategorized on January 23rd, 2010
P90X Question by D.D.
Well, I decided that I’ve sat on my butt too long and need to get healthier. I think it’s that I’m turning 30 in a couple of weeks
Anyways, I ordered P90X from beachbody.com yesterday. A friend is wanting someone to do it with him – I don’t think he finished the first week by himself. I know you’ve mentioned it a couple of times on here and was wondering what you thought of the program. I’m expecting it to be hard (I borrowed the first workout just to see what it would be like), but I’ll do as he says and do what I can at my own pace. There’s always the pause button. Hope you’re doing well.
-D.D.
Read the rest of this entry »
Simplicity and Photography. It’s not about the gadgets.
Posted by J.D. in Uncategorized on January 13th, 2010
Two links to Ken Rockwell’s site, both of these articles resonant with me.
Regarding the first article, as a somewhat gadget obsessed dude that also like photography I can empathize. I know that some of my best photographs were with relatively ancient cameras; and some of my worst photos have been with the “latest and greatest”.
The second article is similar to the first one, except going into a bit more of what really makes for good photography.
Article #1 Simplicity
Quote:
If I put this effort into learning to see better instead of buying more cameras, my photos would be a lot better than they are today.
Article #2 What is Photography?
Quote:
As most beginners discover instantly, simply having the best tools and technically sharp images doesn’t get the glorious, passion-inspiring results they intended.
[...]
Painters and other artists often pick up any crappy camera and make excellent images fast because they know seeing, visualization, composition and lighting, and immediately apply basic adjustments to change brightness and to optimize colors.
Enjoy, and a big thanks to Ken for writing nice articles!
Hawaii after a month
We’ve been in Hawaii just over a month. It’s been a wonderful time so far and here’s a short categorical summary of my thoughts so far:
Weather
Definitely one of the highlights. In Kona we had one day of rain, the rest was sunshine. Temperatures were in the low to mid 80s during the day and mid 60s at night. Now we’re on the Hilo side and we expect more rain but similar temps. So far we actually like the variability of the weather on this side of the island.
Lodgings
We’ve been staying in economical, but nice, lodgings. A 3rd story condo on the Kona side with a small view of the ocean and a great view of sunsets. On the Hilo side it is a 2nd story condo with a view of a pool and an unbeatable price. Both places are nice but so far we actually feel more relaxed in Hilo, there is less hustle and bustle around us and the occasional shade is nice too.
Cuisine
We try to eat healthy and reasonably. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail. But overall I think our stomachs and our bodies overall are happy .
We cook about 2/3rds of out meals at home and eat out the rest of the time. Samantha has made some delicious entrees and we’ve tried some tasty places but I’ll save that for a dedicated entry.
Work
Most of my work involves the internet, so connection speeds and latency can have a big impact on how much (or little) work I can get done. So far we’ve lucked out at both places, the internet is as fast or faster as on the mainland. Consistent 600kbps+ (actual throughput), 50-200ms latency. This means I’ve been able to do as much work as I want. I miss my large monitor at home, but the laptop is doing fine. I’ve also experimented with using a netbook as a 2nd monitor, it works surprisingly well.
Transportation
We spent the first 3 weeks exclusively on foot and bicycle and we covered approximately 160 miles (each). After that we rented a car to transport our guests around. The rental car rates were reasonable so we’re the keeping the car (a Pontiac G6) for the rest of the trip.Out location in Kona required a decent amount of travel to get to restaurants and entertainment (a negative). Where we are in Hilo, most things are within east walking distance (a big plus).
Entertainment
(to be updated)
Economic state of Hawaii
(to be updated)
Misc
I’ve left a lot out and I haven’t posted photos either 
. Hopefully I’ll do some updating before long…
Reason for writing
I’m amazed how much I forgot about Hilo since our last visit. I wanted to start writing a bit of this down so I wouldn’t forget it all again!
Summary
Our stay so far has been relaxing but still productive. It’s really very similar to what we do at home, except in a warm winter climate. I do miss people, places and activities back home but I’m excited to continue experiencing Hawaii until it’s time to go back!
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