Current System (2012 - 2016)

It's been almost 4 years since I did my last PC Overhaul. Back then, Ivy Bridge (LGA1155) was fresh from the oven. That has since been succeeded by Haswell (LGA1150), Broadwell (LGA1150) and SkyLake (LGA1151).

For some reason, my computer is starting to act up again recently. I don't know if it's due to Windows 10, weak PSU (which I suspect), or just the parts getting old.

Since then, I've made some minor upgrades and purchases. (most recently a mechanical keyboard!)

This is a post for my own reference. As of now, I have not decide on when to do the next major overhaul.

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Processor

Intel® Core™ i5-3570K (4 Cores, 3.8Ghz)

Mainboard

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro

Graphics Card

Powercolor Radeon R9 270X 2GB GDDR5 (Replacement in 2014)

Memory

G.Skill Ripjaws 1600Mhz DDR3 CL9 4GB x 2

Storage Drive

Internal

- Crucial m4 SSD 256GB (SATA III) 

- Seagate 250GB (SATA 2)

- Seagate 500GB (SATA 2)

- Western Digital Caviar Black 64MB 1TB (SATA III)

External 

- Western Digital My Passbook 2TB (Black Color)

- Western Digital My Passbook 2TB Ultra (Blue Color)

Display

Dell 2713HM, 27" (Brought Jan 2013, warranty replacement in Dec 2014)

Audio

Creative Sound Blaster ZX (Impulse buy in Jan 2014)

Optical Drive

HP dvd1270 24X SATA Writer

Power Supply Unit

FSP Aurum CM Modular 650W 80 Plus Gold

Casing

Coolermaster 690 II Advanced, Black & White Edition

Operating System

Windows 10 64-Bit Professional (Upgraded late 2015)

Speaker

Logitech X-230

Keyboard

Daskey Professional 4 (First mechanical keyboard, brought Mar 2016)

Mouse

Logitech Performance MX (Brought 2015. Previous mouse use in office)

Samsung Galaxy S6

So, my 2 years+ HTC One finally up lorried, 2 weeks after being completely submerged in water.

Thankfully, it made a "fake recovery", allowing me to recover all the data inside before the screen was killed.

I have been using HTC for a VERY LONG time. From the Desire to HTC One - about 7 years.

While I still love their design, I decide to go for a different brand this time to "switch things up". The main reason being their flagship seems to be getting worse while still being overpriced.

At first I thought of getting something cheaper like xiaomi, but guess I was too deeply "poisoned" to go back to using a 'non-premium' phone haha.

Finally decided on the S6 after a day of reviews reading. And it stood up to the hype.

I think I have absolutely zero complains with the phone aside from the average battery.

1. Amazing build/grip/feel. Gone are the cheapo plastic. I would place it on the same level of the HTC flagships, only much lighter.

2. Minimalist software. One of the biggest reason I didn't go Samsung earlier was because of their bloated Touchwiz. This is all gone now in this version, and I'm super impress. They stripped it down to bare essentials with minimal nonsense.

3. In terms of UI, I would still give a slight edge to HTC, but it's really close now. Samsung more than makes up for it by offering some pretty cool and actually useful features like multi-window and fingerprint scanning.

4. The camera is freaking amazing. It totally BLOWS HTC out of the water. You can go read all the reviews, and this truly stands as one of the best smartphone camera of 2015.

---

I have been using it for barely a day, and I'm already falling in love with it.

I think this is one purchase I won't regret.

Boomsound, Zoe, Blinkfeed

After nearly 3 years with my HTC Desire...

After much deliberation...

Going through countless reviews, articles, videos, demos, comparisons, etc...

I finally decided to HOOT the ONE!

And I'm glad I made the right choice!

In fact, I kind of regret not getting it earlier - it would have been great to have the Zoe at my niece's birthday gathering.

It's gonna take me 3 hours to go through every nitty gritty detail of this phone - or compare it to other flagships.

I'll just give my personal experience on the 3 main "selling points" of the ONE (as marketed by HTC).

BOOMSOUND

This thing is SICK!

I'm blown away again and again by how freaking good (and loud) this phone sounds.

Tried blasting this in my room, and it doesn't feel inferior next to my PC speakers at all.

You truly have to experience it for yourself. This is hands down the BEST SOUNDING PHONE ever - nothing even come close.

I also think this is the strongest selling point of this phone out of the 3.

(This ad "kind of" explains it)

ZOE

The impressive aspect of this isn't that much of the Ultrapixels in my opinion. Yes, it's good in low light, the camera are wide angle, there's optical stabilizer, etc... but all these isn't what impresses me the most.

It's the whole experience - The ease of taking Zoe, the automatic highlights, the "come to life" gallery. This entire "seamless to the user" experience makes photo-taking on this device an absolute joy.

BLINKFEED

The least impressive aspect of the 3, but still pretty cool. There's restrictions and limited customization, but it looks very pretty.

-------------------------------------

Other than that, I'm really loving Sense 5 - it retains what makes the original Sense interface great while removing the unnecessary nonsense.

It's extremely lightweight and blazing fast.

Overall, it's a purchase I didn't regret at all.

Dell 2713HM Monitor!

First Hoot of 2013!!! 

Been using it for less than half a day... but already feel damn shiok! 

 This is probably one purchase I won't regret.

Big Purchase

I classify "big purchase" as stuff that isn't part of my "regular expenses", and costs around $200 and above.
 
In comparison, I think I'm really spending a lot lesser than most of my peers. I don't have many expensive hobbies, and I don't splurge on things like bags, chairs, bikes, specs, shoes, etc...

In fact, most of my big purchases are IT gadgets, and I usually hoot only 1 "mega purchase" or 2-3 "major purchase" per year.

So I think it's pretty reasonable right?

Major Purchase - $200 to $1000
Mega Purchase - Above $1000

---

2006 - Complete PC Overhaul (Core 2 Duo) [MEGA]

2007 - 22' LCD Monitor, Sony Ericssion W950i, Digital Camera

2008 - NEC Versa S3500 Laptop [MEGA]
 
2009 - Cowon S9, Westone 1, Radeon HD4870

2010 - HTC Desire

2011 - Shanghai Trip, Braun Series 7-790

2012 - Mayday's Noah Ark, Major PC Overhaul (Ivy Bridge) [MEGA], Westone UM2X

---

2013 will be much, much more bloody (大出血)...

I can forsee:

- An urgent need to upgrade my HTC Desire (3 years liao leh...)

- A vacation trip in mid year

- A bigger size monitor! (Been using the 22' one for > 5 years liao... and really need one for productivity)

- Look for something to replace my aging S9 (Tempting...)

- Update my graphic card if got games to play. (Didn't change it, it's still HD4870)

Westone UM2

No choice but to change my IEM after I accidentally killed my "Westone 1" :"(

 ...

Been looking around for an upgrade ever since, and after trying out many IEMs, it seems that I still can't get over the Westone brand.

I'm no audiophile, so I can't really differentiate anything among the "super-high end" IEMs, where you're supposedly able to hear every single instrument, every detail, etc...

 ...

To me, the most important factor in choosing an IEM is comfort - it must fit comfortably and allow long usage without tiring my ears.And of course, there needs to be good isolation and durability.

And personally, I've found nothing that comes close to the Westone products when it comes to comfort.

Seriously love their epic grade cables (light, flexible and durable), over the ear usage (less annoyance and more secure) and their eartips just fit my small ears nicely.

They've definitely got me as a customer for life. ^_^

PC Upgrade 2012!

Been 5+ years since my last PC overhaul.

This time round though, my main motivation isn't for playing games (I didn't upgrade the graphic card).

It's mainly for the processing improvements.
 

To place things into perspective, my old CPU is a dual core with a 1.8Ghz clock speed.

The new ivy bridge i5 has double the number of core, and each core has double the clock speed of my previous CPU.

That's how far things have advanced.

Of course, the 6 year old CPU is a bottleneck even for my 2+ year old graphic card.

Still, it's really essential for my work.

Did some benchmarking before I dumped my old system, and I was able to improve the boot times from roughly 85 seconds to 30 seconds.

Processing speed for my analysis of 60K records went from about 5mins 35secs to 1min 35secs.

Overall it's a good investment...

...

Now all I need is a bigger monitor...

Processor

Intel® Core™ i5-3570K (4 Cores, 3.8Ghz)

Mainboard

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro

Graphics Card

Powercolor HD4870 1GB GDDR5

Memory

G.Skill Ripjaws 1600Mhz DDR3 CL9 4GB x 2

Storage Drive

- Seagate 250GB (SATA 2)

- Seagate 500GB (SATA 2)

- Western Digital Caviar Black 64MB 1TB (SATA III)
- Crucial m4 SSD 256GB (SATA III)

Display

Philips 220WS

Audio

-

Optical Drive

Sony DVD R/W -> HP dvd1270 24X SATA Writer

Power Supply Unit

FSP Aurum CM Modular 650W 80 Plus Gold

Casing

Coolermaster 690 II Advanced, Black & White Edition

Operating System

Windows 7 64-Bit Professional

Speaker

Logitech X-230

Keyboard

Logitech Wave

Mouse

Logitech M705

Current System (2006 - 2011)

Processor

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300

Mainboard

ASUS P5B-PLUS

Graphics Card

XpertVision 7900GS Sonic -> Powercolor HD4870 1GB DDR5

Memory

Kingston DDR II (4x1GB)

Storage Drive

- Seagate 160GB IDE
- Seagate 250GB SATA 2

- Seagate 500GB SATA 2

- Western Digital Caviar Black 64MB 1TB (SATA III)

Display

Philips 220WS

Audio

Creative Extreme Music

Optical Drive

Sony DVD R/W -> HP dvd1270 24X SATA Writer

Power Supply Unit

Ace HEC 480W-> Aerocool V12 600W 80Plus Bronze

Casing

Coolermaster 690

Operating System

Windows XP Professional -> Windows 7 32-Bit Professional

Endless Wait Cycle

I thought I can finally upgrade my Conroe after 5 years...

But now they're going to release something known as "Sandy Bridge-E" in Q4 2011,

which will have 6 cores and also a new socket (i.e need to change motherboard)...

But if I wait until Q4 2011... then I might as well wait 22nm Ivy Bridge coming in early 2012, which:

"there will be support for DirectX 11 and OpenCL 1.1, and Intel is targeting a 30 percent graphics performance and 20 percent overall performance boost compared to Sandy Bridge. It seems that Ivy Bridge might get 16 graphics execution units (4 more than Sandy Bridge). Ivy Bridge will also support PCI Express 3.0.^"

...

As you can see, it's an endless wait cycle.

Not to mention that my funds are now "frozen" by the US government... 

 ...

Incredible, Beautiful, Amazing!

It's incredible in life how you often end up with things you least expected to get...

---

Well anyway...

I have no idea how I am going to make use of this beautiful device...

It really exceeds my ability to understand...

And it becomes really magical.

---

Amazing, isn't it.

HTC Sense Asia

This is essentially the same presentation as the one during the launch in US.

Somehow, I feel hearing the presenters speak their native language is more awkward than them speaking English.

LOL.

I guess it's probably because we're more used to English presentations.


...


One key difference: 8 min 10 seconds...

Only 1 word to put it - "OWNED"








One thing REALLY sucks though.


"HTC Sense: Now, doesn't that just make sense."

became

"HTC Sense: 有道理嘛， HOR?"






Simi sai lor.

The English version sounds 'sooooo' much cooler.

:(

Brand New HTC Sense

Hot from the oven from HTC Conference yesterday...

Every iteration of HTC Sense just impresses me more than the previous one.

OMG...

It debuted in 2009, then got updated earlier this year with the launch of Desire.

This should be the 3rd generation HTC Sense.

---

Not only does the this version add quite a bit of impressive stuff, the presentation also reveal some of the current features on my phone that I have no idea exists.
(like the phone actually ringing louder when it's in a bag/pocket)

Hope they'll bring it to the Desire... Really like the new Maps/GPS. :(



(8min to 21 min)




"Now, doesn't that just make sense."



*Btw, gonna love the epic self destruct scene.

Technology & The Future

VERY GOOD presentation. (check 15 mins onwards)

This is also somewhat related to my FYP...

It offers you a glimpse of what our future will be like.

Yes, I believe this is what it will be like.

And

It's SCARY.

The REAL reason to get Android

Comments (on Youtube)

"If this was translated and sent to America, then childhood obesity would no longer be a problem here..." - American Parent



"I need this for the iPhone, where the **** do I get it. Also, where the **** do I get the pillow." - American iPhone User



"With this ard, maybe no more RT / IPT liao." - Singaporean Male

What's A Good Presentation Opener?

This video contain one of the greatest presentation openers I've ever seen. Watch it for yourself.


(0:55min to 3:20min)
















Now, that is how you make an impact.

HTC Desire

Don't get me wrong, I don't think iPhone 4 is a bad phone.

In fact I really thought I might get it when I decided it was time to change my 5 year old "Nokia 7610".

I decide to go with the HTC Desire in the end after much consideration...

Factors like price, specs, operator plans, iPhone 4 antenna issue... Even if all these were levelled, my choice would still be the same.

Here's my top 7 reasons.

---

7 -Modularity

Almost every aspect of Android is a separate entity, which means parts can be improved or replaced by third-party applications or programs. And according to what I've learnt in SCE, Modularity is a good thing.

LOL.

Seriously though, apps can do much more because of this. Unlike iPhone apps, they aren't limited to just stuff that "activate" after you press on that icon and go into the "app". (see end of this post)






6 - Jailbreak...

I don't want to have to "Jailbreak" my phone to be satisfied with it. Vanila Android AS IT IS can already do what a "Jailbreak Iphone" can without the need to break any warranty.

Some may argue that jailbreaking is super easy, risk free, etc... but the fact that so many people are jailbreaking prove that the fundamental iOS is flawed/insufficient. Even then, it offers very little beyond iOS4.

This brings me to the next point.





5 - Completeness

Apple iphone users can't be bothered about the lack of tweaks, because the apps are overwhelming enough. iPhone have hundred of thousands of apps, which is cool, but they are overly-reliant on it.

For me, I like to have all basic functionality come with my phone.

Do you want to have all necessary apps installed on your phone without slowing it down... or go to Appstore to download things like Zooming to the camera? Shouldn't all these be there in the first place? Why do I need 3 different camera "apps"?

iPhone also does not have "true multitasking". It is more like "task switching" or "application pausing". Long story to explain here, just go google it.

The point is, there are too many things you either need to jailbreak to access or download from the appstore.




4 -Restriction

Mandatory use of iTunes. MUST go through their Apple store to install apps. It's good integration if I'm a Mac User, but it's a huge restriction since I'm not.

Why can't I download/update/install apps straight from/to my phone without installing your bulky software? Why do I have to sync everything through iTunes?

Android has a completely uncensored open market. Apple blocks/rejects any applications that they deem unsuitable. Everything is so tightly controlled, even Flash is blocked.

---

Even then, the above reasons are really quite minor.

The next 3 is what really convinced me to join Android.




3 - A Common Phone

Iphone = "I have a common phone". Every Ah Soh at the market, every Ah Beng in the neighborhood and every secondary school kid is using/will be using the iPhone.

Now, this wouldn't be that big of a problem if iPhone was more customizable, but the FACT is that it isn't.

The iPhone can be jailbroken for some additional functionality, like installing apps that aren't available in the App Store, but the overall experience is the same. You're still stuck with the same exact interface.

The point is:

Do you want a phone where you can decide how it looks (live wallpaper, widgets, font and colours...), however you want...

Or one with Black background + ugly square icons on everypage - the same as EVERYONE else.

His Android, My Android, Her Android

His iPhone, Her iPhone, Everybody's iPhone

2 - HTC Sense

This IS the reason why I picked Desire over Samsung Galaxy S.

HTC Sense is something to experience. I can't put it into words.

It can predict what you want to do so well, everything is 1 or 2 click away. You don't need to exit an app, go back to homescreen, and go into another app. Everything is just integrated nicely in a logical way.

With HTC Sense, everything just makes sense. :D

Watch the video I posted earlier to get an idea of what it is.

Kudos to HTC. They may not be well know, but they kick ass.




1 - Froyo

Otherwise known as Android 2.2.

"This is a huge upgrade that represents the most user-friendly, compelling, and feature-complete version of the little green guy to date."

It includes the "world's fastest mobile browser" claim by Google (now verified true) + ability to turn phone into a Wifi-Hotspot, among many other features.

Froyo is also up to 450% faster (!!!) than Eclair (Android 2.1) in terms of processing speed performance... Seeing it believing. Go google/youtube it.

If Eclair can't beat the iOS, Froyo will seal the deal.



The Automated Superphone

What if your phone automatically went silent when you step into the movie theater? Texted your significant other when you finished your long commute? Auto dim your screen when you turn the phone face down? Block any number you choose from calling you?

Well, it can. (with the right Android apps)

HTC Sense

...

Now, doesn't that just make Sense?

7 Years To Windows 7

Bye, Windows XP...



You have been a great companion for the past 7 years...

...






























Now, 7 years later.

Your true successor is here.















Welcome to My Life

Windows 7

3D Studio Max!

Wow... It's been like 5 years or something since I last touched this software...

It's crazy... they're churning out versions after versions every year.

Still remember in 2003, I was using 3D Max Version 5.

Now in 2009, they're already at "3D Max 2010"...

If you don't know, you might think there's only like 5 revision since then...

...

But I looked up Wikipedia...

5 -> 6 -> 7 -> 8 -> 9 -> 2008 -> 2009 -> 2010

I've checked out the dates, some have development cycle as short as 6 months from each other.

My guess is this:

When they reached "3D Max 9", they figured that at the rate it's going, they will reach "3D Max 20" within 5 years...

And their evil scheme to leech money from the consumers will be exposed.

So they decided revamp the naming scheme.

Restoring My Com From The Darkness

Thursday night, upon reaching home...



ZZZ...



A problem I've been experiencing for quite some time - happens once in a while for the past few months...

Thought nothing of it. And so I click "Restart"...

Still the same.

Restart again...

 Nope.

Again and again...

...

Still "No Video Input".

...

Ho Seh Liao...

...

...

---

Now I know the true purpose of the laptop; to find out what happen to your desktop.

So anyway... from my diagnosis, it's 99% due to the GFX card...

Thinking back about it, I've been experiencing some weird graphic distortion even for low end games...

...

...

So anyway, went to SLS the next day to hoot a new one...

...

Ah... how much GFX card have progressed...

During my Poly Days... the most powerful of them all was like what... Geforce 6800 and Radeon 9800? (2004)

And then it became Geforce 7 fighting against Radeon X1 series... (2005)

Then Geforce 8 versus Radeon HD2... (2006)

Then Geforce 9 to Radeon HD3... (2007)

And today... Geforce 200 to Radeon HD4... (2008)

Things that cost $500 in the past is worth less than $5 now...

It's progressing that fast.

Anyway... to introduce the one I brought.

HD4870 was the flagship card of ATI (and the fastest single card) at the time of its release in Aug 2008, and remained so for sometime. It was dethroned earlier this year by HD4890 and its Nvidia equivalent GTS285.

1 Year ago, at its release, it cost $360USD... Now? $329.

And, it's on promotion right now - $259.

"2nd best card" at $259? Very worth it...

Not to mention I was able to get further discount using my super
bargaining skills...

(Buy 2 things what... should give cheaper mah...)

1 Frigging GB of Memory... Wootz... And DDR5?

...

Wait a minute... where did DDR4 go? O_O

They just completely skipped it?

Unpackaging the case...

And what's this stupid "Stalker" game that comes with the GFX card?

Never even heard of it.

But 1 look and it's 90% FPS material...

ZZZ... totally worthless.

Why can't they have "Empire Total War" bundle or something? It's more worthy for this graphic card.

Or just take the game and drop the price more.

Anyone want the game?

...

...

Anyway... A picture of HD4870 in its full glory...

...

And here's my dead 7900GS... Sorry old bird. It's time for you to "ORD"...

...

Old VS New... looks frigging cool...

Here's a summary of the stats, so I can track my upgrades...

	XpertVision Geforce 7900GS Sonic	Powercolor HD4870 1GB
Transitor Count	2 Million +	9 Million +
Core Clock	500Mhz	800Mhz
Memory	256 DDR3	1024 DDR5
Memory Clock	1400Mhz	3700Mhz

...



7900GS... 2 years warranty, 2.5+ years up lorry... Ben one also the same O_O.

They calculate just nice?



After removing the PSU and GFX Card... looks nice and cosy...

...



Had to get a new PSU since the old one cannot support the new card...

Much much better. 600W is one thing... but the main thing is the "80 Plus Bronze"...

That is the hallmark of a good PSU.

For those who doesn't know... Besides considering the wattage, the 80+ certification is extremely important. Some may advertise their PSU as 800Watt but may actually be worth 500Watt due to low efficiency.

The 80+ certification ensures high power efficiency. It has 4 levels that goes from 80+, bronze, silver, then gold.

Silver and Gold PSUs usually cost $400 ~ $800 and beyond... so it's not where lesser mortals like us can go...



Anyway, it's also the first time I'm getting a "modular PSU".

Modular means that instead of having TONS of cable attached to the PSU, cables are separated from the unit itself.

You don't need everything if you don't have 10 HDDs and Crossfire 4 GFX-Card and 5 Soundcards.

You add in only as many cables as you need to power up the system. This not only makes everything neater, it improves the air flow in the case by reducing the wire obstruction.

Awesome right? This is the future standard for PSU!



The GFX card is really frigging enormous... If it goes longer by 1 more cm, it wouldn't be able to fit into my case.

The sad thing is I have to break off those "blue clippers" of my case to accomodate the card... I couldn't clip down with the copper in the way... so just use the traditional screws method.

...

...

And so it's time...

Time for the moment of truth...

...

...

PLEASE START UP...

...

THE ANTICIPATION AND THE ANXIOUSNESS...

...

...

...

...

Beep!

...

...

...

...



YES!!!

YES!!!

WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...

I almost want to scream out when I saw the Windows screen.

But I couldn't cause it's 2am in the night and I don't wanna wake up the whole neighbourhood.

LOL.



A little bit of cable management... and all is good and done!

Wee~~~

The sense of satisfaction is really great...


...

...

...

...

...

And then I took a look around my room...



...

ARGH!!!

How am I going to clear up this mess... =.=

最近比较烦~比较烦~比较烦~~~连我的电脑都在给我添麻烦~

...

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