My new Hummer H3

I traded in my Saab last night and picked up a lightly used (2008, 9000 kms) Hummer H3. The thing still has the “new car smell”! I met up with Dougie and his Rubiclone this morning and went wheelin’. Enjoy!

New Facebook Virus

This one is from Canoe.ca.

Hackers have flooded the Internet with virus-tainted spam that targets Facebook’s estimated 400 million users in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information.

The e-mails tell recipients that the passwords on their Facebook accounts have been reset, urging them to click on an attachment to obtain new login credentials, according to anti-virus software maker McAfee Inc…

The full story can be read here – Canoe Canada – Facebook users targeted by new virus

Wheelin’ at “The Range”

Athlon II X4 630 Computer Build

As promised, here are the build pics from my new PC.

• AMD Athlon II X4 630 CPU (2.8 GHz Quad-Core)
• OCZ Gold 2x4GB RAM
• GIGABYTE GA-MA785Gt-UD3H Motherboard (AM3)
• Antec Three Hundred Case
• Enermax Liberty Modular 500w PSU
• Windows 7 Professional
• Samsung SyncMaster P2350 23″ LCD Monitor
• Logitech Wireless Desktop K700 Keyboard / Mouse

I’m a big fan. It’s damn quick. It is also incredibly silent. I can hear my WHS box in a closet about 8 feet away over the sound of this rig which is about 2 feet away from my head.

UPDATE: I’ve run into my first real issue with this rig – for some reason the display refuses to wake from sleep. The whole thing will appear to sleep fine, but then when I try to wake it the display will not wake up; the hard drive spins up, fans turn on, etc. The only way for me to get back is to pull the power plug for 10 – 15 seconds and then restart the computer.

I have tried numerous BIOS settings (S1 / S3 sleep, USB wake features, etc), new drivers within Windows (video / motherboard), changing settings in Windows (disable hybrid sleep), but nothing seems to cure this problem. I have a hunch it’s related to the motherboard / BIOS, in particular related to USB. I’m running a “beta” BIOS right now, so I hope that when the final is released this issue will be resolved.

Hilarious Cat Takes a Drink

I nearly died laughing when I watched this the first time. This isn’t Puma, but the cat in this video looks identical and for some reason I can see Puma doing this as well.

New Computer is on the Way

So it’s settled, my new computer is on its way; well, my new computer parts are (some assembly required). I went with an Antec Three Hundred case (pictured left) which is small and discrete; I’m not interested in bright, loud fans anymore. I really, really like the minimal design of this case and the mesh on the front looks very sharp. The mesh also hides two 120mm fans! There are more 120mm fans on the side and rear and a 140mm fan on the top. The case is supplied with the top and rear fan and one extra 120mm to put where you want it. All fans come with their own speed control (set and forget). Since they are so large and will turn relatively much slower than typical 80mm case fans they will be almost silent!

For the CPU I went with an AMD Athlon II X4 630 @ 2.8GHz. This is a quad-core processor which runs at the ultra low power of 95w and is extremely overclockable from what I’ve been reading – people have hit 3.8GHz on air! I’ve decided to put that on top of a GIGABYTE GA-MA785GT-UD3H which is an AM3 board with a bunch of SATA2 and USB2 slots (6 of each), firewire, and onboard video – ATI Radeon HD 4200 which is a Direct X 10.1 card. The board has two PCIE 16x slots so I can run a discrete video card if I choose, two in fact in CrossfireX configuration or in Hybrid CrossfireX with the onboard chip. The board also has three PCIE 1x expansion slots so I have plenty of room to run a SATA3 and / or USB3 controller card if I want. I’m going to throw in 4GB (2x2GB) of OCZ Gold RAM which should do fine for now, the GIGABYTE board supports up to 16GB over four slots, so I have tons of room to expand.

As for salvaging parts of my current Barton rig, my Enermax Liberty 500w power supply will come over as will my NEC 3550A DVD burner and my Maxtor 7 300GB SATA hard drive.

Now, I know someone reading this is probably saying why Athlon II over Phenom II or even an Intel Core i something or why onboard video? Well, quite simply, I don’t need anything that quick or expensive. I want to edit my photos using Adobe Lightroom and maybe tweak a few things in Photoshop. None of which require the crazy horsepower of the Phenom II and Core i5/7 chips. I figured I could save a couple hundred dollars in parts by going with a reasonable choice (i.e. the Athlon II). Besides, the Athlon II is the same as the Phenom II except there is no L3 cache. In benchmarks and reviews I have read it actually outperforms the Phenom II in the tasks I want to use it for! The other great thing is that for almost $200 less than the Core or Phenom II chips I can overclock the Athlon II (for free) and outperform them anyway.

I’m excited and waiting anxiously for my parts to arrive. I’ll post some build pics once I begin on that journey.

Monitor Sourced

My new computer is quickly coming together. Tonight I picked up a new 23″ Samsung SyncMaster P2350 LCD monitor. I decided against LED when I found out how expensive they are; sure they look really nice, but in my opinion they are not worth the extra money yet. I’m quite pleased with the P2350. It’s large and quite bright; I had to turn the brightness down a few notches or I would have had to invest in a welding helmet.

I’ve only had this for an hour or so now, so I will have to wait and see how it holds up long term although I’ve never been disappointed with a Samsung product yet *knock on wood*.

I’m actually starting to reconsider the new rig as I’m quite pleased by the new keyboard / mouse / and monitor. I feel like my Barton has a new, albeit short, lease on life. I’m going to keep looking at prices and reviews though, a Quad Core 3.4 GHz machine does sound fun…

Keyboard and Mouse Sourced

Phase 1 of my new computer build is complete… well, I never really defined any phases, but I bought a new keyboard / mouse. I was browsing some flyers and came across another Logitech product I had my eye on, which was on sale. When I got to the store I found this combo, the Logitech Wireless Desktop MK700, and decided for the extra $30 over the mouse I went to look at it was worth buying instead!

I’m quite happy with the keyboard, it’s very slim and has quiet touch keys. The keys are also shaped to fit your fingers and is very comfortable and accurate to type on. The small LCD screen at the top / center of the keyboard is extremely useful as it shows the status of various items – battery life, lock status, and mute. The mouse is also very comfortable and fits nicely in my right hand. It has my required forward / backward buttons and a “hyper-fast” scroll wheel which can (thankfully) be toggled to a regular click-by-click wheel if you’re not feeling hyper-speedy.

Logitech Wireless Desktop MK700 is recommended!

New Computer Options / Decisions

My old Barton 2500+M rig really needs to be updated. Even the peripherals are old and no longer doing it for me (monitor / keyboard / mouse). I was really interested in jumping ship and switching to an Apple environment, but my current “infrastructure” won’t play nice, so I think for that reason and for cost reasons I’ll stick with PC / Windows.

I’ve considered buying a package deal from FutureShop, Dell, etc. but I think there are some components from my Barton rig that I can salvage. I have a nice Enermax Liberty power supply, I believe it’s a 500w unit, and my 300GB SATA hard drive will suit me fine since my Windows Home Server holds all my documents, photos, videos, and music. By salvaging these components I’ll be able to save a bit of money and get the enjoyment of building another rig.

Still with me? My plan for the new rig is photo (SLR / RAW) and video (HD) editing. Obviously I’ll be doing all the other web surfing, emailing, and the like, but it’s not worth making it criteria since anything on the market today will be more than capable. I’m not interested in gaming, so I don’t think I need to go too hardcore on the video card or processor.

The other stuff I’m interested in are the peripherals. I absolutely love the Apple LED displays and would like to get a nice 24″ LED display for this new rig. I’m not 100% sure that I need to go LED so I’m open to suggestions. As for keyboard and mouse I’d like it to be wireless and the mouse should work on any surface.

I’m looking for your suggestions. Leave a comment, send an email, come by and visit. I’ve completely lost touch with what’s what for PC hardware, any input will be greatly appreciated!

Windows Phone 7 Series looks promising!

Take a look at that video; it’s a bit long, but it gives a good sneak peek at the upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series. Perhaps I’ll jump back over to the WinMo camp; there are a couple features (integrated calendars, integrated UI) that really interest me!