My Technology Blog

I recently have upgraded my desktop computer;

on my shopping list was

1. Gigabyte ATI 3870 512M PCIe HDMI Video Card
2. Gigabyte ATI 3870 512M PCIe HDMI Video Card
3. Tagan 800 Watt Power Supply
4. Asus P5KC
5. Intel Quad Core Q6600

Looking at the specs of everything, I was assuming that I would be able to run crossfire and my Terratec 2400i on the P5KC which is based on the P35 Chipset from Intel.

The specs on Asus's webpage state that it has 2x PCIE x16 slots that support crossfire, and 1xPCIE x1 slot and a few PCI slots.

I thought awesome I need all the PCIE slots for crossfire and my TV tuner.

I installed everything last Tuesday, the install went well and everything was looking good.

Then I did some poking around and found that I would need to enable crossfire in ATI's Catalyst Control Center however there was no option to enable crossfire when I opened the control center.

I downloaded a copy of GPU-Z and to my surprise the two graphics cards were listed. However the second one was running at x1 instead of x16. The gpu load on the second graphics card was %99 and the temperature was through the roof at 75-80 degrees. The 3870 is a card that runs at a high temperature however 70-80 when it wasn’t even meant to be doing anything meant there was something wrong.

I quickly shutdown the computer and removed the card. Booted back up with just one graphics card and everything was fine.

I then though maybe I had purchased a motherboard that didn’t support crossfire, I started reading the user manual. I quickly found out that it did indeed support crossfire. However to run the second x16 slot at x4 for crossfire it disabled the PCIE x1 slot. Well that’s what the manual said.

Lets face it who reads a motherboard manual before they purchase the motherboard?

It wasn’t disabling the slot however it was forcing it to run at x1 because I had a card in a x1 slot.

I removed my TV tuner card and like magic the option for crossfire appeared in the control center. And GPU-Z was reporting that I was running crossfire, awesome I though, I can have crossfire and no TV tuner or a TV tuner and no crossfire.

I called the computer shop and explained in depth how the product was not as described and that I would like to return it. They agreed that I was able to return it as long as it was in a resalable condition.

I still didn’t know if there was a motherboard that could actually support crossfire and PCIEx1 slots.

I was also able to find a Foxconn board that has trifire (3 ATI graphics cards), the review for the board stated that the PCIEx1 slots were disabled when the third graphics card was inserted. This board was based on the x38 chipset.

I started looking at the x38 chipset and managed to find the detailed block diagrams form gig abite’s webpage for both the P35 and x38 chipset. The diagrams made it clear that I would need to get a x38 motherboard to use crossfire and a PCIEx1 card.

I returned the Asus P5KC and exchanged it for a giga-byte GA-EX38-DS4, I installed it today and I’m one happy camper. J

So in conclusion Asus should state this in there specifications on their webpage to avoid a lot of confusion, giga – byte do this and well it proves that you can do it, and you can never do enough research before you purchase something. ><

I have had my Media Center Remote since i had my first TV tuner card, it was a Compro T300 the analog/digital one that has slow channel change times.

I love this remote, so much so that the whole right hand side of the remote, is striped of paint because of people holding it with sweetly palms. There is no way you can have a MCE PC with out one. The range is excellent and the receiver has a enormous cable. This is designed for dedicated theater rooms when you may want to mount the reciver on the roof 1/2 down a 20 meter room.

The remote also has other uses i have used it with power point at university to change slides in presentations. The reciver also comes with IR transmitters so that i believe, you can set it up so it can control foxtel and other IR devices. however with my setup there is no need for this.

I also have programed the TV on/off button and the voulme up/down to my 5.1 speakers. This enables my entire MEC setup to have only one remote. the only thing i cant do is turn off my light.

The buttons light up when pressed, this i useful when watching movies in the dark, also the layout of the keys is very intuitive. It only took me half a week to learn and it was created for MCE 2005 so it works perfectly.

10/10

I was reading a interesting thread in the internode whirlpool forums, and stumbled across the Chumby. It looks like the offspring of your desktop PC and your bedside radio. It can stream internet radio and videos. Play MP3's and view photos. Check emails or internet auctions.The best thing of all is you can set the alarm to wake you up with any function. Whether it is a horoscope or a shout cast MP3 stream, I so want to wake up with www.chronixradio.com playing

However it looks like its only unavailable in the US and well reading the FAQ's about the widgets, it sounds like there adverts that you cant remove. It looks some what attractive, and well i think i want one.

I have had this Dual HD TV Tuner Card for easily over a yea now, and i absolutely love it. It can do everything i have ever wanted it to.

I use it with Microsoft's XP Media Center 2005 and the Microsoft remote, Free EPG from www.epgstream.net, a no name brand 5.1 surround sound system from ebay (because it has infra red remote, this allowed me to program the volume and on and off button in to the media center remote one remote for everything is beautiful) and a 22" wide screen LCD monitor.

The Cinergy 2400i DT can record two channels at once, and i have seen post from people who are ruining two of these in there computers, thats two physical cards and four channels at once (requires MCE registry hacks).

Channel change times are lighting fast, especially when switching tuners, channel change times are one of the most important things when it comes to TV tuner cards. MCE can time out on slower cards, this leads to TV shows not recording.

If i was to make a dedicated MCE computer i would order two, more one for me and one for the dedicated TV machine, because they are beautiful cards. Pity they discontinued there MCE version (cheaper but didn't include remote and software)

However i haven't used the software that comes with the card, but i am sure that i works beautifully. Its also nice not having to split the areal to conect to TV cards to the computer.

Some other TV tuner cards include analog TV and FM radio, they might be better options if you are after those features, but who listens to FM radio any more, and why use analog TV when you can use digital.

Also MCE doesn't support hybrid tuners, in the setup you are forced to chose analog or digital.

11/10 for this one, get one here

I was looking around XP Media Center Forums and found a interesting post about a university professor who has racked 16 playstation 3's to simulate black holes and hes using linux.

Read more here

Below are some of my favorites,

CTRL+C - Copy
CTRL+X - Cut
CTRL+V - Paste
CTRL+A - Select All

Have you ever wanted to select all the files in a directory but one or two?
use CTRL+A then hold CTRL and click the two files to unselect them.

Windows Logo - Start menu
Windows Logo+R - Run dialog box
Windows Logo+D - displays the desktop
Windows Logo+L - Log off Windows

Ok so the title of this blog is 100% lame,

if you have a suggestion for a better name i would love to hear it :)

Hi i am going to list all my favorite software and webpages and try give explanations on why i think its the best.

7-zip - can do everything winrar can do and its free
ffdshow - best codec pack out, wish it worked better on vista though
Firefox - best web browser out
Gmail Manager best gmail notifier, it supports multiple gmail accounts :)
Clipperz best online password manager, love that its free and open source
MSN Messenger - I am sure theres better messenger software out there but I have never needed anything more
ESET Smart Security best anti virus in my opinion
Spybot S&D - best spyware remover ever, and its also free
Demon Tool Light - Best image mounting tool, i like the easy to use menu for mounting things in alcohol 120%.. but it costs money and Demon Tools is free
Pocket Divx Encoder - best portable video encoder, and its free
CC cleaner - best computer cleaner, cleans everything including the registry
Winamp - best free music player
Stream Ripper - DONT BUY a front end, use with winamp for a totaly free stream ripper
xpmediacentre - cause Microsoft XP media center computers (MCE) can be tricky some times
epgstream - the easiest way for Australians to get an EPG (electronic program guide in MCE)
VideoReDo - best program to convert those Microsoft DVR-MS files to MPEGS
Azureus - best torrent program ever
Synergy - share your mouse and keyboard over multiple machines. (i use Multiplicity now because it worked with world of warcraft better)
Chaoscope - bored and want to make some cool images?
VLC - cause its the best video player ever, plays incomplete flies, and almost all formats and platforms, its free also

i think thats it, might add more later

Hi everyone,

I decided to make my first real post a review about my latest purchase, bluetooth headphones( Jabra BT620).
I purchased the headset from a three shop in Brisbane city for $89AUS, I was in need of some new headphones for my Sony Ericsson K800i.

I have a 2gb memory stick in it so it has replaced my RCA LYRA RD280 for the buss trips to and from university. The Lyra i modified to have a 80gb hard drive (instead of the standard 20gb) with the help from a tutorial I found on line, however the RD2780 is kinda huge and cumbersome , my phone however is not, and seeings as i always have my phone on me anyway (who doesn't these days?) it kinda made sense to use it as my MP3 player.

I also have a laptop for university, this laptop also has bluetooth witch is kinda handy. I have found the headphones are not quite loud enough to block out the buss noises. There loud but i think its cause i am use to the bud earphones that seem to block more sound from entering the ear. I don't miss the video playback from my RD2780 because i can just watch any video/movie on my laptop and lets face it 14.1" beats 5" or what ever the RD2780 screen size is.

Also the public transport system just implemented Go Cards, there kinda cool however i think i for got to touch my card of at the end of the trip today =/ .

The feeling of getting on the buss listing to MP3's on my phone with out wires and swiping my go card with it still in my pocket,not getting tangled to the lady pushing past is nice. Then loading up a movie on my laptop and not having to unplug the headphones to switch devices is brilliant.

However again there kinda just not loud enough, and well the fell comfie when you first put them on, but after three hours or so, the tops of your ears fell like there on fire.

The battery life is nice to apparently its 14 hours playing mp3's and 16 hours using it as a head set. Also when plugged in to a computer they charge and can be used at the same time, however you can turn them up heaps when there plugged in and well they kinda clip (sorta like bad distorting noise where it cuts out) really bad.

All in all i like them, but i can see some people hating them, sure there not the best headphones out. I predict more and more people will be after wireless headphones because well lets face it who likes having wires dangling from your ears.

Still i enjoy the strange look people give me when they see i have headphones with no cable. Especially when i am watching a movie on my laptop.

8/10 for this one.

Hi everyone this is my first blog entry...

I'm kinda new to blogs so this will be interesting to see how this goes.