All Top Technology Beast! » HTPC

Asus EN8800GT & Company of Heroes Opposing Front

Fui Fa — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:45:41 +0000

My precious! Damn, this card is expensive! My GeForce 8500GT stop working last month and I have no choice I need a card to power my HTPC while waiting for the warranty claim. Without much thought I bought a new card right there and than. I wonder if this is a marketing gimmick – You return a card and at the same time you have to purchase a new one!

I use to think that having high end card on a HTPC is wasting money and resources, I like to take it back! :p it’s so big different! Having high end Nvidia 8 series on HTPC is totally kick ass! Too bad I’m no gamer at all but I will wait for the new GTA to appreciate the adrenaline rush. (I love fast car on screen! LOL)

As soon as I fire up the card, one noticeable improvement was the card is lighting fast! I can change my TV channel on Windows Media Center much quicker. Time shifting & recording is totally smooth sailing, lesser noise, the color is sharper and eyes pleasing. Ah! My HTPC is one expensive toy with quality vitamin.

I set up my HTPC with duo screen display. One at a display resolution of 1680 x 1050 and another at 1280 x 1024 on a single card by connecting my wide screen ViewSonic 20.1 incher and Samsung SynMaster 192T 19 incher via 2 DVI on the card. So far there’s no conflict, ASUS EN8800GT handle both display resolutions simultaneously with solid performance. (The screen maybe off should game changes resolution during start up – happen only on old PC games)

ASUS didn’t bundle that much of stuffs for all their cards release, keeping price low and stay in competition maybe two of the reason or they just trying to cut cost. For this card however, in my opinion, consumer maybe consider lucky to have extra goody – ASUS CD holder! LOL (see box above)

Here are the down points

Not much of info provided on the hand book or on the box about this card. I have many Nvidia cards and I think Leadtek did better job in providing installation instruction and card specifications.
Very expensive but this is to be expected on all high end card! Even mid range is still a bit too pricey!
NO HDMI port. You still can use the converter for future proof but I guess, again it just another silly marketing gimmick to push more money out of consumer for their 9 Series cards.
When Windows Media Center on full screen, one other screen become useless. NVIDIA or MS should fix this part through their software. This error or limitation is consumer greatest loss of productivity. (you can fix this problem by not turning on full screen, silly I know, that’s how it goes)
ASUS own software is bad for eyes sight, Bad UI but usable. I do not recommend this software on Vista – crash and error to be expected. (Since most of you guys OC your rig on XP system, you should have less trouble. I hate it, the software just look ugly on Vista!)
NVIDIA is focusing more on 9 series card. You may now be in dilemma and caught in the waiting games for lower price on high end card which probably will not happen! It was never happen on 7 series card and it will not happen on 8 series and definitely will not on 9 series.

What I like most about the card

Big! The card is so big! Same reason you drive a big car. The bigger the better, psychologically! (LOL)
High end card! Support PCI-Express 2.0! HDTV-out, DVI x 2, HDCP compliant and most of all…
512MB DDR3
PCIe 2.0
The card is powerful!

	GeForce 8800 Ultra	GeForce 8800 GTX	GeForce 8800 GTS	GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB1	GeForce 8800 GT	GeForce 8800 GS
Stream Processors	128	128	96	128	112	96
Core Clock (MHz)	612	575	500	650	600	550
Shader Clock (MHz)	1500	1350	1200	1625	1500	1375
Memory Clock (MHz)	1080	900	800	970	900	800
Memory Amount	768MB	768MB	640MB or 320MB	512MB	512MB	384MB
Memory Interface	384-bit	384-bit	320-bit	256-bit	256-bit	192-bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec)	103.7	86.4	64	64	57.6	38.4
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec)	39.2	36.8	24	41.6	33.6	26.4

Here’s a snippet of Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory game. I have DX10 game, Company of Heroes but my video recording of the games was not to my liking so I am not going to show you. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory however, caught my eyes after I have updated the game’s patch. Trust me, I have this game for a very long time, I never play em’

I am NVIDIA slave! I have bought many of them, from 4th series – 8th series. Strangely and luckily I’ve skipped 7 Series or else I will have almost all of GeForce and be made amusement! (Actually I’m already there! LOL)

2004, This is ASUS V9180 SE GeForce 4 MX 440 card (below), my very first GeForce 4 card. This card marks the first time I assemble my own hybrid PC. (I don’t really understand why people call it a clone PC – so if a PC wasn’t Dell or Toshiba or branded PC is a “Clone”?) In fact this is my very first HTPC. HTPC is my only source of entertainment watching 8TV when I was working in Kuala Lumpur and stay in a rented room.

2005, Galaxy Zeus 5200 although I have been using my HTPC for some “long” time, I did not bother to buy mid range card. I still stick with entry level card which really seem to enough for my DVD experience.

2006, WinFast A6600 GT TDH 20th anniversary Limited Edition is my very first mid range card! This card packed with 2 games Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory & Prince of Persia Warrior Within. This card is not cheap! It cost me bloody RM540! Just because it say special edition and I bought the card *grin*

2007, Last but not least my mid range 8 series from Gigabyte. I have to get this card due to my new motherboard work only with PCI express. Since all of my display cards are AGP version, it also spelled the end of it shelf life! This card is obsolete, killed by full swing production of socket 775 platform.

Any one seen my “Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade?” I think I’ve misplace it! Bummer!

Every living thing has it time and so do all none living thing! But misplace it before losing it is pathetic! *sign*

2008, please refer to my topic I know I’m getting better and better with display card over time. I think I’ve learn so much over the years. If you have cross experience between ATI and GeForce, please do let me know your opinion about both cards strength/weaknesses and why you love them. If you lazy to type, oh well…

oOo ^_^ oOo Thanks for reading!

Smilodon Raidmax Gaming Development Chassis

Fui Fa — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:04:17 +0000

This is my new casing; I bought it in February 23rd. I am looking for a case that has a quality build for proper cooling. Due to pricing factor I have chosen this mid tower to replace my existing casing. I wish I could afford to buy Antec P182SE Advanced Super Mid Tower – Mirror Look.

My Gigabyte 8500GT display card stop working last month (card less than 6 month old) and this prompted me to better buy a case that has sufficient fans to cool the system. I think I would try to get a water cooling system in the future.

HTPC with Fiber Optics & WD 320GB HDD

Fui Fa — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 14:34:20 +0000

320GB WD Hard drive, my choice of chassis and Fiber Optics for the HTPC

It’s been 2 weeks since my last thought of installing my 320GB Western Digital WD3200AAKS on to my HTPC.

I bought the hard drive on October 19 and it still in a wrapper semi naked with sticker tagged. It’s really pain in the ass when you work with mid tower, you don’t have enough room for good air flow when you put in all the components.

I like to buy a new full tower chassis or a HTPC chassis but than again it’s not really necessary for now.

As shown in the photos, my chassis has a limited room to work with for better air flow.

The above is my favorite chassis. In order to install my new WD hard drive I was forced to take out the graphic card, 4 GB of RAM, IDE cable and power cable.

Computer Chassis

What do you think of these selection of Chassis?

Antec P182SE Advanced Super Mid Tower – Mirror Look

Cooler Master Stacker 830 Evolution – Nvidia Edition

Lian Li Pc-c32a

Fiber Optics for my HTPC

Have you seen a fiber-optics cable before?

I have had optic cable from my Creative Sound decoder DDTS-100 for almost 3 years before I get to use it.

Motherboard equipped with optical support is expensive and only available on high end Motherboard! (and very limited)

Fortunately these days motherboard spotting optical supports are in a reasonable price example my Gigabyte board.

Good reason to use fiber optics — less signal degradation means good crisp, clean sounds and loss less on signal/data.

Upgraded RAM to 4GB for Vista

In general it is recommended a minimum of 4GB of RAM for Vista. I have upgraded and the results are enormous!

I have 2 GB of RAM before this — running program like Firefox, MSN, Windows Media center, Words, Picasa2, AVG, Scotty, windows sidebar etc… while idling the RAM usage was more than 50%.

With 4GB of RAM, My HTPC now uses 2GB of RAM and leaving another 50% running free. I’m happy with the performance, Window Media Center jerking no more.

Wow Affect!

Fui Fa — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:49:03 +0000

I would like to thank god for giving me the strength to be able to really buy a new system… amen! (LOL) I really do get my self a super new system! New and latest chipsets! Thank god for making my heart pumping over new technology, I just couldn’t help myself.

First, I got myself Core 2 Duo processor which is still very new in market with 65nm in technology (although Intel will soon launch 45nm next year or so). With this new processor I can do more now with my HTPC! According to Intel, these processors supports Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT)± and currently still in the development. This is going to be exciting.

Second, I got myself Intel P35 chipsets (the latest! OMG!) imagine ICH9 sitting on your Northbridge! My Gigabyte mother board will just take me one step closer to next new 45nm Intel processor and DDR 3 RAM for the next 12 month. In fact, Kingston has already started shipping their DDR 3 RAM as we speak.

And third (for the first time) I really excited the fact that now I owned a NVIDIA 8 series graphic card that support DirectX® 10, Shader Model 4, HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) to experience Hi-Def Blu-ray and HD DVD contents. At least that’s the next best thing for me to enjoy Windows Vista Home Premium. I just love how it feels to use my remote control on my Vista. *hehehe*
Okay here it goes, after giving much thought at the computers shop last weekend I’m Happy to present you my HTPC’s specs;

Intel Core 2 duo E6420 RM660
(Date Purchased 9th Jun 2007)
Kingston 1GB PC667 x 2 (RM128 each) RM256
(Date Purchased 9th Jun 2007)
Gigabyte GV-NX85T256H RM350
(Date Purchased 9th Jun 2007)
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R RM625
(Date Purchased 9th Jun 2007)
Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM Version) RM376
(Date Purchased 30th May 2007)
WinTV PVR 150MCE Kit RM377
(Date Purchased 30th May 2007)
Acrox optical Mouse (800dpi) RM35
ViewSonic 20.1” Wide Screen LCD VX2025WM RM1199
(Date Purchase 19th Aug 2006)
I Cute PSU 380W Ver2.2 Smart CBL series RM225.50
(Date Purchased 25th Mac 2007)
DVD-RW Asus DRW-1608P3S(B) RM147.90
(Date Purchase 12th Sept 2006)
Creative Decoder DDTS-100 RM560
(Date purchased 31st Oct 2004)
Aztech ADSL226Mbps ADSL2/2 Ethernet Modem RM120
(Date Purchase 19th Jun 2007)
EN8800GT/G/HTDP/512M RM880
(Date Purchased 17th Feb 2008)
Western Digital WD6400AAKS RM285
(Date Purchased 7th Sept 2008)
風神鍛 (Geminii S) RM150
(Date Purchased 23rd Nov 2008)
Pioneer DVD Internal 20x SATA DVD/CD Writer (OEM) DVR-216BK RM99
(Date Purchased 14th Dec 2008)
Logitech NewTouch Keyboard 200 (USB) 920-000090 RM30
(Date Purchased 15th Dec 2008)

This system is great and for now it’s good enough for me. However I’m not 100% happy just yet. I want to have a great casing! I am wondering if you would buy one for me? My wish is Antec P182SE Advanced Super Mid Tower – Mirror Look. This baby only cost RM845 it will just complete my thirst! Oh boy, when am I going to hold you… Jimmy Khoo Sui San if you are reading this post, please send one for me from Singapore. LOL! Nice talking to you last month dude. Anyway, Please buy this casing for me as a friendship never end gift. *wink wink*

Vista Mania

Fui Fa — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:23:55 +0000

I just got recover from the flu and was actually sick for more than a week (come and go, and in fact I still don’t feel I am 100% recovering)

I feel a bit of headache while writing this post today. The day I wanted to write, I was too sick to write.

I bought OEM copy of Vista last month and test it on my old Pentium 4 Prescott(without activating it). Well, it runs okay but most of the time the OS will have error reading boot files and return with message saying the system files has been corrupted and asking to reinstall OS. But after few time Ctrl + Alt + Delete the OS will boot with normal.Installing Vista is perfectly easy… all you need to do is key-in your product keys and it will copy all the files to your system. Unlike XP, you need to go through few steps before finishing the installation.

Once installation are finish the OS will calculate the “windows experience index” not bad for my old system with a 4.5 rating.

Check out my screen shoot below. Vista experience is just wow! But I can’t really use it on my old Prescott. So I’m going to buy new system to compliment the OS.

In the end… buy new hardware. Thanks Bill!

Picture above is my system assembly.

Above is some great thing. New WMP, Clock and IPv6 for next generation IP networking setup.

Right click menu, Auto play menu, windows update menu…

Here’s more of new outlook and feel

Last but not least, My desktop.

Kingston ValueRAM and Icute power Supply

Fui Fa — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 18:31:21 +0000

I can’t help but purchase a new RAM today. I have 3 stick currently (512MB, 256MB, 256MB) with this new 512MB it’s allow me for the duo channel setup. So this ValueRAM cost me RM151. This RAM has a life time warranty. Can’t find a cheaper price, this module of RAM soon will be obsolete.

I have also purchase a new power supply on march 25^th. This baby is RM225.50 and it has life time warranty too. Check out the wires you only need to plug in the wire that you utilize. This keep your PC for a better air flow in the casing. Good work.

The supplier where i bought my Enermax power supply still owe me a new set. 3 years warranty turn out to be a so hard to claims. Lesson learned, go and complain.

One year later ~ My Tech update

Fui Fa — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 18:31:22 +0000

A lot of things have happen ever since… Age for one, I am not getting any older ops! I mean younger. I just clean up my room, since it was so hazy out there it’s a good idea to clean up my PC appliances so it wont get so dusty and screw up everything that I love. Talking about screwing up stuff, below would be good example of what I’ve fried and newly bought.

The power supply below (Enermax), I have sent it for repair last month. Lucky enough that this PSU has a warranty of 3 years! So don’t lose your receipts… (haven’t got it back yet)
I have bought a 20.1” wide screen ViewSonic screen. For something less than RM1200, It’s a great display. Some photo below for your envy! Heh, don’t worry you should get a 22” or 24” or 30” display! Already in the market and well you need a super power display card to fire it up other wise you better just have to wait till everything go more affordable in one or 2 years.
I was force to buy a new display card when the new wide screen ViewSonic arrives. Like I told you, you can’t just use one of these new displays without planning to get a powerful display card.

I got myself eh(a) WinFast A6600 GT TDH. This baby cost me RM540 and it’s an AGP8x not the PCIE. Big “no no” to entry level card. Oh yeah, this baby boost a full super solid capacitor (99%), 128MB and DDR3
My Motherboard dead and got a new ASUS P800-X. Nothing so cool about this board. I like my old board more. If it still work it would be cool to have both GT on my rig. Gigabyte 2004 GT edition + A6600 GT TDH. Sounds cool!
Bought another stick of DDR RAM. DDR400 512MB at first the motherboard doesn’t detect the RAM. Every thing was fine after my Enermax PSU stop running and I change a new PSU while waiting for the Enermax to be repair.
My high end S750 Sound speaker broken and was send for repair and it wasn’t back yet… this set cost me RM1800 1 and half years ago and if you look around law yat the price is pretty much the same.
Installed Astro satellite disk and connected to PC.
My Video Card Stop working. So am using back my old video card.
I won 4D number (LOL) just a lucky hand I bought for RM5 and win RM1000. I didn’t continue to buy after that… you won’t be that lucky anymore after that eh? Oh yah that picture shows short of one hundred because I use it to buy KFC (Mr. Colonel died in year 1980 and he has 6600 KFC outlets in whole wide word after his death so I think I should paid him a respect *LOL*)
Bought a new wallet.

Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Fui Fa — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 17:58:54 +0000

6 month ago I went to my friend PC services center and I bought a power supply unit (PSU), which cost me about RM120. My friend (so call friend, since I always ask for his advise on PC thingy) was fixing me an entry level PSU to me cost about RM50 – 60 which I rejected & demanded for something expensive. I was than thought the expensive the better, so I choose “Enlight” as my replacement to the entry level PSU. Well, you know the ending… it broken after 6 month! So much for the RM120! So much for the name “Enligth”

For the record, I have even double my cost for my new PSU! It cost me RM260. The brand? Enermax; Enermax Technology Corporation http://www.enermax.com.tw/. This is a fucking good PSU! I am using Enermax Noisetaker 370W.

Few good features worth mentioning here world be
1) is it fucking silent on the fan even though Dual fan was fix on the PSU itself. This is possible though their Ring Core technology.

2) You can adjust the fan’s speed! I love this feature! For gamers this is what you should need to keep your PSU from burning!

3) SATA connectors, Separate 12V rails, last but not least a special power connector for high-end display card (PGU) card. If you have to buy a special Power connector for your GPU & SATA, take my advise change a new PSU because you are about to blow your PC away in a long run with high excessive use of power. PSU is like a Heart, don’t use the entry level PSU for your branded or high-end hardware.

Check it out my new PSU;