Battleangel | Personal

Big changes around here. I’ve dismantled the MediaPC and moved its components to Workstation 2. I don’t watch TV episodes or movies on the TV anymore and since I’ve been taking my first steps into Usenet territory, there is little need to have an encrypted, dedicated download box. While it can come in handy, it is hard to justify having a perfectly fine and quite snappy dual core system collecting dust. Especially when Workstation 2 can’t even play 720p video and is anything but snappy.

Got a new speedy boot drive for the system as well. 500 GB Samsung F3. Single platter 7200 rpm. The old 750 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 was perfectly acceptable, though a bit loud. And it was full with stuff and encrypted. Moving the data and decrypting the drive would have taken a full day. Also I replaced the junk PSU with a Corsair 430 CX. Not quite as good as the discontinued 400 CX that I was hoping for but it will do. Plus I added two extra sticks for RAM for a total of 4 GB. The weakest remaining component is obviously the Radeon 3450, but since this wont be a gaming rig I will just forget about it for the time being.

And while on the topic of upgrades I added a 2 TB Samsung F4 to my main rig. I will also have to add the Barracuda at some point though I might have to suspend it like I did with the 500 GB Samsung T166. Sadly, a NAS solution seems as distant as ever.

As for the future of digital media players I’ve been looking at GoogleTV and similar devices. But adoption of such a technology depends upon a certain maturity in the field and that there is a digital LCD or plasma TV with HDMI interface. Since I do not have that and since I still don’t feel comfortable with the state of the media player market, the entire concept seems flawed. But I reckon it will have resolved itself once I start to regret slashing the MediaPC.

Addendum: Almost had a heart attack as I took a reading with the kill-a-watt meter. 25 W standby / S3. I used to have 23 W on my old PSU with only two sticks of RAM. I have to assume something is wrong with the Gigabyte G33M-DS2R mainboard because I pulled just about everything else and couldn’t budge that power consumption. I always thought it would be a problem with the PSU. Now, I’m pissed and have contacted Gigabyte support and started moaning in various forums. Even if I were 100% sure that switching mainboards would solve this, it would have to drop the consumption pretty damn far to make economic sense. I would have to know that it would pretty much drop below 10 W to warrant a change.

Addendum 2: Scratch that. Sloppy reasoning suggested that it was the mobo. But in reality it was the new PSU (as well as the old one I presume) acting out. Who would have thought a brand new Corsair PSU (budget model but still) would have this sort of problem. I ran the PSU standalone and measured 25 W. But stranger still, when flipping the switch on the back of the PSU, turning it OFF, the meter still claims 15 W or so. I would have blamed a faulty meter except it has accurately measured other PSUs in the past. Just now I tested with a Chieftec PSU from the junk pile and got 0 W OFF / 4 W ON (makes more sense).

Addendum 3: Mystery solved. Found some info online and tested a brand new VX550. The result was the same. 15 W consumption switched off. Apparently, the active PFC system in at least some modern PSUs makes it impossible to measure consumption with at least some kill-a-watt meters. It is certainly the first I ever heard of it. It also means that the PSU in the Antec Aria case is just fine. It does not consume 20+ W in standby. Feeling stupid now.