(no subject)

[tamakun]

It's been a relaxing week, this week. A week which I didn't have to work at all, and Christine and I managed to get a few things done in and around the condo, getting many things done in the meantime. I had a list of things-to-do each day and I feel accomplished in getting these things done, and even managed to watch a few movies and have dinners with both Christine's parents and my own. :)

One of the accomplishments I feel good about was setting up my old computer a couple of days ago to help out a relative of Christine's who was starting out in Canada. The older computer of mine was sitting around, gathering (more) dust, so I went into it and got everything working, adding enhancements (I didn't even realize that my computer never had a case fan, air was just stagnating in there) and cleaning it out so at least they could use it. All it needs is a sound card, of which I may have one at my parents' place, otherwise I could pick one up. Anyone got a soundcard I could use?

Speaking of computers, I got a call back from Tiger Direct - so, tech-folk, apparently when the motherboard fails POST and says that it was unable to "assert PVM for CPU Core Voltage", it means that the power source was defective. 6 months with the new computer, and it failed. Huh, maybe I should buy something a little higher on the pricelist than bare-bones. <,< I guess I was lucky - the power block failed when the computer was off, I think, otherwise it might've died while it was running, and heck, that's why I bought the battery backup in the first place. :P (I suspected the power source was the problem when the computer took 3 minutes to "warm-up" upon being plugged-in before I could even start it.)

There is an even greater pile of papers on my desk now, since I haven't had access to my compy. Well, hopefully I'll get through it, and I have some notes in my pocketbook that I'd like to write down in this here LJ, so eventually you'll see a little bunch of posts in quick succession, methinks.

I played a lot of Zelda: Twilight Princess this past week. Some may even say it was an unhealthy amount. I just completed assembling the Mirror of Twilight, that's all I'll say so as not to apoil things (though I think I'm the furthest behind for all those who own the game, so avoiding spoilers is almost pointless at this point :p). I've also been still playing Contact on the DS. Playing these two RPGs, I'm stuck until I complete one or the other. :P I'd like to get Super Paper Mario, but I can wait for a while. I've got a backlog of games and anime to play/watch. :P

I have been sleeping oddly recently... Following my overnight shift and my "recovery" day on Monday, this past week I woke up pretty much every morning somewhere around 6:30-8:30, up and ready to go, and then feeling oddly exhausted and alternatively recharged depending on the time of day, and I have napped for an hour or two during the evening several nights. I have to admit that some nights I have felt that I would not be able to drive home without falling asleep. It has been very stressful to me when I feel tired while driving. I've been taking tea in the meantime to keep myself awake. Yes, it's unhealthy, but I need to get back into a schedule...

Comments

[kinnonyee.livejournal.com]

lol... You can borrow Paper Mario from me.

And you're at where I am in Twilight now.

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

Ah, so at least we can get through whatever remains of the game together. :P

Did you pick it up? I noticed it's on sale at Best Buy this week... it's tempting. :)

[kinnonyee.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I picked it up from futureshop. I'm going to get them to Price Protect it this week... Maybe monday :p

Hahaha... You'll finish it before me. I have to complete God of War 2 and send it to my brother.

[dcwilson.livejournal.com]

Why can't your bro buy his own copy, lol ;)

[kinnonyee.livejournal.com]

There's no point... And we're brothers. Show a little love.

[scruloose.livejournal.com]

Power supplies... yeah. People often cheap out on the power supply (Hey look, this case is only $75 and includes the power supply!), but it's a critical part of the computer and you really want quality there. I've had a couple of power supplies up and die on me over the last couple of years, luckily not doing any damage on the way out (one just a week or two ago... Ysa and I were sitting in my office talking about something, and there was a soft clunk as zergling the little network server abruptly powered off)... And Mark just had his power supply die and fry the motherboard as it went.

So yeah, from now on I buy quality brand-name power supplies, and make sure they have ample wattage for what I'm using them for. (A power supply running at full capacity is a whole lot more likely to burn out than one running at 50-75%)

You have a UPS? I want me one of those... What type do you have, how much did it cost you, and have you had the chance to actually rely on it?

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I cheaped on the power supply on my latest computer, since I had never had a power supply problem. Now I'm planning on going up to a $60-75 supply at least, rather than a $30. I have to claim a warranty on that bad supply, too. The one thing I'm uncertain on is just how much power my system actually needs, but the 400W I was using was, in my opinion, overkill. But I can't be certain. I wonder if there's a way to determine it (short of buying a wattage meter).

I picked up an Ultra Products UPS 1000VA (http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=35&pPath=154&productID=154) Backup for $70 because there have been multiple blackouts and brief power outages in the past year in the condo, and continue to do every once in a while. The computer was getting rebooted with even a brief power-flicker, so I got this also to smooth-out any power fluctuations. It works like a charm, but I have two problems with it - one, the UPS Monitoring Software is not detailed enough (shutdown in 30, it says - 30 what? I've discovered it's seconds), and when it does switch to backup power, the beep is extremely noisy and I wish I could disable it completely. I can turn it off when it starts beeping, but I'd like to just not have it beep at all and simply shutdown the computer when it's running out of juice.

I just did a search on the Ultra Products Forum (which has much better English than the manual, software, and e-mail support) and it appears I can't shut off the beeping entirely. That sucks. :\ Ah well, I can live with it.

[fpelayo.livejournal.com]

I'd stick with reputable PSU names like Enermax, Antec, OCZ, and Zalman. These usually have good power efficiency (i.e. less AC-to-DC heat loss). Unfortunately, TigerDirect overcharges for all of them. The Ultra X-Connects they carry aren't bad from what I've heard, but make sure there's plenty of amps on the +12V line. (the 400W X-Connect's is 20A, which seems rather on the low end for today's systems) Even better is if the 12V lines are separate. (15+15A and up)

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I don't understand what all those amp output readings mean O_o

Are you saying that specific rails in the power supply might not have enough power for upcoming system requirements?

[fpelayo.livejournal.com]

No, I'm just saying that the 12V is the one you should pay attention to because it's what most of your devices will draw from.

This page and the one before it should prep ya enough to go PSU shopping: (tho I admit I haven't read it all myself since I bought my PSU before it was written :P)

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page3.html