Posts tagged pc hardware

How time flies

My goodness. Time is really flying and soon it’ll be October 6th! Anyways, been busy setting up the infrastructure for the new home. Well, overall, the connection is quite simple. A two-layer router and SPI/IPS firewall ought to keep things safe and sound. Front-line is a Belkin Wireless-G router with basic NAT firewall and routing. The cool thing about this router is the guest access option which allows me to create two WPA keys, one for my network, another for guests. The guest key only allows internet access so overall, pretty cool. Finally, the second layer router is a Cisco Systems 4-port VPN router with packet inspector (SPI) and Intrusion Prevention system (IPS) providing access to my inner network (Green zone). The good thing about this little Cisco box is its ability to have dual-WAN ports – quite useful when you need reliable network connectivity (or higher-speed since it allows load-balancing on two links). Internally, I’ll be relying on a Gigabit switch providing jumbo packet support (essential for large photo and imaging work) and 1000mbps speed! Woohoo! Now let’s see how long TM takes to get me my basic phone and broadband links!

Quad time?

Well, with the latest Intel discounts and price cuts… it’s no longer quad-damage…

Replacing something old…

Finally, after 3.5 years, I swap out my aging PC for something swanky, blue and black aluminum.
So far, it’s a super lot faster, the same video taking 7 minutes to render versus 25 minutes, not to mention it’s almost inaudible! Whoot!

New high-rise or just a heat-sink
Glow in the dark!
Sleek polished aluminum

Time to change…

And not Digi, the smarter choice…
More like my own aging PC which isn’t really cutting it anymore as a Digital Imaging workstation. I guess something that dates back to late 2003 is ancient. Suffice to say, it’s not going to be cheap, plus I’m really aiming at the lower end for now and holding out till Intel does some price cutting on their Core 2 Quads.

Obsolete within 6 months as usual…

Core 2 Duos in stock!

After a long (yeah, right, like what, 4 weeks?!), Intel’s latest and greatest arrived in quantity on our shores. Guess the upgrade time is coming… but probably not in time to help out in rendering my latest movie. Late Sept/Oct is my upgrade timeframe.

In stock and in quantity too!
Strangely, they have AMD stickers on the countertop

The case for size!

Why do you need a 24 inch wide screen monitor? To increase productivity that’s why. I’m going to look for that IDC report that mentions that multiple monitors and larger monitors increase productivity. Look at my Microsoft Word screen below. I have TWO FULL SIZED A4 pages, 100% view. Says a lot doesn’t it.

Easy does this document…

If not, do the math!
1024×768 – standard 15″ LCD monitor will yield 786432 pixels. Jack that up to a 17″ LCD monitor and you get 1310720 pixels, an increase of 67% just for 2 more inches. Go all the way to a 20″ wide screen and you get 1764000 pixels, increase of 124% over a standard 15″ monitor. Of course, with a 24″ wide screen and 2304000 pixels, you’re a whopping 193% more screen estate space!