Tong Family (richtong.org sync)

BenQ USA – Drivers DW1640. Benq has a nice web site and clear support documentation for its DVD Rewriters. Folks at “CDFreaks”:http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=154261 seem to like firmware BSMB so upgrade if you have this drive (btw, they just announced the DW1655 which is as fast as the 1640 but also has this Lightscribe technology where with…

AnandTech: HP L2335: Low Response Time and High Resolution LCD. Now that I’ve got that new Athlon 3800+ (running at 233MHz) stable, the next step is the lust for LCD monitor. The current trend is going to widescreen. “Tomshardware”:http://graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20050830/index.html and also “earlier”:http://graphics.tomshardware.com/display/20050706/index.html has also been tracking these. The monitors to get are all based on…

XtremeSystems Forums – SuperPI tweaks. Got some errors with it, but this might be because of old files. Here’s the tip on how to restart superpi correctly. bq. When you get an error, the first time it’ll most of the time be “not exact in round” but if you run superpi a seccond time it…

I always get less overclock that the magazines. The last machine I had, an Athlon 64 2800+, I got from 1.8GHz to 2.25GHz, but most of the reviews were reporting 2.4-2.6GHz. I think this is because I really want these to be stable. “AMDZone”:http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=164&page=1 got theirs to 2.7GHz but don’t have any details about how…

OK, finally got a replacement Athlon 3800 and a new DFI LanParty. What an expensive experiment with that Arctic Silver. I ripped the CPU out of the CPU socket and torqued the motherboard and maybe the CPU. So if you have a Thermaltake XP-120 beware when you take it off. The safe way is *not*…

We have a Microsoft MN-500 Broadband router and lost the software. It is discontinued so how do you get the software that resets it at this “Knowledge Base”:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/814445? article. MSBBN: How to update the firmware and software for your Microsoft Broadband Networking device. You can actually find the manual online too at “Microsoft”:http://download.microsoft.com/download/B/6/9/B69C956C-85D9-4641-AA6F-1548391E0967/MN500_usersguide.pdf and it…

99% of the time, if it says refurbished and a great deal or surplus, you just know someone is trying to rip you off. However, I’ve found a few places where really great customer oriented companies take returns and the refurbished thing makes some sense. Here are some that I troll: * The Apple Store…

Thermalright. I followed the Thermalright directions, but this XP-120 Heatsink is so large that it actually ripped out the processor when I tried to remove it. So beware, when you put clips down and and whale on the other two, you are putting lots and lots of side force on the processor. I’m going to…

Electronics & Accessories. My buddy Bill got these monitors for $500 each and after seeing them, I can’t help but lust for them. Best price I’ve been able to find without being on surplus is the current 20% off. A monitor with a 3 year warranty $960. The five warranty $998. Kind of strange to…

AnandTech: The Holiday Stop Gap: GeForce 6800 GS. Here’s another graphics card. It is as fast as the older 6800GT, but costs $100 less at $250 and still beats the latest ATI offerings, although they have some vaporware versions (the X1600) that will be competitive. By comparison, the top of line 7800GTX costs about $350…

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AnandTech: Socket M2 Processor Roadmap; FX-62 and Athlon 64 X2 5200+. Since I’ve torqued either my CPU or my motherboard. It is nice to know that there aren’t any big upgrades on the horizon. There is a new socket system from AMD due 2QCal2006, but that is a while from now. In the mean time,…

Tong Family Blog: Too much Thermal Grease. Well, it turns out that it wasn’t the thermal grease at all. The CPU fan just got knocked aside, so that is why temperatures went up to 65C. With the fan in properly, even at full bore, the machine never got above 55C. That is still quite high,…