Overhual

I've been neglecting my blog space since a few months ago, but I assured you that I'm slowly back on tracks and will come back with better and awesome personal contents. Due to my NS commitment which I'm proud of and being able to fulfill my commitment, I'm going to embark to my next phrase of life.

I have a few backlogs of reviews and photos that have not been posted, but I will do it soon, before embarking on 2013. Thank you for looking out.

HK Golden Computer Arcade Walk Around 070812

PICS HEAVY! 

Just went HK last week and walk around their 'SLS' and snapped some photos! All photos was snapped on 07/08/12. Supposedly want to upload when i'm back but only do so this weekend. Well, have a great time looking at their goodies! 

For those people going in the near future, here's a small guide on how to reach there. 

By MTR, alight at Shim shuai Po Station and exit via D2. When you walk up, you will notice a giant 'harddisk' looking structure.

Walk past the structure and continue walking to a T-Junction, look across the street and you'll finally see this! Very weird is, we found that the entrance is the same like SLS, at all four corners of the building, is it an icon or fengshui? lol 

Let's move in, first thing i encounter.. SSD! Can't get any price list but got prices. You guys want to calculate, the rates now is about 1:6, so you divide by 6, you know the price in SGD.

People buying ssd! Can ship the whole cabinet to sls sell?

Beside the ssd is a cabinet of thumbdrive. Hola, i want that kingston hyperX usb3.0 thumbdrive!

The basement level. Early morning(ok, actually they opens at about 11am) so happening already!

Any Cables for you Sir? We got everything. 

Who want ducky kb? Price differences not alot here though.. 

Now, a cabinet of NAS! Cheaper in hk! 

Now, some very shimmering PSU which I had to snap. Looking at the connectors, all in lime green. Er, do you want it? 

CASING Galore! Stacko like a pro. Can see they got all sorts of Casing. Can see Lian Li, Corsair, Sliverstone, coolermaster, and even their own local brands. SliverStone is cheaper, cause i compare to SG prices, the prices there is a steal! Too bad luggage too small, if not will buy 1 back!

Now, it's Monitor Galore! Crazy layout. lol You name it, they got it. 23", 24" 27" 30" LCD, LED,IPS. Even got korea ips panels there, if i not wrong. 

SSD and Rams Kit. Look carefully. It's not about all the rams we see, it about Cosair DOMINATOR PLATINUM! 1600, 1866, 2133 all in. They're fast in getting new hardware. Nearly drop the bomb cause I got poisoned by it, but I quickly run away from it. 

Now for Mobo, Who want this Golden Armour! 

Who say make apple components cannot make motherboard! First time i encounter it, i bet some of you guys also seeing it for the first time!

Now, you wonder where is all the stuffs i want to see badly, well, save the best for the last, here's all the GPU Galore!

This is GPU Madness~! 

This is GPU sprata! They just love to put in cabinets for display don't they?

Inno3D GTX 690! good to see a different brands other than Asus and Evga 690.

Zotac GTX 670! It's time to play!

Okay, that'all for my trip walking around in the Golden Computer Arcade in HK.  I think all the photos only covered about 20-30% of the mall. It's not big but not small. 2 floors and 1 basement level. Those going in the future, just note, if you want to go to level 2, need to exit out, and take escalators from outside. Weird layout they have. 

Pricelist-wise, from what I saw, they got those bundles pricelists. Maybe they got but I never go ask for it. 

What i feel is that, HK got a different style of promoting their hardware. For example like displaying their hardware in cabinets. That's something fresh I never seen it before. Overall, a very nice experience for me! 

2 Weekends, 2 PSUs.

A first look at 2 different Power supply unit (PSU) side by side. FSP Aurum 400W GOLD and Andyson 550W MODULAR PLATINUM .*This is not really a fair comparison, but it would be interesting to see two different brands package their products.* 

A very attractive box and a well edited 'engine' PSU in the middle. The Andyson 550W.

Finally, a jump from Bronze(previously), to Gold, and now, owned a Platinum rated PSU.

First face when you will see when you unbox from it. FSP's packaging won here cause it gives you a grand experience when you slide it out and then open it up, whereas, Andyson, is just bare opening up. However the box comes with a handle, but who would actually need it?

Reviewing the PSU! Love the 'Enjoy your Device' by FSP. Andyson is not too bad as they took the effort to wrap up the psu. Of course, FSP got more foam protection.

All the accessories in the box. Andyson is a modular PSU, so therefore the cables. Over here, FSP won because they got a manual, a fsp badge and toolless secure nuts.

The specifications. one at the side, while another one on the top side.

The underneath grills, which absorbs air into it to cool the coil and components. Andyson comes with a 140mm white fan bladeswhile FSP comes with 120mm black fan blades. Notice the length differences.

Front face. Very clear indicators by Andyson. Too bad, the FSP unit I have is not modular.

Top Side. Plain for andyson. If you install it into a caasing with window. You are not going to see anything.

The interesting part. Andyson took the effort to 'beautify' the side. FSP goes with a exclude cut.

Andyson on the left, with honeycomb grills, while FSP with arrow grills for air outlet ventilation.

Lastly, my favorite side of both the PSUs.

My thoughts:
TBC.

My New Budget Rig Set-up (finally)

One month ago, I sold off my Macbook pro. I've fufilled my apple experience and ready to embark on a Window 7 platform. The Question is, a Rig or a laptop?

I've decided to go into the world of desktop PC, as every single parts is customizable to my needs. Well, it is now a Post-PC era as they said but this industry is still growing strong and there is potential(in terms of performance/quality and design).
I spend the last few weekends salvaging parts from the local garage sales forum. I want the most of what within my budget.

Finally. Here's my Casing with my Rig fully set up.

 My Rig Set up Specifications are as follows:

Processor: Intel i5 3450 Ivy Bridge 3rd Gen processor w/ Intel stock HSF
Mainboard: Asrock Z77 Pro 3
Graphics card: MSI Nvidia GTX 560Ti Twin Frozr II O/C
Mermory: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 1600mhz CL9 kit
Storage: OCZ Vertex3 60GB SataIII SSD and Seagate Barrucuda 250GB HDD
Casing: Xigmatek Asgard Pro w/ 140mm and 120mm XLF fans
Power supply unit: Seasonic M12II 620W Modular 
Wifi: TP -Link 150mbps PCI express adaptor
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

My virgin cable management at its best. Can be improve though.

One thing I learn while building my rig, was learn how to sleeve those ugly color combi cables.

Last but not least, night mode on!
 Customize a LED strip to place it into my rig set-up. My initial overall theme was black w/ orange, but changed to full black because I can't get my hands on the G Skill Ares orange heat spreader ram. Well still, I love it alot and I keep staring into it.

Okay lastly, have to give credits to this our JY and (mother of god) LH, for guiding as well as answering my qns. thanks JY for fixing up and setting up my PC!

Well, my next plan will be upgrading of the HSF, PSU,SSD and GPU, by end of this year. Adding of 2 1TB HDD in Raid1 would be ideal but expensive. I have my eyes on which exact parts already but all I need is funds. This is one of the rig disadvantages, you get 'poisoned' all the time.

For now, it is time for D3!

 

3M Command Utility Hook

Went to Home Fix Store and got a pair of 3M Command Utility Hooks. Those hook that stick with a double-sided tape always leave a bad scar after you tear it down but this amazingly won't, like it said. I always saw advertisements of this at one point of time but does it really works? Let check it out.


Here it is, off the packaging. 3M is kind enough to add in an extra pair of 'tape' so you can reuse again. So 2 Hooks and 2 pair of tape. Design is clean and constructive. A 2 piece construction.


The instructions with illustrations is quite clear cut behind the back of the packaging. Just follow and you won't go wrong. The back of the construction. It actually works like a double-sided tape as well.


The 'hook' front. They designed it such that it can cover up the long tape of the hook. You notice an arrow that is pointing downwards. If you want to remove it in the future, just pull it straight down and you are good to go.


The assembled Hook. Ready to Hook. Took me about 5minutes but allow 1hour to let it settle. So what do I need to hook? Of course something which I order quite sometime ago.


A 2012 Wall calender. However, not any common wall calender on the market. ^^ It is actually quite heavy in term of weight because of the well quality printing paper.


It's the Girls' Generation 2012 Wall calendar! Well, I might do a review on this calendar or might not. It's already the month of Sunny! If you had this, you should know what I am talking about.

P/S. So if you ask me, why i bought it. I am not really a hardcore fan of GG. I want a large wall calendar on my wall, and my camp mates 'physco'(persuade) me to buy together! So here it is!

Daiso Line Tape + Review

I always love to shop at Daiso. It is when you discover something amazing, in an unexpected place, makes it a pleasant experience. This is Daiso Line Tape.


'Always $2', is Daiso slogan. Made in Japan. Costs $2.


I was going to do a chart for my military stuffs, and i need to find some line tape, instead of using the conventional marker and ruler. I found this.


Clear acrylic casing. The hump is designed so you can place your fingers comfortably. In case you missed it, there is a 'Push' placement. It is to grip onto the tape inside the casing.


The clear casing also allows you to know how much is left inside. The Line tape is actually good enough to stick onto the board. In my case, my application is corrugated board, which does its job fine.


Sad thing is, there is only 2mm thickness tape width. The material being used is like masking tape, but in black, and quite easily tear off by hands. Other than that, it works fine. Look at the details of the cut-off teeth. Nice.


My result. Not 100% straight, but good enough. A ruler and a Line tape.

My friends and I always like to shop in Daiso to hunt for unique stuffs, which sometimes not necessary useful but interesting! In this case, this is of course useful! I end up buying 2. Good stuff come cheap sometimes too! Well, i guess there will be more Daiso's products reviews coming up.