The old has gone, the new is here!

New router in the house! a little history lesson, previously we were using modem + wifi router setup, then changed to modem + switch setup because the wifi router died. Over the months the modem gets unreliable and the lack of wifi access makes most of our portable devices useless especially for me who uses his iPod like an iPhone. So here we are, after a few months of suffering, we've finally decided to change.

(left) stock Billion Modem given by TM with a 2U rack server heat sink on top

(right) the new TPLINK TD-W8968 all in one modem router

The Billion Modem gets heated up when its running at full capacity and after a long hour of running, web browsing will feel sluggish and unresponsive and MMORPGs are impossible.

The new router solved the sluggishness and delay problem of the previous router very well. Even during heavy internet usage, the response time for online game such as World of Tanks hardly go beyond 200ms which is good compared to the previous 600ms++

In the picture above you can see the modem router on top of an inverted document basket with a 90mm fan mounted right below the router. This new modem router generates more heat compared to the old modem thus we need something better than the passive cooled heat sink. Therefore active cooling was opted.

Firstly I invert the unused plastic document basket and zip tie the fan to the bottom of it. The fan max voltage rating is 12v, I tested it at at full 12v and the noise level is like a jet plane, totally unacceptable. I then try out with 9v and its still unbearable and finally 7.5v with mildly audible noise. So I proceed to buy a 7.5v adapter and hardwired both the adapter and fan together. So far everything works well and the router likes the chill.

I'll update with the router's settings and QoS configuration soon. the features it offers are quite basic but works like a charm. It makes online gaming possible even during heavy internet usage.

Thats all for today :)

Epic Moments in World of Tanks

I like the physics applied in World of Tanks, it makes this game feels real compared to other games. All shell penetration were calculated similarly to how a real shell would penetrate a real tank! That is much better than hitting any part of the tank and causing the same amount of damage each time.

Meanwhile, when you give a sim racer a tank, this is what he'll do. 

Scoring is part of the fun, but the juice is getting into trouble and making it double! 

For the opposing force of course hahaha.

Comparing between SSD, RAID-0 setup and portable HDD

Ok, here's an unfair comparison between SSD, HDD in RAID-0 setup and external HDD.
If you don't know what is SSD or HDD or RAID-0, you may stop reading or click on the link below.

SSD - HDD - RAID-0

Firstly I would like to talk about the handicap on the following hardware 

that are featured in the unfair comparison below.

• Intel X25-M 160GB is housing my computer's operating system, paging files and major software  It is 75% full and about 3 years old. 
• Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GBx2 in RAID-0 contains all my personal data such as music, movies, games, backups and lots of redundant junks . It is 85% full and 2~3 years old as well. 
• Western Digital Passport 500GB USB3.0 is brand spanking new and empty! But of course it is a 2.5 inch hard disk with an USB3.0 interface and that's considered as a major performance handicap. 

Intel X25-M 160Gb (SSD)

The Intel solid state drive with its ultra stable bandwidth is showing very little jitters

and incredible access time despite being about 3 years old!

(not sure if the jitters are caused by the motherboard or the aging SSD)

Samsung Spinpoint F3 500Gbx2 in RAID-0 configuration (HDD)

These old Samsung Spinpoint F3s in RAID-0 setup is showing some really weird result,
is it trying to paint a mountain there?
Anyway kudos to the bandwidth, the average is quite similar to the SSD but the peak is still high!
By the way, I'm not sure if this is normal or a bad sign for my hard disks,
if you do know anything about it do drop a comment below, thanks! :]

This result is recorded when both of the Spinpoint F3s are still new and quite empty.
Other than access time, it literally trash those day's entry and mid range SSDs right in their face!

Western Digital Passport 500Gb USB3.0 (HDD)

 For an external hard disk, this guy puts up quite a good fight. Though its bandwidth is still in the 2 digit region, but that's quite a good score for an external hard disk.

Conclusion? there is no conclusion. Its an unfair comparison anyway trololo...

Got my hands on a new WD Passport 500GB portable hard disk

Alright, so i get my self a new external hard disk a few minutes ago by Western Digital, a trusted brand by me since ancient days. It promises 'ultra-fast' data transfer and password protection. well I scrap that password protection part, not needed and it takes up space and performance anyway. 

This is how the box looks like.

As uninformative as usual, filled with exaggerated marketing crap instead of useful information.

The hard disk, silver aluminum on top and black plastic on all sides and the back,

feels solid and the aluminum gives a good 'heat dissipation' impression.

Well a hard disk is still a hard disk, once you drop it, sayonara. 

The first thing to do when I hook the hard disk to my comp, to get some factual information out of it!

As you can see, USB 3.0 does improve the performance of today's hard disk. With a peak of 96MBps and 72MBps average data transfer rate, this is rather fast for an external hard disk but no where near the advertised 'ultra-fast' speed. (note that USB2.0 max out at 60MBps thus the use of USB3.0 is justified)

Don't mind the access time, external hard disk are not designed to perform well in that area, if you want something portable that is lightning fast get a high speed USB flash drive instead.

Cleaning my Logitech G15 keyboard

Ok, so lets move on to the real deal. I've been wanting to clean my keyboard for years but well, I'm quite lazy to do it as it would take up the whole day. You must be wondering why cleaning a keyboard will take up the whole day eh. Well, i'll let the picture do the talking. (Please forgive me for the poor image quality)

 

So here's the keyboard, the Logitech G15, one of the first few gaming keyboard that have a lcd screen on it. Doesn't look that dirty does it?

Firstly, remove all the keys! well, close enough... 

Just pry each one off with a flat-head screw driver and they do come off quite easily.

My keyboard is housing an ecosystem on its own! its beyond typing, gaming and stuff!

I remembered once I identically poured some cereal drink over it and my keyboard survived,

well with all these mess to clean up a year later.

Another view of the 'ecosystem'

These are the space-bar, shifts, enter, etc. that have a stabilizer bar underneath them. They are harder to be taken out and must proceed with caution. No more warranty for this keyboard yo!

Dump them all into a bucket, but first remove those stabilizer from those longer keys.

Spa treatment key-caps.

Meanwhile, the keyboard is being dissected!

Introducing, the membrane that suspends all the keys in their respective places!

Even the lcd is being stripped.

After separating the grey part of the plastic from the black cover its finally ready for a bath.

The stripping part is necessary in order to scrub those stubborn dirt out of the keyboard.

And of course with some soap and lots of scrubbing only the dirt would come off.
(Remember the cereal drink that i poured on it a year ago? Yeah, that makes my life harder a year later)

Finally, after a few hours of hard work, i can have a rest, NOT.

All those caps are done with their spa treatment and ready to be scrubbed one by one. 

Like how a samurai cleans his katana, a true keyboard warrior should clean his keyboard as well! Haha.

Oh yeah, the colour on one small piece of plastic which has the Logitech logo on it has faded so i decide to paint it with silver paint to restore its previous glory.

Painting and sandpapering it a few times and realize that I should have gotten a spray paint instead of this cheapo gloss paint that takes forever to dry.

Meanwhile, those two are dried and ready for reassembly.

First to assemble is the lcd panel. Buttons and circuits go in first.

Then comes the lcd motherboard and media keys and so on.

Fully assembled the lcd panel.

The rear side of it.

Now with all the non standard keys fitted into the keyboard.

(the profile selector keys, windows key disable slider, mute and back light button )

after screwing all the grey plastic into place the keyboard start to take its shape once again.

The next morning, this dude is finally dried!

Now all the keys are back on the keyboard! Try spotting the silver colour plastic thing.

(This is just the top cover with all the keys on, not assembled onto the base yet)

Finally assembled the top cover with the base of the keyboard and frag on!

Smells good, feels fresh, no more sticky keys and jamming keys due to old cereal deposits (yucks)

and all the keys works well! A job well done is always satisfying.

Thanks and that's all for today, I'm too lazy to read through the post to correct any grammar or typing errors so I'll write this footnote instead. Enjoy!

Introduction

Lets get straight to the point, I blog about the stuff that i do and i'm interested in doing. nothing more nothing less. Its not going to be some fancy looking blog and i will not update frequently. However you may find some interesting content over here if you are a gamer or computer geek. Proceed at your own risk, you have been warned.

Have a nice day and frag on!