Okay an HTPC update. I am writing this entry from it right now. This is SOOOO cool. I cant believe my TV is displaying this SO well. The PC is not completely built. I have it together but it is missing a few pieces. Such as the HD-DVD Blu-Ray player. I dont have any audio right now, But as you can tell I do have the basic PC built and running. I am running Vista and I am not so sure yet that I like it. I may order a OEM of XP pro slap that on here and see how I like it. I may even run a dual boot as I have plenty of Hard Drive space. Not sure. But I do know that I do need to Water cool this beast. My CPU temp right now as being taken between the CPU and CPU fan heatsink is 121 Degrees Fahrenheit. WAYYYY to warm for my liking I should be down near 70 or less preferably, so here comes a water cooler.
My specs so far.
Gigabyte Ga-x38T-DQ6
2GB G-Skill DDR3 1066
Q6600 SLACR Kentsfield not overclocked.
Asus 8800GTS 640mb DDR3 Nvidia PCI-E Video
Onboard Audio
Valman CPU Cooler-Not so happy with it. Although the temp is down to 103 now. Gotta love the Temp Display on front of this Case
Antac P160 Aluminum ATX Tower
2x SATAII WD 250GB Raid 0 for my Boot and basic system totalling 500GB
1x SATAII Hitachi 750GB for Music Storage
Panasonic DVD SataII Drive
Gonna try and get some pics up of it this weekend. For now I dont want to push this to hard because of the temps I am running. I am sure it will be fine. But I just want to be careful. I am excited though. I cant wait to have this completely functional.
WAHOO!!!
You gotta see this….
www.2girls1cup.com
For those of you at work this is not work safe so wait till you get home. I don’t want to get anybody fired.
Okay well I better give you a smoking update. I dont have a specific date as I dont want to concentrate on the EXACT time. Really because if I know exactly how much time it gives me more opportunity to dwell on wanting a smoke. So I am around a month now. With no chantix pills. So I am VERY happy. I still get cravings on a daily basis but it is easier to fight through them. So good so far. I take it day by day. Not really all that much to say on this subject other than it REALLY FLIPPING SUCKS trying to quite smoking. But I gotta do it.
Christmas isn’t that far away so its time to think about it. Reawriter mentioned during a certian couples wedding about getting togather for Christmas. I think that is a GREAT idea. So lets start planning it. I know for us the best time would be Christmas Afternoon-Evening. Or plan something for Thanksgiving evening.
So lets hear some ideas. I will get the turkey, then everbody else gets to bring THEIR favorite Holiday treat or must have. And if you want we could draw names for some gift giving fun.
I feel a new great tradition coming on. I love it. Christmas hasn’t been that much fun for me since my Grandparents passed away. No place to go. So Christmas since then has always felt sorta like I was just floating with no real place to go. Its hard to explain but Christmas hasn’t been fun or special since then. And I have been trying to figure out a way to make it a special time of year to look forward to again. Hopefully this it.
Okay so last weekend before I left for Wichita for the week. (I am back now) Mary and I started to watch a movie when I noticed that the Right Channel on my speakers was dead. So after about a half an hour of huffing and being pissy as I figured out what was wrong I found that the driver in my speaker was dead. So trying not to be mad at Mary. (Because as I was working in the yard sunday she had the stereo up WAYYYYY to far. So far that my speaker where popping extremely bad) I took it apart to make sure a fuse hadn’t blown. That was the not the case. So promptly Monday morning I took the beatless speaker to the shop for repair. Well to my dismay I cant find the receipt to get the speaker warrantied. Not that big of a deal as I happen to be going to Wichita where bought the speakers originally. I will just stop and get a copy of the receipt from the nice people at Audio Dimensions. So I left the speaker for repair and not before leaving I happened to make a small purchase of a Center Channel that the salesperson just HAPPEN to GIVE me a GREAT deal on.
Anyways on my way out of Wichita today I finally had a moment to spare and run by and get my receipt. While I was there I just happened to ask if he had any 604’s on clearance. He said as a matter of fact he did. Well his clearance B&W 604’s where three hundred less than D&M Sound had them clearanced out for. D&M doesn’t have very good clearance pricing if you ask me. Because the same center channel I bought was FAR less here also. But ANYWAYS…I told the nice gentleman to wrap up the speakers and I would be on my way. FAR to good of a deal to pass up at this time. He then asked when I wanted to pick them up?
I said “Well now of course…I am on my way out of town”
He then replies “Sorry they are in a warehouse, and I wont have them until tomorrow, I may be able to ship them?”
I said “Okay we will ship them how much will it be?”
“$300″ he finally said after some clicking on the keyboard
Well now my deal of the century had turned into not so much the deal of a century and would be hard to convince Mary that I just HAD to purchase them then or lose the deal forever. So I told the nice man “thank you, but at that I can purchase them local and not have to worry about shipping damage.”
Wanting to make a sale he replied “What if I could get you the speakers you want now?”
Interested in what he had to say I replied “How, you just said you didn’t have any locally”
“No..but I do have a set of 683’s in black, the color you want, I would have to sell you the floor models, but I just put them out yestarday”
Interested I replied “Hmmm that would be interesting, but what are we talking? Retail on the 683 is a good 700 more than the closeout 604’s and I can really only spend a certain amount if I am going to take any home today”
So to hurry this little story along. I got the 2008 model’s of the speaker I was looking at, in the right color for $100 more than the closeouts I was looking at in the wrong color. SO I am very happy but I was very bad in the affect I spent money I was not supposed to spend.
So I am writing this as I listen to my SACD version of Pink Floyd-ON the Dark Side of the Moon. And it sounds WONDERFUL!!! My buddy Steve is coming over tonight to hook an Amp and push them a bit to see what they will do. I cant wait!!
And I have to say this. I Mike Johnson in NO WAY blame my WONDERFUL,BEAUTIFUL, and extremely UNDERSTANDING wife in the destruction of my other speaker.
Okay so some of you are looking for an update on the HTPC. It is taking a bit slower than intended simply because I am choosing to go Hi-end on everything involved with it so that requires saving then purchasing then saving again to purchase the next part. So far this is what I have.
Antec P160 Tower case, Asus P5n32-e SLI Plus, Intel q6600 quad core, OCZ Reaper DDR2 Dual Channel 2GB 800 mhz memory, 2 WD 250GB SATAII HDD for Raid 0 on the OS, Panasonic DVD Writer, and Thermal Take Max Orb CPU cooler. However I am selling the Mobo to my friend in favor for the either the Asus Maximus Formula SE(Which is that X38 board I talked about a couple of posts down, should have stayed with my instincts)or the Gigabyte X38 board. So taking strides forward but then taking steps back agian.
And the reason for this change is because of the chipsets. With the Nvidia chipset it does great for gaming. But it really isn’t going to give me anything as far as video which I knew. But the biggest reason is for the ICH9R south bridge chipset. Apparently it is one of the few south bridges that actually allow for true lossless audio to pass through it with out down sampling. Something I did not know. I though all the audio was handled via the sound controller. But I guess it passes through the south bridge on its way to the processor and back out. So since one of BIGGEST reason for making this HTPC is for a music server with great Audio quality I need to have that.
As far as the Video playback I have been reassured MANY MANY times that my largest problem will not be hardware being able to play HD, but the software. As PowerDVD is having problems with HD playback from HD DVD and Blu Ray. Which is a bit concerning but I will deal with the issue when I get there. Hopefully there will be some other option when I get there. My goal is to get a functional computer running so I can start experimenting with what I want to do. I am very excited to see WOW on my 61″ DLP, how cool would that be?
So on that note anybody need a brand new Max Orb Cooler? It will fit on AMD Boards too as long as you don’t have the NB and SB Cooling Pipes like my Asus does. I cant return it because I bought it off of Ebay. Let me tell you I am saddened at this because it is HUGE!! And looks so cool. No pun intended.
I had seen you tube videos of Top Gear and always dismissed it as another Brit show that we will never see over hear in the States. Well I discovered it on BBC America. And to be fair my nephew in law had told me about it. And for some reason it went in one ear and out the other or something but I didn’t pay much attention. Another one of my faults that I have to discuss on here sometimes because it is really bothersome to me. But anyways back to TopGear.
I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! I am a HUGE car guy. Always have been and always will be. I am particularly a European car fan. Not so much down for American Engineering. We are sooo waaaay behind in our cars it just isn’t even comical anymore. I mean really when are we going to get a clue and start taking advice from our elders? This country has a huge problem with that. Our government and leaders act like the world’s teenagers. When we should be learning from our elders like the Brits and such we do everything we can to not do that.
We need a show like this one. And if there are any TV producers out there that are thinking about putting on an american version of TopGear I want to put myself in the running. Just three average Joes who love cars talking and debating cars. The best part is that they aren’t Master Mechanics or customizers or anything. One went to ART School. They just love cars. So when you watch them you are getting real world common folk opinions not professional track times, skidpad’s, braking distances, or any of that other crap. Yeah that is all great and well. But when Mr Average I want to buy a Toyota is looking for a car. He has NO CLUE what all that means. He wants to know. Am I getting a quality car, does it do what I want, and if I feel froggy is it going to satisfy. These are the questions the guys at Top Gear answer. Sure they have a track and do all the good stuff. But in the 8 shows I have watched. I have not heard any stats. But somehow they have gotten across just how badass a car is or isn’t. To top it all off they are FUNNY!
So anyways BBC America on Monday nights. You can see the best car show on TV trust me you wont be disappointed. If you are tired of all the normal sunday morning Mod shows like Trucks, HotRod, X-treme 4×4, etc, and etc. Watch this. Because really after you have seen a season of each of those shows there really is nothing new happening on the American Auto TV Show’s. And Top Gear promises something new with every show.
You know I really LOVE Carlos Santana. I have not heard one thing the man has done that I hated. In fact I have not heard one thing he has done that I have not just absolutely LOVED!! The latest album I purchased as you can tell was Santana. He came out with a another Hits album as sorts called “Ultimate Santana” I am prehearing it now I am absolutely loving it. Yes it is that awsome!! Some of my favorites like “Oye Coma Va”, ” Blackmagic Womam”, and “Evil Way” Which are probably his most known works. But it also has “Smooth” with Rob Thomas, and “The Game of Love” with Tina Turner.
LOVING IT!!
Nothing beats a rainy afternoon home from work and just sitting back and listening to some great music. After the weekend I had and how terrible I have felt since the accident this is a afternoon well deserved.
Okay so I have finally been able to watch all the premiers that I wanted to watch. I had them all on TIVO so it was a bit long in getting to them all. Some are AWSOME some are downright terrible. Really I think the only really bad show I watched was the Caveman. Seriously it was terrible. Even the makeup was pretty bad.
But I have to say Bionic Woman is going to be a new favorite setup on my season pass for TIVO. As well as K-Ville, for some reason Kid Nation(That show has got me hooked for some reason and I dont know why), Life (OMG Hilarious and I love the charecter, completely what you would not expect a 15 year ex-con/cop to be like, but then agian there isn’t to many ex-con/cops in the world to take examples from), Journey Man(good sorta a Quantum Leap remake thing)and finally Chuck.
Staying on the season pass for TIVO will be Smallville, ER, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, Dr Who, Stargate, and Supernatural. And HOPEFULLY if something drops midseason Jericho again.
My God I need a life. That is entirely way to much TV watching. But with TIVO I watch on my time so it isn’t so bad.
I know the picture I have placed isn’t the star, but I think she is so much HOTTER than the star. Some of you will recognize her as Starbuck from Battlestar.
Well nothing really that new is going on. I did buy a Mobo for my HTPC. I did not get the P5e3 as I was planning. I did however buy a Asus board. I bought the P5n32 SLI Plus. Why because I wanted the ability if I chose to use SLI and be confident that I can do it. And because of cost. When I started putting the pricing togather it was getting a bit stupid. So I had to cut some money back in some area. So out with DDR3 and in with DDR2. Also instead of 2 vid cards I will go with one and if I need another later one I can still upgrade.
Other than that. My niece-in-law is getting married this weekend. We had the bachelor party last weekend. It was great fun. Just a pure guys night. Those are always fun. Played poker and Halo 3 with lots of good food and great cigars. It is tuff to look at them as Niece and Nephew because they are only a few years younger than us. I tend to look at them more like cousins. But they are great people and I always enjoy hanging and talking with them.
