/tags/hardware/Recent content in hardware on Neolisk's Tech BlogHugo -- gohugo.ioenneolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)©2020-2024 Victor Zakharov. All Rights ReservedSat, 24 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000/posts/2020-10-24-xpg-gammix-s11-pro-ssd-benchmark/Sat, 24 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:13:30 -0400/posts/2020-10-24-xpg-gammix-s11-pro-ssd-benchmark/I recently bought a new 2TB SSD to handle my virtual machines. This one is m.2, was previously using 256 GB SATA drive. Nothing against SATA, it just can’t compete on speed with m.2. Below is a screenshot from an SSD speed test using Crystal Disk Mark version 6.0.2 x64 (front) with temperature check in Hard Disk Sentinel in the background. 58C under 100% load for a few minutes is not bad on stock cooling.Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmark/posts/2014-12-20-32gb-adata-uv131-usb3-perf/Sat, 20 Dec 2014 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 29 Mar 2021 12:24:08 -0400/posts/2014-12-20-32gb-adata-uv131-usb3-perf/This is a well-built metal case unibody flash drive (rugged zinc alloy, according to the manufacturer). It was actually slightly smaller than it looked on the pictures. I got a 32GB version for less than 15 CAD before tax, with shipping included. It’s not the fastest flash drive I’ve seen on the market, but for the money, I think it’s a good investment. Here are the numbers measured with CrystalDiskMark, USB2 and USB3 respectively:Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmark/posts/2014-08-24-good-24-in-monitor-home-office/Sun, 24 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2014-08-24-good-24-in-monitor-home-office/Modern monitors today have IPS+VA in one, which means great vertical viewing angles and also 100% color gamut reproduction. So one does not need to choose either and just get both, for some 200-250 dollars. However, they only have 1000 static contrast (read below why this was important for me) and many of them suffer from backlight bleed issue (near bottom of the screen), or produce high-pitch noise. Another thing which I found interesting is that not all IPS monitors make up to 100% of the palette, make sure you read description about how much is exactly covered.Victor Zakharovhardware/posts/2014-07-21-fix-htc-desire-601-signal/Mon, 21 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2014-07-21-fix-htc-desire-601-signal/Bought this phone on 2-year contract from a Virgin Mobile booth. On a side note, it’s not advertised as “601”, but I figured this one is closest to the specs of the phone being sold in Canada. Anyway, starting day one, this phone was showing wireless signal problems (mobile network). I live in the GTA, your experiences may vary. I used RF Signal Tracker to investigate. Note RF signal tracker is not very stable for monitoring purposes, so for best results leave your phone open/unlocked with screen on.Victor Zakharovmobileandroidhardware/posts/2014-06-16-best-developer-pc/Mon, 16 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2014-06-16-best-developer-pc/This was originally planned as a series of articles about things to consider when buying/building your developer’s PC at home/work. I never got back to expanding it beyond the bullet list plan, but I think this list is useful enough to be posted on its own, so here it goes. Most of the points reflected here were written >0.5yr ago, and I kept 99% of the original text. PC (hardware) - custom built Motherboard, any known brand full ATX motherboard, at least 8GB of memory if no virtual machines, and at least 16GB if virtual machines are planned.Victor Zakharovhardware/posts/2013-12-29-powerline-performance-test/Sun, 29 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2013-12-29-powerline-performance-test/This is just an experiment I’ve planned for Christmas, to verify if powerlines are any good, a couple years after they became popular on the market. So I picked a rather new adapter kit, which was supposed to deliver 500 megabits over a 100 Mbit connection, which sounded kind of interesting. Namely this one: TP-Link TL-PA4010KIT (AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit). It is advertised as “high-speed data transfer rates of up to 500Mbps”, so let’s see what the real figures would be.Victor Zakharovhardware/posts/2013-08-28-nikon-coolpix-9400-feedback/Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2013-08-28-nikon-coolpix-9400-feedback/I decided to drop some good words about this camera after my last (positive) experience with it. This will be an article from an average home user with a slight hardware/software background. I will provide my personal experience and opinion regarding use of this camera. Expect all statements to be supported by facts, but do not expect lots of research effort being put around each. Okay, a little bit of history of my purchases.Victor Zakharovhardware/posts/2012-09-24-dl380-g7-performance-xeon-e5649/Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:47:11 -0400/posts/2012-09-24-dl380-g7-performance-xeon-e5649/First benchmarked using latest Passmark: Then did some tests with latest Aida64: Memory Read: 2884 MHz - Triple DDR3-1311 - 9-9-9-24 CR1 - 11394 MB/s Memory Write: 2500 MHz - Triple DDR3-1314 - 9-9-9-24 CR1 - 7739 MB/s Memory Copy: 2500 MHz - Triple DDR3-1314 - 9-9-9-24 CR1 - 8489 MB/s Memory Latency: 2900 MHz - Triple DDR3-1312 - 9-9-9-24 CR1 - 77.6 ns CPU Queen: 2500 MHz - Triple DDR3-1314 - 9-9-9-24 CR1 - 64097Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmark/posts/2012-09-18-mushkin-ssd-hp-dl380-g7/Tue, 18 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2012-09-18-mushkin-ssd-hp-dl380-g7/Hardware: HP ProLiant DL380 G7 Mushkin Enhanced Chronos SSD - 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC (MKNSSDCR240GB) (RAID1) 2 x Seagate Savvio 10K.5 hard drive - 300 GB 2.5" 6Gb/s SAS 10000 rpm 64 MB Buffer (ST9300605SS) Benchmarked with CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 on Windows 2008 R2 Std + SP1.Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmarkssd/posts/2012-09-11-corsair-rma-experience-canada/Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 05 Jun 2021 11:36:56 -0400/posts/2012-09-11-corsair-rma-experience-canada/Here is what I got: Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB 4X4GB DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit After installing it, I noticed weird blue screens and sudden application crashes on a fairly new workstation. They did not happen very often, maybe 1-2 times a day, so not devastating, but quite annoying. Tried many things to remedy, but then decided to check memory with Memtest. During the first 15% of it I got over 100K errors in one specific region of the 16GB range, so I estimated 1 stick is faulty.Victor Zakharovcorsairrmahardware/posts/2012-05-17-32gb-adata-s102-pro-usb3-perf/Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:47:11 -0400/posts/2012-05-17-32gb-adata-s102-pro-usb3-perf/Here are the results from CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 (x64), connected over USB2.0 and USB3.0 respectively: Very diligent with specs, and actually performing better at USB2 than advertised by ADATA. Looks like a good deal for 30$. Some personal concerns: Neck strap is not included, so might need to buy your own off eBay or similar. Got 5 for 1$, shipping included. Aluminum casing is nice, but the plastic cap does not seem to hold firmly.Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmark/posts/2012-04-09-connect-router-in-repeater-ddwrt/Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 29 Feb 2020 15:27:01 -0500/posts/2012-04-09-connect-router-in-repeater-ddwrt/Asus RT-N12, DD-WRT v24-sp2 build 14896 (08/07/10), mini image (4MB firmware size), connected to the internet, later being referred to as Router 1. TP-Link TL-WR1043ND, same version, regular firwmare (8MB), later Router 2. Despite routers run on Broadcom and Atheros chips, it was possible to configure them to cooperate. Both internet and local network are now working. Setup - Router 1 WAN Connection Type = Automatic configuration - DHCP. Local IP Address = 192.Victor Zakharovhardwaresoftware/posts/2012-04-01-enable-standby-usb-asus-p8z68-v-pro-gen3/Sun, 01 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 29 Feb 2020 15:31:14 -0500/posts/2012-04-01-enable-standby-usb-asus-p8z68-v-pro-gen3/One of the use cases - you might need it to charge your cell phone over USB, while PC is off. By default, this option is disabled on this motherboard - using latest BIOS (v3202). To enable, look under Advanced / Onboard Devices Configuration / Asmedia USB 3.0 Battery Charging Support (see picture to the left - clickable). If you are wondering, why I took a photo rather than a screenshot - F12 did not work (tried two different flash drives in both rear and front ports).Victor Zakharovhardwaresoftware/posts/2012-02-16-memory-upgrade-aod257-4gb/Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 29 Feb 2020 15:42:57 -0500/posts/2012-02-16-memory-upgrade-aod257-4gb/I recently bought one of those 10-inch AOD257 series laptop for my father. Two issues with it: Windows 7 Starter and just 1GB of memory. First, upgraded to Win7 Enterprise. After that been thinking to upgrade memory for a while, and decided to try fitting a 4GB stick. Acer suggested it not being possible on their website, but there were some guys on Youtube who did not agree, so I decided to give it a try.Victor Zakharovhardware/posts/2011-11-09-acer-desktop-memory-perf/Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:47:11 -0400/posts/2011-11-09-acer-desktop-memory-perf/Did not have a chance to do a full performance test on this machine (VX4618G-Ei7260W). Memory, however, works quite well for a $700 PC, benchmarked with Aida64: Read: 16.4 GB/s Write: 18.6 GB/s Copy: 18.3 GB/s Latency: 53.1ns CPU Queen: 43.7K (okay, I was just curious). Upgrading stock memory to Kingston Hyper-X 1600MHz CL9 did not improve speeds. It appears the motherboard does not support XMP and continues to run in casual mode.Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmark/posts/2011-04-02-teksavvy-extreme-cable-experience/Sat, 02 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sun, 29 Mar 2020 19:47:31 -0400/posts/2011-04-02-teksavvy-extreme-cable-experience/This is what I was able to dig up from my emails and memory. Something might be missing from the chain, but overall should be enough to connect the dots. Activation I completed the sign-up to Teksavvy Cable Extreme on 19-02-2011, using their modem SB6120. Receipt email came on 21-02-2011 for 199.90 CAD (cost of modem - discount for buying modem from them + shipping + activation fee + 1 month of the service + taxes).Victor Zakharovteksavvyinternethardware/posts/2010-12-16-intel-x25-80gb-usage-report/Thu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:47:11 -0400/posts/2010-12-16-intel-x25-80gb-usage-report/I ordered mine on 12-Apr-2010, and it’s December now, so it’s ~6 months of light use, 135 days = 4.5 months of uptime and an average 6GB of writes per actual day, which translates in just a bit over 1TB of writes. The drive already has 1 bad sector, which was remapped about a month ago. Decided to test performance with AS SSD Benchmark, and here’s the screenshot with results:Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmark/posts/2010-07-04-intel-x25-in-hp-proliant-dl380-g5/Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:47:11 -0400/posts/2010-07-04-intel-x25-in-hp-proliant-dl380-g5/Setup Hardware: HP Proliant DL380 G5, two disks, one is Intel SSD and another one is HP SCSI 15K drive, each running as RAID0. Software: IOMeter, latest version. File system: default NTFS partitions were setup, with Intel being a system drive. It might sound like a bit of overhead (bringing incorrect measurements), but honestly, I don’t think it would really matter on such speeds and IOps. Controller caching: 25% read/75% write.Victor Zakharovdevopshardwarebenchmark/posts/2009-11-15-phenom-x4-9500-vs-phenom-ii-x4-955/Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 16:47:55 -0400/posts/2009-11-15-phenom-x4-9500-vs-phenom-ii-x4-955/Introduction My primary concern to upgrade was photo editing. I have a Canon Rebel XSI (450D), which takes 12MP photos. Unfortunately, I’m not yet a very good photographer, probably just need more practice. Anyway, editing photos became a frequent task. For some reason Phenom 9500 is pretty slow on those large ones. And it used to take me around 2-3 seconds to perform simple transformations. Having heard enough about the benefits of Phenom II, I decided to push forward and buy Phenom 955.Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmark/posts/2009-10-25-dl380-g6-unexpected-reboot/Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Mon, 12 Oct 2020 16:47:55 -0400/posts/2009-10-25-dl380-g6-unexpected-reboot/I noticed many people on the net are looking for this review, or at least for anything that could prove they are not alone. Well, guys, here’s what you wanted to hear: yes, our 9 x G6 DL380 servers kept rebooting unexpectedly for quite a while. Not all at once, but still annoying. It all happened at random until we contacted HP and their tech told us to update firmware.Victor Zakharovdevopshardware/posts/2009-10-14-win7-on-vintage-pc/Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:47:11 -0400/posts/2009-10-14-win7-on-vintage-pc/Introduction I recently had a chance to try Windows 7 Enterprise x86 on an old PC. Overall, quite impressed with performance. Tech Specs 1 Pentium 4, 1.6 GHz + 512 MB of RAM on AOpen mobo (dated 2001). Some Benchmarks At startup only 300MB out of total 512 are occupied. The system is clean, no antivirus or anything like that. But running smooth, so it’s still pretty good for 7, compared to its predecessor, Vista.Victor Zakharovdevopshardwarebenchmark/posts/2009-07-15-overclock-phenom-9500-part2-recovery/Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Tue, 13 Oct 2020 15:29:37 -0400/posts/2009-07-15-overclock-phenom-9500-part2-recovery/Introduction That day I spent the whole evening testing mild overclock of HT ref clock by 10%. Nothing strange happened at that time, so I assumed everything was stable and so I was going to leave OC settings at this level. Anyway, it’s nice to have it a little bit faster than it was planned by manufacturer, right? The next day I went to ACDSee to browse previously taken photos. Nothing special here, but strangely enough, Windows 7 went to BSOD while creating thumbnails.Victor Zakharovhardware/posts/2009-07-07-overclock-phenom-9500-part1-vs-i7/Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:47:11 -0400/posts/2009-07-07-overclock-phenom-9500-part1-vs-i7/Introduction First, I’m not a big overclocker. Second, I’m not going to use any TEC coolers for ultra fast performance. Third, I don’t have a canister of liquid nitrogen. So, nothing fancy, just air, common non-black processor and a little customized case are going to be involved. If you think it’s pathetic, just don’t read lines below. But if you value your money and want something for cheap, keep going. Still reading?Victor Zakharovhardwarebenchmark/posts/2009-07-02-hp-dl380-g6-benchmarked/Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000neolisk@gmail.com (Victor Zakharov)Sat, 24 Oct 2020 12:47:11 -0400/posts/2009-07-02-hp-dl380-g6-benchmarked/Introduction Our company finally bought a powerful HP DL380 G6 server with 2 x Xeon 5540 (8 cores total). Prior to production, we put 2 x 4 gig memory sticks (8 GB of memory) and 3 SCSI hard drives to make RAID5. As you can imagine, initial testing of this box was up to me. Special attention in this article is given to virtualization performance. For us it was primary reason for buying such a powerful box.Victor Zakharovdevopshardwarebenchmark