ネズチョ / 汉杰

Got my GeForce 8600GT today. The 3D tests are actually quite pretty to look at~ The last video card I bought was a Nvidia Riva TNT2 circa 2001-02, so I'd be amazed by just about anything from a new card.

( 3DMark06 Results - Stock Configuration )

After doing some tweaking and stability testing, I settled on 640mhz core clock and 1520mhz memory clock, which is a little lower than the highest speed I achieved without artifacting, just to give myself a little buffer. Running 3DMark06 again, I was able to get some decent performance gains across the board.

( 3DMark06 Results - Overclocked (1st attempt) )

I know I said I wouldn't, but if I invest in a cooler, maybe I could get it a little bit higher. For the record, these are the results at the highest stable overclock, but I won't use these settings until I get some better cooling.

( 3DMark06 Results - Overclocked (2nd attempt) )

( 3DMark06 Results - Overclocked (3rd attempt) )

cpu overclocking topped out at 2.4ghz. i can't go any faster without increasing the core voltage, which can't do without bsel modding because the bios doesn't have manual voltage control (cheapass mobo). i'm not adventurous enough to mess with the physical cpu, but i've gotten a pretty decent performance gain already. it's averaging 9.5 fps while encoding (legendz), whereas my laptop only got about 5. i ordered an nvidia 8600gt from newegg, which brings my total investment to $241 AR. not bad considering there are video card out there that cost more than that. can't wait to try overclocking the video card +_+ hm...i should also get a can of spray paint and paint the bezel of the dvd burner because it's beige, and the rest of the pc is black.

in school news, i got rejected from princeton, which didn't come as a big surprise because
1. it's freaking princeton
2. i'm from jersey
3. princeton is racist against jersey residents
4. i applied to the chemical engineering program wanting to do biomedical research, which only like 2 professors there actually do (princeton doesn't have a bioeng program)

oh, does anyone reading this know how to make flash animations or another kind of animation?

1.8 -> 2.0 GHz
( CPU-Z @ 2.0 GHz )
( Stress test results @ 2.0 GHz )

i figured i'd try pushing the envelope a little, so exia's now running at 2ghz instead of the rated 1.8. the cpu temp seems to be stable at 30C when idling. i haven't tried anything to put a substantial load on the cpu at this speed. if it's stable at 2, i may try 2.2 but not beyond that, and i don't want to have to buy additional cooling hardware.

the core temperature didn't exceed 54C during the stress test, so things are looking good so far in terms of both temperature and stability.

2.0 -> 2.2 GHz
( CPU-Z @ 2.2 GHz )
( Stress Test Results @ 2.2GHz )

Again, no stability issues, but the peak temperature did rise to 55C, while the idle temperature is about 32C now. These are still within the safe range, so I might try increasing it incrementally again.

2.2 -> 2.4 GHz
( CPU-Z @ 2.4 GHz )
( Stress Test Results @ 2.4 GHz )

rest of the pc parts arrived today. after several hours of work (and putting off hw ^^;;) exia aka ryro|shiron is operational again, along with some upgrades ^_^


Click for a bigger image.

not exactly a quad-core monster, but i can at least do things at a tolerable speed.
i plan to eventually ditch the intel gma for a discrete graphics card so i can actually play games, but that'll a couple of months down the line, since it would only be a distraction now.

i got an acceptance letter from pitt!!! it's not my top choice, but at least i have somewhere to go \o/

desktop is dead. i think it's the video card.
laptop is working except for video outputs. sending it out for repair once the ups box gets here.

so, i will have no computer for 10 days or so. i can still do work from computer clusters. in case i can't get the desktop back up, i'm thinking of putting a computer together really quick (and cheap) so i can at least get back to work. this is what i came up with after looking around on newegg for a bit:

-ASUS V2-M2V890 AMD Socket AM2 AMD Athlon X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 VIA K8M890 Barebone - Retail (mobo+case, has integrated graphics)
-SUPER TALENT 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model T6UB1GC5 - Retail
-AMD Sempron LE-1150 Sparta 2.0GHz Socket AM2 45W Single-Core Processor Model SDH1150DEBOX - Retail
COST: $130 (incl. shipping, AR)
after looking at people's suggestions and more shopping around, i ended up getting corsair 2gb memory and C2D E2160 (1.8ghz), which comes out to ~$175.

everything else would be taken from the old computer. i'm trying to keep costs to a minimum. what do you guys think?

to add to my frustrations, today, i received the lcd that i sent out for repair over break. NOW IT DOESN'T WORK AT ALL. i called up the company and they said they'd cover the shipping this time. i'm supposed to receive a shipping label by e-mail. how does that work!?

a game they were playing in the ryro channel gave me an idea. once a month (or whenever i feel like it), i'll post a fragment of a picture. you can then comment and guess what whole picture it corresponds to. at the end of the month, i'll add the whole picture and the answer. or if someone guesses correctly, i may announce it at my discretion. most of them will somehow be tied to anime. this month's picture is:



good luck! (not that there's a prize or anything ^^;)
UPDATE: maradori had the closest answer. it's the strike gundam from gundam seed, particularly the version featured in gundam evolve 8, which is based on PG strike gundam. i'll put up another picture soon ^^

and i signed up for a deviantart account

this is what happens when you spend most of your time chatting with cs/engineering folks :P

( irc craziness )

( google desktop is so useful <3 )

in other news, i rocked the lab presentation today. granted, they only fielded one question to me, but i'm surprised those industry panelists didn't tear me apart.

almost done! *back to studying*

Friends don't let friends be Chemical Engineers.

That is all.

so this is the about the grossest thing in our lab. this isn't a bio lab, it's SPARTAAA it's a chemE lab dammit! XD;

( WARNING: BIZARRE IMAGE )

i don't even know why it's there. the fluid that was preserving it seems to have evaporated, and it's currently in the process of rotting. how lovely.