09 January 2014
Melty 2
I decided toward the end of December that I'll keep my fix and not get the 7770 since the 6770 does just fine, but I'll be changing out the blue LEDs for red ones, as Melty has a red front fan and a Zalman 9900 Max that lights up red, needless to say, better to stick with the theme than to have an unusual blue glow for the bottom half of the inside of the case. I haven't looked at the LEDs on the PCI fan card properly, but I'm hoping it's not horribly hard to swap the LEDs.
Ziggy 2
So I pulled Ziggy out to test Parted Magic and Gparted Live, and I decide to open Ziggy up to see exactly what he had in him.
[Sharp sigh]
The CPU cooler mounting bracket broke in 1 of 4 of the spots; the pressure from the Zalman CNPS9500 mounting kit (probably coupled with the natural heat/cool cycle, and maybe some jostling from moving Ziggy before today) must have been too much, and so the plastic gave in.
At first, I was thinking of taking the VAIO's bracket, and then using the Thermaltake cooler I was using before the 9500, but it seemed like too much work I didn't really want to do (Not to mention, I hadn't a clue where I put the screws to mount the fan to the heat-sink, and the fact that it'd leave me with one operable computer instead of two.).
Luckily I found a metal replacement bracket online, so I'm expecting good things from it once I get it and install it.
I removed and cleaned the 9500 and the processor, then, against better judgement, I decided to remove the bracket and rear mounting plate without removing the motherboard; I'm sure it'll be fine, but I didn't really feel like leaving the broken bracket in there for whatever reason.
Obviously, I'll actually take the motherboard out when installing the new bracket and reinstalling the 9500 (the socket 478 kit makes installation annoying unless it's outside the case).
[Sharp sigh]
The CPU cooler mounting bracket broke in 1 of 4 of the spots; the pressure from the Zalman CNPS9500 mounting kit (probably coupled with the natural heat/cool cycle, and maybe some jostling from moving Ziggy before today) must have been too much, and so the plastic gave in.
At first, I was thinking of taking the VAIO's bracket, and then using the Thermaltake cooler I was using before the 9500, but it seemed like too much work I didn't really want to do (Not to mention, I hadn't a clue where I put the screws to mount the fan to the heat-sink, and the fact that it'd leave me with one operable computer instead of two.).
Luckily I found a metal replacement bracket online, so I'm expecting good things from it once I get it and install it.
I removed and cleaned the 9500 and the processor, then, against better judgement, I decided to remove the bracket and rear mounting plate without removing the motherboard; I'm sure it'll be fine, but I didn't really feel like leaving the broken bracket in there for whatever reason.
Obviously, I'll actually take the motherboard out when installing the new bracket and reinstalling the 9500 (the socket 478 kit makes installation annoying unless it's outside the case).
Parted Magic 2 / Gparted Live
Yesterday, I thought of getting the newest version of Parted Magic since the version of GParted in the version of Parted Magic that I have is 0.8.x, and the version in openSUSE 13.1 is 0.16.x.
To my frustration, Parted Magic is no longer free, as you have to pay $5 (USD) for it. Luckily, you're able to download it 9 times (equating to about 56 cents per download) before you have to pay again (there's also other price points that includes more downloads).
Luckily, I found a slightly older version being hosted somewhere on the net, and downloaded it this morning. I then burned it to a disk and first tested it out with the VAIO (would have been Ziggy, but you can read that other entry about him).
When it started up, I was greeted with a GRUB-like menu (GRUB1 not 2) that displayed a few options: the first two being the default 32 or 64 bit versions for computers with over 1GB of RAM (copies the entire live session to the RAM), the second two being the default 32 or 64 bit versions for computers with under 1GB of RAM (runs off of the disk), and then some other options I don't recall (there were language options after the first and second set of options, but I didn't think it was worth properly listing them).
I chose the first default 32-bit option and once it was doing copying to the RAM, it spat the disk out, which was a bit strange to me at first, but made sense. I tried opening up GParted, but it was taking far too long, as it might have been trying to scan the card reader (I'm not entirely sure, but I was too disheartened from Ziggy to do a proper testing).
I then tested in the Dell (64-bit this time) and everything worked just fine. It was nice to see it be quite snappy since there's no real lag reading from the RAM.
With this, it'll probably be the last update of Parted Magic I use. I'm not exactly sure why they decided to make the move to have users pay, but it certainly isn't something I'm happy with.
Also, I tried using MuliSystem Live (version r6) to put it on my Linux USB drive, but it gave me the same "This ISO is not supported at this time" message as I got with openSUSE 12.x and 13.1 ISOs. I'm going to download the latest version (Though I think another one comes out on the 14th? Could have also been something else I looked at.) tomorrow and see if that changes anything. If not, then at least I have the latest version.
I also decided to update Gparted Live at that same time as well. Nonetheless, there's really not much to say about the new version, since not a whole lot has changed... All the text-based setup (keyboard/language/video) is still there when booting into Gparted Live, and the desktop is still pretty basic, but they do their best to make it look decent. I tested on the VAIO (again, would have been Ziggy) before testing Parted Magic, since I downloaded the i686 version after researching that I wouldn't need the i486 version. There was also a 64-bit version, but I didn't bother with it, since I wanted to test out Parted Magic first to see if my hypothesis about it being a "hybrid disk" was correct (and it was).
I may have to go with Gparted Live if I want an updated version of GParted, but I might also just buy Parted Magic (and save the other 8 downloads for future releases?) since it's cheap enough. We'll see what happens.
To my frustration, Parted Magic is no longer free, as you have to pay $5 (USD) for it. Luckily, you're able to download it 9 times (equating to about 56 cents per download) before you have to pay again (there's also other price points that includes more downloads).
Luckily, I found a slightly older version being hosted somewhere on the net, and downloaded it this morning. I then burned it to a disk and first tested it out with the VAIO (would have been Ziggy, but you can read that other entry about him).
When it started up, I was greeted with a GRUB-like menu (GRUB1 not 2) that displayed a few options: the first two being the default 32 or 64 bit versions for computers with over 1GB of RAM (copies the entire live session to the RAM), the second two being the default 32 or 64 bit versions for computers with under 1GB of RAM (runs off of the disk), and then some other options I don't recall (there were language options after the first and second set of options, but I didn't think it was worth properly listing them).
I chose the first default 32-bit option and once it was doing copying to the RAM, it spat the disk out, which was a bit strange to me at first, but made sense. I tried opening up GParted, but it was taking far too long, as it might have been trying to scan the card reader (I'm not entirely sure, but I was too disheartened from Ziggy to do a proper testing).
I then tested in the Dell (64-bit this time) and everything worked just fine. It was nice to see it be quite snappy since there's no real lag reading from the RAM.
With this, it'll probably be the last update of Parted Magic I use. I'm not exactly sure why they decided to make the move to have users pay, but it certainly isn't something I'm happy with.
Also, I tried using MuliSystem Live (version r6) to put it on my Linux USB drive, but it gave me the same "This ISO is not supported at this time" message as I got with openSUSE 12.x and 13.1 ISOs. I'm going to download the latest version (Though I think another one comes out on the 14th? Could have also been something else I looked at.) tomorrow and see if that changes anything. If not, then at least I have the latest version.
I also decided to update Gparted Live at that same time as well. Nonetheless, there's really not much to say about the new version, since not a whole lot has changed... All the text-based setup (keyboard/language/video) is still there when booting into Gparted Live, and the desktop is still pretty basic, but they do their best to make it look decent. I tested on the VAIO (again, would have been Ziggy) before testing Parted Magic, since I downloaded the i686 version after researching that I wouldn't need the i486 version. There was also a 64-bit version, but I didn't bother with it, since I wanted to test out Parted Magic first to see if my hypothesis about it being a "hybrid disk" was correct (and it was).
I may have to go with Gparted Live if I want an updated version of GParted, but I might also just buy Parted Magic (and save the other 8 downloads for future releases?) since it's cheap enough. We'll see what happens.
Mei-chan 3
I realize after going back to read a couple of the posts that I never said anything about Mei-chan's case upgrade/swap (happened before I put the Zalman 9900 Max in.
The case I got was the Cooler Master Elite 335U which is a mid-tower, bottom-mounted-PSU (in either fan-up or fan-down configurations) case (and comes with a rear 120mm fan).
I bought a couple NZXT 140mm fans (one for the front and one for the lower side) and they work too well, to where they create positive pressure in the case (air escapes from wherever it can find), the good thing about that is that I won't have to worry about the USB ports or the card reader getting dirty (XD). After I upgraded to the Zalman CNPS9900 Max, the two fans are the loudest now, but it's not as bad as the Zalman CNPS9700 on full speed.
The front-panel USB isn't fixed into the case, and it's defaulted to the bottom 3.5" external slot, but due to the length of the PCIe power cord and the slight lack of space, I moved it to the top 3.5" external slot. The front panel has a "punch-out" outline for a Firewire port, but I covered it with the Phenom sticker (XP).
Behind the mesh grille front is some foam, which is restrictive enough to trap dust, but not enough to keep air from flowing (finer dust can still get in however).
The real reason for me talking about Mei-chan is that the fan for the Sapphire Radeon HD 6770 sounds like it's kinda doing the same thing as the HIS Radeon HD 6770, but only really does it when I boot her up, as it goes away after having her on for a bit. I will eventually do the same thing I did with Melty just to be safe and have cooler temps (though there isn't really any way for me to see the temps).
The case I got was the Cooler Master Elite 335U which is a mid-tower, bottom-mounted-PSU (in either fan-up or fan-down configurations) case (and comes with a rear 120mm fan).
I bought a couple NZXT 140mm fans (one for the front and one for the lower side) and they work too well, to where they create positive pressure in the case (air escapes from wherever it can find), the good thing about that is that I won't have to worry about the USB ports or the card reader getting dirty (XD). After I upgraded to the Zalman CNPS9900 Max, the two fans are the loudest now, but it's not as bad as the Zalman CNPS9700 on full speed.
The front-panel USB isn't fixed into the case, and it's defaulted to the bottom 3.5" external slot, but due to the length of the PCIe power cord and the slight lack of space, I moved it to the top 3.5" external slot. The front panel has a "punch-out" outline for a Firewire port, but I covered it with the Phenom sticker (XP).
Behind the mesh grille front is some foam, which is restrictive enough to trap dust, but not enough to keep air from flowing (finer dust can still get in however).
The real reason for me talking about Mei-chan is that the fan for the Sapphire Radeon HD 6770 sounds like it's kinda doing the same thing as the HIS Radeon HD 6770, but only really does it when I boot her up, as it goes away after having her on for a bit. I will eventually do the same thing I did with Melty just to be safe and have cooler temps (though there isn't really any way for me to see the temps).
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