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Review: ‘Update: January 31st’ Lamptron -FC3- Limited Edition 2 Comments By The Duke on January 31, 2010 Over the weekend we had Lamptron deliver their Limited Edition FC3 fan controller to us. The limited edition FC-3 designed by Ian Helmar, otherwise known as “SNiiPE_DoGG”, comes in two different versions. There is a Model A and a Model B, each with some distinct aesthetic differences. Today we are going to be reviewing the model A. Below are some shots of the two versions that we found on Lamptron’s website that should help illustrate the differences: *These are not to be mist...
Review: Lamptron FC5 Fan Controller 2 Comments By The Duke on January 12, 2010 Today we will be taking a look at the new Lamptron [FC5] Fan Controller. Specifications: Dimension: 148.5mm * 42.5mm * 77mm (5 1/4 Bay) Power Output: Up to 30W per channel DC Input: + 12V (standard 4 – Pin Connector) DC Output: 0V – 12VDC Control Channels: 4 pcs Changeable Display Colors: Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Purple, White Temperature Sensors x4 Fan Connectors: 4 (3 pin) connections Manual x1 Power Connectiong (4pin) x1 Colors Available: Black Anodized / Silver (must ...
Apevia X-Qpack & Gigabyte P55M-UD4 uATX build 0 Comments By Buckeye on December 26, 2009 Allways in the upgrade cycle it seems. A popular case that my friends like to use is the Apevia X-QPack uATX line and we have built many of these. So I will be working with this case and upgrading a prebuilt system that was completed months ago. Apevia makes three lines of the uATX series, the X-Qpack, X-Qpack2 and X-Qboii which is a uATX tower. You can see that they come in a wide range of colors too pick from. www.apevia.com/Products_Level3.asp?CID=1&CID2=2&CID3=0 www.apevia.com/Produc...
ZombieTek – LCD Display 3 Comments By Buckeye on December 26, 2009 Last year I began working on a project with a couple of friends that was based on a 4” LCD Display powered by a SLCD6 controller. After seeing these units at Reachtech.com who manufactures these units in all different sizes and specifications I thought to myself that one of these units would be a great MOD to show computer data on the front of my TJ07 that I had just built. With the help from my friend Jeff I managed to get a unit from Steve over at Reachtech, both of whom are great guys and f...
Resurrecting the Champ : The Long Lost Case 0 Comments By The Duke on December 24, 2009 With the holiday season now in full stride and family nagging at each other. Family members telling the same stories you hear every holiday pretty much word for word. With little kids crying, grandpas yelling, mom and dad trying to put out the fire on the stove. So I wondered aimlessly around just going through the motions when I started to look at my computer desk and wonder what I could tinker with to pass some time. I looked in my ‘go to’ box of goodies, there was nothing that gra...
Piecemeal Upgrades Pt 4 Data Protection 0 Comments By Neuromancer on December 21, 2009 The Piecemeal Upgrade pt4 Data Protection: Redundancy, backups, offline and online storage. With limited funds in a single PC household it is important to have a PC that is never down for too long. One of the key problems associated with piecemeal upgrades however is the need to occasionally reinstall the operating system. This can be a nightmare trying to back up documents, photos, settings, applications as well as operating system tweaks one may prefer. Learning how to properly maintain y...
Cooler Master Storm Sniper – A few mods and some cable management. 0 Comments By mav2000 on October 13, 2009 Just got a new case this weekend and worked on it. SO first off removed the HDD bays, as I only use 1 HDD as of now, and dont really need it. Secondly a nice coat of black paint for the interiors. And then finally the cooling, with a couple of add on fans. And yes the new CPU cooler is on the way. Painting and removal of HDD bays completed: And finally the finished product….just one mistake, and thats the bottom fan drawing air out instead of in…am too pooped to fix it now so will ...
Piece Meal Upgrades pt 3 0 Comments By Neuromancer on October 4, 2009 Piece Meal Upgrades pt 3 As already discussed, a piece meal upgrade is performed when a jump to an entirely new platform is not financially possible. A ground up all new part design is best and will give the best price performance ratio if properly setup. For those that cannot afford a complete rebuild though, designing a system with affordable parts that also support upgrading over an extended period of time is the only option. While more money will be spent over the life of the upgrade, re...
Piecemeal Upgrades Pt 2.2 – Components 0 Comments By Neuromancer on September 21, 2009 Components The longevity of your computer components varies wildly, with the most expensive pieces often being a top performer for the shortest period of time. In order from longest lasting to shortest Hard Disk Drive/ Optical Disk Drive, Power Supply Unit, Video card, Memory, Motherboard, CPU. This breakdown is purely subjective, and while easily could instigate discussion on what pieces do have the longest longevity citing specific models of components, for brevity’s sake we will continu...
Piecemeal upgrades pt2.1 – Peripherals 0 Comments By Neuromancer on September 21, 2009 The Peripherals Monitors, come in 2 distinct flavors, CRT (not manufactured anymore) and LCD. The difference between CRT and LCD is dramatic, with vivid colors and crisp geometries on LCD, higher resolution and better contrast on CRT. LCD’s can be upgraded very cheaply now, CRT has no upgrade path, it is only mentioned if the upgrade inventory currently has a high resolution or widescreen CRT monitor, it may be reused rather effectively until the size and power requirements effect the end ...
Piecemeal upgrades pt2 0 Comments By Neuromancer on September 21, 2009 Identifying your needs, wants and haves. The first step of upgrading a PC is identifying the specific functions that a PC is going to need to handle at the final build. This may change depending on your build upgrade timeline, as newer architecture is being released, and unanticipated price drops occur. Spending a few minutes a day reading about upcoming hardware releases helps to predict price drops on components as well as identifying features that you may want to add. OEM PCs make their...
Piecemeal upgrades pt1 2 Comments By Neuromancer on September 19, 2009 The Piecemeal Upgrade part 1 One cannot help be impressed with the gaming power of a new socket AM3 system from AMD, or the sheer computational power of an Intel i7 and even i5 system. Comparing them to an OEM system build from just a couple of years ago can be embarrassing. Running software designed today, may not even be possible on an older system, and if it does run, could experience all sorts of performance problems: Stuttering video on HD playback, freezing, crashing or overheating o...

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