Computer Cooling

Recently I built a computer solely for storing my masses of media on to playback through my PS3. It was scavenged from bits and kind of did the job, except it was far too hot... like surface of the sun hot! 70degC at times!



As you can see from the photo it's rather cramped, and has really bad airflow.

So I invested in a Antec 900 case as it has room for all 9 of the hard drives with 3 x 120mm fans blowing directly over them.





Before I shoved it all in... and after:



The advantage with this design is the PSU is mounted on the bottom so doesn't get heated by all the processor etc, the cages for the hard drives have 120mm fans that blow directly over them and then get sucked out the top and rear fans. It's so cool I don't even need a CPU Fan now :-) And it runs at a nice 35degC. What a change a decent case makes :-)

Upgrading a PS3s Hard Drive...

... Is not as easy as it seems!

All was going well... I backed u[ the HDD on a new portable drive I purchased just for the job. Then come the trauma of fiddling with such an expensive piece of equipment. I fiddle about with computers all the time, but this is different, If I break something I can't just go down Maplins and get a replacement part!

I was warned that the screws that hold the drive in place were "soft and over torqued" little did I know that it must've been done with an air spanner! Crikey... I stripped the head off of three of them trying to get them undone.

Try as I might I couldn't get them off. So I decided to use a Dremel with a cutting disc to slit a groove into each screw and undo them with a large flat blade screwdriver. Thankfully this worked brilliantly :) tho taking a cutting disc so close to a hard drive made me very nervous!

I've now replaced the screws with propper computer case screws that are a lot tougher... Not that I'll be trying this again anytime soon!

Restoring the backup was a piece of cake, and now I'm sporting plenty of HDD space :-)

For those of you that are brave enough to copy me you can find a useful how to here and another here. If you need to back up loads of data, you'll need a USB HDD, but it's not as easy as just plug it in and go... fol ow the guide here to see what you need to do, an essential piece of software you'll need is a FAT 32 Formatter for large HDDs. And a dremel if those screws were made from blue tac like mine :-)

That's Not a Heatsink... Now That's a Heatsink

On the right is a factory standard Socket 478 Heatsink... On the left is my new Heatsink :) as tall as my PC case is wide... And 150mm square this is one hell of a Heatsink. It's the second I've installed. Naomi wanted her PC to be quiet so installed one of these (without its fan), and removed all the case fans, leaving only the integral temp controlled PSU fan. Boy does it run quiet. It's difficult to tell it's on if the monitor is off! So when it came to me building what is essentially a NAS with bittorrent and media server capabilities, I knew it'd get very hot and a standard heat sink just wouldn't cut it. I tried it out with the standard heatsink... And it wouldn't even last 10 mins at full load before the thermal cutout kicked in. With the new heatsink however it's been running for several days now, and although hot it's way below the thermal cutout temp. So I'm happy. Next I'm going to install a blower into the expansion slots to improve airflow... Hopefully that'll bring the overall temp down a bit. Annoying thing is the case has no mounts for front fans... So I may have to make some if the HDD's still remain hot.

To open or not to open, that is the question.

Nomi bought me these a while ago, one for our 6 month anniversary and the other for Christmas. I've sadly not had the room to really put them on display (as my room was cluttered with other peoples stuff) now I've managed to get a bit of normality back there's still no room to put them up boxed... But there is unboxed... Oh dilemma :-(

Mums never really think their sons grow up

No matter how old you are mums always view their children as children. My mum will still be wiping my face with a tissue (why do all mums have one up their sleeves?) When I'm 40.

I found this in my lunch today... I'm still a big kid at heart so it's now sitting on my desk :-)

You're never too old for kinder eggs :-)

iPhony

Saw the iPhone for the first time today... now I'm a total gadget geek... I have a PDA, Satnav, DS, PSP, PS3, Wii and a whole host of other stuff. So this is gonna sound weird. i think the iPhone is rubbish.

Now it's not without its merits... its stylish, has a superb capacity for MP3s and does everything else you could want out of a phone... but at that price (When most handsets are now free on contract) I think it's a total rip off. If you can't find a phone with the same MP3 capacity, but a real iPOD at a fraction of the cost... that being said you can... only simple fact is it does everything the iPOD does but it's 3G to boot and that's the Sony Ericsson W960. I am slightly biased, as I've always had SE phones... but it does everything and more... plus it's free. So why buy a iPhone... tell me that? And if you dont like SE phones... what about the LG Prada just as nice... with even more style.

Lego Cars (I'm just a big kid really)

With all this spare time I've got at the moment I've been sorting through the crodge I've accumulated over the years. Every birthday and Christmas I get at least one bit of Lego from my dad to highlight I'm still his little boy (I think it's because he wants to play with it himself).

Amongst some stuff I hadn't looked at for years I found a assembled Lego Racer Kit



This is it before



And after assembly... took me 14 mins, I must be getting slow in my old age.

Lego Star Wars

Whoever came up with the idea of Lego Star Wars is a genius... The game itself is incredibly easy, but it's not tiresome... It's soo much fun. Especially when played in co-op mode :-)I guess it's easy because it's aimed at the younger market (Not big kids like me). But after a night on the beer there's nothing better :-) as you can see from the photo i've fallen for the merchandising trap too... Need to buy an x-wing now :-)

The White Van Man (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde )

It seems like far too often I'm moving my stuff around lately, I've hired a van 3 times in the last year to move. Ho hum, that's life I suppose.

The people that drive vans all the time have probably gotten used to it, but to me every time I drive a van it's like I've suddenly become some huge behemoth of the road, dwarfing normal road users. I now understand the white van man, high up in his cab surrounded by a massive sheet of glass looking down upon the ant like road users in their cars, people move out the way, not thru courtesy (Which is rare amongst road users) , but thru fear of being crushed by a white van... made all the more dangerous by the simple words "Hire Van"... highlighting it's not just a white van with a man on an ego trip... it's a man on an ego trip with a new toy :-)

It's funny it's like the van has a mind of it's own, and on motorways it must insist on bearing down on some Nissan Micra doing 60 in the middle lane like some cheetah chasing its prey, until eventually they realise they're being a twat sitting in the middle lane of an empty motorway, highlighted all the more by headlights shining right thru their car from a van mere inches away.

Not like I drive like this... no... that's my alter ego the white van man, I'm just a puppet until I get my car back... like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde :-)

Monster Tent

When paul said he had a tent big enough for all me up if wasn't kidding. It's a kick ass tent with 3 bedrooms and what i suppose you could call a lounge :-) once it's up it's the mutts... But my god it took all 4 of us 3 hours to put up!

Happy Birthday to Me

Well today is my birthday, and I have now reached the ripe old age of 28. Man I feel old, However the fact that I am now the proud owner of a PS3 (And a 32" TV to go with it!), hopefully goes to show that i'm still young at heart.

Had a wonderful meal at a Thai restaurant I'm very fond of... it's not everyones cup of tea, but the food is never boring. The staff were in hysterics watching a grown man tyring to "transform" a Transformer in between courses... I'm sure they weren't that difficult when I was 5. Again i must be getting old. My mother excused my actions by pointing out it was her "little boys" birthday today. So without prompting my desert arrived with 2 candles in it and the staff singing happy birthday to me :-)

Manpad

For the first time in a long time i went to visit my mate matt in lincoln... It's a long overdue visit for me as it's been a good 5 years since i visited him last... he comes to see me about once every couple me moths... Recently i've had a lot on here and he's been down practically every weekend :-) he shares a house with two women (lucky git)... It's a fantastic place... Huge and compared to london stupidly cheap. He's got the best setup a man could ask for... HUGE flat screen TV 5.1 sound and a PS3... Suffice to say we only left his manpad in search of more beer and food :-) a bloody good weekend :-)

Red Bull Air Race

Woo hoo we're at the Red Bull Air Race today on the banks of the thames next to the dome. It's absolutely kick ass... This is me doing a mini version :-)

Power Gliders

Flew in a power glider today... It's more similar to a light aircraft than a classic glider... Except that it has much longer wings. We flew around for about half an hour taking in all the local sights then landed again... The turbulence and g-forces were making me somewhat quesy (i'd make a rubbish jet pilot) so i was glad to be down rather than make a mess in the cockpit. It was fantastic tho... I video'd all of it :-)

Night Flying

This picture doesn't do it justice... This is a wombat fitted with led's flying at night... Anyone not in the know would expect to be in the middle of a UFO invasion. Paul's going to make me a wing so i can build my own... It'll rival the Decotora trucks of Japan when i'm done :-)

Propper BBQ

The germans know how to cook... And cook pig better than anyone... My favorite is loin steak... They marinade it so it's so tender you can cut it with a plastic knife and fork. It's to die for... I need to see if i can get the recipe :-)

When does a model stop being a model

This is a giant 1/3 scale model. It's so big it has to use a conventional petrol motor and ignition system. It only just fits in Manfreds people carrier :)

Wisdom of Wombats

My dads friend Paul makes a foam delta airplane called a wombat... It's a brilliant acrobatic plane, extremely cheap too and very hardy. I'm going to build a custom one for my dad with night flying lights.

Slope Soaring

Drove to a club that's on the side of a large hill. Excellent thermals as it's 30deg plus today (28deg in the shade) my dad's managed to get up to at least 1500ft so far on only 1min of power :-)

Super computer helicopter

This helicopter is one mean machine... Powered by a huge lipo battery and a 1600w motor it develops a huge amount of power. But what makes it extremely clever is it has no fly-bar (a fly-bar adds stability at the expense of adding drag), this is compensated for by an on board computer which doubles up for a giro. In the hands of an experienced pilot it can perform apparently impossible feats of acrobatics such as flying whilst sideways!