Tag Archives: Windows 8
How using RAID 0 Can Increase Your PC Performance
Nothing new here. Just wanted to document some of the benchmark results from a recent install I am doing with a Dell Precision 690 Workstation that I picked up from a sale at work. The full tech specs are at the link above and it came with 2 x Dual-core Intel Xeon 5100 series processors. It also came with no drives and no OS and 4GB of RAM. My good friend Kevin Schoonover was able to track down 32GB of RAM, 2 x Dual NIC cards and 4 x 150GB WL150GB SATA drives to add to the mix.
I was able to install the memory first and get the system running with 32GB of RAM.
Click any image to enlarge
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| Shot of the entire MB. RAM slots are the 8 rows bottom right | The DIM risers filled with 32GB of RAM. | Installed in the box |
With the box up and running, time to install an OS. In this case I am going to use Windows Server 2012 Standard. Selected all the defaults and no additional roles. I could have just as easily installed Windows 7 or Windows 8. Windows Server Gives me more virtualization options for tests later on.
Choosing a laptop for Rich, Windows 8, Intel Haswell, Iris Graphics, HD 5200, LGA 1150 socket, On-Die Voltage Regulator, ASUS VivoBook, Ultrabooks – RRPG022
The guys from Home Tech Podcast show #117 hang around post-show to help me, Rich O’Neil, figure out what to buy as a replacement for my 2 1/2-year old $199 Acer Aspire 5251-1317 laptop. The cheap little laptop has been holding its own, especially since I had I installed an SSD in it, but the screen is beginning to die and I don’t know if I’m going to replace it. Besides, it really doesn’t have enough power to run virtual machines well, something I occasionally require for testing and schoolwork.
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The guys and I talk about hardware and choice of OS – Windows 7 or Windows 8. If I’m going with W8, they recommend getting the touchscreen so I can experience Windows 8 in all it’s glory. I agree. I also like the fact that W8’s Hyper-V feature makes working with virtual machines fairly easy. It’s nice to have a decent alternative to VirtualBox. As far as when to pull the trigger on a purchase, Michael Martis suggests waiting until Haswell, Intel’s newest CPU series, arrives next month on June 3rd or 4th. It’s a good idea and I think I’ll wait. The decreased power consumption by itself is reason enough – Intel is claiming at least 20x power consumption improvement over Ivy Bridge. But Intel is also claiming up to a 2x boost in graphics performance with support for 4k video. Whoa! I guess it’s a tough time right now to be in the market for a new laptop.
100 Home Tech Podcast: The Last 100! A Look Behind and One Ahead
Jim (@jcollison), Christian (@theWizBM) and Andrew (@unrealshots) are joined this week by Chris Lux (@christopherlux), Jay Moore and Nathaniel Lindley (@thanlindley) for show 100!
New Show Twitter hashtag for the show each week. Use #TAG100 when referencing the show. Join us for the show live each Thursday at 8pmC/9E at http://theAverageGuy.tv/live
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Thanks to everyone who made the first 100 a real success! Special thanks to Sarah Collison, Christian Johnson, Andrew Morris, David McCabe, John Zajdler, Christopher Lux, Mike Howard, John Stutsman, Nathaniel Lindley, Greg Welch, Gordon Schmidt, Ces White, Bill Paulmenn, Rich O’Neil, Jay Moore, Renny Phipps, Kevin Schoonover, Michael Martis, Mike Faucher, Christopher Brown, Gary Johnson, Brian Burgess and Bryan Auer making it was it is! Thanks everyone!
CES 2013 coverage coming live starting January 6th. Follow the schedule at http://HomeServerShow.com
Nathaniel’s Perfect Gift - 3-in-1 LED Light, Hand Warmer and Battery Backup for iPhone, ®iPod®, and other USB Mobile Devices (2500mAh)
Jim’s Christmas Gift Success! A referral from Mike Faucher (PC Doc)
http://thedocsworld.net/miccus-mini-jack-rx/
http://www.amazon.com/Miccus-Mini-jack-RX-Bluetooth-Receiver/dp/B0038MA11U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356558015&sr=8-2&keywords=miccus
Jim’s Gigabyte Board Recommendation: GA-D525TUD (rev. 1.4)
99 Home Tech Podcast: New Windows 8 Pro Devices, VLC for Win8, NAS in a Box, Christian Goes to College, CES 2013
Jim and Andrew are joined this week by Greg Welch (@welchworks) and Rich O’Neil (@dvn7) for show 99. Christian joined us late in the podcast. You will have to listen beyond the end to hear about his college admissions
New Show Twitter hashtag for the show each week. This week’s show would have been: #TAG99. Next week’s show will be #TAG100. Join us for the show live each Thursday at 8pmC/9E at http://theAverageGuy.tv/live
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Chris Kenney wins the Pogoplug
Virtual Audio Cable: http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm
http://www.buildmypinnedsite.com/
Congratulations to Andrew on the birth of his twins (one of each) on 12/12/12! Mom and kids are doing well!
Greg’s New headset: http://amzn.com/B003WV38GM
Greg’s Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 – ThinkPad Tablet 2 10.1-inch 64 GB Tablet
HP Elite Pad from Greg – http://www8.hp.com/us/en/ad/elitepad/overview.html
VLC for Windows 8 from Kickstarter. A native app, fully featured and fully open source. Play all your files, streams and optical media. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1061646928/vlc-for-the-new-windows-8-user-experience-metro
Rich’s Web Project: Take this existing website: http://www.toppingsmaine.com/
To something better: http://thing.cs.usm.maine.edu/~roneil/client/index.shtml
Connect your cars’ telemetry to the Internet! – http://www.indiegogo.com/getmojio
98 Home Tech Podcast: 3 Different Countries, Plex, 4 and 5 TB Hard Drives, Windows 8, HP Microserver N40L, Live Support Call, Outtakes
Warning! This is a long podcast. 2 minutes of outtakes in the beginning, a very full podcast and a 20 minute support call with IX Webhosting at the end. I hope you enjoy listening as much as we did creating it!
Jim, Christian and Andrew are joined this week by Bill Paulman (@BillPaulmenn) and John Zajdler (@Dieharder) for show 98
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http://www.plexapp.com/If you are new to podcasts and are looking for a way to easily listen each week, you might want to consider using Stitcher. Available for both Android and iPhone platforms, it a great way to listen to podcasts both at home and on the road. Of course, this show and all the past shows are on Stiticher. Stitcher.com – Search Home Tech. It’s educations for your ears!
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