Saturday, January 15, 2022

Computer Disassembly

Both the Home Theater PC made from recycled parts and Holly's desktop have suffered power supply failures. Both computers comprised of at least some parts dating back a decade. We have therefore decided to scrap them.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM @ 22 mm and f/4.5 and ISO 100 with 1/3 second exposure.

First, we attempted to find people who could use them, especially since January was peak component shortage. Then we found a place we plan to recycle them. We found Recycle Computers 4 Cancer and plan to donate the components there.

Sunday, January 9, 2022

Desktop PC, New Build

Holly's desktop, which has been around since circa 2012, finally had the nearly 10 year old PSU die on it. Rather than attempting a repair we decided it was time for something completely new. She got my old Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C and I got a new Corsair 7000D Airflow and did a transplant.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM @ 13 mm and f/4 and ISO 100 with 1/6 second exposure. 

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Desktop PC, Case Transfer

About a year ago I replaced my main desktop and posted the build. I am a big fan of building in the Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C Tempered Glass and if Microcenter had one of the mesh front panel variants in stock when we went to buy parts for Holly's new desktop, I would have gotten one in a heartbeat. 

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM @ 10 mm and f/3.5 and ISO 100 with 1/6 second exposure.

The problem is, with the solid front, the Define R6 just does not pull enough air through the front to feed the radiator and cool my AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16 Cores 3500 MHz AM4 105W. 16 cores is just a lot of CPU. This is especially true in the summer in our current apartment. While we have central air the room we use as an office apparently has the worst air circulation of them all. Oops.

New Computer Tools

Holly needed to remove a the band on her Garmin Forerunner 945, the old band was really beat up and she wanted to replace it with a swap-able one. After years of seeing YouTubers we watch use iFixit branded kits we finally decided it may be worth getting a set both for the watch and some of the electronics and computer work we do from time to time.

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM @ 15 mm and f/4 and ISO 100 with 1/4 second exposure.

We bought the following items from iFixit: the Pro Tech Toolkit, a second Precision 4 mm Screwdriver Bit Torx Security TR6, and a second Precision Bit Driver, Aluminum. The watch band needs two of the torx bits and since there are two of us we wanted to drivers.