Goodbye 12-year-old AMD HD4770!

Well, it’s time to say goodbye to my long-surviving AMD Radeon HD4770! I have been holding out on the upgrade for over three years after the COVID lockdown, and the GPU price was insanely expensive back then. Now the GPU prices have gone down after China took down the Bitcoin mining operation there. It’s time to look for a new card and complete the upgrade by the end of this year before another stupid AI trend hits the GPU price again.

This time, after 12 years, I decided to go back to NVIDIA for an MSI GeForce RTX™ 4070 VENTUS 2X 12 G OC due to limited brand availability in Brunei. Yeah, it's a controversial card, and the MSRP price is not that attractive or even competitive this year, but I no longer care about it, and I want to start gaming the latest titles. The price fits into my budget during a sudden' August Eight' promo for SGD 799.00, and I am happy to save SGD 80.00 from the deal. This card does provide good gaming performance and low power consumption, although I do have doubts about my 750WATT PSU being enough. We shall see after I invest in a new PC case with Lian Li fans and upgrade to AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D. I plan to adopt a lower-cost option of the AMD Ryzen 7 5700XT upgrade to maintain its TDP 65WATT so that I don’t need to spend extra on the ATX 3.0 PSU. For some reason, I have a feeling it is not a good upgrade path.

When There Is Crime, There is Con.

Took me a while to hold this post. I was waiting and making sure my new official receipt with warranty was received before I start saying anything. Nightmare? No, like a stupid joke. I really like this local computer shop and usually get quite a lot of stuffs from them for both personal and for company. After the bad warranty experience, I am now had to be extra careful dealing with them and reconsider new way to counter the problem.

What happen? My home wireless router two LAN ports suddenly went kaput last month and I couldn’t get it work again. The LAN ports is important because I have headless PC running taking advantage of the gigabit speed feature for file sharing. Since the wireless router cover three years warranty, I search for the receipt and send for replacement the next day.

The technician need to inspect confirming the problem before he could arrange the replacement. After few days, no news which is strange for the delay. I decided to call up for an update. The technician confirmed the problem, but then he told me the wireless router no longer cover with warranty. Excuse me? I asked him did you looked at the official receipt I gave to you? It says 36 months. He said yes but their system only register one year. My answer to him that’s not my problem. As long, I am holding the original receipt, you guys must honor it. Then he say they will investigate and get back to me soon the next day which btw already one week. The technician call up and gave me bad news they unable to find any replacement and similar model. Well, what are you guys going to do about it? You guys have to provide options and solutions.

Now, this is where they started to piss me off. First of all, I do not want to blame the technician. Apparently it was the mystery's idiot known as purchaser gave him the instruction. The offer here was forcing me topping up $60 to get different model. The stupid part, the warranty will continue up to May 2018. You can’t even provide me the replacement or refurbish device, even they don’t intend to send for repair. Why the fuck should I take that garbage deal that doesn’t make sense? The answer is no.

The only condition I will accept if they provide me new warranty deal for another two years by continuing the existing then we will call it even. I gave the purchase another week to reconsider. However, the answer say no after the PC technician told me and insist to pay for the top up. I told him I am giving one last chance to that idiot to think twice, if he/she can’t even offer me better options then I have no choice but to bring this to the consumer affairs department and let them deal with all these nonsense. As long, the official printed receipt is with me. My case against the computer shop are very strong and confidence that the official will agree that this was ridiculous deal when they were supposed to honor warranty replacement at no cost. Do the purchaser really want to fight with me and risk damage the shop reputation over $128.00 BND replacement? Nonetheless, the idiot think smart and the problem was settle with new warranty deal. Am I happy? Not really.

The way how the local computer shop handle the customers register purchase information has become clear to me they can replace the information anytime they want or likely where employee's may made mistake inputting wrong data. My strong advise was scan and keep your purchase receipts in good condition especially three years warranty devices. Make sure you keep one of their brochures (and promotions) with warranty information printed the better. These guys can simply say my device only cover with one year when the receipt printed three years. Can you imagine what happen if you lose it or the printed fonts fated in the receipts? Probably I will let you think the outcome yourself.

Should I Get OEM Gaming PC or Back with Build Your Own?

Building your own gaming PC usually is the most recommended route to take. But after MOF slap 5% tax in Brunei, my mindset have to change if I want to continue bringing parts from Singapore. The airport and the post office customs are becoming more active inspecting the stuffs coming into the country. So it’s not a joke if you get caught sneaking in and I’m sorry, 5% tax (reported more) is a fucking big deal to me right now.

I’m currently considered getting from the local computer shops. But who is the best should I source the parts from? Few of my friends recommend me Chong Hock computer and told me their price are quite reasonable. In order to find out whether its true or not, I went to their FB and PM for the quotation for CPU, motherboard, graphic card, their recommendation memory ram and power supply unit last week. What do you know, I was surprised the price they quote me.

They are unimaginable very competitive even I admit it was acceptable price you can get locally. Chong Hock also confirmed me their warranty follows the original manufacturer so it's a double plus. In case, you wonder what kind of hardware am I asking for. It’s the AMD Ryzen 1700X, MSI X370 Gaming Pro Carbon, MSI RX580 Gaming 8GB, lastly their recommendation Corsair 2666 (not sure which model) memory ram and Cooler Master V850 (modular type) power supply unit. All of these total cost around $1950.00 (BND). If I choose AMD Ryzen 1600X, the total cost would be 1,774.00.

Now, let’s compare to OEM gaming system everyone now could get in Brunei. With this money you can get an OEM Acer Aspire GX-281-1700 for $1,838.00. When you purchase from Netcom Computer House (September 2017 brochure), the bundle comes with 24” Gaming LED LCD monitor and Kingston Hyper X Cloud Stinger Gaming headset including free speaker (selected model). You are basically paying with all in one package deal.

Acer Aspire GX 281-1700 is an interesting and likely the most affordable gaming PC compare to Predator series. Not without sacrificing the performance and features. Yes, it has AMD Ryzen 1700X but the rest are basically downgraded and assemble with the cheapest hardware's Acer could put together. The AMD RX480 graphic card 4GB is okay, the motherboard reported using B350 model and chassis design only able to house two 3.5” (2.5”) HDD from what I see from the reviewer photos. The HDD expansion slots will be a future issue not unless I plan to buy dedicated NAS machine to host my files. I am environment friendly person and will continue to use existing PC for custom NAS running so nope.

I felt a bit surprise about the additional 24” Gaming Led LCD monitor. I deal quite a bit with Acer Aspire product and never failed to amaze me with the extra they willing to throw at. While the Acer Aspire GX 281-1700 hardware cannot really compete with the spec I plan to build (incomplete) above, the price and the stuffs you get really just unbeatable.

As for right now, I haven’t decided yet which path to choose. My aim are seeking the right PC gaming hardware able to last around 4-5 years. Yes, Acer Aspire GX 281-1700 does met the requirement and I can loan using credit card payment. Chong Hock computer require in cash payment. It just that I want to keep my spending minimum without regrets especially how do I going to reusing the existing good old Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 (I got two, mind yuo). There is no reason for me to get another chassis when you can’t even sell it off and recycle for money. I know my chassis are classic especially without or upgrade any USB 3.0 ports. Since I am flying to Singapore coming November, I will be heading to Cybermind hunt for DIY parts. From there onward, I may already have an answer for my need.

WD RED 2.0TB Arrival for My Home Custom NAS

Finally, my long awaited first Western Digital 2.0TB RED has arrived! Yeah, I know its stupid making a big deal out of it. But hey, this is WD RED version we are talking about and not to mention the most reasonable price in Brunei. Of course, you need friends and sources in order to avoid getting chop.

Now, why using ‘chop’ word in my writing? First of all, I have been holding the anger when the local computer shops claimed to be distributor for the brand they are selling would cost around BND180+ to 260+ (NAS version) for 2.0TB? The Thailand flood was already long over and even before global oil price fell happen. Higher US dollar exchange rate won’t affect too much to the pricing, not to mention we don’t have GST tax (yet).

In order to find out some sense to this pricing issue, I asked few of my friends working in local computer shops why would they go such extent to price like that? Simple answer, others do it we all follow. Sad to say, they underestimate the power of internet and the attitude ‘you can go elsewhere’ no longer applied these days to the customers. Of course, building good relation with customers is another way keeping business going. But if you can’t sell, it becomes an eyesore stocks and don’t forget there are distributor limited time warranty as well. If the customer can’t get their 2 years warranty claim after register online, you better be ready for cash refund.

I admit, not all local prices are terrible. Currently both 500GB and 1.0TB for both internal and portable are listed acceptable price. Sooner or later, the 2.0TB HDD (mind you, 3.5” size) will consider standard storage size in the market thanks to the blooming affordable NAS file server. I was surprised internal 1.0TB HDD already start replacing 500GB and ridiculously low price in Singapore. So how will local computer shops going to play out. It’s hard to see at the moment. I for sure will not buy from them (except my friend) if they don’t do anything about the overpriced starter 2TB HDD first.

Why We Should Install and Learn How to Use LibreOffice in Brunei

First of all, it's a top free office suite on the internet today that provide much of the features needed to get things started. Why spend money buying Microsoft Office when you don’t really use often? Retail version only allow installed 1 PC and doesn’t get other access to their Cloud features service. Mind you, this applied to their latest collaboration (version 2016) feature for businesses. Your only choice is purchase subscription plan. Of course, it may sound like you save money in a long term. Again, ask yourself, do you really needed this Cloud features using at home? Not unless you work at home often.

It just a shame that not many local users knows about LibreOffice. Reason is simple, Microsoft is dominated the market in Brunei. You can say 99.9% of the schools, public, private sector, oil and gas industries and even Government sector uses Microsoft Office. This is why almost everyone here overlook free office suite. 

I will cut short talking about LibreOffice history. All you need to know this is an overhaul version from OpenOffice code base. No fancy ribbon menu or whatsoever you going to find. It still onto friendly and clean classic menu style. The reason is simple, they want to make sure the users able to easily access the most use features in LibreOffice. 

There are doubt and controversial about today document formats issue but so far I hardly encounter the problem myself working with Word and Excel documents between my office desktop and own laptop on site from the DropBox. The Document Foundation teams (and volunteers) have done remarkably by providing monthly update release that bring bug fixes and improvements. You can say working with Microsoft document formats slowly becoming less headache. In case you wonder, LibreOffice does have feature working remote files directly in Google Drive, One Drive etc. 

As always, it is recommended to save a copy of OpenDocument Format (ODF) before creating different format. You don’t have to worry about Microsoft Office playing tricks not supporting the format. They have to but not in a good way and basically not LibreOffice issue. Why? As you may not know, LibreOffice actually has being seen various mass deployment by the companies, schools and Governments worldwide. Taiwan was the latest country migrating to ODF/LibreOffice last year. Can you imagine how pissed and unhappy Microsoft nowadays? You can check out the ‘Migrating Libreoffice in Taiwan’ story by Franklin Weng to understand better. 

I do not know if our Government follows the news or even interested adopting free and open source software into their office. But I think its important they start looking as it can pave way for future cost cutting solutions. Same goes for the private schools communities if they planned to tighten up their budget saving yearly. More importantly, another way helping low income parents to save money without needing to buy Microsoft Office for their children to do homework or projects. LibreOffice features already provide sufficient needs. 

While I do admit LibreOffice has long way to go and limitation on its own comparing with Microsoft Office 2016. Microsoft continue stand strong selling to companies especially their latest Cloud and collaboration features. You won’t find the features in LibreOffice. Good news is, they are going to bring it this year. With the support from the Government around the world moving towards LibreOffice. This definitely going to be huge threat to Microsoft, which means more competition and option to offer. So I suggest everyone should start installed and learn LibreOffice. Who knows one day you will be working in some company or Government sectors using LibreOffice where Microsoft Office is not available.

Migrate to Open Media Vault (OMV) NAS

My Ubuntu server crash last month for unknown reason. After some investigation finding out Ubuntu the latest update break the server, I am trying to get it restores hard. Almost 80% of my data in the main drive corrupted even when running RAID 1 setup. It is unimaginable update can do so much damage.

I decided to gave up reinstalling Ubuntu server since I have to reconfigure remote access and reinstall most of the software again. Why not just jump into NAS OS this time. FreeNAS doesn't work well for me previously so I tried Rockstor. However, it didn't work as well for some reason trying to get the installer to load. Without wasting too much time finding solution. I made final choice going look back at Open Media Vault (OMV).

The OMV installation was fast and easy to set up, this time I decided to install directly into 160GB SATA HDD which I plan to migrate into SSD drive in the future once solving the hard disk space issue first. The only problem I encounter was OMV plugins were somewhat limited. This is due to the copyright related so you have to find another way. OMV Extra. Once installed, those removed plugins will be made available.

So far the OMV is running great after I am familiar with the configurations and testing.The only thing I will be avoiding is updating and delaying at least three or one month cycle before applying. This is just to avoid having another unexpected crash.

Technology Loot December 2014

I can’t really think of anything that you can get in Brunei when it comes to computer parts. The internal HDD for headless server upgrade still had to wait because the local selling prices continue to be ridiculous not unless getting from neighbouring country. I will only hunt those that worth the spending which I recently brought a Western Digital 1TB Passport Ultra HDD and Edifier Sound to Go Plus portable speaker this week holiday sales.

The portable HDD are safe to buy in Brunei because after my trip to Singapore, I didn’t find too much the price different over there including neighbouring country. For the sake of convenient and easy warranty, BND100.00 is best way to go. Actually, the preferable portable HDD design in mind is rugged version. The reason I needed it because of often working on site and experience higher rate of drop. After a long consideration, I realize the existing home portable WD 1TB My Passport warranty left until next year. It’s about right time to get a replacement and swap for work by adding thick soft material to reduced impact in the HDD case.

As for the portable speaker, that was an unexpected selection put into the shopping cart last minute. I didn’t really want to get another but wanted one for the laptop a long time ago. It just my taste on design hasn’t been right, must be portable and sound quality is important too. After poking around longer, I finally found Edifier Sound to Go Plus. It fits the category perfectly. Slim design, great sound quality (tested) and can run with battery itself. This portable speaker is just what I needed.

Success Deployment Home Server

Yup, my home server finally successful deploy yesterday. It sure took a while when I first assemble last month. But because of sudden switch to Linux using Ubuntu server distro as a start, I require more time to learned and get familiar with. I forgot the numbers of time I have reformat and reinstalled Ubuntu server just to find tweak the right setting.

Why I Choose Ubuntu?

I just get started relearning Linux so I believe Ubuntu is a good start since I do play with it before. I read a lot suggesting going for CentOS. Without doubt Ubuntu is one of the most widely used and supports in the world. Even you can find in the exam and free “Introduction to Linux” online course requires installing it for learning.

Installation and Setup

Installing Ubuntu is easier than before I got to admit. Although there are few options you will need to go through to understand more using server version. It is surprising you can create software RAID directly before going to the final step complete installing the OS. My setup for my two WD 160GB SATA is RAID1 configuration for the mean time until I invest mSATA and the PCI next time.

The next task will be playing around installing different GUI version to try which works best for the current system performance. However, I do made mistake using Unity in the end instead Lubuntu themes due to complicated guide causing misunderstanding the whole thing when configure remote access.

The Unity sure does sucking up the performance bad even I am running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 with 6GB memory. Feel like I’m using Vista for some reason. So I switch to the Lubuntu desktop using Terminal to install. It's fast, however I discover it causes problem and back to Unity again. Not too much worry since it just a temporary setup.

Configuring X11VNC

When it comes with remote access, X11VNC is the best to go for. The only things scratch my head is configured to work properly. Yes, there are plenty of helpful guide on the internet. I am able to find the code and but got stuck in the next steps. I discover almost all of them didn’t include the crucial parts working in Terminal. It's like they expect you to know everything.

It took a while to understand after I decided to look into how-to edit file using Terminal. That was when I get the X11VNC running. Once done, I install TightVNC in my Windows, tested working and disconnect all the cables. The headless home server is finally ready.

Final Test and Network Sharing

The hardware I built does running stable despite I’m using one 4GB and 2GB memory ram mixed mode. The Transmission program is working great so far without require trying others except the sharing part.

Sharing between Windows and Linux are quite a bit tricky. I encounter some issue doing the sharing. I didn't know the Ubuntu won't mount the NTFS drives automatically other than main drive which is why the share I set always went back to default after reboot. No idea why, but I manage to found a great guide from Debian Help blog to solved most of my problem.

Well, everything is ready to roll and time to test out the Plex program streaming all my collections!

DIY Home Network Attached Storage Project #4 (END)

The FreeNAS is total disaster. Restoring the RAID setting after I tried to detach from the list proves to be big risk and problematic. I tried to reinstall the OS and attach as normal storage doesn’t even works because the two 160GB HDD still contains record of the RAID setting. I never thought the issue can be so complicated to fix. Luckily I am playing with empty data.

I plan to try Open Vault Media which is alternative to FreeNAS. The idea of must using the entire HDD is yet another issue because 160GB is simply too big for less than 400MB OS. I have an older IDE HDD model left around, it just very noisy when it’s running so I don’t like to be disturbed during my sleeping hours. Another option I can think of is getting low cost mSATA SSD to run. I got my eyes at KingFAST product for smaller storage size. This means I had to shell out for mSATA PCIe from eBay as well to minimize the use of the notebook storage.

To my misfortune for this month, the old car broke down and cost me BND$120.00 for repair (not including upcoming insurance and road tax). This whole thing is going to on hold for a while once I have sufficient budgets to secure the two parts. So to avoid wasting more time and effort getting FreeNAS works, I decided to hop in latest Ubuntu OS server instead. This will move to new topic.

Microsoft Office 2013 Sudden Broke

If you are one of the users who got into trouble with Microsoft latest patch update that break your OS last month especially happens on Window 8.1. The Office 2013 is no different. The problem I always face during troubleshooting is cannot open any office programs and see any errors. I have been dealing with this problem for quite sometimes and found that it was cause by June Public 2014 Update that affect Click-to-Run office version until today. When I read the news from the Info World and follow up the problem in the community. To my surprise the newer update still capable breaking the Office 2013. Microsoft seriously fuck up no matter it just impact with 1% user base in their record!

This is terrible time wasting troubleshooting ever for Office because I am supporting Acer products in the market that comes with pre-install with Office 2013 CtR version. Imagine how many customers pay that come with Office 2013 broke after silent update in the background? I don’t really care the ACER reputation but my profession is affected and requires explaining the problem comes from Microsoft mess. The worst cases you are working in the site without internet access and the license backup tool doesn’t work. I have to find a way or just go back to my office just to activate the license.

How to fix when your Office 2013 broke?

The fix is simple. First thing you need to do is get your product key ready (Genuine) or if you purchase directly from online using Office account. Just enter your email username and password during installation. Most importantly, backup your documents data before perform program uninstalling.

Using Microsoft Fix It tool is highly recommended for full clean uninstall to ensure no left over stupid update. But if you use the normal method removing Office 2013 from Program, it will still workable. However, there are chances the problem continues to remain with the download update.

DIY Home Network Attached Storage Project #3

The success upgrade and maintenance for my existing gaming rig finally allow me to complete building DIY home NAS. The previous Intel Pentium I got from eBay very dirt cheap is basically too slow and realizes it was single core version. Since the new ASROCK motherboard I brought able to support up to Intel Core 2 Quad, I decided to replace with Q9400. At the moment I am testing which OS to run my file storages so it is preferable to have ready hardware to meet some of the open source requirements.

Anyway, these are the hardware specifications for my complete custom NAS or file server builds. Many of them are existing stocks so I actually save quite a lot all this years. If you have read my previous posts for Aerocool DS Cube and ASROCK G41S-GC R2.0. The remaining purchases are new power supply unit (PSU) and pen drive.

Upgrade Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 to Xeon E5462

Never knew there are such a way allows putting Intel Xeon CPUs (LGA771) into LGA775 motherboard not until I place a mistake bid on the Intel Xeon E5462 and sudden win. It was worrying at first because I have no idea if my existing motherboard may even work. More importantly, you will need to cut the two hinge parts on the CPU sockets carefully not to damage the pins. The reason for this requirement is due to Xeon CPUs design at different side.