pikihia

Finally bit the bullet and have purchased the new “bits” and built a new PC (with assistance from Snork!) My old PC was built when I was in the UK in 2001! - i.e AMD 1.25GHz, 512k RAM, 40GB Hard drive etc…. it was about to die and the fans sounded like they were about to take off!

So here is the spec of my new toy (cost about $1200NZD with Vista Premium and Office s/w included in that price) : hmmm more power…..

• CASE - Asus VENTO TA-915 ATX Mid Tower
• DVD DRIVE - Asus DRW-2014L1T LightScribe SATA DVD-RW
• MOTHERBOARD - Asus M2N-VM HDMI Socket 940 AM2 GEFORCE 7050PV DDR2 1066 PCI-E
• RAM - Adata 4GB Dual Kit (2GB*2) DDR2-800 PC6400 240Pin UNB PC2-6400
• PROCESSOR -AMD Phenom 9550 Quad Core 2.2GHz
• HARD DRIVE - Western Digital 7200rpm 640GB 16M SATA Hard Disk
• TV TUNER CARD - Hauppauge WinTV-HVR4000 HD Quad-mode TV receiver

 You’ll notice I have a TV tuner card in the mix - next project is to get it to work so I can get Freeview (DVB-S or DVB-T) and record TV onto my hard drive.  A bit of a mission I believe with New Zealand specs using the latest codecs and standards for HD transmission. 

Will let you know how I go with setting this up…..

written by Hardman \\ tags: Freeview, PC, TV Tuner

Finally after reviewing all the quotes we got a heat pump installed in the lounge. It was great timing just before the cold, winter weather hit NZ.  We now have a nice warm house at night and have it set up so when we get up in the morning it has been running for about 15min and the house is warm (this doesn’t improve me trying to get out of bed in the morning though, I still hate getting up!) .

It is a Fijtsu ASTB18LDC model and heats most of the house up. 

written by Hardman \\ tags: Heating, House

I’ve uploaded some more underwater photos from our Borneo trip and included some more house photos.  Been busy outside in the garden (rather than at my PC) clearing and pruning the place so we can start to look at landscaping it.  We want to put in a new large patio, lighting new plants and a vege garden (plus loads more ideas) to make the outside more useful.  A few before and after shots for you….

written by Hardman