AMD Athlon X4 845 Carrizo finally in my system!

After reading a lot of negative reviews about delivery and feeling pessimistic about my chances, the courier phoned me Saturday morning and arrived in 5 minutes with two separate packages: one sealed bag with the CPU and another sealed bag with the mainboard. So the components arrived in less than 48 hours. My only complaint is that the warranty papers "weren't straight" and the boxes were quite banged up.

I assembled the parts outside the case. And stared at it for a while ...

Then I realized the processor was getting too hot and the cooler too noisy, so I switched the cooler to the Cooler Master Hyper TX2, with a little mod to hold it in place. The stock cooler's original mounting mechanism was too tall for my cooler, as it is a 95W TDP model. If the stock cooler was the 65W TDP model it would have worked ... so after a little DIY magic I mounted the cooler with two zip ties and a strong piece of metal to reach across.

So now the video card is very close to the modded CPU cooler and temperatures were still high, so I did two more modifications to my PC.

I voided the warranty of the power supply, as I took it apart, bent the heatsink fins to have more space for the fan and mounted it with silicone screws. Now the 12cm fan can spin at full speed without murdering my ears. I also added a second 12cm in the front of the case (where the 5.25" bays are), which also pulls out warm air, not at full speed though.

NOTE: my PC is above the monitors on a shelf, so none of the fans will blow in my direction, just sideways.

With the current configuration, my system is about 2x faster than my old dual core Haswell Celeron G1820. I can play DOTA 2 (second lowest graphics setting) and watch a 720p Youtube video on the other monitor without any issues. With 25*C room temperature the video card stays under 50*C and the CPU under 65*C at full load. I did do a little overclock via FSB, as I felt cheated when I saw the processor's frequency at 3.75GHz instead of 3.8GHz... so I increased the FSB from 100MHz to 101MHz 😎 now it's at 3833MHz.

Today I put my PC together with the parts I had at hand, but in the future I'll replace both 12cm fans and get a better mounting mechanism for the Cooler Master Hyper TX2. All the fans in my system are the cheapest...

Some time further in the future I'll upgrade my ATI Radeon HD 5550 512MB GDDR5 video card and possibly my 60GB SSD too, but for now it's good as it is, I started and will continue enjoying it 😎

AMD Athlon X4 845 was my second choice

My new processor hasn't arrived yet, so I have some more time to research it before putting the PC together.

Yes, the AMD Athlon X4 845 quad core processor was my second choice, as the slightly more expensive Kaveri A8-7600 with the quite fast iGPU was more tempting. When comparing the two processors, I noticed other differences too, like:

• the Athlon 845 has only 2MB of L2 cache, but has 2x more and better L1 cache
• the Athlon 845 is one generation newer, so it executes about 15% more IPC (instructions per clock) than the old Kaveri chips
• I really want to upgrade my video card in the future, in which case the iGPU would have been a waste of money (The A8-7600 processor is about 15 USD more expensive than the Athlon X4)
• the Athlon 845 should be 10% faster than the older Kaveri A8-7600 APU

I read many comments on the internet about the cooler that comes with the Athlon chip. The majority has a bad opinion about it, but the technical aspects are actually quite good. In fact it features a silent fan and the heat sink itself can handle up to 95W TDP processors. Even though the Athlon processor cannot be overclocked, it's nice to have a higher performance cooler, because then it can run much quieter than on the 95W processor it was meant for.

The cooler doesn't have heat pipes, nor a copper base, but it's large enough to keep the 65W processor under 60*C even at low fan RPM. There is just one problem I'll have to fix with this cooler, I need to isolate the fan from the heat sink, because if it's firmly attached with screws, then all the vibration gets transmitted to the heat sink, processor, mainboard ... then to the case.

I found an excellent anti-vibration material in the strangest place: in the sole of a work safety shoe. That material is a bit soft, but also doesn't lose it's form over time. It's some kind of rubber sponge/foam thing ... meant to protect your feet when you're working long hours on hard floors.

So I'll cut small peaces from this material and replace the screws with it, leaving a small gap between the fan and heat sink, in order to let the fan vibrate without transmitting it to the rest of the computer.

First I'll have to see how silent the fan is, but unfortunately current brushless motor technology isn't all that great. Switching between the 4 phases creates significant vibrations...

A word about ALTEX.RO ... many customers are dissatisfied with their services, as delivery time can reach 10 days and beyond. BUT this store guarantees the smallest price, or they pay you 2x the difference, if you find the product cheaper somewhere else. In fact is it the cheapest store most of the time, but the price difference can sometimes be just a couple of cents, so in these cases you might think about shopping somewhere else, at the second or third cheapest places, as they offer better service and shorter delivery times.

ASRock X299E-ITX/AC

ASRock attempted to bring high end processors to the ITX form factor before, and more or less succeeded, even though two memory channels and some ports/slots were sacrificed.
This year at Computex ASRock had a new attempt on display, the X299E-IT/AC compact ITX form factor motherboard, created for the upcoming multi-core monster CPUs from Intel.

This board doesn't sacrifice memory channels, as ASRock decided to switch to SODIMM memory, which is mall enough to fit 4 slots on the small motherboard. It also has a full size PCI-Express x16 3.0 slot for a graphics card or possibly for a riser card with more slots

The socket is an LGA 2066, which has about the same number of pins as the LGA 2011, so we can jump to the conclusion that Intel is not changing the architecture that much. In fact this platform will feature Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X processors starting from 4c/8t models right up to 18c/36t models with a 1.999USD price tag.

The funny thing about these upcoming Intel processors is that high core count models were added to the list in a rush, without any details. It almost seems like a knee-jerk reaction to AMD's upcoming Threadripper 10, 12 , 14, 16 core and Epyc 32 core processors, which will come in a new huge LGA socket and promise fierce fight for multi-core supremacy at every price point.

Donald Trump and the Paris Accord - IMO

Honestly I couldn't follow his speech, nor could I read it in text form, but I think I got the gist of it:

• he doesn't believe in science
• the Paris accord is/was unfair to the USA
• coal mining and burning creates lots of jobs

At this point in time Elon Musk would be pulling his hair out, if he wasn't already too busy solving these exact problems, which were (and still are) created by ignorant politicians. Elon Musk is the exact opposite of Donald Trump. He invested everything in his companies, works long hours and always has long term goals like: 

• colonizing Mars
• electrifying all transport on Earth 
• making power generation as green as possible

None of these goals can be reached in less than 20 years, so you might already see why an old man isn't particularly suited to lead a country or even a small company. A 70 year old person doesn't have 20 year long plans anymore - (s)he thinks ahead 1-2 years at most, as sickness and death are always near.

That's all I had to say about leaders ... now let's look at simple citizens...

Today you cannot change anything in policy, as protests will never ever change the mind of someone like Trump, so you must wait until the next election to vote against anyone who resembles Trump, Hillary ... or any ignorant old guy/gal.

Today you can do what you can to reduce your own polluting activities and and take away pollution from the air, that's right, you can!

Smart heating and cooling for your house

Today you can get very efficient air conditioning systems, ~350% to be more exact, which for every 1000W of electricity consumed bring in or move out at least 3500W of thermal energy. They do this with heat pumps, which don't create thermal energy, they just move it from one end of the system to another. They cost about 700USD/room.

For comparison, burning gas, wood, pellets ...etc. for heat can only reach about 95% efficiency with a traditional heating system or up to 120% with a more recent one, as it captures additional energy from condensation from the outgoing hot air. This solution takes O2 from the air and also pollutes the air right outside your house/apartment.

Today you can install heat recovery ventilation systems, which cost about 1000USD/room. They recover about 90% of the heat from outgoing used air without mixing it with incoming fresh air.

Today you can install a smart AC management system, which shuts off the AC and ventilation in unoccupied rooms.

Today these three relatively cheap solutions can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 80%, depending on what technologies you were using before. Newer, modern buildings may already have these high tech solutions installed.

Switch to electric transport

The average american drives about 37 miles in a day, so in theory almost any electric car on the market will work for most people, as even the cheapest EVs can do at least 50 miles on a charge.

Today you can buy a Nissan Leaf, Chevy Bolt, BMW i3 ...etc. for around 35.000 USD. They have a 150-200 mile range. You can fully charge them at home at night and/or go to a public charging station for 30-50 minutes. Yes, electricity costs less than gas/diesel in almost any part of the world, but the point is that you're polluting 50% less, even if all the electricity you use comes from a coal power plant.

Today most cities have electric public transport (trolley, subway...etc.) and/or electric taxi cabs. These are the best options if you don't want to invest in a battery-electric car yourself.

Today you can organize and get local legislation passed in your city, which can ban fuel burning cars from the city center, near schools and parks ...etc.

Install solar panels or plant large trees for shade

Most houses in the USA can generate the electricity they need, just by having the roofs covered with solar panels.

Today you can browse the internet for a solar system supplier and get something personalized for your house and location, which will pay for itself in 10 or 20 years max.

Today if you live in a warm climate and don't want to invest in solar, you can simply plant tall trees around your house or otherwise cover you roof and walls with vegetation. There are a lot of solutions out there and they are really cheap. Plants use solar energy for photosynthesis, practically turning heat into energy and also creating a nice cool shade.

Personal rig upgrade

My friends and family don't understand why I waited so long for an upgrade. I've been using a Celeron G1820 Haswell PC since it launched ... then it burned out probably because of a faulty PSU and I replaced it with the same processor model, slightly better mainboard.

Today I ordered a relatively old AMD Athlon X4 845 Carrizo processor and a very cheap MSI A68HM-E33 V2 mainboard. The CPU cost me 215RON (52USD) including 19% VAT and the mainboard cost 160RON (39USD) including 19% VAT.

Hopefully these will be the contents of the package, which will allow me to practically double my PC's processing power, from 2775 Passmark points of the Celeron to 5435 Passmark points of the Athlon X4 845. The old Haswell Celeron will actually go into my girlfriend's computer, which is still running a Celeron E3200 from the Core 2 Duo generation, measuring 1378 Passmark points. As it turns out, this will be a speed doubling for her too 😎 The rest of her PC is up to date, in the sense that it has a 120GB SSD + 160GB 2.5" laptop hard drive, 2 x 2GB DDR3 and a business class NEC 19" LCD monitor... it runs Windows 10 PRO x64 well, even with the current processor.

My system has a 60GB SSD + 320GB laptop hard drive, 2 x 4GB DDR3 memory and an old ATI Radeon 5550 512MB video card, which will all go into the new AMD system... powered by a cheap 72% efficiency 450W power supply, with a 12cm relatively silent fan.

The MSI A68HM-E33 V2 mainboard has very few USB ports on the back, but luckily another 4 can be connected to the internal headers. I won't be using the video ports, nor the PCI-Express x16 3.0 slot to its full potential, as the AMD Athlon X4 845 processor only supports 8 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes for the main graphics card slot. For my current graphics card it's no problem, and if I decide to upgrade in the future, I can go up to like an nVidia GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 470.

I probably won't be using the AMD stock cooler, as I have an old Cooler Master Hyper TX2, which can handle up to 125W without any problems, so on the 65W processor it will be very silent. The only part it's missing is the FM2+ mounting bracket, but if I remember correctly, I'll be able to use the one on the stock cooler. I just have to unscrew the fan and it'll come right out.

BUT I'll have to be very careful, as the stock cooler's retention mechanism only connects to two of the six tabs on the plastic bracket of the AM2+ socket, which it was originally intended for, so the system won't be very safe to transport. In fact the FM2+ socket has only two plastic tabs ... so... yeah ...

As the components were ~30% off, I may have to wait up to 10 days for delivery, but I hope they'll bring my package sooner, as I live in a big city (where they have to deliver many packages daily) and they usually optimize logistics to save fuel, so location matters more than time of ordering.

Tesla Model 3 is not better than Model S

Most major automakers have come out with real products or at least prototypes of cheap(er) electric cars for the masses, but none of them has excited buyers more than the upcoming Tesla Model 3.

Tesla had a rough start with its first product, the Tesla Roadster, which took the company 8 years to develop and could only sell it for much more than promised ($100K+). Then came the Model S and X, which also had significant issues, but at least they are a lot cheaper and most problems are already identified, fixed and production methods modified to prevent them in future cars. Model S starts at 70.000 USD, while the Model X (electric SUV, all wheel drive) starts at 82.000 USD.

The Model 3 is weeks away from production and its price starts at 35.000 USD, BUT it's important to understand its place in the electric car market.

These brochures were sent to all Tesla showrooms, so the employees can clearly explain the differences between the company's products.
Although it's not clearly stated, these specs apply to the base configuration Model 3. Other options like all wheel drive and faster 0-60 times will appear once the production line is up to speed (~5000 units per week).

The 5.6 second 0-60 mph acceleration time is the same as the first Model Ss', but slightly better than the competition at this price point. The closest competitor, the Chevy Bolt EV 2017 accelerates from 0-60 in 6.5 seconds.

We don't know anything certain about the range of the Model 3. Elon Musk promised 215+ miles (EPA) at the reveal, about 1 year ago. It could be anywhere between 200 and 300 miles with different capacity battery packs. The biggest battery pack will be 75kWh at first, but as battery technology is significantly improved every year, it's likely that all Tesla cars will soon have at least 100kWh battery packs and 300+ mile range.

Access to the supercharger network won't be free for the Model 3. You'll have to pay for the electricity plus a few cents to cover the cost of the chargers, however Tesla promised it will not make any profit on the Supercharger network. Payments will be very simple, through your Tesla account (monthly?). At the Supercharger stations you just plug in, charge, and leave, there's no access card, no codes, no buttons on the charging station ... everything gets transmitted between the car and the station automatically.

The Model S in theory can fit 5 adults sitting normally, and two children in rear facing seats. Some owners complained about not having enough room in the back seats (especially for tall people), but the Model 3 doesn't seem to have this problem, as rear facing seats are not present. People who went on a ride in the early prototypes noticed how roomy it is in the back.

Cargo space in the Model 3 is less than half of the Model S. This was expected, as the Model 3 is a much smaller and cheaper car. The trunk door also has to be operated manually, but future versions of Model 3 may implement a cheap, powered liftgate, IMO.

The Model 3 dashboard will be very clean, no buttons at all. You'll have the steering wheel and a 15" center touchscreen. There will be some buttons inside the car for turning on cabin lights (in the Model S/X you press the light to turn it on, maybe it'll be like that) and the switch for emergency light near or on the top rear view mirror. Some people are outraged about not having a screen behind the steering wheel for speed indicator and other information, but the hosts of Model 3 Owners Club Youtube channel pointed out that you can install a cheap HUD on the dashboard, as it's so flat and much lower than in the Model S.

Customization at first is limited to about 80 combinations, but as production speed ramps up and new options will be added, i'm guessing this number will go up to at least 50% of the Model S. I don't see any reason why Tesla won't offer extra configuration options, as long as they don't complicate manufacturing too much.

All in all the Model 3 is a good looking car, nothing like the Chevy Bolt, BMW i3 or Nissan Leaf, which were intentionally designed to look very different/odd. For the 35.000 USD price (minus ~5.000-20.000 USD tax credit, depending on where you live) you get great value and it'll do everything that your old car does, but better, assuming you don't mind the typical 15 minute charge time for ~100 miles of range, or charging at home at night.

AKYTA AT-136 keyboard review - hands on

I went through about 20 keyboards in the past few years, since I work as a blogger, but only two of them impressed me so far: Genius KB-G200 and AKYTA AT-136

I bought the AKYTA AT-136 keyboard from Kaufland with a huge discount. It cost me 12.34RON (3USD), even though it's clearly a 10+ USD keyboard 😎

Before I say anything about it, watch this short typing video I made:

I don't know exactly why, but I really like the light clicky sound of it. And here are the larger buttons pressed - some of them are harder to press at the edges, because their mechanisms aren't that great:

Now that you saw and heard it, I can reveal the fact that when I bought it, it had no rubber feet at all. Like most cheap keyboard, it only had the extending legs in the back and some small plastic feet in the front. Needless to say that typing on it sounded horrible, as it didn't even have all 4 legs touching the table ... so I fixed it just 5 minutes after taking it out of the box:

I glued on four pieces of rubber, using super strong BISON contact adhesive.

After this operation, I could type without hurting my ears and was quite surprised how pleasant it sounds. Not bad for a 9USD keyboard, bought for just 3USD with a 2 year warranty 😎