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Saturday, October 02, 2010

My New PC (an Intel Core i5 Based System)

Last month I built a new desktop PC. The components were not expensive, or, it should be called cheap. I purchased an Intel i5-650 CPU, 4GB Kingston DDR3 1333MHz RAM, a Gigabyte H55 Intel Chipset / Socket 1156 Motherboard, a Hitachi 1T 7200rpm SATA2 Harddisk, a Liteon Blueray/DVD Dual-layer Writer Combo, a Delta "Server Power EX" 550W Power Supply, a new Chinese made Micro-ATX Casing (which quality is not good enough! :-(), altogether at about (US)$600.

Indeed, software is more expensive IMO, I bought a cheapest version of the Windows 7, the OEM version with a single-user license, which costed me $120. The Windows 7 is not as good as I originally thought, may share my experience for trying to install it to different machines later on..

I took some macro photos of the key components during my setup, in particular some large close up shots for the "socket" (which is now not a socket anymore, but just an inclined pins array!). Here are the photos:-



All photos were taken with a Canon 5D with a Pentax DFA 100/2.8 Macro lens.

Funny that the "spot" light source used in the first few photos is just a white LED torch, similar to this setup in principle. Even worse, my torch is far weaker than that one and I only hand held it with my left hand whilst holding and adjusting my macro lens, which is just a full MF lens on my 5D, at the same time! Oh, what a really poor guy I am sometimes when it comes to "studio" setup and resources! :-(

Now, my new PC can playback any video clips in any resolution and any compression format freely and without any jumping. So, it's time for me to get a DSLR that supports Full HD video recording mode and preferably with an option for video compression too, say, H.264, MPEG-4 or AVCHD (which I hate, anyway). Btw, whilst the new K-5 has Full HD video recording, but it supports no video compression. So, it gives the highest possible video quality and compatibility and editability as well! ;-D But the files will be really LAAARGE and the recording time will be the shortest as a result! :-o (Coz each file is 4GB large at most, for the FAT32, which is used for any camera and memory card system.)