Friday, September 27, 2013

New internet = New opportunities.

image credits to: rnsplc.com

About VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).


Recently I have finally upgraded my internet to a plan where I can actually brows and use the internet without having to wait about 10 minutes for each page to load... And with that, comes the opportunity to finally try out a VoIP service!!!


Now, you are probably thinking, what the heck is VoIP? Well, let me explain the concept...


VoIP uses an internet connection to deliver voice communications over the internet, rather than your normal copper phone line.

VoIP works by sending 'packets' of data (these packets of data are created by converting analogue signals aka what a normal telephone call uses, created by your voice), Packets are the basis that every internet application uses.

 These packets contain your voice that has been converted into binary form (digital / eg: 10101), then on the receiving end these packets are then converted back into their original form (analogue / your voice) and vise versa. This is the super basic concept of VoIP.

 Making a call using the internet is ALOT cheaper than using a standard telephone connection as this call bypasses your local telephone company and their charges.



So.. If you want to save money and have a decent internet connection, what are you waiting for?

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Trying to find a PCI-E card on e-bay...

I come to you today to tell you about my journey into the realms of Ebay, to try and find a half decent GPU for my own computer. for a decent price




From my time on e-bay I have come to the conclusion that some people don't know how to shop around or just have too much money.

I was bidding on a some half decent 512MB ATI, I thought to myself, yea $20 + $10(postage) is more than enough for this card. Oh how I was wrong...

Before browsing e-bay for a PCI GPU I had a look around on www.pccasegear.com to get a idea of how much the cheaper end of the GPU market was. I found several pretty decent 1GB GPU's for about $35-40 as listed here: GPU 1 and GPU 2 Both have decent reviews too! Just to give myself I nice idea of pricing for a second hand, old, GPU so I wouldn't waste money.

This one 512mb ATI gpu beast on e-bay managed to get bidded up to $58! AUD and thats not including the $10 postage! So someone paid $68 for this second hand, potentially faulty GPU when they could have bought a band new one, with a warrenty and that performs better from pccasegear for around $55! I'm beginning to consider just buying a new one from pccasegear if things like this keep happening!



Well, at-least that's one lesson learned. I should sell more old crap on e-bay! I might just get lucky!
Thanks for visiting!!!

Monday, September 2, 2013

In the beginning...

When I first decided to upgrade my computer I thought, well, I have a decent motherboard, all I need is to upgrade my CPU and get a graphics card. - I was thinking of getting a nice AMD athlon 64 X2(dual core) 4500+, that runs around 2000-2200ghz, + a cheap 512/256mb graphics card from ebay.

Currently my computer that I want to upgrade has 64mb intergrated graphics and a 1.8ghz single core CPU (bad I know.)

I thought to myself, well this seems easy! Apparently all I need to do is get the parts and plug them in, update a driver or two and bam! My computer would be able to run some half decent older games. I was planning on spending less than $50. It seemed too easy to be true, so I asked overclock.net....

One thing that I forgot about was the PSU (Power supply unit - this converts AC power to DC power that a computer can use)! I totally overlooked this vital component of any computer! After a bit of research I found out that I have a OEM (basically a cheap original manufacturer type) PSU, that only has just over enough watts to run the parts that is has right now. It currently only produces a small 300 watts.

If I went ahead and tried to just plug in a GPU(graphics processing unit) without realizing about my basic PSU I would have caused all sorts of trouble...


So... The moral of this story is... Even though you might think a good graphics card, some ram and CPU are the main parts of you computer that you need to worry about.. well, you are right... Almost. BUT! You have forgot the thing that makes all of these work! The PSU! Most gaming computers now need a wopping 600-800 watts to power all of their components.

So, with that said. I now need to try and find myself a decent, cheap PSU for my old computer.
or just get a new one lol









Picture credits to: www.dansdata.com


Thanks for reading!