Tag: personal

A Hole in the Wall

Kitchen Before Tiling

Yesterday, this was a wall.

Today, we are proud owners of a hole between our kitchen and lounge.

Renovations have started to pace up now. Yesterday, the bathroom was rendered. Today, the underfloor heating for the kitchen was installed by Avril and Matt. Tomorrow, kitchen tiling is completed and the new kitchen delivered. Friday is kitchen installation d-day.

Kitchen Destruction

Results of 20th November 2008 destruction of the old kitchen below (Photosynth, this time 100% synthy!)

Avril enjoyed the de-tiling process. Sometimes, destroying inanimate objects is cathartic.

“It’s Not a Sad Time”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grief

nana Birthday in 2006

“It’s Not a Sad Time” was one of my Nana’s last wise phrases whispered to my Mum. Said more for those around her than herself, it is a canny reflection that behind the synthetic opiods her mind was active.

It is a phrase that I am pondering; as the funeral was a celebration of her achievements. I only realised how she treated everyone as special. From Dr Agarwal her final Doctor; Dean Martin one of her Aboriginal students from the mid 1970’s; to the staff at the Lutheran Homes in Glynde.

It takes a character larger than life to constantly impact the lives of so many other for 95 years.

I hold a deep and lasting respect for those in my family that dealt unselfishly with this stressful part of life. Palliative care, and the very tough decisions that are made go to the heart of why we are alive: to keep living.

In the end, remember: that who we love, and who loves us is all that matters.

Field Marshal Melchett

The 2007 Build of General Melchett, with post-build modifications live here. A promotion from General is Field Marshal. Think Montgomery and a whole bunch of others. Prior to the physical release of the new "Nehalem" Intel Corei7 processors, my previous blog was a little theoretical. Planning the mid-2009 (estimated) build of the successor starts with watching the pricing of the three key components: Processor, Motherboard and Memory:

19 Nov 2008 25 Nov 2008 10 Dec 2008 7 Jan 2009 9 Mar 2009 3 Jul 2009 18th Jan 2011

Stage 1
GA-EX58-Extreme LGA1366 549.00
Gigabyte GA-EX58-DS4 401.30 367.80 339.30
GA-EX58-UD3R 363.20 328.20
Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME 473.90
Gigabyte GA-P67-UD5 SATA3/USB3/DDR3 321.90
Core i7 920 2.66Ghz 660.00 569.95 511.17 489.02 501.20 462.70
Core i7 950 3.06Ghz 837.90
Intel Core i7 2600 3.4Ghz 32nm "Sandy Bridge" 369.30
OCZ 6GB DDR3 PC3-12800 Gold Low-Voltage Triple Channel, 3x 2GB (OCZ3G1600LV6GK) 572.00 566.60 566.60 542.90 361.40 210.10
Corsair 12GB Memory 6x XMS3 2GB Kit, PC3-12800 (HX3X12G1600C9) 366.30
G.Skill 16Gb DDR3 memory, 1600Mhz 301.90
TOTAL 1781.00 1537.85 1445.57 1371.22 1225.80 1001.00 1678.10 993.10
-6.0% -5.0% -10.0% -18.3%

 

January 2011: Updated with the Stage 1 (of two stages) purchase for GENERALMELCHETT upgrade. $993.10 in 2011 vs. $1781 in late 2008. Wow.

I will update the table to track the drift in pricing. These pricings are from AUSPCMarket. I may also be going to the US in July/August 2009, so that also adds another variable. The above prices at AU$ including GST.

  • Update 25th November 2008: Changed down the motherboard a model; pricing from Mwave.com.au
  • Update 10th December 2008: Waiting for the price of DDR3 memory to drop
  • Update 9th March 2009: dramatic downshift of memory pricing makes 12Gb look affordable! The DS4 motherboard is discontinued, with the new UD3R chosen as a replacement in the same price range. I may change this over time. The Intel price has slightly risen, probably due to the exchange rate fluctuations more than market conditions.

Notes:

  • Depending on pricing, I may go faster than 2.66GHz in the Core i7.
  • I am really happy with the General’s current Gigabyte motherboard: excellent driver support for Vista x64 and rock solid stable.
  • Whilst 6Gb is less than the 8Gb now in the General, it is easy to track a 6Gb pack at 1600MHz and see where the pricing tracks over the next 9 months. I may install 12Gb in the Field Marshal. Because I can.

Any other suggestions of online suppliers, or real-world experience with memory – would be great.