Nels Lindahl — Functional Journal

A weblog created by Dr. Nels Lindahl featuring writings and thoughts…

Category: Hardware

  • An external computer power button

    Strangely enough the power button stopped working on my Be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Rev.2 computer case recently. Instead of taking all the computer parts out of the case and rehoming them in a new case I elected to try out an external power supply button [1]. A bunch of options exist for external power buttons. Some people apparently like to be able to push the power button without having to reach down to the computer location. This new option worked out well for me as I just ran the external power button toward the front of the case where I can now turn the computer on and off without any problems. This oddly enough was a good solution that worked out well enough for me and saved me a lot of work to rehome the computer parts. 

    Footnotes:
    [1] https://www.newegg.com/p/2A6-021F-00001?Item=9SIB7VEK713319 “Desktop Computer Power Switch Power Supply Control Adapter Cable”

  • A computer hardware refresh

    This morning I had some thoughts about maybe doing a refresh of my main computer system. That series of thoughts quickly dissipated. Custom computer building has gotten more complex over the years. At least, it feels like things have gotten more complex. It might be getting easier at some point here in the next couple of years [1]. Within my current computer setup two potential changes are possible. First, I might swap out the hard drives at some point for larger ones depending on how much video editing I end up doing over the next year. Second, now that the price of the RAM this system uses has gone down it might be time to add more. None of that required me to put on my thinking hat this morning to get going. 

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  • Considering a new laptop, again

    This morning started off a little bit slower than it should have. Somebody turned off their alarm and slept in for an hour. It was me. I claimed that extra hour of sleep. I started looking at System76 laptops again this morning. Right now I’m torn between the Lemur Pro and the Darter Pro. I like the idea of 14 hours of battery on the Lemur Pro. However, the Pixelbook Go chromebook I’m using is showing no signs of failing any time soon. We will see how that one plays out. My big plan for this morning is to work on two blocks of content related to weeks 135 and 136.    

    Half of that writing objective is now complete and the content for week 135 is out of draft and will need to sit this week before being edited again after some time passes. That is one of those things about having content in review for a number of weeks that improves it. As a writer I need a bit of time to pass before I’m ready to really provide solid editing, review, and remediation to my own words. The research and digging part of week 136 is up and running. I’m out on Google Scholar and digging around into content. This is one of those use cases for buying a tablet I think where it would be easier to sit around and read PDF documents of academic articles while holding a tablet. Reading articles on my phone is a recipe for problematic experiences. The form factor just does not work for me and I don’t enjoy it. You can imagine that it destroys the experience for me and that is enough to stop the progress. 

    Generally, I read things sitting at my computer which is currently setup to support a 4 screen view where my Chromebook only gives a single screen view when that is preferable. My desktop setup is totally immersive with two 38 inch monitors vertically stacked on an ATDEC stand. This is going to end up being a productive weekend where 4 blocks of content were for the most part created, reviewed, or completed. I even found the tripod and an extra battery for my Sony ZV-1 camera in a backpack that is rarely used. Things are moving along. 

    My side quest backlog is also working well enough during the weekdays. I am far enough ahead of that and my regular writing plan efforts that this afternoon I might be able to whiteboard for a couple of hours and really refine the side quest backlog. Friday evening I wrote out 3 good things I needed to accomplish this weekend to really strap rocket boosters to the side quest and I’m 1 of 3 complete on that target list. We will see what happens within my efforts to close out the other 2 outstanding items.

  • On that power supply problem just started

    Over the course of the last two weeks my CORSAIR RM850x power supply has started acting up. I do not move my desktop computer tower very often. It’s in a Dark Base Pro 900 case and it sits under my desk. For the most part it remains undisturbed and just sort of sits and waits to be powered on via the front switch when it gets turned off. Earlier today I had to switch out the power cable to a different one and it did finally power on which is how I’m writing this missive right now. I ordered this power supply back on February 15, 2018. That means that the power supply has lasted 5 years and is now starting to have some trouble. I’m looking at new ones right now including the CORSAIR RMx Series RM1000x model. I looked around for a bit and finally decided to just order a new one. Power supplies are not really something to mess around with given that they are the base of the entire computer system.

  • That stacked monitor setup was a serious commitment

    Making the big move to a stacked monitor setup was a serious commitment. More specifically getting one of the ATDEC monitor stands was a big commitment. They can be a bit pricey piece of technology. I went with the very heavy duty AWMS-2-BT75-FS model from ATDEC. It worked out well and was very easy to build.

  • A slow start to an otherwise normal Tuesday

    All sorts of posting happened this weekend on the old weblog/blog. I was super productive on the writing front as well. It was just one of those weekends where a lot of words happened. Then we ran into Monday where things just fell off the applecart and no words were written for the blog. It’s entirely possible that it was due to the need for a visit to the chiropractor. One of the things that just disrupts all my writing momentum is a bit of back pain. As a disrupter that cause is undefeated for sure. Today I got back up at 0500 without my alarm and sat down to write in front of my Dark Base Pro 900 computer case by Be Quiet! a company from Germany. They make a very quiet computer case. I’m actually curious when they will release a successor to the highly successful 900 series. 

    Most of you who read this blog know that building a custom computer is a fun adventure, but not an adventure that happens every year. Right now my current parts configuration is working out well enough. I’m not really in the market for a full computer rebuild at this point. Most of the time that happens it is a part by part ordering process. I would probably start with whatever Be Quiet! produced as a new computer case and then slowly add new parts until it was time to swap the new computer in to replace the old one. Generally speaking, my computer needs involve one desktop as my primary daily driver and a laptop of some sort to allow me to go mobile. 

    I’m probably not buying any major computer hardware at the moment. At some point, my Pixelbook Go is going to have a hardware failure and be replaced with a new laptop from System76. That could happen at any moment or a year from now. Nothing really resides on the Pixelbook Go in terms of files as it happens to be a nearly completely cloud based device. Opening code notebooks or word processing documents is really about saving things to the cloud and moving along. That type of scenario is nice as you can switch seamlessly between the laptop and desktop without any friction.

  • Spending some time looking at new computers, again…

    It was one of those days that looking at new laptops happened again… this time around I took a look at two different ones including:

    https://system76.com/laptops and https://hpdevone.com/

    Both of them circle back to being able to run the Pop!_OS (a linux based operating system). You can spend a lot of money using some of the configuration tools for those laptops and desktops for that matter. Over the years, I have mostly built my own custom computer desktop. This Dark Base Pro 900 powering the keyboard being used to write this weblog post is a custom built set of computer parts that I selected over the years. 

    My next build is likely going to be into an entirely new computer case and be entirely different parts. If you have been reading these posts long enough, then you might remember the Storm Stryker case which has since been discontinued. You can see a picture of it here: https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/legacy-products/cases/stryker-se/

    I’m going to tell you upfront that the Dark Base Pro 900 is a much quieter computer case. I have been really happy with it so far. Managing the thermals did involve installing a Corsair Commander Core XT which is currently controlling 5 fans and collecting data with two different temperature probes.

  • Replacing my Pixel 5 smartphone

    You may have guessed from the title of this post that my smartphone got replaced. It was a warranty replacement of a Pixel 5 smartphone with another one of the exact same make and model. Yes, this is a replacement of the 128 gigabyte Sorta Sage (mint green) phone I have had since 2020. Overall it has been a perfectly serviceable phone. Zero complaints exist from me about the device build or operation outside of the recent battery related incident. Apparently, unbenounced to me at the time the battery in my Pixel 5 smartphone was swelling up within the enclosure. The swelling was bad enough to actually separate the screen from the body housing by about two guitar picks. Generally the phone sits in a thin sort of clear plastic case unless it is being cleaned to help protect it from falls. This problem became noticeable for me based on the degree of rapid battery degrediation. I had to start charging the phone a couple of times a day which was undesirable. Online searches occurred and I was about to get a new portable battery pack. That action however would not have fixed the underlying problem. Based on the battery degradation symptom I ordered a replacement phone. 

    It arrived yesterday and the process of switching phones was reasonably painless. It was better than I remember the last time around. Both phones had to be mostly charged and connected together using a USB-C to USB-C cable. At this point, all of my cables are from the Google Store. After I started using the charging stands for the most part my cables have lasted a lot longer. The old phone provided charge and sent over a bunch of data to the new phone. Apparently, I have well over 100 applications that need to be downloaded and installed on the new phone. Really the only applications that are problematic for me are the 2 factor identification applications that have a unique key association. As you start to dip into the passwordless world of managing things by approval in applications you want to really make sure that your smartphone never gets lost or breaks. Keeping stacks of backup keys is generally problematic. 

    In practical terms, for the 2 factor identification applications and keys I had to make phone calls to talk to people about resets and other authentication things. That of course was a solvable problem and just took a bit of a commitment of time to resolve. You can certainly imagine the next problem beyond managing the 2 factor authentication concerns was entering passwords for accounts. The phone to phone transfer process did not sync all the accounts to be ready to rock and roll. That was not even an option during the process. I’m sure it is an option that does not exist for my own protection. The only thing I forgot to work out during the setup process was to enable bedtime mode to prevent unwanted chips, alerts, and other notifications overnight. That problem has been resolved this morning.

    A photo of the battery swelling case separation

  • Selling a computer case on eBay

    Winning that graphics card in the Newegg shuffle involved having to purchase and take possession of an unwanted computer case. It arrived yesterday basically in the box from ASUS with a shipping label on it. A lot of people are selling brand new listings of this case on eBay.[1] That tells me that a lot of the other people who purchased this case immediately turned around to sell it online. I’m probably going to end up selling mine at a loss, but I really wanted the graphics cards so that is the cost of doing business with Newegg and the shuffle system. The ASUS ROG z11 mini-itx/dtx mid-tower pc gaming case is smaller than any computer case I have ever used to build a machine. Sometime next year I will be replacing a few parts in this computer that I’m using right now. As of right now, the Windows Insider preview build of Windows 11 Pro has flagged that my computer does not meet the minimum hardware requirements. 

    For some reason Microsoft has decided to come up with a hardware requirement standard for WIndows 11 that will literally make more than half of all computers obsolete. The environmental cost and consequence alone of such a decision is mind boggling. Whoever came up with this decision should probably have to develop a method to handle all the elecontics waste they just created worldwide. That is a problem anyway for the computer industry. A good portion of the precious metals used to make a computer are very difficult to separate from the build making recycling very difficult. A large portion of old computer hardware ends up in landfills. 

    Footnotes:

    [1] It looks like this case has 16 listings on eBay and none of them have any visible traffic https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=ASUS+ROG+Z11+Mini-ITX%2FDTX+Mid-Tower+PC+Gaming+Case&_sacat=0&_sop=15 

  • Adding one computer case fan

    The only addition to the Dark Base Pro 900 Black rev. 2 from the “be quiet!” computer case I had to make with the new graphics card was the installation of a noctua NF-A20 computer case fan right at the front of the case between the normal front case fans and the hard drive cages.[1] That very large premium quality 200mm computer case fan barely fits in that spot. The other changes that I ended up making after installing the new graphics card happened at the bios level. First, I had to load up the ASUS UEFI bios utility to run the QFan control settings which ended up displaying, “All fan calibrating.” Second, I turned off the XMP element of the overclocking and allowed the CPU to run at its normal out of the box clock speed. My CPU is being cooled by a Corsair water cooling block and it exhausts up and out of the computer case. That means the heat generated by the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB graphics card is mostly centered in the middle of the case. The addition of that 200mm noctua computer case fan to push air directly across the case toward the open back has helped considerably. 

    The rear of the Dark Base Pro 900 only has one case fan and that was probably the root cause of the problem. Instead of having the heat exhaust out the back of the case the airflow from the fans at the top of the case was pulling the heat from the graphics card up into the water cooling block area where the CPU heat persists until thermally exchanged by the top fan exhaust. This entire blog post has been about adding one computer case fan. At some point, I’m going to need to take the fan out and file off just a little bit of the edge facing the glass window. I was able to secure the glass wall back on with the four thumb screws, but the fit was very tight and would benefit from a reduction of just a little bit of plastic edge on the noctua fan. 

    Footnotes:
    [1] Here is a direct link to that noctua NF-A20 fan https://noctua.at/en/products/fan/nf-a20-pwm