▒▓█ Hardware

SONY XZ1 COMPACT ▀ STRIPPING DOWN BLOATWARE + SOME PRIVACY TWEAKS

SONY XZ1 COMPACT ▀ STRIPPING DOWN BLOATWARE + SOME PRIVACY TWEAKS

UPDATED ON: 2023-02-06 v1.0b: please [contact me] if you find errors or inaccuracies. In this guide i will quickly show my system configuration tweaked for privacy. I’m using essential stuff like 3G/4G/WiFi & BT. Additional pleasantries are blocked. █ ANDROID 8: OS WITH MINIMAL TELEMETRY Operating System: Android 8.0 [Android 8.1 ain’t good, coz it brought support of neural networks to do effective data mining] Security patch: 1st September 2018 FW Version: 47.
THREADRIPPER 1950X + RADEON VII VS RYZEN 9 5950X + 6900XT

THREADRIPPER 1950X + RADEON VII VS RYZEN 9 5950X + 6900XT

Basic performance comparison. No conclusions - make your own. Testbed systems: Threadripper 1950X + Radeon VII / Ryzen 9 5950X + Radeon 6900XT OS: Windows 7 SP2+ ESU ENG Benchmark tool: AIDA64 v6.32.5600 / 6.33.5700 THREADRIPPER 1950X + RADEON VII THREADRIPPER 1950X + RADEON 6900XT RYZEN 9 5950X STOCK + 6900XT RYZEN 9 5950X OC + 6900XT Imagery by spacedrone808 @Adobe Imagery by spacedrone808 @Freepik
sHDD VS SSD VS NVME COMPARISON

sHDD VS SSD VS NVME COMPARISON

Basic performance comparison. No conclusions - make your own. Testbed systems: Ryzen 3 3100 / Ryzen 9 5950X + 64Gb DDR4 3600/3800Mhz OS: Windows 7 SP2+ ESU ENG Benchmark tool: CrystalDiskMark 8.0.2 sHDD [WD ST2000DX 8GB SSD CACHE / RYZEN 3 3100 / RAM:3600Mhz] SSD [SAMSUNG 860 QVO RYZEN 3 3100 / RAM:3600Mhz] NVME [SAMSUNG 970 PRO / RYZEN 3 3100 / RAM:3600Mhz] NVME [SAMSUNG 980 PRO / RYZEN 3 3100 / RAM:3600Mhz] NVME [SAMSUNG 980 PRO / RYZEN 3 3100 / RAM:3600@3800 Mhz] NVME [SAMSUNG 980 PRO / 5950X STOCK / RAM:3800 Mhz] NVME [SAMSUNG 980 PRO / 5950X OC / RAM:3800 Mhz] Imagery by spacedrone808 @Adobe Imagery by spacedrone808 @Freepik
RYZEN 9 5950X CINEBENCH R20 PERFORMANCE

RYZEN 9 5950X CINEBENCH R20 PERFORMANCE

Basic performance comparison. No conclusions - make your own. Testbed system: Ryzen 9 5950X + Radeon 6900XT OS: Windows 7 SP2+ ESU ENG Benchmark tool: Cinebench R20 [last version to support Windows 7] 5950X STOCK 5950X OC 5950X SINGLE THREAD Imagery by spacedrone808 @Adobe Imagery by spacedrone808 @Freepik
SONY XPERIA PRO-I VS NOKIA PUREVIEW 808 [2021 vs 2012]

SONY XPERIA PRO-I VS NOKIA PUREVIEW 808 [2021 vs 2012]

Updated on 2022.12.23 Added Landscape in detail section. CURRENTLY TEST IS NOT OPTIMIZED FOR MOBILE VIEW! IMAGE WIDTH >1600px IS RECOMMENDED! In [older posts] I’ve pointed to the fact that Nokia 808 is the most powerful camera-phone in terms of provided detail. I would like to remind you that previously tested [Samsung S20] and even [1-inch Panasonic CM1] can’t stand in direct competition to Nokia 808. Here are sample pictures.
COMPREHENSIVE MEMORY BENCHMARKING ON AM4 PLATFORM

COMPREHENSIVE MEMORY BENCHMARKING ON AM4 PLATFORM

It’s been a while since I’ve published something related to benchmarking. So here we go then: a quick Aida64 post in which you can observe results of little RAM overclock and how it is influence overall computer performance. I’ve come to conclusion that table representation will be more transparent rather than screenshots of the benchmark software. ► HARDWARE CONFIGURATIONS BENCHMARK TOOL: Aida64 v6.33.5700 [2021] MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra [Bios: F34] LOW-END PROFILE: Ryzen 3 3100 4-Core HI-END PROFILE: Ryzen 9 9590X 16-Core
NEO-GEO ▀ LUXURY CONSOLE OF THE 90s

NEO-GEO ▀ LUXURY CONSOLE OF THE 90s

UPDATED ON: 2024-09-06 Added two history videos. Not many people know about Japanese console [Neo Geo] . It was pretty powerful and brought arcade machine quality to home gaming. Pulse-pounding and jaw-dropping action scrollers were a calling card of Japanese gaming device. Comparatively to more common [Super Nintendo] and [MegaDrive] it was advertised as console with 24-bit GPU bus, which allows very big 2D-sprites, supporting up to 4096 colors. By release time [31 Jan 1990] it was super impressive.
DPREVIEW ▀ ANOTHER PRE-PAID SITE

DPREVIEW ▀ ANOTHER PRE-PAID SITE

It is a known fact that dxomark resource is a complete sellout and very prone to assign fake rankings. And no one in sane condition will use their results as a reference, because of their prepaid nature. dxomark’s cool conclusion of the past that iphone is better then [Nokia PureView 808] in terms of detail, makes me laugh till today. Days go by and it looks like we have another “winner” here – [dpreview] , to be precise.
X570s WITHOUT ACTIVE COOLING CONFIRMED TO WORK WITH WINDOWS 7

X570s WITHOUT ACTIVE COOLING CONFIRMED TO WORK WITH WINDOWS 7

Authoritative member of Win-Raid community [Canonkong] confirmed that x570s chipset is fully operational under Windows 7. In terms of overall compatibility he recommends MSI boards. Please note that [Asrock motherboards are not compatible with Windows 7] anymore because of notable BIOS changes. You’ll encounter A5/7E BSOD screens on random basis. The most distinctive feature of x570s chipset compared to x570 is absence of active cooling. Also it will support upcoming [Ryzen 5950XT] CPU with larger 192Mb L3 v-cache.
DUMB MARKETING PEOPLE ARE KILLING OVERALL QUALITY OF TECH THINGS

DUMB MARKETING PEOPLE ARE KILLING OVERALL QUALITY OF TECH THINGS

Long time ago I’ve noticed prolonged trend to destroy advanced technology and sell cheap plastic things, powered by marketing slogans, which have zero significance in real life. Appointed trend applies to almost any products in our life, especially consumer and even professional electronics. Some solid proof then. [COMMODORE] brought super advanced Amiga computer in the middle 80s, which had some really advanced stuff like GPU Blitter and Fast-Ram technologies. Nowadays Amd is working on stuff similar to Fast-Ram, which they call Smart Cache.
QUALITY 800% TROLLING OF GPU MANUFACTURERS

QUALITY 800% TROLLING OF GPU MANUFACTURERS

Most likely you already know [Captain_NA] from Denmark who is producing 3D-printed video-cards and doing awesome joke videos on his [YT channel] . MY FAVORITE IS ABOUT 3DFX VOODOO5 9000 … and of course latest one about nvidia 4090 Imagery by spacedrone808 @Adobe Imagery by spacedrone808 @Freepik
NOKIA E72 ▀ RETRO BLAST FROM THE PAST

NOKIA E72 ▀ RETRO BLAST FROM THE PAST

I’ve decided to make a quick overview while my trusty Nokia 808 is in service. So I have some time to use Nokia E72 as my main GSM ringer. What can I say about Nokia? Yeaaah, this is Nokia. I’m talking about original one, not about HMD concern of China, which make cheap android-based phones and awful camera-phones like [Nokia PureView 9] . Speaking of [Nokia E72] , it is a premium business smartphone of mid 2000s era.
3DFX SITE & VOGONS DRIVERS LIBRARY

3DFX SITE & VOGONS DRIVERS LIBRARY

Collection of 3DFX Voodoo drivers and essential driver library from VOGONS community for retro scavengers. [Neat 3DFX site] ►supported by Polish enthusiast. [Voodoo 4/5 drivers] [Vogons drivers library] ► found drivers for my rare [Pro Audio Spectrum 16] soundcard. Imagery by spacedrone808 @Adobe Imagery by spacedrone808 @Freepik
HOW I HAVE SWITCHED MY SOUNDCARD FROM ASUS TO ESI

HOW I HAVE SWITCHED MY SOUNDCARD FROM ASUS TO ESI

For some time I’ve owned Asus Essense STX II sound-card with cool hardware internals, but sh#t-like drivers. Very common situation for modern reality. Except the fact that card is not so modern at all. Asus dropped [driver support] for Windows 7 @ 2015. How cool is that? After some web searching I’ve stumbled upon [Maxedtech drivers] . The overall quality is better, some bugs are fixed, some appeared, but even at this point was not satisfied with system stability.
FASTEST AMD-BASED CARDS FOR LEGACY WINDOWS 98/2000/XP/7

FASTEST AMD-BASED CARDS FOR LEGACY WINDOWS 98/2000/XP/7

Quick breakdown of the most powerful AMD-based cards for legacy operating systems. [X850XT PE] ► WINDOWS 98 [official drivers] / Omega drivers ] [HD 3870 X 2] ► WINDOWS 2000 [official drivers] plus some INF tinkering, will review that one later on [HD 5970] ► WINDOWS 2000 [Blackwingcat hacks] [R9 270X] ► WINDOWS XP [official drivers] [6950XT] ► WINDOWS 7 [official drivers] ◄ currently rocking on that one under Windows 7 wing.
GRAVIS ULTRASOUND ▀ BEST DEMO MIDI FILES

GRAVIS ULTRASOUND ▀ BEST DEMO MIDI FILES

In early 90s, during days of light-hearted childhood, I used to own [Gravis Ultrasound Max] ► cool wave-table based audio card. Pretty strong rival to [Sound Blaster from Creative Labs] . Card held nice instruments in its RAM and was gooood at playing Midi files. Signal-to-noise ratio was better than in Sound Blaster, but card struggle to compete with [Pro Audio Spectrum 16] . It’s a pity that I don’t own card anymore and that is why can’t do quality pictures of it.
FiiO ▀ HI-FI ARMATURE MULTI-DRIVER EARPHONES

FiiO ▀ HI-FI ARMATURE MULTI-DRIVER EARPHONES

Do we really need expensive Sennheiser? In youth dates, I was fond of exploiting expensive audio technics.As for earphones, my favorite brand was Bayerdynamic. However, some time ago I have discovered relatively inexpensive headphones from Chinese brand [Fiio] . As a listener of wide gamut of music like ambient, trance, dub, psybient, jazz, metal: I have to say that this headphones provide totally unexpected level of audio quality. Especially if we’ll consider the price.
SOME NOTES ON SONY XPERIA XZ1 COMPACT

SOME NOTES ON SONY XPERIA XZ1 COMPACT

UPDATED ON: 2023-02-16 I’m not a big fan of Sony smartphones. Yeah, their products almost always packed with technology, but in terms of engineering ideas and realization things they suck pretty badly. Same point of view regarding their photography division. But nevertheless I’m using Sony XZ1 Compact as my main portable web gateway on daily basis. Using it due to ultra-compact size and no alternatives available. It’s a 2017 flagship, based upon Snapdragon 835 CPU and paired with 4Gb of RAM.
WANTED RETRO COMPUTER PARTS FOR SOCKET A [462]

WANTED RETRO COMPUTER PARTS FOR SOCKET A [462]

Just a list of items i’m currently seeking for my Windows DOS/98 SE project. It will be primarily focused on simultaneous AGP and ISA availability. Build is almost complete: ETA time -> 1-2 month! 1. CPU: AMD Athlon Barton 3200+ 2. Mobo: Epox EP-8KTA3 or Abit KT7A [motherboard should have AGP and ISA buses] 3. RAM: PC133, 3 x 128Mb 4. Video card: ATI Radeon X850XT PE / X850XT / 9800XT or 3DFX Voodoo 5500
MY DAILY DRIVER RIG BASED UPON RYZEN 5950X RUNNING WINDOWS 7

MY DAILY DRIVER RIG BASED UPON RYZEN 5950X RUNNING WINDOWS 7

UPDATED ON: 2022-05-17 Added latest AIDA64 FPU benchmark to show supremacy over 12900K UPDATED ON: 2022-05-04 This is the most powerful configuration, which runs Windows 7 without any issues or side effects. Threadripper 3XXX is possible, but micro freezes and stuttering are present, so it is not a viable option for smooth experience. UPDATED ON: 2021-08-19 Added some benchmarks for more clearness. Internet is swarming with [amateurish articles about “incompatibility”] of modern hardware with legacy Windows 7 operating system.
HOW TO CREATE NEAT PICTURES WITH NOKIA PUREVIEW 808

HOW TO CREATE NEAT PICTURES WITH NOKIA PUREVIEW 808

2022-12-05 Fixed some errors and added misc info 2021-12-08 Final cleanup, brought some glitter to the post 2021-08-14 Fixed errors, added some additional stuff. If you found mistakes please [report me back] . Some useful information accumulated during last three years of Nokia 808 usage. Most of the advises mentioned here could be easily applied to any camera or smartphone. ░ CAMERA MOD [MODIFICATION OF CAMERA APP] At the very beginning you need to make sure that you have installed [Osenok & Timoxa_ resolution patch] .
WHY NOKIA 808 SMARTPHONE STILL RELEVANT IN 2021

WHY NOKIA 808 SMARTPHONE STILL RELEVANT IN 2021

UPDATE: 2021-12-08 Updated CameraMod to the latest version, fixed some links. UPDATE: 2021-08-10 Added links and additional info. Warning some links are missing, please be patient. Some solid facts about this stunning photo-communication device. ░ WHY NOKIA 808 IS SO COOL Best camera resolution ever: giant sensor 1/1.2", max.resolution: 7728 x 5368pix, ND filter, xenon flash, ability to take pictures up to 41.5Mpix ► [Samsung S20 Ultra] can’t provide more detail.
WINDOWS XP ON DELL M4700 [UPGRADED TO THE MAX]

WINDOWS XP ON DELL M4700 [UPGRADED TO THE MAX]

Today, I finally fixed my laptop workstation from 2012. Model [Dell M4700] to be precise. Replaced old 2.4Ghz Dell 1504 WiFi module and installed brand new 1540 model with 5Ghz support ordered on eBay. Web speedtest shows around 200 Mbit/s. I’m satisfied with the result. High performance quad-core cpu i7-3740QM (4c/8t) in conjunction with 8Gb of RAM and paired with 2Gb Quadro K1000M workstation video chip can do wonders (of course only within Windows XP abilities).
NOKIA PUREVIEW 808 & BIG SD-CARDS

NOKIA PUREVIEW 808 & BIG SD-CARDS

UPDATED ON: 2023-09-19 Device supports [1Tb Sandisk SD cards] without any issues! Many of you already know about this [legendary Symbian-based camera-phone] . It has impressive resolution and detail, which can’t be matched by modern camera-phones even in 2021. In this quick note i’d like to show ability of the device to work with large SD cards. Sandisk Extreme 400Gb A2 V30 was selected for testing. To my surprise device handled media without any hassles.
FIRST NOTE FOR READERS

FIRST NOTE FOR READERS

This will be lil’ personal blog about retro computer technology. If you are interested in things like [Pentium MMX] , [Windows 7] , [Nokia camera-phones] or just simply would like to know about vintage computer stuff of the past then please come on in. But sometimes you will oversee appearance of modern tech like [Nvme SSD] & [AMD Ryzen CPUs] . Just to diversify blog and don’t be so monotonous.

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