New computer ‘trail’

I have built a new computer ‘trail‘ out of my old workstation ‘tradition‘. I was able to do this because I migrated the VirtualBox VMs that were running on ‘tradition’ over to QEMU/KVM VMs now running on ‘lore‘.

My new computer ‘trail’ is setup as the recording workstation for the “booth” in my studio. This is good because now I can record at 4K in the booth!

I don’t use Windows much these days but this new studio workstation runs Windows 11 Pro. I haven’t used software RAID on Windows before but for this workstation I setup a RAID1 mirror using 2x 2TB NVMe drives. I was able to configure the block size for the NTFS file system so I picked 2MB (which was the maximum) as this RAID array will only be for storing video recordings (which are huge files).

In The Lab With Jay Jay – November 21, 2023 – Mail Call! Cheap Stuff From China!

This post is part of my video blog: In The Lab With Jay Jay.

Silly Job Title: Science Officer

Support this channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Today we’re gonna take a look at what arrived recently from AliExpress. They were having a sale so I purchased some natty tools and a few consumables. Details below. I made some notes at the time of purchase if you’re interested in what I paid for this stuff.

In the video I refer to the workstation I am planning to buy for the studio. When I get this new computer I should be able to improve the quality of my YouTube videos. If you’re interested in the details the new computer I’m planning is ‘victory‘. In the video I say this new computer will cost me AUD$6,000, but it’s looking like it will cost more like AUD$7,500 (roughly USD$5,000), so I will have to save my pennies! The Dell OptiPlex computer that I am presently using is ‘wonder‘.

In the video I refer to “box openers”. If you know what these things are actually called, please do let me know!

The spider who popped up on my bench during the recording of this video was found later. He, um, didn’t make it…

Following are some links to where you can buy any of the equipment seen in this video. These are not affiliate links because AliExpress doesn’t support affiliate links for this merchandise. So you get these links for free and from the bottom of my heart. :)

Equipment Link

Digital meter
Digital Voltmeter Ammeter DC 100V 10A Amp Voltage Current Meter Tester 0.28 Inch Dual LED Display Panel with Connect Wires

Heat Shrink Wire Connectors
100pcs Heat Shrink Wire Connectors Red Heat Shrink AWG 22 To 18 Butt Electrical Connectors Tinned Solder Sealed Terminals

Heat Shrink Wire Connectors
300pcs Box Solder Sealed Wire Connectors Heat Shrink Solder Butt Connectors Solder Connector Kit Automotive Marine Insulation

JST XH2.54 Connector Kit
230 Pcs XH2.54 2p 3p 4p 5pin 2.54mm Pitch Terminal Male And Female Housing Kit Pin Connector Terminal Connector Kit

Crowbar
Car Audio Disassembly Tool Stainless Steel PryClip Rocker Crowbar Bar Door Panel Disassembly Pry Panel Interior

Drill extension
3PC Hexagonal Quick Release Self-locking Extension Rod Electric Drill Driver Quick Transfer Rod Screwdriver Extension Rod Tool

Telescopic magnet
1pc 8lb Orange Red Handle Magnetic Pickup Stainless Steel Antenna Retractable Suction Iron Rod Strong Magnetic Suction Rod Tools

Dismantling tools
22 In 1 Multifunctional Disassembly Tool Mobile Phone iPad Laptop Screwdriver Maintenance Kit Repair Tools Opening Set For Hand

Telescopic Magnetic Pickup w/ Light
Telescopic Pickup Magnetic Iron Rod Household Automotive Repair And Inspection Tool Strong Magnetic Metal Screw Suction Rod

Knife blades
100/50pcs Knife DIY Wood Carving Fruit Food Scalpel Craft Sculpture Cutting Tool Metal Engraving Blades Knifes Wood Carving Disc

Heat Shrink Wire Connectors
100pcs Waterproof Solder Seal Heat Connector Shrink Butt Connectors Lug Terminals Electrical Wire Car Insulated Terminal

JST XH2.54 Pre-crimped Connector Kit
2.54mm XH Connector Socket + Pre-crimped Cable Wire 2/3/4/5/6/7 Pin Housing JST Adapter Cable Male Female for JST-XH Connector

Multifunction Hooks
4Pcs 160mm Car Auto Vehicle Oil Seal Screwdrivers Set O Ring Gasket Puller Remover Pick Hooks Multifunction Tools

Stainless Steel Tray
1PC Stainless Steel Cosmetic Storage Tray Tattoo Equipment Tray Doctor Surgery Dental Tray Fake Nail Tray Tool

Spudger set
5PCs Car Audio Trim Removal Tool Kit Anti-Scratch Pry Applicable Car Door Panel and Audio Dashboard

IC Chip Pickup Tool
IC Chip Pickup Tools Pen Extractor Electronic Parts Gripper Electronic Repair Tools

JST XH2.54 6pin pre-crimped
2.54mm JST Connector with 22AWG Pre-Crimped Wire, 2/3/4/5/6 Pin Housing JST Adapter Cable Connector 20cm Wire

Metal spudgers
6PCS Metal Crowbar with Two Ends Universal Mobile Phone Digital Home Appliance Product Dismantling Stick Shell Opening Tool

New motherboard: ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR

Ordered myself a new motherboard today, the ASUS ProArt B550-CREATOR. This new board will replace my ASUS PRIME B550M-A in my new/upgraded computer ‘lore‘ (which is replacing ‘longing‘).

This new board has 2x M.2 PCIe 4.0 (as with the old motherboard), 2x 2.5Gbps Ethernet (compared to 1x 1Gbps Ethernet in my old motherboard), and 3x PCIe 16x slots (compared to 1x PCIe 16x slot in my old motherboard).

I will put in 2x M.2 PCIe 4x adapters and 2x M.2 PCIe 1x adapters which will mean I am able to install 6x M.2 drives: 2x Kioxia 256GB, 2x Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, and 2x PNY 1TB.

I will also put in a quad 2.5Gbps PCIe Ethernet adapter which will give me six 2.5Gbps Ethernet ports in total (two onboard and four on PCIe 16x).

When I’m done all four RAM slots will be full (4x Corsair Vengeance 32GB 3200MHz DDR4), both the M.2 slots will be full, all three of the PCIe 16x slots will be full, all four SATA ports will be full (3x Western Digital WD Ultrastar DC HC550 16TB and 1x ASUS BW-16D1HT PRO 16X Blu-ray burner), and both PCIe 1x slots will be full too. Also there will be a bunch of high speed USB ports available on both the front and the back of the case. I feel like I have really squeezed a lot of juice out of this system, it’s operating very close to capacity.

I’m kinda dreading plugging in the USB attachments to the front panel, but I guess if I RTFM and apply some thought I will be able to figure that out.