Tolon Network

When Disaster Strikes!

Daniel — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:25:07 +0000

Hardware failures happen. It’s a fact of life. But one does not expect two broken PCs in two years.

I’ve had two motherboard failures in two years now. Sucks i say, sucks!!!! I turn on my PC and it powers up but there is no POST screen or video, and system is unrepsonsive requiring me to switch off at the plug to shut down.

A friend of mine suggested that the power supply may be the cause. I’m inclined to agree as the only component that was the same on both systems was the Coolermaster Powersupply.

I’ve spent £170 on a new Powersupply and Motherboard. I’m praying that i’ve diagnosed the failure’s cause as i spent a day testing the components in another PC.

If i’m happily gaming on Friday all will be well and i can put this episode behind me. Otherwise i’ll throw in the towel and buy an XBox 360 as PC failures have done me in.

Update

My assumption was correct, the motherboard was fried. When i say fried i meant BURNT. There is a black/brown patch on the Printed Circuit Board.

Also a few of the chips on the burned patch are melted and you can see where they fizzled and cooked whilst burning. How this happened, who can know? I just know i won’t be buying Biostar again.

My new motherboard is a MSI P55A-G55.

The highlights are it’s two USB 3.0 and two SATA 6Gb/s ports. That makes it a futurish proof motherboard. It’s also geared to overclockers and i’m running it at 3.5ghz and with my Corsair H50 watercooling setup it stays at a cool 60 Degrees Celcius at Full Load.

I hope this motherboard lasts as i have mentioned above, hardware failures are pushing me towards leaving PC Gaming behind and transforming into a console smack talking noob.

Update #2

Seems my new MSI motherboard was a DUD. It failed after two weeks of use. Not only did i not get a refund or replacement. I was suckered into buying another motherboard. I reckon i should of packed it in and called it a day. PC’s do not like me!!

Update #3

I’m now back online and running with help from the Asus P7P55D LE.

No problems SO FAR. I don’t know if crossing my fingers will help this time. Here’s hoping.

Medal of Honor Beta PC

Daniel — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:02:19 +0000

For owners of Battlefield Bad Company 2 (purchased on Steam) you should now have access to the Medal of Honor Multiplayer Beta.

Medal of Honor is an upcoming first-person shooter video game in the Medal of Honor series, developed by EA Los Angeles and DICE, due for release on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 October 12, 2010. The game will be a reboot of the series, set in modern-day Afghanistan during the 2001 War in Afghanistan. Medal of Honor’s single-player campaign will use a heavily-modified version of Unreal Engine 3 and its multiplayer will use the Frostbite engine. This game is expected to utilize dedicated servers as hinted by Sean Decker, General Manager at EA, in Atomic PC’s feature article.

I’ve played as all three classes. You can choose Rifleman, Spec Ops and Sniper. You start off with a basic loadout and unlock attachments, scopes and new ammo by playing and gaining experience points. This is a nod to Modern Warfare 2 and the game does have a lot of similarities.

The size of the maps are small compared to Battlefield Bad Company 2, also more in line with Modern Warfare 2.

As i’ve said above i’ve played all three classes but i was the Sniper mostly so i’ll talk about it from experience. The thing that struck me first about the sniper class was the lack of a default sniper rifle. Your default loadout is a semi-automatic rifle which is a two shot minimum kill.

What also is a BIG no no is that the unlocked bolt action sniper rifle is very weak in the damage department and the accuracy could do with increasing.

It is a beta however so there is time and room for improvement.

Medal of Honor will be releaased on October 12, 2010. Checkout my sniper video below!

Media

www.youtube.com/watch?v=llDOnczFeoU

Blackmagic Intensity Pro

Daniel — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:53:50 +0000

This is a run-through of the Blackmagic Intensity Pro which is a combined Audio and Video capture card. It supports the Windows, Mac and Linux platforms and can capture and output from HDMI, S-Video and Composite sources.

What it can do

It can capture and output the following Audio / Visual connections.

HDMI
Composite
S-Video
Component

Capturing PC gets easier

For those people who have older graphics cards without HDMI output on the PC can capture in HDMI + Analogue RCA Audio which allows you to connect to the HDMI input via a DVI to HDMI cable and connect a 3.5mm audio to RCA L/R cable to the RCA L/R input on the breakout cable -- A nice feature.

What it cannot do

Capture HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital-Content Protection) through the HDMI interface.

HDCP encrypts the transmission of digital content between the video source, or transmitter such as a computer, DVD player or set-top box and the digital display, or receiver such as a monitor, television or projector. HDCP is not designed to prevent copying or recording of digital content but to protect the integrity of content as it is being transmitted.

To most people this means set top Cable / Satellite boxes and the Playstation 3. All is not lost on the Playstation 3 front however as Playstation 3 composite cables can be found for less than £5 / $5 / €10

What about 1080p?

1080 is thrown about a lot with the Blackmagic Intensity Pro but the capture card is just not capable of capturing at full 1080 Progressive. It can capture at 1080 Interlaced at the maximum of 30fps however. (60 fps interlaced to 30 fps)

Technical Specifications

High Definition Formats:	1080i50, 1080i59.94, 1080i60, 1080p23.98, 1080p24, 720p50, 720p59.94, 720p60.
Standard Definition Formats:	625i/50 PAL and 525i/59.94 NTSC.
Digital Video Input:	1 x HDMI input.
Digital Video Output:	1 x HDMI output.
Supported HDMI formats:	525 NTSC, 625 PAL, 720HD and 1080HD switchable.
HDMI Audio Input:	2 Channels.
HDMI Audio Output:	2 Channels.
Analog Video Input:	Component, NTSC, PAL or S-Video.
Analog Video Output:	Component, NTSC, PAL or S-Video.
Analog Audio Input:	2 Channel RCA HiFi audio in 24 bit.
Analog Audio Output:	2 Channel RCA HiFi audio in 24 bit.
SPDIF Audio Output:	2 Channel 24 bit.
HD Down Conversion	Real time 1080HD and 720HD to standard definition during video playback. Selectable between letterbox, anamorphic 16:9 and center cut 4:3.
HD Up Conversion	Real time standard definition to 1080HD and 720HD during video capture.
Real Time Effects	Apple Final Cut Pro internal effects on Mac OS X. Adobe Premiere Pro internal effects in DV, DVCPRO HD, MJPEG and uncompressed edit formats.
Installation	Installation: PCI Express 1 lane, compatible with 1,4,8,16 lane PCI Express slots on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
Operating System Compatibility	Compatible with Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X and Linux.

Media

This is a test video i made in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for the PC platform. It was taken at 1080i at 30 fps. I de-interlaced the video using TMPGEnc Xpress 4.0 and encoded it at 12-15k Variable Bit Rate, 2-passes in Mainconcept H.264

www.youtube.com/watch?v=quZlHJLW_uQ

You can also download the RAW footage from here:
Blackmagic Intensity Pro 1080 Quality Test Video (Approx 145mb)

Disable Thumbs.db in Windows 7 Home Premium and All Editions

Daniel — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:29:00 +0000

Introduction

For those of you who wish the quick fix and no explanation i have you covered.

Download file #1:

1. http://www.tolon.net/files/articles/DisableThumbsDB.zip

The archive above contains a registry file.

Open the file and select Yes and Ok.
Restart your Machine.

You are done!

Please note -- Existing Thumbs.db files will still exist on your machine but new ones will not be created after the registry file is applied.

This fix has been tested on the following editions of Windows 7:

Home Premium
Enterprise
Professional
Ultimate

The Explanation

I created a tutorial on disabling Thumbs.db in Windows 7 on October 2009 but people rightly pointed out that the method i used was impossible on Windows 7 Home Premium Edition and below as those lower editions do not contain the Group Policy Editor.

I must admit i didn’t pay much attention until recently when i ran into the issue on a laptop with Windows Home Premium installed.

I did what anyone with a brain would do, i Googled it. Google let me down however as no-one seemed to have posted up a fix to this problem so i rubbed my hands together and got stuck in.

The first thing i did was research the Group Policy Editor. What i found out was that it was a glorified registry editor. I realised that there was nothing stopping me from adding the registry keys manually for disabling Thumbs.db file generation.

The problem was finding the right registry keys. After more google searching i discovered this page.

2. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=18c90c80-8b0a-4906-a4f5-ff24cc2030fb&displaylang=en

These are Microsoft Excel spreadsheets that contain a list of registry locations for the settings you can change in the Group Policy Editor.

I found the relevant registry location in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer.

I checked in Windows Home Premium and the location did not exist. It did exist on Windows 7 Ultimate however.

I exported the registry key in Windows 7 Ultimate and imported it in Windows 7 Home Premium and rebooted my computer.

Eureka! No more Thumbs.db files were generated in Windows 7 Home Premium.

I hope this has helped.

Screencast

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqYXmx6snsA

BANG! POW! Tolon is back with his Huge Magnum!

Daniel — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:03:08 +0000

Thats right i’m back with another Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer Commentary!

Oh My God!!! (SMALL CAPS WITH EXCLAMATIONS FOR THE WIN!)

Today i’m playing Modern Warfare 2 on Favela and if you look at the large picture of a Magnum above and read the post title you can guess that i’m using the Magnum Hand Cannon!!!! in akimbo.

It’s good to be back, lets roll!

Media

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUseAIeY9qo

Counter-Strike Source updated to Orange Box Engine!

Daniel — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:19:04 +0000

Counter-Strike Source the game we all love has been updated!!! It’s not a little update this time either, it’s an update to the Orange Box engine which powers Team Fortress 2 and Day of Defeat Source.

Another benefit of the update is it allows MAC users to now play with PC users. Awesome stuff!

The update is purported to bring hitbox and netcode fixes, performance improvements, achievements and other goodies. You can read the full patch notes below.

Get downloading now!

Valve Patch Notes for Counter-Strike Source

Updates to Counter-Strike: Source have been released and the game is now available on the Mac. To celebrate this update, Counter-Strike: Source will be on sale for 66% off until Friday. For more information, click here.

The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

General

144 achievements added
New lifetime player stats and summary screens
New match player stats and summary screens
New end of round display with MVP and interesting fact about a player
Updated scoreboard with new icons, visual style, MVP stars, and avatar pictures
New cinematic death camera
New domination and revenge system
Added avatar icons to voice chat, scoreboard, and end of round display
Incorporated many source engine updates
Disallowed the use of arbitrary command strings for the message of the day screen. Now only a specific list of commands is allowed.
Addressed issue in which AWPs and Scouts sometimes did not make the zooming sound.
cvar mat_showlowresimage is now a cheat command.
Many development console commands which would crash the server removed.
Updated source engine addresses many issues:
Better flashlight effect
Better HDR behavior
Multicore rendering support
Added sv_disablefreezecam cvar to turn off the freezecam on a server.
Added sv_nonemesis cvar to turn off domination/revenge on a server.
Added sv_nomvp cvar to turn off MVP stars on a server.
Added sv_nostats cvar to turn off stats on a server.
Removed -tickrate command line option and defaulted tick rate to 66 rather than 33. This addressed a number of issues, including:
Tick rate affecting how fast doors open / close
Tick rate causing players hitting the ground to stutter
Tick rate affecting the firing mechanisms of certain guns

Added the following cvars to allow players to customize their scoreboards.
cl_scoreboard_ct_color_red
cl_scoreboard_ct_color_green
cl_scoreboard_ct_color_blue
cl_scoreboard_t_color_red
cl_scoreboard_t_color_green
cl_scoreboard_t_color_blue
cl_scoreboard_dead_color_red
cl_scoreboard_dead_color_green
cl_scoreboard_dead_color_blue
Changed the screen that appears when the message of the day fails to load to display proper error text.
Made the CT silhouette for the auto-select option in the Choose a Class screen smaller and corrected its aspect ratio.
Addressed a problem that occasionally caused characters to be colored incorrectly on the Change a Class screen.

Gameplay

Made ladders easier to climb. Added cvars sv_ladder_dampen and sv_ladder_angle.
Fixed issue that awarded three points when the bomb explodes after the round ends by elimination criteria instead.
Fixed issue in which you weren’t given credit for grenade damage if you fired a weapon at someone then hit them with a grenade (in that order). Also fixed problem in which grenading a player and then killing them with another weapon showed as ‘*** in 1’ on console.
There’s now a priority order for displaying win conditions when multiple win conditions are set.
If timelimit exists and is not 0, then show timelimit.
If timelimit does not exist, show maxrounds if not 0.
If both timelimit and maxrounds are 0, show winlimit.
If timelimit, maxrounds, and winlimit are all 0, show nothing.
Added a cvar to ignore win conditions: mp_ignore_round_win_conditions.

Left 4 Dead Funnies!

Daniel — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:44:07 +0000

I was surfing around YouTube today looking at random stuff like you do and i came across this Left 4 Dead video. I must of watched it like ten times and i’m still laughing.

I could understand this from a Xbox Live kiddie but this appears to be on the PC!

And here is the video

Watch this without laughing and your a legend!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xodt0vxrnmk

P.S. Keep an eye out for the EPIC HUNTER OWNAGE JUMP!

Sniper Ghost Warrior DEMO from Start to Finish!

Daniel — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 01:25:22 +0000

Sniper Ghost Warrior is a stealth action game with emphasis on sniping hence the “Sniper” in the name. It has surprisingly good visuals for a game made with the Chrome gaming engine.

Your thrown in a jungle setting for the demo and tasked with sneaking through scrub brush between enemy soldiers to reach your over-watch point where the fun begins.

The demo from start to finish lasts no longer than twenty minutes which gives you just a taste of what the game is like but i admit i am left wanting more.

I have a good respect for City Interactive for releasing the demo before the game ships and i wish more PC developers would do this. I think Sniper Ghost Warrior might get added to my collection of Steam games when it’s released later this month. I highly recommend you check the demo out.

City Interactive are publishing and developing the game and it’s due a release on June 25th 2010 in Europe and June 29th 2010 in the United States. It will be available on PC and the Xbox 360.

Demo

You can download the Sniper Ghost Warrior DEMO here!

Media

You can view the Sniper Ghost Warrior play-through videos below!

Sniper Ghost Warrior Demo Part 1

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti7yWtnqgn8

Sniper Ghost Warrior Demo Part 2

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0K6HlVilNo

Call of Duty Black Ops coming November 9th 2010

Daniel — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:10:42 +0000

Call me a Call of Duty fan boy and you’d be right. Since i tried Modern Warfare 2 i cannot get enough of the Call of Duty series. It is under development by Treyarch, the same studio which brought us Call of Duty World at War.

The game is said to be set in various locations, including Vietnam and Cuba and is scheduled to be released on November 9th 2010. Scratch that day into your calendars!

I for one am getting my pre-order in there as soon as it’s available on Steam.

Media

You can view some Call of Duty Black Ops videos below!

Call of Duty: Black Ops Demo -- IGN Live E3 2010

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNjOGZlGtJY

This video from IGN’s E3 coverage shows some gameplay from the small country of LAOS. It’s a great jungle environment and you see the player fighting with the CAR-15 Commando rifle with grenade launcher attached and it goes on to a wicked looking chopper sequence where you get to blow up all enemies in sight with gunfire and rockets. Awesome stuff!

Call of Duty: Black Ops -- Uncut Trailer

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfWHD8tZQY

This is the uncut trailer for the game and it shows a lot of nice action sequences.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 from Start to Finish!

Daniel — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:36:11 +0000

Watch my journey through Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Singleplayer from start to finish. It took me about 5-6 hours of recording to complete the game and I believe I died once.

Click on the link below and it will take you to a YouTube playlist. Click the first video, put your feet up and enjoy!

Watch Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Single player Videos!

Watch my Gaming videos on YouTube!

Daniel — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:40:18 +0000

Like Pow!

Watch some Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 ownage on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TolonGaming

Here’s Johnny!

Daniel — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:01:27 +0000

My next Modern Warfare 2 video is online. I take the M9 Pistol with Tactical Knife attachment for a spin on Sub Base. You can guess what happens next!

Video below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB-k2NCDim8

1080i or 720p?

Daniel — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:04:49 +0000

After the current crop of videos are completed i’m going to be uploading my MW2 videos in a max resolution of 720p, down from 1080i. I will be doing this because i’ve noticed that capturing in 720p at 60fps looks better and the action is easier to follow than 1080i at 29.97 fps.

The only problem is that i have 13 more videos to upload before any of the 720p captured content will be uploaded.

I believe this is the best decision as a good portion of computers cannot play 1080 HD video from YouTube smoothly, and the video sharing site seems to re-encode my 1080 video badly, resulting in not much better picture quality than 720p.

The only exception will be the further Left 4 Dead 2 videos that i will be uploading sometime next month. As they are originally recorded in 1080p native, they will not suffer from the framerate problems of 1080i so you should be able to view them at full quality.

Thought i should give a heads up on whats going on with the videos, Stay tuned!

Sniper Series

Daniel — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:21:00 +0000

View my journey from Noob Sniper to slightly less Noob Sniper!

In a video series from #1 to #7 i explore the Intervention and take my throwing knife for a spin.

Videos Incoming!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufoobmc2SB0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=46QnxDjWx6o

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BDDMYwibJM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZic7Y7BmDc

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqOMPg3k6_c

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIJSC2V6FJQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PltUB-w-W3M

Dark Carnival

Daniel — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:49:25 +0000

I’m continuing speed-run through Left 4 Dead 2. This time around I’m taking my chances through the Dark Carnival campaign.

Left 4 Dead 2 -- Dark Carnival #1 Highwway

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjLnNTYHsvE

Left 4 Dead 2 -- Dark Carnival #2 Fairgrounds

www.youtube.com/watch?v=330Dx-YX74I

Left 4 Dead 2 -- Dark Carnival #3 Coaster

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TqfgYDbsMk

Left 4 Dead 2 -- Dark Carnival #4 Barns

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MiSEPh_H40

Left 4 Dead 2 -- Dark Carnival #5 Concert

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW1e7zO5KX4

Dead Center

Daniel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:05:50 +0000

I’ve recorded a speed-run through the Dead Center campaign of Left 4 Dead 2 in Full HD. Thats 1080p!

You can view the first video below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMs9Nchib7I

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcYdLk1_-gU

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MMI8B5lj_A

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?=CBAovi3P3a8

I’ll be adding the further three videos over the next few days.

Tolon Gaming has launched!

Daniel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:19:50 +0000

I went and got myself a Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro capture card.

This little piece of kit supports HDMI In & Out, S-Video & Component In & Out. What’s great is that you can mix it up, as in my case i’m using HDMI In and L/R Audio In jacks as my Nvidia graphics card in my PC does not support HDMI Audio Output.

What it allows you to do is pass your visual and audio signals through the card, recording whatever is outputted by your graphics card in real-time. I happened to have a spare machine with a Western Digital RaptorX hard drive installed so the Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro was a match made in heaven.

My only gripe with the setup is not the fault of the Blackmagic team. The Blackmagic card records in 1080i at 29.97 fps which is supported badly by my 28″ Hanns-G monitor. There is clear screen flickering due to the refresh rate whilst playing but after a while it becomes unnoticeable.

So what about Tolon Gaming?

I’ve been testing out my capture card for a day or so now and I decided to setup a new YouTube channel dedicated to showing game play footage including great matches, terrible fails and general walkthroughs of games you might not have played before.

I’d like to keep Tolon Gaming separate from my Tolon Network YouTube channel to avoid confusion so if Tolon Gaming sounds like your cup of tea, please subscribe and 5-star ratings are always welcome!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TolonGaming

Update

You can view my first video below. YouTube was fighting me tooth and nail about uploading it but here you go.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=74sSTynJtUI

The Difference A Little Cooling Can Make

Daniel — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:39:19 +0000

This is a followup from the previous news article at http://www.tolon.net/2010/02/intel-retail-heatsinks-suck/

After my discovery of the state of my CPU temperatures last week I decided I was going to spend some hard earned money on a good cooling system for my CPU. I shopped around and to my delight discovered an inexpensive water cooling kit from Corsair named the H50.

Installation

I’ve always been a bit daunted by water cooling kits as visions of fire hydrant style leaks spring to mind whenever I picture myself booting up my system. The H50 however is a completely self contained unit so no fiddling about with cutting tubes and checking seals is required. Awesome!

Installation was a straight forward but those who have cases with built-in CPU backplate holes will find installing this kit a breeze.

The kit itself comes with a Radiator, 120mm Fan and the Pump/Reservoir. Two fan headers, 1x 4pin and 1x 3 pin are required for powering the unit. This was a bit troubling for me and a tight squeeze on my motherboard but I managed to get everything to fit.

Boot-up and Testing

On a clean boot-up I immediately noticed a vast drop in temperatures which were hovering around an average of 17-20 degrees celcius. Encouraged by these numbers I ran a stress testing application named wPrime and the results were encouraging. At it’s peak of 100% CPU utilization the temperatures only hit 50-55 degrees celcius, an amazing difference!

Not content there I restarted my computer, entered the bios and began to overclock. I settled on a 1Ghz overclock which brought my CPU from it’s default speed of 2.8Ghz to 3.8Ghz. I had to raise voltages to keep the system stable but I’m very impressed with the results I achieved and the maximum temperatures I receive now that my CPU is overclocked.

Overclocking

The pictures below show my temperatures in Speedfan with the 1Ghz overclock at idle and 100% CPU utilization. I’ve also included my CPU-Z screenshot.

Conclusion

If I’ve discovered one thing from this temperatures debacle and its that you shouldn’t cut costs in the cooling department when it comes to building your own system. I thought I could get away with the stock Intel cooler and heatsink when I built my Core i7 system but I was very wrong. The Corsair H50 is a great no-nonsense solution to cooling your CPU with water cooling and the results above speak for themselves.

Intel Retail Heatsinks SUCK!

Daniel — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:16:45 +0000

It was Monday two weeks ago now that I noticed a problem with my computer. I was playing Counter-Strike Source (which is heavily CPU intensive) and was experiencing lots of screen jerking and apparent lag. Checking my net graph turned up no problems and I put it down to hard drive fragmentation.

Three completed defragmentation cycles later and the problem persisted. What does any competent technician do then?

I opened the Task Manager scrolled through my process and services lists attempting to determine if it was a rogue program or undetected virus which may have been eating up my CPU cycles. Another dead end.

Next step was to check the temperatures, and I downloaded a program named Speedfan which gives you temperature readings on of all the supported components in your computer.

Launching Speedfan I was surprised to see my Core 1-4 temperatures hovering around the 70 degrees celcius on a cold boot-up. For those who are not familiar with average temperatures for CPU’s on cold boot-up let me point out that 70 degrees is 40-50 degrees hotter than it should be.

Loading Counter-Strike Source I gamed for about 5-10 minutes and exited the game and loaded Speedfan again. The results shocked me.

Two of the cores were close to the boiling temperature of water. I could not believe how hot the CPU was running.

My first thought was Broken Heatsink Fan!!! Speedfan must be reporting fake RPM’s. Ripping off the side of my case and I discovered the fan merrily spinning it’s way. What the hell was going on!!

My next step was to shut the PC down and perform a physical check of the Heatsink and CPU area. It was then that I discovered the cause of my temperature problems.

The Heatsink was not completely touching the CPU and “Oh shit!” two of the four locking catches were broken. Not only were they not staying closed as I attempted to turn them into the closed position, the clips that are seated in the motherboard itself were not sticking hence my problem with the Heatsink not keeping contact with the CPU.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Intel Stock Heatsinks SUCK!

I know what the enthusiasts reading out there are thinking right now. “Serves you right for not throwing the Intel Stock Heatsink straight in the bin“.

I believe however that if Intel are to sell a CPU with a Heatsink, it should god damn stay attached to the motherboard at least.

So until next week at the earliest I’m stuck with a potentially egg frying CPU which could burn out any time. Dammit I hate no deliveries on weekends!!!

AG2

Daniel — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:37:31 +0000

The Adrenaline Gamer mod was orginally created by BulliT, a good friend of mine and the man who saved Half-Life 1′s multiplayer. Customisation and match features were the main premise of the AGMod and BulliT delievered, and some of the best gaming moments i’ve had have been made possible by the AGMod and the great community that sprung up for Half-Life 1 Deathmatch.

Skip forward some five or so years and the numbers of people playing AGMod in the west has shrunken to sub 50, and a new group has stepped up to bring the AGMod to the newer Source engine.

Half-Life 2 Deathmatch Pro has been around for a while now and has been under steady development to bring it closer to AGMod and the great experience that came with it.

On the 16th of January 2010 the team at http://www.hl2dmpro.com/ released Adrenaline Gamer 2.

Tolon Network

When Disaster Strikes!

Update

Update #2

Update #3

Medal of Honor Beta PC

Media

www.youtube.com/watch?v=llDOnczFeoU

Blackmagic Intensity Pro

What it can do

Capturing PC gets easier

What it cannot do

What about 1080p?

Technical Specifications

Media

Disable Thumbs.db in Windows 7 Home Premium and All Editions

Introduction

Please note -- Existing Thumbs.db files will still exist on your machine but new ones will not be created after the registry file is applied.

This fix has been tested on the following editions of Windows 7: Home PremiumEnterpriseProfessionalUltimate

The Explanation

Screencast

BANG! POW! Tolon is back with his Huge Magnum!

Media

Counter-Strike Source updated to Orange Box Engine!

Valve Patch Notes for Counter-Strike Source

Left 4 Dead Funnies!

And here is the video

Sniper Ghost Warrior DEMO from Start to Finish!

Demo

Media

Sniper Ghost Warrior Demo Part 1

Sniper Ghost Warrior Demo Part 2

Call of Duty Black Ops coming November 9th 2010

Media

Call of Duty: Black Ops Demo -- IGN Live E3 2010

Call of Duty: Black Ops -- Uncut Trailer

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 from Start to Finish!

Watch Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Single player Videos!

Watch my Gaming videos on YouTube!

Like Pow!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TolonGaming

Here’s Johnny!

1080i or 720p?

Sniper Series

Dark Carnival

Dead Center

Tolon Gaming has launched!

So what about Tolon Gaming?

http://www.youtube.com/user/TolonGaming

Update

The Difference A Little Cooling Can Make

This is a followup from the previous news article at http://www.tolon.net/2010/02/intel-retail-heatsinks-suck/

Installation

Boot-up and Testing

Overclocking

Conclusion

Intel Retail Heatsinks SUCK!

AG2

Download Adrenaline Gamer 2 at the Official website or Local Mirror.

This fix has been tested on the following editions of Windows 7:

Home Premium
Enterprise
Professional
Ultimate