July 12, 2012

Benchmarks,CnQ & Temps of HAF-922 X-PLOD Edition-1



This is the Benchmarks of which System / Build ?
Ans : This System / Build !


I have decided to put the Benchmark & Temperature related info here, as a separate Post as i did not want to make the "build log"  post much lengthier than it already is.


From this system i was easily able to get 4200Mhz CPU-Speed from the stock 3200Mhz i.e an insane 1000Mhz etc boost. But it was no necessary for me to get around 4.2 GHz unless i supplied a tremendous amount of CPU voltage which i was not happy. So the sweet spot i found was 4144 Mhz with out breaking the wall of performance or power.

[HAF 922 XPLOD] CPU-Z CPU TAB

June 29, 2012

A Complete Guide to Fix the Flickering or Dimming Backlight of logitech Z 5500 D Control POD

|` FIX YOUR DYING or DEAD BACK-LIGHT OF LOGITECH Z5500 - CONTROL POD `|











[Update :- This Particular item is discontinued by Logitech and instead they replaced it with a new speaker set named Z906. However there were more than 100,000s of people who had already owned the previous Z-5500 Speaker system, which was known as "Best-Bang-For-Buck" during that time.]


Before attempt :-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
! A WORD OF WARNING !
Attempting to do this work will void any kind of WARRANTY policies left on your Product. Please do it at your own RISK and RESPONSIBILITIES.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[However, in my case the product was still under warranty period (Since 3 months i bought it) but i am left with no choice except this work-around]
-
. . . .

June 25, 2012

Auzentech X-Fi Prelude vs Asus Xonar D2X [A True & Honest Review]

AuzenTech X-Fi Prelude[Top] vs ASUS Xonar D2X[Bottom] Review


         I know its been almost a year since i promised to update this specific article on the blog. But i really apologize for the extreme delay that it caused for me to update the same. I know its already 2013 and the Auzen X-Fi™  Prelude sound card or any other Sound cards from them is no longer available on sale officially, means all are discontinued product as of now from the reputed makers so called AuzenTech. R.I.P AuzenTech. But you can still get these sound cards on sale as a second hand product. So all the best for it.

        But still i would like to share my thoughts on this topic, as i was finding an hard time to choose between the two reputed SC's from Auzen and Asus. During those days both the cards were highly rated among the enthusiasts as both the cards were of Audiophile range stuffs. From the above pictorial representation itself, its very clear that both the companies were competing face-to-face as the PCB layout and the rear I/O connections were the same [Below Pic's]. I was more attracted towards the Auzen just because it uses an X-Fi Audio Processor which blows any Audio Chip  out of the water due to its high processing capability. But Just an APU wont make the sound card better sounding unless the manufacturer are too picky when selecting other components like DAC, ADC, Filtering Stages, Op-Amps, PCB layouts, Right-Component Positioning on PCB etc. I am not going to vomit here again the spec's of these two cards as the Specs/Reviews are easily available on the internet anytime.
     
      BUT-BUT-BUT, i wanted the best of the two. So the only option is to buy both and let my ear hear them and decide which is the best and i shall keep the best and sell the other.  So i bought both the cards. Both arrived at my door. Auzen was an refurbished and Xonar D2X was the fresh one of the box.

Asus Xonar D2X [Box-Front]



Asus Xonar D2X [Box ]





Xonar D2X Box [Exposed]


    That's all about the showcase snaps of Asus Xonar D2X. Sorry i didn't bother to take any shots on the box in which the X-Fi Prelude came as it was just a plain box which had the prelude rapped in woolen sponge with all the necessary cables. But still for the satisfaction i will include the bare card here.


X-Fi Prelude Top View




X-Fi Prelude Rear View

 Now lets be practical get in to the real testing world.

  

      As i have my hands on 3 audio sources here including my Mobo integrated RealTek sound , i am including that too in the game as a candidate.

      I will be testing these SC's with my Logitech-Z5500 Digital speakers. As you know these speakers are not Audiophile range, i was still not thinking of buying another set of speakers just to carry out the tests. So bear with me with these speakers even these speakers are not that bad. :D

      As my logitech Z5500 Digital has 3 inputs , its perfect that i can insert each stereo outputs from these three Sound Sources [i.e from Prelude, Xonar D2X & On-Board Realtek].




Testing Configuration :-



X-Fi Prelude[Bottom] & Xonar D2X [Top] inside PC
      As you can see Xonar D2X comes with an EMI shield, it looks more professional when installed on the PC, where as the Prelude is as it is with its bare PCB design w/o any type of shield or whatever.




Xonar D2X - illuminated



Xonar D2X [UP]; X-Fi-Prelude [Bottom]




Xonar D2X ; X-Fi-Prelude inside [Rear View]
        The connections layout for both the cards are pretty much alike as you can see in the above picture. But Asus has more sort of shiny finish on the gold plating brackets and jacks and also not to mention its all illuminated jacks in there .






Xonar D2X & X-Fi Prelude Analogue Connected View




Xoanr D2X & X-Fi Prelude Digial Connection



  Results :-


Xonar D2X :-

Pros :-
--------

High Quality Build PCB and Selection of Components such DAC, ADC etc

Awesome Analog Audio Quality [Good Dynamic Range]

+20db EQ [X-Fi only +12 EQ]

2ms ASIO Latency Support

Non-EAX(3,4,5) Games Sounded Good

Good 'Mid', Nice 'High' Reproduction

GUI loads Much faster and easy than X-Fi

Full DTS Support in XP Unlike Prelude [Not DTS support at all on Windows XP]

DTS/DD Features are very handy

Plenty of Connectivity

illuminated color coded jacks (Gimmick for some, But was useful for me and may be others too)

Bundled Midi I/O Daughter Card & All necessary cables

Bundled Audio Creating Applications

10,268 K of Idle Memory usage [Win 7]


Cons :-
--------

No Front Panel Audio Connectivity at all (its weird).

Relay Clicking Sound from the Card.

Additional Floppy Power Connector required.

ASIO playback do not support up-mixing 2,4 channels to 5.1 or higher (tested in Win XP & Win 7)

ASIO playback do not support any Dolby/DTS visualization Technologies [Dolby HF, Dolby Virtual Speaker etc]

Master Sampling Rate is not automatically shifted with the ASIO playback like X-Fi Does smartly.

No Bit-Matched Playback Support at all.

No 10h to 40hz LFE Crossover frequency [in Flexibass or bass redirection].

Cant output both Analogue and Digital at the same time if DDL/DTS enabled. [X-Fi can do both]

In GUI Panel, the "effect" panel looks cheap.

No Separate Bass , Treble controlling knob's like X-Fi has

Bass reproduction not up to the mark [compared to X-Fi only]

Overall volume is bit lower compared to X-Fi

Up-mixing (Non DD/DTS Tech) is not as best as X-Fi's "CMSS-3D Stereo Surround"

Consumes a little CPU Resource while gaming.

'Direct-Sound' Playback issue right out of the box in f2k V1.0 (Win 7)

Even No Multichannel Up-mixing & No DTS Neo PC on WMP playback R.O.B (Win 7)


===========================================================================================


X-Fi Prelude :-


Pros:-
--------

High quality build and Component Selection.

Impressive Analogue Audio Quality [Very Well Detailed Sound]

Front Panel Audio Connectivity. [Highly Amplified Output]

X-Fi CMSS-3D Stereo Surround Sounded great.

X-Fi CMSS-3D Headphone (Right Amount) sounds much better than Dolby HF on Xonar D2X

Audio Creation Mode does a very good job [Good For minor recording and sound mixing at home itself w/o compromising SQ]

Bit-Matched Playback Support.

ASIO Supports all sound processing tech [EQ, CMSS-3D, X-Fi Crystalizer, SVM etc] in XP

HeadPhone Bass-boost Feature is Excellent.

Separate Bass/Treble controlling knobs.

Native DDL/DTS Support [Compared to earlier X-Fi Card's]

DDL/DTS Encoding is Powerful than Xonar D2X [According to my ears]

Can output DDL/DTS + Analogue at the same time.

Front Channels Swappable Op-Amps

Full EAX-5.0 HD Hardware Support

64MB of X-RAM

Plenty of Connectivity.

Bundled with quality TOS-Link Adapters and long Optical Cable.


Cons:-
--------

GUI loads slower than 'Xonar D2X Audio Center' [Much Slower in Win 7]

No DTS Support in XP at all (This is completely weird)

DDL/DTS Features are not very handy compared to 'Xonar D2X'

DDL/DTS Encoding produces delayed sound reproduction after an ASIO Playback of 44100 Hz Resolution File. [An ASIO playback of 48000 Hz file before activating DDL/DTS can fix this issue]

Only Front L,R channel ASIO support in 'Entertainment Mode'

20-ms ASIO latency. Anything below not stable

No EMI Shield at all

No midi I/O Daughter card included

EQ and X-Fi Crystalizer do not take effect on 'ASIO' & 'WASAPI' Playback (Win 7)

DTS Neo PC do not take effect on 'ASIO' & 'WASAPI' Playback (Win 7)

44100Hz Resolution files cant be played on ASIO playback with DTS or DDL activated (Win 7) [Coz the sampling rate will not match]

DDL/DTS Consumes a  very little CPU Usage

16,220 K of idle Memory Usage

No Left-Right Channel Balancing Knob in 'Entertainment Mode'

Broken Promises from Auzen [No HDMI Daughter Card was Released]

================|

I was completely immersed in Stereo Playback mode while testing coz i never tried it before as i had a 5.1 Setup.
But why many audiophiles go for stereo playback rather than surround mode is because this is the way how the stereo was designed to sound.
Up-mixing is a tech. But some prefer surround mode as they want all of their speakers to pump up and to show-off in-front of colleagues or friends.


I also would like to add that, for serious Trance/Techno listening users, its definitely X-Fi Prelude over the
 Xonar D2X with out a doubt, because it took me in to air with rumbling bass reproduction and high percussion instruments tearing thru my body.

========|


Connectivity :-
----------------

Mic input :-
  ----

X-Fi Prelude :- No issues in functionality as some had probs when the card was released. Volume was sufficient even w/o the +20 db boost

Xonar D2X :- No issues at all. Volume was not at all sufficient w/o the boost feature. But once its enabled, it was whelming.

=========|


SPIDIF-in :-
  ----

X-Fi Prelude :-

-Supports Only 2ch direct input as PCM 44.1Khz / 48Khz / 88.2 khz / 96 Khz / 192 Khz. -Simultaneous Spidif output (48 khz or 96 khz) in XP-No other multi-channel digital formats supported.
 -Can be converted the SPIDIF-in 2ch signal to real time 5.1 DTS(in Win 7) or DDL when the X-Fi CMSS-3D is enabled. (PS3 Games sounded life like & Amazing with this feature)
 -Input signals can be processed or modified before its outputted.-No Direct by-passing supported.  (means no 'SPDIF-in loopback' like feature as Xonar)

-----

Xonar D2X :-

-Supports Only 2ch direct input as PCM 44.1Khz / 48Khz / 88.2 khz / 96 Khz / 192 Khz.
-No other multi-channel digital formats supported.
-Supports up-mixing to multichannel(5.1,7.1) , only in Analogue mode. Real time DDL/DTS encoding via Digital out Not supported. (XP, 7)
     with 'SPIDIF-in loopback' you can by pass any incoming digital signal(DDL/DTS/PCM 44.1Khz/PCM 48Khz/ PCM 88.2khz/ PCM 192khz) to the digital 'SPIDIF/out' of the card un-touched. (USeful when u have Optical-out device and Coax-in receiver or Vice versa)
-input data cant be processed or modified at all like X-Fi's could.
       



Line-in :-
  ----

Prelude :-
-The Analogue-to-Digital Clarity was well defined and superior when compared to that of Xonar D2X. The ADC have done its job well. Impressive Overall Quality.


Xonar D2X :-
-Well it was totally disappointing here as i even couldn't hear the sound properly instead it produced crackling and popping just after 3 minutes of listening.
-And those 3-minutes of listening i found the over all quality was low as compared to that of Prelude.
-2nd Test ~ Found left channel feeding to be very low.



=============|

Gaming :-
---------


Assassins Creed 2 :-  (Win 7)

Xonar D2X :- Sounded Nice W/O an issue. All background tones where Crisp and Clear. Nice 3D Audio Positioning.

X-Fi Prelude :- Sounded Nice too. Couldn't notice much difference between the competitor. Nice 3D Audio Positioning.




Bioshock 2 :- (win 7)

Xonar did go well w/o any technical issues with this new game title. Both Analogue and DDL capability where great.

X-Fi Prelude :- Sounded best on both of the cards. Both DDL/Analoge Sounded great




Bioshock-I (EAX 4/5 HD) :-

Xonar D2x :- Sounded distorted and UN-balalnced with EAX enabled. But did a good job with EAX engine Disabled in the game. 3D positioning of sound was good even tho some voices were clipped out.

X-Fi Prelude :-Sounded best with EAX engine enabled in the game. Accurate 3D positioning over voices and well defined sound.





Assassins Creed-I :-

Both the cards did an outstanding performance. Felt life like in the game with all those environmental occlusion and voices. But tbh, i found Xonar to be the winner for this game.

Xonar :- The talk of Al-Tair with Desmond had a reverb like effect with this card. but couldn't hear such effect on X-Fi.




Crysis (Evergreen Hit Game) :- (Win 7)

Xonar D2X :- Well. Crackling and Poping at the very beginning of the game. Game breezed more than once for some moments during the game play

X-Fi Prelude :- Sounded Excellent. Gun Shots where crisp and sharp. Explosions where heart breaking. Very well defined sound.


I really thank Creative for Such a powerful audio processor and Logitech For Muscle Speakers coz it shakes the WALL man. And a Special thanks to Auzentech
for such an innovative circuit design for this Prelude.


Miscellaneous  Info :-
---------------------------

Stereo Playback [2/2.1 Speaker Setup] :-

X-Fi Prelude vs Xonar D2X & Realtek ALC850(on-board 8Ch Sound):-


X-Fi Prelude :- Tbh, i was impressed. Very Detailed Sound. Breath taking bass Reproduction.
ASIO:-  X-Fi Virtual Speaker Did a good job by bringing the background instruments detailed.


Xonar D2X :- Nice High. Fantastic and wider Sounded. Not Detailed as X-Fi. Dolby Virtual Speaker cant be utilized in ASIO Playback. So had to use KS to test the Dolby-VS. And the feature sounded nice too. It bought out the background instruments sounds much more clearer.
  
Realtek ALC850 :-   Nice Sounded Considering its On-Board integrated Audio. Very Low Over Volume Compared to X-Fi & Xonar D2X.
KS:- Not very well detailed. Upgrading to one of above is definitely worth it.



Conclusion :-

       Both are great cards from the respective brands i.e Auzen and Asus. The choice between the two cards seems to be just a personal choice and subjective as per the results posted above. But for me the Asus was a deal breaker as it lacked FrontPanel Connector which was very important and must for me and hope for some others too. And in terms of SQ i was more than satisfied with the Prelude. So in the end, i kept my hands on the Prelude and the Asus D2X went on e-bay the very next day as new card for sale. And it was sold with in a week of time.

P.S :- As to justify my choice once again, i thought of upgrading the replaceable Op-amp of my prelude to a better metal can version. So did i with an LME49710HA op-amp as seen below to refine the sound quality outputted from the 2 front channels.


LME-49710HA Op-Amp










LME49710HA Op-Amp on X-Fi Prelude [Close View]




LME49710HA Op-Amp on X-Fi Prelude


       To add, it sounded bit more redefined with the addition of Metal Can version of the Op-Amps. Not to mention these op-amps were arranged by a famous Guru3D Forum Member known as ROBSCIX. 


Thanks for watching and reading my little work and thanks for your time. :)










GeForce GTX-470 Enhanced Custom Air Cooling

The Galaxy GTX-470 which i received had the stock cooling on it. Even tho i really liked the Smoke Shroud, there was no sufficient room to overclock the card as it was generating tremendous heat. So i thought of going with an after market cooler and the only choice left for me to choose was the "Arctic Accelero Xtreme Plus Cooler" from Arctic Cooling. But as usual this product also lacked proper VRM-Mosfets cooling kit from Manufacturer. So even after upgrading to the after market cooler my GTX-470 would auto shutdown if i try to overclock further. So i was in a position to think of a better and more efficient idea on improving the cooling on the VRMS/Mosfets.

[...... To be continued..]


GTX-470 with Enhanced Custom Cooling for VRM's & IC's






[....Complete Article will be available soon....]

July 13, 2011

Cooler Master® HAF-922 X-PLOD Edition-I [Phenom II x4 955 | GTX-470 inside]

HAF922 XPLOD -AMD- EDITION-I

          
          This system was built back in Q2-2011 followed by the death of my old Socket-939 AMD X2  Opteron 170 system [Which served me well for 5-years] where it severely lacked proper cooling & cable routing & so, it was the Mobo[Asus-A8NE] that got knocked out first. As S-939 was gradually disappearing on the planet, i did not want to search for another traditional S-939 Motherboard again.

         Instead i planned to build the next generation AMD-Dragon-Platform [Socket-AM3] System. But i wanted this new system to be more Reliable, Efficient, Performer, Smart-looking & long-lasting. So to in-cooperate all those terms, i need to alter the Physical look of the system by keeping it standard with less color coded combination and then Over-clocking a bit to attain the potential performance & finally a clean cable management[cable routing] & Cable-Shielding/Sleeving for better air-circulation and Pro-looks.  

Time-Duration took for this Project : 2 ~ 4 Months

       
--------------------------​---------------------/
System Specs :-
--------------------|

CPU : AMD Phenom II 965BE C3 Quad Core [~ 4.144 Ghz]

GPU : n-Vidia GTX 470 [1.28 GB , G-DDR 5 , HDMI]
APU : Auzen X-Fi™ Prelude 7.1 + LME49710HA [op-amp]
PSU : SeaSonic S12D 850 Watts
RAM : 8 GB G.Skill-RipJawZ | 9-10-8-1T |1720 Mhz DDR-III
Mobo : Asus M4A79T-Deluxe [AMD790 FX | 10 Phase Power Design]
HDD : Samsung F4 320 GB [O.S] + Hitachi 320 GB [Game Storage] + WD Green 1 TB [Storage]
Case : Cooler Master HAF-922 [ Xtreme Modded ]
Speakers : Logitech Z-5500 Digital

Monitor : SAMSUNG 20" + 32" GS Alexius LCD TV
O.S : Windows 7 Enterprise x 64 bit

------
CPU Cooler : T.R.U.E 120 Rev.C + Scythe Ultra Kaze 3K RPM
Case Fans : 5x Xigmatek XLF-1253 , 1x 200mm C.M Megaflow , 1x T.R X-Silent 140mm 

--------------------------​--------------------------​-------\


In a Nut-Shell:-


Cooler Master HAF-922 X-Plod Edition in a Nut-Shell
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. . . .