kingston Archives - The Silicon Underground

St. Louis thrift stores

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 11:00:06 +0000

St. Louis has a number of good thrift stores. They’re good for saving money, and if you’re looking for collectibles, there’s something more thrilling about finding it in a thrift store than a collectibles shop. Here are my recommendations for

The post St. Louis thrift stores appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Best Pfsense hardware

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 11:00:55 +0000

The best Pfsense hardware is rather subjective. I think the ideal Pfsense box should deliver solid performance while being affordable. A year or so ago, Pauldotcom did a podcast on building your own router, but the resulting beast was overkill. It

The post Best Pfsense hardware appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

HP Compaq 6910p upgrades

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 12:00:16 +0000

I spent some time exploring HP Compaq 6910p upgrades because used HP Compaq 6910p laptops are dirt cheap these days. I picked one up for $75 as an alternative to a Black Friday cheapie. If you look for one yourself,

The post HP Compaq 6910p upgrades appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

SSD Roundup: December 2015

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 12:00:34 +0000

I’ve been reviewing a lot of old content lately, and noticing that I recommended specific SSDs quite a bit in the past, and unfortunately, that information had a finite lifespan even though the rest of the advice might very well

The post SSD Roundup: December 2015 appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Bestselling SSDs

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 02:18:19 +0000

I have recommended a lot of SSDs over the years, and it seems like at least once a month someone asks me what SSDs I recommend right now. So I’m going to present a list, and make an effort to keep

The post Bestselling SSDs appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Tips for buying computer memory

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 11:00:51 +0000

Many years ago, I wrote something titled Memory Buying Secrets. That post is lost to history, thanks to migrations in this site’s early years, but there are a number of things you need to know when you’re buying memory that

The post Tips for buying computer memory appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

Hot tip: Memory probably isn’t going to get much cheaper

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 11:00:02 +0000

Friday I saw a story from a financial publication suggesting that DDR3 DRAM prices will be increasing soon due to increasing demand for PCs, thanks to Windows 10’s release and the back-to-school season. That got me thinking, and while memory

The post Hot tip: Memory probably isn’t going to get much cheaper appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

If I were buying an SSD today

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 11:00:04 +0000

SSD pricing continues to be competitive, and if I were buying an SSD today, I would have a tough decision ahead of me. The Crucial BX100 would be the obvious choice, with its good speed, super-low power consumption, and attractive

The post If I were buying an SSD today appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

A new way to measure reliability and quality of hardware

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 14 Nov 2014 11:00:51 +0000

If you’re in the market for some new PC gear, it helps to measure reliability and quality of hardware. How do you measure that? How about buying the one that induces the least buyer’s remorse? That’s an approach you can take with

The post A new way to measure reliability and quality of hardware appeared first on The Silicon Underground.

What happens when you write a petabyte of data to an SSD

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 11:00:54 +0000

If you’re concerned about SSD reliability, Tech Report has good news for you: They attempted to write a petabyte of data to six SSDs, and three of them survived. Considering the drives were rated for a 200 TB life expectancy,

The post What happens when you write a petabyte of data to an SSD appeared first on The Silicon Underground.