DSL versus Cable

I dont mean to use this blog as a board to review which is faster - DSL versus Cable. But definitely I did do some benchmark tests to find out which is faster DSL or Cable. And I could not resist blurting that out at my blog. I have been a SBC DSL customer for the past 1+ year. I had a promotional rate of 26 dollars + hidden taxes for the first one year. Since November I have been paying almost 60 dollars for my internet and phone bills...basic phone service with caller ID and SBC DSL (1.5 Mbps down and 256kbps upload). As a move towards reducing my internet costs, i decided to order cable internet and finally got basic cable TV + high speed internet from Comcast (local cable provider). The free cable modem (leased from Comcast for 3 dollars per month) didnt seem to work properly (long story) and Comcast was ready to send a technician to fix it for 50 dollars. I told them to "scr3w y0urs3lf" and went ahead and bought a cable modem from a local store.

The new cable modem from the local store did an awesome job and tonight i am a proud owner of two internet connections - Comcast Cable and SBC Yahoo DSL. I decided to use some bandwidth testers to measure download and upload speeds. Here are the test results..

Test Setup:

• 3.4 Ghz Intel CPU running Windows Media Center edition 2005
• 1 Gig ram
• 10/100 nic connected back to back to Cable modem for Cable speed tests
• 10/100 nic connected back to back to DSL modem for DSL speed tests

Test Results:

Test no 1: SBC Yahoo DSL has a online tester. I used the service to test both my DSL and Cable internet connection.

DSL -

Download speed - 1111 kbps

Upload speed - 306.98 kbps

Cable -

Download speed - 1669 kbps

Upload speed - 367.81 kbps

It looked like there is not much difference between both the flavours. So I decided to use another website and after much googling found a website which seem to perform much better with bandwidth measurements. Read more about it at Test no:2.

Test no 2: Download /Upload tests at www.Testmy.net

Visit "testmy.net" website to perform Upload as well as Download measurements. The unique feature with this website is that they measure bandwidth with different file sizes.

Cable : Download tests (Speed of connection/File Downloaded at)

Test 1: 3098 kbps/378 KBPS (Kilo Bytes per second)

Test 2: 2737 kbps/334 KBPS

Test 3: 2474 kbps/302 KBPS

Cable : Upload tests (Speed of connection/File Uploaded at)

Test 1: 361 kbps /44 KBPS

Test 2: 362 kbps / 44 KBPS

Test 3: 361 kbps / 43 KBPS

Conclusion : Cable seems to have an average Download speed of 2.5-3 Mbps and Upload speed of 364 kbps

DSL : Download tests (Speed of connection/File Downloaded at)

Test1: 1306 kbps / 159 KBPS

Test2: 1210 kbps / 148 KBPS

Test3: 1302 kbps / 159 KBPS

DSL : Upload tests (Speed of connection/File Uploaded at)

Test 1: 284 kbps / 35 KBPS

Test 2: 286 kbps / 35 KBPS

Test 3: 284 kbps / 35 KBPS

Conclusion: DSL seems to have an average Download speed of 1.2-1.3 Mbps and Upload speed of 284 kbps.

Test no 3:

A simple file download of 8 mb in size took 18 seconds on an average (based on 3 successive tests) via Cable modem.

The same file download (8 mb) took 50 seconds on an average via DSL modem(based on 3 successive tests)

Definitely Comcast cable is outperforming SBC DSL in download speeds. Upload speeds are failry the same. After all this blog did become a benchmarking arena for Cable vs DSL.

The Pianist

I missed watching this Oscar winner back in 2002, until yesterday when i finally got a chance to rest my bu** to watch this movie!! The movie has a li'l drag but over all I would admit that this movie is definitely worth watching. The movie revolves around a pianist from Poland who has to suffer the discrimination from Nazis for being a Jew and how he survives through 4 years (the movie is dated back to 1945 - WW time). This movie is the true story of Wladyslaw Szpilman who in 1930 was known to be the most accomplished pianist in Poland. Note that this movie will add to your hate list for Germans, for what they did to the rest of the world during Hitler's rule!!

I am not all surprised why this movie got the Oscar award!! The same reason why I always like Roman Polanski's films.

GCF Scape

Ever since I started playing Half-Life2, I have been interested in some how ripping the background music of the game ..I knew Valve had come out with a OST audio Cd for some odd 20 bucks a piece!! I wasnt that crazy enough behind Half-life2 like I was behind Halo and Halo2 ( I actually bought the OST of Halo and Halo2)...After considerable amount of time spent behind this, I finally was able to find a tool (This might not be new to you) called GCF Scape. FYI, Steam users of Half-Life2 should know very well that most of Half-Life contents are stored as GCF files. GCF Scape is a tool that parses through a GCF file and extracts the contents for you. After playing with this tool for some time, I was able to extract all OST tracks of Half-life2. FYI Valve stores these files as mp3 (not a safe way to store these files huh!!)

Picture attached below!

GCFScape used to rip HL2 OST files.

Modded case

My P4 has been screaming hot (with no OC). I already have installed 2 80 mm fans and a Gigabyte 3D Cooler PRO wth adjustable fan speeds (upto 4000 rpm) I think its my case , that its small, that it has bad ventilation thats causing all these problems. Finally decided to get a 120 mm fan - got one from Aerocool for 18 bucks...The case and system idle temps are now down to 37-38 deg C and under load conditions 50 deg C...I remember Intel had mentioned that Prescotts run so hot that they can run pretty good upto 65 deg C.

Also added two Dragon grills to the 80 mm fans on my case (one on top and one on bottom). Post your thoughs. Pictures attached below

Thats the Dragon grill on the 80 mm fans.. 

120 mm (colored fan on the back) adds to a lot of cooling for my case. 

A Day at Fogo

Ever heard of Fogo-de-Chao ...sounds portugese to me..but its actually the name of a Brazilian restaurant. Now meat haters and vegetarians dont need to read further as the content of the rest of this blog is so meaty that it might bring a lot of veggy stuff out of your stomach. Its much easier to call it Fogo rather than Fogo-de-Chao. If you are a meat lover you will definitely love this place. Its a steakhouse - the brazilian way. This is my third time to brazilian restaurant and I will have to admit that Fogo is the best. I have been to Texas - de- Brazil before - the price tag is cheaper there but the restaurant sucks. Fogo rocks!! I am not a meat lover, but I dont mind eating variety of meat..

There is something different about Fogo. Fogo's meats are slowly cooked..err...I should say slowly roasted over an open flame..There is no menu available at the restaurant (infact there is one for the wine/dessert section, but none for meat). The pricing is "fixed-price"...When I say fixed price, it can vary during holidays, dinner, lunch etc. Guests at the restaurant can choose any or all of the available meat choices including chicken, beef, lamp, pork...The best attraction is the salad bar which looks so pretty and filling too..Its a Salad buffet, full of fresh cut vegetables, side dishes, variety of salad dressings.

Guests can control the service with a small circular chip with red color on one side and green color on the other. The green color indicates the chefs to serve meat, and the red side indicates them to stop the service. During the course of the meal you can flip the chip between red and green as many times as you want.

With all this said, I really have to thank our CEO for throwing a free lunch for all of us. I will never forget two of my colleagues who were just pouncing on meat rather than talking, while the rest of them where busy eating and talking BS. The lunch almost consumed 3 hours of our afternoon and it really felt like nappy time after the dessert (Chocolate Flan) that I had at the end of the meal. If you ever visit any Brazilian steak house just remember this - "never forget to order your dessert"...

Hmm..I will be waiting for next year's PS Lunch. (PS - stands for Professional Services group)

Tribute to Amrish Puri

One of my favourite actors in my ever long list..it was really a great shock to me to read news on Indiatimes.com tonight. The actor was 72, suffering from a blood clot in the brain plus a coma. Still remember his very famous dialogue "Mogambo Khush Hua" from Mr India. I just saw one of his last movies (or his only last movie) - Hulchul directed by Priyadarshan in a theater here in Dallas. While watching that movie, I did feel how old he looked/acted..and even a thought came to my mind what will happen to the movie business once he dies..Feel sorry for what I thought about him 2 weeks ago!!!! Sure its a great loss to India and to Bollywood!!

Citroen Dance

Check out the famous Citroen transform into a robotic dancer. A 30 second TV commercial - The C4 was cyber scanned using laser to create a 3D model and using movie like animation techniques, took two months to create this transformation. FYI, the background music is "Jacques Your Body make me sweat" by Les Rhythmes Digitales - Courtesy : Marty Kudelka (Justin Timberlake's Choreographer) . You have to click the play button to start viewing the video.

ThatZ my Zar!!!!

 

Ice skating - a Hobby??

Thats me Ice skating in Galleria

German Engineering - No Questions asked!!!

Largest Bucket Wheel Excavator

This unit is the largest ever created in the whole world..Built by a German company called Krupp. The unit is crossing a highway, supposed to be cheaper moving this small beast this way, rather than dissassembling/transporting/assembling at the destination. Here are some of the specs:

a. 95 meters tall
b. Weighs only 45,500 tons (looks like she is an over eater)
c. 215 meters long (thats 2.5 times a foot ball field)
d. Cost is 100 million dollars
e. 5 people to operate
f. 5 years to assemble
g. 5 years to design/manufacture
f. Max speed - 10 meters / minute

Add On's to my PC = Weekend Project

I have a few stuff added to my inventory today...so that adds up to a weekend project....Dont know if $ spent = worth any #

a. Returned 3.2 Ghz to where it came from...Bought 3.4 Ghz...(I think I am going nuts) - extra $65 from the 3.2 Ghz

b. Gigabyte 3D Cooler Pro with Speed/Noise/Cool control capacity - $35

c. LGA 775 socket for the 3D Cooler Pro - $4

d. Zalman ZM80D-HP Noiseless VGA cooler -w/Dual Heat pipes. - $35

e. Extra Zalman fan for the VGA cooler - $9

Zalman ZM80D-HP - Noiseless VGA Cooler with Dual Heat pipe
Photo Courtesy : www.xbitlabs.com - Didnt get enough time/energy to take my unit's picture

3dCooler Pro CPU Fan
Photo Courtesy: www.tomshardware.com - Lazy to take a pic of my unit..

Car Cam

Nothing great! A pic of my car from another car!!!!!!
PS: No Adobe effects used! All pictures posted in this website are taken for real, unless otherwise specified!!!!!

Courtesy: Santhakumar and his Olympus camera.

Another Cold Wave

Yet another cold wave hits Dallas, and I guess this time the precipitation point has not yet reached, so its all in rain and wind and temperatures in the -'ve celsius ranges...If you stay outside for a minute, you will be frozen to death. Dallas is supposed to be one of the hottest places in Texas (of course its winter now), but off late when I hear news like "It snowed in UAE", "Saudi Arabia has been getting too much rain in 2004" makes me think how close we are towards our own destruction due to Global Warming!!!!!!

What socket should I buy?

Its a very common question that comes to a person's mind while upgrading your PC ?? What socket motherboard (MoBo) should I buy ??? If I buy Socket XXX what processors can I install on it...?? I found an excellent link which gives a very solid FAQ-Answer type information about various Sockets...Check it out here..

http://users.erols.com/chare/cpu_sock.htm

Happy New Y3ar 2OO5

2005 is here..and its been almost 16 days since I havent updated my blog. Most times I have been lazy to type...or else I forget about doing it. Until I got an email from my college buddy ...about his blog...check his blog here...http://tech-no-babble.blogspot.com/

New year day was filled with fun...had a get together at a friends place. The next day we played Xbox /Halo 2 - 9 people on 5 plasma screens. It was the best experience we ever had....

Overclocking

Have been playing around with motherboards and processors from P4 to AMD back to P4....Finally I have found a very stable motherboard/processor combination. I got a P4 3.2ghz and Asus P5P800 motherboard, 1 GB of RAM, ATI 9600SE display card (This card sux)...

3.2 ghz was overclocked at 225Mhz FSB to get 3.6 Ghz..(pretty stable and cool with a system idle temperature of 39-40 deg C). When playing games like Half-Life2 the processor temperature rises to 55-60 deg C (which is not bad)....The graphics processor was overclocked using Radlinker (or u can use ATITool) - check out http://www28.brinkster.com/chrisww1942/

The Vcore has been running stable at 450 Mhz while memory is stable at 250 Mhz (havent pushed it up so far)....Remember the dumb aXX 9600SE cards run at 325 Mhz and 195 Mhz for vcore and memory out of the box ...

Here are some pics.

CPUZ showing 3.2 ghz running at 3.6 ghz

While playing Half-Life2