Author Archives: Scott

About Scott

I'm a computer guy with a new house and a love of DIY projects. I like ranting, and long drives on your lawn. I don't post everything I do, but when I do, I post it here. Maybe.
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Intel NUC Enthusiast as a Gaming HTPC

Video

  By Scott • 2025-04-26 ,

I’m not a terribly good gamer. I play Dark Souls and Elden Ring with a mouse and keyboard. It’s been my dream to actually be able to use a modern day controller, so I figured I’d force myself to by putting a “gaming” HTPC in the spare bedroom. Some kind of mini PC. That didn’t go to plan because I ended up getting distracted from this task by playing through Dark Souls 3 on my main PC.

But regardless, in this video I open up an Intel NUC Enthusiast 11, stick in some RAM and an SSD, then other RAM, then yet other RAM… then eventually play some games to see what the performance is like. It’s not too bad considering the thing has an RTX2060, which isn’t awful for 1920×1080 60Hz.

Pairing that with some Logitech keyboard (w/trackpad) and a PlayStation 5 controller, I will eventually learn to master gaming from a couch or bed. Because that’s living.

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SlimQ Easy Bake 330W Laptop & USB-C Power Supply

Video

  By Scott • 2025-04-19 ,

If you’re looking for a high-power charger/power supply that can also make toast and confections, the SlimQ 330W laptop power supply might be for you! I actually purchased this to use with a Starlink Mini and a USB-C laptop, and it should suffice for that. It seems like a really high quality unit, except that they’re trying to dissipate about 22W of power from this relatively small plastic case (at full load). Though it is around 93% efficient, that extra 7% has to go somewhere.

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Testing Tape Backup on LTO-8 and Looking at HPE MicroServer G10+ v2

Video

  By Scott • 2025-04-08

Taking a look at a Dell-branded LTO Ultrium 8 external SAS tape drive that I got new in box from eBay. (It’s actually an IBM drive and enclosure, as it turns out.) Paired the drive with an HPE MicroServer G10+ v2 that was also a NIB eBay find. Turns out it’s not the right machine with which to use this, but at least was enough to get the drive tested.

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Upgrading Cameras in the Studio (Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2)

Video

  By Scott • 2024-11-16 , ,

I laboriously go through the process of unboxing and testing the new-ish Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2, or BMMSC G2 as it’s slightly more easily said. It’s kinda a combo of the old BMMSC G1 and the Micro Cinema Camera. Also got two Mini Converters to apply LUTs to both cameras over SDI, also from Blackmagic Design, of course.

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PCIe Bifurcation Frustration with Icy Dock ToughArmor NVMe and 3 PCs

  By Scott • 2024-07-28 , ,
Icy Dock ToughArmor Review and PCIe Bifurcation Thumbnail Image

In this video I try to test out the Icy Dock ToughArmor M.2 NVMe Mobile Rack for PCIe slots. It supports 2 removable NVMe drives placed in the included sleds, and (almost) fits an x8 or x16 lane PCIe slot that supports bifurcation to get 4 juicy lanes to each of the SSDs. I test it out with Samsung 990 Pro and Western Digital SN850X 4TB drives. That being said, it turns out that not all bifurcation implementations are created equal, nor are all PCIe slots. Hence the frustrating aspect. Buy it with a generous return policy in place, if you buy it at all. Just to be 100% clear: This is not sponsored in any way. If you couldn’t … Continue reading

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Wood You Like to Repair a Raritan Dominion IP KVM?

  By Scott • 2024-06-13
Raritan Dominion - Cover 01 - 1080p

In this video I repair a Raritan Dominion LX-108 IP KVM in a very professional manner using wood. It goes on for quite some time, but that’s at least more appropriate for YouTube than other platforms. No biggie, you can always skip around using the chapters. For posterity, here’s a transcript of the video in case you’d rather read than listen. But beware! It’s as transcribed by YouTube and so may include some errors and lack of punctuation (and etc). well hopefully it’s repair time today I have here a Raritan Dominion lx18 8 Port IP KVM switch which has served me well for many years now it customarily sits in a rack at an off-site Data Center and obviously … Continue reading

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New Home Backup Server (Dell T640 with 18 20TB Disks)

  By Scott • 2024-06-13
HM-BACKUP05 - Cover 01 - 360TB Raw Storage

In this video I create a new backup server from a Dell EMC PowerEdge T640 with 18x 20TB Seagate Exos refurbished drives. Also there’s some more ranting about backups in general. But idk, there are chapters so you can skip to whatever. And it’s not technically a server, in that it doesn’t serve files. It’s really more of a client that takes files from other servers and holds onto them. But I call it a backup server because hardware-wise it’s a server. Anywho, that’s the description. It’s probably not optimal for the YouTube algorithm, but hey, I’m not an influencer even though I have a TikTok account that I don’t use. For posterity, here’s a transcript of the video in … Continue reading

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Can You Put an RTX 4080 in a Dell Workstation? (Precision T7865)

  By Scott • 2024-01-05
Dell Precision 7865 Upgrades - ScottDotDot Cover Image

I just got my most expensive single computer ever. It’s an already-outdated Precision 7865 with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper Pro 64-core CPU, direct from Dell. RAM upgrades from the manufacturer are always a bit of a rip, so in this video I upgrade it to 512GB. Also, I find out for the first time whether a consumer graphics card (PNY / NVIDIA RTX 4080 16GB) will actually fit inside the moderately-sized chassis. Oh, and fit two Western Digital Black SN850X 4TB SSDs to replace the woeful 256GB el cheapo card that came with the system from Dell. Absolutely nothing in this is a paid ad. It was paid for by my wallet. Buy Dell, HP, Asus, even Razer for all … Continue reading

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Plex: Play Icon on Pause Screen Causes OLED Burn-in – SOLUTION

  By Scott • 2023-02-24
Plex - OLED Burn-In - SOLUTION

This is pretty much a re-post of something I put up on the Plex forums, but I wanted to archive it here for reference. So if you have any comments or questions, please add to the original thread! Server Version#: Last few years of updates through current stable build. Player Version#: Last few years of updates through current stable build. TL;DR: The orange play icon in the middle of the screen when paused causes burn-in on OLEDs. Solution at the bottom if you’re using your own server and not opposed to manipulating CSS. I need to preface this by saying that I love the Plex web player. I primarily use that to consume my media, and it puts browsing/playing from … Continue reading

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Using Clonezilla to Upgrade the SSD in a New Computer

  By Scott • 2023-02-21 ,
Using Clonezilla to Upgrade the SSD in a New Computer

Upgrading a new computer for my sister with a 1TB WD SN850X NVMe SSD. This is also my first real foray into vertical video, and was kinda a test run for shooting, editing, and general workflow. So if it looks a bit odd, my apologies. It’s an HP Envy TE01-2275xt with an i7-11700 8-core 2.5GHz CPU and 16GB RAM. I originally purchased it during the height of the video card crunch, because it came with an RTX3060 at a reasonable price. I didn’t end up using the computer itself, and though it’s really not a “gaming” PC (that’s how they sold it), it should be well more than sufficient for home productivity use. Especially with a real snappy SSD. I … Continue reading