Unboxing #18: CORSAIR HS55 Surround Sound Gaming USB Headset w/ Microphone | In The Lab With Jay Jay

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In this video I unbox and install my new CORSAIR HS55 Surround Sound Gaming USB Headset with Microphone made by CORSAIR and sold by Amazon.

If you’re interested in buying a headset yourself you might like to know that CORSAIR has other models. I am very happy with my new HS55 headphones. They sound great and they feel great too.

In the video I install the iCUE software from CORSAIR and the NVIDIA App from NVIDIA.

The NVIDIA App is used to install the drivers for my RTX 4060 graphics card in my gaming rig ‘treat‘. NVIDIA maintains a list of games supported by the NVIDIA App.

We also install the NVIDIA Broadcast software following this setup guide.

I had some trouble I think with the compatibility of the NVIDIA Broadcast software and the iCUE software. If I had my time again I wouldn’t have bothered with the NVIDIA Broadcast software, I don’t intend to use its features (it can filter out background noise on your microphone, but I don’t care about that). The only reason I installed the NVIDIA Broadcast software at all is that the iCUE software seemed to suggest that it integrated with it, but if it does it didn’t work for me. After I reinstalled the iCUE software it seemed to work properly again, so not really sure what happened there, but I think it all worked out in the end. Also I seemed to have some trouble when using VNC to connect to my gaming rig that didn’t happen when I used it directly (via the ATEN CS1922 2-Port DisplayPort KVM on my desk).

There were some YouTube videos from CORSAIR which played during the iCUE installation:

While reading about the NVIDIA driver options I learned about WHQL Testing:

The Windows Hardware Certification program (formerly Windows Hardware Quality Labs Testing, WHQL Testing, or Windows Logo Testing) is Microsoft’s testing process which involves running a series of tests on third-party device drivers, and then submitting the log files from these tests to Microsoft for review. The procedure may also include Microsoft running their own tests on a wide range of equipment, such as different hardware and different Microsoft Windows editions.

There is some more info from Microsoft about the program over here: WHQL test signature program.

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Books by Bill Inmon

This is a note for Future John.

I am reading Fundamentals of Data Engineering which says that beside Ralph Kimball, Bill Inmon had a lot to do with data warehousing in the early days. I’m going to try and read a few of his books, many of which are available in Kindle (and Audible) format from Amazon.

Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule

Over on Rory Sutherland – Are We Now Too Impatient to Be Intelligent? | Nudgestock 2024 the inimitable Rory Sutherland made reference to Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule by Paul Graham. It’s helpful to be aware of these two types of schedule.

In the same video Mr Sutherland also referred to The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions – and How The World Lost its Mind which looks like it would be an interesting read.

Oh, and he referred to Social Acceleration: A New Theory of Modernity as well. I don’t think I’m going to spend the money or the time on that one, more’s the pity. I only have one life and can’t do everything I might wish I could.

CORSAIR HS55 Surround Gaming Headset Plus Games

I’m such a good little consumer. Today I got myself some surround sound headphones with microphone attached. I got the CORSAIR HS55 Surround Gaming Headset which was a step up from the CORSAIR HS35 v2 option.

I am interested in getting a VR headset but honestly I don’t know anything about that technology yet, so I am holding off for now. I don’t understand why the price differentials are so drastic, there are $20 thru $3,000 options. I think some of them are just straps which you attach your smartphone to.

Also I am planning to get the Logitech G X56 Throttle and Stick Controller but I haven’t hit the buy button on that one yet either. I want this so I can play my Descent games (see below, I got Descent 1, 2, and 3).

There is a sale on games at the moment over on Steam and I got a bunch of games while they were up to 90% off:

A few days ago I got Prey which I have been playing on my new gaming rig ‘treat‘, that’s been a bit of fun.

Unboxing #17: CORSAIR Vengeance DDR5 RAM 128GB (4x32GB) 5600MHz CL40 Intel XMP Computer Memory

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In this video I unbox the CORSAIR Vengeance DDR5 RAM 128GB (4x32GB) 5600MHz CL40 Intel XMP iCUE Compatible Computer Memory – Black (CMK128GX5M4B5600C40) which arrived today. Fair warning though: you will never believe what is in the box! Spoiler: it’s not RAM at all!

I had to return this product to Amazon and the replacement product I ordered instead was the Kingston Fury Beast White XMP DDR5 128GB 5600MT/s CL40 DIMM Desktop Gaming Memory (Kit of 4) – KF556C40BWK4-128. I will unbox that when it arrives later in December.

Update: it’s December 10 now and the replacement RAM has arrived, you can learn more about that over here: Unboxing #19: Kingston Fury Beast White XMP DDR5 128GB 5600MT/s CL40 RAM DIMM – KF556C40BWK4-128.

In this video I mention the Make: Guide to Boards, they have a searchable online database over here: Make: Boards Guide.

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Unboxing #16: StarTech.com 7.1 USB Sound Card and ASUS XONAR SE 5.1 PCIe Sound Card | In The Lab

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In this video I unbox two surround-sound sound-cards which I ordered recently from Amazon:

These were replacements for this sound card which I couldn’t get working in surround sound (only stereo): USB 5.1 Audio Sound Card 6 Channel Sound Card Built in HighEnd Chip, with Sound Mixing Function Support 48/44 KHz Sampling Rate for Both Playback and Recording.

You can get the latest software for the StarTech USB sound card over here: https://www.startech.com/ICUSBAUDIO7D

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Yum Cha Metal SpudgersThis is an image of the product.

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Handling Cookies is a Minefield

I read an interesting article today Handling Cookies is a Minefield. It’s basically about what characters are supported in cookies across browsers and servers.

As a rule I only use two cookies: a session cookie, which identifies the session, and a persistent browser cookie, which identifies the user and their browser.

Unboxing #15: MSI MAG Infinite S3 14NUC7-1456AU Enthusiast Gaming Desktop | In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video over here.

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In this video I unbox my new MSI MAG Infinite S3 14NUC7-1456AU Enthusiast Gaming Desktop, Intel Core i7-14700F, RTX 4060 8GB, 16GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD+2TB HDD, WIFI6E, BT5.2, Win11H, Gaming KBM, Black, 3 Year Warranty.

This is my gaming rig, called ‘treat‘. It has a Intel Core i7-14700F CPU and NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB GPU.

If you like my electric scissors, those are Jackcat Electric Scissors.

Oh, and the USB 5.1 surround sound speakers I have ordered are these ones: USB 5.1 Audio Sound Card 6 Channel Sound Card Built in HighEnd Chip, with Sound Mixing Function Support 48/44 KHz Sampling Rate for Both Playback and Recording.

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe! :)


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

MECHANIC Hard BrushThis is an image of the product.

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