PD2JK wrote on Today, 18:31:

Tested out an Asus X800 XT AGP I recently got, turns out the previous owner did some BIOS flashing to PE.
Free from artefacts in 3DMark03, so I'm happy.

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Funny enough I have the PCI-E version of the X800 made by ASUS, came with a recent Shuttle SB81P I bought that's a nice time capsule.

I wonder if the EAX800XT I have can do XTPE speeds.

Returned to repairing the Roland SC-55 I had on my bench a few weeks ago. This was the unit with the faulty resistors on the rear MIDI input.

The resistors are in a really awkward location right next to the giant plastic MIDI ports. I didn't want to use hot air or a regular soldering iron to try to remove them.

I'd been waiting on getting tips for my new soldering tweezers. After several weeks on backorder, they finally arrived.

Using these soldering tweezers for SMD removal is a dream. The two resistors came off with virtually no effort and no risk of damage to adjacent components. Pads cleaned up well too.

Soldered the new resistors in place and did the MIDI input test. It finally passed. Did some subsequent listening via the rear input and everything seems to be working fine.

I still need to replace the tactile switches on the front panel, but I'll save that for another day.