JamesThresher

WPA2 is pretty hard to crack, but in all likelihood it's not WPA2 that's been cracked.
 
Make sure that WPS is disabled and the make sure the router is on the latest firmware (WPS has a known vulnerability that makes it trivial to bypass the security)
 
Make sure that the access point name is not the default name, the AP name is often used in the hashing mechanism for the WPA2 security and there are lookup tables to allow people to quickly figure out the password (rainbow tables), changing the AP name to something non-default will likely prevent their use.
 
Make sure you are using WPA2-PSK AES only not one of the combined WPA & WPA2 or TKIP encryption methods.
 
Change the AP password to something long (more than 12 characters should do it). Make sure  you use a combination of character sets, upper case, lower case, numbers and some special characters.
 
Disable UPNP too.
 
If someone is still getting on the network after that, then they are probably getting in through something other than the wifi.

Signal Quality has nothing to do with signal strength and everything to do with Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).
 
To use the music analogy that skulbringer mentioned, If you turn up the volume on a piece of music, you may be able to hear it better, but not if there were 20 other songs playing all at the same at the same volume. However you would be able to hear the music just fine even on a very low volume if everything else around you was completely silent.
 
the Greater the SNR, the greater the quality and therefore the performance that you (should) get. Although there are other factors that can affect this.

First off, i'll apologise for a bit of cross posting here, but i think this would be appropriate for the Audio category.
 
I received my new Maximus VI Formula today and one of the forum members asked if I'd check out the audio quality, I've also purchased an Essence STX for this build so I've been doing some A/B tests today while I was testing out some of the other components I received today and the results are interesting.
 
Firstly its worth remembering that any audio tests are very subjective. This was a fresh install of Windows 8 with both the SupremeFX and the Essence STX enabled at the same time with all default settings, no tweaks to equalizers or special modes were done. The audio sources i used were all lossless FLAC files and the earphones used are JHAudio JH16Pro Custom IEM's (IMHO the best earphones anywhere, period).
 
The short answer is that now I've heard both the Essence STX and the new SupremeFX, I'd still thoroughly recommend that if you want good audio, go and get the Essence STX.
 
I've never been the best at describing these things, but the onboard sound is just washed out compared to the STX, the base response, mids and high's are just more alive on the STX than the SupremeFX. Both showed no background hiss at all (something that the JH16Pro's are quite sensitive to) so the 120db noise floor of the SupremeFX certainly seems to be doing the trick. But overall the STX is noticeably better.
 
Just be aware that your mileage may vary, personal preference, audio source and speaker/headphone/earphone setup all play a big part. But my preference is firmly with the STX.
 

Signal Quality has nothing to do with signal strength and everything to do with Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).
 
To use the music analogy that skulbringer mentioned, If you turn up the volume on a piece of music, you may be able to hear it better, but not if there were 20 other songs playing all at the same at the same volume. However you would be able to hear the music just fine even on a very low volume if everything else around you was completely silent.
 
the Greater the SNR, the greater the quality and therefore the performance that you (should) get. Although there are other factors that can affect this.

Signal Quality has nothing to do with signal strength and everything to do with Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR).
 
To use the music analogy that skulbringer mentioned, If you turn up the volume on a piece of music, you may be able to hear it better, but not if there were 20 other songs playing all at the same at the same volume. However you would be able to hear the music just fine even on a very low volume if everything else around you was completely silent.
 
the Greater the SNR, the greater the quality and therefore the performance that you (should) get. Although there are other factors that can affect this.

It's fine, The spec's are what they are for a reason. If it was just a gaming pc then the spec's would have been different.
 
Oh and just to show that you can use more memory, here are a couple of shots from some of my other machines.
 

 

 
(I will now be referring to it as a PFC ;) )

1-2 Km is fairly simple to achieve with high gain directional antenna's, we used to run a 2.4Ghz link over about 1.5 miles using 24dbi Andrew Dish antenna's at either end, however there is a bit more to it.
 
The cable that connects the wifi adapter/card/router to the antenna will have signal loss, the longer it is (and the lower quality) the more the signal will be reduced so keep this as short as possible.
 
You will also need line of site between both ends of the connection, so if there are houses/hills/trees etc directly between the two locations then this will also reduce the signal strength very quickly.
 
Two final things you need to be aware of. Most countries licence wifi based on what is called ERP or Effective Radiated Power, this means that the maximum power limit is the combined power output of the device taking the gain of the antenna into account. So with a 30dbi antenna you may well be above the limit. 
 
The reason countries do this is because a high power highly directional wifi signal can be dangerous, you will probably be fine from the regular output of the router, but if you go down the route of getting one of those high power wifi amplifiers that can be found on ebay and you hook it into a 30dbi antenna, be VERY careful and always turn off the wifi before going near the front of the antenna.

They aren't headphones but they are just within your budget and I would certainly recommend them.
 
http://www.jhaudio.com/product/jh5-pro-custom-ear-monitor
 
I use the JH16 Pro's and IMHO they outperform any headphones I've ever listened to, plus each set is a one of a kind.

Fair point, i wouldn't buy extra parts unless pfSense was really needed.
 
I use pfSense on my home network as i need to segregate 3 separate networks and I make quite a bit of use of it's bandwidth limiting features. The ability to simulate a lower bandwidth higher latency connection is extremely useful for some of my software development. Although for 99% of people i'd agree they would be better off with a regular router. The only features that may be useful for the average home network would be virus scanning and proxy cache, but only if you have the hardware lying around.

Short answer is Yes. 
 
I run pfSense version 2 and have used Wifi USB adapters with it in the past. It will depend on the adapter though as not all Wifi implementations will allow it to run in access point mode. 
 
You will also find that performance probably won't be as good as a separate wifi access point or a proper wifi PCI(e) Card as the USB adapters aren't really designed to support multiple connections.

So I'm going to be receiving the majority of the parts for my new build tomorrow so I thought I'd start a build log.
 
Background
 
I've been building my own computers for a very long time (20 years or so) but I've never done a really high end build. By high end I don't necessarily mean the best performance or most expensive parts but more of a quality build I suppose, i've also never done a water cooling build before so this will be my first.
 
This build will be used for both work and gaming.
 
Due to work commitments I don't have a huge amount of time to work on this so this will be a reasonably long and ongoing build log.
 
Specs
 
Main Components
 
M/B: Maximus VI Formula (Arrived!)
CPU: Intel 4770K (Arrived!)
PSU: Corsair AX1200i (Arrived!)
OS Drive: 2 x Samsung 840 Pro SSD In RAID 0 (Arrived!)
Storage: 3 x WD Red 3Tb in RAID 5 (Arrived!)
GPU: EVGA GTX 780 (Arrived!)
RAM: 32Gb (4x8Gb) Corsiar Vengeance Pro 2133Mhz (Arrived!)
Sound: Asus Essence STX (Arrived!)
Case: CaseLabs TH-10 (Arrived!)
RAID Controller: LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271-4i (Arrived!)
 
 
Water Cooling
 
RADs: 3 x 480mm BlackIce SR-1 (1 x Arrived)
Pumps: 2 x Aquacomputer D5 Pump Motor with USB and Aquabus Interface (Arrived!)
Reservoir: Aqualis XT 450ml Reservoir with Fill Level Sensor, LED Holder & Nano Coating (Arrived!)
Tubing: Primochill Hard Acrylic (Arrived!)
Fans: 12 x NB eLoop B12-PS, 4 x NB eLoop B12-P (Arrived!)
Control: Aquaero 5 XT (Arrived!)
Coolant: Mayhems Pastel Ice White
CPU Waterblock: EK Supremacy Nickel Clean CSQ (Arrived!)
GPU Waterblock: EK-FC Titan Nickel + EK-FC Titan backplate (Arrived!)
Filtering: To Be Decided
Thermal Paste: MX-4 (Arrived!)
 
 
Aesthetics
 
Custom wiring throughout with MDPC sleeving. I've got some nice plans for the lighting but I'll save that for later ;)
 
Thoughts
 
I'm sure there will likely be a number of comments about the spec's, so I'll address the likely ones now.
 
Why 32Gb RAM, nothing needs more than (insert figure here)?
 
I work in a number of areas of IT, the main one being enterprise software development. I run a local SQL Server and a number of Virtual server's so 32Gb of RAM will most certainly be used.
 
The AX1200i is overkill, you only need a 750w PSU
 
I'm planning on upgrading to Haswell-E 8 Core when it's launched next year along with a second GTX780 and i don't want to be changing the PSU so the AX1200i should last for quite some time.
 
The Maximus VI Formula has great onboard sound, why do you need a separate card?
 
I was originally looking at using the Maximus VI Extreme and ordered the STX before i'd changed my mind to the Formula.
 
 
 
So that's it so far, I'll post updates and photo's whenever I get a chance and I have some progress to report

Haha, I bought a whole load of machines for a customer years ago, the sound cards came with them. I still have them somewhere, I believe they were Turtle Beach Vortex II or something like that.
 
The customer didn't want the sounds cards so I ended up keeping them.

So I'm going to be receiving the majority of the parts for my new build tomorrow so I thought I'd start a build log.
 
Background
 
I've been building my own computers for a very long time (20 years or so) but I've never done a really high end build. By high end I don't necessarily mean the best performance or most expensive parts but more of a quality build I suppose, i've also never done a water cooling build before so this will be my first.
 
This build will be used for both work and gaming.
 
Due to work commitments I don't have a huge amount of time to work on this so this will be a reasonably long and ongoing build log.
 
Specs
 
Main Components
 
M/B: Maximus VI Formula (Arrived!)
CPU: Intel 4770K (Arrived!)
PSU: Corsair AX1200i (Arrived!)
OS Drive: 2 x Samsung 840 Pro SSD In RAID 0 (Arrived!)
Storage: 3 x WD Red 3Tb in RAID 5 (Arrived!)
GPU: EVGA GTX 780 (Arrived!)
RAM: 32Gb (4x8Gb) Corsiar Vengeance Pro 2133Mhz (Arrived!)
Sound: Asus Essence STX (Arrived!)
Case: CaseLabs TH-10 (Arrived!)
RAID Controller: LSI MegaRAID SAS 9271-4i (Arrived!)
 
 
Water Cooling
 
RADs: 3 x 480mm BlackIce SR-1 (1 x Arrived)
Pumps: 2 x Aquacomputer D5 Pump Motor with USB and Aquabus Interface (Arrived!)
Reservoir: Aqualis XT 450ml Reservoir with Fill Level Sensor, LED Holder & Nano Coating (Arrived!)
Tubing: Primochill Hard Acrylic (Arrived!)
Fans: 12 x NB eLoop B12-PS, 4 x NB eLoop B12-P (Arrived!)
Control: Aquaero 5 XT (Arrived!)
Coolant: Mayhems Pastel Ice White
CPU Waterblock: EK Supremacy Nickel Clean CSQ (Arrived!)
GPU Waterblock: EK-FC Titan Nickel + EK-FC Titan backplate (Arrived!)
Filtering: To Be Decided
Thermal Paste: MX-4 (Arrived!)
 
 
Aesthetics
 
Custom wiring throughout with MDPC sleeving. I've got some nice plans for the lighting but I'll save that for later ;)
 
Thoughts
 
I'm sure there will likely be a number of comments about the spec's, so I'll address the likely ones now.
 
Why 32Gb RAM, nothing needs more than (insert figure here)?
 
I work in a number of areas of IT, the main one being enterprise software development. I run a local SQL Server and a number of Virtual server's so 32Gb of RAM will most certainly be used.
 
The AX1200i is overkill, you only need a 750w PSU
 
I'm planning on upgrading to Haswell-E 8 Core when it's launched next year along with a second GTX780 and i don't want to be changing the PSU so the AX1200i should last for quite some time.
 
The Maximus VI Formula has great onboard sound, why do you need a separate card?
 
I was originally looking at using the Maximus VI Extreme and ordered the STX before i'd changed my mind to the Formula.
 
 
 
So that's it so far, I'll post updates and photo's whenever I get a chance and I have some progress to report

First off, i'll apologise for a bit of cross posting here, but i think this would be appropriate for the Audio category.
 
I received my new Maximus VI Formula today and one of the forum members asked if I'd check out the audio quality, I've also purchased an Essence STX for this build so I've been doing some A/B tests today while I was testing out some of the other components I received today and the results are interesting.
 
Firstly its worth remembering that any audio tests are very subjective. This was a fresh install of Windows 8 with both the SupremeFX and the Essence STX enabled at the same time with all default settings, no tweaks to equalizers or special modes were done. The audio sources i used were all lossless FLAC files and the earphones used are JHAudio JH16Pro Custom IEM's (IMHO the best earphones anywhere, period).
 
The short answer is that now I've heard both the Essence STX and the new SupremeFX, I'd still thoroughly recommend that if you want good audio, go and get the Essence STX.
 
I've never been the best at describing these things, but the onboard sound is just washed out compared to the STX, the base response, mids and high's are just more alive on the STX than the SupremeFX. Both showed no background hiss at all (something that the JH16Pro's are quite sensitive to) so the 120db noise floor of the SupremeFX certainly seems to be doing the trick. But overall the STX is noticeably better.
 
Just be aware that your mileage may vary, personal preference, audio source and speaker/headphone/earphone setup all play a big part. But my preference is firmly with the STX.
 

I have an ancient 486 board somewhere from my first ever build, perhaps I'll post some comparison pic's just to show how much things have changed

Trust me, I need 32Gb, anyone who's ever run SQL Server will know that it eats every bit of available RAM and I work databases up to 300Gb
 
I run a Silverstone PSU in my current rig and it's an excellent PSU, but I like the idea of having the computerised monitoring on the Corsair AXi series

The DIR-615 will struggle with 30 users, with large numbers of users on stock firmware they tend to die occasionally and require a reset.
 
For 30+ users you probably want to be looking at a whole different category of access point, We use WNDAP360's for access points but they are just AP's so you would need something else as a router (the 615 should be fine just as a router, it's the wifi that won't cope as it's designed for home use with only a handful of users)

Can't go wrong with Notepad++.

Shure make some great IEM's, i had some 515's until i stepped on them by accident

My Custom IEM's, i wouldn't change them for anything    

My Custom IEM's, i wouldn't change them for anything    

My Custom IEM's, i wouldn't change them for anything