Tech Link (Processor): CPU與記憶體 : AM2 FX-62與Conroe E6700比較！

Sorry for the funny characters, but that's is what I copied and pasted from Coolaler's website. I didn't took the time to convert/translate the text since the tools I used aren't that accurate. I can not really understand the text written there, even when translated to English. Yes I can read them when translated, but I think some of the thoughts are lost because of the process, so if there's any error in my analysis or any details that I might have provided incorrectly, just let me know. In any case, the graphs and figures are easy to understand.



Before anything else, I'd like to mention that the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6700 isn't the top of the line processor. The way I recall it, AMD* FX-62 should be the cream of the crop processor, priced at around $1,000. So the match up, is well, un-matched as the equivalent should be an Intel ® Core™ 2 Extreme X6800 (and even then, Chipzila CPU is not even rated as 5GHz, while AM2 FX-60 is rated somewhere AM2 X2 5000+ and so, AM2 FX-62 is rated somewhere AM2 X2 5200+).

This is really where A*'s rating is becoming more and more questionable, i.e. how they are rating their processors' performance. A*'s CPUs, like 3200+ is supposedly roughly equivalent (or faster, hence the use of "+") of Chipzilla's GHz ratings. So at 4000+ and above, there is currently no Chipzilla part that can be "equally matched" or compared.

So anyway, I'll skip the FanBoyism a little, and proceed with the nitty gritty. Oops, btw, the AM2* FX-62 on the testbench is dubbed super because from the stock settings of 14x200=2.8GHz, it is overclocked at 10x300=3GHz. Well, if any AMDroid is screaming how this isn't "super OC", well boohoo to you, A* chips mostly don't OC well with uber marginal MHz unlike I* chips. Umm, I'm losing my track again, but anyway, the overclocked AM2* FX-62 should be looking like an AM2* FX-64 because of its tweaked settings!

But of course, the I* chip is also tweaked, only that it's got its clock speed decreased. Yep, it's not a typo, decreased, as in lowered down. This is to match the same memory speed between the two processors. I* chip is tweaked from its stock of 10x266=2.66GHz to 8x300=2.4GHz. So now, the two processors can use the same memory speed, only that I* is toned down in clock frequency by about -200MHz while A* is rigged by about +200MHz.



So as you can see from the above settings, AM2* FX-62 looks to have an all around better settings. But, is this really the truth? Of course, this a FanBoy website, who do you think is going to win? Well, it's no brainer, but it's like watching a good anime replay, you're watching it not just because of the ending, but because it's fun to watch all the action sequences and amazing showing of their special powers.

So here's the comparo:







And for 3D benching? Image is large, so just click here.

And for the source of all this info? Coolaler FTW

Tech Link (Industry): Intel Consumer Platforms '07 Updates

VR-Zone have a nice roadmap scoop on the upcoming consumer platforms next year. It is interesting to see that i975's longevity is shining on even at this time frame. It will support the next improvement to Conroe Core which is Kentsfield.



The other details also show that as a platform, Wireless on the Desktop will become part of the package. The wireless flavor should be compatible to currently available standards such as 802.11b/a/g while Gigabit Ethernet would be the common wired LAN interconnect module.

On the Premium and Mainstream line, there are four plaforms, all beefy packed with features. The Napa and Santa Rosa platforms will be covering the mobile portion of the market (i.e. Centrino), while the Bridge Creek and Salt Creek platforms will be focusing on the desktop segment.

It is interesting to note that the current 900 series of processors will be positioned as an "Entry" level legacy systems and the once all mighty Intel® Pentium® 4 series will be relegated as an Entry on the Value segment.

Source:VR-Zone

Brag: DM helps (again) with new OC Tool for Intel® Desktop Board D975XBX (Bad Axe) supporting Conroe

After a very exciting turn of events for the Intel® Desktop Board D975XBX (Bad Axe), being currently the extreme overclockers' choice of motherboard for Conroe loving, I am able to team up with abo to develop the next generation of SetFSB for this board.

Yeah, I know that ClockGen is also working, but hey, current ClockGen* doesn't support "automatic" OC upon star-up so users will always have to "OC on the Fly" after booting on Windows. Besides, it never hurts to have another tool, and since I am in Asia, so I say support Asian overclocking tool power! Don't get me wrong, I like ClockGen too, specially with its new interface!

What's also great about this is that the development didn't take that long to complete. Previously, it will take about one whole day for testing and validating. This time, after a brief communication, in less than an hour, I already have a working SoftFSB!!!

The tool is still on BETA stage, but I'm sure it'll be a great stable tool already. I have always been a loyal SetFSB user and this definitely solidify my FanBoyism for this tool.

Tech Link (MoDT): AOpen miniPC MP915-B Super Multi System Review

PCStats has a new review up on their site. And it's none other than a really cute and really attractive AOpen Mini PC. If you have been visiting my site and checking my HomeGrown articles about this particular Mobile on Desktop (MoDT) you'll know that, yep, FanBoy have reviewed this AOpen MiniPc for quite some time already.

There is little doubt that Small Form Factor (SFF) computers have revolutionized the way technology fits into the home, media room, and our lives. Yet as computers continue to advance by leaps and bounds, the whole the small form factor PC trend seems to be stuck on the initial chassis design Shuttle Computers first introduced in 2001. Now mind you, the toaster-sized SFF PC box isn't bad, it just doesn't fit into all situations.

Source:PCStats

Rant: FutureMark not allowing Conroe results to be published?!? Part II

Three(3) days ago, I posted a rant why Futuremark didn't(??) allow Conroe/Merom benchmarks from the ORB. It was just speculation back then, no hard proofs, since it might just be a quirk in the ORB database. But today, after scouring the net again, I found the final answer.

A FutureMark* staff answered the question:

We usually map/add the new hardware to our online services, such as the ORB, whenever the hardware is officially launched, and available. The CPUs in question were not supposed to be visible, and thus they were removed.

Cheers,

Nick

Well, I know how this feels, but hey, it's FutureMark and the only thing I can do is rant and complain. But if they feel it's not allowed, then it is not allowed. However, the question still remains, why is it that 3DMark01SE is allowed. If FM doesn't care about 3DMark01SE, the next question would be, why was it that Dothan and even early EEs were allowed?

Oh well...

Tech Links (Server): Woodcrest News Around The Web

It's a slow Monday today, and my neck still hurts. I am so sleepy right now, and I just completed a good full eight(8) hours of sleep. I don't know, if that isn't enough, then how much sleep is enough? Could be more than what I need, but heck, I feel so bad today, but I know I just need a little kick and warm up to keep me going to the day. Anyway, I decided to do some news round up for the Woodcrest server chip.



As some of you know, Dempsey, the newest Intel server platform, just launched last week. While the topic for this post is about Woodcrest, I just can't stop mentioning Dempsey since the product launch also gave a lot of sidenews on the upcoming server platform with Woodcrest server CPU.

For starters, BusinessWeek*, placed "Intel Strikes Back" as their headline news last week, saying "There’s a lot riding on Woodcrest, a server chip".

INQ, known for its spectacular ability to sniff rumors along with mixed facts and sarcastic comments, mentioned Woodcrest as "a completely ground-up new ass-kicker. It shares nothing with Dempsey and this one really is the biggest thing since the P3 – P4 transition. It is hard to understate how big a deal this is for Intel, it takes them from laughably behind to the front in many areas."

And if you are looking for more news, over at C|Net, they wrote an article and gave a good praise for Woodcrest, headlined "Intel: Never mind Dempsey, here’s Woodcrest".

So there you have it, the news ain't fresh, but they're still new. Till next blogging...

Tech Link (Chipset): NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI supports Intel® Core™ uA

Looks like NVIDIA* has something ready for the new breed of processors from Chipzilla. From the looks of it, it's going to be a force to be reckoned with. Aside from the "usual" SLI capability, NVIDIA* is offering a lot more this time around. Of course, the biggest news for this chipset, like I already mentioned, is the support for the processors based on Intel® Core™.



I just hope they make a good chipset this time, not only in paper, but in actual performance. I personally owned one of their current NF for Intel, an Asus P5ND2 SLI, and it was a nightmare even at stock settings. The motherboard has been replaced thrice(3x) and it will still not even become uber stable for me, that I have to ask for a full refund! My experience before sucks, so I am hoping that the new one will not suck so bad, and be great not just in their Flash animation and documentation, but in actual performance.

Another things I notice which I'd say is a minus is the 1066FSB settings. Unlike Intel chipsets, their stated maximum FSB such as 800MHz, is normally really not the maximum. Think of it as an artificial limitation, since, as experience shows, even before the time of i865P chipsets, these babies are capable of hitting 1200FSB! Now with my experience with Asus P5ND2-SLI, they did have a headroom, but not even enough to reach 1000FSB. Yes, literally, it can hit this FSB, but nowhere near the stability of Chipzilla chipsets.

Anyway, aside from that, it looks really great in paper. Here's the link to the technical specifications.

And oh, I added a demo of nForce® 500 on the left side of the site. Check it out.

Tech Link (Industry): "Conroe-L": Core 2 Duo on the Cheap

According to AMDailyTech, Chipzilla is preparing to push a new breed of processors into the value segment. This time, it's not based on NetBurst anymore, but the product will be based on the upcoming Intel® Core™ uA.


The Conroe-L, as it is called by Chipzilla, is slated for release on Q2'07. While it is true that the current value processor today that has been capturing the hearts of many is based on dual core in the incarnation of Intel® Pentium® D 805, the Conroe-L will be single core and targetted to be a follow up to the current Cedar Mill line up, current single core branded under the Intel® Pentium® 4 series.

The selling point, as I see it, versus the Intel® Pentium® D 805, is that the new single core breed is based on the new uA and can show up branded either as an Intel® Pentium® 4 or Intel® Celeron® D. Either way, I am sure that there will be no clash with the Intel® Pentium® D 805, for one reason, it's almost a full year before it'll be released.

Hmm...it's going to be an interesting year, at least, for the FanBoyz...

Source:AMDTech

Rant: Lost Digital Camera (or is it stolen?)

Bah, I just can't find my digital camera anymore. It is a Casio EXILIM, the early series, don't remember the exact model but it is a silver model digital camera. Anyway, fact of the matter is, I can't find it anymore. It is the one I used to do my review, taking pictures of motherboard, memory, or hard drive.



I have a few suspects though, somehow, I have a feeling someone I knew took it away. I just don't have the hard evidence and facts, darn it. Anyway, I guess, looking at it from the bright side, this gives me a reason to go out and go get myself a new and better one. But heck, I feel like I just lost 16,000 squids out of my pocket...

So all in all, no review that requires pictures will be made for now.

Rant: FutureMark not allowing Conroe results to be published?!?

Earlier today, I got a buzz from a friend that a new WR for SuperPi has been breached. And I told him on the phone, yawning, "Yeah, I know, 11s is history". But he said, "Nope, 10s barrier has been breached". And then I was like, "Ok, I'll go hunt it down". And so, after visiting a few sites, I finally came down to TeamJapan's score. But what's SuperPi run got to do with FutureMark benchmarks?

Well, if you look and read at each thread in that link at XS, you'll came by one of FUGGER's posting. And I quote:

Well done, the race for 5Ghz is on for sure. It will be done with a little more voltage it seems.

These will destroy all 3D records.

BTW, Futuremark removed all Conroe/Merom benches from the ORB except 2K1.

I still haven't gotten any official announcement, or even a rumor, as to the reason why the Conroe and Merom results are being "removed" from the ORB. The 3DMark01SE score seems to be left untouched, but 3DMark03/05/06 are being taken down.

It has been "doubly" confirmed on FCG's posting, and I quote:

22K has come and gone. Specs for score in signature.

Special thanks to Futuremark for selling out and removing my ability to publish ANY scores on their ORB.

FCG hinted that he can't publish anything in the ORB anymore, but he did break the WR. Of course, without the ORB, people can only rely on FCG's reputation that he is telling the truth. While I don't doubt his score, I know how he feels since there are still many out there that has been crapping on all his potings. Personally, I'll just ignore those sorry losers.

But back to the regular programming, again, on FutureMark's reasoning for this removal of score. If in any case you've seen any official announcement, or even just a rumor, don't hesitate to send me ShoutOut or post it in the forum or just send me an email (or call me). I'd love to get all the facts straight, and of course, to restore my fleeting trust at the ORB.

And if you would like to join in the discuss, XS has a thread up already.

Brag: Conroe XE + Bad Axe = WR SuperPi 1M@10.750s

This is just insane, the race to 5GHz and single digit SuperPi 1M is really getting exciting. When Dothan became mainstream, the biggest holding factor for enthusiasts was the low FSB it provides, and low multiplier. This has been always the only mitigating reason why there's no high clockage frequency. Dothan came from the Banias core and so it's not really meant to achieve such high clockage.
However, Intel* thought to combine the strength of NetBurst with Banias uA and so the dreams of those Dothan users just became to fruition. And already, even before the launch, the chip has been showing off a lot of impressive scores, a lot of which AMDroids are either doubting or having a hard time to swallow. Wow, it must have shaken the foundation of their fate or something. And the great thing about all this showing, is that all these chips are early ES so retail, theoretically speaking, may produce even better clockage! Take a gander here and join me with the drooling:

Source:XS

Tech Link (Industry): Conroe XE (X6800/2.93GHz/1066/4M)

The folks at HKEPC seems to get another "insider" information. Darn, they are fast. They are able to show the pricing and lot of details about Chipzilla processors. Of course, the best part of the list is the pricing for Conroe processors, including mainstream, value, and the uber performance Extreme Edition at the same price range of $999! My Conroe XE is arriving in about a week or two, so I guess I can expect some OC loving.
_{Images owned by HKEPC}

The meaty part, that is, for most cases, I see a lot of mainstream buyers flocking the sub $200 processor, which is the E6300 ($183). This processor runs at 1.8GHz, 1066FSB, and 2M of unadulterated cache. For those who have the moolah, the E6400 looks like a sure winner, goes for a really affordable price of $224.

However, for those people who have been running their systems at 4GHz already, my suggestion is not to get anything lower than E6600. For just $316, it will surpass all known enthusiast CPU at the time of this writing, in terms of pure performance and smoothness in multi-tasking, and that's just on stock settings. I don't really know why anyone would still OC this beast, except for bragging rights, or benchmarking, since it will already be blazingly fast at the stock speed. Of course, some will think it's a mortal sin if this is left on stock, but for most people, stock settings is just the way to go. So, head on to HKEPC and get the full scoop.

Source:HKEPC

Press Release: OCZ Technology Launches Special Ops Edition – Exclusive Gaming Memory with a Competitive Price Tag

Wow, I can't believe OCZ* is going to release an enthusiast memory that has the word "competitive" in it. I mean, I've been a loyal OCZ customer, and frankly speaking, they siphoned a lot of my dough so I never really think they are going to be "competitively" priced. Anyway, if you're like me, you're probably going to get it anyway, yay.
_{Image owned by OCZ*}

Sunnyvale, CA—May 24, 2006—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, is pleased to announce the release of the Special Ops Edition DDR and DDR2 lines. Parts will be offered in PC-3200, PC2-5400, and PC2-6400 speed grades. This new line of OCZ memory features a unique camouflage motif XTC heatspreader and a price tag that has an edge over competitors.

The Special Ops Edition line will be available in 1GB modules and 2GB (2x1024MB) dual channel kits for the ultimate memory upgrade for the latest graphic-intensive PC games, such as Battlefield 2, Half Life 2, Doom 3, and Quake 4, which deliver the best end-user experience with 2GB+ of memory.

“Gamers are a unique breed, and place distinctive demands on their PC memory,” commented Alex Mei, OCZ Technology Inc. “Serious gamers put heavy bandwidth requirements on their memory, and put a premium on both superior performance and dependability. The new OCZ Special Ops Edition memory dual channel kits feature the ultimate balance of speed, reliability, and high capacity, making them an ideal solution for gamers.”

OCZ Special Ops memory will be available as a premium selection for Monarch Computer Hornet Pro small form factor system for gamers tired of lugging their bulky PC towers to LAN events.

“The Special Ops Edition memory is the ideal memory not only for gamers building their own rigs,” added Alex Mei, OCZ Technology Inc. “It is also designed to be a premium solution for system builders interested in providing the ultimate configured gaming boxes. We are proud to announce the Monarch Computer Hornet Pro as the first small factor solution to make use of this cutting edge memory. Together with the new Monarch Computer “Camo Wrap” Hornet Pro this is truly a SFF PC match made in LAN party heaven.”

All Special Ops Edition modules are 100% hand-tested for quality assurance and compatibility and feature high quality XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) heatspreaders for the most effective heat dissipation. Furthermore, each OCZ SOE module is backed by the industry leading OCZ Lifetime Warranty and technical support for unparalleled peace of mind during intense fragging sessions.

Source:OCZ

Brag: FanBoyReview reached 16,584 hits!

Woohoo! Yeehaw. Well, it's not that many, but man, a privately owned and single handledly operated website getting this number of hits is reallye exciting for me. The bulk of hits came from external forums, interestingly, not from TPC! I also got some hits coming from Google and MSN search.

But what the hey, I could care less where the hits are coming from as long as it's not my own IP bwahahahahahahaha. Anyway, I just want to say many thanks to the FanBoyz and AMDroids who are visiting this site. I have received a few hate mails, and some praises. Some are requesting to open up the comment space to make it easy to comment on.

I am thinking of indeed opening up the comment space, to make it easier to comment, but I am afraid spammers (no, not AMDroids, I mean, SPAMMERS) will post their ads or links or whatnots, that it may become a pain in the behind to clean it up. I'd rather have zero(0) comments than spending my time deleting spams.

I also received some suggestions on how to improve the site, but do note, I am just a single guy doing all these stuff! So if I can't make any changes, my apologies in advance. But rest assure that as long as I get hits like this, I'll be rolling out some info.

Thanks again, loyal visitors and haters. Without you, 16k hits would have been just a dream.

Here's hoping I'll still be up and running till next month anniversary!

Tech Link (Processor): Knockout: Intel’s Woodcrest 3.0 GHz outclasses AMD’s Opteron

If you need a daily fill of your Intel® Core™ shot, then this might tide you over while you are still hunting for those elusive Conroe and Merom benchies. This is just a taste of what's to come, and this uA will truly shine once the product becomes mainstream.

Summary
In February 2006, Intel boasted that its upcoming processors with core architecture would be 20% faster than competitive products from its rival AMD. What seemed at the time to be a somewhat presumptuous claim has turned out to be true. Our benchmarking tests confirmed that the Xeon Woodcrest processor for servers and workstations outclasses by far the rest of the x86 architectures – including AMD’s Opteron CPUs or the new Xeon 5070 Dempsey with NetBurst architecture.

Source:TecChannel

Brag: 25MB Hotmail account, finally...

Yeeba, my Hotmail account is finally out of the miserable 2MB limit after, 12+ years of usage. My wifey's email also hits past the 2MB limit. I know, I know, 2MB is nothing to be really proud of since Yahoo and GMail already offers GB of email space. But hey, it's not like I have email address composed of long words or combination of numbers. Mine is pure, un-adulterated arcie followed by Hotmail.Com suffix. Yep, same goes for wifey.

So, after being an early adapter of web based email, which back then was a crazy idea because only host-based email is popular like Eudora and CCMail, the space barrier has finally been broken. At the time, 2MB isn't very restrictive and in fact, I consider it large back then. The internet barely have images to display with anyway, and Hotmail isn't owned by MS*.

Anyway, I am happy I finally got the space I deserve.

Tech Link (Processor): Intel's Conroe spanks AMD FX-62's botty - for real!!

Take this, AMDroids! I remember those sucky comment on my article about why AMDroids sucks, saying Chipzilla rigged the benchtest.

We've managed to run a complete set of benchmarks for both Conroe CPUs in our own lab environment guaranteed free of bias and we've compared their performance to the Presler Extreme Edition 965 and, uniquely, also to today's newcomer from AMD, the Athlon 64 FX-62 AM2.

Today is intended to be a joyous day for AMD. A day when it successfully launches a range of K8-class processors that adopt a new form-factor, AM2, and sport new DDR2 memory controllers.

Source:Hexus

Rant: Yoga4Dudes DVD Review

Omigosh. This is a rant because I so want to have this DVD and I doubt I can get it anytime soon. Drool, you got to love the models dooods! Hot babes is the name of the game and I so want this in my collection. Of course, original DVD, there's no honor in getting pirated ones anyway.
_{Images owned by TheTechZone}

Summary:
Never tried yoga before? No worries, you�ll still love this DVD! Most males balk at the idea of joining a yoga class. Enter Yoga4Dudes, a DVD that will change how all men will look at yoga forever, literally. Check it out!

Source:TheTechZone

Tech Link (Gadgets): Solar bat box

A nice little gizmo to keep whenever you need that extra oommph for your gadgets. This should be useful where the sun is really shining its brightest, and yep, that means countries in the tropical Asia would be suitable. Of course, it'll be nice even in other countries, but hey, if sun is the name of the game, count on the sunny PH to provide it all year long!

This charger will charge four batteries of the same size simultaneously. On a good sunny day, 4 x AA 2000mAh NiMh batteries can be charged in as little as 6 hours. The batteries are charged within the case, which features a fold out stand for directing the solar panel towards the sun…The charger is supplied complete with a 5-way spider for powering small electrical goods such as personal stereos, toys or torches.

Source:RedFerret

Brag: Intel® D975XBX "Bad Axe" Rev302 supports Conroe!

Super Cool. I always knew Intel®-branded (as opposed to Intel®-chipset-based) motherboard rocks in overclocking. I used to be one of the very few who plays with Intel-branded board and overclocking them. I think, I am also one of the very few who really gives Intel®-branded board a serious look in overclocking, beyond the very basic Intel® Desktop Control Center utility (Intel's limited overclocking software), any Intel branded board. Heck, I even wrote an article about: A Tale of Non-Overclockable Boards turned Overclockable and how previously-thought poor overclocking boards actually rocks big time and I quote myself:

Looking back at the term "overclocker friendly" board, I can safely assume that any board, that can be modded via hardware or software, can be called overclocker friendly. A motherboard, that offers options, and yet can't even live up to the stability and extent of its options, can't be said "overclocker friendly". I mean, come on, you have the options, and yet, can't even use it well. What good these options are if it's next to being useless. Having a useless option can be equated to having no option at all. Of course, I never said and never meant that a board that has options and can live up to its options isn't overclocker friendly, they are just uber friendly =)

Heck, I even overclock an Intel® D101GGC value board!

But this month, I feel I have just attained one of my goal when "preaching" about the capability of Intel-branded not just at stock settings, but even at overclocking sports. The advent of the "Bad Axe" board has changed the landscape dramatically. The name "Intel" in the overclocking scene has reached and grabbed deaf ears and blind eyes of the enthusiasts and changed how they looked at Intel-branded boards.

So, if you're one of the few that have this board and would like to make the most of it, then check out the mods made by enthusiasts. And while there's not many posts in that thread, there are already some who have used the mod to partner it with Conroe.

Check out:
FCG's Conroe-support Mod
The_Stilt's vDimm Mod

The two mods completes the cycle. The first mod not just allows Conroe support, but gives vCore options! The second, adds vDimm higher than what is currently allowed, but is optional since this option is already available (not just too high). To follow are optional vDroop and cMCH mods (which are also available, so just expect improvements).

Tech Link (Processor): Intel's Core Duo meets the desktop

I have posted this a long time ago, about 5months already, about the possibility of a i975 + Crossfire + SLI and Mobile Processor. Back then, Dothan was the craze and every enthusiasts who have tested Asus CT-479 + Dothan knows how powerful it really is. The product was actually made into public release during Q1-Q2 and already, they were making a splash. Heck, this combo is so powerful, it can even beat A*'s top of the line CPU (at the time of writing of course).

So, after a long period of waiting, this combo came to be accepted by the enthusiasts and there were already a few reviews flying off the web. Many have praised the whole system combo, well, why not? It offers great performance at a lesser power consumption, with minimal heat, and can be very silent!

Anyway, the latest review comes from Bit-Tech (THG and AMDtech have theirs up as well). Check it out, if you're still holding back on your purchase because of Conroe. But actually, this rig is not to be passed up even if anyone is expecting Conroe? Why? Because the motherboard is still forward-compatible with Merom, Conroe's mobile counterpart.

What's faster than an AMD Athlon FX-60? Well, an Intel Core Duo overclocked on a fantastic AOpen board based on the 975X chipset. We get to grips with Intel's portable processing powerhouse in a desktop board and contemplate - is this a sign of things to come?

Source:BitTech

Brag: World Records Are Dropping Like Flies! Long Live Intel® Core™ uA

Speechless, see for yourself.

Updated at 2:00PM: Another World Record from FUGGER.

Tech Link (Memory): SuperTalent DDR2 memory kit

Bit-Tech has a quick review of a new high-frequency DDR2 RAM running at DDR2-1000MHz with CL5-5-5-15 timing but can also fly happily at tighter timing of CL4-3-4-8 with 800MHz speed. Wow, either of those timing is a sure fire winner. This memory looks good, if only for the 2v requirement, which may not really be attainable on non-enthusiast board. But hey, anyone getting this are most probably running high-end boards anyway.
_{Images owned by BitTech}

Supertalent is a relatively unknown name in memory, but the firm is aiming to make a big splash with its new line of enthusiast memory modules. First out of the block is what the Silicon Valley boys claim is a matched memory set amongst the fastest available on DDR2.

The 1GB modules (making a 2GB dual-channel kit, part number T1000UX2G5) are rated to 1000MHz at 5-5-5-15, or 800MHz at tighter 4-3-4-8 timings. Intel chips will run a memory divider that is happy at 800MHz and 1067MHz, but getting to 1000 requires a CPU overclock in most cases - so you'll need decent cooling, as well as decent memory.

We wanted to find out how the memory performed at each of these different levels, and also whether or not it would overclock up to 1067MHz without having to change the CPU frequency.

Source:BitTech

Tech Link (Networking): Hawking Technology HBB1 Broadband Booster

Wow, I think this is one I'd like to have installed in our home. Wifey has been leeching off my precious bandwidth tons of times! I mean, she's still working at home, with her MS* Outlook* open all the time and then doing her database stuff (or whatever it is she's working on) and really clog all the bandwidth. Then my kids will start going to their favorite websites (Barbie, Disney, Barney, etc.), loading flash games, downloadable images that are really huge, and those sites that has a lot of background music it makes my Home Net Life next to, well...ummm...no comment.
_{Image owned by Hardcoreware.Net}

If you share a single network connection with your family, you can know how annoying it can be to try to play games while someone is leeching off newsgroups, or otherwise wasting bandwidth that cause ping times to skyrocket.

Hawking Technology have come up with a low cost QOS product that promises to solve this problem, claiming speed increases of up to 400%! Sounds almost too good to be true.. is it?

Source:HardcorewareNet

Tech Link (Storage): ACRYLIC CowBoy, the SATA-IDE kit

Are you tired of the same old way of mounting your hard drive? Or just want to see if there's any other way to mount your additional storage? Or maybe trying to change how your big capacity hard disks is arranged? Then this maybe the way of the future, well, that is if it becomes mainstream.
_{Images owned by manufacturer}

Currently, I believe it is only available in the land of the Ninjas, that is Japan if you're slow. What's so cool about this device is that you can also use your regular desktop hard-drive with your laptop. At least I think it can because they have an image there showing it, but you'll need an extra power supply to power up the hard disk.


The site even have many colored "acrylic plates", so if you feel like you're in the mood for blue, snap it on and then there's white and black flavors to boot too!

Source:AkihabaraNews

Check out the manufacturer website for more info, that is if you can read Japanese.

Tech Link (Industry): First MacBook Unpacking Photoset

A friend of mine sent me a link to Wired Blog about the first MacBook* "Unpacking". I am not so much of a Mac* expert, but I can vouch that I am a Mac* drooler :), almost at a FanBoy level. That is, if only I can afford to get me one of those cool, pricey toyz.
_{Images owned by respective owners, not by me or this website}




But hey, if I can't get it, maybe someone else can and wull get it and post a pics of them for us to admire. And yep, here's what's this posting is all about! Apparently, it's not "normal" for a Mac* product to become available hours before announcement, well, I think a lot of announcement and availability is actually like that *yay for me*. Anyway, if you're one of those blokes who loves Mac*, give this link a spin.

Tech Link (Motherboard): Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI Quad Royal Motherboard Review

Chipzilla line of products are becoming more and more exciting. When SLI first debuted for Tumwater, it never really took off and in fact, A* got more SLI-based system than I* even if I* offered it first. But that time has passed, and now, more and more SLI-based system is being offered for the FanBoyz.
_{Images owned by PCStats}

As a matter of fact, it's not just a "regular" SLI that is being offered. Right now, Crossfire system are also ripe for the taking by the FanBoyz. But the fun didn't stopped here. Crossfire and SLI becomes a reality when hacked NVIDIA drivers enables SLI on the Intel® D975XBX motherboard. Now, this is what I call uber flexibility.

But wait, there's more (yeah, I snag it off the Home TV Shopping commercial), QUAD SLI is now also appearing. It first debuted on Dell's XPS gaming system, the first ever to get Quad SLI computing power. Now, this technology can be had by enthusiasts who doesn't have enough dough to spend on Dell* systems or just plainly wanted to build their own rig.

Gigabyte released a motherboard that supports, not one (regular PCIe), not two (SLI), not three (Intel® D975XBX), but four PCIe x16 slots!!!!

PCStats has the full scoop:

Officially, the nVIDIA nForce4 SLI chipset enables two PCI Express videocards to operate together under a technology called SLI - or Scalable Link Interface. Two videocards are better than one in a lot of gaming situations, but what's one to do if even more 3D video game rendering power is desired? Up until very recently there weren't many alternatives; you could either use SLI, or get by with a single PCI Express graphics card. The winds of change must blow quickly, because less than a year after SLI was formally introduced there are already a few select motherboards which offer the possibility of using more than two PCI Express videocards at any given time....

Source:PCStats

Tech Link (Industry): Merom kills 3DMark 2001 - Far beyond 60,000 points!

When Dothan craze started to fill a few nich sections of the enthusiast's personal lab, it's already clear that this architecture is really going to own lots of world record if it is given full chipset functionality in terms of PEG and RAM support. With such low frequency and front side bus, and running mostly on a single PCIe card due to lack of options (i.e. Asus P4GD1 runs on PCIe x16 with s478 and Asus CT-479 adaper), it was tough to catch up with a full blown desktop systems running on SLI and Crossfire.

But since the incarnation of i975x board with hacked NVIDIA drivers for SLI and official support for Crossfire, with Chipzilla promoting mobile-on-desktop concept, the slew of new benchmarks coming from these baby monsters are very devastating in terms of raw performance, multimedia applications, multi-threading and downright smooth computing experience.

Wow, if you still can believe it, check out NordicHardware's take on this babies:

We're having some trouble finding words to describe Merom at the moment. During the last few days we've reported about new records being set, but we were still missing a few benchmarks. We suspected that Kyosen, which has done it again, had some more results coming, this time of a completely new caliber. That it would be this kind of blowout we had no idea, not even our wildest imagination could've come up with something like this. Using Dry ice Intel Merom T7400 was pushed a bit over 3400MHz and with two water cooled X1900 cards Kyosen managed to achieve a completely devastating result with 3DMark2001, 62398 points!

Source:NH

Tech Link (Industry): Dell’s XPS Renegade 700 Features Core Duo 2, Quad SLI

Recently, I posted that the previous generation Dell* XPS* Renegade gaming system is already sold out, yep, all of them are out of Dell's warehouse and onto the home of those lucky FanBoyz who crave for power and enjoys the first ever overclocked Intel processor and Quad-SLI.

Now, Dell* is back with a vengeance and this time, they really are up to it to make the best gaming platform on the face of the Earth. XBit-Labs reported that the system shown at the recent E3 exhibition has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor in it. OMIGOSH! I can't imagine those crazy overclocers willing to spend the dough just to be the first to get these new processors. Already, I can feel the drool, reaching thru my spines.

So back to the news, check out XBitLabs for more info.

If you are like me, then you can definitely take the pimping from Dell, check it out now.

Overclock: Intel® Pentium® D 920 Overclocking (Full Blown Mainstream Dual Core)

This is a follow up article for the affordable Intel® Pentium® D 805. This processor is very attractively priced, hovering just below $230 (less than Php12,500). If anyone is still taking it slow and still not convinced with the power of affordable dual core computing, this processor might be the final nail to seal the coffin of acceptance.

The Intel® Pentium® D 920 Processor is currently the lowest speed grade dual core processor based on the 900series processor for the mainstream market. It is based on 65nm/Presler core on the LGA775 package, and is priced very attractively with price costing less than Php12,000.00 (~$250). This is the first Presler core that has 2x2MB L2 cache, and will be trully attractive to dual-core users, and of course overclockers who are always hunting things on the cheap but are asking more for performance and that beter RAM access time.

Source:Intel® Pentium® D 920 Overclocking (Full Blown Mainstream Dual Core)

Tech Link (Processor): Conroe & Merom,the war between 4Mb Cache,who is winner?!

Hot off the press, check it out.

Rant: Typhoon Caloy left me "off-line" for two days

Well, what can I say, even if I have redundant Internet connection, I don't have enough juice to run my systems. I am only able to keep enough power for the lights and one industrial fan.

Well, my inverter did well on that. While I can easily just log on, I figure I need all the power I can spare for the critical equipment: lights and a fan to ward off pesky insects. My car battery lasted for a day, and then boom, it totally dies. However, power is now restored and everything is back on line now but I missed a day of posting.

Anyway, I guess the typhoon and lack of power did a good thing too. I am able to do stuff I normally don't do during weekends and I actually enjoyed idling after I've done all the necessary tasks.

All in all, I love what the lack of power did to me :)

ShoutOut: Hi!

Just want to give my ShoutOut to my friends: Mama Regz, Fafa Vinz, Mama Sandra, Mama Sharon W.T., Mama Mitz :)...

Tech Link (Industry): Intel claims 40% performance gain with new Core 2 Extreme processor

THG has another scoop on Intel's latest processor for the gamers and enthusiasts, it's about the new Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme processor.

TG Daily: There are two top-of-the-line processors that are being tested here at E3 for performance. One of them is the Cell. The other one is in this room. Brass-tacks-wise, from the gamer's perspective, why is the Core 2 Extreme better?

Source:THG

Press Release: BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® AND LEGENDARY PICTURES TO PRODUCE LIVE-ACTION WARCRAFT® MOVIE

I have always been a fan of Blizzard* games and so this news is really a drool factor for me. I have started enjoying their games, starting from the epic original Warcraft, and first ever Diablo. My fanboyism with Blizzard solidified when they released Starcraft, and then Broodwar. Though I stopped buying their game when they released their very first MMORPG (due to monthly cost), I still love the series.



I have played all Blizzard titles on the PC except the MMORPG, but I did tried it before and then gave up after awaking to the fact that I can not sustain my "hobby". Reality sets in, and then I am, for the first time, away from Battle.Net forum and away from Blizzard site in general. I can not imagine how long I have been absent from the site and their titles except my occasional DOTA game, so I am almost completely out of any real "affection" to Blizzard.

But this time around, I guess I can manage to spend a "movie fee" and return to where I love most: Blizzard Epic creations. However I missed Kerrigan and whatever happened (or will happen) to her, I'd make do with the movie. Anyway, enough with the blabber, and here's the scoop on the news:

BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT® AND LEGENDARY PICTURES
TO PRODUCE LIVE-ACTION WARCRAFT® MOVIE

Fantasy game franchise played by millions worldwide to become major motion picture

IRVINE, Calif. -- May 9, 2006 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Legendary Pictures today announced that they have entered into an agreement to develop a live-action film based on Blizzard Entertainment®'s award-winning Warcraft® universe. Based on the terms of the agreement, Legendary Pictures has acquired the movie rights for the best-selling game universe, and both companies are now focused on translating the high-quality Warcraft entertainment experience to the big screen.

"We searched for a very long time to find the right studio for developing a movie based on one of our game universes," said Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment. "Many companies approached us in the past, but it wasn't until we met with Legendary Pictures that we felt we'd found the perfect partner. They clearly share our high standards for creative development, and because they understand the vision that we've always strived for with our Warcraft games, we feel there isn't a better studio out there for bringing the Warcraft story to film."

"One of our goals at Legendary Pictures has been to bring heroic stories to life in groundbreaking ways, and it's inspiring to work with a company such as Blizzard that takes that approach with each of its products," stated Legendary Pictures chairman and CEO Thomas Tull. "The Warcraft universe is possessed of such a rich mythology and, as such, serves as an ideal platform as we go about translating that universe into what we intend to be a major event film."

Blizzard's Warcraft games have developed a loyal following since the series debuted in 1994. Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness™, released in 1995, won multiple Game of the Year awards and is still considered one of the best games ever made, and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos™ broke multiple sales records when it launched in 2002. World of Warcraft®, Blizzard's latest entry in the critically acclaimed franchise, has quickly become one of the world's most popular online games, with more than 6 million paying customers worldwide.

"From our first Warcraft game to our latest novels, our intention has always been to develop a rich fantasy universe that could support stories and products in many forms," stated Chris Metzen, Blizzard Entertainment's vice president of creative development. "In addition to being a truly rewarding experience for us, the creation of this motion picture also feels like a natural next step for the Warcraft universe."

"It's not always the case that interactive game properties lend themselves to proper adaptation to film," said Jon Jashni, Legendary Pictures' chief creative officer. "We are intending to approach this as we would the adaptation of a best-selling novel: respect the essence of all that it is but also build upon that fertile base while translating it into a new medium."

Further details about the upcoming Warcraft movie, including director, cast, and targeted release date, will be revealed in the months ahead.

Source:Blizzard

Tech Link (Overclock): A 4.1 GHz Dual Core at $130 - Can it be True?

THG has a new article posted, fresh from the get go. It's about an Intel® Pentium® D 805 with a great overclock. Now, when this processor was released eons ago (yeah, I know, it's just this year) many where skeptical about this processor. Some speculate they are "failed" or "reject" processors, bah, numb nuts I say. Others speculate the actual reason behind the pricing. Others thought these processors are just hype, not really doing anything good except basic multi-tasking. Bah, humbug.

Anyway, THG has their own "theory" about this processor

There aren't any significant differences between the two versions when it comes to energy saving functions or instruction sets, but it's easy to recognize from the B0 version that the Pentium D 805 really belongs to the second production series for this CPU. The motivation for a version update usually comes from further optimizations to the circuit layout or fabrication process, as well as corrections for design or behaviour errors. On all counts, the B0 version is an improvement over the older A0 version. Since this version could handle CPU clock rates of 3.2 GHz at the beginning of the series without any problems, a consequence of these improvements is that all B0 version CPUs should be able to handle CPU clock rates of at least 3.2 GHz. This was the theory we formulated before we started testing the Pentium D 805.

To read the full scoop, check it out.

Brag: Thanks to Coolaler for letting me host this images for him

All images are copyright and owned by coolaler (http://www.coolaler.com/). Click on the thumbnails for bigger version. Expand this posting for more images and benches.

Update:Due to high bandwidth demand, I decided to further move the images away from my front page so as not to impact the loading of the main page. You can check out the images here.








All images are copyright and owned by coolaler (http://www.coolaler.com/). Click on the thumbnails for bigger version. You can check out his original post over at XS.

Tech Link (Industry): Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor Unified Brand Name For Upcoming PC, Laptop Processors

Official scoop right out of Chipzilla's homesite.

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor Unified Brand Name For Upcoming PC, Laptop Processors
New Brand, Common Microarchitecture Will Make it Easier for Computer Buyers to Choose a Great Computer; Developers to Design Software
SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 8, 2006 – The Intel® Core™2 Duo processor is the new brand for Intel Corporation’s upcoming powerful and more energy-efficient processor families for desktop and laptop computers that will arrive in the third quarter, the company announced today.

Formerly codenamed Conroe and Merom, the Intel Core2 Duo processors for desktop and notebooks PCs respectively are based on the newly designed Intel® Core™ microarchitecture and will include two processing cores — or brains — per chip, hence the “Duo” addition. Intel will also call its highest performing processor for enthusiast and gamers the Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor.

These ground-breaking processors will be built on Intel’s advanced 65-nanometer design and manufacturing process technology that shrinks a processor’s circuitry and transistors. This combination will deliver higher-performing, yet more energy-efficient processors that will spur more capable, stylish, silent and smaller mobile and desktop PCs while saving on electricity usage.

“With this unified PC and notebook brand and microarchitecture, everyone will have a simple way to choose the most powerful and energy-efficient processors in the world, and developers will be able to more easily write optimized software just once for a variety of computing segments,” said Eric Kim, Intel senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “We want these processors to be the heart and soul of computers that are increasingly bringing magic to our digital lifestyles.”

Having a common microarchitecture for the consumer, gaming, notebook and business desktop market segments makes it easier for computer developers to create more efficient software applications and can share capabilities across all categories if necessary.

The dual-core processors will include the industry’s largest integrated cache or memory reservoir called Intel® Advanced Smart Cache that includes a unique design for faster performance on memory intensive applications. The products will also support such features as enhanced security, virtualization and manageability built right into the processors.

Consumers and businesses will also be able to purchase these processors as part of Intel’s market-focused platforms, a collection of Intel hardware and software technology innovation designed and tested together and tailored to specific computing needs. Intel offers wireless computing, in-home entertainment or business productivity platforms through the company’s Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology, Intel® Viiv™ technology and Intel® vPro™ technology brands respectively, all of which are powered by versions of these new processors.

Starting with these new brands, the “2” will signal the arrival of a new generation of technology to the Intel® Core™ processor line. In order to be consistent with current Intel Core processor naming, Intel will continue to use such terms as “Duo” to creatively and effectively indicate the number of processing cores per product.

Source:Intel

Tech Link (Processor): Conroe E6400@MSI 975X Platinum

Hot off the press, the pictures are taking long to load so be patient. You may encounter broken links from time to time, just keep reloading ;). I'll host them as soon as I got time.

Source:XS

Tech Link (Industry): Intel's Conroe, Merom get a name: Core 2 Duo

As usual, THG got the early scoop on the new naming/branding for the upcoming Chipzilla product. While the branding is really important (i.e. name recall, or what ever marketing folks calls it), the driving factor behind all the buzz is the performance increase the product will give to the consumers.

I have been using the new processors so far, and all I can say is that "impressive" is an understatement to describe these babies. The performance is beyond stellar, it surpasses all known boundaries for the current (and soon, legacy) Chipzilla processors. May I say that the dual core based on this processors are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to even more products coming out of Chipzilla R&D. The gaming edition of the processor, the Intel® Extreme Edition flavor, will truly live up to its name. And yet, you, yes you fellow FanBoyz and readers, need to watch out even more when 2007 hits. Boy, as much as I'd love to spill the beans, all I can say is that, Conroe will even have more boosts!

Anyway, here's the scoop from THG:

Santa Clara (CA) - Back in January, we reported (http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/01/15/intel_drops_pentium_brand/) about Intel's plans to drop the "Pentium" brand. Now it is official: After having renamed its new mobile processor family earlier this year, the next-generation dual-core desktop processor series will also get a new brand and listen to the name "Core 2 Duo".

Both the next-generation desktop processor, formerly code-named "Conroe" as well as the mobile version "Merom" will carry the Core 2 Duo brand. Customers will be able to distinguish the CPUs by their sequence numbers. Intel did not announce those numbers, but sources told TG Daily that the mobile chip will be offered as T5000 (2 MB L2 cache) and T7000 (4 MB L2 cache) series, while the desktop version will be named E4000 (FSB800) and E6000 (FSB1066) series. The letters in the sequence number indicate the thermal design power (TDP) of the processor: "T" is used for a range of 25 to 49 watts and "E" for 50 watts or greater.

The new processor name builds on the Core brand, which was introduced with the current "Core Duo" mobile processor generation in January of this year. According to the company "Core 2" is a sign for a second generation of "Core" technology, which may be a bit confusing, as the current "Core Solo" and "Core Duo" processors are built on technology that has been carried over from previous "Pentium M" processors and the new "Core 2" generation is built on a completely new architecture (which is named "Core" as well.)

Intel did not announce the clock speeds of the new Core Duo processors. Reliable sources, however, informed us that Core 2 Duo T will be available from 1.83 to 2.33 GHz and Core 2 Duo E from 1.6 to 2.66 GHz at launch. The desktop family will also get a high-end "Extreme" version, which is rumored to come with a clock speed of 3.33 GHz and a 1333 MHz front side bus.


While we were told by Intel officials that Conroe and Merom are within their planned timeline, the introduction of the processors may have been put on a slightly accelerated schedule: Earlier roadmaps seen by TG Daily suggested a late Q3 or early Q4 launch date for Conroe and a Q4 launch for Merom. Intel now confirmed that Conroe will be shipping for revenue in July and Merom in August. If Intel is able to keep the pace of its traditional time-to-market tracks, then we should be seeing first Conroe systems in early September and Merom notebooks no later than in October of this year. "Woodcrest" the server version of the Merom core is expected to launch slightly ahead of Conroe and will be named Xeon 5100 series.

So far Intel has not provided Conroe or Merom processors for an independent performance evaluation. But company maintains that it will not only achieve performance per watt leadership when the processors hit the market, but will also offer the fastest CPUs at that time. Benchmark numbers quoted within the company claim that a 2.66 GHz Conroe (Core 2 Duo E6700) will outpace a dual-core, socket 939 Athlon64 FX60 (2.6 GHz) by about 17% in PCWorldbench 5, by 29% in Sysmark 2004 SE, by 30% in PCMark 05 and by 32% in Webmark 2004.

Tech Link (Storage): Sony to ship 50GB Blu-ray recordables in June

I am not so excited about the technology, but I think someone out there is or even planning on getting one. I mean hey, it's 50GB of full data goodness, saves a lot in terms of those precious space on your work area. At least, in my case, it'll save me tons, really lots of space since my work area and my mess area is the same, yay, keeps those scattered CDs reduced to a few pieces!

Anyway, this technology is heaven sent for those who really need lots of storage capacity for such a compact media. While I still haven't opened my DVDWriter which I bought eons ago and haven't found a use yet, there is a 25GB flavor that is shipping already. I guess I am being left behind, not that I mind though.

Anyway, if you are one of the storage FanBoyz, check the full story at RegHardware. And oh, did I mention they aren't cheap? Ooops...

Source:RegHardware

Rant: Intel notebook measures AMD Ferrari F1 performance

Another nutcase in the work. Take note that it's from INQ, so I can't vouch for the authenticity of their report. Anyway, if you don't know it, Ferrari* is carrying A* as one of their branding campaign for some of their products, i.e. they have a Ferrari* lappy based on A*'s processor. So it is ironic that uses an I*-powered mobile, and it is also Ferrari's first win after many losses at the Imola Grand Prix.

MOLES NOT FAR from Imola noticed something quite interesting.

Instead of attaching an AMD Turion 64 notebook to the Ferrari FI - sponsored by AMD, the technicians appear to be relying upon the awesome power of the Sentryno brand.

Unfortunately the screen was too far from our ace camera man's digicam to catch details of the electrolytics used in the little Ferrari beastie. But you can easily see the Intel stickers.

Source:INQ

Tech Link (Motherboard): Intel Core Duo: AOpen i975Xa-YDG to the Rescue

Heh, AMDTech's new article, to "rescue" the...Intel® Core™ Duo? What's to be rescued? The processor would work great even on motherboard based on Asus' i945 solution! In any case, they have a review up for the very impressive Yonah/Merom motherboard, that has support for Crossfire and SLI, what more can you ask for? The benchtests is comprehensive, it lists a slew of of comparison between a mobile Intel® Core™ Duo T2400 (1.83GHz with Corsair Pro DDR2-667@CL3-3-3-8 RAM) against a server AMD Opteron 165/175 (with OCZ EB DDR1-400@CL3-3-3-8, remember it is an EB series).

The Chipzila mobile setup beat the A* server system in almost all of the benchmarks, most of the shortcomings came from I/O rather than those that has great CPU attention. The mobile processor also overclocks so well, which according to the article, easily breaks 50% on the clock frequency. Of course, the motherboard has to be tweaked, but nothing out of the ordinary such as voltmodding or anything, but just a quick jumper change settings.

Anyway, since it is AMDTech, the usual bashing still appears:

There was no real incentive to compare the AOpen board and our processor to other Intel offerings as the entire lineup will be changing shortly, not to mention it would have been an embarrassment for the NetBurst based processors - especially during the thermal and power testing. We did not have the entire Core Duo product line in house yet so this option was off the table in doing cost comparative analysis against other Intel or AMD products. However, we will be providing a full platform comparison in an upcoming HTPC article centered on the Core Duo, Pentium D 805/920, and AMD X2 processors

Anyway, if you can stomach and skip the bashign (don't worry, not too much this time around), head on there and check their article.

Source:AMDTech

Tech Link (Processor): Merom T7400 VS Yonah T2600

I guess it's not about I* vs A* again, but back to the regular programming of A* vs A*. It's been like this for quite some time already, either a Dothan vs Prescot, Yonah vs Smithfield, Smithfield vs Presler, and so on, you get the point. This time around, it's Yonah vs Merom. While it's quite obvious who is going to win, it's still great to see the two platforms mano-y-mano.

Oh well, I know it's been linky to XS but hey, they always got the neat stuff regarding Chipzilla's products lately. Poeple there isn't under NDA and can post lots and lots of benchies, really great stuff.

Check it out.

Brag: I've got SLI driver for i975X :)

So a contact just sent me his i975X SLI driver. Too bad, another NDA so I can't share nor tell anyone where I get this from. It weighs in a measly 15MB, not too heavy I guess, considering how drivers these days soak up more than 20MB at the very least. I will have to set up my rig again to bench these babies out.

Anyway, I plan to bench an SLI rig on a D975XBX soon, I just need to find time as I already dismantled the baby since I am modding it to allow Conroe to work properly. Darn, too many toyz, so little time to play with. Till next bragging...

Press Release: Patriot Memory Releases the World’s Fastest 1GHz Memory Module

Omigosh, I have to get myself one of these babies. Oh man, major drool factor, stock timing of CL3-3-3-8@66MHz, CL3-4-3-8@800MHz, and CL4-4-4-12@1000MHz. In comparison, Corsair (at a higher frequency) TWIN2X1024-8500 (DDR2 1066MHz) runs at CL5-5-5-15, while OCZ's DDR2 PC2-8000 Platinum XTC Extreme Edition operates with CL4-5-4-15.

Fremont, California, April 20, 2006, Patriot Memory, a manufacturer of premium quality memory solutions, announced the release of the world’s fastest 1GHz memory module available in the market.

By achieving a blazing latency of 4-4-4-12 at 1GHz, the Extreme Performance DDR2 8000 XBL is the fastest memory module in its class. With the versatility of the XBL series, users can also operate these modules at the fastest timings for 667MHz and 800MHz. Patriot introduces this new memory to meet the demands of PC enthusiasts seeking faster speeds and timings.

"Where other companies make users choose between high bandwidth and low latency, Patriot Memory’s XBL series delivers a high end, all in one solution for PC gamers and serious overclockers. We are pleased to announce that the new DDR2 8000 XBL offers the fastest timings at 1GHz, 800MHz and 667MHz in one module," said Paul Jones, Patriot Memory CEO.

The Extreme Performance XBL line features Patriot’s innovative heat shield design and comes with a lifetime warranty. Available in early May, the Patriot DDR2 8000 XBL will be offered in 512MB and 1GB single modules and 1GB and 2GB paired kits.
Bandwidth Latency timings
DDR2 667MHz 3-3-3-8
DDR2 800MHz 3-4-3-8
DDR2 1000MHz 4-4-4-12

For more information on the new Patriot Extreme Performance XBL lines or other Patriot memory product solutions, please contact your Patriot Sales Representative or visit http://www.patriotmem.com.

Source:Patriot

Tech Link (Coolers): CPU Heatsink Roundup May 2006

The folks at Madshrimps whips up another slew of great round-up for us enthusiasts. They have a wide array of coolers lined up for review and scrutiny of the FanBoyz. I have always have fun looking and browsing their reviews, always very direct without too much coating, just plain jane direct to the point articles.
_{Images owned by MadShrimps}

Introduction
Welcome to the next edition of our heatsink roundups, today we have these new contestants for you:

# Aerocool Dominator
# Arctic Cooling Alpine 64
# Spire DiamondCool II
# Spire VertiCool II
# Scythe Katana CU
# Scythe Mine
# Thermaltake Mini Typhoon
# Tuniq Tower 120

And heatsinks included for comparison which were already tested in the Sonata II:

# AMD Stock Cooling *
# AMD’s new Heat pipe Stock cooling *
# Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 *
# Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro *
# Asus X-Mars *
# Coolermaster Susurro *
# Noctua NH-U 12 *
# Noctua NH-U 9 *
# Sharkoon Red Shock *
# Silverstone NT02 *
# Scythe NCU-2000 *
# Scythe Ninja *
# Scythe Samurai Z *
# Scythe Shogun *
# Thermalright XP-90C *
# Thermalright XP-90 *
# Thermalright XP-120 *
# Thermalright HR-01 *
# Thermalright SI-120 *
# Thermaltake Big Typhoon *
# Zalman CNPS9500CU *

Source:MadShrimps

Tech Link (Processor): Intel Core versus AMD's K8 architecture

It's been a while since AMDTech made an article that never really bashed Chipzilla. They always manage to spew out an exciting amount of bash, you'd really think they already lost their mind. However, in this new article, in fact, I posted it a few minutes after they made it live on their site, they manage to at least focus on the topic at hand without too much fanboyism in the air. I guess, the sample that they currently have on hand (and yet can't post results due to NDA) may have been changing their minds so far, and affecting their capability to bash Chipzilla. Oh well, read on to find out more....

Introduction
Wide Dynamic Execution, Advanced Digital Media Boost, Smart Memory Access and Advanced Smart Cache; those are the technologies that according to the marketing people at Intel enable Intel to build the high performance, low energy CPUs using the new Core architecture.

Of course, as an AnandTech Reader, you couldn't care less about which Hyper Super Advanced Label the marketing folks glue on their CPUs. "Extend the digital lifestyle by combining robust performance with low power consumption" could have been another marketing claim for the new Core architecture, but VIA already cornered that sentence for its C7 CPUs. The marketing slogans for Intel's Core and VIA's C7 are almost the same; the architectures are however vastly different.

No, let us find out what is really behind all this marketing hyper-talk, and preferably compare it with the AMD "K8" (Athlon 64, Opteron) architecture of Intel's NetBurst and Pentium M processors. That is what this article is all about. We talked to Jack Doweck, the engineer who designed the completely new Memory Reorder Buffer and Memory disambiguation system. Jack Doweck is one of the Intel Israel Development Center (IDC) architects.

Source:AMDTech

Tech Link (Industry): Dell Sells out of $10 000 Gaming Computers.

Wow, Intel® Pentium® Extreme Edition dual-core processor overclocked to 4.26GHz and 2GB of PC2-5400 (667MHz) with Quad SLI just ran out of stocks, yep, emptied, nada, cleared, all sold out.

Dell Inc., the world’s largest maker of personal computers, said Tuesday it has sold all its limited edition XPS 600 Renegade systems that packed the top-of-the range offerings from Intel Corp., Nvidia Corp., innovative physics accelerators from Ageia and cost around $10 000.

“We sold out [Dell XPS 600 Renegade systems] in 3 days. The XPS 600 Renegade was a great example of Dell’s ability to deliver cutting edge technologies to gamers, and we’re committed to making these technologies – such as physics accelerators and quad SLI – more broadly available over time,” said Liem Nguyen, a spokesman for Dell.

The Dell XPS 600 Renegade was equipped with Intel Pentium Extreme Edition dual-core processor overclocked to 4.26GHz, 2GB of PC2-5400 (667MHz) memory, specially designed graphics cards each carrying two NVIDIA GeForce 7900 graphics processors with 512MB of memory per chip (2GB in total), Western Digital Raptor hard disk drives, Ageia PhysX accelerator for physics effects and so on. Dell sold the system for roughly $10 000, an unprecedented price of a desktop PC for gaming.

Dell did not disclose how many systems featuring overclocked Pentium Extreme Edition processor as well as Nvidia’s quad SLI technology it has sold, however, it emphasized, that the systems were custom-painted and came with autograph of Michael Dell, the founder of the company.

Nvidia quad SLI technology uses special GeForce 7900 GX2 graphics cards, each of which has two GeForce 7900-series graphics processors. Quad SLI allows to turn on 32x antialiasing, the maximum level possible today, or to play the latest games in 2560x1600 resolution. Even though quad SLI may not mean the highest performance possible, users buying systems featuring four GeForce 7900 GPUs may expect better graphics quality than those who use one or two graphics cards.

Source:XBitLabs