Brag: Sub 10s SuperPi 1M Has Been Breached!

The amazing coolaler has done it again. The 9s SuperPi 1M barrier has been breached finally thru the use of the top of the line Chipzilla processor based on NGMA. This should make things really really very frustrating for AMDroids. Screw you AMDroids hahahahahahahhahahaha! Click this post to see the thread.

Brag: La fin de l'agonie du Netburst a enfin sonné...

If you are confused about what that means, then don't ask me, I don't know what that means too! But hey, if you are sharp, you'll notice I used the "Brag" prefix, so it should mean something, right? Yep, right you are FanBoyzs. Matbe managed to do a very comprehensive slew of testing of the new Chipzilla processors against older processors and also including A*'s top of the line CPU. While you'll need a translator (unless you understand that language), the graphs are pretty much universal. Expand for more...

La fin de l'agonie du Netburst a enfin sonné...
ImageDepuis les Pentium 4 C Northwood qui furent quelque part les premiers processeurs intéressants de l’architecture Netburst, on ne peut pas dire qu’Intel ait sorti des processeurs de bureau extraordinaires. En effet, les Prescott furent une bérézina complète en termes de performances et en outre dégageait énormément de chaleur. Le passage au socket LGA775 de ce core n’arrangea pas vraiment les affaires d’Intel, principalement à cause de la DDR2. En effet la combinaison Northwood et DDR1 véloce faisait toujours la nique aux Prescott affublés de la DDR2. L’arrivée précipitée des Pentium D face aux Athlon 64 X2 acheva définitivement l’architecture Netburst qui depuis lors n’en finit plus d’agoniser, la sortie du Pentium XE 965 étant son chant du cygne. Du côté des processeurs mobiles par contre, Intel mène la danse depuis un long moment grâce à ses Pentium M, dérivés des Pentium III, et plus récemment des Core Duo qui furent les premiers processeurs dual core pour ordinateurs portables. Ces Core Duo et autres Pentium M ont d’ailleurs séduits quelques amateurs fortunés qui les ont utilisés sur des plateformes de bureau grâce à de très chères cartes mères.

Source:MatBe.Com

Tech Link (Processor): A New Perspective : Intel’s “Woodcrest” Xeon Previewed

Woodcrest has been making big splashes lately. For the un-initiated, Woodcrest is the codename for an Intel® Xeon® processor based on Intel® Core™ uA. If you are still clueless, think of it as an uber Intel® Core® 2 Duo, or Conroe. It packs a whooping processing power, sure to make your drool glands overflow in no time. Expand to read on more about the article..

Intel is on the verge of their first major architecture change in the last five years. Within the next several weeks, Intel will be replacing their current desktop, gaming, workstation, and server processors with newer models based on their heavily hyped "Core" architecture. "Core" is the replacement architecture for Intel's "Netburst" architecture which was the basis of the Pentium-4, Pentium-D, Pentium Extreme Edition and (most) modern Xeon processors. Many are calling this massive change the largest single paradigm shift in Intel's 38 year history, as the company is moving away from raw clock speeds and performance at all costs to providing more balanced solutions along with "platforms" of multiple components bundled together.

Source:GamePC

Tech Link (Chassis): Thermaltake Aquila is one bad-ass Gorilla

OCModShop has a new chassis review. What got my attention is not the fact that it's made by Thermaltake*, or that it can support BTX and ATX form factor, or that it weighs a whooping 10KG, but the fact that it is called "Aguila" and even the logo is designed to look like one. Why the author called it a "gorilla" is beyond me, Aguila means "Eagle".

When searching for the quietest, nicest case for your rig, there are certain features you must look for. Some of these are Size, Air Flow, and Expandability. Thermaltake has been making cases along with their other equipment, targeting the computer enthusiast and hardware modder. Thermaltake's Aguila case looks to be a well-built and expandable case that's sure to impress at the next LAN party!

Source:OCModShop

Tech Link (Networking): Wireless FAQ: Setup and Configuration

THG's Networking division has a good reading for all your Wireless Networking beginners. Pretty much, I'd say, the article is really good. They cover lots of details, and have quite a long list of FAQ. And oh, not just a long list, but I'd say, they have a comprehensive slew of Qs and As as well.

The Questions
We know you missed them, so our FAQ feature is back! If you have a question about the various ways that you can set up a wireless network, the answer is probably here. If it's not, just drop us a note in the Forumz and we'll get crackin' on it.

Source:THG

Tech Link (Chipset): nForce 590 SLI Intel Edition: NVIDIA prepares an Intel 975X Killer

A new article has just been posted over at AMDTech, and it's not about any Chipzilla chipset, but a whole new vanilla: NVIDIA*. It is not something new that NVIDIA* plunged in on the Chipzilla users, they have done it in the past (and failed miserably) and goes head-on against top dog Chipzilla chipsets. The past motherboard based on this chipset were not only pricey, but plagued with stability issues, specially on overclock settings (which, it also does very poorly).

AMDTech used a lowly Chipzilla processor (an Intel® Pentium® D 805 processor), overclocked it till it reaches 197FSB. Hmmm, something fishy is going on here, I know I haven't read the whole article but hey, why not overclock something better, like, an Intel® Pentium® D Extreme Edition series(yeah, they said they are going to make a follow up yada yada yada)? I smell memory compatibility or stability issue. But if you're interested, head on over to the site, where all Chipzilla products always end up having negative stains.
_{Click on image for larger version}

NVIDIA has certainly had its share of success in the AMD world and started making inroads in the Intel market space late last year with their first nForce4 for Intel chipsets. A few months ago NVIDIA updated their Intel platform with a revised stepping of their nForce4 Intel chipset along with a slightly different marketing strategy by going after the hearts and wallets of potential Intel customers with mainstream products. The nForce4 Intel SLI XE and Ultra chipsets were very good performers at excellent prices and found their way into several manufacturers' boards this last quarter. However, the continued reliance upon the NetBurst architecture and Intel's entrenchment in the corporate market has resulted in a situation where the nForce4 Intel product is constantly on the outside looking in for market acceptance in both the performance and business sectors.

Source:AMDTech

Brag: Supermicro Launches over 30 Woodcrest-based Platforms!

The scoop over at 2cpu.com is spewing that Supermicro*, a world-reknowned server motherboard OEM, is going to release not 1, not 2, not 5, heck not even 10 for that matter, but a whooping 30 server motherboards for Woodcrest. Now if that isn't a sign of how great this processor performs and how varied the applications will be, I don't know what is. It should signal that OEMs are really showing interest and capitalizing on Chipzilla's new uA, and indeed, they have reasons to be expecting that. As early leaked benchmark shows, Woodcrest is really doing well in the performance/watt arena.

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 26, 2006 — Supermicro Computer, Inc., a leader in high-quality servers, chassis and serverboards, today announced the immediate availability of more than thirty X7 server platforms based on Intel’s newest Dual-Core Xeon 5100 series processors (codenamed Woodcrest). System-level breakthroughs in design, energy efficiency and thermal reliability now enable greater versatility and a correspondingly lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than previous Xeon generations.

Source:2CPU

Tech Link (Motherboard): ASRock 775XFire-eSATA2/A/ASR i945PL Motherboard Review

PCStats reviews a great looking value motherboard that can also overclock decently. The motherboard is based on the Intel® 945P Express Chipset, that supports, of course, dual core. Nowadays, unless there's perfect business sense, it is almost always not a good idea to buy single-core processors. With processors running on the cheap even for dual core, it's always been a great buy to go out and get one, then partner it with motherboard that offers many amenities such as this one. Go get a glimpse at the review.

How many times have you done a little theoretical upgrade window shopping, only to find that all the motherboard brands you've never heard of are the ones within your budget? Companies like PCchips, Magic Pro, Acorp, Biostar, Jetway, and ASRock each crowd the value-oriented motherboard markets, but quality can vary wildly between them. Of these, ASRock (a division of ASUS) is one of the better known, having made made a mark for itself by serving up inexpensive motherboards with basic amenities, good build quality and reliability.

Source:PCStats

Brag: FanBoy EmotIcons!

I have just created four(4) personalized EmotIcons for the site. Of course, I made it myself, and it's a brand-spanking original concept and design. Not that it looks good, but it feels great to have my own way of conveying my feelings on each of the category that I have.

One of these EmotIcons is the one you can see besides this Blog post. It's called "Brag". The others are "Rant", "Great", and finally, "Thanks". I have always wanted to create this, but lack of time have prevented me from doing such. But now that it's done, all I can say is, "Good job" to myself.

Yeah, I know, I'm praising myself, but hey, not that you care anyway, specially if you are a sucky AMDroid. So yeah, I rock!(Hmm, maybe I'll make one about rockin')

Tech Link (Technology): Xeon Woodcrest Preys On Opteron

THG has a quite a mouthful of write-up regarding Woodcrest's performance. They benchmarked it against the competition (fastest CPU from A*) and the results, are, great. I can already imagine how AMDroids will complain about the difference in clock speed, heck, I don't have time to bash them about it now.

Today marks a turning point for Intel. Despite of good overall profit and great headlines on advances in manufacturing, the firm has had to suffer from tremendous criticizm over the last 18 months. When compared to AMD processors, the Pentium and Xeon lines were regularly given a beating and are well known for their disproportional energy hunger. It was a matter of time until these drawbacks had to reflect on market shares and as this happened, stockholders certainly weren't leaping for joy. Intel had to leap ahead, quickly.

Source:THG

Tech Link (Motherboard): The Making of a Motherboard: ECS 2006

HCW has a nice article up, about the manufacturing of motherboard. They covered a great deal of details, and they do have some pictures of the manufacturing too (whic is normally not allowed). So it just means they pretty much have a good contact and really first hand experience in seeing how motherboards are made. I remember, the first time I went to a manufacturing before, seeing how CPUs are toasted inside the oven, I was like, "Omigosh". It's a very interesting experience for me back then. Anyway, head on to the site for more info.

If you've been noticing more reviews of ECS products (and getting quite good scores at the same time) you're not mistaken. After merging with PC Chips, ECS has recently started pushing into the retail market; prior to that, they have been one of the largest OEM manufacturers for more than a few brands.

Source:HCW

Rant: I just got back...

After a very tiring long business trip, I decided to give myself a break: away from the computers. After checking my business email on Saturday noon, I shutdown my computer and it has never woken up till like a few minutes from this posting. It's such a very tiring week for me, and I just don't like to see anything that will pull me out from my rest. Whenever I see my laptop, I always feel like I have to work so I just have to really tuck it away from my sight. As such, my news posting, brag, rant, and others just get abandoned for about two days.

So you'll notice there's a gap of a day in my posting. I will try to post "backtracked" news, kind of like cheating a bit, and do some news posting or articles, or whatever to fill that one day of absence.

So I am cheating at my Blog here, but at least I am letting readers know. Stay tuned, and don't worry, I am still alive.

Brag: Six Months Anniversary

Ok, this is a cheat posting, made on June 26 (Monday). But hey, I took a break from all the working and what nots and spent my day resting, looking at the sky, visiting farms, playing with my kids, talking with my wife, you know, life. Anyway, I am editing this post so I don't miss the 25th of June, the Sixth Month Anniversary of the site. So what's the news?
Well, it looks like my site is getting more and more hits, more than what I hoped for. I ended up with 22k to date, and for a FanSite with a far less audience, I'd say, I'm making some small splashes.

I'll post the graph for the hits later today, but for now, I am off to celebrate the sixth month existence of the site. Till next, and thanks for visiting my site.

Rumor: Intel Core Multiplexing Technology

FCG from XS, has posted a nice diagram on how CMT works on Chipzilla system. There's still not many details regarding this CPU feature, but it would seem that it will help applications that are not designed to run on multi-core system. Click on the image for the bigger version.

Not sure why there is so much resistance to this technology. The work is already done, Core 2 already contains all the technology required to implement this new feature.

1) L2 cache is shared and does not require bus access to read/write.
2) Single FSB shared by both cores.
3) Cores can be dynamically enabled/disabled.
4) L2 cache can be dynamically assigned.
5) Individual execution units can be dynamically powered-up and down.

Source:XS Post#21

Tech Link (Motherboard): [First Look] Intel 965 ASUS P5B Deluxe Result

I know some of you guys have been waiting from some benchmarks, reviews, and whatnots on the upcoming Conroe-targetted motherboards. Well, you're in great luck today, as another enthusiast posted a great set of images for the upcoming Asus* P5B i965-based motherboard. There's not much benchies, but AndreYang promised to deliver more. Warning though, the link contains huge images! Expand this article for more...

I got the ES motherboard from ASUS. The motherboard has some problem to slove, so I delay to post.

Please look at motherboard and Bios first.


ASUS P5B Deluxe

Source:XS

For product info, visit Asus info page.

Tech Link (Processor): "Kentsfield XE on BadAxe, Why Not?"

Another bomb has just been blown off in the open by another enthusiast: hicookie. A Kentsfield XE screenie and benchie has been posted yet again. Conroe XE hasn't even taken its official take off and already, enthusiasts are already playing with the next best thing.

hicookie ran it on the currently available Intel Bad Axe motherboard BIOS 1181 with GeIL PC2-8500 DDR2 RAM. There's also some overclocking being shared, via a simple change in multiplier. Below is the full specifications (as posted by hicookie):

Processor: Intel Kentsfield XE
Motherboard: Intel BadAxe R302(mod support conroe)
Video Card: Nvidia Quadro Fx4500
Memory: GeIL PC2-8500 1.8V
Hard Driver:WD Raptor 150G
Power Supply:Zippy 600W
Operating System: Win 2003 R2 32bit

Source:XS

Tech Link (Processor): Kentsfield sighting!

While Conroe hasn't been officially released yet, the four core (dual dual core) version of Conroe has been seen already. A famous overclocker and enthusiast, coolaler, has posted some screenies of this processor, showing four SP2004 running at one time along with MS* Windows task manager showing four instances of CPU at 100% load.

His set-up runs on MSI motherboard, with 1GB of DDR2 RAM. He partnered it with an equally powerful GPU runnoing on 7950G2X. The power comes from a hearty 850w Zippy, and the processor is cooled by the ever reliable Tuniq Tower 120. Below is the full specifications (taken from his posting):

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo Conroe E66008mb cache Kentsfield
Cooler：Tower 120
Motherboard: MSI 975X Platinum 2.b
Memory: Corsair DDRII 8000ul 512X2 Dual Channel
Hard Drive: Maxtor 300g SATAII 16Mb Cache
Video Card: COLORFUL 7950G2X
Power Supply: Zippy 850W
Operating System：WIN XP SP2

Source:XS

Tech Link (Processor): Conroe around the web....

Again, my apology for the lack of updates on a timely manner. I am still very busy. Anyway, I manage to check my InBox and found a few Conroe reviews around the web to busy your day.

MadShrimps

With the release of Core 2 from Intel approaching we take a look at how much headroom the X6800 (Extreme Edition) has left, clocked at 2.93Ghz we push it to the limit using high end air cooling.

T-Break

Intel's Conroe or Core 2 Duo as it has been officially named, is creating as much of a buzz amongst the enthusiats as the Athlon64 did. From what we've read about this CPU, not only does it perform exceptionally well, it also manages to reduce the temperatures and power consumption by quite a bit. This is great for Intel as ever since they moved to the Prescott core, things have not went that well for them with AMD constantly challenging and besting them in both performance and power utilization.

NordicHardware

The overclocking at DreamHack continues and after the successful bench sessions on Saturday, with two world records with 3Dmark05 and 3Dmark2001, Kinc and crotale have started going after new records and will continue for as long as DreamHack goes on Tuesday. What we've done so far is to move all of the equipment into the C hall where the room temperature is ~22°C/72°F instead of 32°C/90°F in the D hall at our booth. But even more important was that we got our hands on an Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor sent to DreamHack from Copenhangen via postal express. The processor came to Jönköping during the evening and the tests have been going on nonstop since then, with some fantastic results.

Rant: Ahahha, AMDroids are going to get screwed again...

Ok, this is not my own finding, but I just got the chance to open up a friend's email and he asked me what is odd about AMDTech's newsposting here. Well, I said, A* is reacting to the upcoming release of Chipzilla's processor and that's normal, nothing too spectacular, just their re-action to be "competitive". Bah, until I got told and pointed to the direction of discrepancy in pricing and lo and behold, I got what he meant. I never really clicked on the image, because my attention is focused on this:

* AMD Athlon 64 price cuts will receive price cut up to 30%
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 will receive price cuts up to 50%
* AMD Sempron processors will receive price cuts up to 15%

Expand for more...
However, if one scrutinizes the pricing scheme, it reveals that A* is going to screw the pricing of its product line! Remember how AMDroid keeps mentioning how their Athlon XP is like bang for the buck if all you want to do is game since Northwood C has been bashing the Athlon XP to the ground when it comes to performande, so they just console themselves with such crap (they said, Northwood C only has negligible performance increase, but price is so much more on Chipzilla so AthlonXP is the better bang for the buck). Yet this same AMDroids keeps going against purchasing an Intel® Pentium® D 805 and yet performance increase is negligble against, the *ehem* A64 X2 3800+. For Pete's sake, it's a 3800+, it's not a match. Anyway, I know it's not directly related, I just want to show how AMDroids are thinking (they were screwed before in this situation) and how they are going to get screwed with the new pricing scheme.

X2
* 5000+: $403
* 4800+: $645
* 4600+: $301
* 4400+: $470
* 4200+: $240
* 4000+: $328
* 3800+: $169

A64
* 4000+: $343
* 3800+: $142
* 3700+: $240
* 3500+: $109
* 3200+: $99

Ahahahahaha, AMDroids are going to get really screwed here. For just double the cache, the lower rated A* CPU is more expensive than the higher rated processor. Omigosh, see how confused these people are, they can't really tell how fast their processors are or how different they are with one another that if you happen to buy a higher rated processor before, on July 24, your processor is actually so much cheaper than the supposedly much cheaper processor. Confused about my double use of the word "cheaper"? You're not the only one. Ahahahaha, screw you AMDroids.

Here's the pricing scheme: Image Pricing

Tech Link (Gadget): Head(less) Teddy USB Drive

This is so neat, you have got to see this one. I love the creativity built in this one: funny, hilarious, great! I give props to the maker, I think he should be patenting it. I don't know, it's the first time I've seen one really funny. I've seen other nice twists, but this is the first one that looks gross, but not really, and turned out to be really hilarious.
_{Image owned by the author, whoever he is, yay}

Source:Flickr

Tech Link (Motherboard): Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6

Five days ago, I posted that VR-Zone have a picture review of the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 motherboard. This time around, they have a full review. I'd say give the site a visit and check out the yummy options this motherboard offers. And oh, it seem that like TheTechReport, they also don't have a Conroe to go with it. Bummer!

A week ago at Computex in Taipei, Intel officially launched the P965 desktop chipset. In case you were wondering why there is so much hype revolving the P965, it is the latest desktop chipset released that will support the Intel 6XXX series of "Conroe" processors.

If you have been following up on Intel's and AMD's roadmaps, you should be very much enticed in getting a Conroe to run in your PC. Benchmark leaks from around the globe has been around for a few months, and basically we are seeing the Intel 6XXX performing at up to twice the speed of last generation of processors in certain benchmarks.

With the release of the P965 chipset, Conroe support will enter the mainstream market for desktop PCs. Such unprecedented speeds is definitely a joy to behold. Also, Intel has created an upgraded Southbridge to go along, the ICH8R, which promises more features than the ICH7 can offer.

When our webmaster "Visionary" reached Taipei, he shot off to Gigabyte and spent a few jugs of saliva convincing them to give us a P965 motherboard to play with. After the gruelling work running from Hall to Hall, he is now down with a fever. Let's all wish that he gets well soon!

Source:VR-Zone

Tech Link (Industry): Kinc and crotale overclocks Live at DreamHack - 2 World records!

Sorry for the really late news posting, being away from home and lack of time to access the Internet the whole day of busy working is tough. So expect really slow activities this week. Anyway, just to brag again, Conroe managed to snag two world records: 3DMark06 and 3DMark2001. They are, by no means, an easy feat. Kinc and crotale managed to beat K|ngp|n's records. Expand the news below for more details.
_{Image owned by NordicHardware}

The Sunday here at DreamHack has been quite extraordinary, Marcus "Kinc" Hultin and Robert "Crotale" Kihlberg have been working long and hard, sleep is apparently not vital when overclocking is involved, trying to set new performance world records. Earlier today Crotale and Kinc managed to get past Kingpin and his world record with 3Dmark06 which has to be considered an achievement out of the ordinary even for these two gentlemen considering the temperature here. About 5000 computers and the mid summer heat turned out to be too much for the air conditioning, which means that crotale and Kinc not only had to battle the regular difficulties when performing Live overclockings but also temperatures at 30°C/86°F and beyond all day long.

Source:NordicHardware

Brag: Blogging from Malaysia

Well, I finally reach my destination. Boy, is it a long day for me. I always hated travelling to Malaysia from Philippines. It always takes one whole day to go to Penang. There's just no straight flight from Manila to Penang, it's just so tiring. Sure, I can take the Manila -> Kuala Lumpur -> Penang, but then again, I'm going to miss my favorite airline: Singapore Airline. Besides, that won't make my trip any shorter, last time I remember taking that route.

Sure, Singapore Changi Airport is like one of the finest stop over here in Asia (I prefer Hong Kong), they have great lounge, and great store. And oh, they are currently on the "Great Singapore Sale" season here, but lack of $$$ prevented me from enjoying it, duh. Anyway, my trip was still interesting, just as is always with Singapore Airline, they have the finest flight stewardess there, ohhhh, gotta love them sexy gals, yay.

Oh well, Happy Father's Day to me...I miss my kids :(

Rant: Dang, Art being subjective is an understatement

Nuff said...

LONDON (Reuters) - One of Britain's most prestigious art galleries put a block of slate on display, topped by a small piece of wood, in the mistaken belief it was a work of art.

The Royal Academy included the chunk of stone and the small bone-shaped wooden stick in its summer exhibition in London.

But the slate was actually a plinth -- a slab on which a pedestal is placed -- and the stick was designed to prop up a sculpture. The sculpture itself -- of a human head -- was nowhere to be seen.

"I think the things got separated in the selection process and the selectors presented the plinth as a complete sculpture," the work's artist David Hensel told BBC radio.

The academy explained the error by saying the plinth and the head were sent to the exhibitors separately.

"Given their separate submission, the two parts were judged independently," it said in a statement. "The head was rejected. The base was thought to have merit and accepted.

"The head has been safely stored ready to be collected by the artist," it added. "It is accepted that works may not be displayed in the way that the artist might have intended."

Source:Reuters

And here's another link with pics of the art.

Tech Link (Industry): "We could use a Conroe "-TheTechReport

Contrary to what many are thinking that Intel may have been showering many Conroe processors to pump up the hype, and post rigged results, the posting at the TheTechReport proves how tough it is to ge a sample processor. While many enthusiasts have seen independent reviews from numerous sources, early numbers shown came from posters who may have gotten the processor in a vague manner: no mention of who the source is, where the processor came from, etc. I love their site, hopefully, someone can send one in for their review.

Well, every hardware site from here to Dubai has had its mitts on an Intel Conroe processor for testing, but no, not us. We did get to test a Conroe briefly at IDF, but we haven't seen one since, and waiting on Intel to supply us one for review has proven to be a total loser of a strategy. By the time we get our review out, we might as well be writing about a 486. We don't have our tentacles into a broad network of folks who enjoy leaking pre-release hardware to the press, simply because that hasn't been a big part of our M.O. historically. But we would like to get a Conroe to test immediately.

So... I sit here ready and willing to do a full TR-style workup of a Conroe processor—or, heck, the entire lineup of processors—as soon as possible. All I need is a chip. If you have one and would be willing to loan it to us for a few days, please drop me a line so we can make arrangements. Of course, we will keep all sources strictly confidential and return the processor(s) to you as soon as our testing is complete. Unless you don't want confidentiality, in which case we will erect a small online shrine to you, complete with animated GIFs.

Source:TheTechReport

Tech Link (Memory): Corsair XMS2 8500 DDR2 Memory Review

PCPer has a review up on their site. I am not a fan of the site, in fact, I don't relly like their reviews. Not that I'm saying mine is better, but my site is a "Blog" site and others are "professional review sites" so it makes a huge difference. They seem to like the RAM, both in its performance and overclockability.

The parts we are examing today is the Twin2X1024-8500 package which contains two CM2X512-8500 sticks. The SPD settings for this RAM is 5-5-5-15 at 2.2V and is tested to run at 1066 MHz. Getting to 1066 MHz memory bus speed will be a challenge for those of you without a ExtremeEdition CPU, but it should mean you can use tighter timings and still get great overclocking.

Source:PCPer

Tech Link (Power Supply): Face-Off! Monster 600W+, SLI-Ready Power Supplies from Thermaltake and Fortron/Source

SysOpt has an article for you guys who are always drooling for powerful power supply. They pit two great PSUs and compare how they fare with one another. If it's your cup of tea, you wouldn't want to miss on this one.

The popularity of 600W+ power supplies leaves little doubt that huge gains in system performance have only come with similarly formidable increases in power consumption. Consider systems sporting dual-core processors and dual-card graphics: adding two 7800GTX video cards to a Pentium D could push power requirement beyond 350W even before considering other components. Further developments such as nVidia's recent Quad-SLI configuration, the proliferation of four-drive RAID arrays, and always-popular case lighting components all signal power-pulling insanity!

Source:SysOpt

Tech Link (System): Running Two Systems with a Single PSU

You have got to love what HardwareZone did to their two "bare naked" systems, running on on a single PSU. The system is running with a very powerful processor, in the incarnation of Intel® Core™ 2 Duo with an MSI* motherboard equipped with an Intel® 965P Express Chipset, an MSI* 7300GS Video Card, a Fujitsu 2.5in mobile 60GB SATA hard drive, and 4x512MB Kingston DDR2-800. Aside from the unique way of getting this two systems built with one PSU, the beasty machine is very very nice looking in its fiery red theme, and consuming a little over 200w! Omigosh!

A lot of users often asked if it was ever possible to run two systems with a single power supply unit. While some users reported success, it wasn't something that we would encourage since most of today's processors would be too power hungry. It may still be possible to power up two of the latest Intel Pentium D or Athlon 64 X2 systems but you may need to get a pretty powerful power supply to get it working.

Source:HardwareZone

Brag: Thanks for all the feedback guys!

I've been receiving tons, well not really, but many e-mails regarding my articles. I also receive "Thank-You"s for my tips and I really appreciate it a lot. I also got a few feedback from my articles, as can be seen here and here and other of my Blog entries. This type of kind words is pushing me to continue with the site even if I sometimes feel a little tired of all the FanBoyism from the other camp *yay*.

So I guess all I wanted to say is that, as long as I know I am helping people along the way, you can expect me to post an article or news bits from time to time. I can not do it most of the time, but I tried to make the site "alive" by posting at least once a day. I make sure that I give this site time, to grow, and to be shared to as many people as I can.

Again, this posting is for all of you FanBoIz like me! Thanks for checking the site, and thanks for the feedback.

Tech Link (Technology): Understanding RAM Timings

HardwareSecrets have a new article up on their website. If you would like to know more about RAM timing or just want to brush up your skill, then head on over there and feast on the info.

DDR and DDR2 memories are classified according to the maximum speed at which they can work. But, besides the speed, there is another information that tells you the memory performance: timings. Timings are numbers like 2-3-2-6-T1, 3-4-4-8 or 2-2-2-5, the lower the better. In this tutorial we will explain you exactly what exactly each one of these numbers mean.

Source:HardwareSecrets

Rant: Conroe XE arrives on Monday next week :(

My Conroe XE is due to arrive on Monday next week (at least, that's what the tracking number tells me). It's been long overdue already *yay* but the best thing is that I can almost smell it. My contacts told me that it comes as a full working system, so it should be ready to fire right out of the FedEx box. I should be happy right?

But alas, I will be in Malaysia for CPU technology sharing, manufacturing discussion, etc. so I guess I am going to miss my HomeLab™ and of course, I'll miss another one whole week of Conroe-loving spree.

Bummer :(

Tech Link (Motherboard): Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 Conroe Motherboard

VR-Zone have a very nice "picture review" of the upcoming Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 Conroe motherboard. It is a super nice board, having lots of features, that can really meet any kind of user. For the overclockers, well, I am not sure of the options, but for people like me who really likes tons of features rather than overclockability then this is going to be enough.

I'd say, if ever I'd get a chance to have one, I'll jumo into the bandwagon and fulfill my dreams. However, I am kind of short on cash right now, so I will be just drooling on the side.

Gigabyte, if you can read this, I am always free to review a sample. Let me know and I'll gladly spend time to review this really beautiful board.

And oops, this is where you can find the review.

Tech Link (Processor): DFI Infinity i975x + Conroe Overclock

_{Note: I am supposed to post it last night, but Blogger had a problem and it's only now that I have time to post again. Anyway, you can see my reply in the thread (death metal) and made it yesterday. Sorry for the late posting.}

The famous overclocker coolaler managed to snag another early motherboard based on i975 Express Chipset. The motherboard offers a solid punch when it comes to performance and overclocking settings. My only pet peeve is its really bland green look. But as is usual with DFI board, it comes with on-board easy reset and power on buttons. Really nifty, specially if you are like me that don't put their bench rig inside a chassis.


coolaler managed to overclock his Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6700 to 3.7GHz from its nominal value of 2.66GHz with a scary 1.61vCore and shocking 2.65vDimm. Those are really extreme voltage for these babies, and he is just running it on stock. The really neat thing is that, at this voltage, the CPU is cooler than the Northbridge!

Head on over at XS to catch the latest craze.

Tech Link (Processor): Benchmarking Intel Conroe Core 2 X6800, E6700 and E6600

Tweaktown benchmark a lot of processors, they seem to have garnered so many goodies at the Computex event and they are having a merry great way enjoying these "freebies". Well, it is understandable, if I were on their shoes, I'd be screaming at the top of my lungs for these great goodies. You know, Gigabyte* motherboard based on the upcoming Broadwater chipset partnered with Conroe is just so yummy.

Each year during Computex 2006 we always manage to benchmark something pretty cool and usually quite exclusive – this year we think it is safe to say we out did ourselves! It just seems to be the way here in Taiwan at this time of the year - each company is trying to out do the other and hence are more willing to help media with hot new content. This year we teamed up with Jon and our friends from Hard Info in Denmark to provide the most complete set of benchmark on Intel's full range of new Conroe Core 2 processors on a Gigabyte motherboard.

Source:TweakTown

Brag: Independence Day

While I don't really agree that June 12 is the date of Independence, that is really besides the point. I enjoy this day as a free holiday, and yes, I ofcourse respect the people who have risked their lives and happiness to attain this independence. However, I still strongly believe that it should be the 4th of July and not this date. In any case, I am off to have a relaxing day, watching TV, listening to music and reading articles. To all of us, respect the people, the date can always change anyway....

Brag: Get the latest Intel® INF (Northbridge, Southbridge, and RAID drivers) for Conroe Motherboards

I got the latest INF that supports Broadwater chipset. It's a nifty software update, if you have any of the new boards out there that supports Conroe, and trying to find the best INF driver, then don't miss out your chance to get the latest one now! Of course, it supports ICH8/R as well, and yep, I also have that F6 driver for some NCQ-loving and RAID power for your Intel® Matrix RAID Storage technology support.

Yes, it supports all other "previous" generation chipset as well, such as your Intel® 945/955/975 series so you're not going to mess your OS or something like that. Of course, as with any driver installation ensure you have the proper hardware and software requirements, so don't go installing this on VIA-based motherboard. Download it here:

Intel® Chipset
Intel® Matrix RAID
Intel® F6 RAID

Brag: Computex Pimpage

Picture speaks a thousand words. I'll let this image speak for itself :)

Tech Link(Industry): Intel Woodcrest, AMD's Opteron and Sun's UltraSparc T1: Server CPU Shoot-out

Nuff said...

The Intel Xeon 5160, a.k.a. Woodcrest, will simply be the most powerful server CPU this year (though it's not yet available for purchase of course). As our extrapolated calculations show, even a 2.6 GHz Woodcrest will outperform the current Opteron 285 with a 5 to 55% margin, nothing short of impressive. The new Xeon is however not invincible: the Opteron can still give some serious resistance when running some instruction mixes with lots of rotates, add-carry or load effective address instructions. RSA, AES and other benchmarks clearly show this. Intel will still have to convince some software vendors to port to SSE if it wants Woodcrest to be the completely superior CPU. The advantage in MySQL is also rather small, a result of the relatively high latency of the FB-DIMMs. But we are nitpicking: Intel's newest Xeon has taken back the performance/Watt crown. In one word: Woodcrest rocks!

Source:AMDTech

Tech Link (Industry): Will AMD's fastest CPU be obsolete next month?

That freaking sharikou seems to be everywhere, pimping his website and spamming Intel-related articles with his own research and "expose'". This guy is pathetic, I even saw his post over at Dev2Dev JRockit-based SPECjbb2005 records by Dell! This sharikou guy is like a plague. Anyway, enough of the troll and let's proceed with the discussion.

Will AMD's fastest CPU be obsolete next month?
Posted by George Ou @ 1:07 am

Digg This!

When I attended AMD technology day last Thursday, senior AMD managers poked fun at Intel's NetBurst architecture and the fact that Intel will be "going back to their previous generation architecture, and that would be an improvement". Most of the industry analysts in attendance began to laugh in the room and I couldn't quite figure out what's so funny and if they would still be laughing next month when Intel's Core2 architecture is released.

I asked some senior AMD managers what they were going to do when Intel releases their Core2 architecture next month and what they thought of the dire initial benchmarks posted at AnandTech and the response was "who set up the benchmarks" and more laughter ensued throughout the room. What everyone was laughing about was the fact that Intel had actually set up the test bed for those initial benchmarks, but what's forgotten is that AnandTech (responding to readers and critics) made Intel change certain aspects of Intel's test bed to address perceived inequities in the first set of tests. I say "perceived" inequities because in the end the changes didn't make a bit of difference and the results were just as bad for AMD's simulated FX-62 (without the faster socket and memory). Since these results were theoretical because the actual AM2 based FX-62 with faster memory access weren't being used and the test bed wasn't completely independent, we couldn't draw any decisive conclusions.

So last Friday when I saw the first set of independent benchmark results pitting a mid-end Intel E6600 "Conroe" 2.4 GHz CPU (due next month) against the just released flagship extreme edition AMD FX-62 CPU, I started wondering if AMD worst nightmare was coming true. Intel's ~$250 E6600 CPU annihilated AMD's ~$1000 Extreme Edition AM2 based FX-62! This effectively means that AMD's flagship desktop performance CPU will be obsolete by the end of next month when Intel released the CPUs codenamed Conroe. The 2.4 GHz Conroe E6600 CPU is a 65 watt part while Intel's Extreme Edition Conroe CPU will operate at 2.93 GHz and still be 40 watts lower than AMD's FX-62 which runs at 120 watt TPD. AMD's power advantage over Intel's current Pentium 4 NetBurst architecture just vanished in to thin air with the introduction of Intel's Core 2 architecture next month.

If that wasn't enough of a beating, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes who writes for our new "Hardware 2.0" blog linked to these phenomenal overclocking feats with the Conroe 2.4 and Conroe 2.6 GHz CPUs clocking to 4.0 GHz and 4.26 GHz respectively! I'm hearing that these kinds of numbers can be achieved with self-contained water coolers from multiple sources while the AMD FX-62 can barely get to 3.6 GHz with sub-zero temperatures. As Adrian pointed out, even AMD's "4x4" which is two dual core CPUs and two dual core GPUs is a stop gap measure that won't be practical since you can do just as well with a single mid-end Conroe 2.6 GHz CPU clocked to 4.26 GHz at 1/6th the price in CPU cost.

While I'm still eager to see more independent results that replicate these results, it is beginning to look more and more certain that Intel's Core 2 architecture will "leap ahead" as Intel's new slogan implies. AMD pointed out that they've been ahead of the game for 3 years (on most benchmarks and the results were always close) and it's inevitable for Intel to have a slight lead once in a while. The problem here is that this new Intel lead is not the usual leapfrogging where one competitor edges out the other, it's a massive lead across the board! AMD will be shifting to a 65 nm process by the end of the year and adding 128 bit floating point processors by the middle of next year though it's not certain if they can make a massive performance gain while making a massive reduction in power consumption.

Intel on the other hand told me that they won't be standing still and they don't ever intend to make the same mistake of allowing the NetBurst architecture to stay around for more than 4 years again. The Core 2 architecture will only be around for 2 more years until Intel shifts to something new. I asked Intel's representative if this is the kind of paranoia that would make Andy Grove proud and he laughed. The truth of the matter is that AMD is what's making Intel paranoid because they've taken a beating for the last 2 years at the hands of AMD. Who's going to win the processor wars doesn't matter because this is competition at its best and the consumer is the ultimate winner with better products at lower prices so let the wars begin!

Source:ZDNet Blog

Brag: PC World's "The 100 Best Products of the Year"

So, what's so great about this award thingamig? Just as a background, PC World has been doing these awards since 1983. The awards is based on the editors opinions on exemplary design, usability, features, performance, innovation and price. So it would appear like this is a very solid awarding and recognition giving body. And the kicker? The Intel® Core Duo processor has been named the number one (out of 100) best new products of the year in their 2006 annual ranking issue.

You know how many new-product pitches we get every year? Thousands, each declaring that the item is the best in its category. Though many of the companies making these claims are clearly delusional, some creations do stand as superbly designed top performers in their field--and you'll find all of them right here in our roster of the 100 best products of the year.

Source:PCWorld

If Intel® Core Duo processor has been named Number One, what would happen to the Intel® Core2 Duo processor that is coming very soon!

Brag: Intel® Chipset Comparison

With the advent of Intel® Core™ uA, and of course, the processors sporting these uA, and then with the current mix of chipsets that seems to be supporting the new breed of processors, and then with a really varied and vast available of motherboards, many are asking: what is the best chipset to use?



It's a tough question actually, and mostly, it all boils down to the users needs, and of course, how OEMs and motherboard manufacturers incorporate these features. Right now, after the maturity of PCIe x16 support starting from the short lived i915 chipset, all succeeding chipsets, specially those that support dual core, have been showing promising performance already.

The i975 remains the cream of the crop chipset, and it offers great features, specially on the bandwidth it offers on graphical lanes. However, the performance doesn't come without a catch: it is the most pricey of all currently available chipsets.

The i945 still remains a very strong contender in the value series. The major drawback is that, it doesn't have native dual PCIe x16 slot, and if motherboard manufacturers indeed do implement dual PCIe x16, the 2nd implementation is often routed to the SouthBridge rather than the NorthBridge.

In any case, if you wanted to know more about the differences and similarities, as well as features, check out Chipzilla's website. I have added the link to the FanBoy tools as well.

Source:Intel® Chipset Comparison Page

Tech Link (Processor): Conroe lovin' @ TipidPC HQ

Hmm, I keep forgetting to post this link. A local forum I regularly visit managed to snag a Conroe for some bemchmarking thingamjig. They are using a very early ES board, and el-cheapo RAM. Overclocking would have to wait though. The numbers speak for themselves, they are fantastic. Check it out:

Source:TipidPC


Looking forward to see more benches, I'd love to see 3D benching as well, this will definitely kick some major behind. Gogogogg Team TipicPC.

Tech Link (Processor): AT's Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Preview from Taiwan

AMDTech did another review, that is, very AMDTech. You know, how they always add negativity to Chipzilla products even if it is trouncing the top of the line A* processor with top of the line chipset and against an early Conroe XE system with mainstream chipset. Yep, mainstream motherboard vs high end motherboard, but of course, both top of the line processor is used. Well chew this, no matter how you slice it, dice it, or mince it, the great taste will always be one that's going to be left in everyone's toungue. Unfortunately, it's AMDTech, so expect some bitter taste will be shoved in between the "niceties" they post. Take the quote below for example:

While Intel's Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors will be released at the beginning of Q3 of this year it will take some time for all of Intel's shipments to be Conroe based. The scary statistic is that by the end of this year, only 25% of Intel's Performance Mainstream desktop processor shipments will be based on Conroe. The remaining 75% will still be NetBurst based, meaning they will be Pentium 4, Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition.

We're happy to report that we gathered enough parts to build two systems while in Taiwan for Computex. We managed to acquire a Socket-AM2 motherboard equipped with an Athlon 64 FX-62 and a P965 motherboard equipped with a Core 2 Extreme X6800 2.93GHz at our hotel, along with two sets of 2x1GB of DDR2-800 (only 5-5-5-12 modules though), a pair of Hitachi 7K250 SATA hard drives, and two NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTXes (one for each system) - it helps that all the major players have offices in Taiwan. Of course we happened to pack some power supplies, monitors, keyboards and mice in our carry-on luggage, as well as copies of Windows XP, Quake 4, F.E.A.R., Battlefield 2, SYSMark 2004 and Winstone 2004.

When faced with the choice of testing Conroe or sleeping , we stayed up benchmarking (we'll blame it on the jet lag later). The stage was set: Intel's Core 2 Extreme vs. AMD's recently announced FX-62, and while it's still too early to draw a final verdict we can at least shed more light on how the battle is progressing. Keep in mind that we had a very limited amount of time with the hardware as to not alert anyone that it was missing and being used for things it shouldn't be (not yet at least), so we weren't able to run our full suite of tests. We apologize in advance and promise we'll have more when Conroe launches, but for now enjoy.
The Test

In case we weren't clear: we acquired, built, installed and tested these two test systems entirely on our own and without the help of Intel.

CPUs: AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 (2.80GHz) v. Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (2.93GHz)

Motherboards:

nForce 590-SLI Socket-AM2 Motherboard
Intel P965 Motherboard

Chipset:

NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI
Intel P965 Chipset

Chipset Drivers:

nForce 9.34 Beta
Intel 7.3.3.1013

Hard Disk: Hitachi Deskstar T7K250

Memory: DDR2-800 5-5-5-12 (1GB x 2)

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX

Video Drivers: NVIDIA ForceWare 91.28 Beta

Desktop Resolution: 1280 x 1024 - 32-bit @ 60Hz

OS: Windows XP Professional SP2

Source:AMDTech

0\/\/|\|3d: First Benchmarks: Conroe vs. FX-62

_{This posting will conclude my ebil crusade today. I started posting at exactly 06/06/06 06:06AM (yeah, I have to cheat, by posting crap several times, but I did it). So yeah, I have to post six(6) articles, with the sixth post, about being an uber fanboy post. And of course, the concluding post is made on 06/06/06 06:06PM}

Looks like 06/06/06, which is supposed to be AM2's launch (then got pulled in ahead of initially launched date), is a doomsday coming for A*. THG posted their first benchmark results today, and boy, its a 2.66GHz Conroe vs FX-62 AM2. If you are an AMDroid, prepare yourself for another heart ache.

Again, we must emphasize that our testing situation was not optimal, because the Intel system had been preconfigured and didn't represent the final version. Even so, we were able to determine that not even AMD's top-of-the-line Athlon FX-62 CPU running at 3.0 GHz could clearly best the pre-release model of the Core 2 Duo (2.66 GHz Conroe) processor we tested. This comparison didn't even use the top-of-the-line Conroe processor, which Intel plans to introduce soon.

Source:THG

Tech Link (Coolers): "Build Your Own Phase Change PC Cooling System"

I found a very neat article about making a sub-cooling system for your beloved CPU. Not that Conroe needs any more cooling than the stock one, but hey, if you're extreme then you'd probably want to try this one out. But hey, it's for the uber leet only so proceed at your own risk.

This article describes the construction and operation of a single stage vapor phase refrigeration system for the cooling of micro processors found in modern home computers.

These are the basic components of a direct-die, vapor-phase refrigeration system. Direct-die refers to the fact that the evaporator is mounted directly onto the CPU/GPU as opposed to a water chiller, where the evaporator cools liquid which in turn cools the CPU/GPU.

Source:Overlockers.Com

Tech Link (Power Supply): Mushkin Enhanced XP-650 Power Supply Review

You got to love the way this PSU is made. I love it, it is so sexy. The all black theme commands power and mystery, and it made it appear to look as more stable. Of course, they are just "looks" but nowadays, looks also plays a great role in purchasing power of the consumers. So check it out and enjoy all the screenshots.

Mushkin does a lot of things right with its XP-650 power supply, and most importantly it puts power where it's needed most - the 12V line. High end PC systems often contain a lot of peripherals, with the Mushkin Enhanced XP-650 you get a ton of device power connectors; eight Serial ATA power connectors, six molex, two PCI Express 6 pin power connectors and a floppy.

Source:PCStats

Brag: Outstanding Chipzilla Technology!

Well, almost everyone now knows the power that the new Intel® Core™ uA brings to the processors. The enthusiasts are brewing up with excitement on the early Conroe benchmarks. AMDroids kept bashing Chipzilla, well, that's what they are good for any, spewing crappola like 3years maintaining the crown, coimparing 65nm vs 90nm, hey get your act together AMDroids. You are contradicting with each other.



AMDroids have been bashing the NetBurst architecture. But without it, 5GHz, on an ES, with an unreleased processor, will just be a dream. Yes, NetBurst rocks so as Banias uA.

Another point they are raising, 65nm vs 90nm, but they are saying Chipzilla lacks innovation, but isn't manufacturing superiority an innovation?

So shut up and brace yourselves you AMDroids idiots: Conroe will slap your behind like there's no tomorrow. And that' not just it, Merom brings with it superb mobile computing! Omigosh, Turion 64 is so gonna get owned. Woodcrest is so cool, it'll give Opteron a run for the money at the Dual CPU platform. On four-way, I still haven't seen any comparison. Gaming area on FX vs EE will be a slaughter to watch.

And there's another kicker, an ultra low voltage CPU that will run on less than 1v!!!! Omigosh!

Another official announcement was the note of a new ultra low voltage Intel Core Duo processor, which the company claims will consume just about 0.75 watts on average "while still delivering high-performing computing power." Sources told TG daily that this new processor will be named Core Duo U2500, has a clock speed of 1.06 GHz and uses 2 MB L2 cache and a 533 MHz FSB. The chip will be priced at $289 at launch sometime this summer.

So this one is for you, boohoo!

Tech Link (Motherboard): Conroe Motherboards Arrive

Seems like Conroe is making a big splash in Taiwan. And for a good reason of course. However, what I really found very intersting on the news today is the apparent info that manufacturers are already getting early samples of QuadCore Kensfield. Omigosh, 4x4 is, well, may come in late. The landscape is going like 1x4 vs "4x4", it looks like another fair match, NOT! < Ebil Laugh>Hahahahahaha!< /Ebil Laugh>

Of course, once Kentsfield hit the storeshelves, it would seem that the best chipset to partner this with is also with the i975 bad boy. This is really making purchase of i975 more and more attractive (let's just hope, Conroe boards will support Kentsfield as well).

While Conroe is the talk of the town, a few motherboard manufacturers have already received Kentsfield samples from Intel. Kentsfield is a quad-core version of Conroe, still for the desktop market, due out in the first quarter of next year. The motherboard makers that are fortunate enough to have Kentsfield have already confirmed that it is up and running on current P965 and 975X platforms.

Source:AMDTech

Rant: Ahhhhhhh, Ebil I say

June 06, 2006 aka 6/6/6


And the time? 06:06, I am POSSESSED!