However, Microsoft has released two hotfixes and a driver patch for the FX CPUs, and Toms Hardware recently did a thorough testing to see exactly what changed and if Bulldozer had any potential. The result?

“Old games running at low resolutions, for example, are hardly worth running (beyond their value as synthetics, that is). That’s why we spent a few days testing the hardware the way we would use it. And, at the end, we saw little to no improvement from the evolutionary changes implemented by Microsoft and some of AMD’s motherboard partners to help augment performance.”

While I appreciate the effort the engineers went through to create a new product, the marketing team just can’t be told to call a stick, a stick. AMD’s top dog, the FX8150 is heralded as a true octo-core. This is correct in a sense but it’s really just a quad-core with some fancy hyper-threading, for now.

In the future though, we may see marked improvements in Windows 8 with Bulldozer processors, and even perhaps a few wins over Intel. Windows 8 will use the modules more efficiently as proper, individual multi-core CPUs, and threads will no longer be parked on the incorrect core. FX processors are still good bang-for-your-buck, but it’s a bit like buying a Subaru BRZ and comparing it to a Ferrari 458 – it’ll be fun, but it’ll always come second. And recent announcements by AMD may just convince more people that this will be AMD’s “Business as usual” for the near future.

So, you're leaving the enthusiasts behind...

On its recent Financial Analyst Day, the company showed the public that it would be focusing on areas where margins and market share gains would be best: their APU lineup, and server-side computing. AMD has traditionally had mostly lackluster performance in the server market, kept alive only with the fact that their previous models were quite power-efficient and reasonably competent – focusing on that area should be a priority.

In addition, their APU lineup leaves no room for doubt. If you’ve ever used a Fusion-based notebook you’ll know that the graphics component allows their APUs to comfortably leapfrog Intel’s Atom range since a lot of processing done today is reliant on the graphics card to provide the muscle (games, movies, your web browser). GPGPU is also slowly becoming more important in the everyday life of a notebook/desktop PC user, and we’ll definitely see more power users maximising the potential offered by a Brazos/Trinity-based netbook/notebook in the coming months.

...and you're only going to be performing better than the i5 2500k in 2013...

However, my heart goes out to the desktop enthusiasts who crave a company intent on creating a new performance king. It’s almost as if the company is satisfied with coming in second place for the crown, and I hope they still keep enthusiasts in mind. Their announcements included kind words that promised a renewed focus on desktop performance, but it pales in comparison to the broad plans they have envisaged for the mobile, server and embedded segment in 2012.

Good luck to you, Rory. You’re going to need it.

Source: Toms Hardware

Related posts:

1. Tech news: AMD’s A8-3870K Put Through Its Paces, Good Bargain Over at HardwareCanucks, the reviewing team has been hard at work putting AMD’s budget APU, the A8-3870K through its paces...
2. SSD isn’t everything A hard disk drive is the slowest component in your PC. While SSDs are freakishly expense (the G.Skill Falcon SSD...
3. A look at SSDs, part 2 According to JEDEC specifications, MLC NAND flash can perform 10 000 writes before it starts to fail; SLC can perform...
4. Coming soon: ATI’s RV790 and RV740 This time last year, if you wanted a high-end graphics card, Nvidia’s 8800 series was by far the best choice;...
5. Intel’s budget fighter: Clarkdale We’ve had time to get to grips with the amazing performance of Intel’s Core i5 series: the latest addition to...

Windows 8 on ARM isn’t such as big a thing for tablets as I think it will be for netbooks and Ultrabooks. Intel’s Atom has been ruling the roost here for over three years and despite the best efforts of AMD and Qualcomm, the Atom still rakes in more sales for Intel. It’s never been the most efficient of processors, and the graphics side of things has always been a thorn in Intel’s side (one they could comfortably remove, but profits wouldn’t be as high). AMD has now gotten things right with their APU, even making some headway into the thin-and-light market. But ARM could change the game completely.

For one, the power-sipping hardware that ARM requires would easily double battery life in most netbooks. Not only will the architecture bring efficiency to the table, but heat and power draw will be lower than any Atom design currently available. Not to mention the useful dual-boot option: imagine a Windows 8 tablet with a fully functional install of Android ICS for quick-boot scenarios – anything really is possible here.

The Snapdragon stand at CES this year.

One gripe, however will be the software incompatibility. Microsoft has to work quickly on their software compiler for ARM or create a virtual environment for x86 programs to run without hassle. Many of the programs we use today rely on x86 and x64 hardware instructions to run threads properly without corruption. ARM isn’t x86-based and executes code very differently, and thus a radical new approach must be designed and sorted before release.

Either way, eager devs are holding their breath for a summer release, with the public getting their hands dirty later this year – the only problem now would be the fact that ICS can run on x86 hardware today. Microsoft, you’d better pull up your socks now.

Source: Tom’s Hardware

Related posts:

1. Tech News: Windows Phone 8 Apollo Gets Detailed I’ll be honest, I’ve never used a Windows Phone extensively. And its not from lack of trying either – I...
2. Tech News: MSI Unveils Wind 180, netbook fans rejoice I’m a big fan of netbooks. They’re small, light, and incredibly easy to work with. I’m usually typing my columns...
3. Tech news: AMD’s A8-3870K Put Through Its Paces, Good Bargain Over at HardwareCanucks, the reviewing team has been hard at work putting AMD’s budget APU, the A8-3870K through its paces...
4. New Kinect model coming for Windows In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, Microsoft is about to start official support...
5. Kinect for Windows dated and more MS CES announcements Fun fact: right this very moment, the Consumer Electronics Show is happening in Las Vegas. The CES attracts all of...

I’m not very interested in APU chips, if I’m honest. Currently my Athlon X3 445 keeps up very well with many stronger processors from Intel, and I don’t see myself upgrading this year. Perhaps this is also because I don’t tax my system that much right now and maybe it’s to do with the fact that I own a Radeon HD6870 which already offers superb gaming performance. What the A8 range does bring to the table is great performance and value compared to Intel, and very good graphics performance for those who don’t need a discrete GPU doing all the dirty work.

In their review the beavers don’t find much to dislike about the chip. Poor single-threaded performance is a given as the architecture is a big step away from the Phenom and Athlon ranges – while its acceptable, many developers haven’t optimised their code for the Llano chips and seeing as most things are developed on Intel chips, we’re off to a slightly rocky start anyway. However, the bonus comes with the unlocked multiplier of the A8-3870K, allowing the chip to be pushed up to 3.6Ghz from the stock 3Ghz speed. A modest overclock for most chips, but the graphics core got a massive bonus from the unlocked multiplier.

See, locked APUs from AMD suffer when overclocked very high at certain bridge speeds. Overclocking the graphics core to certain frequencies would disable the VGA port altogether, and changing the APU bus too high would create problems on SATA ports and produce artifacts on the screen. Unlocked chips get around this by allowing you to adjust multipliers and not much else – certainly something for the bargain hunter to consider. With the multiplier unlocked, we can finally get around graphics bottlenecks that plague the platform – you’ll want to invest in decent RAM if you want to do this.

AMD has yet to release details on local availability. For enthusiasts, its advised you stick to your Phenom and Athlon guns before looking at the current APU range. That said, the APU chips offer more bang-per-buck than the FX range.

Source: HardwareCanucks

Related posts:

1. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...
2. Intel’s budget fighter: Clarkdale We’ve had time to get to grips with the amazing performance of Intel’s Core i5 series: the latest addition to...
3. SLI could be a possibility on older Intel chipsets Users who wished to make use of SLI on the socket 775 platform had no choice but to go for...
4. The dry season is over! Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the second half of 2009! I know many of you out there have been waiting...
5. Tech: AMD Confident In 2012, Bulldozer Still Dragging Its Feet So, lets get this straight – AMD’s Bulldozer isn’t the all-singing, all-dancing savior the brand needed to get it back...

Windows Phone 7 launched in 2010 and gained traction with critics, the public and developers lauding the new interface, the ease of use and ergonomics involved in the interface design, and the simplicity that came with programming for the platform. Today, with Nokia and HTC as their major licensees, one major update done and over two million handsets worldwide, Microsoft has seen fit to now detail the next major OS update, codanamed Apollo.

Windows Phone differs to Android and iOS thanks to the integrated services it features. There’s Bing for maps and searches and augmented reality, Microsoft Skydrive for 25GB of free cloud storage and file syncing, Live Mail for mailbox hosting, Messenger for live chat and Microsoft Office Mobile, for the ultimate office-on-the-move.

Apollo builds on all of these and more with support for better hardware; integrated Skydrive services, a Skype app with video calling, NFC with Wallet functionality and a new kernel based off Windows 8. Also promised is better security for your device thanks to Bitlocker drive encryption, support for Exchange and Active Directory policies and a new software system to allow for inter-App communication. There’s also an Opera Mini-like service for IE 10 called “DataSmart” and even a new sync client (no more Zune for you).

While many of the features are self-explanatory, many developers choose to focus on the kernel change and inter-App communication. Sharing a kernel with Windows 8 means developers can use code for an app made for the desktop, changing around a few UI elements and adjusting everything for the smaller screen – exactly what Apple’s been doing with OSX Lion and iOS.

Lastly,  inter-App communication works around WP7’s app sandbox, allowing apps to communicate with each other, bringing along in-app purchases linked to the Live Market. WP7 sandboxes installed apps so they can fail individually and avoiding the risk of a virus spreading from one app to the other; and now you’ll be able to send documents to a Skype contact while allowing them to see you’re now listening to the latest Britney Spears single while sitting in the nearby Wimpy.

And maybe we’ll finally see someone develop a file manager.

Sources: Paul Thurrot, Techspot

Related posts:

1. Major Nelson confirms Xbox Live inside Windows 8 There’s a new version of Microsoft Windows heading our way in the not too distant future. Mr. Xbox Live himself,...
2. Kinect Windows drivers and SDK now available Microsoft has announced that they have released a free-to-use SDK and driver suite for Kinect on Windows 7 PCs. This...
3. Kinect for Windows dated and more MS CES announcements Fun fact: right this very moment, the Consumer Electronics Show is happening in Las Vegas. The CES attracts all of...
4. Kinectimals vomits cute all over your iOS device Oh hey look, Microsoft and Frontier Developments’ Kinect title Kinectimals has invaded Apple’s iOS devices. This comes after Microsoft recently...
5. New Kinect model coming for Windows In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, Microsoft is about to start official support...

And the problem now is that “industry analysts” across the waters on a strange land in America predict that tablets will eat up the netbook market this and next year, causing manufacturers to second-guess their target market and look at their portfolio a little harder. If you hobble over to the Prophecy site and check out their netbook section, many of the models are out of stock – now I’m not saying that’s indicative of the current market right now, but it’s a pretty sad sign if there’s any truth to it.

Regardless, MSI have released details of their latest revamp of the Wind 180, their netbook based off Intel’s new Cedar Trail line. Sporting either the Atom N2800 (1.86Ghz) or the N2600 (1.6Ghz), both dual-cores with Hyperthreading. It’s still stuck with the GMA3650 graphics core, but that’s okay considering the workload its designed to sift through. Also included is 1 to 2GB DDR3 RAM, 250 to 320GB storage space, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and HDMI-out. The sore spot (my only bone of contention) is the pitiful 0.3MP camera. I would have at least expected something stronger because video calling is a big thing these days, and Skype users are the biggest market out there – pissing them off is not something done lightly.

With a 6-cell battery MSI has promised up to 8 hours combined while working with the netbook – sounds bloody good to me! Pricing or availability hasn’t been detailed, but it should be around R4000 with Windows 7 Starter 32-bit.

Source: Fudzilla

Related posts:

1. Review: MSI Wind U120H If you’re in the market for a netbook, chances are you’ve considered the most important aspects when shopping in this...
2. Netbooks galore! Netbooks – a term coined by ASUS in 2007 – have been multiplying like rabbits and can now be found...
3. Activision CEO talks EA competition, makes lots of sense CEO of Activision Publishing, Eric Hirshberg, is not afraid to admit that there’s a certain level of competition between Activision...
4. Know thine warranty Everyone has that new piece of tech now and then that they have their eye on: a spanking HDTV, that...
5. OCZ offers Intel competition in the SLC based SSD Market “The Agility EX offers consumers the most cost effective SLC solid state storage solution on the market, and when customers...

It all changed when Office 2007 was released, bringing a new tabbed layout and style to the way we do things. I personally loved the tabs the minute I started playing with them, and the way options were highlighted or offered to you on a contextual basis meant I really could just concentrate on what I was doing and not on having to delve deep into drop-down menus to find what I wanted.

Three years later Office 2010 arrived, bringing even more layout changes and offering a 64-bit edition as well on the same DVD for users who needed the extra grunt. While the tabbed layout was kept, things like the options and print menu changed to allow for easier mouse control, and offered the option of using the suite comfortably with a tablet. The biggest change that I could pick out was the previewing options which changed your highlighted text, picture, or graph as you chose different styles. Since I also use PowerPoint a lot, this was especially useful for power users like myself.

And now to coincide with the release of Windows 8, Microsoft has been hard at work on Office 2012 (aka Office 15), getting things fresh and ready for a generation of users new to the Metro-styled Windows platform. While Office 15 will be styled to the Metro design, there should be a minimum of issues with the new interface on traditional desktops. So much ho-hum has been made about Windows 8 and its ARM support, but my attention has always been on the Office suite because it’s what I use the most.

Outlook 15, the Metro version?

Some screenshots have been floating around the internet for a while now, but we’ll only get to see anything when Redmond releases the Public Beta, free to download as it always has been. Right now the closed technical beta is in progress, but many of those invited are under NDA. We’ll get to see exactly what changes have been made for better or worse, and I’ll certainly be the first to give it a go and let you readers know how it went. I’m not a huge fan of the Metro interface in Windows 8, and chances are I’ll keep my current Windows 7 install along with Office 2010 until I find something worthwhile to upgrade to. Judging by the current leaked screenshots the Metro styling (while good) doesn’t tickle my fancy, and I’ll most likely stay away until I have a tablet of my own.

Source: The Office Blog

Related posts:

1. The path to nLitenment How often do you re-install Windows? Every month? Every other month? Have you memorized your Windows XP CD key? If...
2. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and… Seven? The Longhorn beta, upon its release, was buggy and slow, which proved a sticking point with many beta users in...
3. Budget reviews: Nonexistent? I struggled last week to find a review of the Intel Celeron E1400, a budget dual-core chip that has shown...
4. ATI 5-series preview We are on the cusp of a new generation of computer graphics. Directx11 will be released with Windows 7 at...
5. The dry season is over! Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the second half of 2009! I know many of you out there have been waiting...

Oooh sexy case mods, we like! The Taipei Game Show starts today in Taiwan, and Thermaltake will be showcasing some of the Tt eSPORTS product range at their booth.

This Level 10 GT Call of Duty MW3 case mod, created by Brian Carter, can be viewed at their stand. If you’ve seen a Level 10 case before you’ll notice that the handle has been converted into a AT-4 rocket launcher, and the front driver bays sport a six-barrel chain gun that actually rotates when the power is on. There’s also a fully-stocked and functional gamer’s first aid kit that has a USB-powered beverage cooler, and if you look at the five hotswap bays bottom front of the case you’ll notice that they now look like rifle magazine clips.  This entry by Brian placed second in Thermaltakes Level 10 GT Mod Contest.

Brian Carter, aka Boddaker, is no stranger to case modding, and some of his other creations such as MYSTIQUE², Battlestar Galactica, and Neptune’s Trident are masterpieces.

Related posts:

1. This Is The Only Level (you’ll need) Just how much fun can a game be if it only has one level? This is the super-serious question asked...
2. Feature: Lian Li case roundup It’s not often that we receive such a wide variety of cases from a single manufacturer; however, this scenario is...
3. This case mod makes us feel inadequate Look at this. Just look at it. It’s a case mod inspired by Half-Life 2′s HEV charging stations. Credit goes...
4. Activision’s lawyers win URL dispute, level up “Your Lawyer has successfully completed the quest ModernWarfare3.com Dispute and has earned a total of 360XP. Your Lawyer is now...
5. NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD If you can recall, I was planning on fitting the LCD inside the case, on top of a divider that...

Love it or hate it, 3D is here to stay. Come on, you know Avatar looked amazing even if you won’t admit it in public. Anyway, the clever marketing people over at Marvel have teamed up with the clever marketing people over at RealD 3D and together will be taking more money away from consumers with their Avengers-themed 3D glasses.

They are a little cheesy and we suspect really only made for the little ones (and crazy obsessed fans of course). But hey, if we were put in a corner and forced to choose a pair it would definitely be Iron Man ones, right? They will cost about $5 in the States and there is no news of a plan or anything to bring them to South Africa. Before you ask, no, they won’t improve the quality or look of the 3D movie – just the quality and look of the wearer.

This isn’t entirely a new idea by the way and South African audiences have already missed out on the rounded Harry Potter 3D glasses. There will also be Star Wars: Episode I: the Phantom Menace pod racer goggles released for the 3D release of the franchise, which we probably won’t see either. So, send your complaints to both Ster Kinekor and Nu Metro and make no difference whatsoever. The Avengers is out in May this year.

Related posts:

1. Let’s watch the Uncharted 3 launch trailer together And then spare a thought for those who don’t own a PlayStation 3, because sweet mother of merciful Zoo Biscuits...
2. Uh-oh! New US laws could classify some games as adult entertainment Oh dear. It seems that the American politicians are at it again – trying to make the land of freedom...
3. Science says: women secretly want hairy geeks Fear not, nerd brethren! According to a recent study* – while women say they want tall, dark and handsome, what...
4. Rumour: more information on Sony’s Smash Bros. Equivalent? Yes, this again. For months now, there have been numerous rumours floating about that Sony is in the middle of...
5. Nintendo confirms 3DS details We knew it was coming, but this year’s E3 has given Nintendo a chance to put all the rumours to...

There is every reason to fix it!

Specifically, in the realm of upgrades, people get caught up in the thrill of getting new stuff when the old simply doesn’t cut the mustard in their opinion. I have a friend who seems to be quite happy with his Phenom Black Edition and his Nvidia GTS250, but he’s always looking for something more – he’s eyeing that quad-core over there, the gaming RAM in the nice-looking plastic wrap, or the GTX560 that just arrived in the shop. There’s simply no appeasing his appetite, and I suspect that’s a problem most PC enthusiasts have. Online blogs and magazines (no disrespect to Neo and his minions) always punt the latest stuff as the have-to-have kind of thing – if you don’t have it, you’re not part of the cutting edge, deserving of poor performance. LAN parties in particular have this kind of thing going as well, almost like a bug that goes around and gets stronger every year, and rAge demonstrates this in the photo gallery where the kind of hardware seen at the NAG LAN seems to climb year on year.

Now, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. If it weren’t for people like my friend, or many on the forums haunting the tech section, the industry wouldn’t have the kind of momentum it does now. The need to be on the bleeding edge of technology and the current trend has spurred manufacturers to innovate at every product refresh, bringing out beauties like the ASUS Maximus series, or the mod-friendly AMD Radeon HD6950. But when the upgrade bug bites, and bites hard, it’s difficult to make decisions with a clear head and spend within budget. So, how can we get this under control?

Lets look at base systems for a start. My personal PC at home (bought in February last year) features a AMD Athlon X2 240 at stock speeds, 2GB of DDR3-1333 RAM, an ECS 785G-based motherboard, a Radeon HD6870 1GB DDR5, a Huntkey 550w PSU, and some other odds and ends including a Cooler Master chassis and enough storage space. I chose AMD not only because I’m a fan of the company and what they try do for their customers, but also because of the potential upgrade paths available to me. Most system builders tend to concentrate on the CPU, or the graphics card, or the power supply. They simply fail to consider the importance of the motherboard’s longevity.

If you’re no stranger to the occasional upgrade, you’re familiar with the underlying problem of having a major upgrade – Windows, in most cases, has to be re-installed if you move to a new motherboard that’s functionally different from the one you have now. Moving from one motherboard generation to the next would result in a Windows installation completely uninterested in booting into the desktop. This is an unavoidable process, and one I’d preferably only like to repeat every three years.

When upgrading or buying a new PC, you’ve got to factor in the astonishing rate at which technology changes. LGA775 and X58 were lucky and survive even today, but Intel nowadays seems only interested in changing socket forms every 18 months or less and keeping up with that pace is only going to frustrate users in the long run. AMD, on the other hand, introduced socket AM3 in February 2009 – a good two years ago, with plans to extend that to 2012 or further. Its entire processor lineup is available to me should I choose to upgrade, so this was my logical decision. I currently don’t have any system lag, but if I do, it’s a simple matter of changing a few things in the following order:

1) Swapping out my Athlon for a Phenom quad-or-six core. My board supports 125w Phenom X6 chips, and I very much doubt I’ll need that kind of grunt yet, but it’s nice to know I can get to that level.
2) To improve system performance, I can simply add in more RAM, or swap out my modules for ones of better speed or available memory. My board can accommodate up to 32GB of memory, and I made sure that it would scale well with my needs for the next year and a half.
3) I can swap out my hard drive with an SSD, and get immediate benefits in loading times and application performance. I only have a 500GB system drive, and when the time comes to replace it, SSD storage will have dropped dramatically to the point where I can fit my 120GB installation onto something nice from Intel or Kingston.

But what about my graphics card, you may ask? Well, I’ve got an anemic dual-core mixed with my HD6870 – I’m hardly maxing it out as it is. In addition, dropping in a quad should get me a 50% performance boost, which is enough to tide me over until I completely replace the system. I also do not intend on replacing my BenQ T2200 LCD monitor anytime soon, so my resolution won’t change but I may scale down in-game settings to make Crysis 2 more playable. I currently am playing through Metro 2033 at full resolution, in DX10 with all settings on High and I’m getting great performance so far. Metro’s a tough cookie to handle, so I won’t have to replace my graphics card for some time.

No, you dont need to upgrade you fool.

So for the upgraders or new buyers out there, take note – there’s a few crucial things you need to decide on when you’re looking at your system.

1) Move to Windows 7 64-bit. It’s there, most products on the market have the drivers available, and it’ll utilize all the extra RAM you’ll be putting in over the years. I’m stuck on 32-bit for now, and it’s probably my biggest regret.
2) Make a carefully considered decision about your motherboard and chosen socket before you make your purchase. If the upgrade bug bites, make sure you have enough room to upgrade and bring your system up to date. A good motherboard should last you a year at least, with a maximum of three years on tap.
3) Your power supply will be working the hardest out of all your components during this time. Slight overkill is recommended when you’re going to be using your system for more than four hours a day, every day, for years.
4) Lastly, you can go a little overboard with your graphics card. People have always recommended that you buy the best you can afford, and that’s good advice. My GPU will most certainly outlast my CPU which I’ll be upgrading as productivity tasks take up more of my time spent on my desktop.

At the very least, pair your graphics purchase with the native resolution of your screen – it needs to work beautifully at one notch higher than what you’ve got now. My HD6870 runs decently at 2560 x 1600, and at HD resolution it flies. Will I need to upgrade it in less than a year’s time? Probably not.

Related posts:

1. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...
2. Turn your PC into a tree-hugging power-saver! Everyone wants a high-end system, right? Unfortunately, they require tons of power to run, and those systems are consuming more...
3. DirectX11 – is it worth the upgrade? Some time ago, I got involved in a discussion about Microsoft’s DirectX11. While the general air was mixed, nobody was...
4. Is 1.21 Jiggawatts enough? Power supplies: Often the least thought about, yet most important part of your PC. Why is it then, that most...
5. The long wait… is still not over! Last week Telkom started upgrading its 4Mb/s customers to 8 and 10Mb/s respectively. Those in areas that had ADSL2+ exchanges...

Choice is a strange thing. We’re offered a large choice of stuff at the supermarket, and we’re usually quite quick to choose what to eat/cook/throw at someone. On most occasions, it takes me at most two minutes to figure out that I want that samoosa right there! But while supermarkets offer you many more choices of yummy things, an online retailer for hardware can expect their customers to sit in front of their screens for an hour poring over all the different graphics cards and components, undecided on what to do. Sometimes for days, other times for weeks.

We just have no idea. There’s either too much choice, too little choice, or a better possible choice just around the corner. Its like judging a bikini contest, and all the contestants start somewhere from Drew Barrymore and get hotter, until you reach Catherine-Zeta Jones. There are no real winners because you just can’t decide which, and I need… one minute to think… argh!

And suddenly we need to make a decision because the Hoff... God, make it stop! Argh! [What is this I don't even... -ed

I make this point because I’m seriously due for an upgrade. When my Radeon HD5750 died, I had to start looking around for something new. I need at least a decent upgrade from what I already had, with a few extras to make the upgrade worth it from a price/performance perspective. I’ve settled on two possible candidates: AMD’s Radeon HD6850, and the new kid on the block, NVIDIA’s Geforce GTS 550. They’re both priced around the R1700 mark, both need only a single six-pin PCI-E power plug, and both support various video acceleration standards and proprietary multi-monitor modes to enhance gaming. Both also support 3D and Blu-Ray 3D playback, and perform equally well in most games.

So which is it?

From the AMD camp, the Radeon HD6850 is a strong play for the mainstream segment. Similar in design and structure to AMD’s Antilles, the Barts family which is the HD6800 series is aimed to replace the entry-level Radeon HD5700 series. I won’t go into the gory details of the card itself, because at the end of the day it won’t matter how many SIMDs it has, or the fact that the tessellation engine is very much improved and made more powerful over the Cayman design. It uses less power than a GTX460, runs quieter and cooler, and has a very enticing feature set including Eyefinity which its very capable of pulling off if you use three 19” monitors. It may be a fraction slower/faster than a GTX460 1GB, but its not a deal-breaker. A 256-bit bus with DDR5 memory is unheard of in the mainstream segment, and it gives the Radeon a sporting chance against any card willing to take it on.

The problem is, though, NVIDIA  doesn’t have a whole lot to show up AMD in this segment for the moment. All we’ve got is the Geforce GTS 550, and it’s not stacking up so well for the guys on the greener side of the fence.

In fact, the GTS 550 was really ill-conceived. Sure, it fulfills the need for NVIDIA to have a card to counter the price drops of the Radeon HD5770, which it does very well… but there’s a certain lack in the rest of the lineup. For instance, there’s a massive performance gap between this card and the GTX560, not to mention a big price hike for the moment. While it comes so very close to the GTX460 768MB in performance, there’s nothing to stop the onslaught of the HD6800 and HD6700 series from eating up more market share. Currently the HD6850 sells for as low as R1,700 – that’s only an average of R250 more than the GTS 550. It’s a strong card, make no mistake, but it can’t compete in this very tiny space already dominated by two generations of AMD cards.

Let’s give the tiny critter a chance though. Performance in games at HD resolution is good, although settings might have to be taken down a little to enjoy fluent rates in games like Metro 2033 and Starcraft II. It’s really made for those guys and gals who have screens which don’t support full HD resolutions – the same target market as the GTS 450, which is great. You still get good performance especially in TWIMTBP games, CUDA support, 3D capability (although that might be stretching things a bit at high settings). For a mainstream card, this isn’t too bad. Although, being slower than the GTX460 768MB is a bit of a let-down, and doesn’t help its chances much. But, at least NVIDIA has finally challenged the HD5770’s territory, so it deserves a pat on the back for achieving this… an entire year later.

So, in conclusion, what do we know? Alrighty then, the GTS 550 has its merit – but it’s a hopeless case for NVIDIA . It’s a bit too late to the party, there’s not enough cake (turns out it’s still all lies), the soda is all out and the ice has melted. The GTS 550 is a good attempt to dominate it’s projected price point, but ultimately it’ll be up to the Ti version to really sort things out in the fight for the mainstream sector. In the meantime, NVIDIA really has to fight to pick up the ball because AMD’s dropped the HD6000-series nomenclature a bit. And here’s where it gets interesting.

Gais, you remember how awesome the HD5850 was for those looking to buy mainstream cards with high-end performance? Yeah, AMD did hit the nail on the head with the perfect mix of performance and features for the right price points. Now, some people remember those cards and now see the HD6850 cards for bargain prices way below the HD5850 RRP – what do they think? Bargain of the year! They won’t even pay attention to the competition because the numbers are higher for less Benjamins – surely that must mean NVIDIA’s doing something wrong.

In the end, the guys who don’t pay attention to reviews will end up buying from AMD, and not counting NVIDIA in the game – a tactic which I think is both winning, and destined to be played by NVIDIA next time.

Edit: Oh, by the way, the wonderful people at Asbis decided to replace my card even though it was out of warranty. I have no idea how this is possible, but they seem to be a hugely generous bunch. They replaced my old HD5750 with…

Oh yeah, I can feel the jealousy from all the way here!

Related posts:

1. GT300 is Fermi It looks like we’ll getting a repeat of the 4-series versus GT200 battle, with a twist. Where nVidia went with...
2. Evolution…or is that revolution? Evolution: it is the key to the PC industry’s survival. It’s how ATI has grown from being the underdog of...
3. Coming soon: ATI’s RV790 and RV740 This time last year, if you wanted a high-end graphics card, Nvidia’s 8800 series was by far the best choice;...
4. It’s only the beginning… A little over 6 months ago, NVIDIA launched the GTX400 series in the hope that it would stand a chance...
5. Bang for your buck pixel pushers Graphics card round-ups from overseas gaming and hardware sites are all well and good, but generally don’t apply in the...

It used to be an emotionally-driven rant filled with psycho-babble, downright depressing in some areas and (if I may admit) a little bit irrelevant. Those in the smartphone industry who had a head screwed on would have seen the collaboration with Nokia and Microsoft coming from a mile away. I certainly saw one myself, but not to the extent of  an OS adoption, porting of all Ovi services to WP7, deprecating the Ovi branding, staving off further development of Symbian software and the culling of MeeGo from long-term service and QT development along with it.

To Nokia fanboys its basically a death of all things Nokian. Even I said so on the NAG Forums, and I still contend that Nokia has made possibly the worst and most difficult choice in its entire existence. But now I’m not so sure if the company is really quitting, or holding a winning hand of cards in their poker game with Microsoft and bluffing like hell.

See, many people today are comparing the partnership to the complete disassembly and death of Sendo, another handset manufacturer who agreed to partner with Microsoft in 2000. After a very long court battle with the Redmond giant (for allegedly stealing trade secrets from Sendo for the development of Windows Mobile) whose desktop OS was just gaining massive traction, they bailed out and entered into a settlement agreement with Microsoft in 2002. Microsoft never delivered the goods according to the partnership contract, and this caused Sendo to lose millions because it had no competitive devices. They were eventually forced to use Symbian, but crashed and died not long after in 2003. The remnants of the company were bought by Microsoft, and they assimilated the designs and IP that Sendo has into what we know today as Windows Mobile.

While Microsoft has a habit of treating its partners rather badly – sometimes consuming them whole – its on a tight leash these days. Windows Phone 7 has cost billions in development, and the management execs are keen to see some return on their investment. While other hardware manufacturers have already shown some support for Microsoft’s mobile OS, none have really done anything to differentiate themselves. Microsoft, now understandably desperate to get those 2 million+ Wp7 licenses to the public, approached Nokia with a deal – the details of which we all discovered on Friday the 11th.

Since then I’ve carefully gathered my thoughts about the partnership, and I’ve even changed my mindset a little. But the fact remains that I’m not 100% in support of this deal, not until I see some concrete evidence that there’s some serious stuff in the works here. And here’s where I think Nokia might win with this deal.

If only Nokia would win with deciding chart colours, blue looks way too bland and unexciting.

Most of the problems thus far with WP7 have been with differentiation of a different sort to the one Android suffers. The hardware remains the same amongst the phones because of Microsoft’s stringent hardware requirements. Nokia can differentiate by integrating WP7 with their current hardware, much like the N8 does. Symbian ^3 is remarkably efficient and fast because it uses the GPU for intensive stuff, with the CPU backing it up for general tasks. In general tasks, the GPU only has to draw what’s on the screen, and uses very little power. For GPU-intensive tasks, the CPU organises the back-end functions and does some minor work. In between this efficient configuration, all hardware inside Nokia phones is designed to consume as little power as possible while still ending up more usable than the competition, sometimes even beating out dedicated devices.

This is how they can differentiate. Do you want a WP7 mobile that can travel around the world with you? Choose a Nokia. Do you need a point-and-shoot camera capable enough to replace your dedicated one? Choose  Nokia. Ultra-connectivity? Nokia. Longer battery life? Nokia. Excellent build quality using industrial-strength materials? Nokia again. Free navigation with downloadable maps? Nokia. iTunes-like music store without DRM? Nokia. I really could go on and on. Big Screen? Only a Nokia device can do it.

Of course its a huge gamble, and of course it could fail spectacularly. In my mind, the best way forward for a collaboration would have been to only integrate Ovi services and introduce a QT port for the American market, with the European, African and Asian regions sticking with Symbian as their OS of choice. The American market was forever changed with the introduction of iOS on mobile devices, and naturally they’re a completely different bunch altogether.

Getting Nokia into Microsoft’s bed wouldn’t have neen necessary at all – indeed, a partnership by the Symbian Foundation and developers could have easily seen apps like Gravity, Swype, and many other downloadable programs that allow Symbian to mimic Android and iOS social connectivity be pre-installed on certain Symbian smartphones. One of the main reasons why people choose an Android or iOS is because out of the box they’re already primed for social networking. Asking American users to set up their devices on their own, it seems, was far too much to ask.

But the deal is done and dusted, so its no use crying about it now. If it works well, we might even see Microsoft buy out controlling shares in Nokia – and that’d still be a somewhat-good thing on all counts. And yes, my beloved Symbian does fly out the window (pun!), but so long as I see innovation on WP7 like I saw on Symbian ^3, I believe the future is bright for Nokia. So long as Microsoft doesn’t screw this up again, we’ll see it rule in the mobile segment for the first time in years.

And so long as fans and devs continue to buy and support Symbian smartphones, so Nokia will have the most easily affordable Plan B the world has ever known.

Related posts:

1. Welcome to the new world of touch As geeks, (well, true geeks) all technology fascinates us. We’re brand-loyal to an extent, but just about anything piques our...
2. Dude, what happened to your phone?! I’ll admit, cellphones are not on top of most gamers’ minds. After all, a phone must just be capable of...
3. Responsibility and power go hand-in-hand Power. It’s something that’s given only to those who are responsible enough to make use of it. It’s not to...
4. Essential (and free) software We all have our special few programs that we cannot live without and always install after every time we format...
5. Where to from here, nVidia? As most of you should know, nVidia doesn’t just manufacture video cards. It also has a motherboard chipset division, and...

While Ben Parker might have been talking about a greater power than electricity, the same sentiments can be held to a resource that our population consumes without thinking. Electricity is in short supply, and what volts are left are sold to other countries to keep Eskom off the bottom line. There’s always an energy crisis, but this one is much more important – if we overuse our electricity supply, more resources have to be pumped into those atmosphere-destroying coal plants. If our energy crisis is to be handled efficiently, the public must take steps to save energy wherever they can. Here’s what you can do to help.

Black uses less power

Pixels only use power when they have to display any colour other than black. It’s long been proven that Google’s custom search provider, Blackle, saves over 22,000 megawatts worldwide with every hour of usage. The less white there is on your screen, the less energy it consumes keeping those pixels lighted. Nokia S60 ver.5 owners will already agree with this idea, seeing as the touch-screen Symbian smartphones all use a standard black theme to keep power consumption super-low. So change your wallpaper to something that includes a lot of black, and use deeper colours for your theme and web browser.

It’s better for your eyes as well.

Switch to LED

LED screens feature individual LEDs to provide backlighting to pixels on the screen. The benefit to this is superior blacks because there is no backlight bleed from your usual LCD designs, and a far lower power consumption and heat output. Compared to a completely white pixel, a completely black pixel uses roughly 15 times less power. It’s because of that staggering power-saving ability of LEDs that cellphone manufacturers like Samsung, Nokia, and many others are switching to OLED screens.

Naturally, because Nokia’s phones come with the default black Symbian theme, power savings on those phones when using an LED screen are much more apparent compared to a Samsung Wave which quite literally bleeds with colour and brightness. Microsoft is also one of those companies following Nokia’s  example by using a standard black theme in Windows Phone 7, along with OLED screens and the power-sipping Qualcomm processors.

Having a phone that uses less power means less recharges from the wall socket, and less energy consumption overall. The benefits? Lowered stress on the environment, and measurable money savings for you. How can you say no to this? [Here's a tip from your friendly neighbourhood editor: get a car charger for your phone. I've been only charging my phone in my car and I can't remember the last time I plugged in my phone to a wall charger - ed].

Undervolt

Undervolting has become a habit for overclockers who seek the perfect balance between speed and energy efficiency. For instance, my Athlon X2 dual-core runs at a default of 1.28v for the CPU. It’s quite possible to run the chip at full speed with only 1.05v available, again producing measurable benefits to your pocket. Googling various processors will return a few threads dedicated to undervolting, and the limits at which those chips operate.

Graphics cards and RAM can be undervolted, too, for additional savings. ASUS’s CuCore graphics cards can be undervolted using their overclocking software provided with the cards.

Change your PSU

It goes without saying that an efficient PSU will also produce significant power and heat savings if used correctly. Choosing the correct PSU for your PC will ensure you have enough headroom for upgrades and allow it to operate at maximum efficiency.

For example, an Athlon X3 CPU, an AMD HD5770 GPU, 880GM motherboard, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, two 1TB hard drives, 1DVD drive and up to 4 fans can easily run off Corsair’s CX430 power supply. There’s about 100watts spare headroom, and your PSU should be running at 80% efficiency all the time. Don’t take chances and think you can do this with a budget PSU; most name brands with an 80Plus certificate got that for one reason only – superior quality and performance. Choosing anything less is suicide, especially for a high-end rig.

Take a good look at your adapters

Your power adapters seem innocent enough, but if it’s not insulated properly you can be on the receiving end of a multitude of problems, least of which is interference. A good multi-plug adapter that features a surge protection unit usually also has a good efficiency when delivering power to your PC. It’s the most overlooked part of your rig, but if you are asking an adapter for more than it can reasonably supply, it’ll not only blow later on but also release a lot of power as heat. A good name-brand adapter (Ellies, for example) with a top power draw of 16A at ~250 is recommended for any gamer or PC user who wants to avoid overloading the adapter.

Samsung users may be familiar with this as the standard phone charger heats up a lot after an hour or so of use. This is because it’s not efficient in any way, shape, or form, and usually uses a lot more power than it should. It’s best to ditch the adapter and go for a third-party one from a reputable supplier. I switched out mine and not only did my battery charge faster, it uses about 10watts less power, and always felt cool to the touch.

Also, always invest in power cables for your PC that have a working ground. The ground works to draw excess electricity away from your PC, and can help in your bid to save the world through sensible power use. It might just make all the difference to your bank account at the end of the month.

Not ideal.

Related posts:

1. Turn your PC into a tree-hugging power-saver! Everyone wants a high-end system, right? Unfortunately, they require tons of power to run, and those systems are consuming more...
2. When the lights go out If there’s a power failure and your PC is on, you could lose data. Windows could blue-screen every time you...
3. Is 1.21 Jiggawatts enough? Power supplies: Often the least thought about, yet most important part of your PC. Why is it then, that most...
4. Evolution…or is that revolution? Evolution: it is the key to the PC industry’s survival. It’s how ATI has grown from being the underdog of...
5. ATI 5-series preview We are on the cusp of a new generation of computer graphics. Directx11 will be released with Windows 7 at...

When someone says Netgear, the first thing that comes to mind is an ugly pearl white router with a flimsy-feeling aerial and basic functionality. I’m happy to report the WNR3500L is none of these things. But does that make it any good?

Well, the looks are a major plus, a sleek glossy black finish looks smooth and refined, while the square shape and absence of an external aerial makes sure this is a router you’d be proud of displaying.

Looks aside, all we really want from a router is performance and functionality, and this NETGEAR seems almost to define that. Wireless N support, 4 gigabit LAN ports, and a WAN port for connection to the modem are all you would expect from a mid-range router in this category. However the WNR3500L has a trick or two up its sleeve. The first is a USB 2.0 port that allows you to plug an external hard drive into the router, turning it into a NAS that any PC on the network can access as storage. While the USB 2.0 speeds are slightly limiting, it’s a good idea which got plenty of use during the time we had the WNR3500L for review.  The other handy feature is the “Press ‘N Connect” button. Pressing this allows the router to setup and connect to wireless devices in range and despite some early trouble, it worked as stated.

The other huge benefit of the WNR3500L is that it runs on the OpenRouter open source firmware, which as routers running on DDWRT firmware have proven, adds a wealth of functionality to power users. The other plus side is, as the OpenRouter community grows, the WNR3500L router will gain new features and have a far greater support base than NETGEAR alone.

All in all then, a good investment if you already have a modem and plan on extending your networks functionality with wireless N and Gigabit capability, not to mention a NAS.

Bottom line: Small and stylish, offering ease of operation for the novice, and plenty of features for the power user. 9/10.

Related posts:

1. Review: Genius ErgoMedia 500 Gaming Explorer When I first had a good look at the EG500 my thought was that it looked weird but cool at...
2. Hardware review: Alienware M15X gaming notebook After reading the title of this review, I have no doubt many of you are drooling in anticipation; it’s not...
3. Review: MSI Wind U120H If you’re in the market for a netbook, chances are you’ve considered the most important aspects when shopping in this...
4. Larry Bee? No, dimwit, Larrabee! Many of you may have heard all sorts of things about Intel’s Larrabee, lately. While a lot of it is...
5. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...

NAG Case Mod: Started some aluminium work!

NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD

NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences

NAG Case mod: How do I look in white?

As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo). Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Ett

Related posts:

1. NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD If you can recall, I was planning on fitting the LCD inside the case, on top of a divider that...
2. NAG case mod: Started some aluminium work! Man, I've been having so much fun on this project. The more I think about it, the more excited I...
3. NAG Case mod: How do I look in white? One of the biggest changes I’ve made to the case would have to be the colour. This is one of...
4. NAG case mod: It’s all in the lighting I'm hard at work on this project at the moment. There's so much going on, and so much to come...
5. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...

Initial reviews of the top-end GTX480 suggested that NVIDIA could have done a lot better on many fronts, and heat and power draw were enough to keep some fans at bay, hoping for a revision that would produce better results. Some waited a little longer and bought the much cheaper GTX470, and others took a leap of faith (and have now regretted this, probably) by buying into the GTX465’s promises – a lot of which were lies. It wasn’t worth the heat, the power draw, the performance, or the price one paid for it – you could have done a lot better with a cheaper AMD HD5830.

The mid-range GTX460 then hit the market and it was immediately apparent that NVIDIA had hit the right spot with its fans. Lower power draw, excellent value for money and some insane overclocks helped the company back into the limelight, and foreshadowed better mid-range cards that could easily give AMD a run for the money. The GTS450 continued this trend, providing a worthy rival to the HD5750. And then, the horror: the HD6000 Barts series was released less than four weeks ago.

NVIDIA really had nothing to counter with at that time, and kept mum on any developments that could have scored them points against the HD5870 and HD5850 price drops, the superlative value for money that the HD6870 offered, and the rather spiffy-looking AMD Vision branding on the new boxes. I know that last point might seem a bit moot, but consider this: NVIDIA doesn’t sell CPUs, and Intel doesn’t sell discrete graphics cards. AMD sells both and their stuff is pretty cheap. And they have better heat sinks to boot (I know its low, sue me).

You’ve got to hand it to NVIDIA, and Jen-Hsun Huang as well; the spiky-haired CEO recently said that they wouldn’t have released the GF110 chip unless they were 100% certain it would perform well. Last week the brand-new Geforce GTX580 was released, and damn. It rocks.

On GF100, enabling all 512 CUDA cores produced enough heat to cook a damn steak, much less an egg. In the GTX580 they’ve all been tamed and re-arranged to give the best performance-per-watt available. There are an extra 4 shader cores, as well as higher core and memory clocks all-round. The specs are actually quite close to the rumours that were doing to rounds before the GTX480 was released, and overall things are looking quite healthy.

For around R5,500-odd, there’s a lot of value in the package, and it can even best the previous single-card performance king, the Radeon HD5970. But while the HD5970 is essentially a dual-core HD5850, the GTX580 is a single-core card. Although there are thought to be no dual-GPU cards on the horizon just yet, two GF110 cores would probably rip a hole of awesome in the universe.

This card could possibly be the best thing to happen to you yet, but let’s take a few things into account before you jump ship:

1) NVIDIA supports triple-display gaming, but only if you run two cards in SLI. Their reason for this is so that gamers will always get the best experience the technology can offer, lag-free. ATI only requires one card with either DisplayPort or single-link DVI ports, and you can add another card to give you that performance boost necessary to eat through quad-HD resolutions.

2) You need an awfully strong power supply (at least 650w) to keep one of these babies running, and anything less is asking for trouble. The total power draw of a decent quad-i7 rig with a GTX580 will approach 440watts from the wall. It’s important that you get rid of the heat quickly, too, so a decent tower with at least one fan in the front and one at the back is a must.

3) It’s expensive. Even if it’s R1,000 cheaper on average than most HD5970 cards, R5,500 is a lot of money, and chances are most of the card’s value won’t be seen. If all it will do is play games, one should re-consider other options that will give the performance levels you need before blowing it all away. A GTX580 for an HD screen that isn’t a native 30-incher is going to be overkill.

There you have it boys and girls; NVIDIA’s GTX580 is the new performance king. If anyone refutes this, I beg of them to do a price/performance check against an HD5970. Is the Radeon R1,000 more expensive? Yes. Is it R1,000 faster? No. But then again, two HD6870 cards beat the hell out of a lot of things (GTX580 included), so I’d rather everyone follow that route

As for NVIDIA, it deserves a giant pat on the back for doing so bloody well. We all knew GF110 would succeed; we just had no clue how good it actually was. Don’t rest on your laurels just yet though – the Radeon HD6980 is right around the corner, and will kick ass.

Related posts:

1. GT300 is Fermi It looks like we’ll getting a repeat of the 4-series versus GT200 battle, with a twist. Where nVidia went with...
2. Evolution…or is that revolution? Evolution: it is the key to the PC industry’s survival. It’s how ATI has grown from being the underdog of...
3. Where to from here, nVidia? As most of you should know, nVidia doesn’t just manufacture video cards. It also has a motherboard chipset division, and...
4. Coming soon: ATI’s RV790 and RV740 This time last year, if you wanted a high-end graphics card, Nvidia’s 8800 series was by far the best choice;...
5. The versus battle Choice is a strange thing. We’re offered a large choice of stuff at the supermarket, and we’re usually quite quick...

Previous related articles for reference purposes:

NAG Case Mod: Started some aluminium work!

NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD

NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences

I’m going to be rolling updates out a whole lot more regularly over the next while, so I hope you’re ready for this.

That’s all I’m giving you in this update  In the next couple of updates I’ll be covering the amazing cooling that was given to us by LandmarkPC, as well as the installation of the 7″ LCD Screen!

As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo) for real-time modding updates, like quick photos I throw up with my phone.  Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Related posts:

1. NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences This year at rAge, NAG set up a stand for me to work at. The idea was to have the...
2. Some new gear for the NAG case mod Please excuse my lack of updates, guys. I've been waiting patiently for some goodies to arrive from all over the...
3. NAG Case mod: LCD installation One of the aspects about this mod that I've been particularly excited about is the little 7" LCD. I originally...
4. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...
5. rAge case mod: Photos, 3D renders and colour scheme I've got a pretty sweet update for you guys regarding the rAge mod! Let me start with the full set...

The weekend turned out to be one of the most exhausting experiences of my life, but at the same time, it was one of the most encouraging and inspiring times of my life too! I met some amazing people at rAge, and I met so many people who love my work. It was truly an eye-opening experience.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t get a whole lot done on the case, because I ended up chatting to so many people that were interested in the mod.

Anyway, here are some photos of the event.

This was the machine status on Sunday.

I started some heavy work on the PSU, which I’m making good progress with. I’ll be posting another update up soon that’ll have details on the current state of the machine.

That’s the short of the update. More to come very soon. Info on the PSU modding, the case powder coating details, etc!

As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo) for real-time modding updates, like quick photos I throw up with my phone. Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Related posts:

1. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...
2. NAG case mod: It’s all in the lighting I'm hard at work on this project at the moment. There's so much going on, and so much to come...
3. New kid on the block Hi guys! I'm Ettienne Venter, but I'm more commonly known on the internet as DAE_JA_VOO. I'm a case modder -...
4. rAge case mod: Photos, 3D renders and colour scheme I've got a pretty sweet update for you guys regarding the rAge mod! Let me start with the full set...
5. NAG Case mod: How do I look in white? One of the biggest changes I’ve made to the case would have to be the colour. This is one of...

I’ve been patiently watching the industry these last few weeks, and things have taken a few interesting  turns. Some things to take note of include:

Not even Brain had thought this far.

INTEL BUYING OUT MCAFFEE

This caught me by surprise. Not only does it mean that my least favorite anti-virus is linked to the industry leaders in microprocessors, but it may now mean that Mcaffee will still be in every single machine that sports a Sandy Bridge CPU and motherboard. What’s likely to come out of this deal is hardware-assisted virus protection – similar to Data Execution Prevention, Intel’s processors may actually be tasked to deal with viruses before they execute themselves onto your drives. I know many anti-virus programs already feature prevention measures such as a firewall, but it’s mainly software driven; there are Trojans capable of filling up your hard drive at ten times the speed it takes you to delete just one of them. If anything, having raw muscle behind your protection would help tremendously.

This, however, still means I’ll have to deal with Mcaffee, which is only the world’s worst consumer anti-virus. If anyone else has been paying attention to Intel lately, this is another one of their bully-the-market tactics; by partnering with Mcaffee, they can help Mcaffee to penetrate even more market share with each machine sold (perhaps there’s a free CD included, a download link somewhere, I don’t know). By muscling in with threats from other industries, they can consolidate their efforts and achieve their ultimate goal: WORLD DOMINATION.

NVIDIA GF104 IS A CRACKER

Nvidia’s Geforce GTX460 has taken the world by storm. It’s cheaper than a GTX465, it’s cooler than a GTX465, runs better than a GTX275, and retails for less than R3000. Nvidia has hit the nail in the head here by targeting the mainstream market with a GPU that, while slower than it’s rival the ATI (ahem) HD5850, manages to seem as if it offers inherently more value.

And well, it does. Nvidia can now boast Stereoscopic 3D support on all its cards, as well as a solution not unlike Eyefinity for the most immersive gaming experience imaginable. Add that to the mountains of data showing that Physx and CUDA support is a hot topic for developers and gamers, we can well see that Nvidia’s finally managed to pull out something from the hat that could work. Now they have to solidify their lineup with the low-end graphics cards, and that’s where they achieve their ultimate goal: MARKET DOMINATION.

AMD IS GOING ALL-OUT

Holy hell, AMD is on a cracker of a homerun. Their ATI brand has pulled off an astonishing win from Nvidia with the HD4000 and HD5000 series, and their HD6000 series is just in time for Christmas. ATI has, from the launch of the legendary HD3870, gone from strength to strength, and I’m proud to say I own an HD5750 and an Athlon II CPU.

But now there won’t be any DAAMIT jokes, no fanATIcs, no ATI to refer to anymore. The internet is chock-full of rumors that suggest that the HD6000 cards will be the last to feature the ATI brand. From November this year, AMD will fully consolidate its ATI brand into the company’s portfolio. ATI Radeons will now be known as AMD Radeons, and FirePro will be added to the lineup as well.

It makes sense, with Llano around the corner the company has to move to make its Fusion brand the focus of its integrated lineup. Mind you, discrete graphics cards will still take the cake, but for laptops, ultra-portables, and netbooks, the future is Fusion.

Intel already realized this years ago (rather unfortunately for AMD), and now it’s a race to see who can make the new tech work for the public, and who can profit off it first.

Related posts:

1. GT300 is Fermi It looks like we’ll getting a repeat of the 4-series versus GT200 battle, with a twist. Where nVidia went with...
2. Where to from here, nVidia? As most of you should know, nVidia doesn’t just manufacture video cards. It also has a motherboard chipset division, and...
3. Evolution…or is that revolution? Evolution: it is the key to the PC industry’s survival. It’s how ATI has grown from being the underdog of...
4. Is it silly? With both NVIDIA’s Fermi and Apple’s iPad released recently, people are asking what techies think of these gizmos. I’ve read...
5. It’s only the beginning… A little over 6 months ago, NVIDIA launched the GTX400 series in the hope that it would stand a chance...

Who is DAE_JA_VOO/Ettienne Venter

Intro to this mod

Dremel sponsoring DAE_JA_VOO

Full photo shoot, sketches, renders, and some ideas

Some new gear for the NAG case mod

NAG Case Mod: Started some aluminium work!

NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD

I’m hard at work on this project at the moment. There’s so much going on, and so much to come this week. I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff arriving from the US on Monday/Tuesday, as well as all the cooling for the project. I’ve had endless trouble getting some panels laser cut, which has caused nothing but frustration for me, and delayed my ability to dive into some of the more structural work on the project, but those panels should be here this week. I’ve also got about 150 feet of snow white 18 AWG wiring arriving, but more on that when it arrives.

Before I can speak too much about the lighting, I first want to introduce the sleeving we bought for this machine. As some of you may know, I’m an absolute perfectionist when it comes to modding, and anything less than the best is not good enough for me. That’s why I opted to buy the sleeving for the project from Germany, and I made sure that we got the absolute best sleeving money can buy. So here’s the package that came in the mail:

Loads of goodies in there. Some more detail:

30M of 1/8″ white sleeving:

Some bigger white sleeving for the SATA cables:

I also got some black sleeving:

They sent some samples as well:

Along with that, I also ordered some wire mounts, some rivets, and a tool.

The wire mounts:

And the ATX Pin remover tool.

I also ordered a bunch of heatshrink for the ends.

On to the lighting. One of the most important things in a good, classy case mod is the lighting. Now, it’s really simple to just buy a big fat CCFL and throw that in there, but is it really going to look good? I remember my first little weekend mod had a CCFL in it. I actually still have that CCFL somewhere. After all these years of modding, I’ve really grown to appreciate good lighting. Sure, it takes significantly longer to get it set up, but it just looks so good when it’s done, that it’s all worth it in the end. So I opted to go the LED route.

Since this mod’s colour scheme is white and black , with the whole inside of the case eventually being black, I wanted the lighting to be white. So I got some white wiring for the LEDs:

The LEDs:

Now, I don’t want LEDs flooding the inside of the case, so I chose to place them at the top of the case in the top support beams. I needed to make a piece of plexi that would fit into that bean that would house the LEDs. So, I grabbed a piece of black plexi from my off-cut bin:

Cut out and ready for sanding and finishing:

Once it was cut, I spent some time sanding the edges to make sure that this piece would be exactly the right size. Then I fitted it to make sure it was okay:

Lastly, I drilled six 5mm holes for the LEDs to fit through:

I started wiring up the LEDs:

Looking pretty good! All it needs now is some sleeve!

Here are 5 sets.

I ran out of wire, hence only making 5 sets, hahaha. I’ll pick some wire up this week for the rest.

Fitted them quickly in the plexi. Not yet sleeved:

Then I spent some time sleeving the cables individually. Half way through sleeving the first one:

Done. Looking SO good:

Then I quickly test fitted the configuration in the case and wired it up to a PSU, just to get an idea of what to expect. Honestly, this is exactly what I wanted! A good light, but not so harsh that it’s BRIGHT inside the case:

That’s just about it for now. I’m really amped for everything that’ll be arriving this week. I can see myself working full days on this mod this week, which is exciting for me!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo) for real-time modding updates, like quick photos I throw up with my phone. I haven’t been doing this too much lately, but I’ll get back into it. Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Don’t forget that you can catch me at the NAG stand at rAge this year, where I’ll be working on this and other mods. Be sure to stop by and have a look at this mod for yourself!

Cheers!

Ettienne

Related posts:

1. Some new gear for the NAG case mod Please excuse my lack of updates, guys. I've been waiting patiently for some goodies to arrive from all over the...
2. NAG case mod: Started some aluminium work! Man, I've been having so much fun on this project. The more I think about it, the more excited I...
3. rAge case mod: Photos, 3D renders and colour scheme I've got a pretty sweet update for you guys regarding the rAge mod! Let me start with the full set...
4. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...
5. NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences This year at rAge, NAG set up a stand for me to work at. The idea was to have the...

Who is DAE_JA_VOO/Ettienne Venter

Intro to this mod

Dremel sponsoring DAE_JA_VOO

Full photo shoot, sketches, renders, and some ideas

Some new gear for the NAG case mod

NAG Case Mod: Started some aluminium work!

If you can recall, I was planning on fitting the LCD inside the case, on top of a divider that will separate the motherboard area from the PSU area. I have actually decided against that, because the idea I want for this project is that it’s as CLEAN as can be. I don’t want any clutter in this case, and I just felt like the LCD would create a really destructive atmosphere if I left it where I originally wanted it. So I changed my plans a little bit.

The case has two panels that the optical drives and hard disks are held in place by, like any case:

Now, if you can recall from what I mentioned in a previous update, these panels will be getting covered up, so as to hide all the holes and such. The problem with this, however, is that there are so many little pieces of aluminium sticking out the side of this panel, which I’d need to remove in order to get the cover in place. This is a photo from a previous update of the replacement cover:

Of course, that cover is still going to undergo a lot of work. That was just the test fit.

So, I needed to start hacking away at the case’s panels to get rid of all of those little pieces of alu. In order to do so, I first had to get those panels off, and this proved to be far more work than I was anticipating. I ended up having to remove that whole section. The whole case is held together by rivets, which I had to drill out with my Dremel:

Then there were four down the front that I had to get rid of, and two along the bottom.

Once all of those were out, I needed to do the same along the other side, and then I had this:

Then I had to get all of this apart. Those three little dividers are what was holding this together:

The panel on the left is the one that needed the most work. Particularly because of these three guys:

I yanked out the three clips for the optical drives:

And then I had to start hacking away at all the little alu bits in the way. So I masked up an area of that panel:

And….. KAPOW!

That was all the rough cutting with my Dremel. Then I had to sit and file all of this down really nicely. This panel alone too me a whole afternoon of filing

All done, filed, and looking like it was made like this:

Then I had to do the same to the other panel. This one had much less work for me, so it was quicker.

Taped up and ready for some Dremel lovin’:

Pieces cut:

Filed down:

Perfect cuts!

Now, that LCD screen is going to fit into one of these panels. So I need to cut the hole in the panel for that screen to work through, and then obviously a hole through the cover as well. So, I masked up the panel and drew up the hole for the screen:

Then I clamped the panel down onto my Dremel Project Table, grabbed my 4000 series, and cut:

After a fair amount of time filing the edges, I was left with a perfect cut:

Now, here’s an idea of how the screen will sit. Just remember that there will be a completely clean cover over this panel with a hole for the screen, so you won’t see any ugly holes

I’ve sent all the panels off to laser cutters to be cut, and they should be done in a couple of days.

I also spent quite some time researching bending breaks, because I need one for this project. They turned out to be somewhat expensive for their application (in my opinion, at least), so I ended up making one myself, and it works SO well. More details on that in the next update.

The next update will explain how the screen will be held in place, and shed some light on the cooling that will be used.

That’s about it for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo) for real-time modding updates, like quick photos I throw up with my phone. Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Cheers!

Ettienne

Related posts:

1. NAG Case mod: LCD installation One of the aspects about this mod that I've been particularly excited about is the little 7" LCD. I originally...
2. NAG case mod: Started some aluminium work! Man, I've been having so much fun on this project. The more I think about it, the more excited I...
3. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...
4. Some new gear for the NAG case mod Please excuse my lack of updates, guys. I've been waiting patiently for some goodies to arrive from all over the...
5. NAG Case mod: How do I look in white? One of the biggest changes I’ve made to the case would have to be the colour. This is one of...

We assume that Telkom will eventually upgrade it’s 384 and 512 subscribers. Those will receive a boost this year, but no information has come to light about how much it will improve. 384 could move up to 512, and 512 could go up to anything near 4Mb/s. Hell, I’m on a 3G connection, and I still get better speeds than either of those two*.

*If you can really call it better, that is.

My beef with Telkom these days is the long wait. We’re ranked so far down the ladder in terms of average speeds that we don’t even register a blip on the radar of the top 10 countries with the fastest connection in the world, and it’s all thanks to “South Africa’s Leading Telecommunications Provider”. Yeah, you’re forgetting that you’re the only one, jackass. We’re being fed scraps of the potential that Telkom has, and they’re perfectly satisfied sitting there and making us pay heaps for a connection that  would cost the same as a good meal out. And do they still think we’re blind?

I don’t pretend to understand the nuances of running such a large enterprise the size of Telkom, but there are some numbers that I think are applicable here.

In South Africa around 5,300,000 people are connected to the Internet as of a 2009 survey, over 1.5million which use ADSL. Thanks to the line speed upgrades, it has been revealed that 19,400 users on the 4Mb/s lines are due for an upgrade at the moment, the equivalent of 2.9% of the entire 4Mb/s ADSL subscriber base. And it’s only for those who sync at near full speed.

Cheap bandwidth does kinda help, but it's not helping. Urdoinitwrong!

I had a huge argument planned about how easily Telkom could afford to upgrade everyone, what with all the riches they’ve been accumulating over the years (apparently they’re going broke now, eh?) but I realize I’m just farting against thunder; I mean, what could I achieve here, one solitary technical writer on the NAG Online block? It begs the question as to what the other 4Mb/s users who don’t even sync at 3Mb/s will be getting in the long term. Stability? Full Sync speed? Lower prices? Or will they suffer as they always have, paying for double the service that they’re actually getting?

I’ve never been one to defend Telkom, and I’m absolutely not going to become one who does either. They need to catch a wake-up and see that the rest of the world has progressed far beyond what they’ve achieved here. Perhaps the impending leadership change might do some good, but I’m not holding my breath. Telkom only jumps when it wants to impress other countries, it seems, so what does that say about its loyalty to the userbase?

Oh, right. Food for thought.

Related posts:

1. Bandwidth for Africa R2 a megabyte! That’s how much you pay when you go out of bundle (OOB) using 3G (on MTN and...
2. The Internet revolution has begun! Seacom is going to be one of the best things to happen to South Africa. We’ve now been stuck with...
3. Dude, what happened to your phone?! I’ll admit, cellphones are not on top of most gamers’ minds. After all, a phone must just be capable of...
4. When is uncapped not uncapped? The answer to the above depends entirely on your idea of what uncapped is, but for the sake of transparency...
5. When the lights go out If there’s a power failure and your PC is on, you could lose data. Windows could blue-screen every time you...

As "gamer focused as you get."

So what really happens when you go all out to create a high end gaming laptop in every sense of the word? Read on to find out.

The most noticeable aspect of the M15X is undoubtably its styling. High performance laptops generally stay conservative in order to widen their appeal from gaming to other area such as Photoshop and CAD users. Not so with the M15X. Dressed in what can only be described as a suit of red armor, the M15X really breaks away from convention. A glowing alien head as the status light, front “exhaust” ports complete with mesh and cheesy green backlight, a multi zone keyboard whose backlight can be customized to almost any colour you’d care for (and a few you wouldn’t), and we haven’t even gone over the half of it. An extremely thick base houses the powerful heart of the machine, touch sensitive media keys sit above the keyboard, and there’s that DVD drive loader unlike any other you’ve ever seen on a laptop, there is simple too much to talk about. So rather than read my waffling, have a look at the pictures throughout the article, then take a look at them again, because you’re bound to see something new each time.

The styling is anything but conservative.

Cheesy or revolutionary, the styling of the M15X leaves little room for doubt, this device has but one use, portable gaming at only the highest of settings.

You can often tell by the size of a box how expensive something is. Bigger is always better, and after spending a small fortune on a gaming laptop, you’d want the box to be the size of a small car. The M15X’s box isn’t quite that size, but it’s not far off. Unboxing reveals the laptop and plenty of shock absorbing material, as well as a rather large box filled with the most comprehensive bundle I have ever seen. First off there is a cap to let everyone know that, yes, you are a gamer, and yes, you have more money than them. Next up, the power brick (of substantial size), power cable, DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, and a leather-bound user manual that would make for some light reading on many sleepless nights, and happens to be of far better quality than the one found in my car’s glove box. Add to this a mouse pad and a micro fiber pouch for the laptop and you have a bundle that all but screams, “You get what you pay for!”.

With the sheer size and weight of the M15X, portability isn’t quite a word that springs to mind. This isn’t so much a laptop as it is a desktop replacement unit. However, for transporting to LANs, the M15X works superbly. Bundled into its box which has ample room left for any other accessories you might need at a LAN, the M15X is far easier to transport than even the small desktop system, and is really what the M15X was built for. That being said, don’t expect to take this with you on your flight to London or for some light internet browsing at your local cafe. Battery life is surprisingly good considering the amount of hardware packed into the M15X. 4 to 5 hours is possible if all you’re using the laptop for is, say, typing out a review. When you crank up the usage, the battery seems to fade away into something close to nothingness, as it barely lasts 1 hour of looped 3D Mark 06 testing. When you come to think about it though, this isn’t a problem. You don’t buy the M15X for hours of operation on end, you buy it to game on and so sacrifices have to be made.

Stop! Before the lack of numbers and graphs confuses you, read this: The M15X had an unfortunate throttling issue where the CPU was stuck running at a far lower than standard frequency for the majority of synthetic and gaming benchmarks. Adjusting the BIOS didn’t work as the settings refused to save on reboot, so what we were left with was an underperforming laptop and no more time to tinker with it. All benchmarks reported scores far lower than expected (in some cases 10% of the expected score) and most games were unplayable at low settings at 800 x 600. To be fair to the M15X, which is no-doubt a gaming powerhouse, rather than posting the terrible scores, we’ll reserve this section for a future update when we can test the M15X running in all its glory.

With local pricing starting at around R18,000 for the entry-level unit (and closer to R25,000 for the unit on review), the M15X is really out of reach of most gamers, especially if you use it with its designed purpose of LANning in mind. However, with build quality, specifications and a bundle like this, that massive price tag is justified. The M15X from Alienware is unlike any laptop you’ve ever experienced before, it truly is a masterpiece of engineering, design and kitch factor, and we love it. The dream of every LANner is to have an Alienware laptop, and that’s exactly what the M15X is, the stuff dreams are made of.

Beauty and power, the stuff dreams are made of.

Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i7 720QM (1.60Ghz, 6MB L2 cache)

RAM: 4096MB (2×2048) 1333MHz DDR3 dual channel

Storage: 320GB Serial ATA (7200RPM) HDD

Optical drive: 8X DVD RW (slot-load)

GFX: 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT260M dedicated gfx

Battery: 9-cell

Connectivity: 802.11a/g/n, Bluetooth

Related posts:

1. Review: Genius ErgoMedia 500 Gaming Explorer When I first had a good look at the EG500 my thought was that it looked weird but cool at...
2. Mine’s STILL smaller than yours! Alot of things have happened in the gaming laptop market since we last looked at it. Thanks to the new...
3. Mine’s smaller than yours! Many of us gamers who attend LANs regularly have this problem: where the hell do we put our PC in...
4. PC gaming is expensive! This is not meant to be a console vs PC diatribe. Each has its pros and cons. One of PC...
5. Size does count… at a LAN! I feel that my opinion of laptops and portable devices has changed significantly over the past few months. Now that...

Who is DAE_JA_VOO/Ettienne Venter

Intro to this mod

Dremel sponsoring DAE_JA_VOO

Full photo shoot, sketches, renders, and some ideas

Some new gear for the NAG case mod

Man, I’ve been having so much fun on this project. The more I think about it, the more excited I get.

I bought some 1.2mm thick aluminium yesterday for use in the mod.

There are four pieces lying there. Let me explain what they’re all for. The big guy is for the motherboard tray. Quickly have a look at the stock tray:

This motherboard tray caters for almost every motherboard form factor that exists, hence all the holes. While that’s a great feature, I don’t need it. I only need it to support ATX, and perhaps EATX. The tray also has three big holes along the bottom for cables, etc. I don’t need those either, because I want to make the holes for the cables in the perfect places, not general places like this. So how do we solve this? With a piece of aluminium that’ll cover all of that stuff, like so:

Obviously, it’ll get modded a whole lot before it’s finished, and I’ll get into that just now. The two smaller pieces are for the sides of the bay area. here’s the standard bay area:

And the bay area with the alu sheet covering it:

That’s just a quick test, though. By no means is that the finished setup. This is just to give you an idea of what I’m going for. The last thing I want is a million holes all over the place, so I’m trying to clean it all up

So I started off with the motherboard panel. I needed to cut a big chunk of that alu out. So I’ve got it all masked up and ready for action:

After a few minutes with the Dremel 4000 series, I had this:

I’ve just got to mention something to you guys quickly. That Dremel 4000 series is freaking incredible. I’ve had a 300 series for a few years, and I got the 400 series Digital from Dremel when I just partnered with them (a few months ago). About 6 weeks ago they sent me this 4000 series, and it feels significantly better than anything I’ve used before. Don’t get me wrong, the 300 and 400 series are fantastic tools, and I still use both of those all the time, but the raw power and strength of this 4000 series is just incredible.

Anyway, after a few minutes with my file(s), I was left with some straight and clean edges:

And then it was time for a quick test fit to see if I had done what I wanted. So far, it’s looking exactly how I want it to be looking!

Alrighty. My next step was to cut a small piece out of the bottom of the new panel so as to make space for the rear end of the case getting in the way. These two photo will explain:

So, I measured it all up and got ready for some more Dremel lovin’:

All cut!

After some filing and sizing, it seems to fit pretty well. I’m pleased with the result:

Okay, now onto getting the new alu panel fitted to the motherboard tray. There are a few things standing in the way. A few stand-offs, and this guy:

I’m not going to lie to you guys – I have no idea what that’s even for. My best guess is that it’s for cables or something, but then again, it’s in the way, so who cares anyway, right? I need two things to get rid of this guy. First thing – my Dremel Multi Chuck:

Essentially, this little guy lets me use non-standard sizes in my Dremel tools. Where I’d normally need something with a shaft that’s around 3-3.2mm in diameter, this Multi Chuck allows me to use a wide range of sizes. If I pair that up with a small drill bit from my Dremel Precision Drill Bit set, I have a perfect match:

Wait for it…

BAM!

Now that that’s out of the way, all I need to do is drill holes in the new panel for the stand-offs to come through:

This allows the new panel to sit directly against the motherboard panel, which means it won’t cause any short circuits or anything like that. Perfect!

So, all done, here’s a look at where it’s going:

I actually made a dummy motherboard and GPU specifically for photos and so on, but the progress pics of those were lost  There’s a possibility that I still have those photos on another memory card, but I don’t have that card at the moment. If I find the pics, I’ll upload them.

That board is the EXACT size of a regular ATX motherboard, and the GPU fitted there is the size of a GTX295 (measured from my own one ). Having this dummy allows me to be sure that I don’t build things that will conflict with each other. It also looks awesome in photos.

Anyway, I fitted the board to get a feel for how the board would sit over the panel beneath it, and it’s sitting exactly how I wanted it. Freaking perfect if you ask me!

I’ve left it masked up to protect it. In case you guys may have missed it (or in case I didn’t mention it), the inside of this case will be black. Once I’m done all the cutting work, this case will get sent off to the powder coaters for some fun. I may have it anodized instead. In fact – yeah, I think anodizing is what I’ll go with.

As mentioned, this new alu panel covers up the three holes that the case’s motherboard tray has in it for cables on stuff. While this might seem a little counter intuitive, it’s actually another reason I made this cover in the first place. Those holes cater for a general field of motherboards. That’s great and all, but that’s not what I need from a case. I need this case to cater for one specific motherboard, and I’ll cut the holes for the cables to fit just right for the motherboard I use in the mod. This approach should give the case a much cleaner look and feel, and make the case look a lot more professional.

Unfortunately, I can’t make these holes just yet, because we’re waiting until a few weeks before rAge before we get the hardware for this case, so as to ensure that the machine is running bleeding edge tech.

I’ll start with the bay panels and the other panel next. I’m quite excited for that stuff.

The cable sleeving that I ordered for the project has arrived, and I’m going to get it from NAG today. I’m really amped to get my hands on this sleeving, because I made sure that we use the very best sleeving in the world for this mod. It was imported from Germany specifically for this project. I’m very excited about this stuff.

That’s about it for now. I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo) for real-time modding updates, like quick photos I throw up with my phone. Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Cheers!

Ett

Related posts:

1. NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD If you can recall, I was planning on fitting the LCD inside the case, on top of a divider that...
2. NAG Case mod: LCD installation One of the aspects about this mod that I've been particularly excited about is the little 7" LCD. I originally...
3. NAG Case mod: How do I look in white? One of the biggest changes I’ve made to the case would have to be the colour. This is one of...
4. Do it yourself! By now, I’m sure many readers know the joy of buying your own computer in separate parts, instead of buying...
5. Feature: Lian Li case roundup It’s not often that we receive such a wide variety of cases from a single manufacturer; however, this scenario is...

Up to R5000

Always a staple in this list, HP keeps the budget gaming crown with the 625 series. The AMD Athlon dual-core still works well, the integrated ATI HD3200 GPU lets you play older titles like Starcraft, Counter-Strike, and several newer games at great speeds, and is still lighter and more efficient than a desktop built for the same purpose. Windows 7 Home Basic might be an eyesore for some, but this is what budget buying gets you – severe cost-cutting.

Up to R6000

This is specifically for a strange type of gamer – they want something to play most older LAN games, but also be small enough to not weigh them down. For this purpose, the ASUS 1201N works wonders. An Atom dual-core, 2GB of RAM, the same Nvidia M9400G found in Macbooks, and a tiny 12″ LCD screen gives you a powerful little thing that’s not to be underestimated. Considering playing some newer strategy games with all the settings dialed down at rAge? This is for you.

Up to R7000

This is where it all starts, though. R7000 is usually the baseline for gaming laptops, and the three contenders here are worthy enough. The ASUS K50ID-SX103V is a solid beginner’s choice. The Pentium dual-core is good enough for most things, the build quality is great, and the Nvidia graphics suits the price range quite well, if a little underpowered. If you’re big on brand names and image, go for this one. The other two, however, set the bar quite high for other laptops in the higher price ranges. The Core 2 Duo-packing Toshiba A300-1QE floors the K50ID with superior sound quality and a strong ATI HD3650, not to mention a more comfortable keyboard. It comes with Vista, but you get the optional Windows 7 upgrade as well. A slightly smaller profile also helps when choosing a carry-bag for the 2.7KG lummox.

The Mecer W765CU is the one to look at, though. Not only does it match the Toshiba, it also offers a degree of customisation above its standard specs. There’s even an option for a SSD as an add-on! The choice of anything up to a Core i7, up to 8GB of RAM, and whichever version of Windows you need is also something that might help it seal the deal for you.

Above these select models, there isn’t anything really enticing, or remotely affordable, until you have a look at MSI’s range. Their baseline is the GE660: a Core i3 powerhouse along with an HD5730, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, amazing build quality, and the ability to tease those running equivalent desktop rigs. For under R10k, this brings the gaming laptop far closer to the us than we imagined. But wait! There’s also something for R4k more! The GX740 needs no introduction, being a member of the now-legendary GX family. Its a god amongst laptops.

Need one word to sum it up? Orgasmic.

Related posts:

1. Mine’s smaller than yours! Many of us gamers who attend LANs regularly have this problem: where the hell do we put our PC in...
2. Mine’s STILL smaller than yours! Alot of things have happened in the gaming laptop market since we last looked at it. Thanks to the new...
3. The dual core vs quad core duel Whenever someone considers building a new PC, the question always comes up: dual or quad? It’s well known that games...
4. Hardware review: Alienware M15X gaming notebook After reading the title of this review, I have no doubt many of you are drooling in anticipation; it’s not...
5. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...

Who is DAE_JA_VOO/Ettienne Venter

Intro to this mod

Dremel sponsoring DAE_JA_VOO

Full photo shoot, sketches, renders, and some ideas

Please excuse my lack of updates, guys. I’ve been waiting patiently for some goodies to arrive from all over the world for this project, furthermore, I’ve been studying like a machine for a paper that I was supposed to write on Friday (it got pushed up to this week Wednesday). Anyway, I’ve got some amazing goodies to show you. First an foremost, I want to show you the little Lilliput 7″ USB monitor that we got from the US for the project.

Inside the box:

The screen:

Essentially, this little guy is an extra monitor for your PC, but what makes it particularly awesome is that it has no NO VGA/DVI connectors, only USB. Using USB alone, this screen connects to your machine as second monitor. This specific one is a non-touch version, but there are touch versions available. I’ll be using this screen in the mod to display system related information, like CPU temperatures, CPU activity, perhaps hardware speeds if the winner of this machine is an overclocker, etc. Really, you can display whatever you like on this device. Here’s a little configuration I threw together quickly just to show you what it can do. This one displays my CPU’s average usage, as well as CPU, GPU, and HDD temperatures:

Now, where will I be using this? You’re thinking that it’ll be on the desk next to the main screen of the machine, like this, right?

You know what? That’s exactly what I’m NOT going to do with it. Here’s just a simple idea of where this little guy is going to go.

That’s right! This monitor is going to sit INSIDE the case! There’s more! I’ve got one last little trick planned that’ll make this screen even more awesome in the case, but that detail will come in another update

We’ve also ordered some incredible cable sleeving from Germany for the machine, which is on its way. I’ll post photos of that sleeving as soon as it arrives, which I’m expecting to be this week. I’ll update you guys on the watercooling setup in that update as well.

Something else I’ve recently received is another new toy from Dremel. They sent me a Dremmel 4000, which I’ve been dying to get my hands on for ages! Some pics:

I wont bore your with the full write-up here, so why not go ahead and read the full post about it here on my website? Many more pics, and a closer look at this Dremel.

As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo). Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on.

Related posts:

1. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...
2. NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences This year at rAge, NAG set up a stand for me to work at. The idea was to have the...
3. NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD If you can recall, I was planning on fitting the LCD inside the case, on top of a divider that...
4. rAge case mod: Photos, 3D renders and colour scheme I've got a pretty sweet update for you guys regarding the rAge mod! Let me start with the full set...
5. NAG Case mod: How do I look in white? One of the biggest changes I’ve made to the case would have to be the colour. This is one of...

But the tech that’s most interesting for geeks like myself these days is the gap between netbooks and cellphones that has created this amazing market for touch tablets and smartphones that cost more than a (cheap) second-hand car. In this market, Apple shines as the superior choice when it comes to an interface and OS that works very well for touch screens. Windows Mobile isn’t suited for this environment despite all the recent updates to it (Mobile 7 may be Microsoft’s savior). Its not as aged as Symbian S60 was (still is), but improvements are still necessary for it to work properly. In spite of this some companies are releasing it on smartphones, and its going up against the giants of the industry: Apple, Symbian and the heavy-hitting newcomer, Google’s Android.

Apple iPhone 4

Is it a tablet? No, its the latest iteration of Apple’s iPhone range. The iPhone 4 packs so much functionality that you might never need a tablet. A snappy 1Ghz CPU, what looks to be 512MB RAM, the best touch-designed OS in the industry, and access to the most profitable online app and music store in computing history make this a very tempting option. Yes, you can edit documents and type out a book, if you’re patient. Yes, it does fit into your pocket without looking like you’ve got a gun in it. Its manly, its got a aluminum bevel, and costs more money than sense. Some might say that not one other phone has bridged the netbook and cellphone market so effectively.

Dell Streak

Until the Streak came along, that is. This might be the real deal, a phone that doubles, quite comfortably, as a proper mobile internet tablet. Nokia’s N900 might be the only thing currently able to lay claim to that title, but it has design flaws that make the device useless to anyone with larger than average hands. The keyboard is so small that you have to have two nibbly thumbs like Megan Fox’s one to type fast without making mistakes and I don’t know about you readers, but I think its just pointless. The Streak, with its 5″ LCD, Android 2.1 OS, and LED backlighting might make you want to part with your money (or testes, whichever you prefer) to own one.

A sizeable shoe, the Streak, Blackberry's 9650, Sony Ericsson Xperia, and a Nokia N-series. Big mother, innnit?

Please beware, though, of how fast your dork rating will shoot up the minute you take out a small ringing book with moving pictures and start talking to it.

Nokia N9

Its still a concept, but that’s why I’m excited for this average-looking slider that almost immediately turns into a mini laptop. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the pictures. Now, go on, draw a 113.5 x 59.1mm rectangle. If you’ve actually done it, well done, because now you have an idea of how big and possibly comfortable this thing is, bearing in mind it still extends to reveal a almost full keyboard. It won’t sport the 680Mhz CPU of the Nokia N8, or the brand spanking new Symbian ^3 OS, but quite possibly could share the camera and build quality of the N8. The MeeGo OS, being Linux-based, has the strength to take on Apple’s OS 4, and might even shoehorn Maemo out of the smartphone segment.

Any of these three phones stands the chance of being king of the hill, which currently is Nokia. Symbian is still a tough nut to crack, and many have failed trying to rival the legendary devices. These three phones, backed by giants in the industry, may have a fighting chance, but they’ve got their work cut out for them

Related posts:

1. Nokia’s dark trojan horse Everyone, see this column below? Right. It used to be an emotionally-driven rant filled with psycho-babble, downright depressing in some...
2. Responsibility and power go hand-in-hand Power. It’s something that’s given only to those who are responsible enough to make use of it. It’s not to...
3. Dude, what happened to your phone?! I’ll admit, cellphones are not on top of most gamers’ minds. After all, a phone must just be capable of...
4. The Philips SHC2000: My Godsend in a world without subtitles I was born deaf. My mother, bless her, contracted German Measles while I was still sleeping my early life away...
5. World Domination – the PC Industry Perspective Firstly, apologies dear reader, I’ve been out of the NAG loop for a while now. Simply put, life has happened...

These consoles lose their value a lot slower than PCs, and they don't go out of date in six months.

I know I’m not alone in thinking that the PC is becoming an aged dinosaur. All I really see is more cores, more transistors; the engineers trying to put as much power as they can into a product without having it blow up whilst being efficient. Once that’s out of the gate, they work on the next biggest thing – which just turns out to be a previous product modified to be preposterously more powerful. Do I really need that extra power? Do I need that ridiculous feeling of gluttonous glee knowing I’m averaging 60FPS in the latest Crysis-wannabe? Is it even worth spending more money for an extra 10FPS?

I ask, because in spite of all the recent advances in processing power, consoles still attract more and more newcomers – more gamers. Yes, you can cry foul and say that PCs have never been stronger than now, and I’d agree. Windows 7 is excellent for games, DX11 will bear fruits, and hard drives are living on borrowed time, making way for SSDs. Intel and AMD are still racing to release the most overclockable and value-for-money hardware yet seen. Nvidia’s GTX400 series is gaining market share and looking good, and ATIs Eyefinity has managed to leave me breathless.

But I write this column more as a gamer than a hardware enthusiast (this is a site dedicated to games, after all). I couldn’t give a damn how fast the game runs, it must just run well enough so that i may enjoy it comfortably, and that’s why I love my PS3. I’ve always been a console fan, and my recent plunge into buying my own gaming computer leaves me wondering whether this was the right choice.

Cars like these aren't going to be around forever. Does the same apply to high-powered gaming computers?

In season 14 of Top Gear, Clarkson laments the impending death of the supercar while testing the Aston Martin V12 Vantage. The war on speed and exhaust emissions means that cars such as the Ferrari 599 aren’t going to work in this green environment that we strive for, and summarily they’ll be replaced with a green equivalent; slower, cheaper, greener. The same goes for computers, I guess. Consoles continue to get smaller, more affordable, more simple, and more “green”; people are naturally going to flock to the product most readily available to them. I paid R6200 for my computer: I could have gotten an Xbox360 and an HD-ready TV for that same money.

Consoles as a games platform work very well because there’s no complexity for the end-user. Sure there are features which can make things hugely complex (media streaming for example) that most won’t bother with because they’ve no ambition. If it has hardware faults, there’s likely a cheap fix for it. If it dies, its not horribly expensive to replace. If it gets stolen, you can use the controller to find it. If you’re worried about where to put it consider that a PS3 Slim takes up half the space of a decent amplifier. Second-hand games are hugely available, which is far more than the PC could ever dream of achieving in this world riddled with DRM rubbish.

If you’re buying a gaming PC now, I salute you for your patriotism. Is PC gaming dying? “No” would be my final answer. But the PC as we know it is changing, and the beasts that we all hope to own will one day disappear, replaced by something cheaper, greener, and less interesting  – a console. It is that which saddens me.

Related posts:

1. Is being connected a Good Thing™? We’re in the digital age, guys. Technology has developed so explosively over the last seventy years, right to the point...
2. When is uncapped not uncapped? The answer to the above depends entirely on your idea of what uncapped is, but for the sake of transparency...
3. What did you expect? I haven’t written much on Intel’s new processors. Those who know me on the forums would point to my owning...
4. When the lights go out If there’s a power failure and your PC is on, you could lose data. Windows could blue-screen every time you...
5. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...

Who is DAE_JA_VOO/Ettienne Venter

Intro to this mod

Dremel sponsoring DAE_JA_VOO

I’ve got a pretty sweet update for you guys regarding the rAge mod! Let me start with the full set of epic photos from the photoshoot we did with the Lian-Li PC-A77F case and the Corsair HX1000W PSU.

And then, of course, the Corsair PSU:

Of course, all credit for the photos to Pixel Pro Potography/Ophra Watson. Check them out!

I’ve spent a lot of time working on ideas and designs for this machine, and after scrapping so many ideas, I’ve come up with something that I want for this system when it’s finished. I’m still not sure on a few of the details, but that’s how these things go. Sometimes, you only realise what you want to do when you’re about to do it. I’ve thrown together some sketches for you guys to see though, as well as some renders of the finished (stock) case. The sketches:

The renders. The first one is in the very early stages of the work:

This is one of the HDD Cages:

This is essentially the finished 3D model of the stock case:

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. The reason I do this is so that I can basically mod the whole machine in 3D first, and get a feel for what it’ll look like when it’s done. It also make it much easier for me to cut parts for the case if I can just measure where they’ll go in 3D, as opposed to struggling to measure it on the actual case.

So far, the plan is to go with a white case, with a black interior, and then have all the cables and water tubes white as well. This’ll give a great contrast. I’m really amped for this project, I think it’s going to be amazing when it’s done. This week, we’ll be ordering all the cable sleeving from Germany, as well as a little 7″ Monitor from the US.

As always if you’d like to get hold of me, drop me an email. Alternatively, you can follow me on twitter (@dae_ja_voo). Also, be sure to check out my website (daejavoo.com) for any updates/news on any other projects I may be working on, like my Atari 2600 mod.

Hope you’re enjoying this!

Ett

[Click here for the previous part in this series]

Related posts:

1. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...
2. NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences This year at rAge, NAG set up a stand for me to work at. The idea was to have the...
3. Some new gear for the NAG case mod Please excuse my lack of updates, guys. I've been waiting patiently for some goodies to arrive from all over the...
4. NAG Case mod: How do I look in white? One of the biggest changes I’ve made to the case would have to be the colour. This is one of...
5. NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD If you can recall, I was planning on fitting the LCD inside the case, on top of a divider that...

It’s really a weird thought, isn’t it? “Business as usual.” It implies that things never change over on Intel’s side of the fence, and that’s what struck me today. Take a step back into the past and remember the early Pentium 4 days. Back then, AMD was kicking the Netburst architecture around with a superior, and far more sound design. Overclockers couldn’t be happier, gamers couldn’t be happier, and the general public was satisfied with AMD’s effort. Intel was caught by surprise, and took an entire generation of CPUs and a brand new socket to figure out how to get a solid reputation back. Since LGA775 was released, Intel has always been on its toes and continually innovating with new product lines, and generally covering the whole market.

Back then, it really was a battle and beat-down of EPIC proportions.

Since then, we’ve come to expect nothing less from Intel. It’s a household name – even my grandfather knows about them, and sticks solidly to their chips. There’s nothing wrong with that: Intel won the marketing and public relations game fair and square. Their advertising has been top-notch, and attracting a large part of the gamers through their in-game advertising has been a huge help. Ever since 2004, Intel has been playing very hard to keep its position as the market leader in processors. The Pentium series has been a success, as have been the Pentium M series, Core 2 Duo, and Celeron families. Time after time they’ve delivered the goods, and we’ve come to the point where we take it for granted, almost. An Intel chip will always be as good buy, right? Well, right.

Expensive though it may be, its another beat-down from Intel.

But Intel has been playing a very different game since late 2007. Instead of playing the market, they’ve gone one step further: now they’re controlling it. They have an army of supporters segmented perfectly into 3 markets: LGA775, LGA1156, and LGA1366 sockets. Supporters used to certain levels of performance from Intel have to move from LGA775 into the new segments, and based on their past experience with Intel processors, they’ll head to one of the new sockets for certain. After all, we want cutting edge technology and the same gains we had previously. There’s no in-betweens, no staying with your older board and RAM like AMD offers you, it’s a whole new rig you’ll be looking at – and its only good for the market as a whole.

Look, as much as I love AMD, they don’t seek to control their market share like they should. Intel is essentially guaranteeing motherboard and memory manufacturers business: AMD can only say that their chips will sell for certain, and customers may or may not buy new hardware along with it.

Earlier I said that I’d be tempted to take an NVIDIA card over ATI because of the sheer value they offer. Correspondingly, the hardware industry backs Intel’s horse because Intel has an offer they can’t refuse. The new Core series, and the new hexa-cores are Intel’s way of dealing out the cards. They’re saying; “Look what we have to offer, join the bandwagon and earn money!” I believe this is why NVIDIA is appealing to be pulled out of their chipset business, and why very few motherboard manufacturers are quick to roll out new stuff for AMD –there’s business in it, but not as much as the boys in blue.

By the way, Intel’s i7 980X is amazing. But wait, you already knew it would be, right?

It’s because that’s what you usually expect.

Related posts:

1. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...
2. Six slices of awesome Can anyone believe that the successful, and potent, LGA1366 is now one year old? Since 2008, we’ve seen five new...
3. Where we came from My first PC ran on an AMD AthlonXP 1700+. It had a Palomino core running at 1.43Ghz, a 266MHz front...
4. Intel’s budget fighter: Clarkdale We’ve had time to get to grips with the amazing performance of Intel’s Core i5 series: the latest addition to...
5. Larry Bee? No, dimwit, Larrabee! Many of you may have heard all sorts of things about Intel’s Larrabee, lately. While a lot of it is...

This year at RAGE, alongside the Dream Machine that NAG gives away every year, they’ll be giving away yet another MONSTER of a PC. That machine will be like no other, it’ll be entirely customised. NAG has asked me to mod and build that system. They’ve given me freedom on the setup, freedom on budget, freedom on design. They told me I could use any setup I like – any case, any PSU, any theme, etc. As you can imagine, this sparks a million ideas in the mind of a case modder, as these things usually hold us back. You could have amazing ideas for a mod, but can’t afford the R4000 for a top-end case. Fortunately, none of those issues are a concern for me… I really feel blessed to have this freedom!

Anyway, the case I ended up deciding on going with was the Lian Li PC-A77F. This case was only released overseas on the 23rd of March, and they only landed in SA a week ago, so this should be the first one on the desk of an end-user in South Africa! Furthermore, this will be the first A77F case mod on the planet! So that’s pretty exciting as well!

For the PSU, I opted to go for a Corsair HX1000W PSU. 1000W… you could power a small fishing village with that!

Both the case and PSU arrived on Thursday morning last week, and I was blown away by the case. I’ve been the proud, proud owner of the Lian-Li PC-V2000B Plus for about 2 years, and I love the case, but it’s been boxed up for a mod, so I’ve forgotten how amazing Lian-Li cases are. When I opened the box of this A77F, I was in awe of the quality. It’s really something to experience. So I took the case and PSU to the studio to have some photos taken. For this post, I’m giving you a single photo of each.

The case:

The PSU:

Photos taken by Pixel Pro Photography/Ophra Watson. Big big thanks to them for hooking me up with studio time!

The real point of this post is to announce the sponsors we have so far. At the time that I started chatting to NAG about this project, they put me in contact with Dremel.  For those of you that don’t know, a Dremel tool is a case modder’s best friend! After a few meetings and discussions, Dremel offered me a full sponsorship, not only for this project, but as a full modding sponsor. This has opened many, many doors for me and made modding a whole lot easier. Dremel asked me what tools I wanted from them, I told them, and a couple of days later, I had a huge box on my doorstep from them. Here’s what they sent me:

A quick breakdown of what was sent. Obviously, a Dremel 400 series tool. This one can sleep alongside my faithful 300 series:

A Dremel Driver:

A Dremel Workstation:

A Dremel Multi Vise:

A Dremel Versatip:

A Dremel Plunge Router Attachment:

A Dremel Project Table:

Some Dremel Clamps:

And a whole host of sanding bands, routing bits, drill bits, cutting wheels, all that good stuff:

Some more:

Photos by PixelPro Photography/Ophra Watson.

So I’m really thrilled with the goodies Dremel sent me. Modding with all these awesome tools is fantastic!

Another sponsor we got for the project is LandmarkPC. Andy from LMPC has offered to supply whatever cooling I need for the project! I’ll obviously be watercooling the machine, but the cooling I want is not available locally from anyone except LandmarkPC, so that’s going to be a HUGE aid as well! So big thanks to Andy for hooking me up in this aspect of the mod!

Again, big thanks to Dremel, LandmarkPC, and PixelPro Photography for helping me out so much with the project!

That’s it for now. I’ll be posting more photos of the case and PSU in the next few days, as well as the first stages of the case being torn down and drawn up in 3D for design work!

If you’d like to follow my modding really closely, you’re welcome to go ahead and follow me on Twitter – @dae_ja_voo. I plan on updating it often! My website is also going through some significant changes, but go ahead and give that a visit as well – daejavoo.com.

That’s it, guys!

God Bless

Ett

[Click here for the previous part in this series] [Click here for the next part in this series]

Related posts:

1. Some new gear for the NAG case mod Please excuse my lack of updates, guys. I've been waiting patiently for some goodies to arrive from all over the...
2. NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD If you can recall, I was planning on fitting the LCD inside the case, on top of a divider that...
3. New kid on the block Hi guys! I'm Ettienne Venter, but I'm more commonly known on the internet as DAE_JA_VOO. I'm a case modder -...
4. rAge case mod: Photos, 3D renders and colour scheme I've got a pretty sweet update for you guys regarding the rAge mod! Let me start with the full set...
5. NAG case mod: Started some aluminium work! Man, I've been having so much fun on this project. The more I think about it, the more excited I...

NVIDIA’S FERMI

NVIDIA has released its GTX470/480 cards to partners, and has lifted all NDAs on reviews. So far, there are mixed reactions. People are not happy with the temperatures, power draw, or the returns that normally come with buying such a high-priced product.

The GTX470 costs $350, which will likely work out to R4000+ for us poor saps.

Nvidia boasts a substantial amount of CUDA-compatible applications. And the list keeps growing.

For all the cons that reviewers have come up with, the new series still has that familiar vibe – that it might usher in a new way of thinking – and Fermi does exactly that. The ability to run C++ code, among other things, natively on the GPU suddenly turns an SLI rig into a power house of note. Compiling and executing debug code for C++ now takes literally seconds to complete using the GPGPU feature inherent in all Fermi-based GPUs. And yes, all new cards based on GF100/104 will have this feature.

While everyone mentions GPGPU, it’s getting boring for some people. What else can save the series? Well, it’s a given that the cards will beat ATI’s offerings, but the best thing is support. Zero-day support for games and programs is not always something ATI can boast, and NVIDIA’s TWIMTBP campaign certainly makes its lineup more appealing for gamers. Also, with 3D slowly taking off it will be a wiser choice to go with Fermi, as older generations suffer quite a bit with this feature turned on.

The bottom line? ATI is all about great speed, ATI Stream, Eyefinity, good driver support and price. Nvidia is all about great speed, Physx, CUDA, excellent driver support, future-proofing, and now 3D Vision and GPGPU, among others. Even coming from an ATI fan, an NVIDIA graphics card is remarkably tempting.

They simply have much more to offer.

APPLE’S iPAD

I played around with an HP TC1100 recently. I have a PC at work that does everything I need, but the sheer portability of a tablet is amazing. I can walk around the shop, collating data and prices for quotes and insurance replacements, and write it all down on the tablet using the stylus. I send my report via e-mail to my boss using the wireless network, and then carry on reading posts on the NAG forums. Life could not be simpler.

If a customer came in, I’d ask them to give us their details on the tablet. Initially there was some shock, but I began to see regulars taking to it quite quickly. After a week with it and using it for real work, I can see why Apple’s iPad will be another success, at least in its second generation.

Even though you’re tied to the Apple platform and all it brings with it, it’s a remarkably good idea. Its not for heavy work, but a lot of other things that people will discover as they carry on playing with it. Apple’s e-book app will start flying, and eventually everyone will want one! Well, at least those not attached to Windows and Linux.

Hell, even a Linux tablet would be a killer, and apparently Google also thinks so. Are either of these products silly? They’re only silly to those outside the target market.

The iPad remains a good investment for the rich, light user, at least until HP’s Slate surfaces. Until then, it will rule.

Related posts:

1. GT300 is Fermi It looks like we’ll getting a repeat of the 4-series versus GT200 battle, with a twist. Where nVidia went with...
2. Where to from here, nVidia? As most of you should know, nVidia doesn’t just manufacture video cards. It also has a motherboard chipset division, and...
3. Gimmick or no gimmick? I have to admit, a lot of new tech that I read or hear about, or see, is enough to...
4. It’s only the beginning… A little over 6 months ago, NVIDIA launched the GTX400 series in the hope that it would stand a chance...
5. World Domination – the PC Industry Perspective Firstly, apologies dear reader, I’ve been out of the NAG loop for a while now. Simply put, life has happened...

I’m a case modder – I build and customise PCs and consoles as a hobby. The reason I’m here is that I’ll be working for NAG this year on a project they’ve asked me to do. More on that at a later date. This post is a quick intro as to who I am, what I do, and who I’m affiliated with.

Like I said, my name is Ett, I run a website (that’s in dire need of a revamp) for my modding – daejavoo.com. I’ve been case modding for about 4 years, and over the years, I’ve gained some sponsors, some magazine articles, and some awesome opportunities, like this one. I was taken out of the modding scene for quite some time, until about January this year, and now I’m modding as much as I can. I’m currently working on my own little project called Atari 2600.

How about I show you some of my work, eh? My very first case mod was a mod I did on a Gigabyte Plexi case. I spent a whole lot of time on this mod, but it was so worth it. I’ve also done some Xbox 360 modding:

Those mods were all completed a while ago though, and since then, I’ve learned a whole lot of stuff, and my modding has improved drastically.

I’d like to push some thanks to my sponsors, as these companies believed in me when I only just started, and have helped me significantly over the years.

First and foremost, Dremel!

Big thanks to all the sponsors for hooking me up. Life has been much easier with you guys on the bus!

More to follow, guys. It’s great to be here, and I hope I can become a big part of this community! If you need to get hold of me, drop me an email.

God Bless!

Ett

[Click here for the next article in this series]

Related posts:

1. NAG Case Mod: rAge experiences This year at rAge, NAG set up a stand for me to work at. The idea was to have the...
2. Case mod for rAge 2010 – A few words, the case and the PSU So, now that you guys know who I am, let me tell you in more detail why I’m here and...
3. NAG case mod: It’s all in the lighting I'm hard at work on this project at the moment. There's so much going on, and so much to come...
4. Some new gear for the NAG case mod Please excuse my lack of updates, guys. I've been waiting patiently for some goodies to arrive from all over the...
5. NAG case mod: Making place for the LCD If you can recall, I was planning on fitting the LCD inside the case, on top of a divider that...

However, the current uncapped accounts are not uncapped, at least not in the sense that we have just settled on. Somewhat justifiably so, people are complaining about this, but I don’t think this is the underlying issue. Personally, I think people are missing the point here.

When MWEB first announced their uncapped offers they specified that according to their Acceptable Usage Policy, the new accounts are not for heavy downloaders. These are for the users that previously found themselves topping up their cap every month, and wanted a flat rate that would accommodate their usage — not the guys who sit on torrents all weekend. Those users are already accommodated for by current uncapped packages provided by ISPs such as Axxess, MWEB, and Webafrica, and they continually download large amounts of data each month. It’s completely acceptable, therefore, that they pay ± R1,000 for downloading the equivalent of my entire hard drive in a week.

Downloading the internet? Stay on your expensive accounts.

Let’s take a step back and think about this: those same people are the ones who have now recently subscribed to the new uncapped accounts, and still expect the same level of service. Oh, gee, you wonder why you are now throttled because you downloaded 40GB over the weekend? Let’s do some maths then…

The average Axxess Uncapped Express+ user on a 4Mb/s line downloads 400GB a month. Those people pay R2,699 for that privilege. So…

R2,699/400GB  =  R6.75/GB

At close on R7 per gigabyte, that’s a pretty good deal, as currently the cheapest per-GB deal is sitting at R29. But try download that amount of data on the new Axxess uncapped account for R496.

R496/400GB = R1.24/GB

Has anyone been laughing at Webafrica’s “unsustainable” comments? Well, they’re right. There’s almost zero money being made here on this account with that kind of usage. There’s no way any business will survive running on less than R1.50 per GB. Naturally, all of the ISPs have forseen this, and have adjusted their AUPs accordingy.

The internet landscape is now a melting pot of wordplay, bad ideas and greedy users - yup, its still the same!

Previously Afrihost specified 200GB as a threshold, after which your account will be subject to scrutiny and throttling.

R497/200GB = R2.49/GB

They immediately saw how people used their lines for heavy downloading. They charged pro-rata for users who signed up before April, and some got up to 120GB in two weeks.

R147/120GB = R1.23/GB

After a few changes to their AUP, they’ve come clean and decided on 60GB as the new threshold, after which you will be heavily throttled.

R497/60GB = R8.28/GB

You may want to complain about it, chuck your toys out the cot and move elsewhere, but you’re complaining about absolutely nothing… because nothing has changed.

In fact, very little at all could have changed.

All that these companies are doing is selling you the same package from their premium uncapped accounts, but they’re charging you more for it. MWEB was the first to realize this, and others quickly followed suit.  None of you heavies will realize this until it’s too late, but for those of us who download less than 60GB a month, this is perfect.

If you want to complain, it will get you <-this-> far, I can guarantee you. Now will you people please rejoice for internet that costs less than R10 a GB?

Related posts:

1. The Internet revolution has begun! Seacom is going to be one of the best things to happen to South Africa. We’ve now been stuck with...
2. Bandwidth for Africa R2 a megabyte! That’s how much you pay when you go out of bundle (OOB) using 3G (on MTN and...
3. Is being connected a Good Thing™? We’re in the digital age, guys. Technology has developed so explosively over the last seventy years, right to the point...
4. Know thine warranty Everyone has that new piece of tech now and then that they have their eye on: a spanking HDTV, that...
5. SSD isn’t everything A hard disk drive is the slowest component in your PC. While SSDs are freakishly expense (the G.Skill Falcon SSD...

Consider Skype, a network that sought to change how people communicate. Webcams have been around for ages, but this was the first time it ever seriously took off – even Oprah now uses it religiously. But, for all the good that Skype does – and it really does, saving businesses thousands of Dollars on money for flights, accommodation and hookers on business trips by having a conference over webcam – it physically segregates us as humans.

This is relevant to my interests.

I know I usually banter about the latest technology, but this is something I think affects us all. We no longer visit our extended families – we chat to them on Skype. Sometimes, all you ever see of your extended family is what was shown on your computer screen. Usually people would say that’s fine; there are thousands of other people who keep contact through the internet. But we never visit them, do we? Instead, we stay in our homes. We don’t even go out to the bank any more. Internet banking has improved to the point that we relax on the couch with coffee and biscuits, and pay our accounts via cellphone. We don’t physically write letters to people anymore – it’s via e-mails, instant messaging, SMS and MMS. Love letters passed through class? Yep, it’s now an SMS. Am I alone in thinking that this takes all the fun out of doing such a thing?

Who even does maths using their brain anymore? [Many people, I'm sure, but we'll let this slide for the sake of... something -ed] Our thinking processes are now wired to use a calculator and keypad. Einstein arrived at E=mc² through his own intellect, did he not? Have we lost something along the way, some intellect, spawning in turn the useless morons we see everyday on forums, Facebook, and the newspapers?

We're doing away with paper and human attendants already. Are things already becoming too impersonal in return for convenience?

All this now begs the question: Does technology make us lazy? It’s not just me who wonders so, but an entire community of psychiatrists, analysts and philosophers who agree on the theory that Google makes you stupid. It’s not that you’re becoming less able; on the contrary, our brains are just learning to rely less and less on our instincts and more on our technology. The world is at your fingertips, so why go out there in the first place? Pretty soon, we’re going to end up like those humans in Wall-E: lazy, completely reliant on technology, and satisfied with living their lives in front of a screen.

But gamers and geeks? Nah, we’re better than that. We have sharper reflexes than the average human, we can spot specific colours faster than others, and we can survive without technology easily. We can also fight zombies quite efficiently, and can stave off Armageddon using a shotgun and Lightsabre. Technology is reliant on us to continue its existence. You can thanks us later after we successfully avoid an I, Robot scenario.

Related posts:

1. Gimmick or no gimmick? I have to admit, a lot of new tech that I read or hear about, or see, is enough to...
2. When is uncapped not uncapped? The answer to the above depends entirely on your idea of what uncapped is, but for the sake of transparency...
3. The road to the end of the road (for the PC) I’m not sure how to begin this column because lately my mind has been wandering off to distant lands where...
4. The upgrade bug (or how you can control it) Most people have the old adage stuck in their heads that “if it ain’t broke, don’t try fixin’ it!” There...
5. Dude, what happened to your phone?! I’ll admit, cellphones are not on top of most gamers’ minds. After all, a phone must just be capable of...

Guess what? I'm still yawning. *yawns*

I have to admit, a lot of new tech that I read or hear about, or see, is enough to get me pretty excited. My internal hype engine is tuned only to technology and games these days — the newest Lamborghini only gets a yawn from me; it’s far too much like the Batmobile. But there are a few new toys on the block that pique my interest — while these look kind of gimmicky, I thought I’d share these with you anyway.

THE APPLE iPAD

Seriously, who thinks up these silly names in the Apple labs? Not only is it in direct violation of Fujitsu’s own marketed iPad brand, but it just sounds really silly in this, the 21st century.  We’re in an age where computing is more a part of your life than a necessary evil. It is my opinion that the sandbox environment for iPad users will be more  frustrating than previously thought possible, and here I believe Google’s Chrome tablet will impress to no end.

Fail in most areas, but the iPad may be another feather in Apple's ridiculously priced cap.

Additionally, the iPad is already in trouble from both the HP and Notion Ink Adam tablets, both of which are far more capable devices than the iPad. Apple also makes a killing off various models, and starts off with $208 profit from the low-range model. This is clearly a ripoff for most. Gimmick spotted!

EYEFINITY

I’m unsure about this one. With this, ATI has single-handedly changed the way game developers are looking at gaming on multiple screens. In the past, you could only play on the one monitor while the other sat idle [Assuming that SupCom never did this, of course. -Ed]. Well, its no longer the case, and there are games out there right now that can easily take advantage of this sweet feature. But is it a gimmick?

I recently saw this in action in a couple of cellphone-shot videos (because I’m obviously not rich enough for something like this) and can really see the benefits of having three screens. On the one hand, I’ll never have to dig around for that app I left open buried underneath all the others – I can leave it on the one screen and monitor what it’s doing. On the other hand, this picture below:

NVIDIA, eat my left nipple. THIS is the way that games are meant to be played. Just look at that – the view, the wrap-around feeling is completely amazing, and I already know a few people who have similar setups. Eyefinity on six or more monitors is a gimmick, but on 3, it’s perfect. I’m getting a setup like this in the near future.

DRM

Yes, I know, DRM has never been something people can actually use to their benefit, and to this day neither has any company strived to do that. There are many other gimmicks out there, but this one always deserves mention — because no stupid gimmick leaves us sitting with a dead game that requires the Internet for LANs. Please, developers, release your games with Steam integration in the future — Valve knows a hell of a lot more than anyone else about how to satisfy their customers offline.

Related posts:

1. Is it silly? With both NVIDIA’s Fermi and Apple’s iPad released recently, people are asking what techies think of these gizmos. I’ve read...
2. Mine’s smaller than yours! Many of us gamers who attend LANs regularly have this problem: where the hell do we put our PC in...
3. When the lights go out If there’s a power failure and your PC is on, you could lose data. Windows could blue-screen every time you...
4. Larry Bee? No, dimwit, Larrabee! Many of you may have heard all sorts of things about Intel’s Larrabee, lately. While a lot of it is...
5. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...

Rule #1: Its usually a virus or malware infection.

In fact, a large majority of the problems many users face are as a result of an infection. Most viruses floating on the Internet have been analysed and scanned by anti-virus companies, so those that get through are either dormant, or extremely scary. The chances of your PC  catching one increase every day, but not if you have good firewalls and an up-to-date anti-virus suite. Do a scan, have some coffee, relax for a while.

Rule #2: If it isn’t a virus, it’s buggy software.

This is a bone of contention among a few people I know. They spend hundreds on a suite of software to protect their computer because they think it’s a virus, when it’s actually another piece of crummy software that hasn’t been updated in a while. Stuff does get released broken; those of you playing Fallout 3 should be familiar with that. If it hasn’t been updated in a while, then do it now — chances are that it will fix whatever problems you’re facing.

Rule #3: If none the above, then it’s a driver.

Well, this rule actually changes in the context of things. I recently had a customer with a virus in her e-mail that would kick Outlook Express into an endless cycle of restarts and downloads, eating up her bandwidth. Getting rid of the virus was easy, but doing so caused her network drivers to malfunction. I spent an hour trying to figure that one out and a driver re-install got her ADSL working again. If you’re having sudden errors that only began when you installed a driver for new or existing hardware, logic dictates that those drivers are to blame.

Rule #4: It must be a hardware problem then!

I fix hardware faults on a daily basis. Sometimes the hardware’s too old, other times it overheated from dust build-up, or maybe a certain silly customer tried to clean it with dishwashing liquid (true story). Whatever the case, you can usually use the system logs to find out what’s causing your problem. These can be found by right-clicking Computer and selecting Manage. The logs are on your left, be sure to check the system ones if you suspect a hardware failure.

Rule #5: Okay, it must be a bug.

A little on the less plausible side, but I experienced this first-hand over the weekend. A customer brought in a PC, wanting it to be revived. I had to install a chassis fan into the front of the case and when I opened the front, bugs started crawling out.

Rule #6: Pay attention to the problem.

If Windows dies before it gets to the loading screen or before the desktop loads, its generally indicative of a bad driver. If it consistently fails even in Safe Mode then you need to repair or re-install Windows. If you’re unfamiliar with this, there are plenty of forumites out there who can help. If there’s an error code or if you have an idea of what’s missing, Google it. It’ll help save you that R342 that you’ll blow in less than an hour.

Related posts:

1. Prevention is better than cure Being a computer technician, I get the chance to learn a lot of patience, especially when it comes to people...
2. World Domination – the PC Industry Perspective Firstly, apologies dear reader, I’ve been out of the NAG loop for a while now. Simply put, life has happened...
3. PC gaming is expensive! This is not meant to be a console vs PC diatribe. Each has its pros and cons. One of PC...
4. When the lights go out If there’s a power failure and your PC is on, you could lose data. Windows could blue-screen every time you...

It's amazing what water-cooling can get you.

Clarkdale is nothing new, really, since all the details have been circulating online for months before its release. However, it heralds a new approach by Intel (and AMD, eventually) to bring all the important bits of a PC together on one chip:  the system-on-chip design, which integrates the CPU, GPU, and memory controller. We saw the beginning of this approach when Intel merged the memory controller with their Core i7 chips back in 2008, surpassing AMD’s design that has been out for years.

Clarkdale now adds the GPU to the mix, but leaves it on a separate 45nm-derived die, along with the memory controller. Some have blamed the decision to have two dies on one SOC for Clarkdale’s high memory latency, but its performance is rather good regardless. We’ll see this design being eschewed next year in favour of the new Sandy Bridge processors, which will integrate everything into the CPU on a 28nm process. But how does Clarkdale perform?

In most scenarios, we see the Core i3 530 overtake AMD’s Athlon II. It also beats Intel’s famous Q6600 by quite a margin, and hangs out with Intel’s Q9400 with ease. But wait… those are quad-cores, right? This is where we see the immediate benefits of the move to the 32nm process: where a low-end dual-core chip surpasses a quad-core in games. It’s confusing but rather marvellous for those who intend to upgrade, because this represents better value for money than Intel’s i5 750. Care to have your mind blown further? The new Clarkdale-based Core i5 661 comes within striking distance of the i7 920. It’s that good.

Image sourced from Anandtech. Click to read their comprehensive review.

But that’s not all: power consumption is down, encryption performance (for the paranoid) is improved as this is now a hardware-accelerated feature, and the onboard GPU is actually pretty decent. The X4500 chip was never any good for gaming or watching 1080p movies, but Clarkdale’s graphics performance often surpasses Nvidia’s 9400 and ATI’s HD4200 designs. It’s enough to run Batman: Arkham Asylum, which is very impressive. But the goodness doesn’t stop there.

Image sourced from Anandtech. Click to read their comprehensive review.

An increase of 0.1 volts allows you to overclock the 530 to 4.3Ghz on a stock Intel cooler. What’s more impressive is that on stock voltage, it can reach 3.8Ghz; water-cooling allows a maximum of 4.9Ghz, albeit with a huge voltage boost.

So, what can we take from this? It’s safe to say that Intel has stopped dragging its feet in the market, and will finally dominate the budget segment again thanks to Clarkdale and its mobile version, codenamed Arrandale.

Related posts:

1. Six slices of awesome Can anyone believe that the successful, and potent, LGA1366 is now one year old? Since 2008, we’ve seen five new...
2. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...
3. What did you expect? I haven’t written much on Intel’s new processors. Those who know me on the forums would point to my owning...
4. Tech news: AMD’s A8-3870K Put Through Its Paces, Good Bargain Over at HardwareCanucks, the reviewing team has been hard at work putting AMD’s budget APU, the A8-3870K through its paces...
5. Larry Bee? No, dimwit, Larrabee! Many of you may have heard all sorts of things about Intel’s Larrabee, lately. While a lot of it is...

Headphones, a manual and warranty card for a year, stupid two-prong plug, charger cords, an adapter, and the wireless transmitter

I hate not having subtitles in movies or games.  It’s an annoyance when you’re asked to turn down the sound in Assassin’s Creed during one of the long cut scenes. It’s doubly annoying when you’re watching something like The Brothers Bloom where the American actors speak in such a manner that I can’t make out what they’re saying and have to raise the volume. Thankfully, my family finally came to my aid this Christmas!

The comfortable headset delivered bass and treble levels that I found to be perfect for games.

I finally have a set of wireless headphones for movies and games. Its a simple solution – a wireless transmitter and wireless receiver headphones that can be worn and used without worrying about line of sight. If anyone manages to spot the word “Infrared” on the box, no doubt they will be confused -infrared communications depend on a clear line of sight between the two devices within a set range. I tested the range by setting the transmitter down on the TV cabinet and walked into our kitchen, which is adjacent to the living room and has a gap in the wall between the two. I measured a distance of 5 metres before the signal became bad, and this is after it hits a couch and a wall and a tiled floor. On level ground, the 7 metres quoted by Philips holds true, and up until that point the sound is still crystal clear.

Another joy was the horizontal range of the transmitter. I could sit at a 20° angle to the transmitter and still hear everything perfectly, and I can sit anywhere I want in the lounge. The headphones also come with rechargeable batteries that last up to 5 days under heavy use, and charging takes a little over two hours. The adapter allows me to plug it into anything I wish and sit wherever I want without bothering people with loud music – I think I’m in love.

The lights glow a deep red when the transmitter is turned on, which is perfect for low-light situations and doesn't hurt your eyes or distract you.

The sound quality isn’t top class, but it does the job of luring you into the movie or music. The bass levels are pretty good: sounds like footsteps and breathing in Mirror’s Edge are crystal clear, and Optimus Prime ripping apart two Deceptacons sounds better than it was in the cinema.

Would I recommend these headphones to anyone else? In a heartbeat. They perform admirably and, more importantly, negate my need for subtitles ever again! This set is available from Incredible Connection for R400.

Related posts:

1. Hardware review: NETGEAR N300 Wireless Gigabit Router When someone says Netgear, the first thing that comes to mind is an ugly pearl white router with a flimsy-feeling...
2. World Domination – the PC Industry Perspective Firstly, apologies dear reader, I’ve been out of the NAG loop for a while now. Simply put, life has happened...
3. Welcome to the new world of touch As geeks, (well, true geeks) all technology fascinates us. We’re brand-loyal to an extent, but just about anything piques our...
4. Review: MSI Wind U120H If you’re in the market for a netbook, chances are you’ve considered the most important aspects when shopping in this...
5. Is it silly? With both NVIDIA’s Fermi and Apple’s iPad released recently, people are asking what techies think of these gizmos. I’ve read...

While a thorough history of CPUs is beyond the scope of this article, let’s take a look at a few titbits of the industry that brought us to where we are today.

CPUs have come a long way since the 2300 transistor, 740kHz, 4-bit Intel 4004 was released in 1971. At the time, AMD was just a maker of logic chips.

It wasn’t until 8086 that Intel introduced the x86 architecture that we all love (and sometimes hate). It was the 8088 that was used in the IBM PC though, running at 4.77MHz with 16KB to 256KB of RAM. Then, on the 12th of August, 1981, The IBM PC  5150 was released. From its use  of (mostly) off-the-shelf components, an open architecture, and the release of the IBM PC Technical Reference Manual, many cheap clones soon began to enter the market. The 5150 did not come standard with a HDD, but prospective buyers had the option of either a  floppy disk or cassette system.

In 1991, Intel then released the first 32-bit x86 processor, the Intel 386DX, which AMD soon reverse-engineered and named the Am386.  The Am386 reached higher clock speeds than Intel’s 386, at 40MHz and 33MHz respectively. Rather startlingly, a 40MHz Am386 armed with a 40MHz 387 Math co-processor would outperform even Intel’s new and expensive 486 platform.

Pentium architecture

Next, we have the renowned Pentium processor. Its 3.1 million transistors ran at a blisteringly-fast 60MHz on a 0.8µm process, and boasted a 50MHz FSB. The Pentium had a few improvements over the 486, including the ability to complete more than one instruction per clock cycle. However, the processor suffered from a bug in its floating point unit that caused errors while performing certain floating point division calculations. Perhaps ironically, the  media furore surrounding this bug, combined with Intel’s “Intel Inside” marketing campaign, soon made Intel a household name.

Fast-forward to 1999: AMD becomes the first CPU manufacturer to break the 1GHz barrier with their K7 Athlon. With the Athlon 64, AMD let the aging front side bus fall to the wayside in favour of Hypertransport. The Athlon 64 also brought with it 64-bit extensions for the x86 instruction set (called x86-64) which allowed full backwards compatibility with existing 32-bit applications. This implementation differed radically from Intel’s 64-bit implementation (IA-64) in the Itanium, which had poor x86 32-bit performance. Eventually, Intel incorporated AMD’s instructions under the name EM64T.

In 2000, Intel released the Pentium 4 which used the infamous RAMBUS RAM, which they later switched for SDR, then DDR. The Netburst architecture was supposed to scale to 10GHz, but I suppose Intel decided that having multiple suns in our solar system was a bad idea.

That’s where we’ll stop for now. In the next article, we’ll have a look at the processors currently on the market.

Related posts:

1. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...
2. What did you expect? I haven’t written much on Intel’s new processors. Those who know me on the forums would point to my owning...
3. Where to from here, nVidia? As most of you should know, nVidia doesn’t just manufacture video cards. It also has a motherboard chipset division, and...
4. Six slices of awesome Can anyone believe that the successful, and potent, LGA1366 is now one year old? Since 2008, we’ve seen five new...
5. Larry Bee? No, dimwit, Larrabee! Many of you may have heard all sorts of things about Intel’s Larrabee, lately. While a lot of it is...

The following nine items are products that I wouldn’t mind owning. In other words: this is what I want, and what I would gladly sell a kidney for. I don’t know about you guys, but I think some of this stuff is pure awesome!

Samsung T260

Boasting a full 25.5 inches of pure 1080p goodness, the T260 was, and still is, the monitor everyone wants. Forget the Dell 30 inchers, this is actually quite affordable. You can plug in your Xbox360/PS3 in as well.

ACER ASPIRE 7530G

You won’t believe it when you see it.  A 17.1” LCD, AMD Dual-core, 4GB RAM and an Nvidia 9600M-GS rounds off what could be a very capable gaming laptop for under R8000. And from Incredible Connection, too! Who’d have thought?

ATI HD5970

Who doesn’t wish for the fastest graphics card on Earth? This is ATI’s most powerful card to date, and kicks just about everything in the pants. In CrossfireX, a pair of these delivers the smoothest gaming experience available.

Logitech G15 gaming keyboard

It may be old now, but the G15 still offers the best experience on the planet when it comes to peripherals. It still hovers around the R1000 price range, but current owners will tell you that it’s worth every cent.

Logitech Z-5500 5:1

With a hefty price tag of over R4000, the Z-5500s are a little much for most. However, this is one of the best speaker systems from Logitech to date, with the option of plugging in your PC, gaming console, or TV and DVD player to enjoy high-class, crystal-clear sound.

Acer Aspire 751 3G

I’ve always wanted a netbook, and this is a good start as any. The 11.6 inch, 1366 * 768 -  resolution LCD is probably the best screen size for this segment. A pity, though, that it uses the Z520 Atom processor.

Sony Playstation 3 Slim

If you haven’t got one, go get one now. The newest version of the PS3 has lost some weight, and looks much better this time round. It runs much cooler than previous models, and the matte black finish gets rid of those dirty fingerprints that would always collect on the original versions. Highly recommended.

Lazyboy

Not exactly a technological development, but for console gamers there is no equal. For comfort and warmth while gaming, the Lazyboy is the couch of choice. Go on, find one and spoil yourself.

Logitech MX518

Another one from Logitech’s stables; this takes the cake when it comes to mid-range gaming mice. With a resolution of 1600DPI and gaming-centered controls, you’ll be fragging through your buddies or commanding that Zerg rush with ease.

That’s all from me, Merry Christmas everyone!

Related posts:

1. Review: Genius ErgoMedia 500 Gaming Explorer When I first had a good look at the EG500 my thought was that it looked weird but cool at...
2. Can it get cheaper? In light of the recent announcement by Activision that they are going to mark up their retail price for Call...
3. The dual core vs quad core duel Whenever someone considers building a new PC, the question always comes up: dual or quad? It’s well known that games...
4. The road to the end of the road (for the PC) I’m not sure how to begin this column because lately my mind has been wandering off to distant lands where...
5. Mine’s STILL smaller than yours! Alot of things have happened in the gaming laptop market since we last looked at it. Thanks to the new...

Firefox (7.6MB)

When looking at the market share for October 2009 [as per w3schools.com - statistics vary significantly according to the polled user demographic -Ed.], IE8, IE7,IE6, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera are at 12.8%, 14.1%,10.6%, 47.5%, 8.0%, 3.8%, and 2.3% respectively, Firefox is currently the top Web browser. With the plethora of plug-ins available for the browser, it’s not hard to see why.

OpenOffice.org (150MB)

Since April 30^th 2002, when Open Office(OO) 1.0 was released, the product has taken great strides and is a competent alternative to the Microsoft Office suite of products. OO consists of multiple components, with Base, Calc, Draw, Impress, Math, and Writer being the OO versions of Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visio, Microsoft Power Point, Microsoft Equation Editor, and Microsoft Word, respectively.

Thunderbird (6.4MB)

Thunderbird is a Mozilla-developed e-mail client for a complete replacement of Microsoft Outlook.

Super Anti-Spyware (7.2MB)

I have a lot of appreciation for this application. While paid-for versions of SAS are available, the free version does everything you need it to.

Foxit PDF Reader (5.11MB)

Who likes waiting an age for PDF files to open? Not me. Foxit Reader is a lightweight, lightning-fast PDF reader. Foxit

Reader also has support for tabs, so you can have multiple PDF files open in one instance of the reader, which makes life much easier when working with multiple PDF documents.

K-Lite Codec Pack (Size Varies)

K-lite is perfect for someone (like me) who plays a lot of media on their PC and doesn’t want to worry about which codecs they have installed. It also comes with Media Player Classic, so you can play all your videos in one player instead of requiring multiple players for multiple formats. The K-Lite pack comes in multiple versions (Basic 4.7MB; Standard 10.4MB; Full14.2MB; Mega 23.2MB) with the Mega Pack having support for Real Media files. For a complete run-down of each package’s capabilities, please look here.

VLC Media Player (17.2MB)

As good as Media Player Classic is, I just prefer VLC. Whether it’s because I just know all the shortcuts or because it just works, I’m not sure. VLC also can do a lot more than just play media files; for a full feature list take a gander here.

ImgBurn (1.48MB)

For anyone who is tired of Nero’s bloat, ImgBurn comes to the rescue.

Pidgin (13.8MB)

The default installer has support for 16 different IMs, and more with the use of plug-ins. You can use Pidgin to chat on MXit from your PC and look a lot busier at work than if you were using your phone. A slightly older version of Pidgin with the MXit plug-in can be found here.

7-Zip (1MB)

A tiny application with support for about a gazillion formats, and better compression ratios than WinZip.

Another notable mentions include Teracopy, Daemon Tools Lite, AVAST, DVD Decrypter, Free Download Manager, PC Tools Firewall Plus, Guru3D Driver Sweeper,and nlite.

Related posts:

1. Where to from here, nVidia? As most of you should know, nVidia doesn’t just manufacture video cards. It also has a motherboard chipset division, and...
2. Nokia’s dark trojan horse Everyone, see this column below? Right. It used to be an emotionally-driven rant filled with psycho-babble, downright depressing in some...
3. New kid on the block Hi guys! I'm Ettienne Venter, but I'm more commonly known on the internet as DAE_JA_VOO. I'm a case modder -...
4. DirectX11 – is it worth the upgrade? Some time ago, I got involved in a discussion about Microsoft’s DirectX11. While the general air was mixed, nobody was...
5. A look at SSDs, part 2 According to JEDEC specifications, MLC NAND flash can perform 10 000 writes before it starts to fail; SLC can perform...

DIGICHILLI

A new company, Digichilli seems to be on the warpath by offering a rather unusual package. Starting from R499 for their 384Kb/s uncapped package, they allow two concurrent connections on one account. In short,  two ADSL lines and modems in separate areas can use the same account. These lines can be at home, you can have one at work and home, and you can even have one at your friend’s.

That’s right, Digichilli lets you share the account with a friend if you so wish, definitely a huge feature that’s sure to bother a few competitors. Connections start from 256Kb/s line speed and use burst mode to boost your speed to 384Kb/s. This is different because Telkom drops their 384 DSL users to that speed when trying to sync to their interchanges. This could mean that users possibly won’t suffer from sync problems as their speeds are throttled.

SCREAMER TELECOMS

An established company with its finger in the WiMAX and WiFi markets (with a good degree of success), Screamer offers uncapped ADSL from R399 per month. That may seem like a bargain, but I’m pretty sure there’s a trade-off involved. Users on the Mybroadband forums have been experiencing some problems and slowdowns with double NAT translation, but other than that, there doesn’t seem to be a catch… yet. They also carry the lowest per-gig prices, beating out Afrihost by R6. As time passes, Screamer’s WiMAX offering may even beat out conventional ADSL as more people sign up.

AFRIHOST

Afrihost is credited with starting the current price war by advertising its no-contract, no-catch R29 per gig ADSL package just over a month ago. The special is still on at the moment, but when compared to Screamer’s offering, it looks like they’ve been beaten already. Being Afrihost, they probably have a trick or two up their sleeve, though, so watch this space.

TELKOM

One might not think it, but Telkom have also slashed prices to fall in line with their competitors. While their “Do One” package remains unchanged, the “Do Two” and “Three” have now changed to the “Do Three” and “Winston Special”. So, the company actually remains a very good option, as the Winston Special is good value for money.

Inevitably, people will ask which is the best option. While Screamer and Digichilli share the prize for uncapped ADSL, the best option looks set to be Telkom’s Fastest DSL 4Mb/s line coupled with Screamer’s 5GB of data. This works out cheaper than uncapped 384Kb/s, and if you run out of cap, its only an extra R23 per gig. For the online or casual gamer, this is definitely a very attractive online gaming option. We won’t have to worry about Steam download sizes for much longer.

Related posts:

1. Bandwidth for Africa R2 a megabyte! That’s how much you pay when you go out of bundle (OOB) using 3G (on MTN and...
2. When is uncapped not uncapped? The answer to the above depends entirely on your idea of what uncapped is, but for the sake of transparency...
3. The long wait… is still not over! Last week Telkom started upgrading its 4Mb/s customers to 8 and 10Mb/s respectively. Those in areas that had ADSL2+ exchanges...
4. Dude, what happened to your phone?! I’ll admit, cellphones are not on top of most gamers’ minds. After all, a phone must just be capable of...
5. Evolution…or is that revolution? Evolution: it is the key to the PC industry’s survival. It’s how ATI has grown from being the underdog of...

Well, what can you do if you want extra performance but aren’t willing to shell out the R2600 for a G.Skill Falcon? What you can do, is get yourself a Western Digital Black drive. I recently bought the 750gig version, which costs around R200 more than a 7200.12 1TB from Seagate. Or, for a little less than the price of the 1.5TB Seagate drive, you could buy a 1TB WD Black. Is it worth it losing 500 gigs of space for better performance? I’d say so. A faster hard drive will make your operating system boot up and shut down faster as well as making your games load faster.

Once you go black, you don't go back.

Anandtech did a nice preview of the Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB: SATA 6Gb/s versus the WD 2TB Black drive. In four out of the six tests performed, the WD black drive was faster than the Seagate. The WD drive was between 3% and 28% faster, while in the two tests that the Seagate was faster, it was only between 3% and 7% faster.

Another way to get better HDD performance is enabling AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) mode in the BIOS, but bear in mind that only Vista and Windows 7 have native support for AHCI mode. For Windows XP, you will have to slipstream the AHCI driver in. AHCI mode enables features such as hot-plugging and native command queuing (NCQ), which allows your hard drive to rearrange the requests for best performance. Much like if you and two friends had to get on an elevator and push the floors 3,12 and 6, it would be terribly inefficient for the elevator to travel to floor 3 then 12 then 6. NCQ allows the drive to rearrange write/read commands that are transmitted randomly in order to optimize the movement of the drive heads. So going back to the elevator example, the requests will be rearranged so that the elevator goes to floor 3 then 6 then 12. On average, AHCI mode improves performance by about 5%.

Related posts:

1. A look at SSDs, part 1 Did you know that the main performance bottleneck in your PC is your hard drive? The hard drive is the...
2. A look at SSDs, part 2 According to JEDEC specifications, MLC NAND flash can perform 10 000 writes before it starts to fail; SLC can perform...
3. Netbooks galore! Netbooks – a term coined by ASUS in 2007 – have been multiplying like rabbits and can now be found...
4. Responsibility and power go hand-in-hand Power. It’s something that’s given only to those who are responsible enough to make use of it. It’s not to...
5. Hardware review: NETGEAR N300 Wireless Gigabit Router When someone says Netgear, the first thing that comes to mind is an ugly pearl white router with a flimsy-feeling...

For users who first migrated to the Core i7, they had the choice of the i7 920 or 940, and the 965 Extreme which features an unlocked multiplier. The i7 920 is still considered the best performing mainstream chip on the market, and has sold well. Unfortunately, for those who have moved or are already on the LGA1366 socket, upgrades are tough because there’s nothing to upgrade to. Well, come the second quarter of 2010, there might just be something to look forward to.

Intel has been making a lot of fuss about its new family of processors, codenamed Gulftown. Developed on the new 32nm process, which Intel has been working on since they taped out the 45nm current-generation processors, and manufactured by TSMC, Gulftown will be the most overclockable, power-sipping, and quad-core crushing chip to date.

Absolutely beautiful, don't you think? And look at the core voltage.

Boasting six cores and 12 threads, 12MB of L3 cache and a full set of features including SMT, Turbo Mode, and support for Virtualization, the Core i9 is quite possibly the most extravagant processor ever created. Its debut is to be on the LGA1366 socket, and it is exclusively for LGA1366 owners. Intel currently has no plans for a six-core chip on the LGA1156 socket, and this further differentiates the two sockets and goes to show that Intel wants LGA1156 to fall into the budget and mainstream markets. Meanwhile, AMD fans have the benefit of using the six-core Rana on both AM2 and AM3 boards.

Not everyone will be able to afford an i9 at first. It is going to be marketed as an Extreme Edition processor with an unlocked multiplier, which just about means it’ll probably be around R12,000. It has been suggested that the first model will launch with a 2.4 GHz clock speed, and, clock for clock, it should be a good deal faster than the i7 920. Already some people have gotten hold of preview samples, and some have boasted overclocks of 6Ghz+, an astounding achievement with LN2.

Will it be worth upgrading to this new chip? I don’t really know. Intel has placed an NDA on any reviews or benchmark scores, but already the chip breaks all previous 3DMark Vantage records. But in any case, current Core i7 920 and up owners shouldn’t need to upgrade; their rigs are probably still performing admirably. For overclockers and people with too much money, the Core i9 would probably be a good buy, but supply is guaranteed to be short due to its current Extreme Edition status.

But will it run Crysis? Oh boy, you have no idea.

Related posts:

1. What did you expect? I haven’t written much on Intel’s new processors. Those who know me on the forums would point to my owning...
2. Journey to the Core… It used to be that selecting a processor was easy. AMD had their simple processor lineups, namely the Athlon, Duron,...
3. Intel’s budget fighter: Clarkdale We’ve had time to get to grips with the amazing performance of Intel’s Core i5 series: the latest addition to...
4. Tech news: AMD’s A8-3870K Put Through Its Paces, Good Bargain Over at HardwareCanucks, the reviewing team has been hard at work putting AMD’s budget APU, the A8-3870K through its paces...
5. The dry season is over! Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the second half of 2009! I know many of you out there have been waiting...

In the early 1990s, before Cell C entered the market, Vodacom and MTN had an interconnect rate of around 20c per minute. This was judged to be fair, and was based on a cellular market a lot smaller than the one we have now. Yet when Cell C entered the market, the peak interconnect rate was raised to R1.25 a minute. That’s an increase of over 500%. Why would the interconnect rate need to be increased? With growing economies of scale, it really should not have.

The answer is simple. A high interconnect rate severely disadvantages smaller players in the market.  When you are a smaller player, the majority of calls placed will be off-net calls and with a high interconnect rate, there is very little in the way of wiggle room with regards to prices; dropping the call rates below the interconnect rate just isn’t feasible. Dropping on-net rates will have a negligible effect on attracting clients, as a small user base does not make cheap on-net rates attractive.

Research ICT Africa Director Alison Gillwald suggested an interconnect rate of R 0.25, instead of the current peak-time cellular interconnect rate of R 1.25 per minute. He said this was a conservative figure which leaves a fair margin for profit.

Vodacom generated R8.63 billion  through interconnection in South Africa for the financial year ending 31 March 2009, up from R7.94 billion a year ago.  This is the company’s second largest revenue stream after “airtime and access”, and is far higher than the R5.97 billion generated through data services, or the R 5.19 billion from equipment sales. For the financial year which ended December 2008, MTN generated R6.95 billion in interconnect revenue, up from R6.34 billion for the previous twelve months.  Similarly to Vodacom, it is also the second largest revenue generator for MTN, after airtime and subscription revenue. MTN’s interconnect revenue is more than its data and SMS revenue (R3.59 billion) and cellular telephone and accessories sales (R3.12 billion) added together.*

ICASA and the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications have been making a lot of noise lately regarding the interconnect rate. Whether anything actually gets done is another matter, as ICASA is generally seen as a toothless regulator. One also has to question why the government is now so interested in dropping the interconnect rate after government’s cash cow, Telkom, no longer has shares in its cash cow – Vodacom.

The next few months in the telecommunications industry will definitely be interesting to watch.

*Interconnection figures via MyBroadband

Related posts:

1. Dude, what happened to your phone?! I’ll admit, cellphones are not on top of most gamers’ minds. After all, a phone must just be capable of...
2. Bandwidth for Africa R2 a megabyte! That’s how much you pay when you go out of bundle (OOB) using 3G (on MTN and...
3. What’s next? That’s EASSy The next undersea cable planning to steal our hearts is the East African Submarine Cable System. The project is expected...
4. Netbooks galore! Netbooks – a term coined by ASUS in 2007 – have been multiplying like rabbits and can now be found...
5. What did you expect? I haven’t written much on Intel’s new processors. Those who know me on the forums would point to my owning...

Step 1: The motherboard

Remember to always keep anything with a circuit board on the static-free bags your parts came in. This ensures you won’t end up with fried components, as static electricity can do a lot of harm (and will reduce you to tears when your GTX260 doesn’t work.

Slot the RAM in first; making sure the groove in the middle matches the one on the motherboard.

The processor fits in the ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket on the motherboard. Lift up the lever and the cover and match the processor to the grooves on the socket. Stick on a little thermal grease, about the size of a pea.

As for the fan, well… I hate these things. The stock ones do the job well, but they’re a bugger to get in. Make sure the plastic pins are aligned with the holes around the ZIF socket, push those in first, then push the black pins through and twist the pins in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Related posts:

1. NAG case mod: Started some aluminium work! Man, I've been having so much fun on this project. The more I think about it, the more excited I...
2. Is 1.21 Jiggawatts enough? Power supplies: Often the least thought about, yet most important part of your PC. Why is it then, that most...
3. PC gaming is expensive! This is not meant to be a console vs PC diatribe. Each has its pros and cons. One of PC...
4. Feature: Lian Li case roundup It’s not often that we receive such a wide variety of cases from a single manufacturer; however, this scenario is...
5. SSD isn’t everything A hard disk drive is the slowest component in your PC. While SSDs are freakishly expense (the G.Skill Falcon SSD...

With prices going up, more and more people are buying and playing on consoles because the price differences are becoming negligible.

I think it means that PC games will just get more expensive, that’s all. Activision is one of the few companies which hasn’t yet retrenched employees to save on operating costs during the global meltdown. Granted, it’s only a R100 increase, but that builds up over time, and new users will be scared off to the console side because they theorise that it’ll last them a lot longer. But they don’t have to, if they use their head. There are a few budget computer parts out there that’ll help them play games at the highest settings while still being able to buy those new AAA titles in future. Take a look at the computer I built for my parents:

• MSI G31M3-F @ R395
• Intel Celeron E3200 @ R404
• Apacer 2GB DDR2-800 @ R263
• Force3D HD4670 1GB GDDR3 @ R746
• Seagate Barracuda 500GB @ R422
• LG GH22NS Dual-Layer SATA @ R211
• Mercury Chrono chassis, 400w PSU @ R237
• LG W1952s 19” LCD @ R1140
• Keyboard and mouse @ R88

That comes to a total of R4450 (adding VAT). Now, those prices don’t come from any online shop or national distributor, they come from a walk-in shop called PE Technologies in Port Elizabeth (kudos to those guys for trying to give me the best deal possible). All these parts add up to what is a very capable gaming computer, able to play just about everything at decent settings and the native resolution for the next two or so years. A gaming computer doesn’t have to be expensive.

The venerable HD4670's performance has been noted a thousand times, and really does make budget gaming more affordable.

This doesn’t apply to current owners of high-end gaming PCs: those people don’t bat an eyelid at paying R500 for a PC game. But for those who can only afford lower-spec machines, the increases don’t exactly help. Ever since prices crept up again, companies like Intel, AMD/ATI, and Nvidia started to place an emphasis on overclocking and value-for-money, and one wonders whether they could have predicted this change way back in the past. One thing’s for sure: PC gaming is no longer the affordable luxury it once was. Publishers are employing tougher DRM measures, and it’s starting to become more difficult to buy cheaper second-hand games, except on consoles. If you can’t handle that, then perhaps the budget market can help you out as much as it will my parents.

Related posts:

1. The road to the end of the road (for the PC) I’m not sure how to begin this column because lately my mind has been wandering off to distant lands where...
2. Mine’s STILL smaller than yours! Alot of things have happened in the gaming laptop market since we last looked at it. Thanks to the new...
3. PC gaming is expensive! This is not meant to be a console vs PC diatribe. Each has its pros and cons. One of PC...
4. Bang for your buck pixel pushers Graphics card round-ups from overseas gaming and hardware sites are all well and good, but generally don’t apply in the...
5. The dual core vs quad core duel Whenever someone considers building a new PC, the question always comes up: dual or quad? It’s well known that games...

As most of you should know, nVidia doesn’t just manufacture video cards. It also has a motherboard chipset division, and produces mobile chipsets like Tegra, which is found in the Zune HD.  While ATI has been taking all the headlines with RV870 and DirectX11, and most of the nVidia partners are set to discontinue their GT200 cards (or already have), what will nVidia have to show to keep its brand in the mind of consumers?

Its ION chipset is definitely one of them.  ION is by far the best Atom chipset: with an onboard 9400, it can handle HD video and accelerate any program that supports CUDA. At the typical resolution paired with netbooks, the 9400 can even provide for low-detail gaming. At first, Intel tried to resist attempts by nVidia to get its ION chipset into the mainstream, preferring rather to bundle Intel’s old and power-hungry 945GSE Express chipset, but as of now, the HP Mini 311, Lenovo IdeaPad S12, Samsung N510, Acer AspireRevo, and Asus eeeBox EB1012 all make use of the ION chipset.

Tegra is a little marvel; it consumes less then 100mw at idle, and includes an integrated audio processor, a graphics processor and two ARM cores. Tegra’s application processor features an ARM11 processor core with a GeForce GPU, and dedicated image and HD video processing engines.  The integrated GeForce GPU features programmable pixel shaders and support for OpenGL ES 2.0 and D3D Mobile.

If one looks  towards Tesla, however, things get a bit shaky. NVidia is putting a lot of effort into something that only made them $10M last quarter.  However, the fields that nVidia will target, which include seismic processing, supercomputing, universities, defence and financial research, could end up bringing in almost $1B of business for the company. The seismic processing industry, for example, could use 32 Tesla S1070s to replace 2000 x86 servers, which could generate a saving of over $7M and 1100kW. As I touched on in my last article, Fermi is meant to be a GPGPU powerhouse.  The additional support for ECC, enabled C++, much improved double-precision performance and easier Visual Studio integration, should help nVidia market Tesla to a new audience, and the fact that Fermi is capable of addressing up to 1TB of graphics memory should be another boon for memory hungry applications.

As for their chipset business, it’s not as easy to quantify. Intel isn’t allowing nVidia to produce DMI chipsets, which puts the company at a huge disadvantage in that segment, and producing hardware for virtually every Apple Mac released today is an advantage for Intel. NVidia’s AMD-based  motherboards generally have more features at a cheaper price, but more and more companies are choosing to go with ATI chipsets for their AMD-based machines. NVidia is slowly being squeezed out of the desktop market, it seems. Even ION isn’t safe: Intel’s next generation of Atom CPUs will have integrated graphics, which could see nVidia pushed out of there as well.

Related posts:

1. Is 1.21 Jiggawatts enough? Power supplies: Often the least thought about, yet most important part of your PC. Why is it then, that most...
2. GT300 is Fermi It looks like we’ll getting a repeat of the 4-series versus GT200 battle, with a twist. Where nVidia went with...
3. What did you expect? I haven’t written much on Intel’s new processors. Those who know me on the forums would point to my owning...
4. The dry season is over! Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the second half of 2009! I know many of you out there have been waiting...
5. Where we came from My first PC ran on an AMD AthlonXP 1700+. It had a Palomino core running at 1.43Ghz, a 266MHz front...

NVidia’s DirectX10.1 cards are coming in the form of GT220 and G210 on October 12 and the  GT240 in November. The GT220 will have 48 processor cores, a 128-bit memory interface and will be available in both DDR3 and DDR2. Reference clocks will be 615MHz for the core, 1335MHz for shaders and 790MHz for 1GB of DDR3 memory. As for the G210, it will have 16 processor cores and a castrated 64-bit memory interface. Reference clocks will be 589MHz for the core, 1404MHz for shaders, and 800MHz for DDR2 memory. With performance below ATI’s 4670, GT220 and G210 will have to be cheap to have a place in the market.

Nvidia hopes to change its fortunes with Fermi. Not going solely for gaming performance, Fermi will be heavily concentrated towards parallel GPGPU computing. With support for C++ and ECC memory, Fermi is definitely getting closer to CPU territory than other GPUs before. Therein lies the twist: nVidia is pushing CUDA and PhysX hard, and one cannot deny the improvements PhysX makes to Batman Arkham Asylum.

While on the topic of PhysX, those that were hoping to use an ATI card like the 5850 as the main display card and something like a 9600GT for PhysX should be fuming at nVidia right now. NVidia have recently disabled PhysX support in their drivers  if a card from another vendor is detected on your system. Quite frankly, it’s disgusting and will most likely backfire. People don’t like being forced to use what companies tell them to use – 3DFX learnt that lesson the hard way.

Getting back to Fermi, the chip will support DDR5 and should be bigger, hotter, and more powerful than the 5870. Even though the chip is based on a 40nm process, it will only be slightly smaller than GT200. The top Fermi card being released looks to  have 512 shader cores in 16 clusters, with 3.1Billion transistors, and will include DirectX11 support. The performance should be stellar – according to nVidia, this is the biggest architectural change since the G80 (8-series).

3 Fermi cards are set to get released at the end of this year. Most likely there won’t be any real quantities available, while ATI should have volume up within the next few weeks, as 3 months is a long time to get yields up. Notebook Fermi cards are only expected some time in 2010.

nVidia isn’t too bad off when it comes to DirectX 11 games, as DiRT 2, Alien vs Predator, and STALKER: Call of Pripyat are all being released late 2009 or early 2010.

Related posts:

1. Where to from here, nVidia? As most of you should know, nVidia doesn’t just manufacture video cards. It also has a motherboard chipset division, and...
2. Is it silly? With both NVIDIA’s Fermi and Apple’s iPad released recently, people are asking what techies think of these gizmos. I’ve read...
3. Evolution…or is that revolution? Evolution: it is the key to the PC industry’s survival. It’s how ATI has grown from being the underdog of...
4. It’s only the beginning… A little over 6 months ago, NVIDIA launched the GTX400 series in the hope that it would stand a chance...
5. Coming soon: ATI’s RV790 and RV740 This time last year, if you wanted a high-end graphics card, Nvidia’s 8800 series was by far the best choice;...

The Aspire One 751 does indeed look very tempting for the great price.

Let’s run through a scenario, shall we? Meet Leeroy: a good friend of mine who happens to be a computer noob. Leeroy decides to walk into Incredible Connection to look at a laptop he spied in their advert – an Acer Aspire One 751. He liked the large screen and 3G modem, which would be perfect for him.

He walks in and is greeted by a friendly salesman, who shows him the netbook, and Leeroy did as he normally would, nodding to everything the salesman said. Ten minutes later Leeroy walks out with his new netbook, confident that he made a good choice.

Four weeks later, Leeroy is still happy with his purchase. He carries it around with him everywhere, and occasionally uses it to watch movies with friends using a projector. After a movie night, he packs it carefully into his bag and drives home. When he gets home and switches it on, he discovers a crack running down the middle of his screen. Leeroy is dumbstruck; he has no idea how this could have happened. Leeroy takes his netbook to Incredible Connection to see whether it can be fixed. The same friendly salesperson tells Leeroy that he must contact Acer to get it fixed, and kindly lets him use the phone.

When Leeroy gets through to Acer, he is told that Acer’s warranty doesn’t cover cracked screens, and is also told that the repair cost will be R2000 – nearly half of what the netbook cost. A disappointed and dejected Leeroy returns home and laments his situation. He calls me and asks my advice, and I show him what Google could have revealed.

Most people wouldn't have seen this if they hadn't visited Acer's website. A lot of people don't do their research properly, and they end up complaining when the company tells them about their policies, which are there for all to see.

All over the world, thousands of people just like him are having the same problem and are being told the same thing by Acer: “Cough up or live with it.” We even discover an online warranty that would have warned him beforehand about paying for the repair. Leeroy decided eventually to pay the repair cost, and later sold his netbook to buy something better – an ASUS laptop, one that he carefully researched and enquired about, and one he is satisfied with.

So, gentlemen, ladies, can we agree then that doing your homework before you buy may end up saving you a ton of money? I’ll drink to that. Now get out of class before I decide to lock you in!

Related posts:

1. Dear Santa… One of the hardest things for most people to do is to draw up a Christmas wishlist. For those of...
2. Tech News: MSI Unveils Wind 180, netbook fans rejoice I’m a big fan of netbooks. They’re small, light, and incredibly easy to work with. I’m usually typing my columns...
3. Tech: AMD Confident In 2012, Bulldozer Still Dragging Its Feet So, lets get this straight – AMD’s Bulldozer isn’t the all-singing, all-dancing savior the brand needed to get it back...
4. Review: MSI Wind U120H If you’re in the market for a netbook, chances are you’ve considered the most important aspects when shopping in this...
5. Is being connected a Good Thing™? We’re in the digital age, guys. Technology has developed so explosively over the last seventy years, right to the point...