Tech News
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Sapphire Pure Black P67 Hydra @ Phoronix
Published: Friday, May 6, 2011 | By: DennisSapphire has been doing a great job at branching out and exploring new ways to extend their brand, which may not always involve AMD. Case in point, Intel chipset enabled motherboards.
On paper this board looked great but as we indicated in our review of the Sapphire Pure Black P67 we had vdroop issues that caused stability issues under overclocking. Its still not a bad board and plays some nice music when it first boots up.
When talking about Sapphire Technology on Phoronix it is usually about their vast selection of Radeon graphics cards for which they are very well known and are one of AMD's premiere AIB partners. Recently, they have also expanded to offer a limited selection of high-end AMD and Intel motherboards. Being from Sapphire, these motherboards are not some budget motherboards with nothing to separate them from its competitors, but are rather well designed and very innovative boards. As the first Sapphire motherboard being reviewed under Linux at Phoronix, we are looking at their interesting Sandy Bridge offering: the Sapphire Pure Black P67 Hydra.
They go on to talk about how the Lucid Hydra isn't supported under Linux which is rather unfortunate especially considering that you also have to install the Lucid driver to make it work under Windows as well.
The Lucid concept is great but it might take some time before people figure out how to use it, and use it well.
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NL: Review Block - Memory Follow up - seems I forgot some
Published: Friday, May 6, 2011 | By: DennisA couple days ago I posted a review block of some memory modules and wouldn't you know it, there are even more in the news inbox.
Seems memory is coming back!
- Crucial 8GIG DDR3 1333 Memory Kit @ GeekInvaders
- G.Skill RipjawX F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL Memory Kit @ Bjorn3D
- ADATA DDR3 1600 Gaming Series 12GB (X58) Memory Kit Review @ KitguruThese seem to be the big boy kits for those of you wanting to get the most from your Windows 7 web browsing experience.
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Intel launches 22nm node with 3D transistors
Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 | By: DennisThis should really speed things up!
Intel has formally unveiled its 22nm chip manufacturing process, and with it a new type of transistor.
In shrinking the manufacturing process every two years, Intel has approached the limits of Moore's Law, that the number of transistors in a given chip area will double every two years. To be more precise, they can continue to shrink the process, but the benefits in terms of power and performance become less as electrical leakage increases.Check out the article to find out how they solved the problem.
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NL: Review Block - Memory to remember - 5/4/2011
Published: Wednesday, May 4, 2011 | By: DennisSandy Bridge specific memory comes in all sorts of different configurations including some pretty insane timings. (and not good ones either)
- Crucial Ballistix Sport PC3-12800 8GB Kit Review
- TechwareLabs Review: Kingston HyperX 4GB DDR3-2133 RAM KitThe Crucial modules are really interesting since they have a very minimal heatspreader and CAS 10 timings, yes CL10!!
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HIS Radeon 6870 IceQX Review @ XSReviews
Published: Tuesday, May 3, 2011 | By: DennisI have been looking at getting a few more Radeon HD 4850 video cards to support the Multi GPU Index efforts and keep eyeing some of the HIS brand cards on Ebay. You know the cards with the MASSIVE blue cooler.
If the owners were not so proud of them I might actually pull the trigger.
Just to keep things fresh and prevent you all from getting bored with all the headset reviews we’ve been putting out recently, here’s something a bit more internal,a GPU from HIS. This is the IceQX variant of their HD 6870 Graphics card from AMD.
At least they are honest.
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ASUS P6X58-E WS Workstation Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
Published: Tuesday, May 3, 2011 | By: DennisI do love these workstation style motherboards, they are the no BS approach to what a motherboard should be when you take away the gaming component.
The ASUS P6X58-E WS is today's sample, and is designed to be the center of your workload, providing you with all the power and reliability needed to run a workstation. Similar to the Sabertooth P67 we recently reviewed, this new motherboard is built with all the highest quality components to insure a long and reliable operating lifespan. Rather, it is the long days in the office or the long dark night sitting behind the monitor in which ASUS is hoping to be the rock to get that next project done.
The board isn't quite on the same level as the Rampage III Extreme, but then again its not supposed to be.
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AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Launch Day
Published: Tuesday, May 3, 2011 | By: DennisFunny thing, all of the comments about this release say the same thing. "Where the hell is Bulldozer?!?"
- AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Processor Review @ Hardware Canucks
- AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU Review @ Legit Reviews
- AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition processor reviewed at TR
- AMD Phenom II X4 980 @ PureOverclock
- TechwareLabs Review: AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition CPU-ProcessorSo it has 980 in the name, do you suppose it is fast as a Core i7 980? Not likely.
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Beginner's Guide to Building a Home Theater PC @MissingRemote
Published: Tuesday, May 3, 2011 | By: DennisWe recently did a little project on what it took to build a HTPC complete with custom parts so that it was more than just a media center. While our approach was a little different from most HTPC builds it did serve its purpose.
There are a variety of reasons why you might be interested in building a home theater PC (HTPC); perhaps you are intrigued by the idea of consolidating all your music, movies, and pictures into a central location. Or maybe the cable company upped their rates again and your only means of striking back is to build your own digital video recorder (DVR). Actually it's my personal opinion that most people build HTPCs just because it's fun! It is always a great feeling showing off your system to someone who's never heard of an HTPC and they can't quite figure out how you can have so much stuff available on your TV. This beginners guide is an attempt to introduce a relative new comer to the world of building your own HTPC. Hardware was chosen with a beginner in mind; a balance of cost, performance, flexibility and simplicity were considered when choosing the following components.
So I am looking at this parts list and have come to the conclusion that they are very similar, very similar indeed.
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Newspaper Gets It Right With Its "Rules For Using Social Media"
Published: Tuesday, May 3, 2011 | By: DennisThere is usually always something good posted over at Techdirt. For instance here is a story about how a Toronto newspaper has established rules on how their reporters are to contact their readers which basically puts the newspaper first and social media second.
Of course not to be left behind another newspaper responded in a different manner and had this to say.
There has been a lot of news lately resulting from various news organizations posting rules governing their employees’ use of social media.
Some of you have asked what are JRC’s Employee Rules For Using Social Media. To keep it simple I have reduced them to three:Check out Techdirt for the rest of the quote and full story.
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DIY Guides: How To Install/Remove Intel Socket 1366 CPU @ PCSTATS
Published: Monday, May 2, 2011 | By: DennisEven though X58 and the Socket 1366 is scheduled to be replaced by the faster LGA 2011 socket it is still important to know how to properly install and remove an LGA processor.
PCSTATS receives a good deal of questions from readers who don't know how to install an Intel Core i7 CPU into a fresh motherboard, or upgrade a socket 1366 processor to a faster model. We thought we'd run off a quick DIY Guide illustrating the procedure for installing a socket 1366 CPU for the benefit of our readers. If you are planning on building a Intel based computer anytime soon, bookmark this PCSTATS DIY Guide now.
Maybe it is our readership but I rarely get simple questions like this, instead I get questions related to related to video card performance or what motherboard is best for my sisters best friends cousin, (she must be a hottie).
Looking back I wouldn't have it any other way.
On a related note be sure to check out our guide on installing a socket 1366 CPU and suggested way to apply thermal paste.
