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Negative Sun

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Perl 5.10 was released on Dec 18. It's been 5 years since Perl 5.8 came out.

 

Significant new features

 

The new smart match operator implements a new kind of comparison, the specifics of which are contextual based on the inputs to the operator. The result is that all comparisons now just Do The Right Thing, a hallmark of Perl programming. Programmers can also capture matches based on names, rather than position in the expression. In addition, the regular expression engine has been tweaked, tuned and sped up in many cases.

 

Building on the smart-match operator, Perl finally gets a switch statement, and it goes far beyond the kind of traditional switch statement found in languages like C, C++ and Java.

 

Other improvements include state variables that allow variables to persist between calls to subroutines; user defined pragmata that allow users to write modules to influence the way Perl behaves; a defined-or operator; field hashes for inside-out objects and better error messages.

 

Interpreter improvements

 

It's not just langauge changes. The Perl interpreter itself is faster with a smaller memory footprint, and several UTF-8 and threading improvements. The Perl installation is now relocatable, a blessing for systems administrators and operating system packagers.

 

http://www.perlfoundation.org

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NegSun and TK, ta for win and pearl links (I missed them over christmas). :)

 

As for intel's 45nm problems: One thing I can see that has an impact on processor development in general is that the structures are now small enough to get near the tunneling border already. 'Conventional' materials can only be so thin before things start to get pretty dodgy.

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Hmmm, looks like AMD took some advice and focused a bit more on the lower-end market, which is good for them cause those are the kind of GPUs they'd sell in cheap Dell or other branded systems, which isn't too bad for AMD if it proves to be good value for money...

 

Dunno if this needed its own thread or not, so I'll drop it here:

 

XP SP3 Release Candidate 1 is finally here!

 

Since I've only got this PC and I don't feel up to a great catastrophe, I'll wait a wee while to see how it's received, but at least we know it's coming soon-ish lolz

Anyone who's willing to give it a go, lemme know how it fares ;)

 

Here's a linky to a .pdf that explains everything that's included in SP3 (so far)

Little late but I installed the err, pre-RC1 version of SP3 and found it to be pretty damn awesome.
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NegSun and TK, ta for win and pearl links (I missed them over christmas). :)

 

As for intel's 45nm problems: One thing I can see that has an impact on processor development in general is that the structures are now small enough to get near the tunneling border already. 'Conventional' materials can only be so thin before things start to get pretty dodgy.

Definitely true...

Thing is, if Intel gets the Nehalem 45nm architecture spot on, AMD will be in even more trouble as it's struggling to get its 65nm Phenoms bug-free and up to spec ATM.

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... if Intel gets the Nehalem 45nm architecture spot on ...
Absolutely. Then again, everyday use isn't nearly as controlled as a lab environment, what if intel's spiffy processor conks out everytime a cell-phone gets close? I guess there'll be more interesting news on that topic. Let's wait and see. :)

 

Oh, btw, in order to ease the wait: slainte mhath :guiness:

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Here's another wee update:

 

Phenom 9900 (2.6Ghz) review

It looks like even the higher-clocked Phenoms can't quite bring the goods either, even though it's probably still caused by the L3-cache so AMD really needs to get their finger out and get us either higher clocks or better price/performance ratio or preferably both...I agree that K10 needs a major kick up the arse if it's going to rival the now aging Core2 architecture and even stand a remote chance against Nehalem...

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^ I really wonder what the story is behind that dratted Level-3 cache. This seems to be the one thing that prevents the phenom to get anywhere. Somehow, that doesn't fit in with the rest of the design at all.

 

If I do buy a mac in '08, there'll be no AMD troubles at my end but this is really intrigueing.

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NegSun, a piffy inquirer article does not maketh a review... we will let you get away with it, assuming you are drunk with christmas cheer :p

 

some more reviews here:

>Legit Reviews Nov 19 2007

annoying thing about this article > its "gaming" benchies are given at low spec only, which shows relative performance of the CPUs well, but is not really practical. As has been done in other reviews, showing how the CPU marks plateau compared to GPU demands would have put some of those results in context for gaming. Also, there is no comparison to the Q6700, which would have been handy ;) (Although there are some Q6600 numbers in there)

 

>Neoseeker Dec 19 2007

 

>Overclockers Club Dec 23 2007

 

I think the conclusions made by the neoskeeer reviewer are important > the winner is indeed the consumer ;)

 

For those that want a 1337 gaming rig, I think it has been demonstrated that performance, especially at higher rez, is really locked in with what your GPU can muster. This is a curious contest, but unfortuantely, outside the realm of benchies, its becoming a pissing contest, with not a huge amount of practical carryover. If youre going to have a magnificent/expensive CPU, your gaming performance at least, will still be limited. Of course, the profile of how teh CPU picthes in will change with developments in mainbaords/GPUs/Apps...as it always does :p

 

Price is going to be a significant issue, even before AMD rolls out there 45nm.

 

The comparable Intel Q6700 is listed at newegg at $539.00, whereas the scuttlebut seems to be AMD is going to be pricing the 9900 at the $350 mark.

 

My Wallet's Conclusion:

For me, Im going to sit this battle out for the moment ;) I'll be interested in the 45nm numbers and the pricing of the 3Ghz CPUS when they come out. Other than that, Im more interested to see what those clowns ATI and nvidia can do try get "tri-sli" numbers on one card, and with much lower power demands. I think I'll be waiting at least 12 months :p

 

mtfbwya

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Lolz well the reviews all say the same though don't they?

 

Intel wins this round hands down, and until the 45nm AMD "Stars" CPUs roll out and the Phenoms are a bit more settled (and hopefully down in price and up in performance) I wouldn't bother looking at anything else just now if you're well off...

 

I've seen some very well priced AM2+ boards lately, so I think I'd go for one of those with an X2 5000+ Black Edition which can give you as much performance as a 6400+ on air cooling apparently...And after that just slap an AM2+ True Quad in there once they've been around a bit longer and maybe switched to 45nm by then.

 

Seeing as I've got a 130nm Athlon XP just now, switching to a 65nm wouldn't exactly be heartbreaking, even if it is the aging Athlon64 X2.

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I wouldnt even worry abou that too much negsun...upgrading a GPU is where gamers are going to see the most benefit atm. A 3850 or 8800GT will give them performance jumps beyond staying with with a lower end card and changing CPU from x2 ro x4 alone, whatever brand > thus is the crux of my rant :)

 

Let intel and AMD R&D fight it out...Hopefully their marketing depts.will follow suit ;) At the end of the day, thats the most important aspect of it all for us consumers :p

 

mtfbwya

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I wouldnt even worry abou that too much negsun...upgrading a GPU is where gamers are going to see the most benefit atm. A 3850 or 8800GT will give them performance jumps beyond staying with with a lower end card and changing CPU from x2 ro x4 alone, whatever brand > thus is the crux of my rant :)

 

Let intel and AMD R&D fight it out...Hopefully their marketing depts.will follow suit ;) At the end of the day, thats the most important aspect of it all for us consumers :p

 

mtfbwya

Aye if I build my new system anytime soon it'll be an HD3850 with an X2 5000+ Black Edition...But it wouldn't hurt to have an AM2+ mobo for future uprgading, cause since it's got PCIe 2.0 on it with double the bandwith the graphics as well as the processor would benefit from that kind of mobo I think...Even though they still have to iron out some of the bugs, by the time I get round to getting it I'm sure it'll all be settled.

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First info on NVIDIA's GeForce 9600 GT (D9M) has shown up on various tech websites. I like DailyTech so I'll post a link to their article on the 9600 GT. :D<click here>

 

An NVIDIA representative is reported to have said that performance of the 9600 GT is almost double that of the 8600 GT. Heh. Considering how poorly the 8600 GT fared in a lot of reviews I'm not sure that is as impressive as it sounds. :smirk2:

 

In any case, I'm more interested in info on D9P and D9E than D9M. I expect we'll be hearing more official info about NVIDIA's 9000 series graphics cards come February.

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The specs of that 9600 look sexy for a mid-range card though, if it performs as well as it should, and its got the right price, the HD3850 might start to break a sweat :p

 

I'll jump on your nVidia 9-series bandwagon Char ;)

 

GeForce 9800 GX2 pics leakage!

 

If the price of this beauty is sweet enough and it can outperform the 8800Ultra, and if nVidia get their Sli drivers sorted in time by its release (you'd think that was common sense huh?), this card could cause a massacre...That's a lot of ifs and buts though, not to mention AMD/Ati is working on a dual-GPU card as well, so we'll just have to see which one will pwn the most, and for what money.

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^^^

Hmmm... Am I the only one who thinks people shouldn't bother with the 8800GS? I mean, why buy an 8th gen mid-range card when you know the 9th gen mainstream card is going to launch within the next couple of months?

 

I guess NVIDIA wants to offer comparably priced competition to AMD's 3850/3870 since the 8800 GT never made their announced price range of USD$200-250. But since I know the 9th gen cards are coming pretty soon I'm just not interested in anymore 8th gen offerings.

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ah, theyve finally entered the 9xxx series :D I hope the 9990 lives up to the relative coolness of its associated number :p I wonder if they'll go with 10K after that ?? :p

 

Im not sure Im a fan of the x2 revival though. Being a former 7950GX2 owner, theyre relative cost and power consumption didn't make dual PCB/GPU cards an ideal choice from an efficiency point of view. One would be better off SLI-ing two 8800GTs perhaps ??

 

mtfbwya

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New Intel Processors!

 

waugh, i knew i should've waited a bit more to upgrade :S

lolz, more a$$ kicking headed towards AMD :p

 

I liked the article on the Phenom 9600 Black Edition on that site as well, thanks! At least it shows the Phenom can reach those higher clocks, so that chip sounds quite nice for enthusiasts at least...

 

 

More update folks:

1Gb HD3850!!! And an AGP version too!

Sexay stuff!!! The 1Gb might be a bit overkill like the article said, but still, especially at higher resolutions it can come in way handy!

 

I'd get the AGP version if my system wasn't hindered by the other components in that way...

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Wow:

 

New Mac Pro has 2 Intel Xeon Quads, meaning 8 cores! Official Mac Pro info

Too bad they jammed a 2600XT in there, hellooo electricity bill!

Very nice lolz, especially when you look at the entry level price tag as well $2,799...Ouch!

 

 

 

On the same kind of note:

Intel's Skulltrail does 4Ghz on Air cooling

 

Hate to admit it, but Intel nailed this one...2 Quads on one motherboard being able to reach 4Ghz on air is nothing to sniff at.

The price tag on these is even more extreme though, for you Yanks, £3,000 for a "basic" Extreme Skulltrail system translates to about $6,000!

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what are reviewers up to damnit!!

 

Smaller, quieter, cheaper, more efficient is how progress should be made. These power hungry, cash guzzling replacements for your heater will be ignored by most consumers, even enthusiasts for that matter..

 

Most 'enthusiasts' I know are always complaining they need to upgrade their 2 year old system(due to mainly being students), thus the meddles with the OCs etc :p

 

I'd like to see numbers on whether a 1GB framebuffer actually makes a significant difference(apart from to the bank balance of course)

 

Intel couldnt really fail with their 45nm IMO, the revamp they did with C2D set them on a development pathway to get to where they are now. This seems to be where AMD are stagnating. The 'quad from the ground up' strategy hasnt paid off yet. If priced appropriately, they could still sell well though, which is all they need to keep them keeping on with their spiders and pumas and whatnots :p

 

Still, until AMD roll out their 45nm CPUs, the almighty judges of the CPU pissing contest(whoever they are) cant rightfully call a 'true quad' winner ;)

 

For me though, the a$$kicking handed out by crysis to the high end cards in HD/UHD has dulled my keen-ness to upgrade anytime soon ;)

 

mtfbwya

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^ the positive aspect about the new supersized gear is that 'sensible' gear will drop to more amiable prices. If I still decide to buy a mac, it'll be quite a bit cheaper once a sufficient number of users gets the hots for the latest stuff. :)

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The question is MJ - do you really need a Mac?? I know I dont - even being a fan of Final Cut Pro doesnt justify the cost of such a thing to me. If it werent for ze games, Id be happy with linux. As I like gaming -- and I like the control/flexibility of DIY-PC, it will always be windows for me. Cant beat those smallforms IMO - small, efficient and pack enough punch to game alongside those monstrosities ;)

 

For those that have some money to spare, and in particular are graphic/design/visual arts and film professionals, then mac all the way. Everyone else is wasting their money AFAIC. The vaunted mac "ease of use" is no way a justification for the pricetag for some of those things...

 

mtfbwya

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The vaunted mac "ease of use" is no way a justification for the pricetag for some of those things...

Mac lover that I am.. I couldn't agree with you more... Unless you have a specific need for a Mac (or it's proggies), they just aren't (sadly) a viable option in today's computer market.

 

Don't get me wrong, they're definitely no waste of silicon...my Mac is a beast, but for most of people's needs (and/or desires) nowadays.. you're going to be more upset than you may anticipate. I have a Mac, with bootcamp.. but I also have a standalone true-blue PC which gets used much more often ;)

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@ Astro: you're right, old chap, I'm only playing on the thought for - as I said elsewhere - ease of use. The prospect of buying a regular machine along with another guitar seems a lot more enticing, come to think of it. As soon as I get it past the missus, I'm likely to choose the latter option. :)

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