Negative Sun Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 I noticed today that Apple has a new iMac out: Clicky What on earth is a GeForce GT 120/130??? After a long and extensive search I found out it's pretty lame: Clicky againy Sooo the only iMac worth buying is a 24-inch one with the HD4850 GPU (which would pwn though!) at a modest £1650 or so, lolz. Sad thing is: I still want it! Off Topic: Sorry I've been wuite absent recently just has a lot to do recently, thought I'd get pro-active and put a lot of effort into that LucasCast Jingle with my fiancee and it turned out to be a big waste of time, so it's put a big damper on the morale here cause stuff is pretty crap, so don't panic if you don't see much of me in the next little while...Astro dude I promise as soon as I get another desktop I will make it fold its a$$ off to catch up with you guys!!! Take it easy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Astro dude I promise as soon as I get another desktop I will make it fold its a$$ off to catch up with you guys!!! You'd be a welcome addition to ''The Fold''. Get 50WUs and earn yourself a cool folders badge too * * * Speaking of mobile GPUs, asus is touting an uber gaming lappie, featuring a GTX 260M. I usually dont care for them(or their price) much, but good to know these things are keeping up with their desktop counterparts for gaming Im glad the GTX300 isnt out yet, I cant afford it atm! mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Get an Nvidia card and use F@H's GPU client. I wish they'd write one for ATI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 @urluckyday - why?? still using Windows 95 or something?? Nah, Vista's great...but this'll be the first time I'll be able to upgrade my Windows version right at launch...I'm getting Windows 7 on day 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I wish they'd write one for ATI. There is one. It just isnt as quick. Upcoming AMD GPUs boast a ConGPU functionality. It really up to ATI to make a committment to the project, and to make an sdk which will support a specialised client(like the cuda sdk) nvidia did all this work, amd didnt ....simple as that. * * * In other news..... whilst I myself am a FF devotee, and I know a few here seem to use IE, Its always nice to know whats out there. I dont use safari at all really, but couldnt resist checking this out after the news that Safari 4(still in beta) is apparently the 'worlds fastest.' Of course Apple say it's so, and some hopefully independent benchies done at cnet UK published the rather sensationlist review demonstrating that safari4 is "42x faster than IE8, 3.5x faster than FF". I think these benchies need to clarified, as they only refer to rendering javascript (as measured on sunspider suite) You can get the safari 4(beta) here. http://www.apple.com/safari/ Whilst safari lacks the community input and plethora of plug-ins like FF, for those into browser speed, its nice to know its there For those curious about what 'minefield' is, its basically the next FF. Trunk builds are available for advanced tester types >>HERE mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 ^I stopped using FF frequently when 3.0 came out...it got a lot slower and it took up a lot of memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 ^aero churns way more memory than FF. This is an easy fix though, some options: *Dont install top heavy extensions *Use firefox portable *Just keep running v2 *use chrome or opera just dont go back to ie...pleez..or many many kittens will be sadz mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 ^aero churns way more memory than FF. This is an easy fix though, some options: *Dont install top heavy extensions *Use firefox portable *Just keep running v2 *use chrome or opera just dont go back to ie...pleez..or many many kittens will be sadz mtfbwya Go back to IE? I've used IE ever since FF 3.0 has come out...IE is just as good as FF 3.0 imho. I didn't like opera personally...and I hate, and I mean hate google...almost as much as Apple, so chrome is out. I had only about 3 light apps installed on FF, and it was slow as molasses. IE is fine for me...I'm a microsoft junkie anyway...and the kittens will get over it lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Go back to IE? I've used IE ever since FF 3.0 has come out...IE is just as good as FF 3.0 imho. There's been alot of independent analysis from a security and performance perspective that says otherwise. But hey, if you likes it, you likes it If you're not using the ie7pro add on kit, by all means check it out. It will give you adblocking and many other cool tweaks mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 For those that didnt catch much of what happenned at CeBit 2009, check out G3Ds summary, nicely filtered for stuff only gamers would be interested in mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 I have been looking at instant on OS options. Ideally, Id like one that can work simultaneously and independently of windows, but the only option for that is a hard drive selector atm. However, in my travels I discovered this, which is nifty especially for those with netbooks and lappies IMO. Xandros Presto is an 8 second on OS that is installed within vista or xp, but then gives you the option to boot into it indepedently upon startup, allowing you access to your windows files, using office docs and FF/skype and such. They also have an apps store. Whilst it's a flavour of linux, because of its apps store and support, it will cost $20 when it goes retail im April. Not unreasonable IMO. Of course Linux experts can tweak a live distro to start in 10 secs, but this product is desgned for people who do not have that proficiency, and do it all from windows. You can have a play with the beta for free >> HERE They are thinking about a USB option, which would be cool(and portable!) There are a couple of sorta similar things around, but the beauty of this (for windows users) is that it is easy to install and uninstall(just like any other app). No terminal window craziness. I like the idea meself, Kudos to Xandros on the initiative Here's a video demonstration >> takes about 9 seconds by my count. Still quick though astro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 IE8 just got its final version released today. So far so good. It's faster and more efficient. Also, if a website isn't friendly with IE8, you can turn on website compatibility which will make the website more compatible with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 News roundup! AMD HD4890 gets picced and mildly benchmarked. Looks like a competitor for nvidias upcoming GTX 275 with 240 Stream Processors(like the GTX 285) Here's an interesting story - A Hacker Olympics is currently running, with cash prizes of $5000-$15,000 being paid for hacks into popular apps across desktop and mobile platforms. IE8, Firefox and Safari all had their a$$es handed to them on a plate on the same day, by the same hacker In other news, e-reader fans may get excited to learn about Fujitsu's FLEPia, the world's first color e-book reader... but worth $1010 US? Probably not! Like bigTVs? Check out this 103'' 1080p Plasma Weighs and costs heaps In CPU news, the 3.1Ghz Phenom 950 has apparently been ditched in favour of a 3.2Ghz 955 These AM3 CPUs will be shipping in May. Probably good news for Char and myself, patiently waiting for an AM3 platform from shuttle that will suit our respective needs mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Here's an interesting article comparing gaming performance of current cards and titles on Vista v Windows 7 (beta). It looks like Win7 is pretty stable as a gaming rig. Not a huge surprise though, given its a point revision of Vistas kernel http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=682&type=expert&pid=28 So please, when you hear someone frothing about how awesome win7 is over vista, remind them it actually IS vista, with tweaks garnered from 8 years of testing... (work commenced on the longhorn kernel in May 2001) As a tablet pc and media center user, I really like W7, but the fanboy hype around it is a nauseatungly uninformed [/editorial] mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk102 Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Which one of you is going to get the first terahertz processor? http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2009/03/27/45779/mit-develops-graphene-frequency-multiplier.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tk102 Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 Which one of you is going to get the first terahertz processor? http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2009/03/27/45779/mit-develops-graphene-frequency-multiplier.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted March 28, 2009 Share Posted March 28, 2009 So please, when you hear someone frothing about how awesome win7 is over vista, remind them it actually IS vista, with tweaks garnered from 8 years of testing... (work commenced on the longhorn kernel in May 2001) As a tablet pc and media center user, I really like W7, but the fanboy hype around it is a nauseatungly uninformed [/editorial] mtfbwya I'm definitely appreciative of all the people that paid to use Vista and blazed the trail for the new-and-improved Vista, a.k.a. Windows 7. Which one of you is going to get the first terahertz processor? http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2009/03/27/45779/mit-develops-graphene-frequency-multiplier.htm It hertz so good. I'm game as long as the power consumption isn't off the charts. Graphene does sound like an exciting new material. I only wonder if the technology to utilize it will be available within the next five years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Just a quick bit about the new 'mid-high end' cards you may have heard about: GTX 275 review HD 4890 review both are apparently nicely overclockable Still waiting for ths GTX 300 myself...just to see its numbers before I decide if its worth the splurge... mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 Seems like the HD 4890 and the GTX 275 are fairly close to each other in terms of performance in games. NVIDIA still rules the performance roost when it comes to folding though. Yeah, I'm looking forward to GT 300 as well. Haven't read any recent rumors about when NVIDIA will launch it though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I often get cross looks from the non tech savvy, or the elderly when I tell them paper will be a thing of the past one day, especially in books and newspapers and that e-ink and its successors will rule the roost. Heres a pre production model of the 'Readius' by polymer visions, featuring an e-ink display that is foldable and tucks up into a nicely pocketable/format(unlike other readers out there) Will feature Bluetooth, 3G expandability via microSD... now all they need is money to go mass produce them.. its funny that Phillips hasnt coffed up because a foldable e-paper was originally their idea/project... anyway, WANT! All my novels, access to messages and feeds... 10 days battery life Though I think they should take the oft floated idea of some solar recharge technology, making these things never require extra power. mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Any word on when Shuttle will launch AM3 systems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Any word on when Shuttle will launch AM3 systems? A quick poke around says no One of the regs at sudhian got his hands on the corei7 based SX58H7, this image he posted bought a figurative tear to the eye... Love seeing the ubercards get squeezed into the shuttle and working on 500W Can I wait for the AM2/3 version....will there be an AM3 version ?? Time will tell. In other news: *Windows 7 RC publicly available May 5th. Technet peeps get it April 30. Russian mafia p2p leak already available *Pro/Ulti Versions of Win7 will have access to virtualised XP to keep the legacy peeps happy? Finally > some juicy GT300 news/speculation. This is the source article posted 4 days ago.. I cant be bothered summarising so heres a ninja c'n'p GT300 architecture groups processing cores in sets of 32 - up from 24 in GT200 architecture. But the difference between the two is that GT300 parts ways with the SIMD architecture that dominate the GPU architecture of today. GT300 Cores rely on MIMD-similar functions [Multiple-Instruction Multiple Data] - all the units work in MPMD mode, executing simple and complex shader and computing operations on-the-go. We're not exactly sure should we continue to use the word "shader processor" or "shader core" as these units are now almost on equal terms as FPUs inside latest AMD and Intel CPUs. GT300 itself packs 16 groups with 32 cores - yes, we're talking about 512 cores for the high-end part. This number itself raises the computing power of GT300 by more than 2x when compared to the GT200 core. Before the chip tapes-out, there is no way anybody can predict working clocks, but if the clocks remain the same as on GT200, we would have over double the amount of computing power. If for instance, nVidia gets a 2 GHz clock for the 512 MIMD cores, we are talking about no less than 3TFLOPS with Single-Precision. Dual precision is highly-dependant on how efficient the MIMD-like units will be, but you can count on 6-15x improvement over GT200. There are some crazy numbers right there... will believe it when I see it, and drool at how this thing can fold Astro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 *sigh* Well, I guess I'll just wait for Shuttle AM3. I am interested in working with an AMD processor. Nice find. Some eye-popping news there about GT300. I also saw another article on that website that AMD is seemingly planning on launching their next-gen GPU on 40 nm in July. Some really great competition going on in the computer graphics industry right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Nvidia's bound and determined not to be caught flat-footed again like they were when R770 launched. We can probably expect DAAMIT's next GPU to possess similarly gargantuan capability, though, and it will most likely be cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted April 27, 2009 Share Posted April 27, 2009 Nvidia's bound and determined not to be caught flat-footed again like they were when R770 launched. We can probably expect DAAMIT's next GPU to possess similarly gargantuan capability, though, and it will most likely be cheaper. Rumours/details are already floating about about the 5870 and the 5870X2 with even whackier numbers than the GT300... The 5870X2 is promising 4.56 TFLOPS .... Here's a table comparing the 5870 and the 4870, taken from a German tech site obviously *uses 100% of willpower to avoid making sausage jokes* Then you have the scuttlebut about AMDs 128bit M-Space plans(formerly called fusion) << It looks pretty on paper, and it is a fabulous concept but we really need to see it work in real life... speaking of the ongoing nvidia vs intel trash talk, a few days ago, nvidia technical marketing director called Intel out for being misleading with their published results about corei7, citing that you cannot quote 3DMark Vanyage CPU scores as direct gaming benchmarks. He drew a decent analogy, comparing the Corei7 to a hummer, and a C2D to a beamer. It was so nice, that I cant be bothered paraphrasing, so here's a quote: To prove his point, Petersen outlined two types of PC, which he likened to cars - the Hummer and the Beamer. Petersen described the Hummer, saying that it “has got to be big, and it’s got to be expensive and of course it’s infused with Hafnium, which is kind of a dig at Intel. It has a Core i7, which is Intel’s latest, greatest CPU that they claim is the best for gaming.” The Hummer features a Core i7, 4GB of RAM, an X58 motherboard and a single GeForce GTS 250. Meanwhile, the Beamer swaps out the Core i7 CPU for a basic Core 2 Duo E8400, an nForce 750i motherboard and a pair of GeForce GTS 250 cards in SLI. The cost difference between the two is massive, with a Core i7 965-based Hummer costing $1,501 US based on pricing from US etailer Newegg, and the Beamer costing just $715 US. Petersen also noted that even a Core i7 920 setup with a single GeForce GTS 250 would still cost more than the Beamer SLI rig at around $790 US. The prices were based on the core components only, and didn’t include features such as the case or PSU. “You’re paying a pretty dear price to follow the Intel story of how to build the fastest PC for gaming”, said Petersen, as he showed a graph of how gaming performance scales with CPU upgrades. Petersen got his test results by adding together the frame rates from Crysis Warhead, Fallout 3, Call of Duty: World at War and Far Cry 2 at 1,920 x 1,200 (no AA or AF) and taking an average. With a Core 2 Duo E8400 and a GeForce GTS 250, the average was 41.6fps. He then showed how this increased as you upgraded the CPU (the blue line in the graph above), and compared it to how the frame rate increased when you added another graphics card in SLI. The frame rate only increased to 42.4fps after upgrading to a Core i7 965, but jumped all the way up to 59.4fps after upgrading to a GeForce GTX 260 (216 stream processors) SLI setup. This might seem obvious to those of us who know about how 3D acceleration works, but Petersen claims that the result is still “surprising to most people”. Petersen says that “it is a fact, that when you’re gaming and you’re running at resolutions of 1,920 x 1,200 or better, the Core 2 Duo is perfect for running all of today’s games. In real gaming, there’s no difference between a Core i7 and a Core 2 Duo.” me likey this guy Tom I love arm flapping about the "cpu-ceiling", good to see some industry types doing the same source article at bit tech April 23 2009 * * * In other interesting news, Samsung has come to the Android Phone party, announcing the Samsung I7500 with OLED touchscreen Whilst Im pretty happy with my ole HTC touch dual, I would like to have a play with one of these: Specs for those interested>> The Samsung I7500 will be available in major European countries from June, 2009. (US: TBA) HSDPA 7.2Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps (900 / 1700/ 2100MHz) EDGE / GPRS (850/ 900/1800/1900) OS Android Display 3.2" HVGA(320x480) AMOLED Camera 5 MP Camera (Auto Focus), Power LED Video / Audio Video: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV Audio: MP3, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+, WMA, RA Value Added Features Full Web Browser Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Android Market Connectivity Bluetooth® 2.0, USB 2.0, WiFi, MicroUSB, 3.5mm ear jack Memory Internal memory: 8GB External memory: Micro SD (Up to 32GB) Battery 1500 mAh Size 115 x 56 x 11.9mm can I say: WANT! mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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