Archmaille

I know when we first got a computer at our house it seemed like once a week I was finding a way to clear off virus’, spyware, trojans, and malware of all kinds. It seemed the only options back then for antivirus software was Norton, and McAfee neither of which were really “solutions” so much as really big virus’ themselves (No seriously have you ever tried to uninstall Norton? It re-installs itself, and all kinds of ridiculousness that a virus will do). Luckily now there are more intelligent Antivirus Software such as VIPRE. VIPRE is light weight and won’t kill your computer just to protect it, it is effective as it protects against both virus’ and spyware. Since there isn’t just one type of threat online you should protect yourself from more than just the average virus with VIPRE. Plus right now you can get a free 15 day trial of VIPRE just to see how much different (and quite frankly better) it really is!

written by Archmaille

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot about my new RAID 5 setup that I do enjoy… and it is VERY fast… however there was one thing that I did notice big time when I first got it up and running. My computer lags more than ever before now… Some times when I click things it just freezes up and won’t quite do anything for a few minutes.

Luckily I am using Windows Vista which has the beautiful feature of “ReadyBoost” now previously when I had ReadyBoost installed and was using it, it actually slowed my computer down. It was accessing my hard drive, and using so much processor that it was never very helpful. Now though, since I have almost 220mb/s of transfer speed and four access points with my hard drives, plus a quad core CPU… it has nearly completely eliminated my lag problem! Now I’m just waiting for five years or so until 500GB solid state drives become affordable so that I can swap out my current drives for something that doesn’t have any access time… that will REALLY get rid of my lag problem.

written by Archmaille

Oh yeah! It’s been shipped, and soon I will have my Adaptec 3405 RAID controller! When I do finally get my hands on it, it’s time to take the 4 x 500gb hard drives and make a RAID 5 array with them… then take all the data from my 3 other hard drives (so there will temporarily be 7 hdds in my computer) and combine those three drives into something a little more AWESOME!

Of course I’ll post info and specs up here once I have the stats

written by Archmaille

Many of my readers know that I’ve been working towards a RAID 5EE setup for several years now. It’s more than just a passing notion, or wanting to have the best or fastest of something… those are all great things. I like having a fast processor, I like having a large amount of very fast RAM… and I like my Hard Drives to operate at max speed! But that is not all there is to it… I do more than play games or mess around on my computer. This is where I work, this is where my lively hood comes from! I need security in my computing. I generally only purchase mature computer platforms that have had time to age and have the bugs worked out of them, I read reviews on how a system works or runs… but most of all I build a system that will last. RAID allows me to do that. Not only will I increase my storage space to 1.5TB but those 1.5TB will also be secured from drive failure. I’ve always run two 80mm fans directly on my hard drives, it’s about time that they get redundant as well!

written by Archmaille

Okay, so there has been a little bit of a fiasco with my computer (as I described briefly in my previous post about WordPress 2.7) that actually turned out to be not what I expected. My motherboard that I was using had issues… it had issues from the day I bought it, only noticed like 90 days afterwards when I went to start overclocking. I never got very far with overclocking because my stock CPU voltage that should of been running at 1.250 volts was running at 1.1 volts, and it took everything the motherboard had to just get it up to 1.2 so needless to say there never was much to be done on the overclocking front with that POS motherboard. I always left it at stock speed so that it could last until I could replace the mobo… that day never came. Last week I ran into a problem though, after taking my computer apart and cleaning everything I started getting BSODs every time I turned the computer on!

Finally after three days of this I got a hint into what was causing it (I was testing different things for a while, Windows had updated, and thought it might of been a software issue, but wasn’t able to get the computer to stay on long enough to test that theory out). I started getting messages on the USB bus running at the wrong voltage… so instantly I thought it had to be the motherboard. In the process of ordering a new motherboard, I figured a small upgrade couldn’t hurt so I also got an AMD Phenom 9850 since they’re close to $150 now, combined with an AMD 790GX motherboard I figured I’d have a pretty rock solid system… except since they new 9850 runs at 1066 RAM speeds I figured I’d upgrade that too so I got 8 gigs of 1066 RAM… to find out that with four sticks installed it runs at 800 speeds anyways.

Anyways, after I installed everything the extra power consumption was causing BSODs sooner… So the next place I thought might be the problem was my PSU. Kind of a long shot since PC Power and Cooling makes good products… but I do have one of the first generation 1KW PSUs that had the single 12v rail so maybe there was an issue with that. After visiting Best Buy to grab a 700w power supply (hoping it was enough power for my energy sucking computer) it STILL had BSODs ass soon as Windows started up… I pulled my computer apart again and just started looking everything over… I mean the only thing left is the hard drives… I considered pulling my main drive and reinstalling windows on another one… kept messing with things until I finally realized that my pump wasn’t running. Saddened and disheartened that I would have to use stock cooling for a while and figure something out how to hide my water cooling system I kept messing with things until I found that one of the pins on the molex connector for my pump had pulled out. So I pushed it back in, and taped it in place.

I still made out ahead in the deal. I’ve now got 8 gigs of RAM, a sweet motherboard, and a quad core processor that pwns everything! Yeah, I know there’s stuff faster on the market but for a $400 upgrade… I must say this is a HUGE performance upgrade for me… now when I get the money I just need to move to RAID 5EE and I’ll be sitting pretty for the next few years.

written by Archmaille

If you ever thought that it would be cool to one day live through the age when Star Trek type technology was available, I have just the story for you. A breakthrough from Purdue University offers up a new technique that uses lasers and holograms to position multiple nanoparticles within seconds, much faster than previously possible. The method could also be very helpful to labs on the chip, which need to direct tiny molecules to tiny test locations.

Companies such as AMD or Intel are always looking for ways to create smaller components on chips. Especially with chips becoming more and more complex, such as dual and quad core processors, also with the coming AMD Fusion where a chip will not only have multiple cores and memory controllers, but also graphics chips along with hardware accelerators. The increasing complexity of computer processors is leaving us with several problems. Not only do we need to find ways to create smaller dies, but we need to be able to create more flexible building situations.

The holographic nanoassembly process allows for very complex designs to be created quickly, and in a versatile environment. Because the process was developed at a school, I wouldn’t look to see the new technology in commercial use for several years, but don’t be surprised when the day comes that we have entire motherboards worth of components on a single chip and only need traditional “motherboards” for a place to attach add-ons.

written by Archmaille

So the question now is, is AMD bouncing back, or are they slipping further? AMD just announced that Fusion won’t be coming out later this year, but rather plans to launch it in 2011 when they hit 45nm for their processors… Of course this means that Fusion will be a murderous processor when it comes out as GPU technology will be far advanced by this time, and higher clock speeds on the tri-core processor will be higher. Problem with this situation is that this is just the item that AMD needs to start nailing down Intel again…

They’ve never successfully taken the market from Intel, because people are stupid, and even though they held the performance crown for years Intel still outsold them. Well now, Intel’s new i7 chip isn’t all what they had hoped it would be, so AMD can catch up performance wise again, let’s just hope it’s enough to surpass Intel, and hold that lead until Fusion comes out… because Fusion most certainly will be more powerful than anything Intel has to muster up… and it will be another three to five years before Intel copies them, and at that it will be much like the i7 in that it won’t be up to par performance wise yet. Of course Intel will just continue to throw money at it and eventually pass up AMD again, at which point AMD will have to innovate more, and Intel will have to copy more… it’s a vicious cycle… but one day AMD will surpass Intel in sales, and that day will be a good day.

written by Archmaille

You know, I was going to spend some time on here yapping about how Intel has been riding on the shoulders of AMD for quite some time, made ever more clear with the new Intel Core i7 chip they’ve just put on the market. Of course we all knew it was coming for some time, but that’s not the point. Then when I was thinking about it more, I realized that we all walk on the shoulders of genius ever day. Even AMD ran off of the shoulders of Intel for a quite a while when they first got started. So I guess it is only fair to say now that Intel is riding off of AMD’s developmental skills. Yeah, we’re seeing a huge lack of creativity from Intel’s corner, but a lot of good that has been doing them anyways right? The new i7 chip that has stolen more of AMD’s designs than any other previous chip has failed to surpass even Intel’s own processors strength… ironic isn’t it?

I now am really waiting on the AMD Fusion platform. Apparently it’s been pushed back until 2011, so I’ll probably have to get a quad core in between now and then to keep my system running like it should. Or well the first real upgrade I’m going for is a RAID 5EE setup, so that first, and then by that time I might be able to get an affordable 6 core processor to work with… which will really keep me entertained until Fusion comes out. Once Fusion is out I won’t be jumping straight on that bandwagon either, it’ll take a few years of it being out for it to both mature, and also drop in price before I get right on board.

written by Archmaille

If you haven’t heard AMD Fusion is coming to a computer near you! Now I was fairly excited about upgrading to a quad core processor… but I think I’ll put it off even longer. My next planned upgrade is going to RAID 5EE, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to go to solid state drives, but that technology is a ways off. In order to get a reasonable amount of storage space, and fast continuous throughput current solid state drives simply don’t cut it. At some point in time (Probably as a way to celebrate the move to making $20 a day with Yahoo! ads) I want to pimp my comp out with 8 gigs of RAM, and a RAID 5EE array simultaneously.

But this post isn’t about that. It’s actually more about why I’m sticking with a dual core processor instead of taking advantage of the possibility to upgrade to quad core, motherboard, and all for less than $300. To most of you the name AMD Fusion probably doesn’t sound that too unfamiliar. The CPU technology has been around or at least the idea has been around for a while. It all started with with the AMD 4×4 system or Quad FX. The idea was for ultimate gamers, and computer users to be able to use two different CPU’s side by side. One could be a dual, or quad core processor, while the other could be a GPU, or hardware accelerator. The idea never came to fruition for gamers, or other home applications, but has slowly developed in the private sectors. AMD has taken it a step further though… By the end of the year they will be offering tri-core CPU’s with built in GPU, and hardware accelerator! This means that high bandwidth jobs, programs that need massive floating point units, and multi-tasking will all be on one chip. Forget 60 frames per second in game, try streaming real time game play!

I’d like to wait for the system to mature myself. But I’ll definitely be getting ready for it. When I make the move to RAID 5EE, and 8 gigs of RAM I may shortly after get a Fusion ready motherboard too. Then when there are some price drops I’ll gram an AMD Fusion processor and be able to load everything in near real time… no more waiting on slow computer loads, with RAID 5EE 4 x 1TB drives, 8 gigs of RAM, tri-core processing, with built in GPU, and hardware accelerator… With extreme water cooling, and my ATI Radeon 3850 video card to supplement the graphics… you can forget waiting on any games, or poor frame rates!

Fusion is more than just awesome hardware though. AMD is working with software developers, the Open-Source community, and Stanford to achieve a new standard in multi-tasking. Hardware has made leaps and bounds as far as technology goes, but software has barely been able to keep up. 64bit is being excruciatingly slow to catch on, and multi-threaded software is still not all that common. Even with Windows Vista, and much of the advancements in technology you’re still not seeing the benefit of even quad core processors… which is another reason for me to wait until Fusion launches full force!

written by Archmaille

Oh gosh, this stupid crap is giving me so much freakin’ trouble! I hook up the television at 1920×1080 resolution like it’s supposed to be, and the edges get cut off. If I set it up at a native television resolution like 1360×768 it looks beautiful, but constantly pops up stupid messages from Vista saying “Your resolution is set at 1360×768, but the native resolution for this device is 1920×1080″

Plus, how in the world do you get the freakin’ sound to work?!?! I keep getting sound from my computer, but it won’t come out of my television! Am I supposed to set the default sound drivers as the video card, and not the sound card? I know I don’t want the sound card outputting sound right now, but I will later if I’m not running the laptop hooked up to the television!

written by Archmaille