Archmaille

I think a lot of people have complete amnesia some times. The AMD FX-4100 is essentially a dual core processor, yes I know it is “quad” core, but it is really a dual Bulldozer core system. The fact that it is competitive with quad core processors is simply amazing! I think AMD has some tweaking to do, but if you absolutely cannot wait for your FX processor I suggest the FX 4100, it can potentially be unlocked to an eight core CPU, and overclocking in general with this beast is intense! The new AMD FX lineup runs on so little power, and produces so little heat that you can push one of these to 4.6ghz on air! 5ghz should be no problem with a little water cooling

written by Archmaille

This is my sweet spot, my little piece of heaven! I’ve been waiting for the AMD FX 8150 for a VERY long time! Or at least it feels like a very long time… A beast CPU for 3D rendering, and gaming. The FX lineup from AMD is a multi-taskers dream come true! A lot of people are quick to judge the fact that the AMD FX-8150 only barely passes similarly priced Intel CPU’s… what they haven’t taken into account is A) real world use, and B) overclocking! This beast overclocks itself, when under full load I’ve never seen mine hit less than 3.8ghz across the whole spectrum! It only runs at 3.6ghz if the heat is too much, and well… THE HEAT DOESN’T GET TOO MUCH WITH THIS CPU!!! Seriously, 8 cores and it runs cool still… That is an amazing feat, it means AMD could of pushed these bad boys a lot further than they did… but they give you that option! If you want to push your CPU to its limits you can easily do so overclocking (the 3.8ghz mine runs is a factory setting, it does so automatically unless heat gets too much). I’ve read a lot of reviews where they get a 30% performance increase (in some instances) from an overclock to 4.2ghz across the whole spectrum! That’s pretty intense… haven’t messed with it myself, but I imagine with my quad 120mm fan radiator I should be able to hit 4.5ghz without breaking a sweat

Oh, and I was talking about real world performance… Granted I’m moving from an AMD quad core CPU… but the AMD FX-8150 makes everything faster for me! I’ve got 4 15,000 RPM hdd’s in RAID 5, and the speed in which I can load, save, and boot up increased dramatically. For someone who multi-tasks using multiple monitors, and 5 or 10 programs at once… there isn’t anything faster! The AMD FX-8150 has helped my computer keep up with my rate of work! So to all the nay sayers… maybe it’s not for you, but for me the AMD FX 8150 8-Core Processor 3.6ghz x8 Socket AM3+ FD8150FRGUBOX is exactly what the doctor ordered

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

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1

Most of you have probably seen that Windows released Service Pack 1 for Vista not long ago, along with a release of SP3 for XP users.В  I decided that it was time to finally make the leap to Vista, it’s been in the plans for a long time, especially since I used it during the Beta and really loved it!В  I still waited for SP1 to come out just because back when I was using it in the Beta some companies such as Logitech still hadn’t gotten around to making any drivers for it… so I figured some maturity time was in order.

One thing that really does bother me a LOT about this purchase is that Microsoft is no longer including the copy of the 64bit Operating System with your purchase!В  They dropped the price by $10 and send only the 32bit Windows Vista Operating System with your purchase, then if you want the 64bit version of Windows Vista you’ve got to go online and order it for $10.В  To me this is backwards thinking on Windows part, I see the merit in it that the 32bit Vista works on any processor and the 64bit edition needs to be run on a 64bit processor… but honestly who doesn’t have a 64bit CPU now?В  And if you don’t why are you trying to install Vista in the first place?!?!

I still really like the operating system none-the-less and have run into very few problems so far… actually a lot of problems I was having (such as with the newer versions of Opera) have gone away… I’m with a lot of enthusiasts who say that if you’re having problems with Vista it’s because your computer is a piece of crap and you need to throw it off a building.В  Seriously Microsoft Windows Vista ran smoothly on my comp when I was doing the Beta and back then all I had was a 2.2ghz Dual Core AMD, 2 gigs of RAM, and an ATI x1600 video card… games were pretty darn slow, but really still playable, though some like Company of Heroes needed to be lowered in resolution and settings.В  Now with a 2.6ghz (OCed to 2.9) Dual Core AMD, 4 gigs of RAM, and an ATI HD 3850 I’ve had absolutely no major glitches with Vista to date… of course I’ve only been running it for a few days so I’ll get back to you on what I think of ReadyBoost, and whatever else pops up as it comes up.

written by Archmaille