Real Power Users

PCI express & SLI

2005-12-29T10:02:00.000-08:00

PCI express is the result of intel labs' rework on the classic PCI bus, allowing data to be transfered at twice the speed of an 8x AGP video connector. Also, PCI express allows for multiple video cards to be used simultaneously. With NVIDIA, this is called "SLI" (Scalable Link Interface) and ATi's response is "Crossfire". Currently, SLI is only available on newer intel-based and NForceSLI-based chipsets. Crossfire is available on Radeon Xpress Chipsets. For SLI to work, you must have 2 indentical video cards, in identical PCI-e x16 slots. So, if you had for example a BFG 6800GT Overclock series, and wanted to run SLI, you'd need another BFG 6800GT Overclock series. ATi is a little more leniant. The brands can be different, and you could even use another core, as long as the card in PCIex16_1 slot (the first PCI-e slot) is "Crossfire enabled". For example, you could use a Radeon x850xtPE CE in PCI 1 and then have an x850, an x850 Pro, an x850xt,or an x850xtPE in slot 2. The major difference is that in SLI, one card renders the horizontal while the other renders vertical. in CF, one card renders a 'checkerboard' like pattern, and the second card fills in the blanks. For the most detailed specs, see http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/printpage.php?id=378

XBox 360

2005-11-22T19:24:00.000-08:00

The XBox360 has finally been released from Microsoft. but, and although many sites are giving beautiful detailed reviews on the gameplay, I'm here to review the hardware chosen. (all specifications courtesy of www.gaminghorizon.com)

The system has a whopping tri-core 3.2GHz CPU, an IBM PowerPC based processor, with 1024KB of L2 Cache. This processor is capable of pulling 9 billion dots per second.

Unlike the original XBox, the 360 has an ATi-based graphics processor, running at 500MHz, with 10MB of DRAM and an amazing 48 pipelines (the ATi Radeon x850xt only has 16)

The system comes with another 512MB of dedicated 700MHz GDDR3 (Graphics) RAM.

The audio leaves a little something to be desired, not even reaching the quality of a cheap SoundBlaster Live! (96Khz 24-bit audio). The integrated sound card on the XBox 360 is only 48Khz, 16-bit audio.

If you choose to upgrade to the $399. XBox 360 non-core system, you get a 20GB hard drive, wireless controllers and the ability to play XBox 1 games.

Intel Vs. AMD

2005-11-11T14:07:00.000-08:00

With all the fuss between Intel and AMD, Here's a little artice I wrote for www.pctechbytes.com describing the differences.

Call of Duty 2 Review

2005-11-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

I recently purchased Call of Duty 2. First let me say: Shell out the extra cash for the DVD version. I didn’t realize that it was 7 CDs, in a nice big hulk-sized box. After installing the game, I fired up the single player on my two test machines:

AMD Athlon64 2800+
Radeon 9600SE
1.5GB PC2700

And

AMD Athlon64 3200+
nVidia GeForce FX6600 256MB
2GB PC2700

Then I viewed it on my friend’s computer:

Intel Pentium 4 2.66GHz
ATi Radeon x850xt
1GB PC2700

The game has a great story line, but unless you’ve got a hulking nice computer, you’re going to run it 640x480@60Hz with everything turned off. But if you do have a nice computer, those graphics look nice. The game plays well, runs smoothly and has a great story line and multiplayer. I give it a 9.5 out of 10.

The Utilitarian Computer

2005-11-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

The Utilitarian Computer

I’ve compiled a list of some good free applications that will help make your every day work life easier, that I am personally using now.

1. StarDock ObjectDock
This program resembles the Dock from Mac OSX. It is fully customizable and lets you put shortcuts to your most used programs and files right at your fingertips.
2. Konfabulator
This isn’t so much a utility as a utility manager. With Konfabulator you can install “widgets” which are themselves utilities. I personally recommend “FileBucket” which keeps files and folders at your fingertips, as well as Scribbler, which will automatically add anything you copy to a 20-item clipboard, for you to access later.

Enough is enough

2005-10-31T19:31:00.000-08:00

An interesting article at Sysinternals reveals that new Sony DRM techniques are applying hidden registry keys and files (or "Rootkits") to the systems of anyone who buys a Sony copy protected CD. Read more there to see the exact specifications of how it's working.

"So Fast You'll Swear It's Broadband"

2005-10-30T18:18:00.000-08:00

Recently we've seen a swarm of commercials from NetZero about the 3G "The Next Generation of Dial-Up" Claming to get near-broadband speeds from a dial up modem. The truth is they can't. And even their own technical support admits that they won't. I called and spoke with a NetZero representative. He said himself "Well, it is using regular phone wire through regular lines in a regular modem, we're achieving, at our best rate, 56,800bits per second" So basically you're getting an extra 200bps, or .2Kbps. or .025KB/s. That's terrible. So don't believe the hype. Do the research. know the numbers.

iPhone

2005-10-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

I'm sure some of you have seen the new phone from Motorola/Cingular, the ROKR. It has an integrated flash memory chip for storying music. However, there are some downfalls. Like the nGage, most phones that try to be something other than phones fail miserably. For example, it only has a 512MB flash drive capable of storying 250 medium-quality songs, 100 or so at better-than-average (192KBit). For about 100 bucks you can pick up an ipod shuffle 512MB at best buy, while this phone will run you a cool 249.99 with a 2 year plan (source: Cingular Wireless) Also the phone's included headphones are very cheap foam-covered earbuds, not the "status symbol" white earbuds. And to power the flash memory, you lose batery life. You get about 6.5 hours of "talk/music" time, or 260 hours on non-music/standby. That goes down even more when you use the integrated, very tinny, stereo speakers and rhythm-pulse lights and the bluetooth. Using all of the phones features between charges gets you about a true 45 minutes to 1 hour of use time, with the high-color video screen, music playback, pulse lights etc. I rate the phone a 2 out of 5. Great phone, if you don't mind spending the money and buying some extra batteries (you'll need them). But otherwise get a little flash MP3 player and a nice cheap cell phone that makes phone calls.If it's such a bad phone it has to push other features, I don't want it in the first place

Quake 4 Review

2005-10-25T18:48:00.000-07:00

I have oficially bought a tested Quake 4. I don't have a top of the line system, but I tested it on these two:

AMD Athlon64 2800+

1.5GB DDR400

ATi Radeon 9600SE (375/245 OC)

This system is probably the bare minimum. I turned everything either off or low to run it 35FPs (with screen filled).

The other system I tested it on:

AMD Athlon64 3200+

2GB DDR400

nVidia GeForce FX6600 256MB

This system ran it surprisngly well. I had to turn off the high-quality textures, but it ran it overall medium.

For the gameplay itself, I'm hooked on the single-player storyline for this game. It picks up where Quake 2 left off, only your "unknown marine" is now part of Rhino Squad, in a final attempt to defeat the Strogg at their homeworld, Strogos.

The multiplayer is not the best thing I've seen in a while. The multiplayer was basically Quake3 Arena with better graphics and a different weapons selection.

Overall I rate this game a 7.5/10. The Storyline is great, and the graphics are amazing, provided you have a system equipped to run it. The multiplayer is lacking, but it's okay for some good-old-fashioned fragstyle LANs.

Next Gen DRM

2005-10-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone's familiar with DRM, Digital Rights Management. It's the bane of music pirates' existance, and, while I do support paying artists for the music I want to listen to, is there a point where we are just taking it to far? The DRMG, Digital Rights Management Group is now discussing a new plan that would almost surely destroy open-source music formats, and institute a mandate that all portable-audio players, home media centers and software media players must check every song for proper DRM before allowing it to be transferred to the device, or played in the software. What does this mean for us? Well, say I pay my 99 cents, and download a song on iTunes. I'm allowed to burn that song to say, 3 CDs, and store one copy locally, and have no other digital version anywhere outside of those 3 CDs and 1 file. Now say I lose the file, it gets deleted, I have to reformat my hard drive, or I buy a new computer. I can't transfer that song from the file to another format because it's copyright protected against such actions. I can't rip the CD to MP3 because the new software media players won't allow ripping to "non-copyrighted" formats such as LAME MP3 encoding. So now I'm stuck. I have no way to get that song back into my MP3 collection except to pay another 99 cents to Apple. There's a point where things just get rediculous. We're almost at that point. I believe that the final straw for unprotected music encoding will come with the release of Windows Vista, which will include, in the operating system, DRM protection devices that prevent running unprotected CD Rippers, DVD ripping/backup software or CD/DVD duplication software. We're at the point that they're trying to hard to crack down on the pirates, and they're enforcing too many restrictions on the purchasers of legal music. As long as there are still music stores, I'd rather go to the mall, pay my 17 dollars and buy the CD, then pay 99 cents a track and download a crippled song that if I lose, I'm dead. That's all I have for now. When I find something interesting, I'll blog it.

Flock!

2005-10-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

I am writing this blog post with the help of a new web browser, known as Flock. It is based on the Mozilla/Firefox Engine. It runs cleanly, it's got a good feel, and it is extemely useful with all the bundled "plugins" such as the Blog tool, web favorites sharing through del.icio.us, one-click bookmarks, integrated toolbar that not only searches the internet but your favorites and history as well, and an integrated RSS form viewer, so when you're on any website with an RSS feed link, you can push the orange FEED button in the address bar to view the feed before you subscribe to it. Flock also features integrated mail checking through your mail client, and since it's based on the Firefox engine, it works with most Firefox plugins. It also has the "shelf" which works extremely well with the tabbed browsing. You can view multiple web pages at one time, and copy pictures, articles or URLs from those sites into the shelf to view them all with one click. It has some bugs to work out, but for a beta release it's extremely fast and reliable, and has replaced Firefox as my browser of choice. Download Flock.

Welcome!

2005-10-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

Welcome to "The Real Power Users" where I will discuss various new technological gadgets, gizmos and tools. Feel free to leave comments on things.