My thoughts on Overclocking Phenom II to 6.5GHz

If you haven't watch the video below, please do so. Otherwise you won't understand what I'm ranting about.

Nice, now that you watch the video, don't you think it's a little bit wasteful to use the liquid nitrogen to overclock the Phenom II to 6.5GHz? I mean, to convert a gas form of N(nitrogen) to liquid N must have used up quite a lot of resources(money, energy). If they have the money to do this kind of a thing, why don't they put those money into their R&D to create a better cpu that can rival the core i7 under NORMAL conditions(air cooling).

Maybe this is a publicity, to make people think that "Oh my! Phenom II processors are so overclockable! I'm so gonna get one now!" But, do you know that, under air cooling, Phenom II more or less has the same overclock range as Core 2 Quads. Given the cheaper price, Phenom I would definitely be my choice.

So, do you guys and girls agree with this publicity tactic? Maybe the resources could have been used to do better things such as improving designs to beat the core i7? Please kindly leave your comments here :)

AMD Phenom II Released

AMD Phenom II has been released and it's performance is more or less equivalent to the same price range of other Intel Core 2 Quads. However, it still can't beat the Core i7 cpu. AMD Phenom II employs 45nm manufacturing process (lower power consumption) and contains 6MB of L3 cache. 

AMD Phenom II currently available as Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition and Phenom II X4 920 (trying to copy the Core i7 940 & 920?) with price of 275 USD and 235 USD respectively.

More reviews here:

• Tom's Hardware
• Hexus.net
• ExtremeTech
• Bit-tech

What do you guys and girls think about this processor? Will it be able to take a small chunk of Intel controlled market or more than that? Will it prove more worth than Intel Core 2 Quads systems? Leave your comments then~

Release of AMD Athlon X2 7xxx : Cutting Phenom X4 in half

On December 15th...AMD made a cutting move...and thus...AMD Athlon X2 7xxx series is born~ Yeah~~
OK, what's the big deal about this processor? Well, it's basically AMD Phenom X4 with 2 cores disabled (just think of a hotel with a floor being cut off from access), like Phenom X3 with 1 core disabled.
However, this Athlon X2 7xxx series will perform better compared to any Athlon X2 6xxx or 5xxx that have the same clock speed. For example, Athlon X2 7750 at 2.7GHz will surely beat Athlon X2 5200 at 2.7GHz.
There are 2 Athlon X2 7xxx Series now, which is Athlon X2 7750 black edition for USD 79 (about RM 280) and Athlon X2 7550 (2.5 GHz) for USD 69 (about RM 245).

For more detailed review, click the website below:

• Hexus.net
• Tom's Hardware
• Bit-tech
  

PC Guide : Buying a Pre-Configured PC from dealers or DIY

OK, you are getting your first pc, but you have no idea as to buy a pre-configured pc from dealers such as acer, asus and lenovo or make a pc from your own hands. But let's compare the pros and cons 1st.
Pros of Buying a Pre-Configured PC from dealers :

• You don't have to give a damn about what components to choose as long the PC suits your budget.
• You don't have to mess up your hands to assemble your pc
• You don't need to have knowledge on how to assemble pc

Cons :

• The price are typically more expensive than same specifications DIY pc.
• Too many unnecessary software inside your pc.
• You don't get to choose your components (except for dell, alienware and hp)

As for DIY, the pros are :

• You get to choose your components, such as cheaper brand graphic card or casings.
• You can assemble pc ( if you like it).
• No unnessary software inside when you powered it up for the 1st time.

Cons :

• Have to assemble your pc (most shop can help you free assemble the pc if you buy all parts from their shop)

Personally, I prefer DIY as I can have more control over the hardware I want. In the end, it's up to you.
If you decided to DIY, you can check my Hardware Rig: November PC Configuration for ideas or guides.

Dual-Core vs Quad-Core : The More The Better?

With the advancement of computer hardware, quad-core prices has dropped down to a level that can compete with dual-core cpu (central processing unit). The quad-core cpu that are commonly known are AMD Phenom X4, Intel Core 2 Quad and the newer Intel Core i7, while dual-core cpuhave AMD Athlon X2, Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Pentium Dual-core. There are also tri-core cpu that manufactured by AMD call AMD Phenom X3.

When dual-core cpu was released, the hardware advertisers claimed that you can do more things in one time without bogging youe whole system down. That is true, as you can open a anti-virus scanner while surfing the web or playing games while converting movies. Now, software programmers have devised a way to make program multithreaded for dual-core or more, that is, make the program to utilize 2 cores instead of 1. This causes the software to compete for the cores, which also causes the system to bog down.

The arrival of quad-core saves the day, making software that utilizes 2-cores to run smoothly. However, at the same price point, quad-core cpu have lower GHz count compared to their dual-core siblings. Thus, it may seem that quad-core cpu sometimes outmatched by dual-core cpu when using dual-core multithread software. In software that optimizes quad-core cpu, they can beat the dual-core cpu by 50% or more.

Benchmark software such as PCmark or 3Dmark always shows that quad-core cpu obtains higher score than dual-core cpu. Thus we can safely conclude that in the same price point, quad-core should always be your choice.

Power consumption, on the other hand, is in dual-core favor. Those wishing to make a silent home-theater pc are better off with dual-core as they are more silent and less power hungry. Those wishing for performance are wise to choose quad-core cpu to make use of all it's cores.

In the end, if you wish to assemble a computer now, you are better off with quad-core as they are the future. The more is better afterall and you can do more in less time.

Core i7 have been Released!!

Core i7 (codenamed Nehalem) has been released! It combines quad-core with Hyper-threading and SSE4.2 for better multimedia editing. Be warned that Core i7 requires both new motherboard with Intel X58 chipset and DDR3 RAM. It uses tri-channel memory controller for greater memory bandwidth, so remember to get slot in 3 RAM modules rather than 2.

Below are the websites for the Core i7 review:

• Bit-Tech
• Anandtech
• Extremetech
• Hardwarezone
• Hexus.net

To know more about the Core i7 architecture, click here.

Intel vs AMD : Clearing Up The Myth

Let's say you are given 2 options :

A. Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 (2.0 GHz) + Biostar P35D2-A7 (total price: RM525)

B. AMD Athlon X2 5200+ (2.7 GHz) + Biostar TA780G M2+ (total price: RM495)

If you choose option A because you heard people say that Intel rules and AMD sucks, then you are half right. The reason is that Intel really rules......IN THE HIGH-END(RM 600++) section, while AMD sucks because they can't compete in the high-end. But that does not mean that in the low-end(RM200~350), AMD still sucks.

Option A and B, both their performance are almost equivalent (see this, the 5200+ and E6420 you see are 2.6GHz and 2.13GHz respectively, try to gauge the performance yourself). But the difference is the motherboard. While both MB(motherboard) are almost the same price, the AMD MB sports extra features, like an integrated graphics card and smaller chipset die (55nm - means less power consumption).

Not to mention that AMD MB can support next-gen cpu while Intel cannot. Intel likes to change their chipset cpu support every year, so the Intel MB you bought this year might not be compatible with the cpu that released next year.

So it all boils down to choices, whether you prefer AMD or Intel.

Remember, this post is for the non-overclock, average guy. If you are an overclocker, stop telling people to buy Intel cpu because they overclock better, NOT all people understand or want to take the risk of overclocking.

AMD’s First 45nm Desktop Microprocessors Set to Arrive on the 8th of January, 2009.

Advanced Micro Devices plans to announce its first desktop microprocessors produced using 45nm process technology on the 8th of January, 2009, the first day of Consumer Electronics Show. The code-named Deneb chips will not get truly high clock-speed boost, but will be able to offer substantially higher performance thanks to larger cache and architectural improvements.

The first desktop processors from AMD made using 45nm process technology will be AMD Phenom X4 chips clocked at 2.80GHz and 3.00GHz, sources familiar with AMD’s plans said. The new processors will support both DDR2 and DDR3 memory, but since the initial chips will be available in socket AM2+ form-factor, the chips will have to rely on dual-channel DDR2 PC2-8500 (1066MHz DDR2) memory.

Surprisingly, but the 45nm process technology will not allow AMD to reduce power consumption of its quad-core AMD Phenom X4 process considerably and the new chips are projected to have 125W thermal design power (TDP), inline with today’s higher-end Phenom X4 chips. Still, the new microprocessors will definitely have better performance-per-watt ratio compared to predecessors.

Earlier this year AMD said that code-named Shanghai and Deneb microprocessors, which are based on the improved K10 micro-architecture, will be able to offer higher instructions per clock (IPC) throughput compared to currently available AMD Phenom and AMD Opteron processors, which should transform into higher overall performance per clock. Thanks to higher IPC and larger level-three cache (6MB instead of 2MB), the new processors are likely to offer considerably higher speed than existing quad-core chips by AMD.

Pricing of the new chips will depend on their performance against competitors as well as other market conditions.

Officials from AMD did not comment on the news-story.

Personally, I think AMD might be able to dominate the lower market where budget are most important(read: rm500 and below) to user. Intel CPU might have higher performance but they costs more too. You might say Intel CPUs overclock better. But we must remember not all people know what is overclock.