This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
Topics - Prowl
1
« on: April 08, 2012, 01:47:16 PM »
it has been almost 2.5 years since my last system upgrade so now with the beginnings, so far I'm at stock asus turbo mode here, no oc playing yet on a 6870, waiting for cheap 680's or 7970's 3dmark06 http://3dmark.com/3dm06/16587365;jsessionid=htk9yb6gczyf3q0u0agg3yu73DMark Score 25679 3DMarks SM2.0 Score 10080 HDR/SM3.0 Score 11154 CPU Score 8672 GT1 - Return To Proxycon 84.15 FPS GT2 - Firefly Forest 83.85 FPS CPU1 - Red Valley 3.09 FPS CPU2 - Red Valley 3.9 FPS HDR1 - Canyon Flight 110.73 FPS HDR2 - Deep Freeze 112.34 FPS vantage http://3dmark.com/3dmv/40116913DMark Score 19729 3DMarks Graphics Score 17035 CPU Score 37542 Jane Nash 50.94 FPS New Calico 48.82 FPS AI Test 5219 operations/s Physics Test 49 operations/s 3dmark2011 soon also remember my build is more of a photoshop workstation, that plays games.
2
« on: March 28, 2012, 11:57:04 PM »
Amazon shipped 2 so I now have an extra new ASUS P9X79 WS - LGA 2011 board for sale, will sell for $3000tt which is the same cost if you bought and sky boxed it in your self. Will have it in 1 week when it arrives and post the pic . Will be as I received it opened only to check customs didn't ruin it.
4
« on: February 11, 2010, 04:58:13 PM »
5
« on: February 05, 2010, 05:22:33 PM »
Just a step in the right direction, I didn't realize it but we've got some machines here that IN their hardware categories would rank rather high for the OC results they are posting, add to the 10c temp deficit we're doing some good OC's here So I created a OC team over at http://hwbot.org for GATT, SO all your crazy oc'ers out there, GO JOIN AND BENCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7
« on: January 08, 2010, 04:37:12 PM »
Holly sweetness ASUS ROG Rampage III Extreme  I WANT I WANT 
8
« on: January 06, 2010, 03:04:54 PM »
10
« on: January 02, 2010, 10:21:18 PM »
well I just put in my new 5850 in my now 12 months since last upgrade system do note that this is BONE STOCK NO OC nothing at all. I don't have the PRO 3dmark 06 so it's online viewing but the results say alot, I have almost equaled the 4850's results ( which were 15k, oc'ed to hell ) . now do note that this is bone stock and I have an i7 upgrade on the way with a 2nd 5850 so in about a month when my yearly upgrade is done ( and every 3 years mobo/ major change, impressive for a system originally built 3 years ago )
11
« on: July 21, 2008, 04:48:10 PM »
Well lets begin, you all now I play/dable with lunix a bit and after some issues with suse 10.3 I jumped into kbuntu ( kde unbuntu ) for a while but now with Suse 11 I'm back and only boot into windows to play games ( until we lobby enough companies to port stuff to linux. ).
Ok lets start installing Suse 11. first I chose the x64 version and downloaded the whole dvd install. Suse is novells "flavour" of linux, Typical of suse and redhat ( another flavour ) is that these are kitchen sink installs, you can get everything including the kitchen sink installed from one dvd, including enough to set up enterprise level web servers, a ras/nas streaming services or just a plain user level desktop. Suse opens a very friendly gui based installer and asks just a few obvious questions, just like xp or vista would for the install. Unlike windows tho you do need to know just a bit about drive partitioning and that linux/unix uses at least 3 partitions for a normal setup. First is the swap ( IE like windows page memory ), then /root which is the system partition, then /home or /usr wehre the data gets stored. Linux does it like this as seperating the system from the page memory from the file store helps reliability, even on the dame physical drive. That and if you used different drives for /root and /user a speed difference as well. Ok well back to the gui installer, a newbie can easily just click next right through and get a standard auto install which will work. The only issue I have with the default setup is that it always assumes you want to share a windows drive and it always wants to share your boot drive, but thats easily changed. You also have to choose your flavour of desktop, Gnome or KDE. I would say newbies choose KDE for windows like look and ease, chose KDE 3.5.9 and not 4!! Kde 4 is basically still beta and unstable ( for linux users unstable = windows vista like ). You get to choose your software packages to install, I say just dump it all ( with in reason ) but others may like a slimmer install. Once again newbies can just click next and answer the basic questions right thru. The install took 35 min on my 2.8 E6600, not to bad just about the same as vista really but you get more!
More how? well by default you get enough extras to have the average user up and running right out of the box ( or website ) opening word docs, making power points, surfing the web and playing mp3s. Most regular hardware installs by default, most good brand mobo and plugin card makers have linux drivers on their product cd's so anything that isn't auto detect will work with a manual driver install but suse, as always is a bit weak on wifi and multimedia support. This is no different than windows as you need to add dvd player software and codecs but unlike windows where nero or power dvd comes on your dvd drive's support cd, with suse you need to download it first. This is due to the open source nature of linux, novell may have some agreements with microsoft and amd but everything that is inside suse is free and has no copyright restrictions. Well adding the software is not hard either, one just has to add some sources and know what to look for. I will add the repos ( repositories in linux world, ftp or http sites with stuff to download ) later on to show you what to get and where.
One thing about suse 11 I noticed ( as with 10.3 ) is that it is VERY fast! Suse was known for being the slow clunky linux ( like redhat ). This made ubuntu popular as it was small and light weight but now since 10.3 things are different, Suse is as fast and as easy to some extent, Yast is like control panel and unlike ubuntu suse has far more powerful config tools built in, one just has to know how to use them.
.........
more later .
12
« on: July 21, 2008, 04:09:12 PM »
Up it is time. As much as nephlem is just around the corner and will be 20% faster clock for clock may of us forget the teething problems, the good boards will not be out for another 6 months after the release and prices will be high. So while many will grab the latest right now until the release is time to grab $200 Q6600's! you will also note that mobo prices are not droping one bit and ddr3 ram is holding steady.
so if you have a P975 or P35 or x38/48 board grab a Q6600 or Q6700 or Q9450 and just go! it will keep you running for at least a year until intels new stuff settles, plus I don't see a big rush for the new stuff as intel is also releasing a new platform and socket which will recieve ( like 775 ) a slow acceptance.
13
« on: July 14, 2008, 05:26:38 PM »
ok this is a bone stock run, will update after some oc's, it is clear my cpu is holding me back so next month I'll gt a q6600, I'm back on the 975 board as it's much more stable than the p35 one, at a loss of 200 marks or so.
so does this still qualify as a golden oldie system to lol
14
« on: July 10, 2008, 11:45:36 AM »
Ok so I had this case sitting around for a while, now I finally put every thing in it a while ago and have had time to give it a proper run through. This case replaces the Coolermaster stacker for 2 main reasons. Rust and Dust! Now the stacker was a beast of a case. big, heavy, strong and lots of onfig options. I started about 8.30 pm to rip it apart, mostly it went smooth but the drive bays gave me a few head aches. now over 1 hr later I started putting everything inside the lian-li. The first thing I noticed about the new cae was weight! very light, almost feels fragile compared to the stacker but the fit and finish was close to perfect, but it did not feel like the tank that is the stacker one bit. first the Lian li has a fully removeable Mobo tray, it came out very easily and went in with the cpu and fan still on it. upgrading cpus, fans and mobos will be very easy with this, in 7 min I had it back in and 2 min later the vid card and wifi cards were back in with it. very qiuck and simple 2 thumb screw and slide out or slide back in job, you can install the mobo with everything but cards in one go. the card slots are thumb screws but there is a support brracket that has these card holder thingies, they work but seem fidely,  Edit for image size, please use a image host next time, trying to view in the post frame kinda hardThe default lower psu chamber was great as all the extra cords can sit at the bottom ties up out of the way, instant +1. the psu chamber was a tight fit for my psu to slide in tho, left a lil scratch on it but small deal, it's long enough for the biggest psu but you will need to put in the extra bracket to support a big psu ( comes in the screw box. ) . Taking about the box of screws, Lian li sends a spare screw for everyhing, you even have spare for spares so you'll have to be the ultimate noob to run out now, plus they have enough rubber gromets for 8 drives and extras for the extras. there is also screws to secure the face of the case ( which I should mention just pops out so you can install CD roms or get to the fan filters. ) and an extra locable latch for the back. installing the hard drives drives was just so simple, super easy as you screw on the rubber holders and slide the drives in, you can config the hd drive bays to face anywhere you want but the default left to right hides the cables well, thre is also a few cable twist ties built in for sata and power cables, nice! THe dvd roms were still the old fashion slide and screw in afair, this I missed from the stackers slide and latch in place ( tool less ) deal. but not all is sweet with the case, one instand short fall was the server sized case had the power and led cables routed for a server mobo by default, now that I have a regular board in there they were a bit short, good news is that they easily re routed to reach but now not as neat, the hd led was also in backwards, easy fix but still. OK drives and roms and psu are in, lets fire it up. quiet fans and I looked at the time, it took me less time to put everything into the new case than it did to get it out of the stacker! 45 min or less to get it all in ( this includes be swapping the hd led and rerouting cables and testing, plus closing and putting it under the desk and plugging everything back in and telling the mobo bios to ignore the case intrusion alarms lol ). now it makes sense to me the lian li was made for people who will be in and out alot, easy to get things moved inside, easy to plug things in and easy to get out. The stacker in comparison was made to be a tank and just sit there or wheel around , hell you can even use it as a step stool or go down hill racing with the thing it's so strong ( and heavy ), the lian li is the opposite, same size but sleek and light, it's like comparing a sports car to a ERF truck. So do I like the case, HELL YA it's a great case if your going to take care of it, but it also won't rust as it's all aluminum, but for it's price ( same as the stacker ) it could have come with wheels to ( $30 option ) and it does need a front plate usb connector setup like the stacker has ( another $30 option ) vs it's built in the top usb setup. so in ease of install this case is a 9/10 as you still need to use some screws and drivers ( oh ya I forgot to mention the screw drivers that come with the case, 1 lil jewelers phillips and hex adaptor, yes you heard me they suppy the tools you need with the case to! ) fit and finish 10, yup this is the benz of cases durability 7, the aliminum brushed finish is godd scratch easy and aluminum is not as strong, don't get me wrong, its well made but it's not a tank. value, 7 expensive option, over kill really as it's HUGE but I have 5 hd's in it now and room for 7 more puls another psu plus water block if needed. obviously I won't but no I think it's still over kill. coolness factor 5, it's not a cool looking case, it's just functional and elegant, no flashy lights or leds or cold cathodes here. cooling 10, yup this case out cools the coolermaster. this case is now part of their Advantage classic line and has been suplemented by the Pc-a7010, which is the same case but front set up for sata hot swap.
15
« on: December 20, 2007, 02:07:55 PM »
(Jan. 06, 2007): Power Guide Revision 1.2.2 [slight sentence modifications]
This post is about the stuff that runs your computer and some of the tools you can use to protect your investment. Though I will be talking from a North American perspective in this guide, the same basic rules apply worldwide. A good knowledge of power systems will help you not only protect the considerable time and monetary investments you have in your computer, they will help you create more stable voltages to enjoy overclocking with. For those of you who also know your stuff, please don't post things about how I oversimplified a few things... it's just a basic guide.
This post is divided into a few sections:
- Chapter 1: Electricity Basics (covering AC/DC function, what line noise is, and how it affects you)
- Chapter 2: Protection Devices (covering the differences between various devices)
- Chapter 3: How Much Difference Does It Really Make? (a quick and rough look at how some general products can make a difference)
- Chapter 4: What Products/Brands "The Power And You" Sticky Guy Recommends (Coming Soon!)
Chapter 1: The Basics
Let's start simple. The electric current that runs your household appliances and tools is called AC or Alternating Current power. Your computer and other electronic devices however, run on DC or Direct Current power. The difference is that AC power reverses the direction of flow constantly, ideally averaging 60 cycles / second here in North America, whereas DC power flows in only one direction. With me so far? To convert from AC to DC power your computer requires its power supply. Without going into the gory details, just know that it converts your power directly as it receives it, which is why surges in your power line will often result in a dead computer (especially an already overclocked one).
Now to go a little deeper... In North America we are on the 120 volts system, which means that voltage supplied to our electronic devices at wall outlets should be a perky 120 volts. Unfortunately for us, this is not very often the case for more than a few milliseconds. Believe it or not, the actual codified tolerance range is 105-130 volts... meaning you could be down 15 volts (over 10% of your ideal) or over by 10 and your power company won't care in the least. Now just try to imagine whether or not you would mind your 3.3V rail registering at 2.9V instead, or your 12V operating at 10.5V. You wouldn't like that much, would you? These fluctuations occur for a variety of reasons, but the most easily grasped concept is that everyone on your power grid who turns on an electrical device draws some little bit away from the main line, which give very slight drops in electrical current. These drops turn into the most common power issue: sags. To give you some context, a larger example of a sag is a brownout, which occurs when there is just too much load on the grid.
These constant miniscule sags do add up, the amount depending on your location, time of day, and current weather conditions. These small sags, in addition to the small surges which also frequently occur, are collectively called 'noise' . This 'noise' is further increased by things such as attenuation of the electrical line as it goes to your home, and by other devices in your own house.
Obviously, this noise in your AC line translates directly into noise on your DC computer line. The amount of translation can vary by the quality of your power supply, but even the best power supplies are no match for even mid-grade solutions when it comes to getting rid of this for one very important reason: feedback . Feedback is noise generated by your electronic devices themselves that returns to your power supplies and home lines, then is regurgitated back to your devices themselves. You can think of it as localized line noise.
Now that you've gone through all that, I think you are ready for us to go over some of the devices you can use to combat these problems.
Chapter 2: Protection Devices
Surge Protectors
Probably the most misunderstood of all the devices listed, a surge protector is basically what its name implies. A funny and little known fact about surge proctors is that after an average lifespan of 1.5 years, they die. But please, before you post a reply about your power bar having lasted 10 years, read on. Most power bars are purchased for $10 or less at a Wal-Mart or equal quality store. These power bars however have a dark and dangerous secret: they trip out and DO NOT TELL YOU. A slightly better quality one comes with an LED indicator usually under the on/off switch, which will alert you when it has been tripped. It often does so by blinking repeatedly. It will still function as a multiple-outlet bar, but will not continue to provide any protection. Finally, the highest quality surge protectors will feature a 'reset' button which allows them to continue to provide functionality after a surge.
Cost: $5-$30
Line Conditioners
A clear step up from the surge protector is the line conditioner. They generally have all the same features as surge protectors, but with one important enhancement: they have at _least_ one filter on them to eliminate line noise. Doing this ensures you get a much smoother electric flow and lets your power supply do its job with less stress and significantly enhanced reliability. A good line conditioner for general enthusiast computing use would be in the range of $100, though those of you with advanced cooling or bleeding-edge systems may consider upgrading to something up to $200. In my honest opinion, anything much over that is a waste in most home computer applications.
Also worth noting: while line conditioners are great things to have, please don't go overboard. Yes, your computer is amazing with it's many Gigabootz of power... but you don't need to find a line conditioner with a specialized high-current subwoofer outlet for it. High-quality devices with such specialized outputs have special filtering circuitry specifically designed for their respective purposes, and you will find that plugging into such an outlet will not offer a device that does not fit into that niche does not offer any added benefit (it would likely offer less quality than plugging into an outlet made for digital devices).
Cost: $100 - $1800 [depending on joule rating, quality, and features]
Power Regulators
An AC power regulator is basically a large, often overpriced device designed to supply you with a constant voltage amount. While they protect well against surges and even prolonged sags, it should be noted that one must still use a line conditioner in addition, because they do nothing for noise (generally). Though it sounds like a spiffy add-on to your system, I have a very hard time justifying the cost given the almost negligible benefit in contrast to other options at similar price points.
Cost: $300 - $2200 ($1000+ suggested)
UPS - Uninterruptable Power Supplies
Although I could easily devote an entire post to UPS's, we'll just cover the basics here. Basically, these are surge protectors with built-in batteries in case of blackouts. In days gone by these batteries would often not come on fast enough for a computer, but now that switching is so fast that your computer is unaware it ever took place. There are many things to look for in a UPS, the two most important of which are:
1. It's power rating. No use in having a UPS that won't supply enough power to let you do a clean shutdown.
2. Intelligence. UPS's are coming with an increasing amount of 'intelligence'. Now a person can pick up even a relatively cheap model and connect it via USB to their computer. This will allow them to monitor the condition of the battery, current line conditions, and will also let the UPS shut down your computer for you in the event you are away and something happens.
One important thing to remember about a UPS is that the batteries do have to be replaced. How often is dependant on the type of battery and the amount of use it's had (more is actually better, to a point). These replacements are not generally that expensive, usually around the price of a replacement car battery (which is actually what a lot of these use).
Finally though, I would like to make one final point about UPS’s; unless you purchase an 'online' UPS (one that is constantly on and constantly recharging itself) or one which specifically states otherwise, these do NOTHING for line noise at all… and the quality of noise filtering on most lower- to mid-priced models is questionable (if a good line filter costs $100 minimum alone, how is that plus an intelligently managed battery selling for under $80?).
Cost: $30 - $100 000+ (don't cheap out though - expect to pay at least $100)
Chapter 3: How much difference does it really make?
In terms of hurting your computer, you definitely need a surge protector as a minimum. Above that, I leave it to your discretion, but the more you live on the edge the more I suggest in investing. Electrical damage is the #2 reason for computer failure (after hard drives), and can be very hard to trace. As a point of fact, feedback line noise is actually the #1 current reason that plasma televisions die so early... and beating out heat can be a hard thing on something that runs that toasty. Just proof positive that line noise = bad for sensitive electronics.
After going through all that I bet at least some of you are wondering how much getting a line conditioner really helps with line noise, so I thought I would post a few test results. For this test, I compared 3 of my favorite entry-level power line devices: a basic Monster brand power bar, a Monster brand stage-1 line filter, and a Monster brand stage-2 filter. To keep it fair none of these devices have anything else plugged in to them, unless specified. My tool to do this was actually supplied by the Monster cable company, and is basically just a sensitivity device that outputs line noise as decibels on an LCD screen and also gives you an audible representation as well. With dB in this case, lower is better.
Household Appliance Jack:
-> Used to calibrate the line noise display to ~100dB (+/- 8dB), just to get a convenient reference number.*
Monster Power Bar:
- Displays ~100dB (+/- 8dB), the same as any house outlet.*
Monster Stage-1 Line Conditioner:
- Displays a relative line noise of ~14dB (+/- 2dB)
Monster Stage-2 Line Conditioner:
- Displays a relative line noise of ~.1dB (+/- .1dB)
*Note: In the event that these numbers did not help convince someone, I would like to make one last addendum to this guide. That is that with the household jack and the non-filtered power bar, the line noise was so prevalent that I could actually hear a local radio station coming in over the audible output, through the static. It was undetectable on either filtered outlet.
I hope you have found this enlightening. If you have any questions, please post them here and I (or someone else) will be happy to try to answer them for you.
~ Serra
17
« on: December 19, 2007, 11:42:44 AM »
Intel to delay launch of three 45nm quad-core CPUs http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20071218PD212.htmlMonica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 19 December 2007] Intel has recently adjusted its product strategy and will postpone three 45nm quad-core CPUs that were originally scheduled to launch in January next year, according to sources at motherboard makers. Intel has already notified its partners that it will push back the launch of the three CPUs to February or March next year, depending on AMD's schedule for triple-core and the upcoming Phenom CPUs. Launching the CPUs now will not benefit Intel much in its battle with AMD, while they could cause damage to Intel's 65nm quad-core CPUs, therefore the company has decided it is in no rush to release new products until AMD is able to present more of a threat. The three CPUs that Intel plans to delay are the Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550, added the sources. Intel commented that its launch of 45nm quad-core CPUs for desktops is on track for first quarter 2008, but declined to disclose a specific time-frame.
18
« on: December 16, 2007, 10:32:03 PM »
19
« on: December 12, 2007, 07:25:17 PM »
Yup, calculate what power you need in your psu for your setup. it's very accurate and updated constantly, can calculate for oc's as well. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jspremember that over a year in our temps you get a 5-10% power loss from the psu.
20
« on: December 11, 2007, 02:57:27 PM »
|
Show Posts
