AMD's "Sweet Spot" GPU strategy over the last few years has been fairly predictable. Instead of producing the biggest, most powerful GPU possible--yields be damned--the company sets out to produce a relatively high-end GPU, using a cutting edge fabrication process, that hits a proverbial sweet spot between cost and performance. Then derivatives, and... Read More
NVIDIA is launching a new mainstream graphics card today, aimed squarely at consumers in the market for a relatively low-cost upgrade from an integrated graphics solution or older entry-level GPU. The new GeForce GT 240, features a GPU outfitted with 96 processor cores, 8 ROP units, and 32 texture filtering units. In addition, the GT 240 GPU is manufactured... Read More
It's rare we get genuinely excited around here about a product. To be honest, likely we're spoiled by all the bleeding-edge technology we have the great opportunity to look at week in and week out. Or perhaps it's just that we're jaded a bit and have heard one too many marketing pitches, but truth be told it takes a lot to get us fired up about a new... Read More
About a year ago, Lucid started making waves in the graphics space with claims of being able to revolutionize multi-GPU computing. It promised consumers the ability to add any graphics card, unrestricted by model or vendor, to an existing set up and achieve highly efficient load balancing with near linear performance increases. This option presumably... Read More
Windows 7 is upon us, and with the launch of Microsoft's self-proclaimed "best operating system" comes a slew of new desktop machines, notebooks, and netbooks looking to take advantage of its added stability and features. One of the companies that is looking to serve up a number of new Win7-based rigs is Asus, and without a doubt they have assembled... Read More
There's no denying that the Motorola DROID is receiving a lot of hype. Not only is this phone a big deal for Motorola, who has struggled to produce widely successful handsets since the famous RAZR flip phone, but the DROID is also the first handset that will be released as part of a partnership between Google and Verizon Wireless. Combine this with... Read More
We're seeing more and more CULV notebooks hit the market these days. The growing sector of Consumer Ultra Low Voltage machines attempts to bridge the gap between lower cost netbooks and full-size notebooks, offering a more powerful chip than the ubiquitous Atom options we see in netbooks, but one that consumes less power than the mainstream Core 2 Duo... Read More
August marked the launch of AMD's current flagship desktop processor, the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. Today, we have a fresh revision of this CPU that brings some new features to the table. Unfortunately, these new aspects do not improve stock performance of the 3.4GHz quad-core chip. Instead, they tweak it in other areas that many enthusiasts care... Read More
Whenever I build a system, I always build it with one eye towards the future. I like to think that I’ll upgrade the system over time. Maybe I’ll swap in a new CPU, maybe a new graphics card, upgrade the RAM, etc. But these days, it’s not so easy.I can’t remember a time when the upgrade picture has been so confusing. Just think of the situation as it... Read More
Although the Core i7 and X58 combo is a proven performance leader, there are still plenty of Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad CPUs out there in the wild. The Core 2 is still a very capable processor with many models costing less than half the price the cheapest Core i7 processor, the Core i7 920. Thus, systems based around the P45 chipset are still a viable... Read More