Podcast #190 - PCAudioLabs system giveaway, the future of NAND Memory, potential Ivy Bridge delays and more!

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | February 23, 2012 - 04:10 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: Thinkpad, podcast, piledriver, nvidia, Ivy Bridge, Intel, gpu, cpu, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #190 - 02/23/2012

Join us this week as we talk about a PCAudioLabs system giveaway, the future of NAND Memory, potential Ivy Bridge delays and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:24:53

Program Schedule: 

1. 0:00:31 Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
5. 0:01:45 Intel, PCAudioLabs and PC Perspective Rok Box System Sweepstakes!!
6. 0:03:45 How We Review Laptops At PC Perspective
7. 0:05:30 MSI Graphics Card Division Interview: Alex Chang Takes our Q's
8. 0:09:10 Lenovo ThinkPad T420 Review: Kickin' It Old School
9. 0:12:00 NAND Flash Memory - A Future Not So Bleak After All
10. 0:27:15 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
    
11. 0:28:30 Mass Effect 3 is Coming, Pre-Order Now and Get Battlefield 3 (PC) Free
12. 0:31:00 Intel may delay shipments of Ivy Bridge processors
13. 0:35:10 VIA teams with Tensilica to roll their own SSD controller
14. 0:40:53 HP dates NVIDIA on Valentine's Day. We get Z1 workstation.
15. 0:46:30 Wi-Fi on Rosepoint SoC die. Intel flexes before ARM wrestle.
16. 0:51:15 Of Near Threshold Voltage and Atomic Transistors
17. 0:55:15 AMD and Cyclos reduces clock power usage with Piledriver
18. 1:04:00 Intel becomes a 22nm foundry -- yes, for other people.
19. 1:11:35 Contest Reminder - http://pcper.com/contest
20. 1:11:55 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: IKEA DIODER + HOLY AWESOME https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LmEQUm1PUXU/T0W8e-KQz0I/AAAAAAAAYNA/XB64fVxgLvo/w402/engagement.jpg
    2. Ken: SUPAboy
    3. Jeremy: Hardware Leaderboard
    1. Josh: Get it while you still can!
    2. Allyn: Nintendo 1982 Game & Watch Donkey Kong (counter to Ken's pick)
21. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
22. http://pcper.com/podcast   
23. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
24. Closing

Windows Defender at risk of antitrust for Windows 8?

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | February 21, 2012 - 01:21 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: antivirus, windows 8

Imagine if it were illegal for a dominant homebuilder to sell a house with locks on the door to be fair to the market of locksmiths?

The legality of Microsoft’s planned upgrades to its Windows Defender security suite has been questioned in an article up at ZDNet Asia. While the article itself is very correct in its analysis of the situation it does implicitly ask at what point a market should be obsolete.

Does it really protect consumers to intentionally unbundle security from a core application? Is it better to unbundle security to promote an industry worth of companies with products designed to successfully do little more than alert you when a breach has occurred?

Industry status - Not Protected

Despite the wording of the above three paragraphs, the answer actually is not simple. There is a lot of merit to disallowing the bundling of internal security applications and protect the antivirus industry.

Ponder this, what if Microsoft’s system was really bad? Would promoting competition ultimately drive for a stronger and more secure product in the end? Or alternatively, would the pressure from the attackers themselves be sufficient competition to not need to protect antivirus companies?

It really is an interesting problem when you look into it. What do you think? The comments await, and registration is not required to voice your opinion.

Gabe Newell gets Steamed up over piracy discussions

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | February 20, 2012 - 08:08 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: valve, piracy, Gabe Newell

Ben Kuchera of Penny Arcade caught an interview with Valve Software’s managing director and co-founder, Gabe Newell. The topics were quite typical for a Gabe Newell interview and involve working at Valve, the future of gaming, and DRM. Gabe also joined the beard club; welcome Gabe!

Photo Credit: Giant Bomb

A little over halfway through the interview, Penny Arcade asked Gabe whether they believe that they sidestepped the problems of used games and piracy with Steam. Gabe instead responded to the premise of the question, rather than the question itself:

You know, I get fairly frustrated when I hear how the issue is framed in a lot of cases. To us it seems pretty obvious that people always want to treat it as a pricing issue, that people are doing this because they can get it for free and so we just need to create these draconian DRM systems or ani-piracy(sic) systems, and that just really doesn’t match up with the data.

This quote echoes a problem I have had with the piracy discussion for quite some time. The main problem with the concept of piracy is that people wish to frame it in a context that seems intuitive to them rather than experiment to discover what actually occurs. Piracy is seen as a problem which must be controlled. This logic is fundamentally flawed because piracy is not itself a problem but rather a measurement of potential problems.

Gabe continues with an anecdote of a discussion between a company who used third-party DRM for their title and himself:

Recently I was in a meeting and there’s a company that had a third party DRM solution and we showed them look, this is what happens, at this point in your life cycle your DRM got hacked, right? Now let’s look at the data, did your sales change at all? No, your sales didn’t change one bit. Right? So here’s before and after, here’s where you have DRM that annoys your customers and causing huge numbers of support calls and in theory you would think that you would see a huge drop off in sales after that got hacked, and instead there was absolutely no difference in sales before or after. You know, and then we tell them you actually probably lost a whole bunch of sales as near as we can tell, here’s how much money you lost by bundling that with your product.

Gabe highlights what a business should actually be concerned with: increasing your measurement of revenue and profits, rather than decreasing your measurement of piracy. You as a company could simply not develop products and completely kill piracy, but that would also entirely kill your revenue as you would have nothing to gain revenue from.

Before we begin to discuss piracy, the very first step is that we need to frame it as what it really is: a measurement. While violating terms of a license agreement is in fact wrong, if you focus your business on what is right or wrong you will go broke.

If you believe that there is value in preventing non-paying users from using your product then you will only hurt yourself (and if SOPA/PIPA taught us anything, innocent adjacent companies). It is possible that the factors which contribute to piracy also contribute to your revenue positively as well as potentially negatively. It is also entirely possible that increased piracy could be a measurement of a much bigger problem: your business practices.

You know, it’s a really bad idea to start off on the assumption that your customers are on the other side of some sort of battle with you. I really don’t think that is either accurate or a really good business strategy ((…)) we’ve run all of these experiments, you know, this has been going on for many years now and we all can look at what the outcomes are and there really isn’t – there are lots of compelling instances where making customers – you know, giving customers a great experience and thinking of ways to create value for them is way more important than making it incredibly hard for the customers to move their products from one machine to another.

Podcast #189 - AMD Radeon HD 7750 and 7770, Mechanical Keyboards from Rosewill, Windows on ARM and more!

Subject: Editorial | February 16, 2012 - 03:49 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: WOA, rosewill, podcast, nvidia, Intel, gpu, cpu, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #189 - 02/16/2012

Join us this week as we talk about AMD Radeon HD 7750 and 7770, Mechanical Keyboards from Rosewill, Windows on ARM and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:18:31

Program Schedule:

1. 0:00:29 Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
5. 0:01:45 AMD Radeon HD 7770 and 7750 Cape Verde GPU Review
6. 0:20:15 Rosewill Second Generation Mechanical Keyboard Review: RK-9000, RK-9000BR, RK-9000BL, RK-9000RE
7. 0:23:20 ASUS Transformer Prime TF201 Keyboard Dock Review
8. 0:25:45 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
9. 0:27:45 WOA! We wanted Windows 8 on ARM details. We got them.
10. 0:31:00 Intel Haswell Processors To Launch In First Half of 2013
11. 0:37:25 CTO Eric Demers to Leave AMD
12. 0:41:15 OCZ Launches Z-Drive R4 CloudServ 16TB Solid State Storage System
13. 0:46:00 Asustek? Your Ultrabook orders are ah pulled.
14. 0:48:25 Take that Moore! Electron beam etching set to take us to the 10nm process
15. 1:00:55 Email from James
16. 1:02:45 Email from Dave
17. 1:05:45 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: HINGES!!!  YouTube video 
    2. Jeremy: SilverSands Active Directories Migration tool
    1. Josh: Apparently quite fun.
    2. Allyn: NewerTech Power2U
18. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
19. http://pcper.com/podcast   
20. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
21. Closing

CTO Eric Demers to Leave AMD

Subject: Editorial, Graphics Cards | February 14, 2012 - 02:13 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: demers, cto, amd

An interesting quarter for AMD continues as I learned today that AMD's Corporate Vice President and CTO of the Graphics Business Unit, Eric Demers, has decided to leave the company.  Having just had dinner with Eric and other AMD executives last week I am more than surprised about this sudden change since Demers' opinions of the roadmap for AMD were very positive.

First, here is the official statement from AMD:

"Eric Demers, AMD Corporate Vice President and CTO, Graphics Business Unit, has decided leave AMD to pursue other opportunities.

AMD Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster will assume interim responsibility for the Graphics Business Unit CTO role until a replacement is found.

AMD remains fully committed to our critical graphics IP development and discrete GPU products.  We have a tremendous depth of talent in our organization, a game plan that is resonating with our customers and our team, and we are continuing to bring graphics-performance-leading products to market.  We will attract the right technology leader for this role.

We thank Eric for his contributions to the business and wish him well in his future endeavors."

As is usually the case with these types of announcements, everyone is being very hush-hush about where Demers will finally land though I can confirm that it is neither Intel nor NVIDIA.  For those of you in the know about the industry and its current direction, that doesn't leave a lot of other options and we are quite positive he will find a spot that fits his expertise.  

Eric's background goes back quite a ways and includes stops at SGI, ArtX, Matrox, ATI and finally AMD.  He has been with ATI/AMD since April of 2000 (when David Orton first arrived from ATI) and rose to become the Chief Technology Officer of the graphics division as of mid-2009.  I have personally known Eric as one of the best sources of knowledge about GPUs and technology shifts and I will miss being able to question him on the design decisions being made in our industry.

For AMD, this move comes right after the drastic shift announced by AMD's new CEO Rory Read and new CTO Mark Papermaster to turn AMD into an SoC company.  I attended that same analyst day and came away from the event feeling upbeat about the direction of the company and the individuals at the helm, Demers being one of them.  The loss of Eric's talents will definitely be missed though with the rest of the team intact I don't think we'll see any immediate negative impacts from his departure.  Longer term though, we'll just have to see.  

The AMD rep I spoke with reiterated that this move had nothing to do with the newly hired executives and wasn't caused by any kind of internal disagreements.  Also, Demers did not express any kind of dissatisfaction with the direction of the company from a technological standpoint either.  While that is good to hear, you just don't leave a company after 12+ years without some reasons even if that reason is a better opportunity somewhere else.

Update on 2/14/2012 @ 11:53pm EST: According to this update from TheVerge.com, Demers may in fact end up at Qualcomm, the largest SoC vendor on the planet.  

We're hearing rumors that Demers will actually show up for work at Qualcomm, an interesting choice indeed: the company purchased AMD's mobile graphics division and Imageon media processor back in 2009. You now know it as Qualcomm Adreno, and it's the graphics solution in all Snapdragon-powered tablets and phones.

Happy VAD from the Hewletts

Subject: Editorial | February 14, 2012 - 12:06 PM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: Valentine's Day, Kate Hewlett, David Hewlett, Assassidate

Last week David Hewlett was kind enough to drop by for our Podcast on TWiT, and this week he has put the finishing touches on his latest webisode from the Assassidate series!  In honor of Valentine's Day, David and his sister Kate explore the dark underbelly of the Valentine Annihilation Group and the giving of inappropriate cards and gifts.

AMD Verdetrol 1GHz Prescription Pills Arrive at PC Perspective

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards | February 9, 2012 - 08:48 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: amd, radeon, southern islands

Working from home comes with a host of stereotypes and assumptions that the rest of world places on people like myself.  I am often accused of working in my underwear, not showering through day-long stretches, not working and instead playing games all day and of course, being a drug dealer.  And NOTHING perpetuates that vision from the outside world like an overnight UPS package arriving with the sound of rattling pills inside.  This is what greeted me after my delivering smirked away:

In preparation for an upcoming graphics launch AMD thought up a pretty interesting marketing campaign geared around a "Verdetrol 1GHz" drug that will apparently help the reviewing community "enhance performance".  Hmph.

Actually contained within are 28 jelly beans (get it, 28nm???) of a flavor I can't quite detect though I am guessing they are somehow related to this.  And of course, these pills are for "external use only" - a healthy warning.

The telephone number is listed as 905-555-7770 so you can probably guess what the hubbub is all about.

And while the directions state to take one tablet daily by fan intake, we were never one to conform.

Podcast #188 - Featuring David Hewlett - White Space Wireless, AMD and NVIDIA GPU roadmaps, Hard Drives with lasers and more!

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | February 9, 2012 - 04:08 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: wireless, whitespace, ssd, podcast, nvidia, mdt, intel 520, Intel, gpu, APU, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #188 - 02/09/2012

Join us this week as we talk about White Space Wireless, AMD and NVIDIA GPU roadmaps, Hard Drives with lasers and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Allyn Malvantano, and David Hewlett

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:44:27

Program Schedule:

1. Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
5. 0:01:30 Introduction with David
   1. Okay, seriously, how nerdy are you really?
   2. What kind of hardware systems and specs do you have?
   3. What games are you playing today?  
6. 0:13:25 AMD Processor and GPU Roadmaps Through 2013
7. 0:28:30 Galaxy MDT GeForce GT 520 Graphics Card Review
8. 0:32:00 Intel 520 Series SSD Full Review - SandForce on Steroids?
9. 0:43:00 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
   
10. 0:45:05 White Space Wireless Discussion
    1. Links for reference: - Wikipedia, US Radio Spectrum Chart (2003), 
11. 0:56:00 Increased Hard Drive Write Speed and Density - Using Frickin' Lasers
12. 1:02:00 An academic collaboration leads to a GPU/CPU collaboration
13. 1:07:25 AMD shows 18mm thin reference ultrathin notebook based on Trinity
14. 1:11:05 Tablets / Ultrabooks in Schools
    1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204369404577209142710109710.html
15. 1:16:45 NVIDIA Kepler Graphics Cards Lineup Leak To Web
16. 1:22:30 PC Perspective Office Tour - Feb 6th, 2012
17. 1:26:40 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: Just in time for Valentine's Day...
    2. Jeremy: Now that's how you make a contest!
    1. Josh: Just got one for the wife. For great justice.
    2. Allyn: ioSafe SoloPRO
    3. David: Samsung Flexible Displays
18. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
19. http://pcper.com/podcast   
20. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
21. Closing

David Hewlett Joins PCPer for an Evening

Subject: Editorial | February 8, 2012 - 10:10 AM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: Ryan Shrout, podcast, PC Perspective, Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom, David Hewlett, Allyn Malventano

The Feb. 8 PC Perspective show on TWiT will feature special guest host David Hewlett.  David is most famously known as Dr. Rodney McKay from the Stargate television series (one of the few actors to actually show up in all three series).  He also directed, produced, and starred in the indy hit, "A Dog's Breakfast".

David is a self-proclaimed nerd and geek with a keen interest in technology.  In his misspent youth he would build his own computers and attempt some assembly coding (with limited success).  After achieving much greater success in the acting world he switched over to Macs once they adopted their current Unix/BSD based operating system.  A proud owner of a Macbook Air, iPhone, and iPad, 

Current interests include the new "white space" wireless technologies, iPad in schools, and new distribution models for TV and film through primarily online media.  David has also started a new web series with his sister, Kate Hewlett, called "Assassidate".  Currently one episode is online and the next two are in production.

David will be sharing his opinions and insights on the changing focus of technology in an increasingly mobile and connected world.  He will be piping in on several of our articles, especially that of AMD's changing focus for their upcoming products.  He might even chime in on the plight of Matthew in Season 2 of Downton Abbey.  That's just the way he rolls.

So join us all at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT at http://live.twit.tv (or just use the widget below!) on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 for this very special show!  DH-Day -1!

You can follow David on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dhewlett.

PC Perspective Office Tour - Feb 6th, 2012

Subject: Editorial | February 6, 2012 - 11:00 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: pcper, office tour

Since we started talking about plans for the brand new PC Perspective office on the podcast I had some requests to keep readers in the loop as to how construction and installation were progressing.  While I forgot to take a video before the walls came down, Ken and I stopped running Cat 6 cable long enough to take a short video and walk you through where we stand today.

You won't see much but some networking, drywall, ceiling and electrical work being done but if you want an idea of how the process is all starting, this is first look at our new studio and testing office!

If you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

Podcast #187 - Our thoughts on Ultrabooks, the Radeon HD 7950, ASUS DirectCU GTX cards, and more!

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | February 2, 2012 - 03:11 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: ssd, sandforce, radeon, podcast, patriot, nvidia, Intel, gtx, arm, amd, 7950

PC Perspective Podcast #187 - 02/02/2012

Join us this week as we talk about our thoughts on Ultrabooks, the Radeon HD 7950, ASUS DirectCU GTX cards, and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 58:02

Program Schedule:

1. 0:00:40 Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
5. 0:01:20 Ultrabooks: Intel Knows What's Good For You
6. 0:08:30 Patriot Pyro and Wildfire SSD Review - IMFT Async vs. Toshiba Toggle-mode Flash
7. 0:14:20 AMD Radeon HD 7950 3GB Graphics Card Review
8. 0:25:50 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
   
9. 0:26:38 Asus DirectCU II Roundup: ENGTX560, ENGTX570, and ENGTX580 Review
10. 0:40:35 Raspberry Pi Linux Computer Will Have Fast GPU For The Price
11. 0:44:20 If you thought Intel did well wait until you see ARM
12. 0:47:00 AMD 7700 and 7800 Release Dates Leak To Web
13. 0:51:20 Live Blog: AMD Financial Analyst Day
14. 0:52:20 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: Radeon HD 7950 Cards
    2. Jeremy: I'm giddy as a schoolgirl, albeit a very mercenary one
    1. Josh: And it is on sale! $770 off!
    2. Allyn: Corsair Force 3 - very good pricing.
15. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
16. http://pcper.com/podcast   
17. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
18. Closing

Live Blog: AMD Financial Analyst Day

Subject: Editorial, Graphics Cards, Processors | February 2, 2012 - 12:31 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: reports, gpu, fad, cpu, APU, analyst, amd

Consider this fair warning: tomorrow here at PC Perspective you will learn the future of AMD.  Sound over dramatic?  We don't think so.  After a pretty interesting year in 2011 for the company and AMD has said on several occasions that this year's Financial Analyst Day was going to reveal a lot about what the future holds for them on the GPU, CPU and APU front.  

Hopefully we will learn what AMD plans to do after the cancelation of the second-generation of ultra lower power APUs, how important discrete graphics will be going forward and what life there is for the processor architecture after Bulldozer.  

We will be in Sunnyvale at the AMD campus covering the event and we will be holding a live blog at the same time...right here.  The event starts at 9am PST on February 2nd, aso be sure you set your calendars and bookmark this page for all the news!!

Happy Birthday Frank Miller!

Subject: Editorial | January 27, 2012 - 06:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: friday

It has been a while since we revisited our Forum members favourite antivirus programs, which is rectified by this thread right here.  In the Networking Forum you may find a brand new favourite storage device from iOmega, even if the dreaded 'Cloud' word is used.  Over in the Processor Forum you can get some good upgrade advice ... as in some times you don't need to unless you only use the machine for synthetic benchmarking.  Other times, the upgrade is very much worth it as long as you choose the right part for the job.

If you are a gamer and a PCPer and have yet to join the Fraggin' Frogs, shame on you!  Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 8PM Eastern time you will find them playing a random game; right now it is a good chance of BF3 on the PCPer server.  When you aren't gaming, have you considered joining up with the Folding Frogs or one of our BOINC teams and donate your spare CPU cycles to cure cancer, spot pulsars or even help chug data from the LHC?   If you'd rather generate heat of a different sort, the current GOP candidate race has the Lightning Round sparking.   Remember, the more you post the more people will read and join in on the discussions on our forums, positive feedback in the most literal sense!

Podcast #186 - Gigabyte GTX 580 Super OC, Intel and AMD Results, Kepler Rumors and more!

Subject: Editorial | January 26, 2012 - 05:10 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, podcast, kepler, Intel, HD 7970, GTX 580, gigabyte, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #186 - 01/26/2012

Join us this week as we talk about a Gigabyte GTX 580 Super Overclock card, how much money Intel and AMD made (or didn't make), Kepler rumors, HD 7970 stock and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:02:56

Program Schedule:

1. Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
5. Puget Systems Genesis I Sandy Bridge-E Workstation Review
6. Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB Super Overclock - Last Hurrah for Fermi
7. Intel Reports Massive Q4 and Yearly Earnings
8. AMD Announces Q4 2011 Results
9. Are AMD's Southern Islands about to be swamped by a Kepler tidal wave?
10. LaCie's Little Big Disk now comes in Thunderbolt
11. AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB Cards In Stock - For Now
12. AMD Catalyst 12.1 and AMD Catalyst 12.2 Preview drivers
13. Email from Scott
14. Email from Branden
15. Email from abouechot an Intel SRT "hack"
16. Voicemail about memory qualification on X79
17. Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: MAINGEAR EPIC T1000 Thermal Cooling Solution
    2. Jeremy: Remember MakerBot and RepRap?  Well, 3D printing keeps getting better
    1. Josh: I love memory.
    2. Allyn: Logitech c920 WIIIDE SCREEEEN
18. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
19. http://pcper.com/podcast   
20. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
21. Closing

RIP Etta James, your voice will be missed

Subject: Editorial | January 20, 2012 - 06:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: friday

It has been a while since we last visited the PC Perspective Forums, what with the holidays and CES taking up large amounts of time, so it is only proper to take a look at what has been going on.  One member is having troubles with their gaming rig, not during gaming though, only when trying to watch Netflix, while another has been tasked to build a secure connection between a Doctor's office and a remote server. 

If you are looking to build a high end system, check out this mega-post covering the setup and performance of a Core i7-3960 and GIGABYTE G1.Assassin2 utilizing Intel's self contained watercooler.  The Processor Forum has threads pointing out the limited benefits of switching an i7-920 for an i5-2500K while the Cases'n'Cooling Forum features a Cooler Master Storm Enforcer which has been modded into an homage to Dead Space 2.  There is also an in depth look at how to make your own 3 bay, 5 drive adapter. 

The Audio forum offers up some suggestions to a user with broken leads on their motherboard while in the Storage Forum the imminent death of a Caviar Black drive is discussed.  Our Small Form Factor Forum has plenty of discussion about tablets and the Trading Post is stuffed with new For Sale threads.  Head on over to the Forums and see what you can learn, teach or both!

Podcast #185 - ASUS EeePad Transformer Prime, an overclocked XFX HD7970, AMDs Lightning Bolt and more!

Subject: Editorial | January 19, 2012 - 07:05 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: podcast, Intel, amd, ssd, hdd, nvidia, kepler, GK104, gpu, cpu

PC Perspective Podcast #185 - 01/19/2011

Join us this week as we talk about the ASUS EeePad Transformer Prime, an overclocked XFX HD7970, AMDs Lightning Bolt and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Jeremy Hellstrom, and Allyn Malvantano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:25:22

Program Schedule:

1. 0:00:26 Introduction
2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
3. http://pcper.com/podcast
4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
5. 0:00:55 SOPA and PIPA Chat...
6. 0:06:35 ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime Review: Thinner, Faster
7. 0:07:23 Acer Extensa 5420 Retrospective Review: How Far Have We Come?
   
8. 0:10:15 Corsair Hydro Series H100 Liquid CPU Cooler Review
9. 0:11:10 Video Perspective: Cooler Master Cosmos II Case Review
10. 0:14:00 XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Black Edition and CrossFire Results
11. 0:22:45 AMD and IBM inside the Xbox Next?
12. 0:31:30 Lucid Cloud Gaming (VGWare) and XLR8 on Tablets Demo
13. 0:44:55 Nvidia May Launch GF104 "Kepler" GPUs Ahead Of Schedule
14. 0:51:00 AMD Lightning Bolt Strikes At Intel's Thunderbolt
15. 0:53:00 AMD Countering Ultrabooks With Ultrathin Notebooks
16. 0:55:00 Random Storage stuff at CES? also this link
17. 1:05:00 Alienware X51 Desktop -- Console Sized PC, $700 and up.
18. 1:10:30 Email from Tom about 7970 CrossFire
19. 1:13:34 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: Behringer XENYX 802
    2. Jeremy: EVGA SR-X
    1. Josh: Decent and cheap for the AMD enthusiast:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103962
    2. Allyn: Mophie Juice Pack Powerstation, oh, and my current house rep is my anti-pick
20. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
21. http://pcper.com/podcast   
22. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
23. Closing 

CES Day 4 Podcast - 1/11/2012

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | January 12, 2012 - 11:04 AM | Ken Addison
Tagged: ultrabook, razer, podcast, nvidia, Intel, CES, amd

PC Perspective CES 2012 Day 4 - 1/11/12

Join us tonight as we talk about our final full day of CES 2012 - including yet more Ultrabooks, New products from Razer, and our closing thoughts on this years show.

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Matt Smith and Allyn Malventano

PC Perspective's CES 2012 coverage is sponsored by MSI Computer.

Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!

CES 2012 Day 3 Podcast - 1/10/2012

Subject: Editorial | January 11, 2012 - 08:36 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: ssd, podcast, ocz, nvidia, Intel, gpu, CES, amd

PC Perspective CES 2012 Day 3 - 1/10/12

Join us tonight as we talk about our third full day of CES 2012 - including a new entry level Corsair Case, a Thunderbolt external GPU enclosure, and Ivy Bridge motherboards!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

• iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
• RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
• MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Josh Walrath, Matt Smith and Allyn Malventano

PC Perspective's CES 2012 coverage is sponsored by MSI Computer.

Follow all of our coverage of the show at http://pcper.com/ces!