Podcast #181 - Hybrid Storage Roundup, the ASUS US36SD-XA1 notebook, News of the week and more!

Subject: Editorial | December 8, 2011 - 05:44 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: revodrive hybrid, podcast, nvidia, notebook, Intel, hybrid, asus, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #181 - 12/08/2011

Join us this week as we talk about our Hybrid Storage Roundup, the ASUS US36SD-XA1 notebook, News of the week 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: 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: 1:03:02

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. 0:02:05 Hybrid Storage Roundup: Seagate Momentus XT vs. OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid vs. Intel Z68
6. 0:15:20 ASUS U36SD-XA1 Notebook Review: The Battery That Never Dies
7. 0:21:00 Video Perspective: AMD A8-3850 vs Intel Core i3-2105 Gaming Comparison
8. 0:24:20 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
   
9. 0:25:12 ASRock Z68 Extreme 7 Gen 3 LGA 1155 Motherboard Review
10. 0:27:15 Asus GeForce Direct CU II Series Reviews
11. 0:28:16 Intel, Micron double single-chip flash capacity
12. 0:33:46 Mobile madness minus benchmarks; new mobile GPUs from AMD & NVIDIA
13. 0:40:39 Ivy Bridge should be here by the spring
14. 0:46:05 Chrome passes Firefox and is now the 2nd most used browser
15. 0:49:50 It's a bit early for 11.12, but how about Catalyst 11.11c?
16. 0:51:15 Memorieeessssss lots of memoriesssss
17. 0:55:06 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Jeremy: Twine ... so called physical computing; made easy
    1. Josh: Treat yourself for Christmas with a new vid card and game
    2. Allyn: Ready Player One - (Audiobook)
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

Did you know that actor Harrison Ford died 54 years ago, today?

Subject: Editorial | December 2, 2011 - 05:28 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: friday

Nobody said that the PC Perspective Forums can only be about PCs, for instance this thread looking for advice on a power amp is music to our ears.  Perhaps instead of a PC problem you have an issue with a DNS forwarding issue or there is always this thread.  Of course, PCs and the problems they have are a much more common topic, from older motherboards that might be showing their age to an indepth look at brand new ITX motherboard.  You can even get tips on reducing your computers power consumption. 

In the Cases'n'Cooling Forum you can check out a members new case mod project and in the Gaming Forum you can check out what The Fragging Frogs are playing.  The Lightning Round is geared up for the upcoming US elections and the Trading Post is a great resource for Christmas presents.  You should also check out the PC Perspective Podcast right now and share it with several friends or we will start taking forever to upload the video again!

Algorithms, Voxels, and Octrees - Oh my indeed!

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards | December 2, 2011 - 03:45 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: nvidia

Even back around 2005 when the rush was still getting higher and higher resolutions to fill the finally high-resolution TVs, I always assumed that the next trail blazed in the graphics war would be lighting. Lighting is a complicated process which we are all very accustomed to it being done perfectly due to our living in the real world. Technologies such as Unreal Lightmass, PureLight, and Autodesk Beast have created more realistic lighting profiles that account for multiple bounces but cannot change in games like Mirror’s Edge. Battlefield 3, thanks to Geomerics, is one of the first games to take this problem on in semi real time such that if you alter a light the indirect lighting changes with it. The advancement does not stop there according to a recent NVIDIA blog which details research into better real time lighting.

That hand has got to be illegal in all 50 states.

P.S. -- For a 3d Technology company, just 480p Youtube -- really?

While the blog is quite vague in how the technology actually is producing its results, those results appear to be quite spectacular in quality. Unfortunately, while the quality looks amazing for being rendered at 25-70 FPS, there is no mention of what system is required to achieve those 25-70 FPS. Back to the vagueness: the demonstration is apparently not being performed upon triangular meshes relying on voxels instead. According to their explanation, their second lighting bounce is approximated to a single cone rather than multiple rays. If I understand their cone method enough, this approximation is incapable by design of expanding to third bounces and beyond; it appears to be a simplification that falls out of restricting yourself to just two lighting bounces in a voxel environment.

Regardless of when and how it will influence our technology; does the demonstration excite you for technologies to come? Place your predictions in the comments.

Podcast #180 - NVIDIA GTX560 Ti 448 Core, OCZ Octane 512GB SSD, Battlefield 3 Laptop performance and more!

Subject: Editorial | December 1, 2011 - 04:07 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: ssd, podcast, ocz, Octane, nvidia, Intel, battlefield 3, amd, 560ti 448

PC Perspective Podcast #180 - 12/01/2011

Join us this week as we talk about the NVIDIA GTX560 Ti 448 Core, OCZ Octane 512GB SSD, Battlefield 3 Laptop performance 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

Program length: 1:17:32

Program Schedule:

1. 0:00:54 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. 0:01:23 Did you listen to our The Inside Perspective?  Send us your feedback?
6. 0:02:35 Battlefield 3 Laptop Performance Review: Road Warrior?
7. 0:04:00 Video Perspective: Antec P280 Case Review
8. 0:09:30 OCZ Octane 512GB SSD Full Review - Indilinx Has Returned With Everest
9. 0:20:40 Amazon Kindle Fire Review: Can $200 Buy a Great Tablet?
10. 0:22:30 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Core Limited Edition Graphics Card Review
11. 0:31:45 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
    
12. 0:32:45 Thermaltake Frio OCK Universal CPU Cooler Review
13. 0:34:00 Seagate says hard drive industry will take a year to recover
14. 0:42:20 Video Perspective: CyberPower Gamer Ultra 2098 System
15. 0:44:00 Batman: Arkham City DX11 Stuttering Issue
16. 0:46:00 TSMC finds its 28nm dance card a little overbooked
17. 0:52:28 AMD Releasing Branded DDR3 Memory To Compliment Desktop Platforms
18. 0:58:20 Gear Up with MSI: Win Intel Motherboards, GeForce Graphics Cards
19. 1:01:00 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: Skyrim?  Level 11!
    2. Jeremy: Let's here it for PC Gaming
    3. Josh: Arkham City for $25... last Friday on Origin.
    4. Allyn: A possible free 50GB cloud storage investment
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

Gear Up with MSI: Win Intel Motherboards, GeForce Graphics Cards

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards, Motherboards | November 30, 2011 - 11:13 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: z68, x79, sandy bridge-e, msi, GTX 580, GTX 560, giveaway, contest

This is a pretty big week here at PC Perspective as we released our highly anticipated review of the Intel Sandy Bridge-E and X79 platform.  If you haven't read that over, you need to do so, right away!!  But we also have some impressive gear to giveaway thanks to our friends at MSI and their "Gear Up with MSI" campaign!

What are the prizes?  I know that's what you want to know first...

• 1st Prize
  • MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 Lightning
  • MSI Intel X79A-GD65 (8D) Motherboard

• 2nd Prize
  • MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II
  • MSI Intel Z68A-GD65 with PCIE 3.0 & 5 year warranty

Wow, these are some stellar prizes!  First prize basically gets the components required for one of the fastest gaming rigs on the planet while the 2nd prize will be able to play Batman: Arkham City with all the top settings! 

So what do you have to do to win these prizes?  The steps are simple:

1. Make a comment on this post thanking MSI for this kick ass contest!!  That's pretty simple right?  You don't have to register, though we would appreciate it!
2. Like MSI on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MSI.ComputerUS
   1. (Just a hint, they have a lot of Facebook-specific contests throughout the year!)
3. Like PC Perspective on Facebook: http://facebook.com/pcper
4. Follow PC Perspective on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pcper
5. Circle PC Perspective on Google+: http://gplus.to/pcper
   1. (Another hint, comments on our G+ post about this contest get another entry!)

We will pick random winners in our pool of entries on Wednesday, the 7th of December!  Sorry, US and Canada residents only for this one!  If you don't have a Facebook/Twitter/Google+ account commenting here will still enter you.

Oh, and if you haven't seen the other contest MSI is running around the release of Batman: Arkham City, you should check out this page on their site.  Posting a photo of yourself dressed up like Batman has never been so lucrative! 

The Grand Prize for MSI's Batman Photo Contest!!

Winners Announced!!  Sorry about the late update, but we did pick our winners!  The first prize went to use "Equinox2355" and the second prize went to "Deman".  Thanks to everyone for participating and we'll have more contests very soon!!!

Podcast #179 - Sandy Bridge-E Review, X79 Motherboards, a new NAS device from Western Digital, Aquarium PCs and more!

Subject: Editorial | November 17, 2011 - 04:17 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: x79, western digital, storage, sandy bridge-e, podcast, nvidia, NAS, Intel, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #179 - 11/17/2011

Join us this week as we talk about our Sandy Bridge-E Review, X79 Motherboards, a new NAS device from Western Digital, Aquarium PCs 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

Program length: 1:14:31

Program Schedule:

1. 0:00:24 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. 0:02:00 Intel Sandy Bridge-E Review - Core i7-3960X and X79 Chipset Tested
   1. Sandy Bridge-E Prices Leaked In Company Bulletin
6. 0:27:45 X79 Motherboard Roundup Video Preview
   1. ASUS
   2. Gigabyte
   3. MSI
7. 0:28:53 Alienware M17x (R3) Gaming Notebook Review: It Glows!
8. 0:30:25 Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Power Supply Review
9. 0:31:20 NVIDIA Reports Q3 2012 Results
10. 0:39:15 Western Digital launches Sentinel Series of NAS devices, bringing enterprise features to the small business.
11. 0:46:20 The mineral oil in this Aquarium will be hard on the fish but not your components
12. 0:53:45 Antec Announces P280 Enclosure
13. 0:54:50 Win a Free Copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim from PC Perspective
    1. You missed it, but Jared H. didn't!
14. 0:56:15 Bulldozers at Knights Corner; duelling server chips
15. 0:59:45 More Free Stuff Friday: XFX Radeon HD 6870 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution
16. 1:00:12 The Intel 32 in 32 Challenge on Facebook
17. 1:01:22 Free Stuff Wednesday: Gigabyte G1 Assassin X58 Motherboard Giveaway!!
18. 1:02:15 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: Random.org - finally get an answer to "where should we eat tonight?"
    2. Jeremy: Buckets are teh win but to be more useful Disconnect for Chrome is a nice choice
    3. Josh: Fast 120GB SSD for $140
    4. Allyn: Ironkey - now available in MLC
19. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
20. http://pcper.com/podcast   
21. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
22. Closing

NVIDIA Reports Q3 2012 Results

Subject: Editorial | November 16, 2011 - 09:08 PM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: tesla, tegra, Results, Q3 2012, nvidia, income, fermi

Late last week NVIDIA reported their Q3 2012 (they have an unconventional reporting calendar), and the results were overwhelmingly positive for the once struggling company.  Throughout 2010 NVIDIA struggled with the poor results of their 400 series of graphics cards as compared to the relative smooth sailing that AMD had going into the DirectX 11 marketplace.  NVIDIA was also struggling to get the original Tegra to be accepted by the marketplace, which never occurred with that particular generation of products.

NVIDIA reported gross revenues of $1.07 billion for the previous quarter, with a net income (GAAP) of $178.3 million.  Margins improved to a respectable 52.5%, which is generally considered high for a fabless semiconductor company.  When we compare these results to AMD which had reported earnings a few weeks ago, we see that while NVIDIA had less revenue (AMD reported $1.7 billion) the company had nearly double the overall profit (AMD reported around $97 million).  AMD has a strong CPU business, which is something that NVIDIA is working on.  AMD reported margins in the 45% range, but they also have a larger workforce and larger capital expenditures at this time.

Read the rest of the article here.

Free Stuff Wednesday: Gigabyte G1 Assassin X58 Motherboard Giveaway!!

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Motherboards | November 16, 2011 - 03:12 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: X58, giveaway, gigabyte, contest

We have been on a roll recently, trying to clear out as much stuff give away as much stuff to our readers as possible!!  We handed out a free copy of Skyrim and linked you to a contest for a Radeon HD 6870 from XFX just last week. 

Next on our list is a high-end enthusiast level motherboard from Gigabyte, the G1.Assassin X58!!

This is a great board to upgrade your current LGA1366 system or a great start to build a new one at prices that are likely lower than you expect. 

What do you need to do enter to win this motherboard?  Couldn't be easier!!

1. Make a comment on this post thanking Gigabyte for this kick ass contest!!  That's pretty simple right?  You don't have to register, though we would appreciate it!
2. Like Gigabyte on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GIGABYTE.US
   
3. Like PC Perspective on Facebook: http://facebook.com/pcper
4. Follow PC Perspective on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pcper
5. Circle PC Perspective on Google+: http://gplus.to/pcper
   1. (Another hint, comments on our G+ post about this contest get another entry!)

We will pick a random winner in our pool of entries on Friday, the 18th of November in the afternoon, EST!  Sorry, US and Canada residents only for this one!  If you don't have a Facebook/Twitter/Google+ account commenting here will still enter you.

Thanks for reading PC Perspective and good luck!!!

UPDATE: We have a winner!!!!  After a quick stop to Random.org the person going home (or at least getting shipped) the Gigabyte X58 G1.Assassin motherboard is...."slugbugg55"!!!  Congratulations, an email is on the way to asking for your shipping information!!

Stay tuned to PC Perspective as we head into Thanksgiving week for more contests and giveaways!!

Win a Free Copy of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim from PC Perspective

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards | November 11, 2011 - 12:09 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: skyrim, giveaway, contest

Want to play Skyrim?  Want to play Skyrim...for FREEE??  Well to celebrate the release of the new The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim game this week we are giving away a free retail Steam code for it right here on PC Perspective.  

What do you have to do to enter?  There are a handful of ways:

1. Make a comment on this post.  That's pretty simple right?  You don't have to register, though we would appreciate it!
2. Like PC Perspective on Facebook: http://facebook.com/pcper
3. Follow PC Perspective on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pcper
4. Circle PC Perspective on Google+: http://gplus.to/pcper

If you do all four, you'll have four entries into the contest.  If you already follow @pcper on Twitter, then you are already entered.  (And likely you'll be entered for future contests as well!)  If only do one or two, then you are still entered, just with fewer shots at the goal.

The contest will run through tomorrow (November 12th) at 4pm EST so get your entries in SOON!!  Good luck!

UPDATE!!  We have our winner.  Picking from a random.org number between 1 and 3850 (combined entries on comments, Google+, Facebook and Twitter) the winner was....Jared H!!!  Congratulations!  I have sent off an email to verify and pass on the Steam code.

Make sure you stay tuned for Monday morning when we should have another BIG contest starting around a certain processor launch...

Podcast #178 - EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2Win, a Puget Systems silent HTPC, Tegra 3 and more!

Subject: Editorial | November 10, 2011 - 04:39 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: tegra 3, tegra, ram, Puget, podcast, nvidia, maingear, Intel, gtx560 ti, evga, corsair, amd

PC Perspective Podcast #178 - 11/10/2011

Join us this week as we talk about the EVGA GTX 560 Ti 2Win, a Puget Systems silent HTPC, Tegra 3 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: 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: 1:09:50

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. 0:02:55 EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win
6. 0:13:25 SilverStone Strider Gold
7. 0:17:00 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
   
8. 0:18:00 Puget System Serenity Core i5 HTPC Review
9. 0:28:05 Samsung Infuse 4G Delivery
10. 0:31:20 Tegra 3 and Asus Transformer Prime
11. 0:42:30 Maingear Epic 180 Cooler
12. 0:49:20 64 GB Corsair DDR3 
13. 0:51:30 Asus 3 Board 900 Series Review
14. 1:00:00 Ryan pretends to make a difference.
15. 1:02:40 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Jeremy: Quick defroster
    2. Josh: Nice musics!  http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Video-Music-Amazon-Bonus/dp/B005WV6ZI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320891616&sr=8-1
    3. Allyn: mp3tag
16. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
17. http://pcper.com/podcast   
18. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
19. Closing

Only 50 shopping days until Christmas, better hurry up!

Subject: Editorial | November 4, 2011 - 06:11 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: friday

If you feel that you are not having the best day today, be thankful you are not trying to remotely assist someone with BIOS problems in Russia ... and neither of you speak the others language.  Still, you might have the kind of day when you manage to overlook one small detail and end up frustrated to no end.  Then you decide to relieve your frustrations by blowing up friends and strangers in Battlefield 3 only to discover your factory overclocked card was perhaps not the best purchase.  Worse, you could be running out of storage space and be shocked by the current price of hard drives for your upgrade.

At least not everyone in the PC Perspective Forums is having a bad day, some are even having a blast or are trying out brand new hardware!  Others are blasting away with the Fragging Frogs as quite a few top tier games have arrived recently.  There are also a few enjoying the early arrival of the PC Perspective Podcast video, now with a lot less facial hair.

Podcast #177 - Lenovo Portable Monitor, GTX580M vs HD6990M, Hard Drive prices spiking and more!

Subject: Editorial | November 3, 2011 - 05:44 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: x79, podcast, nvidia, Intel, hd6990m, gtx580m, earnings, amd, 6990m, 580m

PC Perspective Podcast #177 - 11/03/2011

Join us this week as we talk about a Lenovo Portable Monitor, GTX580M vs HD6990M, Hard Drive prices spiking 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: 1:06:02

Program Schedule:

1. 0:00:28 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. 0:01:17 Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 Portable Monitor Review: A Second Display for Road Warriors
6. 0:03:42 Mobile GPU Comparison: GeForce GTX 580M and Radeon HD 6990M
7. 0:16:50 iPhone 3GS / 4 / 4S Battery Life Testing - Putting the Conjecture to Rest
8. 0:23:40 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
   
9. 0:24:30 AMD Reports Q3 2011 Results
10. 0:31:35 Hard Drive Prices Spike on Thailand Flooding
11. 0:39:40 Gigabyte brings Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi to their X79 boards
12. 0:44:04 Video Perspective: AMD A8-3850 vs Core i3-2105 on Battlefield 3
13. 0:47:10 Intel Releases Updated SSD Toolbox
14. 0:51:15 NVIDIA Upgrading GTX 560 to 448 CUDA Cores?
15. 0:55:15 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: Not Steam Uninstaller
    2. Jeremy: Maxwell Technologies HSN-1000 Nuclear Event Detector < wait what?!?! :)  or http://ca.movember.com/mospace/1422966/ Movember
    3. Josh: Gettin cheeeap:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706
    4. Allyn: Electricsheep pre-rendered screen saver 
16. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
17. http://pcper.com/podcast   
18. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
19. Closing

Black Monday was very different from Black Friday ... might want to keep that in mind in November

Subject: Editorial | October 28, 2011 - 06:26 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: friday

Buying a new motherboard because it can do tricks that your old one can't is good, having a motherboard learn new tricks after you've bought it; not so much.  In the Motherboard Forum member BeardedFrog's Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z board which throws a fit if it is rebooted with an HDMI connected HDTV present; think it is the board, the GPU or do you have another idea?  If you are more of a Llano type, then windwithme's indepth look at the ECS A75-A motherboard will be a great read for you.

Over in the Processor Forum there is no more speculation about Bulldozer as no one really wants to talk about the product that was delivered, so instead why not switch camps and discuss SandyBridge-E which we shall be seeing soon.  On the other hand you can check out all the high end components that Juggalo3451 stuffed into a monstrous CaseLabs TH10 case. Storage fanatics might want to offer their advice to this member, and gamers who haven't joined the Fraggin' Frogs yet should really head over to that forum if they want to play with the gang on Ryan's server or any other one for that matter.  Especially if you want in on the all day BF3 party tomorrow!

 Regular podcast watchers will be shocked to learn that the video is already up for Podcast #176; and shocked again when they realize it is just Josh and I holding down the fort in our own special way ... at least until Ryan finally shows for the closing ceremonies.

AMD Reports Q3 2011 Results

Subject: Editorial | October 28, 2011 - 05:27 PM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: Q3 2011, ontario, llano, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, bulldozer, brazos, amd

Unlike Intel, AMD was unable to report record revenues.  What they were able to report was a small profit.  They also were able to show some growth above that expected by most analysts, and even those in AMD.  Earlier this quarter AMD warned that revenues might not be as high as expected, but in the end AMD seemed to have done ok.

The company had a gross revenue of $1.69 billion, which is well above the expected $1.66 billion many analysts were predicting.  Net profit for the quarter came in at a reasonable $97 million.  This is a big improvement from Q3 2010, which had a net income of -$118 million.  Being positive for a quarter is a big accomplishment for AMD.  Controlling costs as a fabless semiconductor company is a lot easier as compared to running multiple Fabs and researching and implementing next generation process nodes.  Margins increased to 45%, but are still a far cry from the 60% plus that Intel achieves.  ASPs are also down due to the large amount of low priced, 45 nm parts that AMD still sells.

The primary movers for the positive results for AMD are their lineup of APUs.  The “Bobcat” based APUs have been a success for quite a few months, and with their superior performance and features as compared to the competing Intel Atom series, AMD is making a tidy sum off of them.  The big winner in the APU sector is of course Llano.  The uptake on this processor in the mobile space has been tremendous.  AMD has seen a 35% increase in mobile sales, and when combined with the already strong Brazos/Ontario platform, AMD is finally a factor in the mobile market.  The only real issue in this market that AMD is facing is that of continued poor yields on Llano processors.

Continue reading this article after the break.

Podcast #175 - NVIDIA 3D Vision 2 Launch, Intel Earnings, News of the week and more!

Subject: Editorial | October 20, 2011 - 09:17 PM | Ken Addison
Tagged: podcast, nvidia, Intel, amd, 3dvision, 3d vision

PC Perspective Podcast #175 - 10/20/2011

Join us this week as we talk about the NVIDIA 3D Vision 2 Launch, Intel Earnings, News of the week 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, Allyn Malventano

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

Program length: 1:15:39

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. 0:01:35 MSI Z68A-GD80 G3 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard Review
6. 0:07:02 3D Vision Gets Updated with LightBoost, Larger Panels and New Glasses
7. 0:13:19 Corsair HX1050 Professional Series Power Supply Review
8. 0:13:55 ASUS N55 Core i7 15.6-in Notebook Review: Can One Laptop Do It All?
9. 0:15:44 Intel Reports Q3 2011 Earnings
10. 0:26:15 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
    
11. 0:27:20 Overclocking the next generation of Intel CPUs
12. 0:31:05 ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe GEN3 Board Spotted with PCI Express 3.0 Support
13. 0:32:45 Salt + electrons = 6x increase ialn HDD platter density?
14. 0:37:38 AMD May Release 28nm 7000 HD Series GPU In December
15. 0:41:35 EVGA Demos X79 Classified Motherboard at GeForce LAN 6
16. 0:44:30 Not quite older than dirt; the microprocessor turns 40
17. 0:48:05 Benchmarking Bulldozer and taking the GPU out of the picture
18. 0:52:02 SandForce finally patches elusive 2200 series SSD controller bug. OCZ issues firmware, others soon to follow.
19. 0:58:00 Jon Peddie sees IGPs dying in the next year
20. 1:01:50 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: "Take Ownership" tool
    2. Jeremy: Beefing up your laptop’s gaming chops with an external GPU
    3. Josh: For Thief lovers out there:  http://www.thedarkmod.com/main/
    4. Allyn: Siri (fan boy)
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

Intel Reports Q3 2011 Earnings

Subject: Editorial | October 19, 2011 - 05:29 PM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: sandy bridge, Q3 2011, Intel, earnings, bulldozer, atom, amd

This should come as a shock to no one.  Intel made a lot of money this past quarter.  We again have seen new records in both gross revenue and net income.  GAAP revenue for the quarter came in at an astounding $14.2 billion.  Essentially that is the net revenue for AMD during a three year span.  Net income is again impressive at $3.5 billion.  In AMD terms that would be gross revenue for three quarters.  Truly there is a tremendous disparity between the two companies who are very bitter rivals.  It is no wonder AMD is starting to really fall behind.

All of the internal groups, except for one, have shown tremendous growth over the past year.  Notebooks have really lead the charge as of late, but both desktop and server markets have shown very favorable growth for the company.  Even the McAfee and Intel Communications divisions provided upwards of $1 billion to the bottom line.  The only area that Intel is lagging in is the Atom line.

When we look at the product offerings of Intel in server, desktop, and notebook markets we see they have a sizeable advantage in both process technology and performance per watt.  Intel has been shipping 32 nm chips for well over a year and a half.  On the desktop this has translated to modestly priced processors that have a much smaller die size yet comparable (and even superior) performance to the AMD products which are much larger in size and more expensive to produce.  On the server side we really have not seen AMD make any inroads since Intel took over that market in a big way once they released the QPI based designs which took away AMD’s last architectural advantages; HyperTransport and integrated memory controllers.

Read the rest of the article after the break.

Way to go Yeager; you broke it!

Subject: Editorial | October 14, 2011 - 06:30 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: friday

It seems that the simplest questions can create the biggest stir as a members question about the current relevance of sound cards has been one of the more popular threads in the General Tech forum lately.  Have you chimed in yet?   No matter how strong the feelings are about sound cards, they have nothing on the conversations about AMD's release of the Bulldozer.  We have been waiting for it so long that it could never live up to our expectations, but still it does seem more of a let down than anyone was expecting.

In the Storage Forum one members project to track any changes in the performance of his SSD as it is used has hit the three week mark, check out the results so far.  The Linux Forum has a discussion about GNOME while the Windows 8 thread in the Microsoft Forum has grown quiet recently.  The opposite is happening in the Gaming Forum as the Rage thread grows and grows and The Lighning Round never grows silent.

The Podcast video is a little delayed this week, but fear not as the audio version is ready right now.  Otherwise we appreciate your patience and the video shall appear soonish.

Bulldozer Impressions: That was... interesting

Subject: Editorial | October 12, 2011 - 08:45 AM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: GLOBALFOUNDRIES, fx-8150, bulldozer, am3+, amd, 32 nm

Huh. 

I am pretty sure I am not the only person who has read these Bulldozer reviews (including Ryan's here at PC Perspective) and had that particular reaction.  Bulldozer was supposed to bulldoze the competition.  It turns out it barely outpaces its own predecessor, the Phenom II X6 1100T.  In fact, in terms of IPC, the older Thuban architecture gives it a sound thrashing when both are clocked at 3.3 GHz.  So why should I be impressed with this processor?

I guess the answer is… you shouldn’t.  At least not yet.  I distinctly remember back in November of 2007 being invited to Lake Tahoe to test and report about the first Phenom samples that were available for limited testing.  We were not allowed to take the samples home with their new AM2+ based motherboards.  When going over the results of the tests with Ryan (I was not part of PCPer at the time) we quickly saw that the 2.6 GHz Phenom was unable to keep up with the Core 2 Q6600 from Intel.  This was a little surprising, as we expected the original Phenom to clean house due to its very forward looking architecture (HT, IMC, beefier FP/SIMD units, etc.).  The original Phenom had its fair share of problems, to say the least.  TDPs were very high, there was the revision B2 bug that was solved in B3, and due to the 65 nm process it did not nearly have as much cache as was needed to make it a more efficient product.

Click to read the rest of this post.