A Happy Thanksgiving to All

Subject: Editorial | November 24, 2005 - 01:43 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: blog

Today, as I sit on the couch having just finished watching the Macy's Day Parade and now viewing re-runs of the World Series of Poker on ESPN, I am indeed very thankful for what I have.  Over the past year PC Perspective has grown larger and better than where it started, and I owe that to the many people that are behind the site with me.  Jon, Lee, Joe and Jeremy have helped me beyond what I can express, as have the other moderators and admins at the forums.  And of course I have to thank our readers -- because without you we wouldn't be

Happy Thanksgiving

Subject: Editorial | November 24, 2005 - 01:28 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged:

From everyone here at PC Perspective, I would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving holiday.  It means a lot to all of us that you are here, especially on days like today. 

If you are sitting around looking for something to do today, you can always check out the PC Perspective Forums and you'll surely find some like-minded people to talk tech, or anything else for that matter. 

MP3 Sunglasses 2: The Return

Subject: General Tech | November 24, 2005 - 12:58 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Oakley has just put out the Thump2, the followup to the original MP3 player in a pair of shades.  If you completely missed the first release, The Tech Lounge takes the time to compare the originals to the new edition.  Love 'em or hate 'em, you should probably at least be able to recognize them.

"From California -- Lil' John's Thump sunglasses have been combined with Arnold Schwartzenegars

Terminator shades in Oakley's sequel of their original smash hit of MP3 playing eyeware in Thump

2, Revenge of the

ATI announces another uncoming chipset

Subject: General Tech | November 24, 2005 - 12:04 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Inquirer caught ATI talking about a new chipset that might be ready to launch in the first quarter of 2006, called the RS485.  It will be made to handle the upcoming M2 AMD processors, though it will not support Crossfire, it will support DDR2.

"The chipset is called the RS485 and it supports one single graphic slot only. It's designed over

a new reference motherboard as it has to accommodate new AMD DDR 2 CPUs. Those CPUs will bring a

lot of memory and socket changes but they won't surface before sometime in Q2 next year.

Who cares about stock speeds anymore?

Subject: Memory | November 23, 2005 - 06:43 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Sure most DDR modules are running about 400Mhz out of the package, nowadays it's about the timings.  Take the Geil RAM that NGOHQ reviews for example.  The CAS timing of 1.5 allows a lot of room to loosen the timings, and bring the speed up significantly, which allows for much better performance overall.  Even if you don't plan on overclocking, the tight timings on this RAM won't slow you down.

"GeIL is a modest manufacturer that was founded in 1997.

When good mice go bad

Subject: General Tech | November 23, 2005 - 05:47 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Try high accuracy mice on a variety of surfaces and you may smell a rat.  The manufacturers are not trying to weasel you out of your money, they are trying to find a solution, so try not to be too shrewish, and constantly badger them with complaints.  In fact, you otter head to CoolTechZone, to read up on their findings from 2 compaines, Logitech and Razer, to see just what is up.

"In a brief commentary, Razer confirmed that the current variant of laser technology does indeed

My video what adapter?

Subject: Graphics Cards | November 23, 2005 - 05:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Giving tech support to people with only a passing familiarity to PC technology can be a huge source of stress.  Software like SiSoft's Sandra, or WCPUID can give you some of the info you need, but a lot of times the question is simply "Can I play this game?", and with the usual limitation being the graphics card, Sandra can be a bit of overkill.  PC Mechanic has found a program called Everest Home Edition, a freeware program that ID's video cards, so drop in for a visit if it sounds like a program that could help.

"A

What? The Xbox 360 came out?

Subject: Editorial | November 23, 2005 - 04:44 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: blog

Despite the fact that the Xb0x 360 was being released Tuesday morning, there was something slightly more exciting that I was looking forward to that day.

Play Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Begals in Madden 2006.

I won a contest at the local Best Buy to play Chad Johnson during the Xbox 360 launch at the store. 

Of course I couldn't let an oppurtunity like this pass me by without having a little fun...

Lexar's new jumpdrive has a built-in shredder

Subject: Storage | November 23, 2005 - 01:58 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Losing a Jumpdrive can be really annoying, especially if it happens to have info on it that you'd rather not share. While the JumpDrive Secure II can't help with your memory, it can ensure that any files deleted off of that jumpdrive stay deleted.  EverythingUSB is the place to go to read more about it.

"In today's world of corporate espionage, identity theft and general paranoia, it's vital that any

portable documents are secured in case the flash drive they're stored on is lost or stolen.

The [H] sounds off about Puget Systems

Subject: Systems | November 23, 2005 - 11:55 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Continuing on in their series of pre-built PC's, and the stores that sell and support them, [H]ard|OCP has a look at Puget Systems Dual Core Custom system.  The box they put together certainly has power, but how well did Puget Systems tech support and buying process stack up?

"Can $2600 get you a dual core processor, 2GB of RAM, a top-end video card, and backing from a

quality company?

Physics 101 for PCs, starts in February

Subject: General Tech | November 23, 2005 - 11:47 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The ASUS Ageia PhysX card should be available in February, according to this article by CoolTechZone.  Still no word on the bus it will use, or an actual date though.

"We are all aware of AGEIA and its desire to bring a PhysX processor for physics processing in

order to make games look and feel more realistic. We all want the characters to move and act

realistically, and that's exactly what AGEIA's PhysX will accomplish once it debuts.

Same card, different cooling

Subject: Graphics Cards | November 22, 2005 - 07:01 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Beyond 3D has a good run down of what you can expect from Sapphire'sRadeon X800 GTO² and X800 GTO Ultimate Editions.  Both are certainly powerful cards, with the both the GTO² and the and the Ultimate Edition's bandwidth weighing in at 31.4 GB/sec, the Ultimate stands out because of the ginormous heatsink that wraps around the entire card.

'Those of you who are familiar with previous designs from Sapphire's range of Ultimate Edition

boards will find no surprises here - just like these previous eff

Add 5GB to your pants!

Subject: Storage | November 22, 2005 - 04:07 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The Seagate 5GB pocket drive is disk shaped, being about 3 inches across, 1 inch thick, and weighs in at 62 grams.  It's USB cord retracts into the main body when not in use, so it is exceptionally portable.  Adrian's Rojak Pot has the whole story, and lots of pictures to give you an idea of the size.

"Are you looking for a compact USB storage solution with a large capacity of 5GB?

Sounds like Lego, cools like crazy

Subject: Cases and Cooling | November 22, 2005 - 03:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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OC Labs is not one of the main names in watercooling, though they have been in the business for almost 5 years now.  Insanetek has posted a review of their Monoblock 6, a powerful performer overall.

"Great watercooling is not always limited to Swiftech, Asetek, and Danger Den. OCLabs makes a

great appearance with their latest CPU waterblock.

Intel Brings Home Extreme Multicore Gaming For The Holidays

Subject: General Tech | November 22, 2005 - 01:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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NEW YORK, Nov. 22, 2005 — The era of multi-core PC gaming is here and at the Intel-sponsored Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) World Tour Grand Finals some of the best players, hardware and software come together.

VIA's new chipset

Subject: Motherboards | November 22, 2005 - 12:00 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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VIA's new K8T900 chipset is making the rounds today, so if you can pull yourself away from that shiny new Xbox, take a look at what they've included.  Legion Hardware is a great place to start, to get a good idea how inclusive VIA made this chipset.

Don't forget to come back and read Ryan's review as well.

"The K8T900 is one of the best chipsets VIA has produced in quite some time and as it stands,

could be one of the best AMD64 chipsets available.

We're doomed I tell you! Doomed!

Subject: General Tech | November 22, 2005 - 11:48 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Ok, I guess we've all heard it before, and we're still here, so the sky probably isn't falling.  A javascript exploit has been found on the web, which can allow code execution on your machine, when you use IE.  The Inquirer has a story up, as well as a link to a site which has posted the code used in the exploit, so you can see what is going on.

"UK group of hackers has published a zero-day exploit which puts means IE users only have to visit

a site to be attacked.

Getting a powerful deal from X-Finity

Subject: Systems | November 21, 2005 - 07:00 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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X-Finity's 2nd Generation PSU looks to build on what was important to them in the first place.  The ablility to provide good clean power to your PC, at a reasonable price.  Read on at The Moditory to see how they did.

""Power supplies are just one more component to some people there's no difference in quality,

power is power right? Not at all. A quality power supply can make or break a system. All your

components draw power and if your PSU provides dirty power, it could take out the rest of your

rig.