The latest articles and reviews found at PC Perspective. http://www.pcper.com This week we talk about the recently "released" AMD Phenom II TWKR processor and the controversy around it, Allyn's current SSD picks based on our SSD Decoder Ring, Windows 7 pricing and upgrade costs, ASUS and Intel fighting over motherboard markets, NVIDIA being at risk of losing the Apple market, AMD denying a price a war between themselves and NVIDIA on GPUs, TSMC continuing to have difficulty with the 40nm process and more!... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=411 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=411 Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:00:12 -0400 The new SilverStone ST70EF PSU is designed for user's who are looking for high efficiency along with quiet operation. It can support multiple high-end graphics adapters and features a full compliment of fixed cables.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=735 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=735 Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:00:36 -0400 Recently the first die shot of the upcoming Propus class of processors showed up, and I took a good long look at it to figure out how it will affect AMD's lineup, and if it will be the next big thing in the budget quad core market. From what I have seen, things look surprisingly good...... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=737 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=737 Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:00:40 -0400 Tired of bouncing back and forth between review sites, manufacturer sites, and retailers in search of your next SSD? Allyn has compiled a huge list of all current and popular SSD's, grouped by controller type, manufacturer, and model.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=736 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=736 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:00:00 -0400 We’ve had the opportunity to review two motherboards featuring AMD’s 790GX chipset in both AM2+ and AM3 flavors. But, we haven’t had the chance to evaluate a board with AMD’s top 7-series chipset called the 790FX. So, when Gigabyte shipped us a GA-MA790FXT-UD5P for review, we were extremely curious and excited to see how this board would fare against others we’ve tested that utilize the 790GX chipset.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=730 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=730 Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:00:23 -0400 The Fatal1ty 700W PSU from OCZ is a high-quality PSU that looks good inside and out. It was co-developed by a gamer for gamers and it delivers the goods! The OCZ Fatal1ty 700W unit we have up for review today features a single +12V rail and is both Nvidia SLI and 80 Plus certified. It features excellent cooling and comes decked out with a red LED fan, glowing Fatal1ty logo, and red sheathed cables (I hope you like red).... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=729 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=729 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:00:20 -0400 NVIDIA chipsets for the AMD market have not been significantly upgraded for the past year+, and even their "latest" 980a product is a rebranded 780a from last year. I dug around to see if NVIDIA was in fact abandoning the AMD platform, and SLI for the latest Phenom II along with it.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=734 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=734 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:53 -0400 We revisit the OCZ Vertex and throw in the recently introduced Super Talent UltraDrive ME into the mix. Both drives are controlled by the ARM-based Indilinx CPU. We put these two against SSD's with Samsung, Intel, and JMicron controllers, and even threw a few high end hard drives for fun. Evaluation of fragmentation slow downs and TRIM tool operation will also be addressed. Come on in and check 'er out!... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=733 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=733 Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:00:41 -0400 MSI punches up its newest flagship X58 motherboard called the Eclipse Plus with quad SLI, CrossFireX support, but how does it compare against its predecessors and a couple lower-priced X58 boards from other vendors? We run it through our benchmarks and take a detailed look at MSI's latest motherboard to support the i7 platform.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=725 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=725 Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:00:57 -0400 NVIDIA is announcing the newest addition to its mobility line of GPUs today - the GeForce 200M series. With what NVIDIA is calling basically a new architecture designed around the desktop GT200, this marks the first move for NVIDIA mobility parts away from the aged G92 specifications. Not only that but these are the first NVIDIA GPUs to offer GDDR5 memory support, DX10.1 and are the first built on a 40nm process.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=732 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=732 Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:00:07 -0400 General purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) have had a huge impact in everything from professional and home applications to video processing and even physics simulations. No GPU parallel computing architecture has been more in the spotlight than NVIDIA’s CUDA either. CUDA technology is being used in many different types of applications including video and audio encoding, oil and gas exploration, product design, medical imaging, and scientific research.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=719 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=719 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:00:33 -0400 Even though Smooth Creations is a new to the boutique system builders game, they have started developing a name for creating incredibly artistic designs, as well impressively performing ones. Today we are taking a quick preview look at an all AMD-based system that uses a Phenom II processor and HD 4870 GPUs.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=731 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=731 Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:00:40 -0400 The GeForce GTX 275 started as a fill-in GPU to combat the Radeon HD 4890 when it was released earlier this year. As enthusiasts started adopting it, it found a great spot in terms of performance and price between the GTX 285 and GTX 260+. Galaxy has an overclocked model with a custom cooler available that does cost a bit extra, but allows you get even more out of the graphics chip.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=728 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=728 Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:00:33 -0400 Gigabyte showed quite a few new features on more than a few new motherboards while at Computex last week. We are still diving through a lot of Computex news but if you are curious to see what innovations might still be available in motherboards, check out what Gigabyte has to offer.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=727 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=727 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:00:35 -0400 ASUS usually has one of the larger display areas at Computex and this year was no exception. On hand they were displaying new Eee PC designs, motherboards coming later this year and some of the most innovative new graphics cards we have seen in a long time. Stop by and see what ASUS is cooking up for the rest of 2009 and 2010!... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=726 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=726 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:00:38 -0400 We have said over and over again that the mid-range GPU market is a mess - a great mess of fantastic performance and value. Today we are taking a look at a pair of new graphics cards from ASUS and Sapphire that fit snuggly into the sub-$150 field. The ASUS GeForce GTS 250 Dark Knight edition and Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 Vapor go up against the HD 4770 to see who comes out on top.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=716 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=716 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 00:00:32 -0400 Today at Computex, AMD has unveiled its first DirectX 11 compliant part, but the announcement is more about the overall features that DX11 introduces rather than the specific part that AMD has already fabricated in conjunction with TSMC on their fledgling 40nm process. Read on for the full scoop.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=724 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=724 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:54 -0400 Intel has refreshed the Nehalem line of Core i7 CPUs today by introducing the new Core i7-975 EE and Core i7-950 processor. These two new offerings are replacing the Core i7-965 and i7-940 in terms of pricing though they of course bump up the frequency one bin or so. Come in and see how the fastest desktop processor in the world performs!... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=722 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=722 Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:05 -0400 This does seem to be the year of great cases at Computex. Thermaltake partnered with BMW Designworks USA to bring to life a truly unique chassis design that looks like a million bucks - let's just hope it doesn't cost that as well!... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=723 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=723 Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:45:41 -0400 It has been several years since AMD released a true desktop dual core processor, and finally they have delivered with the Athlon II X2 250. They have also released a Phenom II based X2 that could be the new darling of budget enthusiasts everywhere. We explore the performance of these new parts, as well as try our hand at overclocking to see where we go. While they might not be world beater's, they certainly give AMD a fighting chance in the dual core market.... http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=721 http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=721 Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:00:13 -0400