Dual-Core Chip Ends Pentium's Reign

[Onkel Neal]

You guys are arguing about technical stuff, I was just lamenting the cruddy name

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

You guys are arguing about technical stuff, I was just lamenting the cruddy name

Yes, the name sucks, but the chip doesn't actually.

Threads are full of a wealth of information these days!

-S

PS. One more though - it could be worse! Like, what was NVidia thinking when it came up with GeForce? That is the dumbest name yet in the computer world!

[mog]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The magic is gone. We're getting older, computer games are nothing new anymore, we do not get surprised by new worlds anymore - they are standard, they are routine. There may be a future to live, but the magic is gone and it ain't gonna come back.

Yeh. My favourite games of all time are some of the first I ever played, like Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and Monkey Island. The graphics were terrible, but it didn't matter!

[jumpy]

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-172-AM)
The 3 main changes on the AM2 are that it will now use DDR2 Memory. A new pin out configuration which requires new heat sink fan configuration is also required. AM2 heatsinks will be available shortly and all our AM2 processors are retail boxed supplied with heatsinks and fan.
Below are the following recommended memory configurations:-
AM2 FX-62 DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066 (PC2-6400 - PC2-8500)
AM2 Dual Core X2 DDR2-667 or 800 (PC2-5300 or PC2-6400)
AM2 Athlon 64 DDR2-533 or 667 (PC2-4200 or PC2-5300)
AM2 Sempron DDR2-533 or 667 (PC2-4200 or PC2-5300)


Price: £189.95 (£223.19 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Yay, looks like the one for me soon. Only trouble is I'll need a new motherboard (£150.00), 2GB DDR2 RAM (£200.00), PSU (£50.00) and graphics card (£200.00 - 300.00) to go with it
All told it will take about 700 or 800 quid to upgrade - which is what my 'old' computer cost about 3 years ago.



NINJA EDIT:
what the hell happened to my font?!

[Skybird]

Madness. Those latest RAM bars easily consume Watts one fifth of their memory size alone, if not more. Add to that the obligatory double graphics board. Dual core CPUs. Imagine the heat all this will create. More fiddling around with cooler methods. Really, makes me loose any interest in computers. It's beyond reasonable standards.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Madness. Those latest RAM bars easily consume Watts one fifth of their memory size alone, if not more. Add to that the obligatory double graphics board. Dual core CPUs. Imagine the heat all this will create. More fiddling around with cooler methods. Really, makes me loose any interest in computers. It's beyond reasonable standards.

I told you mine was already a little heater - which is real great lately. I just so want to be warmer in all this hot weather - can't get enough of it! Sweat dripping - the works! THe 2 GB of mem, dual core CPU, and my super heater - the x1900XTX, the dual HD's, Triple optical drives, need I go on?

I almost want my older slower computer back!

[Whistler]

I have a first Gen Core Duo Centrino in my laptop and I will never go back to a single core processor. Its like night and day when it comes to multitasking...

[scandium]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

kiwi - You'd laugh at my heat sink! Massive is an understatement. Largest all copper sink I can find.

http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/m...duct_xp90C.htm

-S

Those first generation heat pipe HSFs are last years technology, though that's one of the newest and prettier models of that generation. I picked up one of these in February: http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=80&disc=

It is suitably massive and has a nice car radiator look to it that I like, though its actually lighter than it looks and is one of the smaller coolers of this design type (the advantages of this design, aside from the heat pipes, is the orientation of it that pulls cool air from the front through the heat sink then across the capacitors at the edge of the board and out the rear exhaust.

The only probablem I'm having now is that with the hot summer heat and poor case design, my ambient temps inside the case are so high these days (41C case temp when I'm gaming) that even this cooler can't keep my modest 35% OC CPU stable anymore.

[scandium]

Originally Posted by Skybird

The magic is gone. We're getting older, computer games are nothing new anymore, we do not get surprised by new worlds anymore - they are standard, they are routine. There may be a future to live, but the magic is gone and it ain't gonna come back.

Well, the games have (IMHO) gone downhill for the following reasons:

1. New games require so much code that much of it is recycled from other previous titles, giving most games a similar look & feel to many other games;

2. The market has changed. The major market for PC games used to be the 20+ enthusiast/game crowd, now the market is much bigger and many titles simply pander to the lowest common denominator for the largest masse appeal possible;

3. Related to #2 is the growing share of the console market and desire to port PC titles to the machines, meaning they have to conform to their limitations and appeal to the same audience;

4. The technology has gotten so good that games are getting increasingly realistic, and there is more and more demand for 'realism', but often it seems this translates into superficial eye candy at the expense of actually making the game 'fun' or interesting, let alone novel or unique;

5. All of the above explains why there are dozens and dozens of RTS clones and 3-D shooters, which require only improvements to existing code/graphics, and pander to the widest possible audience so game makers get the maximum return on minimum risk. Doing something different, novel, is risky and potentially much less profitable.