понеделник, 17 май 2010 г.
The sad fact of office hierarchy is that the boss usually gets the best stuff, but that’s not so bad when you’re in charge. If you happen to be a boss (either at work or at home) who is tech-savvy enough to read Tom’s Hardware, you’re probably not going to fall for any of the tech support high jinks of Dilbert comic strips, and will instead truly shop for the best gear. Finally, if you’re the head of a technology-based service firm, then you might even need the best stuff, at least when it comes to computing power.
One problem is that while technology isn’t always pretty, you must always project the most positive and professional image to your clients, proving to them that you’re at least as successful at your job as they are at theirs. But where do you start when your clients already have the classiest-available pre-built powerhouses? SilverStone and Thermaltake may have answers.
Don’t let the photos fool you—SilverStone’s seemingly ordinary-looking Fortress 2 is far more imposing and grandiose when viewed in person and words cannot describe the immense proportions of Thermaltake’s Level 10. Both provide artistic flair and are designed to hold oversized components. But appearance is but only one of the many things that separates these high-priced cases from their less-expensive counterparts, or even from each other.
| SilverStone Fortress 2 (FT02B) | Thermaltake Level 10 | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | ||
| Height | 19.60" | 26.22" |
| Width | 8.31" | 12.52" |
| Depth | 24.19" | 24.17" |
| Space Above Motherboard | 0.82" | 0.52" |
| Card Length | 12.0" w/o Radiator Brackets 11.68" w/Radiator Brackets | 12.26" w/Intake Fan 13.26" w/o Intake Fan |
| Weight | 34.0 lbs. | 48.0 lbs. |
| Cooling | ||
| Front Fans | 3 x180 mm (on bottom) | 1 x 140 mm |
| Rear Fans | 1 x 120 mm (on top) | 1 x 120 mm |
| Top Fans | None | None |
| Side Fans | None | None |
| Drive Bays | ||
| 5.25" External | Five | Three |
| 3.5" External | None | None |
| 3.5" Internal | Five | Six (Shared with 2.5") |
| 2.5" Internal | 1 x Adapter | Six (Shared with 3.5") |
| Price | $230 | $700 |
Thermaltake’s specifications resemble those of an ordinary PC, in spite of its dramatic appearance, while SilverStone’s understated look partially hides an extraordinary layout. Why do we call the Fortress 2’s exhaust fan a rear fan even though it’s located on top? Questions like that can only be answered through further examination.
Overclocking On Air: 10 LGA 1156-Compatible Performance Coolers
The enemy of both stability and longevity, heat changes the characteristics of silicon in a way that eventually makes it unsuitable for use in a logic circuit. Heat damage can sneak up on overclockers quickly, such as the 59 degree Celsius stability limit we encountered when overclocking AMD’s Phenom II. Similarly, many of our Core 2 Duos responded unfavorably to temperatures over 65 degrees Celsius.
But hasn’t all that changed with the advent of Lynnfield, a core that can just withstand temperatures of up to 100 degrees Celsius? We have, after all, been flirting with 95 degrees Celsius regularly while testing the overclocking capabilities of motherboards, yet still reach stable clock speeds of over 4.3 GHz.
Although our Core i7-870 sample raised the temperature level at which we had to put on the brakes, its temperature limit coinciding with our cooling and voltage limits happened by mere coincidence. Surely a platform that operates so close to its thermal limit on an open test bench would be unsuitable for use in a closed case, since the higher ambient temperatures would cause thermal throttling (Intel’s automatic speed reduction) at anything close to full CPU load. Liquid cooling could help, but recent tests have shown that anything less than a dual-fan radiator version often provides unsatisfactory results. Most users don't want to bother with a high-end liquid configuration, and most cases don’t support those enormous radiators. For the sake of builders, it’s time for us to track down the best possible air-cooling solution.
GTX 465 benched, apparently
If the numbers are to be believed, Nvidia enjoyed crippling the new card, as it only features 352 stream processors and a 256-bit memory bus. It packs 1GB of GDDR5 memory and it's clocked at 607/1215/3206 MHz.This is quite a bit less than the GTX 470, let alone a GTX 480 and it's clear that performance was significantly effected. The card ended up a bit faster than the HD 5870 in Far Cry 2, but it was quite a bit slower than an HD 5830 in Crysis Warhead. In Unigine's Heaven benchmark the card ended up between the HD 5850 and HD 5870.
Mind you, these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Even if the benches are legit, it's still too early and Nvidia has quite a bit of time to polish its drivers prior to launch. However, the card probably won't have an easy time against AMD's rather affordable HD 5800 series cards.
The original article over at enet.com.cn has been removed, but you get some details at TweakTown.
NVIDIA puts its Tegra 2 eggs in Android's basket, aims to topple Apple's A4
Microsoft's Kin One and Kin Two might not turn out to be the most auspicious devices for Tegra's debut in the smartphone arena, but NVIDIA seems to be learning from its mistakes. Admitting that the company committed too strongly to Microsoft with the first-gen iteration, Jen-Hsun Huang has now said that the second generation of Tegra will look to Android devices first and foremost. This newfound focus will materialize with both smartphones and tablets in the third and fourth quarter of this year, and will, according to Jen-Hsun, offer device makers a viable competitor to Apple's A4 SOC. In other news, NVIDIA has now shipped "a few hundred thousand" Fermi cards, and has also achieved 70 design wins with its Optimus graphics switching technology. Eleven of those are now out in the wild, but the vast majority are still to come, mostly as part of the seasonal "back to school" refresh at the end of the summer. These revelations came during the company's earnings call for the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year, and you can find the full transcript at the source below.