Category Archives: Hardware

Western Digital VelociRaptor RAID0 Review

Pana nu demult eram complet convins impotriva unei solutii RAID0 pe calculator. Pe langa cresterea cu 50% a sansei de a pierde datele, viteza castigata si problemele cauzate de controllere RAID care de care mai obscure… nu atrageau deloc asupra unui astfel de setup. Insa dupa ceva timp de folosire a Raptor-ului de 74GB (10.000 RPM) de la Western Digital insa, m-am convins de fiabilitatea unui astfel de HDD, iar la urmatorul upgrade la versiunea de 150GB (unde s-a mai simtit o crestere de viteza) m-am convins sa trec pe RAID0, totodata folosind o solutie de backup pe un HDD extern (eSATA).

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8800GT Is The Winner !

For a while i was looking for a new upgrade for my “old” nVidia 7900GTX with 512MB, hoping my PC will face with bravery the avalanche of DirectX 10 titles. While the price for 8800GTX 768MB or 8800Ultra was a little too high for me, an 8800GTS with 512MB looked like a good sollution. Well, not anymore. The new 8800GT just got released, and seems like it is the best deal ever in the GPU market. In performance, it’s almost like an 8800GTX in almost every benchmark (maximum 15% below in a few rare cases), but it’s now a single slot sollution thx to the new G92 CPU which is manufactured at 65nm. That means less power required, lower noise from fans as the temperature is much lower. But, the best things over all these, is the price. The 8800GT 512MB price is arround 200 EUR (while 8800GTX is still arround 400-450 EUR). So, for the same price, you can go for SLI and still be able to use your PCI slots. My advice: Go for it! It’s a great bang for those bucks!
8800GT
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1920 x 1200 x 2 = Toshiba ?

Again, Toshiba amazes me with strange ideeas. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not strange to want a double resolution than 1920 x 1200. It’s strange willing to do that on a 22″ LCD Monitor. I mean, come on, wasn’t supposed even for FullHD (1920 x 1080p) to get at least 46″ to realise the difference between 720p and 1080p? And now, they want to do 3840 x 2400 on an 22″ LCD?  Some engineers over Toshiba must have so little free time for themselves… Ah, the price will be arround 12.000 EUR. Not bad for a starter. I think i will wait though. I want to get for myself the first FullHD 2.8″ LCD on my mobile phone… Just kidding…

Need A Cyborg Keyboard ?

Well, Saitek did it again. As a prod owner of Saitek Eclipse, i must say i’m shocked about how things develop over Saitek labs. They’ve just started a Saitek Cyborg Range, and the first product is the keyboard from the picture below. They feature multi-colour backlighting, touch-sensitive dashboard, 12 programable keys, gold plated connectors, and so on. Get full details over here.

A True Wiimote For PS3

Well, it’s a statement almost true. There is no such thing as Wiimote for PS3, but this time Logitech almost made it possible. I am talking about Logitech MX Air. It looks like it was crafted from a piece of Playstation 3 (actually, the same black shiny dust atractive material), it works both as a mouse or pointer (wiimote style). It’s wireless of course, and it’s so easy you ask the same you did on PS3 gamepad: “Is this thing really working on a battery or is it alien technology ?”. Installing it on PC was a snap. And the bonus is, is working also with your old mouse. Now i am really happy, i can use my Logitech G5 while working on PC with intensive graphics, and when i move on my secondary screen (nVidia DualView setup on a plasma 42PV600), i can use MX Air with no trouble.

MX AIR
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Fastest Supercomputer Powered By Cell ?

It seems like PlayStation 3 possesses formidable hardware: IBM’s fastest supercomputer to date, Blue Gene/P, is juiced up by the same kind of processing chip that was originally designed for the Sony PS3. Blue Gene/P is approximately 100,000 more powerful than a PC, just enough to make PlayStation 3 owners feel proud about their powerful machine. IBM’s latest supercomputer can run about 1,000 trillion calculations per second, also termed as “petaflops”. Read more for details.
supercomputer_ibm_cell
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AMD Selling Intel Notebooks

Is it just me, or is it simply wrong? EntiteQ from reBOOT.ro just told me about this page, where you can notice AMD selling Intel’s Core2 Duo processor, and that “is the world’s first notebook series to utilize ATI’s Mobility Radeonâ„¢ X2300 GPU for stunning and crisp graphics”. Wow. I’m stunned. Is it the world going just crazy, or is it from so much spinning arround?

AMD Selling Intel Notebook

What Is A “dead pixel” ?

Din pacate, in special in Romania unde ajung multe reboot-uri, ne lovim din ce in ce mai des de problema aceasta. Tot din pacate, multi afla prea tarziu ce este un pixel mort. Sau mai bine zis, un pixel stins, sau care e tot timpul aprins, and so on. Well, BeHardware tocmai ce-a scos pe piata un articol serios pe tema asta, cu normele ISO, ce “este” ele, daca parintii lor “stie”. Gasiti tot acolo si lista frumoasa, cu toti mai marii producatori de panel-uri sau monitoare LCD si politica lor in legatura cu pixelii morti. Bafta, si la cat mai putini pixeli morti va doresc (de preferat < 1).

Magnified Pixel

Dell Overclocked ?

Se pare ca mania overclockingului i-a prins si pe mai marii manufactureri, printre care si Dell. Pentru mirobolantul pret de 6000 USD puteti avea un Core 2 Extreme QX6800 la  3.73 GHz, 2GB DDR2 la 1066Mhz, racire watercooled, 2 bucati nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX, 2 bucatele HDD 160GB la 10.000 RPM, drive BluRay, SoundBlaster X-Fi, monitor LCD 24″, si… minune, Windows Vista Home Premium sau Windows XP MCE. De ce doar Vista Home si nu Ultimate, nu inteleg. Adica, unde merge mia, merge si suta, dar in fine. Seria XPS 720 H2C in curand in shop-ul Dell.

XPS 720 H2C

LCD Keyboard – Optimus Maximus

Din ciclul “I really want that” ne lovim de o super tastatura, super configurabila, ale care taste au fost inlocuite cu niste mici ecrane LCD. Asta inseamna ca orice tasta poate fi inlocuita, modificata, facut macro, pus icon (inca nu stiu daca si animat). Din pacate, pretul este pe masura: 1500 USD (pre-order). Asta ar veni cam 13.2 USD per tasta (Optimus Maximus avand 113). Yummy, dar nu dati fuga la magazin, pentru ca sunt foarte greu de prins, intrucat in prima transa sunt manufacturate doar 200 de bucati. Read more pt. mai multe poze.

 Optimus Maximus

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