Posted 06/15/09 at 12:35:52 PM by Paul Lilly

Power users routinely punch into the BIOS in order to fine tune their system, but it can be an intimidating place to go exploring if you've never before burrowed beneath the surface. And just like in real life, poking around in unknown places can be a dangerous affair if you don't know what you're doing or where you're going. On the other hand, once you understand the inner workings of your PC's control center, a whole world of overclocking and troubleshooting suddenly opens up. But what exactly is the BIOS?

Every modern motherboard comes with an embedded Flash EEPROM module, otherwise known as the BIOS chip. Short for Basic Input Out System, this is the first bit of code executed when you boot your PC. The BIOS stores all kinds of essential information about your system, such as your CPU's clockspeed, the size and type of RAM you're running, the boot order of your media, what onboard devices are present, and much, much more. An improperly configured BIOS can prevent Windows (or Linux) from loading, while a finely tuned BIOS has the potential to significantly improve performance over that of a similarly spec'd machine.

Whatever your goal is, this is your go-to guide for everything you've ever wanted to know about the BIOS. We cover every setting -- even the obscure ones -- so you'll never feel lost or out of your element, no matter what motherboard you're rocking under the hood.

Hit the jump to get started!

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Posted 06/04/09 at 09:22:16 AM by Paul Lilly

CyberPower this week announced a new line of high-end gaming PCs under its also new Fang series nomenclature, which it says has been co-developed with Intel and "other leading manufacturers." The company kicks off the new line with the flagship Black Mamba Venom and Cobra Venom, both of which come overclocked and sport a customized BIOS, as designated by the Venom tag.

"The Fang series with Venom incorporates a special BIOS to allow for higher overclocking," CyberPower stated in a press release. "The BIOS supports real-time readings of CPU speed and additional options for QPI signal and CPU Clock Skew features, all of which improve overclocking capability."

On the higher end, the configurable Black Mamba Venom comes standard with Intel's just-released Core i7 975 Extreme Edition processor factory overclocked to 4GHz, and EVGA X58 Classified or Gigabyte X58 Extreme motherboard, 6GB of tri-channel DDR3 memory, a pair of 300GB Velociraptors in a RAID 0 array with a 1TB hard drive for storage duties, two Nvidia GTX 285 videocards in SLI, and a 6X Blu-ray writer all housed in Cooler Master's Storm Sniper chassis.

The slightly lower end Cobra Venom sports the same processor along with X58 motherboard options, while dropping down to a single 1TB hard drive, a single GTX 285 videocard, and a combo Blu-ray/HD-DVD player housed in Azza's Solano 1000 case.

The Black Mamba and Cobra Venom will start at $4,000 and $2,400 respectively. No word yet on availability.

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Posted 05/20/09 at 09:46:23 AM by Paul Lilly

Glossy case paint jobs can sometimes cost more than the components they're holding, but on IBuyPower's new Chimera series, the fiery exterior comes standard. In this case, standard starts at under $1K and includes a customized NZXT Guardian 921 enclosure. An "exclusive glossy flame exterior" and unique side panel window make this unlike any Guardian 921 you've ever seen before. Three 120mm cooling fans keep the interior from getting as hot as the exterior looks, which you can tabs on with an optional front-panel thermal readout display.

IBuyPower offers the Chimera in both AM3 and Core i7 trim. Pricing for the latter starts at $1300 and includes an Intel Core i7 920 processor, MSI X58-Pro motherboard, 6GB of DDR3-1333 memory, Nvidia GTX 275 videocard, 750GB hard drive, 22X DVD burner, 700W power supply, and Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

For $300 less, the AMD configuration comes equipped with a Phenom II X4 910 processor, Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UDP5 motherboard, 4GB of DDR3-1333 memory, ATI Radeon HD 4870 videocard, 500GB hard drive, and same DVD burner, PSU, and OS as above.

The Chimera is available now and you can knock another 5 percent off with coupon code 'IBUYPOWER' during checkout. Free games and other current promotions can be found here.

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Posted 02/19/09 at 04:12:32 PM by Paul Lilly

To borrow from Jerry Maguire's 'You had me at hello' scene, Maingear's newest product announcement had us 'Core i7,' but lost us when the talk turned to the GPU. The new Prelude 2, as it's being called, combines Intel's Core i7 platform with a Samsung 22-inch LCD monitor and tops it off with Nvidia's 3D Vision Technology, and at under two grand, it sounds like an intriguing proposition. But sticking out like a sore thumb is the inclusion of Nvidia's mid-range 9800GT videocard.

"The fact that Maingear customers will have the ability to play games in 3D stereo is just awesome," said Ujesh Desai, general manager of GPU business at NVIDIA. "NVIDIA GeForce 3D Vision is taking the world by storm, and Maingear’s Prelude 2 is going to deliver a mind-blowing experience."

That "mind-blowing experience" will be delivered by Intel's Core i7 920 (2.66GHz) processor nestled into an Asus P6T X58 motherboard, 3GB of triple channel DDR3-1066 memory, a 250GB Western Digital hard drive with 16MB of cache, onboard audio, a 650W power supply, and Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit all stuffed inside a Lian-Li enclosure.

To be fair, this is only a baseline configuration. The Prelude 2 offers plenty of customization options, including up to a 1200W power supply, up to two of the hard to find dual-GPU GeForce GTX 295 videocards, Intel's full lineup of Core i7 processors, liquid cooling, up to 12GB of Corsair XMS DDR3-1333MHz memory, up to four hard drives (including Intel's X25-M 80GB SSD, Western Digital's Velociraptor, and RAID 0), and a host of other goodies.

The Prelude 2 is available now from Maingear.com starting at just shy of $2000 (baseline configuration).

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Posted 11/17/08 at 01:30:31 PM by Paul Lilly

Well that didn't take long. With Intel's Core i7's launch now official, OEM system builders are falling in line with new systems using the new processors. Such is the case with Gateway, who today announced two new FX Series PCs, the FX6800-01e and the FX6800-05.

Taking up the value end, the FX6800-01e comes equipped with Intel's Core i7-920 processor (2.66GHz quad-core), which Gateway ensures will "provide gamers with the critical horsepower to pwn even the most worthy opponents." And helping to "pwn" Photoshop and other memory intensive programs, the FX6800-01e comes with 3GB of DDR3-1066 memory. Gaming duties are tackled with a Radeon HD 4850 videocard, and you get 700GB of hard drive space to store those games. A 500W power supply, 18X DVD burner, onboard audio, 15-in-1 media card reader, ten USB 2.0 ports, four 1394a ports, two eSATA ports, and and HDMI connector (via DVI-HDMI dongle) round out the feature-set.

Settling in at the higher end, the FX6800-05 beefs up processing chores with Intel's Core i7-940 processor (2.93GHz quad-core) and doubles up the RAM to 6GB. And speaking of double, ATI's dual-GPU Radeon 4870 X2 finds its way into the FX6800-05. Storage chores are tag-teamed with an Intel High Performance 80GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive. Gateway also doubles up on the power supply, trading in the value model's 500W for a beefier 1000W.

The FX6800-01e and FX6800-5 are available now from Best Buy for $1250 and $3000 respectively.

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Posted 11/14/08 at 01:20:56 PM by Paul Lilly

Power users have long dreamed of the day when hitting their PC's power button would result in an instantaneous boot. Technologies like SplashTop's Instant-On Linux-based OS have brought this concept closer to reality, but unlike the Instant-On OS, which works on a flash chip embedded on select motherboards giving users quick access to basic online tasks, Asrock's new Instant Boot feature promises super speedy boot times into Windows to the tune of just 3-4 seconds and has posted a video to prove it.

Impossible? Well, yes, but Asrock's creative approach puts a unique spin on shutting down and turning on your system. After installing the Instant Boot application on a compatible Asrock motherboard, shutting down your PC triggers a shutdown and reboot process that ultimately puts your system in a Hibernate or Standby state. The next time you hit the power button, you'll be up and running in as little as 3 seconds.

The obvious question is why not just put your system in Standby or Hibernate in the first place, and according to Asrock, Instant Boot's advantages include a less cluttered OS from a clean boot with no "accumulated garbage data," nor will you lose any data during a power outage. Whether or not Instant Boot becomes an instant hit is yet to be determined, but kudos to Asrock for thinking outside of the box.

Hit the jump and tell us what you think of this new technology.

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Posted 06/30/08 at 09:26:54 PM by Paul Lilly

Buying an OEM computer used to mean being tied down to proprietary parts, paying too much for too little, and having to find a place to hide an unsightly beige box so as not to offend guests. Or scare the cat. And while proprietary restrictions are still the norm rather than the exception, OEM systems continue to drop in price and look good doing it. We can now add Lenovo to the list of system builders following this trend of affordable sex appeal.

Lenovo, who feels comfortable concentrating on the Chinese market, first began having global inspirations with its IdeaPad series of notebooks released earlier this year. Sensing the grass might very well be greener on the other side, or at least pull in more green, the once sheltered OEM now looks to march into the global consumer desktop market with its newly announced IdeaCentre K210. And the timing couldn't be better. As Lenovo points out in its press release, demand for worldwide consumer PCs is up, and according to the IDC, will show a 10 percent increase from 2007 to 2011. Even still, the global market remains crowded, and Lenovo hopes a few key technologies will separate itself from the pack.

To see what interesting twists Lenovo brings to the table, including one that will have hyperchondriacs jumping for joy, you'll first have to click through the jump.

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Posted 06/18/08 at 05:39:51 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

For all those readers who have added up the price of the parts in an OEM box and screamed into the night air: “Hell, I can build it cheaper than that!” CyberPower has a retort: Beat this one, sucker! While you might think you’re up to the challenge, we suspect the price-to-performance ratio of the CyberPower Gamer Ultimate SLI Quad is impossible to match—unless you’re using boosted parts. In fact, we’re not sure how CyberPower is making a profit off this stacked and packed rig.

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