Posted 10/05/2009 at 09:26:45am

Looking at the specs and the opencl and direct compute implementation i have to wonder, what is the performance equivalent of this GPU as a CPU.

Are we nearing the cross point in the curve of intel dominance of cpu powered PC and GPU as CPU powered pc?

544 giagaFlops on the 5800 GPU vs 85 gigaFLOPs i-7 975?

Holly molly batman! Huston we have a problem! Danger. danger will robinson!

 create a good instruction set and test these things against each other.

a separate note, is it me or does the look of this remind anyone else of the old plug in computer cpu/memory sytem upgrades for early 386 and even mac se30?

Posted 10/05/2009 at 09:07:52am

OK first MESIAH you think too highly of yourself and your opinion and you version of the law.

1) AMAZON was wrong( read broke the law) for selling something that they illegally offered for sale.

2) under many states laws, it is illegal to reach into someones device/computer/network and remove, or tamper with the contents. (read broke the law again)

3) yes they were correct in refunding the purchase price for something they had no rights to see. (read restitution)

4) they offered a replacement copy of the item, albeit not in the form the user wanted for free to the user.(read who cares, if i buy a sports car because i like to go fast and you exchange it for a yugo we do not have a agreement do we? even offered for free if i dont want clutter of physical books and want to read in a convienient device that's my choice not yours---very little points for attempt amazon)

5) the $30 and the $150k settlement were amazons attempt to TRY to avoid massive reprocussions both leaglly and socially. the $30 paid was a refund and sorry fee. The $150k was in part a punitive damages claim. (read don't do that again-you were wrong amazon)

6) some states may still file lagal action against amazon for computer invasion, and they would be right to do so. WE CANNOT FOR WHATEVER REASON HAVE ANYONE REMOVING ANYTHING FROM OUR COMPUTERS WITHOUT OUR EXPRESS KNOWLEDGE AND PERMISSION. The RIAA would pull all your music, the MPAA would pull your videos and software companies would pull well, your software. ALL OF THEM COULD PULL THESE CLAIMING THE DIDNT SEE SOME IDENTIFYING CODE SAYING IT WAS THE PRISTINE ORIGINAL ONLY COPY.

Wanna guess what might come from your mouth when you realize something has been deleted unbeknownst to you that you NEED or want to use? It wouldn't be thank you i am certain.

So amazon is riding a razor blade edge with this...just like sony did with their invasive anti-piracy software install on their cds a few years ago.

WE CANNOT ALLOW ANYONE TO DO THESE TYPES OF THINGS. 

Posted 09/05/2009 at 08:02:50am

I have been watching these things wanting to bite and build or buy a i-7 system for some time.

for i-7 price goto www.microcenter.com current price is $199 for i-7 920 ! they have been lower than everyone for months.

i am as confused as eveyone else on the i-7 vs i-5 issue the no bs podcast about convinced me to wait and either buy the i-5 with the new 1156 socket or the coming soon i-7 with the new 1156 socket for future compatibility.

I've got a FAST p4 3.2 board in the basement that is useless because the cpu socket doesn't exist on any boards and memory is becming rare. (the board just crapped out)

so my dual core laptop is my mainstay now until i buy/build a new system.

i wish someone would just show how all these compare.  

Posted 08/08/2009 at 02:03:20pm

ok, having been a system builder for many years and always looking for the best way to safely sqeeze power out of the hardware i could justify buying. Yes that means i usually will NOT buy the $1000 cpu or video card.

so i read i-7 greatest quad core cpu and the latest xeon cpu are as good if not better.

why does maxpc not build systems with xeon cpus - not ever!

nor does maxpc run comparisons of the i-7 vs xeon for performance.

so my question because no-one seems to run the tests...iis the i-7 or the xeon the chip to build with?

Posted 04/14/2009 at 05:39:34am

there were few things i "liked" about this podcast...

1) gordons views on what a waste it is/was.

2) actually really the only redeeming thing....i was incredibly surprised at veronicas vocal abilities.

the girls got chops! and sounds good!

in the future when i am relistening to podcast for information review i will have edited this podcast down to just veronicas song, her voice soothed the savage in me that was raging from the techno-waste of time that the rest of the podcast was/IS!

sorry i do listen to be entertained but primarilly for tech info, not gaming or kids nite out. someone should have reviewed this kareoke idea and nixed it. but even good managers make some bad decisions.

Posted 02/27/2009 at 03:22:00pm

Ok, so podcasting is a "young" medium...i'll give that.

The last podcast was inexperience speaking mostly, it was tedious to listen to.

I miss boot magazine more each issue of the maximumpc..it was a time when we tech inclined "built" and "hardware and software hacked" kludged for those old enough devices to make them bend to our desires and will.

maximumpc w/ will and gordon guide the discussion and comments in a manner befitting a tech based coverage topic. too much has become pc gamer... i use the latest greatest stuff-when i can afford to buy it. but NOT FOR GAMING! i do cad and design engineering, use lots music related gear and don't need video fps ratings faster than my eyes. i do need hardware and software and devices to perform!  topic ideas...

what can be done to maximize the media center boxes we all are currently buying...apple tv, apple mini, ps3, xbox, linksys media center (i own this and will be hacking it soon) Boxee, XMBC.

How about hacking personal media players...rockbox, ipod touch apps that mod it better than itunes ect..

i don't listen for the ski report, the lunch counter sandwich updates or gaming info those generally belong on a different podcast and also not in maximumpc mag. 

Posted 12/16/2008 at 03:08:26pm

OK we all know the ONLY choice for some time now has been INTEL for the CPU, but what interests me is are there any statistics showing how the ATI 4870, 4850 and 4870 x2 have affected the data.

Have Gamers been asked whether the NVIDIA substrate chip issue affected their purchase choices?

I am not a AMD/ATI fan boy nor a NVIDIA hater, I own and use both until the ATI 48xx series there only was one video choice as i said before IS the case with CPU choice. OK you do have a choice Intel Quad Core Q6xxx or INTEl Quad Core I-7.

 With the Video card it is a matter of price performance once again...finally.

Posted 12/02/2008 at 08:50:50pm

I recently purchased one of the inksys DMA2100 Media exteders. The HDMI interface and wired and wireless-N interfaces were attracive iducement for the purchase to add media playback from my network and online video sites like HULU Right on my Flat screen TV. Unforunately, it dosn't act as a streamable interface it IS windows media center...the awful, most limited media interface devised by man. It doesn't mirror the Windows PCs desktop, it is its' own mediacenter interface. I can't figure how to access online sites and the exact purpose of a Vista machine eludes me. In short, if I can finda hack to put some other media system on the hardware it's bye bye windowsmedia center hello streaming media player, as it sits from the factory it is of little use to me.

bottom line: pass on it or plan to hack it.

Posted 02/14/2008 at 02:49:58pm

The other day on my day off i got interupted from watching a heckle and jeckle cartoon by a URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT from the President of the USA. Essentially he threatened Congress saying he would not sign an extension to the "surveilance" legislation and if they didn't pass it by saturday the 16th of february it would be dead and it would be their fault it died. Everyone seems to believe their is some level of need for this legislation of how we gather information and deal with "terrorists". Well hidden in the text is "Torture" -where when and How. But also the "hold harmless" those corporations that "help" in gathering information. essentially, you can't sue AT&T(for example) if they give your private filtered info to the government...oh by the way...patriot act says they do not need wiretap or miranda law compliance...just a "we thought they might be a terrorist" disclaimer and it's free willy anything goes. So watch what you say or you will be waterboarding in Cuba and your family will be under surveilliance.

Posted 09/14/2007 at 02:45:56pm

Ok, I get the basics here, our email is now protected communication once again. whew! Let me ask about the implications of this ruling...If my email is the same as sealed snail mail then ANYONE opening or tampering with it is violating item 1) my right to presumtion of privacy.( a potential civil$ crime, with associated damages claims) item 2)violating similar federal laws in regards to physical mail. Now am I incorrect in interpreting this to also mean employers cannot intercept and review any email from an employee except where the email account is a company owned account for the employees usage. For example: If I send an email using the company provided email account telling my boss off, even if only sent to myself as theraputic and subsequently get fired because the IT department forwarded it to my boss- and he didn't like it. But, if i send the same email from my personal email account and IT intercepts it, because of the Millenium Act and HomeLand Security regulation for maintaining emails, the company can be sued (civil case as item 1 above) for violating my rights and thereby causing me to lose my job. I should be able to recoup damages also, as i am now unemployeed-with no income and my pristine employment history is tarnished, no one wants to hire me cause was forced to sue my old company and I am pretty stressed out by all this and that F!*$#@! old boss of mine. am I right?