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Myth/rumor: The Athlon XP is a furnace of unimaginable heat! I'm getting a Pentium IV! Even though they are slower and more expensive, at least they won't dim the lights then melt them!

The fastest Athlon XP chips dissipate less than 5% more heat than the fastest Pentium IV chips. They can, however, handle more heat before cooking.

Myth/rumor: Tom's Hardware guide is "more objectvice" or even "Tom's Hardware guide is reliable"
I can't believe I read this, even in a Slashdot comment.
Tom's Hardware Guide is infamous among forums such as those at StorageReview.com and among people that actually know what they are talking about for being little more than a hardware review tabloid. Read the reviews! They come to illogical conclusions and sensationalize most of their reviews.
Read the Athlon review in question:
This is AMD's admission that the previous performance scale was set too high, especially when it came to the higher clock speeds.
Umm... Could it be that because the CPU is advancing where the other components such as memory and FSB are not, that it is possible that AMD added another 66MHz to make sure the rating system was still accurate? It isn't like system performance scales linearly with CPU speed when everything else sits still. Whoever thinks that Tom's Hardware is a good place to get hardware reviews doesn't have a clue about hardware!
Read Tom's glorious review of the KT266a vs the Nforce where despite there being less than a 5% difference between the chipsets and despite the Nforce outperforming every one of the many KT266a that outnumber it greatly in some tests, their "conclusion" was Conclusion: KT266A Trounces nForce 420D - Soltek is Front-runner
Tom's has had some good reviews, and most of the reviews BY TOM HIMSELF are pretty good, but most of the reviews are from his editors, and the proof is in the reviews--they are making Tom's Hardware more of a tabloid than a legit hardware review site, riding on the reputation that Tom made for the site years ago. I know, I was once an avid Tom's reader and am disgusted how the once clear and thoughtful reviews have turned into manic drivel.
If you want reviews that are actually well thought out, intelligent, and have sane conclusions based on mere facts, try Ace's Hardware, Ars Technica, and Anandtech.
Ace's Hardware reviews are clearly the best and most researched, but they are few and far between. Want an excellent review of current and future memory technologies written with the help of actual engineers? Read Ace's Hardware.
Ars rarely has hardware reviews, but when they do the reviews are good.
Anandtech is a good all-around major review site that as far as I can tell has never been biased, but is a little bit too PC for me. (that's Politically Correct, not the other one)

Is Tom's biased? Read the reviews! They aren't biased in a classic sense as far as I can tell, that is, they don't "always favor Intel" or "Always favor AMD"; rather they are often biased against one or the other. They will post stories that are clearly opinionated bullshit from ignorant tech writers that tend to have a bias against one or ther other. This is a mystery to me as they surely piss off both AMD and Intel all the time, and don't make any friends in the process. Overall, I wouldn't say that bias is a big problem at Tom's Hardware as much as stupid technical writers that don't know what they are talking about is a problem.
Want more examples? Point me to a review at Tom's and I'll tell you what's wrong with it (if there is anything wrong with that particular one)

At Tom's--read the reviews by Tom, but everyone else is not trustworthy.

Myth/rumor:
When you hold a seashell up to your ear, you can hear the sea.
Fact: You can hear the same sound reflections by holding a drinking cup up to your ear. It has nothing to do with the ocean. The question is, if you hold a Unix shell up to your ear, can you hear the C?

discussion at ArsTechnica

According to Ars Technica it costs NetFlix 37 cents to ship a DVD to a customer. Granted, NetFlix doesn't have to burn the media they are shipping but if they did I can't imagine it costing more than a dollar.

The current PlayStation introduced the concept of the Graphics Synthesizer via the real-time calculation and rendering of a 3D object. This new GS rendering processor is the ultimate incarnation of this concept - delivering unrivalled graphics performance and capability. The rendering function was enhanced to generate image data that supports NTSC/PAL Television, High Definition Digital TV and VESA output standards. The quality of the resulting screen image is comparable to movie-quality 3D graphics in real time.

I.e. what is called RAID10 would for most of us fall under the definition of RAID5?

RAID5 and RAID10 (or, RAID1+0) are two entirely different RAID implementations.

Please read this link regarding the "Skinny on RAID"

In regards to your question, someone in one of the above threads posted a quote from John McCalpin at IBM that neatly answers your question:

"Please note that the old distinction between "POWER" and "PowerPC" is no longer operative. IBM's POWER3, RS64, POWER4,and subsequent processors all implement the 64-bit PowerPC architecture (of which the 32-bit PowerPC architecture is a subset). The RS64 and POWER4 (and following) processors also support the 64-bit PowerPC AS architecture, which includes some additional stuff to make the processor work in iSeries (formerly AS/400) systems."

In regards to your question, someone in one of the above threads posted a quote from John McCalpin at IBM that neatly answers your question:

"Please note that the old distinction between "POWER" and "PowerPC" is no longer operative. IBM's POWER3, RS64, POWER4,and subsequent processors all implement the 64-bit PowerPC architecture (of which the 32-bit PowerPC architecture is a subset). The RS64 and POWER4 (and following) processors also support the 64-bit PowerPC AS architecture, which includes some additional stuff to make the processor work in iSeries (formerly AS/400) systems."

Intel's 64 bit offering is a load of garbage... extremely complex, and it looks like it was designed by two groups, architecture designers and a compiler core. It's what happens when you let coders define an architecture. Multi-million dollar mistake. A purely RISC 64-bit chip the likes of Alpha would've been great, but Intel took the job, butchered it and then ran it through a shredder. Alpha was pure, and a great architecture, IA64 is NO Alpha. It couldn't hold Alpha's coffee mug in the mornings. It's an absolutely enormous die (meaning higher manufacturing costs) and processors aren't really divided into RISC and CISC anymore. Hammer is a better architecture from a market standpoint, and from a technological standpoint as well. From everything I've read on it, it appears to be part of AMDs long term strategy... and it's a good strategy. Just remember which company got most of the Alpha engineers. But hey, here's a link, go read up on processors here.

Almost... The EE is: one MIPS CPU, COP1 (FPU), COP2 (VPU0), VPU1, the GIF, plus DMAC, IPU, i/o, main memory interface, etc.

Both VPUs consist of: VU, data memory, and a data decompression engine. Both VPUs can handle integers. (microinstructions IADD*, IAND, IOR, ISUB*)

However, VU1 is indeed different from VU0. It only operates in micro mode (ie, not as a coprocessor to the CPU). It also has more memory (both data and program) and an EFU (exponential and trig functions). Realize though, VU0 can operate in micromode as well, and thus has both program and data memory itself.

But the thing about it is... VPU0 is coupled with the CPU, while VPU1 is coupled with the GS through the GIF. (graphic synthesizer and its interface) The transfer between VU1 and the GIF is the highest priority transfer of the PS2.

It is a glorious architecture. I realize you can't see that from the little i have described here. Ars Technica had a couple articles a while ago; PS2 vs. PC (system level comparison) and an overview of the EE. They were written... well, a while ago. Perhaps even before the PS2 was in production - but they do catch the beauty of the EE.

It really is a better way of computing, for "dynamic applications." (better than the PC architecture) PCs still rule for word processors though...

A storm approaches, and i have no UPS. Please forgive any lack of polish - i fear losing this post to preview alone.

Almost... The EE is: one MIPS CPU, COP1 (FPU), COP2 (VPU0), VPU1, the GIF, plus DMAC, IPU, i/o, main memory interface, etc.

Both VPUs consist of: VU, data memory, and a data decompression engine. Both VPUs can handle integers. (microinstructions IADD*, IAND, IOR, ISUB*)

However, VU1 is indeed different from VU0. It only operates in micro mode (ie, not as a coprocessor to the CPU). It also has more memory (both data and program) and an EFU (exponential and trig functions). Realize though, VU0 can operate in micromode as well, and thus has both program and data memory itself.

But the thing about it is... VPU0 is coupled with the CPU, while VPU1 is coupled with the GS through the GIF. (graphic synthesizer and its interface) The transfer between VU1 and the GIF is the highest priority transfer of the PS2.

It is a glorious architecture. I realize you can't see that from the little i have described here. Ars Technica had a couple articles a while ago; PS2 vs. PC (system level comparison) and an overview of the EE. They were written... well, a while ago. Perhaps even before the PS2 was in production - but they do catch the beauty of the EE.

It really is a better way of computing, for "dynamic applications." (better than the PC architecture) PCs still rule for word processors though...

A storm approaches, and i have no UPS. Please forgive any lack of polish - i fear losing this post to preview alone.

One of the members over at Ars Technica has done a similar thing by compiling a PDF of bachelor chow from their forums:

• If it requires an inflight reboot, there's no doubt what OS it's running.

With most APs now supporting 802.1x, authentication and billing, not to mention additional security, is quite easy to achieve. Look into 802.1x and various implementations of EAP which requires wireless users to authenticate with a RADIUS server. In the case of Cisco's implementation of EAP it's trivial to setup however for the most part if the AP supports 802.1x you can choose serveral different EAP implementations. Some suck (Microsoft's implementation is x.509 based and requires Active Directory) others as simple as specific client software and then the RADIUS server. This takes care of accounting too so you can track users bandwidth usage. Cisco's RADIUS server is called SecureACS and support's Cisco's APs in for EAP-Cisco (LEAP) which is one of the better implementations as several other vendors are started to say they will support it. Funk Software also has Odyssey which supports EAP-TLS (Supported by XP) and EAP-TTLS. TTLS is WAY easier to manage but not as easy as the Cisco solution. You can check out FreeRadius which supports both EAP-TLS and EAP-MD5.

For a general overview on 802.1x security check out the 802.1x Blackpaper at ArsTechnica.

I just finished designing a LEAP (EAP-Cisco) implementation for a customer of mine only a few weeks ago. The ArsTechnica blackpaper is a pretty good read for someone who doesn't do this very often.

The biggest benifit to all of this outside of the authentication is the RADIUS billing. This way you can very easily enforce bandwidth caps.

Enjoy.

Syn Ack.

is that they'll take a dump in your water cooling tank, then if the tank ever breaks, you'll be sitting pretty in some watery filth.

What next for CPU cooling? Liquid Nitrogen! Haha.

I thought an interesting read on cooling was this technical blackpaper from arstechnica:

Peltier Theory

There was a thread about Geek Cookery on Ars recently, and out of it came the Ars Technica Cookbook of Bachelor Chow - it's a nifty PDF file with a lot of recipes and such in it. I figured it was germane to this discussion.

As for Good Eats - it's a regular on my Tivo at least once a week. In fact, between Good Eats, Iron Chef, A Cook's Tour, and Mario Eats Italy, I probably just ought to leave the darned thing on Food Network all the time!

they very well might. or maybe they use something like the klat2 supercomputer but they're still not getting 100 gigabits. 66mhz 64 bit pci (if they've got it) theoretical max is 4 gigabits. I believe that fast RAM throughput is on the same order of magnitude. Not to mention how many nic's you'd need to get 100 gigabits.

btw - my FP!

The only Mac-oriented forum I've come across that is neither reflexively Mac-bashing nor reflexively Steve-gushing is the Mac openforum over at Ars Technica.

Sure, you'll get rumor speculation and general Q&A, but if you want detailed analysis of XServe benchmarks versus Sun servers, they'll have it, too. Certainly spanks the typical MacAddict or MacNN nonsense.

Dual CPU systems are a pretty ordinary item these days - any reputable vendor that sells them should be fine. There, you have a choice of AMD or Intel. As the submitter of this topic points out, though, if you're specifying parts yourself (even if someone else is building them for you), at the lower end you'll find the Intel solution can be quite a bit cheaper overall, because of the low cost and wide selection of dual CPU Intel motherboards.

So if you're looking for a low cost, high performance dual CPU setup, Intel is the answer. But if you must have AMD for whatever reason, find a vendor who'll sell you something similar to the Ars Technica God Box. The Tyan Tiger MPX motherboard is excellent.

But here's where I think the real money is (and there's a small shop here in Portland that does this very successfully): geeks. Geeks are impatient, they love tinkering, and they often break things that are vital to their system's health and will do anything to get a replacement in the shortest amount of time possible. So stock what geeks want. Do some research and find out what people are searching for on PriceWatch. Find out what Ars Technica is recommending.

Stock up on motherboards (especially Asus, Abit, and Tyan). Buy OEM processors if you can, because they're cheaper and geeks don't mind. Stock lots of cooling accessories. The latest video cards from NVidia and ATI. That sort of thing. If your prices are within $20-$30 of the average price on PriceWatch, most geeks would rather buy their stuff from you and not have to wait for shipping. And if the attitude of the guys at my local store is any indication, you don't even have to be nice to your geek customers. They don't care about you, they just want their hardware.

Good luck!

They have an excellent website: good selection, well laid out, good navingation tools (View by name, View By Price, include tax etc.) and good ordering system. They have good prices and very reasonable (my last order €8 on ~1½ kg) shipping charges which importantly is with DHL Express (2 days), so you can track your shipment on the DHL website (which is brilliant - I've been stuck in limbo several times not knowing when or if a shipment will arrive when buying from other retailers like dabs.com). And no I don't work for Komplett, just a happy customer.

As many others have said it will probably not be cheaper when you build your first machine but you will get higher quality parts. What this means is that when it comes time to upgrade (in 9-12 months) you only need to upgrade part of your system (say, only motherboard, processor, memory and graphics card). Also having bought quality parts any you upgrade can still continue to have a useful life as a server or SO's machine.

If you are going to build your own machine you do need to do your homework. Overview sites like http://www.arstechnica.com/, http://www.sharkyextreme.com are useful but don't always get it right. I find component/area focused wesites invaluable. Here are some good examples: http://www.motherboards.org/ , http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/ , http://storagereview.com/

Also a good idea is to lurk for a while in some of the product newsgroups / online forums.

One thing that you should not forget is that building your own PC is a lot of fun! It's interesting, satisfying and educational. So in the long run I think that it is both cheaper and more rewarding.

If it is for fun, do it. If it is to save money, don't.

I generally do it for fun. However, in my last rebuild, I was pretty much forced to do it. I wanted a dual-processor system and while I wasn't going to allow anyone build my first SMP box on my behalf I also would have been stressed to find an experienced supplier prepared to build such a system.

The price mark-up (of pre-built systems) in this niche market is still relatively higher than that on the budget market. Possibly due to Intel's hold on the SMP market and the cost of SMP chipsets. For that reason, building your own can save you money

Anyway, I'm very happy with the system which I'm typing on now, whilst ripping a DVD :-).

[Obligatory] Here are the quick specs:

Asus A7M266-D MPX Motherboard
2 x Athlon MP 1600+
512Mb Crucial ECC Ram
Intel 82559 10/100 Ethernet
noname GeFroce 4 MX440 Video
Enermax PSU

All the other parts for this system were salvaged from previous builds, which I'm sure anyone who has gone through a few rebuilds and upgrades has a large abundance of spare cables, screws, CD-ROM drives, floppy drives etc...

I went with the two MP 1600+ knowing that the higher spec MP cpus are sure to come down in price eventually so it leaves room for a suitable upgrade in the future. 64-bit PCI slots also leave room for an eventual upgrade to high-performance SCSI.

Some may say that getting a Dual-Proc system for a desktop or workstation is overkill, but once you've experienced the difference I don't think you'll look back. Not only does DVD ripping work a treat, but single-threaded applications can no longer hang the system (an age-old Windows problem).

Someone also stated that this box was overkill - well - of course it is, this is the computer equivalent to the concept car - they never make production, but they push the limits of our imagination and prepare us for the future. Who was it that said: w640 kilobytes is more than enough memory?

RAM: www.crucial.com
everything else: www.newegg.com

reviews: www.anandtech.com
general price updates: www.pricewatch.com
questions, web boards: www.arstechnica.com

Since everyone else is listing favorite vendors, I had good results with The Chip Merchant (an Ars favorite) and Sunset Marketing. No connection to either other than satisfaction.

There was also a Kuro5hin story on this a few weeks ago. Too lazy to link it...

1. First get an idea of how much you can afford to spend.
2. Think a bit about what sort of tasks you want the computer to do. Do you want high end video for gaming? Do you want to build a PVR? Do you want to build a small server to host web/ftp/email services over a broadband connection?
3. Go online and do some research to see what's out there to fulfill the role you envision for the machine. arstechnica, tom's hardware, anandtech, storage review, and other sites usually have good information on recent and upcoming technologies. I do a lot of looking to see what's out there and what's around the corner, then go back and revise my budget accordingly.
4. Decide what you need to buy. I don't generally go for the biggest, fastest, best, because it's generally twice as expensive (or more) as it will be in just a few months. I don't buy the cheapest stuff either, as it's usually of inferior quality, obsolete, or will give inferior performance compared to spending a small amount more on something better. I look at the price/performance curve, and generally buy in the "knee-bend" of the curve. The only exception is if there's something dirt cheap available for a non-critical component that doesn't make much of a difference (like a floppy drive, NIC, or keyboard) or an absolutely critical high-priority component that the system *needs* in order to perform its role adequately (like a GeForce card for a gaming station) or a SCSI controller for a file server.
5. Shop around. You can try pricewatch.com to get an idea what stuff is going for these days. But I find that shipping makes finding a real bargain somewhat difficult. That's especially true if you buy from more than one vendor. I try to go through one vendor, for simplicity's sake, and right now my choice is Newegg.com. They have very good service and their prices are often near the top of the pricewatch search results anyway. You can try local stores, too. Stay away from chains like CompUSA and Best Buy, and support small local businesses run by knowledgable, competant people. Their prices will generally be about twice the lowest you'll find on pricewatch, but you may find the convenience of not paying for shipping, not having to wait for delivery, and having someone to go to for questions and advice useful. If you're more experienced, you probably don't need that, but few people know everything about everything, and everyone you talk to can potentially teach you something.
6. Put it together. There's plenty of guides out there on the web that will go into detailed instructions on how to put a PC together if you need help. PC Mechanic is a good example, and there are many others out there. Read the instructions a few times until you know what you're doing, then do it.

Step zero, figure out what you want to do with it. Do you want high-end sound? Gaming? Video capture? Entertainment system? Are you going to lug it around to LAN parties? This will help you trim things down.

First, go to TomsHardware.com, pick up a copy of MaximumPC, and hit other sites like ArsTechnica to read up on articles of importance to your project. You will need a rock-solid motherboard, don't get caught up in overclocking madness and other BS. If this is the first time you've built a machine you've got a lot of stuff to school yourself on without toasting a CPU or mobo. Wait until you know what you're doing. Baby steps. Check out compatibility issues, etc.

Second, don't do this to save money - you won't. Building a box isn't a way to save, it's to be assured that you'll get exactly what you want put together exactly how you want it. Also remember that you are your own warranty and that OEM equipment doesn't have the same warranty period as retail stuff in most cases. Also if you return stuff, there's usually a huge (20%+) restock fee, so make sure you're ordering what you think you're ordering. Caveat emptor.

Third, go to newegg.com or mwave.com and configure yourself up a box. Newegg will let you save your cart and whatnot, mwave is still stuck in 1997 in that regard. Anyway, poke, configure. Design your box around your specific wants and needs. Nip and tuck.

Certainly use pricewatch as a guide, but trust me - it's ALWAYS better to order your parts all from one place rather than be kept waiting for a CPU or couple of sticks of RAM to trickle in. Plus, there's less hassle if something's DOA.

Next, pick up a PC Upgrade & Repair book and a basic toolset. Read, read, read. Check your order to make damned sure that you didn't forget anything. If you're too squeamish to put the whole thing together yourself (you should put it together yourself, IMHO) you can get mwave or someone to prebuild it for your and tweak it when it comes in.

Anyway, if you decide to put it together yourself schedule a free weekend - yes, a whole weekend. Use common sense, a clean worktable without errant drinks or chips, anti-static gear, and a Zen-like ripose. Before you start tearing into your hardware READ THE MANUALS AND HOW-TOS FIRST.

Let me say that again: READ THE MANUALS AND HOW-TOS FIRST.

One more time, because since you're building it YOU are all the tech support you're ever going to get. READ THE MANUALS AND HOW-TOS FIRST. Check erratta online, grab the latest BIOS for your motherboard and drivers for your gear. All the drivers that come on your install CDs were out of date before the CDs were finished duplicating.

Having a running box and broadband handy to grab patches and do research while you construct is invaluable. So is the advice/help/EMT of a friendly geek buddy if you get stuck. Don't bug the crap out of your friend; I HATE being roped into a newbie install at 6:00PM on a Saturday night.

Anyway, make sure you have all your OS and application CDs laying around. Grab the latest ISOs of your favorite distro and make boot floppies.

There will be twists, turns, and headaches. But you'll get a sense of satisfaction and - over the years - invaluable experience with all kinds of wierd hardware and odd situations. Bask in pride as you fire up your very own custom box!

Check out arstechnica for more information on homebrew PC's. They have a lot of information regarding reviews of components of computer systems, as well as letting people on to deals on new components. Good site.

Other good sites that people mentioned in previous responses are: anandtech and toms hardware for component reviews, and pricegrabber and pricewatch for finding the best prices on things online, and newegg is just a great online company that is very reliable and inexpensive for purchasing lots of electronic/computer components.

Roughly, when I built my home PC, I started here:

http://arstechnica.com/guide/system/index.html

They regularly update their 3 machine specifications: God Box, Hot Rod Box, and Budget Box, inorder or price and goodies, of course. But what they mostly include is advice on buying what parts, why to buy them, what to look for if you're not buying that exact part, and how to buy the parts you need for the best price. The last part is most important. You can buy the same piece of hardware you need at many places on the net. The key is getting it the cheapest. The price comparison places I've been using are:

http://www.pricegrabber.com/
http://www.mysimon.com/
http://www.pricescan.com/
http://www.dealtime.com/

Some other people said getting your cpu, mem, and mobo from one place. I'd like to say almost that. CPU and mobo, for sure. But I always buy my memory from

http://www.crucial.com

It's just not worth risking on something so cheap.

Coincidentally, I submitted a similar question to Ask Slashdot before I started but it wasn't accepted so I was on my own. I just built my own PC from scratch -- I ended up using Arstechnica to help me out. The cool thing about Arstechnica is that they provide pricing (using the PriceGrabber engine), user ratings, and 3 suggested systems broken down by component.

I ended up buying most of my components from different web sites using Arstechinca's recommendations as a guide. Looking back, I might have saved some money on shipping if I would have gone with the same company even with slightly higher prices per component.

One thing I would suggest from personal experience is to buy as much as you can locally, even if it's a little more expensive, just in case something goes wrong. I had a problem with a motherboard I bought from a Canadian company. 3 weeks and $30 in shipping later I finally have a mobo that works. Even though they took the motherboard back I was still reponsible for shipping.

Another disadvantage of DIY is that you typically don't get OEM discounts on software. If you'll just be running Linux then that isn't an issue, but Windows folks generally pay a little more for a license.

All in all, even with the problems I ran into, I would still build the next machine myself. The satisfaction of doing it yourself goes a long way.

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This space for rent.

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This space for rent.

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This space for rent.

"Rambus is not the only memory company feeling the heat from the US government. The New York Times reports (free registration req'd and beware of the annoying Best Buy interstitial ad) Micron, Samsung and Infineon have been hit with a Department of Justice inquiry into anticompetitive practices."

1. Open Darwin's Thread UFS vs HFS+
2. Brigging UFS up to date
3. Meta Data in Mac Filesystems

It presents the GNU/Linux and free software side, which is a small step towards bringing balance, as we do not have the big advertisement budgets to buy editorial good will, or money to order favorable rewievs from "the customer is always right" analysis companies.

What I am getting tired of is the the people who whine that slashdot is not Ars Technica or kuro5hin, both excellent web places with a different focus than slahsdot.

What about the fact that we STILL don't really take advantage of gfx hardware for 2D presentation?

or the fact that fonts still look like ass?

I have two Win XP machines at home, on a PIII 1GHz laptop and one a Duron 800 Desktop, 256MB RAM on each. Win XP runs like a lame sloth on both machines, and from what I can deduce, it is because it access the hard disk a lot, and slows down application launching, disk browsing. Clicking on the start button->programs is a good reason to find something to think about, as it always takes a long time for the application menu to come up. (Red light on the hard disk is on).
Applications run fine once they have started, unless they have to access the hard disk.

You know, I've had the exact same experiences, and I thought - there's gotta be a way to fix this!

So, I did a quick search on Google and came up with a site that looks pretty promising.

Specifically it looks like DisableExecutivePaging is going to help a lot with the start menu problem (it'll refuse to page out OS related files). Then, the LargeSystemCache seems to be the equivalent of what Linux runs with by default - and that is to use all available memory to cache the filesystem, and free it up when an app needs it. This will probably help with the start menu too.

I just turned them both on... gotta reboot to enable them though :(

Check out Ars Technica Budget Box. Aside from video editing (which most users don't do) and lastest generation first-person shooters, what could more CPU get you? There simply isn't a killer app for these bigger processors. IMHO, their best hope is that they can become big and fast enough that on board video will be as feasible as on board audio and ethernet

Review of Cappucino which seems to be the same as that EZ-Go...

arstechnica has lots of reviews on cases. I've killed 5 power supplies in the last 5 years, so if anything get a good power supply. The other stuff you can skimp on. After all, isn't the power supply the most important part of a case?

I thought this article brought up two very interesting points which oddly enough I was discussing this AM with my wife after we learned of the GC pricedrop (we have a PS2 and "classic" PSX):

* Production control
* Platform Longevity

When talking about hardware, it's all about controlling production and cutting costs whenever possbile. Since Sony controls the production, any increased efficiencies they realize in their PS2 chip fabs directly impact their profit margins. However, on XBOX, if Intel/NVidia become more efficient in creating XBOX components, they pocket the $$$.

In addition, and in the spirit of MS' campaign for "innovation", Sony is taking it to the poor XBOX team, which obviously isn't in this for the long run. Nothing against Blackley and crew, but Sony plays consumer electronics for keeps, has teams dedicated to multiple PS product generation, and are showing it with how they control manufacturing process where, for Sony, a penny saved on costs is a penny Sony keeps (don't think Sony is selling the PSOne for a loss @$49USD :).

In addition to controlling its own production, Sony obviously employs a number of highly-talented hardware engineers (and yes, some of the Emotion Engine peeps belong to Toshiba) dedicated to creating mind-expanding and truly innovative hardware for the consumer market which will age gracefully and provide high-performance for years to come (For those who insist on comparing XBOX/PS2 from a MHz/RAM standpoint, see the ArsTechnica article on the Emotion Engine). PS2 has lots of room to grow.

Sony knows consoles aren't like PCs: the majority of buyers keep the consoles much longer than a PC and periodically purchase additional software titles. When the next round of the Console Wars commences, you know Sony will be selling the PS2 around $99 . . . and it will still be making a profit on each unit. Will Intel still be making the P3? What about NVidia . . .

What is your source for this information? Here's a few folks who disagree with you:

• one of Apple's Java developers:"...Quartz is not (yet) hardware accelerated
• another task that is not currently off-loaded to the video card's GPU
• Apple inexplicably still isn't doing any hardware acceleration of the "Quartz" graphics engine
• UI slowness comes from no Quartz acceleration on current video cards
• haven't enabled hardware acceleration for some of the 2D acceleration capabilities

Yes, be sure to run the command line client - it is much faster. Other tips, stats and stuff can be found on the #1 Seti team: Team Ars Technica Lamp Chop (TLC).

All you Americans should join TLC *now* unless you want Seti Germany to overtake the top spot in Seti!

From what I can gather, NTFS doesn't support symlinks to the same degree as Unix filesystems. It supports "Reparse Points" and "Junction Points", which are described at http://arstechnica.com/paedia/n/ntfs/ntfs5-4.html, but they don't do everything that symlinks do. For example, it doesn't sound like they can point to files, only directories. And I recall reading elsewhere that they must be absolute links, and that relative links aren't supported.

noah

Just a point of clarification. The GC is the one that runs on a customized PowerPC. The PS2 is completely customized. The instruction set for the PS2's Emotion Engine is unlike any seen before. It's very specific and very fast at things many console games need to do, but that's it. Outside that spectrum, it's pretty slow.

References:
http://www.arstechnica.com/paedia/3dtech.html

Somewhat offtopic, but since you brought up AMD...

Ars has a story yesterday relating to Microsoft and AMD getting in bed together and Microsoft insisting that Intel incorporate AMD's x86 64-bit instructions over their own IA64 code. It may all be rumor, but it's intriguiging. Check it out.

You'll have to scroll down to "x86 64-bit support for Windows".

For further understanding, try the following two links:
P4 and G4 Comparison Part 1
P4 and G4 Comparison Part 2

In summary, from what I've read, it is a good rule of thumb to multiply the G4 clockspeed by 1.33 to get a better comparison, though I'm not sure if this includes acceleration due to Altivec code.

For further understanding, try the following two links:
P4 and G4 Comparison Part 1
P4 and G4 Comparison Part 2

In summary, from what I've read, it is a good rule of thumb to multiply the G4 clockspeed by 1.33 to get a better comparison, though I'm not sure if this includes acceleration due to Altivec code.

Ars Technica did an article comparing the AltiVec and SSE/MMX2/3DNow! architectures. Written a while back, but still valid as the architectures have not changed.

--Paul

(on that note, is there a hardware site out there that does not have this bizarre overclocking "bent"?)

ars