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this is SO lastyear for /.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/09/07/can_gigabyt e/page8.html
look at 2 cards in raid0

the I-RAM2 is gonna come out Q1 2006, 300 G/ps sata, stick in a 5.25 drive bay,perhaps with external power, 8 slots and ddr2.

http://vr-zone.com/?i=3052
(the good stuff so we do not crash the vr-zone server)
Gigabyte for the first time has unveiled the specifications of their upcoming i-RAM 2 during HKEPC Tech-day. The i-RAM 2 will be using DDR2 memories instead of DDR1 and the data transfer interface is SATA 3Gb/s double of the current SATA 1.5 Gb/s. It will be externally housed with by means of an external case or fitted into the 5.25" bay with eSATA interfaces. The number of memory slots are expected to double to 8 and you can have up to 16GB max memory. The expected announcement of i-RAM 2 is targeted for February next year.

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/hard_drives /RAM_Drive/Gigabyte/I-RAM/index.htm
review of I-RAM1

so assuming that I-RAM2 scales as well as I-RAM1,2 of these should get 500 G/sec or so.not bad for a 64gb drive.

now WHY are people doing this, and not just adding memory?well, assuming i have a nifty MB such as
http://www.iwill.net/product_2.asp?p_id=102

i can have up to 32 gb of memory on the MB if we look at the o/s selection guide for windows...

32-bit 64-bit
XP Pro 4 GB / 1-2 CPUs 128 GB / 1-2 CPUs

2003, Standard 4 GB / 1-4 CPUs 32 GB / 1-4 CPUs
2003, Enterprise 32 GB / 1-8 CPUs 1 terabyte / 1-8 CPUs
2003 SP1, Ent 64 GB / 1-8 CPUs 1 terabyte / 1-8 CPUs

2003, Datacenter 64 GB / 1-32 CPUs 1 terabyte / 1-64 CPUs
2003 SP1, Data 128 GB/ 1-32 CPU 1 terabyte / 1-64 CPUs

we see that in the 32 bit land, 2003E is the only thing that starts to come close to using that amount of memory. and its 1-2k (USD)

so assuming i'm made of money, and have stuffed my box with $5k of memory and i want to get a little more boost out of it, i can go 15k rpm SAS (with extra cost, and heatloads) or i can go 6x I-RAM2, raid 0. 96 gig of space at 1200 G/s throughput.

other programs like, mail servers, proxies, web servers, and Photoshop requires lots of fast swap space, and most people are unable to use more than 4 gigs of memory, (those running 32 bit windows).

Its a nice product, IF you have maxed out the 4gb limit for your o/s and/or you have to have ubber fast swap/cache.

back when i was at a CDN this would have been a no brainier to raid up in an external chassis (I-RAM1) and connect to a 16/24 port sata controller. We would not have cared that it was only as big as the large sata drive and cost as much as a new car,it got the job done.

There is a place for silicon drives that do not cost as much as a car, if you do not see the need for yourself, great. I would rather wait for I-RAM2 to come out and use it where it makes sense,wherever i need a huge honken bit of fast space.

My backup server is a good example. I have a few boxes dumping deltas as fast as they can across a couple gigE ports to a backup server, so that server can toss them to LTO.

my backups are only as fast as the slowest device, having a I-RAM2 raid 0, works for me. the other boxes are waiting on their local/network issues, not on my backup servers slow large raid. (the x-fer to the slow raid can happen whenever, as long as i have enough space in the I-RAM2 array for the next dump.

right now disk is the slow part in the local box,this addresses the issue

Do you mean like the Claw?

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/game_gear/c law/

It's a left-handed multibutton appliance, meant to let you not have to use the keyboard. Doesn't help with the mousing but you could switch any clicks needed over there.

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/game_gear/M onster_Gecko/index.htm

Because you probably have a crap heatsink/fan combo. If you like to live richly get a Swiftech MXV462-V series heatsink for it... Works wonder but it's damn pricey (around $50.00 for the heatsink itself, big heavy copper block with a few hundred rough surface aluminum spikes driven into it in a spherical layout)

It also has one of the best mounting methods I've seen, no more screwdrivers prying against super strong springs in tight corners...

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/heatsinks/s wiftech/mcx462-v/page2.htm

Or how about one of these? They're old-school and no one in their right mind uses them anymore, but damn those little things could push air (due to the fact they were going at 8000(!) RPM).

The P4 may be rated as higher wattage but it certainly doesn't run "hotter".

Higher operational wattage will equate to more heat. It's an inevitable application of thermodynamics. If your P4 is cooler than a lower-rated Athlon, then it would have to be because it wasn't operating at its rated power for some time before you took the temperature.

I'd expect this, though, because of the P4's proper power management when idle. It'll only ever be operating at peak wattage if it's actually being pegged at 100%, and even compiles and games don't really peg the CPU at 100% every microsecond.

You see similar thermal performance on the Athlon when running "cooling" software to disconnect the CPU bus when idle. It's mindbogglingly stupid that the design requires using ACPI (if you want STPGNT issued automatically), and going out of your way to flip a bit in the northbridge... but if you're actually using that facility, then AMD's chips don't run very hot either. The machine I'm typing this on right now has a Barton 3000+, and is idling at 32C with the AMD stock heat sink. I'm using VCool. It can also throttle down the CPU rather than just shut it down as heat mounts, which is another hardware feature present in the Athlon that AMD sadly doesn't just have the processor handle on its own.

My Athlon 3000+ with an 80$ radiator Zen cooler idled at 23C over ambient. Certainly I was cooling it correctly, heck I had the sides off my case and a 12" desk fan blowing on the thing...

The Zen is horribly overrated. It does piss-poor job at cooling, but it certainly is well-hyped. The turbine cooling design is only effective at very high airflow; something which a pair of 60mm fans will not supply (in fact, having a second fan makes things worse because of turbulence between the two fans). Instead, the air spends too much time trapped in the radiator and is actually less efficient than an open heat sink. It's far beyond a safe weight, sounds like the jet engine it's modeled after, and is a terrible waste of resources using pulsating heatpipe construction without the airflow neccessary to make it worthwhile. Not to sound insulting, but it's typical of aftermarket component manufacturers whenever they try something new. It's a design that sounds great on its face, but practical physics dictate otherwise. They either don't do the math, or they do and decide that it's "good enough" to sell and recoup the research costs.

It should also be noted that the Zen is now sold caveat emptor, and for good reason. Here's a review/product warning concerning the Zen; one of many.

Okay, having the sides off the case and a desk fan blowing in it is NOT proper cooling. You will trap a lot of dust in and on all cooling components, which will reduce their effectiveness. This stuff will clog the fan and really cake on to everything, requiring scraping/solvent to remove if you let it build up long enough.

You're also creating an area of warm air over the motherboard as the incoming air from the fan mixes with the hot air and pushes against the board itself to escape sideways. The resulting billowing effect means that the hot air lingers around the processor long enough to ensure it's always shrouded in air that's a bit above ambient. This is in addition to hampering cooling fans by creating turbulence.

Proper cooling of your system involves straight paths through for the air. Ideally you should have air intakes on the bottom front or sides of your case, and exhaust out the power supply (proper power supplies are designed for this, so there's no need to be shy about passing the CPU's waste heat through it) or optionally a "blowhole" at the top. This ensures a constant supply of cool (and calm) air for all components.

The P4 is definitely the better choice for you heat-wise and it's great that you're happy with it, because quite frankly, you seem to be an idiot when it comes to thermal management. You'd probably damn well kill your processor if it didn't have management built-in.

Quite frankly, sir, you are ill-informed, since these thermal pastes do far more than your standard stuff you get from AMD or Intel (I'm not sure if Intel provides a thermal pad, I'm sure they do, but I've never bought an Intel processor), or buy on the internet that doesn't contain silver.

Here are some links for you to check out to see just how much of a difference these tubes make:

Mikhailtech review, EXHardware review/comparison of pastes, Overclockers Club review/comparison, ClubOC review/comparison.

There are many more reviews and comparisons. I chose to do a Google search for 'review "arctic silver 3"' and those were pretty much the first hits I got. In an overclocked system where stability and cooling is important, these pastes could make all the difference. In a standard system, these help prolong the life of the computer's parts.

Oh, and before I forget, the links I just posted more or less compare Arctic Silver stuff with either other Arctic Silver products, or competing products. If you want to see just how much of a difference these compounds can make from the regular thermal pads or thermal compound that uses silicone, Check this out. That's a whopping 10 degrees celsius difference the Arctic Silver has on full load compared to a standard thermal pad, and 5 degrees difference from standard thermal compound w/silicone.

I personally use AS3, and so does my father. With this paste I can safely overclock my Athlon 2000+ to an Athlon 2600+. Not that I do, mind you, because even though I can, I'd rather know that my system is well cooled, rather than adequately.

$50 Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred Revision B: Easily overclocked to 2.4ghz (3000+) stably on air, and they can be modded into Athlon MPs by just closing the last L5 bridge with a conductive pen. That way you can build a 30 gigaflop dual processor rig for around $500.