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For the price of a generic EPROM, you could easily get mechanical upgrades that enhances your car even more than the EPROM. If you're going for extreme performance, after all the mechanical upgrades, get a special chip made specifically for you.

Dan from DansData has written on it in a much better fashion than I ever could though...
His main "hotchip" article
Scroll down to the EPROM stuff, he addresses his experiences with "Powerchip"

*Sigh* now the NYT is going to cause a bunch of people to waste money. People that don't know enough about cars are going to get preyed on by companies like "powerchip". Just like people in electronics stores that don't know enough about computers.

EPROM power!

I have a question about your page on chip upgrades to improve car performance.

Mainly, my question is why what you say, when the Powerchip site pretty much says the exact opposite on all counts.

Would Powerchip lie outright, and provide a three year warranty with possibility for an extension for the drivetrain?

In searching through the Web I only come across your opinion of a chip swap being a bad choice to upgrade. If you can refer me to your references I can make a better judgment on whether or not it really is not good to upgrade my ECU.

Tom

Answer:
First up: I didn't say that drop-in Electronic Control Unit (ECU) upgrades for otherwise stock vehicles were outright fraud, though some companies in that market have certainly been snake oil merchants. I just said that a drop in chip isn't likely to be good value compared with various actual mechanical upgrades. Powerchip, like various other chip vendors, will charge you several hundred Australian bucks for a new chip.

Now that I've said that, dig this.

A while after I put my piece on ECU chips up on the Web, one Wayne Besanko of Powerchip contacted me.

He did not offer any independent evidence to support Powerchip's claims. Nor did he point out anything I'd said that was wrong.

Instead, he offered me money, plane tickets and accommodation if I'd travel to Powerchip's HQ and write a "white paper" on Powerchip's products.

He didn't say "here's a bucket of cash, if you write what we say", but our correspondence led me to the firm belief that, um, only one viewpoint on their products would be acceptable, were I to take up the offer.

So there's that.

And, again, as I write this, I remain unaware of any proper independent testing that indicates that these pricey drop-in ECU chips are good value, compared with a variety of actual mechanical modifications.

Sure, you can get a bit more juice from a stock engine by goosing up the ECU programming; drop-in chips from reputable companies like Powerchip don't generally do nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if there were quite a few cars, particularly turbo diesels, that have sub-optimal stock ECU programming, leaning further towards the "green" end of the scale and away from the "performance" end than their owners would choose, given the option.

The particular oddities of individual engines (in high performance cars, at least) may also benefit significantly from custom-tuned ECU maps, even if you aren't going for new cams, an after-market turbo, blah blah blah.

But drop-in chips aren't tuned for individual engines. They're one-size-fits-all. If you want a chip that fits your car's engine in particular, you have to go to a speed shop that'll test your engine and blow an EPROM to suit.

In the vast majority of cars, I think it's quite sensible to say that if you aren't making significant mechanical modifications to your engine, then the money you'd spend on a "hot chip" would be better put towards those modifications (or, you know, spent on the rent or something, but we're not talking about sensible life choices here). I think that even something as simple as a less restrictive air filter is likely to give you more horsepower per dollar than a hot chip.

Even Powerchip themselves admit (or, at least, did admit at the time I corresponded with Wayne; I haven't groveled through their specs lately) that a 15% power and torque gain from a plain chip swap is unusually high. Figures closer to, or below, 10% are common. Some people would question even that - but even if you get a whole

EPROM power!

I have a question about your page on chip upgrades to improve car performance.

Mainly, my question is why what you say, when the Powerchip site pretty much says the exact opposite on all counts.

Would Powerchip lie outright, and provide a three year warranty with possibility for an extension for the drivetrain?

In searching through the Web I only come across your opinion of a chip swap being a bad choice to upgrade. If you can refer me to your references I can make a better judgment on whether or not it really is not good to upgrade my ECU.

Tom

Answer:
First up: I didn't say that drop-in Electronic Control Unit (ECU) upgrades for otherwise stock vehicles were outright fraud, though some companies in that market have certainly been snake oil merchants. I just said that a drop in chip isn't likely to be good value compared with various actual mechanical upgrades. Powerchip, like various other chip vendors, will charge you several hundred Australian bucks for a new chip.

Now that I've said that, dig this.

A while after I put my piece on ECU chips up on the Web, one Wayne Besanko of Powerchip contacted me.

He did not offer any independent evidence to support Powerchip's claims. Nor did he point out anything I'd said that was wrong.

Instead, he offered me money, plane tickets and accommodation if I'd travel to Powerchip's HQ and write a "white paper" on Powerchip's products.

He didn't say "here's a bucket of cash, if you write what we say", but our correspondence led me to the firm belief that, um, only one viewpoint on their products would be acceptable, were I to take up the offer.

So there's that.

And, again, as I write this, I remain unaware of any proper independent testing that indicates that these pricey drop-in ECU chips are good value, compared with a variety of actual mechanical modifications.

Sure, you can get a bit more juice from a stock engine by goosing up the ECU programming; drop-in chips from reputable companies like Powerchip don't generally do nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if there were quite a few cars, particularly turbo diesels, that have sub-optimal stock ECU programming, leaning further towards the "green" end of the scale and away from the "performance" end than their owners would choose, given the option.

The particular oddities of individual engines (in high performance cars, at least) may also benefit significantly from custom-tuned ECU maps, even if you aren't going for new cams, an after-market turbo, blah blah blah.

But drop-in chips aren't tuned for individual engines. They're one-size-fits-all. If you want a chip that fits your car's engine in particular, you have to go to a speed shop that'll test your engine and blow an EPROM to suit.

In the vast majority of cars, I think it's quite sensible to say that if you aren't making significant mechanical modifications to your engine, then the money you'd spend on a "hot chip" would be better put towards those modifications (or, you know, spent on the rent or something, but we're not talking about sensible life choices here). I think that even something as simple as a less restrictive air filter is likely to give you more horsepower per dollar than a hot chip.

Even Powerchip themselves admit (or, at least, did admit at the time I corresponded with Wayne; I haven't groveled through their specs lately) that a 15% power and torque gain from a plain chip swap is unusually high. Figures closer to, or below, 10% are common. Some people would question even that - but even if you get a whole

[...]use peanut butter for the thermal goop

He might have some reviews worth reading.

Dan Ruther's Site

Yes, ThinkGeek is nice, and it's the first thing everyone thinks of, but as such it's less qualified for the "something out of the ordinary that will knock his socks off. Somthing clever, crafty and unique" criteria (keeping in mind that this is all relative). However, more exotic things are by definition more exotic because they're harder to find. Dan's has some, including some super-powerful magnets. I also thought of a few others that I've naturally forgotten now that I've gotten around to posting them, geh :/.

Yes, ThinkGeek is nice, and it's the first thing everyone thinks of, but as such it's less qualified for the "something out of the ordinary that will knock his socks off. Somthing clever, crafty and unique" criteria (keeping in mind that this is all relative). However, more exotic things are by definition more exotic because they're harder to find. Dan's has some, including some super-powerful magnets. I also thought of a few others that I've naturally forgotten now that I've gotten around to posting them, geh :/.

Yes, ThinkGeek is nice, and it's the first thing everyone thinks of, but as such it's less qualified for the "something out of the ordinary that will knock his socks off. Somthing clever, crafty and unique" criteria (keeping in mind that this is all relative). However, more exotic things are by definition more exotic because they're harder to find. Dan's has some, including some super-powerful magnets. I also thought of a few others that I've naturally forgotten now that I've gotten around to posting them, geh :/.

> I've heard the argument that people ought to have computer operators licenses

And this, while I'm at it.

> I've heard the argument that people ought to have computer operators licenses

And this, while I'm at it.

The only thing products like "Arctic Silver" do is allow your cpu to stay a few degrees cooler. Dan's Data has lots of good info (including charts, etc) on this.

I recently built a computer for my brother, and suggested he get Arctic Silver. Why? Because it was a small XPC case, which uses passive cooling; heat retension would be a concern, so the few degrees AS would give could be important at some point. On my computer, Im using a big case with lots of fans (active cooling), so the cheap stuff works just fine.

BTW, Dan's Data also tested toothpaste as a thermal paste. Now while there are issues why you wouldnt use this for real, it received better scores than Arctic Silver =)

Really hate to say this but look HERE for proof that whats there doesn't matter too much... fluid/paste is a lot better than a tims pad, but dan was able to use toothpaste and it worked fine without a huge difference over silver crap.

Which is exactly why you want [the thermal transfer compound] to contain silver, silver is one of the best conducters of heat there is.

Have you checked out Dan's Data on thermal greases? He does a very nice comparison between Artic Silver 3, Cooler Master PTK-001 and HTK-001, Nanotherm "Ice" and "Blue", and... Toothpaste and Vegimite. While Dan may be quite mad, even for an Aussie, there is definitely method to his madness. After measuring the effects on cooling with his usual methods... the difference amounts to diddly-squat. And yes, that includes the difference between Artic Silver 3 and Toothpaste. (Actually, toothpaste was marginally superior.)

So, yeah, there may not be much point to getting too upset if you've gotten thus screwed-- it probably won't make jack-all difference in your system.

On the other hand, it is definitely immoral and almost certainly illegal to claiming "99.9% silver content" when you mean "99.9% silver free". While it was probably a harmless scam (and probably saved this disreputable company some chump change in manufacturing their overpriced goop), whatever Three-Letter-Agency has jurisdiction should probably come down on these folk like a ton of old hard drives on the principle of the matter.

Which is exactly why you want [the thermal transfer compound] to contain silver, silver is one of the best conducters of heat there is.

Have you checked out Dan's Data on thermal greases? He does a very nice comparison between Artic Silver 3, Cooler Master PTK-001 and HTK-001, Nanotherm "Ice" and "Blue", and... Toothpaste and Vegimite. While Dan may be quite mad, even for an Aussie, there is definitely method to his madness. After measuring the effects on cooling with his usual methods... the difference amounts to diddly-squat. And yes, that includes the difference between Artic Silver 3 and Toothpaste. (Actually, toothpaste was marginally superior.)

So, yeah, there may not be much point to getting too upset if you've gotten thus screwed-- it probably won't make jack-all difference in your system.

On the other hand, it is definitely immoral and almost certainly illegal to claiming "99.9% silver content" when you mean "99.9% silver free". While it was probably a harmless scam (and probably saved this disreputable company some chump change in manufacturing their overpriced goop), whatever Three-Letter-Agency has jurisdiction should probably come down on these folk like a ton of old hard drives on the principle of the matter.

Which is exactly why you want [the thermal transfer compound] to contain silver, silver is one of the best conducters of heat there is.

Have you checked out Dan's Data on thermal greases? He does a very nice comparison between Artic Silver 3, Cooler Master PTK-001 and HTK-001, Nanotherm "Ice" and "Blue", and... Toothpaste and Vegimite. While Dan may be quite mad, even for an Aussie, there is definitely method to his madness. After measuring the effects on cooling with his usual methods... the difference amounts to diddly-squat. And yes, that includes the difference between Artic Silver 3 and Toothpaste. (Actually, toothpaste was marginally superior.)

So, yeah, there may not be much point to getting too upset if you've gotten thus screwed-- it probably won't make jack-all difference in your system.

On the other hand, it is definitely immoral and almost certainly illegal to claiming "99.9% silver content" when you mean "99.9% silver free". While it was probably a harmless scam (and probably saved this disreputable company some chump change in manufacturing their overpriced goop), whatever Three-Letter-Agency has jurisdiction should probably come down on these folk like a ton of old hard drives on the principle of the matter.

Your $20 tube of arctic silver sub zero uber thermal compound is overkill in the first place. Toothpaste'll work just as well, if not better, in a pinch. Check it out here.

Dan's Data has your toothpaste-vs-thermal-compound review right here.

I'm always surprised at how bad Vegemite looks in photos, like here. It looks much nicer (more edible) when you're holding the jar.

Dan says it works real good.

""My PC31337 RAM was only like 50 cents a stick man, I have 40 gigs!!!"

You mean this guy? (end of page)

The most trusting users are in South Korea while Swedes are the biggest skeptics about the veracity of Web news.

Probably they are still mindful of the Swedish Lemon Angels recipe cited as an example of untrustworthy web content. (Idiot ZDnet broke the link to the article: see here instead.)

Have you tried asking Dan at Dan's Data for help. Best of all he gives free advice. His frequently updated letters to readers' queries is a must read for everyone whether you are a geek or tech-challenged.

Have you tried asking Dan at Dan's Data for help. Best of all he gives free advice. His frequently updated letters to readers' queries is a must read for everyone whether you are a geek or tech-challenged.

It's actually not very hard or expensive (I guess that's relative) to build a relatively quiet P4 or Athlon based system. Heatsink manufacturers are getting quite good at building thin-fin copper/aluminum heatsinks with big slow fans on them {1 2 3}. Or even without any fan at all.

VIA now offers an EPIA board that takes a P4 or Celeron (only up to 533MHz frontside bus though). At $185 (mobo only), it's a lot pricier than their C3 based solutions (which are IIRC $100-150 with proc included), but throw a P4 2.6GHz in there and you won't be "just a little short of processor horsepower" for anything. ;)

It's actually not very hard or expensive (I guess that's relative) to build a relatively quiet P4 or Athlon based system. Heatsink manufacturers are getting quite good at building thin-fin copper/aluminum heatsinks with big slow fans on them {1 2 3}. Or even without any fan at all.

VIA now offers an EPIA board that takes a P4 or Celeron (only up to 533MHz frontside bus though). At $185 (mobo only), it's a lot pricier than their C3 based solutions (which are IIRC $100-150 with proc included), but throw a P4 2.6GHz in there and you won't be "just a little short of processor horsepower" for anything. ;)

It's actually not very hard or expensive (I guess that's relative) to build a relatively quiet P4 or Athlon based system. Heatsink manufacturers are getting quite good at building thin-fin copper/aluminum heatsinks with big slow fans on them {1 2 3}. Or even without any fan at all.

VIA now offers an EPIA board that takes a P4 or Celeron (only up to 533MHz frontside bus though). At $185 (mobo only), it's a lot pricier than their C3 based solutions (which are IIRC $100-150 with proc included), but throw a P4 2.6GHz in there and you won't be "just a little short of processor horsepower" for anything. ;)

It's actually not very hard or expensive (I guess that's relative) to build a relatively quiet P4 or Athlon based system. Heatsink manufacturers are getting quite good at building thin-fin copper/aluminum heatsinks with big slow fans on them {1 2 3}. Or even without any fan at all.

VIA now offers an EPIA board that takes a P4 or Celeron (only up to 533MHz frontside bus though). At $185 (mobo only), it's a lot pricier than their C3 based solutions (which are IIRC $100-150 with proc included), but throw a P4 2.6GHz in there and you won't be "just a little short of processor horsepower" for anything. ;)

Yea, dansdata rocks (shameless plug)

Just do what Dan did and add significant positive case pressure.

Dan's Data has amazing heat sink reviews. Dan tests each heat sink with a heater simulating the Pentium or Athlon CPU. He publishes the R-theta values for each sink tested and has a very straightforward scientific view of the whole process.

When that happens, I just use Dan's graph. Dansdata.com to the rescue!

..... that is funny, informative and written by someone that acutaually knows what they are talking about without all the bullshit that you usually get. try DansData.com

well just thinking, Dan tends to review more generic stuff than most guys, but he does have a sense of humour, and is very straight foward with what he thinks of things.

I'm not sure, but a better use of industrial gases might be this and probably would provide more perceived results.

(speaking as an ex LOX, LH2 and LN2 piping designer, of course, YMMV)

are the new big thing. To look at two totally seperate domains, check out the YS Tech TMD fan (Dan's review) and Canon's Ring USM (Photo net review). This is clearly a technology with potential for anyone working in a certain formfactor who thinks they're making a high enough quantity that they can do custom motors instead of just buying the oldfashioned barrels... and now, it seems, it scales as well. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this. (Is it so bad of me to want a monocycle driven with this kind of motor?)

This should get around those pesky problems that those cheap, off the shelf UPSs have with the more 'flavorful' types of power.

Anandtech is generally the best place to find information on anything you're looking for and is where all the cool kids go. They go above and beyond the call of duty in all of their reviews, and their monitor reviews are unsurpassed.

"Why not just get a digital SLR?"

An SLR costs about $200 for a decent body, and an okay lens.

A digital camera which can take equivalent quality pictures costs about $3000. Probably a lot more if you actually use the full resolution of film.

For anyone looking at digital SLRs, Dan's Data has a fairly good column, which is as much an insight into digital SLR technology as it is a review of his new camera.

Since when does "handling" in the shipping and handling for a two pound item justify an extra $10 expense?

Dan's Data has a recent short write-up on this (albeit for international shipping), excerpt below:

[quote] The strange phenomenon of Amazingly High International Shipping Rates is something that people who buy gadgets from overseas often encounter.

There are two reasons why dealers may do it.

One: They don't really want overseas orders, but they're tired of getting mail from people who may or may not be credit card scammers, in unlikely nations, asking about shipping fees. So they list some outrageous gold-plated international priority rate, which chases away such people.

Two: They used to offer air mail shipping, but parcels kept disappearing. [/quote]

U.S. Military tests high-tech orbital beam weapon on unsuspecting drunken campers!

But only by the fact that Samsung have never sent me any such thing.

Dammit, I got into this business for the corruption. But do I get over-spec high-dollar hardware, automobiles or prostitutes? No, I do not. It's a bloody swindle, I tell you.

Look, Samsung. 20 inch diagonal, 1600 by 1200, 700:1 contrast ratio, 16ms response time. Is that too much to ask?

Delivery address provided on application. Favourable review guaranteed.

But only by the fact that Samsung have never sent me any such thing.

Dammit, I got into this business for the corruption. But do I get over-spec high-dollar hardware, automobiles or prostitutes? No, I do not. It's a bloody swindle, I tell you.

Look, Samsung. 20 inch diagonal, 1600 by 1200, 700:1 contrast ratio, 16ms response time. Is that too much to ask?

Delivery address provided on application. Favourable review guaranteed.

A clean star-trails picture from a digital camera that you can carry around is pretty darn astounding. A bit of back yard experimentation revealed that the no-noise exposure time limit for the D60, at its lowest sensor sensitivity setting of ISO 100, was about fifteen minutes. That was in winter, mind you, with an ambient temperature of around ten degrees Celsius (what passes for cold, here in Sydney). I've now been able to test the D60 on a summer night as well, with an ambient temperature above 20 degrees C; at that temperature, the noise-free exposure time drops to about five minutes.

A clean star-trails picture from a digital camera that you can carry around is pretty darn astounding. A bit of back yard experimentation revealed that the no-noise exposure time limit for the D60, at its lowest sensor sensitivity setting of ISO 100, was about fifteen minutes. That was in winter, mind you, with an ambient temperature of around ten degrees Celsius (what passes for cold, here in Sydney). I've now been able to test the D60 on a summer night as well, with an ambient temperature above 20 degrees C; at that temperature, the noise-free exposure time drops to about five minutes.

Yes, and they reproduced it from Australian Personal Computer Magazine, January 1998... of which I have copy.

And not nearly so funny as Dan's version

Dan's Data: Step by Step 3: How to destroy your computer

It's a much funnier article - and still relevant, despite the fact that it's been there for ~5 years now. :)

There's a recent book called "Shooting Digital" that you might find helpful; it pretty much starts from the basics, but contains practical advice for all sorts of photographic situations. I reviewed it the other day, here.

Check out his review at Dan's Site :D

I've got a friend who's high-end stereo system has a $1000 power cord.
> Your friend is an idiot.Wait..... I have a $2000 power cord I'd love to sell your friend. It's twice as good! Really!!

You're referring to the EMPower Modulator?

The idea that aluminium stays cooler is a myth perpetuated by aluminium case manufacturers. Sure, heat moves more easily through aluminium than steel, but in real word comparisons, the effect on actual CPU temperature is negligible.

Now I still like the aluminium Lian Li PC-6070 that is under my desk right now very much. The workmanship on the this is amazing and the case is very light. It's got a 'silver monolith' kind of look and the rubber lining does dampen noise from it quite a bit.

You can get high quality cases that are very sturdy both in steel and alimunium. You just have to shell out the money to get them. Steel tends to be cheaper as cases are made in higher volume than aluminium.

So are aluminium cases a good thing? Yes, but just not any better than steel from a cooling perspective.

...which gives me an excuse to add yet another link to my site to this thread, because I reviewed the Airzooka the other day :-).