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Adding Pizazz to Your RAM
EliteTEK noted that Extreme Tech is running a review of some fancy new
illuminated DDR RAM. This one actually has a 10 char alphanumeric display that normally displays stats on your system, but with their software can display anything you like. It's about time that people can read RSS feeds on their RAM.
At first, I thought "Why woudl my RAM want Pizzas?" Then I read the article, and I still thought "Why?"...
For those of you that just cannot get enough bling bling... we bring to do, "Das blinken RAM!"
I have never had a case where I could actually see the RAM very well. It's useually hidden in behind cables (which a case modder would have fixed) and behind drives. Not to mention that it stands up in the RAM slots, so that the face of the RAM isn't even viewable.
It would be cool if there were a case with RAM mounted in the front (like in a drive bay) and had a window that showed through into the "RAM bay", I could see a lot of modders liking that, but the latency from the bay to the MoBo seems like it would hurt the performance of the RAM.
Which company will be the first to put ads on that thing?
Like we don't have enough power consumption problems already... For a decent gaming system we need a 450watt+ power supply, now with nVidia's requirements of a couple free power dongles and the massive storage capacity of the new hard drives, we need more power then ever... it won't be long until 1000 watt power supplies are standard in your e-machines POS paperweight boxes... I don't get it, what's the point in wasting precious power to have your RAM say somethign like "I R teh 1337 h4xx0r" But maybe that's just me...
...don't give a shit about case mods and flourescent lights and blinky RAM, just like how real car enthusiasts don't adorn piece-of-shit imports with stickers and tacky wings. It's all about what's under the hood, not how pretty it looks on the outside.
People who waste money on this nonsense should be ridiculed by us proud, genuine nerds.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
Why would I want to buy memory that eats up 2 slots of space for a single chip. Seem they would have to tier the LED modules in order to utilize all of the memory slots.
Here's an actual review:
[H]ard|OCP,
and here's a better picture:
Legit Reviews
I agree with you to a point, the functionality of my PC is what comes first. But looking at the aesthetic of Apple computers and the growing amount of pretty cases out there, people want their appliances to look nice, or at least not look completely out of place in their homes.
Now there are some pretty ugly cases out there, giant flashing LED monstrocities with bad car paintjobs and racing stripes, but some people are making interactive sculptures that have computers inside them and I don't think that's negative at all.
Actually, my friend modded his case to mount his LCD on the side, I can get pics of it, it's really funny looking
I remember a boss I had once who was so proud that he built his own pc. He had soldered all the sockets on the board and pressed the chips into the sockets.
I also remember thinking "That's not building a pc", that's building a kit, so what. I built my second computer (first computer was a kim 1) with wirewrap and and handful of parts on clearance from radio shack (8080 et al).
PCs are just not truly "hackable" by the average hobbiest anymore. I'm not lamenting the loss, it isn't important. What I'm saying is that calling people who stuff crap into their computer case a "hacker" is about the same as calling someone who puts rim covers on their car a "mechanic".
PCs are appliances and talking about how people are "modding" them is about as interesting as talking about how people are "modding" their toasters.
This is all show, no go.
A real mod would be adding a bigger heatsink so you could actually run the machine faster or more quietly.
by shitting all over a person's sense of pride in doing something on their own
so what some are calling "hacking" may not really be hacking as you define it, sure
but maybe those people are the same people who go on to delve even deeper under the hood and wind up being hackers in the sense you mean it many years later: by following their sense of wonder and curiosity
and if they ever do arrive there, they won't have your ivory tower holier-than-thou snobbery to thank for that now will they?
what you should be doing is encouraging other people's curiosity, but instead you stand there and shit on it
so while you debate what really is the right definition of the word "hacker", i think i've found a new definition in my book of the word "asshole"
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The reason there's only 10 display characters on the RAM?
Because DDR songs only go up to 10 feet, silly.
People Talking in Movie shows.. people smoking in bed.. people voting republican.. GIVE THEM A BOOT TO THE HEAD!
Let me add to the string of "I don't get it" replies.
I get case modding. I understand and appreciate those who try and build beautiful cases, like the Art Deco HTPC or all the cool stuff on Mini-itx.com: It's an artistic or creative pursuit.
That's great--there will always be people at different levels of any field: There will be engineers at racing and car companies with CFD and simulation, the guy who builds custom hot roads, and the guy who airbrushes artwork on the side of vans. That parallels the people who design supercomputers, or the guy who hand built their first computer out of discrete logic, the guy who builds neat cases. There will also always be the guy who lamely screws on some parts he ordered from the "custom performance" shop. That's fine, we all have different abilities or interests.
But what I don't understand is all the case mods with the ugly window, the garish neon lights, and the crazy colours. It looks so...crass. Looking for a new case for my PVR, I tried hard to find a case that wasn't ugly. Apparently such cases do not exist for under $100 Canadian.
Is it me, or are these things just ugly!? Like, a giant perspex case with neon bulbs? You couldn't find something so tacky this side of Las Vegas.
These RAM displays not only seem ugly (you'd expect a stock quote or "Now Serving Customer 87" to scroll by) but they even seem like they keep you from adding extra DIMMs because they overhang the adjacent slot.
We need more blinky lights(functional or not). That way we can retro-ize our computers to look like big glitzy units shown on 1980s Tv shows and movies.
Who was paying attention to the lights?
What we really need is Erin Grey from Buck Rogers standing next to our computers in her skintight, shiny blue flightsuit.
Screw the lights! I want a space disco with slave girls.