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.

Comments

Hungry?

[cloudmaster]

At first, I thought "Why woudl my RAM want Pizzas?" Then I read the article, and I still thought "Why?"...

Re:Hungry?

[mirko]

You might have heard of the pizza oven RiscPC... A terrific hack, indeed, even though carbo-hydrate excesses are not recommended if you don't work out at least a little.

blinky lites!

[EvilStein]

For those of you that just cannot get enough bling bling... we bring to do, "Das blinken RAM!"

Advertisement?

[LoverOfJoy]

Which company will be the first to put ads on that thing?

Joy

[behindspace]

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...

REAL Nerds...

[goldspider]

...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.

Review?

[publius1234]

Here's an actual review:
[H]ard|OCP,

and here's a better picture:
Legit Reviews

Except a PC is in your house, not your garage

[P-Frank]

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.

Re:Except a PC is in your house, not your garage

[TomorrowPlusX]

But that's the difference between *style* and gaudiness.

Apples have style. They're like a well dressed man in a nice suit. or a ( car-analogy ) BMW. Restrained, not fancy -- but impressive.

The gamer machines are like one of those overweight jersey guys in shiny velour jogging suits or some sort of football team jersey; they're covered in gold chains and have so much gel in their hair that the specular highlights are visible from space. Or, conversely, like a ricer honda. All cheap rims, spoilers and stickers. Absolutely tasteless.

There's a difference.

Re:from the B-F-D dept

[LurkerXXX]

No. This is 'ricing out your computer'. The equivalent of sticking on a big wing on the back of a civic. Something that makes it look fast rather than be fast.

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.

Re:Memory Slots

[WaterBreath]

These things are so stinking huge that a regular stick will probably fit under the overhang.

But I do agree. A lot of this modding stuff seems like a waste of time and money to me. Unless you're just going completely all out and creating a real piece of art, like the Hypercube^2 guy at bit-tech.net. Obviously a lot of the hardware in that thing he's going to be stuck with because of all the custom-built fittings. But it's still a piece of art with an aesthetic value completely separate from it's functional value.

it's hard to champion the hacking ethos

[circletimessquare]

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"