Monday, May 05, 2008

te(ch)sting times

what an eventful month has passed. dont know where to start.

AMD released a b3 revision of the phenom processors. b3 was a fix for the overhyped but rarely seen TLB bug.

while AMD isnt going for a ghz shattering attempt, they are positioning themselves as a very reasonable quad core alternative to intel's upper dual core offerings.

from the benchies seen on the web, plus feedback from a couple of friends, i can say that if you arent an overclocker, or a hardcore gamer, then the phenom processor is a very good alternative to the invincible core 2 duo.

bear in mind though, that the choice of motherboard is EXTREMELY important for the best results. while AMD has been touting the fact that you could drop in a phenom into any socket AM2+  mobo, there are reports on the web that you would need a motherboard equipped with a 790 fx chipset, to ensure that the BSOD doesnt greet you like an ex girlfriend.

the best choice is obviously the high end 9850 proc, running at 2.5 ghz.

video cards are a bit more muddled. all it boils down to is whether you are a fan of nvidia or AMD.

there is not a whole lot to choose between a 9600GT or a radeon 3870. but at lower budgets, amd rules the roost, with the 3850 card.

for a bit more though, the 8800GT  is still a no brainer. best bang for the buck.

this month's award for the best rumor goes to the one which speculates that the 3g iphone aka iphone 2 might be released (gasp!!!!) UNLOCKED.....

oh please say it's true steve, please say it's true.

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