[Review] ARCTIC SOUND S1110 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on September 3, 2010
Today we will be putting the ARCTIC Sound S111 through the paces. These dice-shaped portable speakers are USB powered and can easily be powered with a laptop. All you need is a 3.5mm jack on your device and these speakers with work for you whether you have an MP3 player, DVD, computer, or even a cell-phone for that matter. The S111 ...
[Review] ARCTIC C2 – Universal USB Charger0 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on September 3, 2010
Well, as you have come to expect, our on-the-go featured articles are still going strong. With the ARCTIC C2 four USB port universal charger, this should help clear up USB ports on your laptop for more important things. The C2 is geared toward the frequent flyers who carry around a lot of USB chargeable devices. With the four AC plu...
[Blog] Overclocking with Power Saving Features Enabled….it’s getting better.3 Comments By miahallencloseAuthor: miahallenName: Jeremiah Allen Email: miahallen.ironmods@gmail.com Site:http://www.ironmods.com About: Well, I was playing with computers ever since my Dad got a Commodore 64 when I was 6 years old (1986), when I was 10 (1990) he bought a custom build 486DX33, and I was in love. Mostly back then I was just a kid playing games, but my fascination with computers had a start. Because I had no money of my own, I was stuck playing with my Dad's computers, and really couldn't "play" too much. So in 1998, the year I graduated, I spent some of my college savings to by a "computer for school", haha. It had two Voodoo2 12MB 3D accelerators in it, so you can imagine how much school work was done on it ;-) It had an AMD K6-233 that I had a really mild OC on, but my custom computer builder friend Aaron had done all the work. So I can't really take the credit there. My fascination with graphics just kept growing and growing over the years, and I was constantly in a struggle to keep my games looking as sharp and smooth as possible. OCing played a big role.
My whole world was rocked in 2004 when I was deployed to Iraq as a US Army soldier. The whole year I was there I had a cheap IBM Thinkpad R40 with a 2GHz Celeron, 1GB DDR-333 RAM, a 60GB 4200RPM HDD, and ATI Radeon Mobility graphics (same technology as a 7000 series with only 16MB of memory). It started out rough as I was really into Command and Conquer Generals at the time, and the machine would only play the C&C slide show LOL. So, I downloaded PowerStrip, and OC'ed the GPU by 40%...amazingly, the game was playable!
Things changed dramatically in 2007 when I met a guy named Matt while I was stationed in Japan. He introduced me to www.ocforums.com, and the "Benchmarking Team" there. I had not had much interest in benchmarking previously, I always though of myself as more practical. But, I thought I'd play along and I joined the team. My first introduction to an actual competition was was is "The Raptor Pit", "Forum Warz 2008" in the spring of 2008. I was running a Q6600 and an 8800GTX. With air cooling I was able to bench my Q6600 at over 4GHz, and tore up the competition in my class. Overall OCF won the Forum War in 2007, Winter and Summer of 2008, and 2009...that means five in a row. I was not part of the first one in 2007, but the four since then, I have participated in. After winning the 2008 Winter and Summer Warz, Tom's Hardware Guide announced they were looking for nominations for individuals to compete in their first ever international overclocking competition, called "Overdrive". I was nominated, and chosen to compete in the North American semi-finals in Los Angeles in November 2008. I was placed on "Team IRONMODS" as they only had two guys, yet three man teams were allowed. We won the semi-finals in LA, and our prize was a trip to Paris the following month, to compete with the best in the world.
The following month, Ton, Jake, and myself flew to Paris as "Team USA" to face off against the best from Taiwan, France, Germany, and Italy. It was a very intense competition, but after two heated days of battle (16 hours of benching), we emerged the victors. Amidst our celebration, Ton and Jake officially invited me to join "Team IRONMODS" on a permanent basis, and I graciously accepted. Ton, aka "TiTON", is a world renown case moder, and is also very well known for some of the AMD overclocking he has done. Jake, aka "CPT.Planet", is a genius overclocker, and a really fun guy. The team has a great synergy when working together, we really have complementary styles.
After winning the world championship in December 2008 things were a bit quite for a couple months, then in the spring of 2009 I received an invitation to the 2nd annual Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship "GOOC". I would compete in the North American semi-final in LA, where the winner would win a ticket to the world championship in Taipei Taiwan during CES in June 2009. The competition was tough with 14 of the best from North America gathering for a 1 on 1 competition of OCing. But once again, I completed the competition well, and rose above the others. I won 1st place and the trip to the world finals in Taipei.
My luck ran dry in Taipei where I started off with a bad motherboard, and went through 5 more during the course of the competition due to various reasons. Despite the poor finish in Taipei, I have high hopes to redeem myself next year.See Authors Posts (2) on September 1, 2010
This post isn’t meant to be contain groundbreaking information. I just wanted to report my successes with the Gigabyte X58A-UD7. Many people have been talking about the possibilities of OCing while leaving power saving features enabled. I’d been wanting to play with it a bit, but hadn’t had much motivation. But th...
[Review] Crucial Ballistix (2×2GB) DDR3 1600MHz w/ Thermal Sensor2 Comments By ChewcloseAuthor: ChewName: Brian McLachlan Email: wmdieselmc26@cox.net Site:http:// About:See Authors Posts (6) on September 1, 2010
Recently we received a new memory kit from Crucial that is part of their Ballistix line. We decided to test this kit on the AMD platform to see how they would fare. Considering that AMD can be picky with certain modules, we found this particular set quite interesting. Let’s take a closer look shall we?
Based on the target co...
[Blog] AMD Turbo Core0 Comments By zanzabarcloseAuthor: zanzabarName: Christopher Email: zanzabar4ky7@yahoo.com Site: About:See Authors Posts (2) on August 31, 2010
With amd and intel having both added turbo with the last gen I thought that I would explain how amd turbo works.
To start, amd turbo works on all amd cpu’s that end in T with the parts ending in 0T having turbo go up to 2x extra (except black edition, but we will get to that later) and the ones with a 5T getting 2.5x. So if u...
[Review] Patriot Extreme Performance Xporter XT 16GB Rage1 Comment By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on August 30, 2010
The Patriot Extreme Performance Xporter XT Rage is a USB flash drive with both performance and functionality. Featuring an innovative Quad Channel configuration, data is intelligently managed and transferred simultaneously to 4 NAND chips resulting in vastly enhanced performance, particularly write speeds. The Rage flash drive offers...
[Review] Zalman Z7 Plus1 Comment By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on August 27, 2010
Zalman sent us their Z7 Plus case today to put through the paces. This ATX mid-tower chassis has some interesting features that we noticed right away, for example, the side mounted fan controller that can control up to two fans. Another feature is the top mounted IO ports that can be covered up when not in use. In addition, their Zal...
[Review] Cooler Master USNA 95 (Ultra Slim Notebook Adapter)1 Comment By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on August 26, 2010
Today Cooler Master adds to their line-up of notebook adapters. The USNA 95, Ultra Slim Notebook Adapter, is the fourth edition to their notebook adapter line, and they boast that it is the world’s smallest 95w adapter at that! This tiny notebook adapter was designed as the ultimate traveler companion. Not only does it charge noteb...
[Review] Cooler Master Notepal U31 Comment By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on August 23, 2010
A laptop creates a lot of heat, which can make it uncomfortable to use on your lap while working. The Cooler Master Notepal U3 sets out to stop the bothersome heat and sweaty legs. With the introduction of the U3, the Notepal U series can support 7” – 12” notebooks with the U1, 14” – 15” with the U2, and now 17” – ...
[Blog] Mini Sound Level Meter (dB)0 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on August 19, 2010
I recently picked up a new decibel meter to play with and help during testing. The mini digital sound level meter measures from 40 dB to 130 dB. It has MIN/MAX measurement ability with hold and auto power-off function to ensure long battery life. It includes 9V battery and removable wind screen with a frequency range: 31.5 Hz to 8 kH...
[Review] Cooler Master Storm Inferno0 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on August 17, 2010
Cooler Master has sent us a new mouse from their CM Storm line of products. The CM Storm Inferno is a massively programmable mouse once coupled with the software that is included with it. It has an on-board chip to store your profiles for on-the-fly switching, which will also work if you switch computers. The Inferno also includes a ...
[Review] EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked 1024MB EE3 Comments By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on August 16, 2010
With the success of the GTX480 release, Nvidia is looking to continue to provide top quality products with their new line of 4XX series GPU’s. When we reviewed the GTX480 a couple of weeks ago, it was built on the older Fermi architecture, GF100. The GTX460 we have today is made with a new Fermi-based architecture, GF104. The...
[Review] Choiix BOOM BOOM Travel Speaker1 Comment By The DukecloseAuthor: The DukeName: D Briggs Email: rfc_doobybiggs@hotmail.com Site: About: Just keeping it real for the average joe overclocker and computer user.See Authors Posts (49) on August 13, 2010
Continuing our dive into on-the-go mobile devices, today we have the Choiix Boom Boom slim travel speaker. If you are like us and hate using ear buds or clunky headphones to listen to your music, then sit back and relax, because this product may be for you. It is capable of being powered through a USB connection which makes it ver...
[Blog] Gaming in Tight Spaces…..mini-ITX (featuring Gigabyte, Silverstone, and Prolimatech)8 Comments By miahallencloseAuthor: miahallenName: Jeremiah Allen Email: miahallen.ironmods@gmail.com Site:http://www.ironmods.com About: Well, I was playing with computers ever since my Dad got a Commodore 64 when I was 6 years old (1986), when I was 10 (1990) he bought a custom build 486DX33, and I was in love. Mostly back then I was just a kid playing games, but my fascination with computers had a start. Because I had no money of my own, I was stuck playing with my Dad's computers, and really couldn't "play" too much. So in 1998, the year I graduated, I spent some of my college savings to by a "computer for school", haha. It had two Voodoo2 12MB 3D accelerators in it, so you can imagine how much school work was done on it ;-) It had an AMD K6-233 that I had a really mild OC on, but my custom computer builder friend Aaron had done all the work. So I can't really take the credit there. My fascination with graphics just kept growing and growing over the years, and I was constantly in a struggle to keep my games looking as sharp and smooth as possible. OCing played a big role.
My whole world was rocked in 2004 when I was deployed to Iraq as a US Army soldier. The whole year I was there I had a cheap IBM Thinkpad R40 with a 2GHz Celeron, 1GB DDR-333 RAM, a 60GB 4200RPM HDD, and ATI Radeon Mobility graphics (same technology as a 7000 series with only 16MB of memory). It started out rough as I was really into Command and Conquer Generals at the time, and the machine would only play the C&C slide show LOL. So, I downloaded PowerStrip, and OC'ed the GPU by 40%...amazingly, the game was playable!
Things changed dramatically in 2007 when I met a guy named Matt while I was stationed in Japan. He introduced me to www.ocforums.com, and the "Benchmarking Team" there. I had not had much interest in benchmarking previously, I always though of myself as more practical. But, I thought I'd play along and I joined the team. My first introduction to an actual competition was was is "The Raptor Pit", "Forum Warz 2008" in the spring of 2008. I was running a Q6600 and an 8800GTX. With air cooling I was able to bench my Q6600 at over 4GHz, and tore up the competition in my class. Overall OCF won the Forum War in 2007, Winter and Summer of 2008, and 2009...that means five in a row. I was not part of the first one in 2007, but the four since then, I have participated in. After winning the 2008 Winter and Summer Warz, Tom's Hardware Guide announced they were looking for nominations for individuals to compete in their first ever international overclocking competition, called "Overdrive". I was nominated, and chosen to compete in the North American semi-finals in Los Angeles in November 2008. I was placed on "Team IRONMODS" as they only had two guys, yet three man teams were allowed. We won the semi-finals in LA, and our prize was a trip to Paris the following month, to compete with the best in the world.
The following month, Ton, Jake, and myself flew to Paris as "Team USA" to face off against the best from Taiwan, France, Germany, and Italy. It was a very intense competition, but after two heated days of battle (16 hours of benching), we emerged the victors. Amidst our celebration, Ton and Jake officially invited me to join "Team IRONMODS" on a permanent basis, and I graciously accepted. Ton, aka "TiTON", is a world renown case moder, and is also very well known for some of the AMD overclocking he has done. Jake, aka "CPT.Planet", is a genius overclocker, and a really fun guy. The team has a great synergy when working together, we really have complementary styles.
After winning the world championship in December 2008 things were a bit quite for a couple months, then in the spring of 2009 I received an invitation to the 2nd annual Gigabyte Open Overclocking Championship "GOOC". I would compete in the North American semi-final in LA, where the winner would win a ticket to the world championship in Taipei Taiwan during CES in June 2009. The competition was tough with 14 of the best from North America gathering for a 1 on 1 competition of OCing. But once again, I completed the competition well, and rose above the others. I won 1st place and the trip to the world finals in Taipei.
My luck ran dry in Taipei where I started off with a bad motherboard, and went through 5 more during the course of the competition due to various reasons. Despite the poor finish in Taipei, I have high hopes to redeem myself next year.See Authors Posts (2) on August 13, 2010
History of mini-ITX
I was sitting in my office, browsing tech news online almost a decade ago when I first saw the mini-ITX form factor. My mind immediately started fantasizing about the possibilities such a small system would afford. Thoughts of internet terminals built into kitchen cupboards, or car PCs entertained my imagination...
[Review] ASUS P7P55D-E PRO – A Step Above (UPDATE 8/11)6 Comments By ArchercloseAuthor: ArcherName: Kevin Marlin Email: kevinsmarlin@embarqmail.com Site:http://www.techreaction.net About:See Authors Posts (11) on August 9, 2010
Introduction:
A motherboard is probably the single most important component to the enthusiast. For a person in the know, this is pretty obvious, but for a newer user this may come as new information. Many forums as well as review sites fail to reveal the big picture, and there are a plethora of components used in the assembly of tod...