Back to Page 2 Benchmarks As noted in the test system setup section, the Athlon 64 3800+ being reviewed is installed on a ASUS A8V motherboard, which is based on VIA’s K8T800 chipset and supports AGP 8x. Unfortunately, after weeks of trying to obtain a faster graphics board, the best AGP card available to […]
Back to Page 1 Features and Pricing The Socket 939 platform has several notable features, first of which is an increased HyperTransport link, which now runs at 1 GHz compared to its previous speed of 800 MHz. HyperTransport is essentially a bus that links to various I/O channels, such as the PCI bus, via […]
by John Reynolds Pins and Latency AMD launched their AMD64 platform last year, introducing 64-bit instruction and addressing first to the business server market with the Opteron processor and subsequently to the consumer desktop market with the Athlon 64 FX and Athlon 64 processors. These new CPUs quickly garnered gaming enthusiasts’ attention as they demonstrated […]
Back to Page 4 Conclusion It is hard to become too excited by 200 MHz incremental clock speed increases when such steppings are accompanied by the high prices historically placed on new processors. Yet the performance of the 3.4 Extreme Edition cannot be denied, and those seeking bragging rights with the pockets to afford […]
Back to Page 3 Benchmarks The venerable Falcon 4 has received a recent overhaul with the release of SuperPAK 4.1. We tested the beloved sim with SimHQ’s new demo, a low level, air-to-ground dusk mission that consists of two Falcons using Mk20s and Mavericks. The outbound flight route takes the Falcons over the city and straight into […]
Back to Page 2 Benchmarks First up is the Comanche 4 benchmarking demo. Though several years old, this piece of software has consistently remained one of the most CPU-limited titles on the market, refusing to lose more than a few frames even when tested across a wide range of resolutions. Texture compression and hardware shaders were […]
Back to Page 1 Prescotts and Socket T The 925X and 915 chipsets represent an abrupt move away from the Socket 478 platform by introducing a new format, LGA775 or Socket T. Intel suggests that this new packaging increases power and signal delivery, and will thereby give needed headroom as CPUs continue their inexorable […]
by John Reynolds Times Are A-Changin’ The PC is ever-evolving, with new features and technologies brought to market at what feels at times as an almost monthly basis. Yet this constant influx of new technology is in somewhat stark contrast to other aspects of the PC that marches to a decidedly slower pace: form factors, […]
Back To Page 5 Late January, 2004 We’re back out to sea, and I found a few hours to break away from my job and install the Audigy 2 ZS card. Having done audio card replacements in the past, I have to say that this was the most painless installation of an audio card […]
Back To Page 4 Mid January, 2004 Well, they don’t call it “sea duty” for nuthin’! My carrier strike group is back at sea once more, only 3 months after our return from our last deployment. Luckily I completed my computer rebuild just in time to bring it with me on the ship. After […]
Back To Page 3 Early January, 2004 The last component to arrive was the Corsair DDR RAM, purchased from an online vendor. It arrived via UPS a day later than expected due to bad weather in the region. Installation, as typical for RAM, was a snap. The only trick to DDR RAM is ensuring […]
Back To Page 2 The time had come to upgrade my system. Conveniently, LOMAC was about to go gold, so while unexpected and abrupt, the concept of an upgrade was not totally unwelcome or unexpected (except to my wallet). I turned to my fellow hobbyists and friends on the SimHQ staff for advice and […]
