Blog - October, 2009 | bit-tech.net

What we're reading

Posted on 29th Oct 2009 at 17:13 by Alex Watson with 7 comments

Probably the laziest way to start any article is to take a pertinent word and tell readers how many times it shows up in Google.

'Did you know that death by jam is a real danger? Well it is! There are over 44 million pages on Google talking about it!'

We get it. There's a lot of stuff on the internet. But what's good? What's worth reading? How can you avoid being killed by jam?

Well, now we can answer the first two questions with our brand new 'What we're reading' section.

Gaming Podcast 6 - IWNet, Windows 7 and Yak Meat

Posted on 29th Oct 2009 at 11:27 by Podcast with 11 comments

With Alex and Tim both available for a podcast this week, we sit down to discuss all the latest gaming news and controversies - from Activision's unveiling of IWNet for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to games compatibility in Windows 7.

That's not all we've got going on though - we also sit down for a quick snack of Chinese Yak meat live on tape and hand out the first of a new set of prizes in our Guess The Screenshot competition. Fun times!

On top of all that we've also got the usual Reader Mail and we finally talk about how good games packaging used to be when everything came in a huge cardboard box.

In the next podcast we'll be discussing how to get into the games industry and whether it's more important to have a recognised qualification or some experience in the real world. We'd love to hear your thoughts on all this, so drop your opinions in the forums or send them to the usual email address - Podcast@CustomPC.co.uk. Please be sure to mark your emails as 'Gaming Podcast'.

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Reader Advised HTPC Buyers Blog, Oct 09 #1

Posted on 27th Oct 2009 at 11:28 by Richard Swinburne with 38 comments

Yep, you read that right, I want your help in designing a Home Theatre PC reference guide to go on the site and in the mag.

I get constantly asked for one, but we simply don't test enough HTPC hardware to be as widely knowledgeable as I'd like in order to recommend a setup with 100 percent confidence.

The difficulty is that HTPCs vary by country; in the UK we don't have analogue HDTV (cable) access like the US, not to mention other issues, like varied internet TV services and user need - does it need terrabytes of storage or is gaming compatibility a priority, for example?

With that in mind we want your advice; what have you seen that works? What would you recommend to others that fits the spec below?

Download The CustomPC Media Benchmarks Here

Posted on 26th Oct 2009 at 11:30 by Clive Webster with 42 comments

A couple years ago, CustomPC made its own suite of benchmarks to test motherboards, PCs, laptops and so on. We wanted to create a set of tests which aped how people use their PCs and would show the benefits (or not) of faster hardware and overclocking in a way that was relevant to real-world use.

One of the most important elements, apart from the obvious stuff above, was that the benchmark suite must be distributable and completely self-contained. We've therefore used Open Source applications, all of which install into a standard folder (with no entries into the Registry, or links to any OS services or applications). This means that you can download the benchmarks, install them and run them without any outside influences from OS updates and so forth.

Hardware Podcast 7 - this time it's loud!

Posted on 23rd Oct 2009 at 17:37 by Podcast with 11 comments

First off, apologies for not getting this up yesterday, and for it being so quiet the first time - the podcast fairy has been pretty slack this week. This is the seventh hardware podcast, and Rich, Harry and Tim are joined by Asus bod Iain Bristow. If any other manufacturers would like to join us for pod, please let us know and we'll try to organise it. Up for discussion are:

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Own an Intel SSD? Tell how worn out it is!

Posted on 23rd Oct 2009 at 10:45 by Richard Swinburne with 28 comments

Kingston dropped an interesting titbit that we thought we'd pass on to all Intel SSD owners - of which there's soon to be a lot more once the latest value X25-X drives arrive.

Basically, the biggest unknown factor in NAND Flash technology is wear and tear. The cells have a limited amount of data writes, so don't last forever, even though intelligent wear algorithms mean an MLC drive will last 10 years having written a few hundred GB a day to it - far more than any normal user will do.

One question that will get more important as time goes on is the second hand market: How can you account for wear if you're buying it off someone else?

Tags crystalmark, info, intel, ssd, storage, wear, worn

How are you getting on with Bing?

Posted on 22nd Oct 2009 at 13:10 by Mark Mackay with 39 comments

Since the release of Microsoft’s new search engine named Bing, it’s been something of a hot topic. The company’s previous attempt at a search engine, Live Search, was a woefully lacklustre addition to Internet Explorer and something of a non-event for the world of internet search.

Clive blogged his thoughts about Microsoft being on to a winner with Bing while Alex thought otherwise. But has Google gone unchallenged for such a long time that it’s possible the search giant could be caught unawares by a decent newcomer?

Games I Own: Deus Ex 2

Posted on 21st Oct 2009 at 12:46 by Joe Martin with 9 comments

Deus Ex 2: Invisible War is a game which gets a bad rap whenever you see it discussed among PC gamers, who inevitably love the first game and loathe the sequel. To be honest though, I never thought it was half as bad as anyone was making out. If approached with reasonable rationality and not the more obvious optimism, the game actually held up quite well.

Yes, Invisible War had issues. It obviously suffered from attempts to bring the series to consoles. The tiny, insular and empty levels. The universal ammo system. The constant load times and clunky, overly rounded feel of the engine – these were all issues that dogged the game and deservedly so, but slamming Deus Ex 2 for not living up to the legend of it’s predecessor is easier than fist-fighting with a one-armed toddler.

Instead, I prefer to think of the good things about Deus Ex 2 – the things it did better than the original. Believe me, they’re there.

SSD performance tips for Intel chipsets and RAID-0

Posted on 16th Oct 2009 at 20:02 by Richard Swinburne with 4 comments

We had a chat with the Kingston labs team this week in California and noted down some free performance improvements, and limitations, you should be aware of if you own one or more SSDs:

The Intel SATA ICH9R/10R/P55 controller under RAID-0 has a maximum real world performance capacity of about 600MB/s in total between it and the CPU.

Despite the fact you'll need several (four+) SSDs to hit this limit at the moment, it's worth bearing in mind that to get ludicrous performance you'll need at least a PCI-Express x8 card.

Until Intel increases its DMI and/or SATA controller bandwidth, this could prove a more regular limiting issue when future SATA 6Gbps parts arrive.

Tags ich10r, intel, kingston, p55, performance, raid, sata, ssd

Nvidia launches new budget graphics cards - do you care?

Posted on 16th Oct 2009 at 11:17 by Clive Webster with 29 comments

After years (well, one at least) of Nvidia saying that it doesn't see the need in DirectX 10.1 because developers aren't demanding it and it has some DX10.1 features in its GT200 design anyway, it's finally made a DX10.1 GPU. However, it isn't a huge high-performance part to rival the HD 5870. It's a low-end part.

Nvidia has also trialled the 40nm fabrication process with this new GeForce GT 220 and GT 210 line-up.

The question is, do you care?

bit-tech.net

What we're reading

Gaming Podcast 6 - IWNet, Windows 7 and Yak Meat

Reader Advised HTPC Buyers Blog, Oct 09 #1

Download The CustomPC Media Benchmarks Here

Hardware Podcast 7 - this time it's loud!

Own an Intel SSD? Tell how worn out it is!

How are you getting on with Bing?

Games I Own: Deus Ex 2

SSD performance tips for Intel chipsets and RAID-0

Nvidia launches new budget graphics cards - do you care?

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