Laptop Computer LCD Monitors

LCD monitors have become the preferred kind of monitor in the market, having higher resolutions resulting in sharper, brighter, clearer images and thus making for better viewing. There is lesser glare from LCD screen, so looking at one for a long period of time won't be too much on the eyes. Also, LCD monitors are thin and lighter than the bulky CRT monitors. A 21-inch LCD monitor will still be lighter than a 14-inch CRT one. They are therefore more convenient for handling and for use, as they don't take up so much space in a home, and can be hung on or simply pushed against a wall. And because of their weight and dimensions, you can move LCD monitors around to suit you, with the least effort.

Monitors are literally the biggest part of your computer set-up, the printer not counted. Unless of course, you have a monster of a CPU. A monitor is basically where you see everything. It's where images from your computer come out, electronically produced from the video output of your PC or laptop. Monitors are also called visual display units, and come in all sizes possible, from 12-inch to as wide as 48-inch screens. Screen measurements are determined by the distance from one corner of the monitor to another. It's through monitors that you can view pictures, watch movies, type texts, play games, browse the internet and do virtually everything else.

Older monitors made use of CRT or cathode ray tubes to project images. In recent years however, an invention called the LCD or liquid crystal display has been gaining more popularity as the monitor of choice for a lot of people. Check out the rest of Monitors.net for more information on monitors!

Widescreen monitors are fast becoming the rage, especially with those who take pleasure in having a state-of-the-art entertainment system. Widescreen monitors are also the popular choice for computer fans who enjoy, even need to be, working with vivid, large-scale images. With a widescreen monitor, images are are not just bigger, they're brighter, sharper, and overall more fun to see. Watching a movie on a widescreen monitor is almost like watching it in the movie theatre, minus the crowd. Widescreen monitors also mean less eye strain as you can look at it at eye level. Make it an LCD monitor, and you may feel like never getting off your couch again.

It's not just all about fun, either. Working with a widescreen computer monitor offers advantages such as being able see what you're doing better and allowing you to organize your virtual workspace faster, thus making your work more efficient. With widescreen monitors, you can both work and play while enjoying yourself.

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Asus En9800gtx Bfg 9800gx2

Where are the beasts? Where are the monolithic giants of graphical technology that make us go moist in the geek glands? Too long have we waited, frustrated at the less than satisfying make-do cards thrown our way like scraps from the table of the tech gods. AMD has tried to placate us with the vast scale of the HD3870 X2, a multi-core behemoth that demands half the space and practically all the power your PC can muster, but what of NVIDIA's top-end cards?

Just over two years ago, the much-heralded age of the DirectX 10-capable graphics card dawned with the supreme G80-powered GeForce 8800GTX. Then a year ago came the updated 8800 Ultra, a card that has remained NVIDIA's top end offering... until now. We've had to wait 12 long months for the refresh, during which we've been treated to a mass of mid-range cards. Admittedly, this included the excellent G92 8800GT; its first 65nm core, but still it's been a long time coming for the 9800GTX and GX2.

Both new cards are powered by the same 65nm G92, a core that is now one year old, and represents the first time that either AMD or NVIDIA have released a brand new family of top-end cards based on old architecture. Replacing the 8800GTX and Ultra is a necessity as far as furthering the NVIDIA brand is concerned, competition-wise though it's less of an issue. AMD still hasn't managed to create anything to seriously outperform these year-old cards. So is the lack of a new core an acknowledgment that NVIDIA only has to turn up to the race to win?

Promises, Promises

Towards the end of the year we are promised the GT200, the current nomenclature of NVIDIA's next chip, with a core designed to power the 9900 family of cards. With this in mind it was necessary for the green side of the graphics market to produce a range of cards to cover the high-end, and so the stop-gap measure of the 9800 cards have been born.

The GTX model is a straight, beefed up version of the G92 with higher clock speeds across the board. While it shares the same number of Raster Operators (ROPs) as the 8800GT, it has the old GTX's complement of shader units at 128, giving it the necessary speed boost. The GX2 follows the example of the old 7950GX2, strapping two G92-stuffed PCBs together, except this time they both face into the same heatsink, housed in a vaguely coffin-like surround. The clock speeds are slightly slower than the GTX, but a fair dose of optimizing has gone into making this single card SLI offering an impressive piece of engineering.

The first difference you'll notice when comparing the specs of the two new cards with the versions they're replacing is the change in memory capacity. Both the 8800GTX and Ultra had a 384-bit memory bus with 768MB of GDDR3, while the 98005 make do with the same 256-bit 512MB of memory that resides on the GTS and GT iterations of the G92-based 8800s.

ROP rules?

Due to its two cores the GX2 comes out tops in the memory bandwidth stakes at 128Gbps compared with the Ultra's 103.7Gbps, but the 9800GTX lags well behind the older cards. What this all means, in real terms, is that at the higher resolutions, and most especially with full screen anti-aliasing turned on, the new cards take quite a hit at the levels we were hoping these big-panel pixel pushers would excel at.

The differences between the GTX and GX2, and indeed the 8800GT, are slight; the GX2 simply relying on the brute force effect of the single card SLI factor. Where the difference between the two new G92 parts is most obvious though is the number of ROPs. The GTX is still hobbling along with 16, less than both the 8800GTX and Ultra at 24, but due to the doubling up the GX2 has 32. The difficulty is in knowing how much of a benefit this multi-CPU's extra ROPs actually gives as opposed to the single card with 24.

The question is: where do we find ourselves with the two new top-end cards? Well, mostly in the same place we were before, to be brutally honest. There's very little difference between this new set and the old, with the 9800GTX being the biggest disappointment.

Bigger, Faster, Stronger?

The 9800GX2 struggles to find any space between itself and the 8800GTX, it's supposed to be replacing, and there's also the fact that you can still pick up the older card - with the extra memory, bandwidth and ROPs - for less than $600. In some places you can save yourself around $100 and come out with an equivalent and, in some cases, faster card. The march of progress seems to have stomped right past this iteration of the 9800 without saluting.

NVIDIA then had to go down the multi-GPU route, not just to prove they could produce a functional version like AMD, but also to create a card that they could legitimately call the fastest graphics card around. Still, the memory constraints hold the GX2 back from being the superlative, stand out, top-end card de jour.

On the lower-res panels, without the silicon-melting anti-aliasing it speeds ahead of the competition, yet with all the bells and whistles cranked up to a deafening roar it struggles to break even with the old 8800 Ultra. Again, if you shop around you can pick up an Ultra for around $500, and be fairly sure that your card will have drivers mature enough to cater for whatever you throw down its tubes.

Essentially, if you've got yourself an 8800GTX or Ultra and felt that twinge of envy at the announcement of this new generation of top-end cards, then quit your worrying right now. In fact, you can probably be downright smug as your slightly geriatric cards are still more than capable of holding their own against these youngbloods. Till the GT200 that is.
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Samsung's Technological Bash : Q1 and U4 Mp3 Players

Samsung, one of the leading electronic manufacturing company has created a buzz in the market by launching its two MP3 players - Q1 and U4 at IFA (largest consumer electronics trade shows in the world organised in Berlin). Inspired by the 'Litmus' color gradation effect in chemistry, the YP-U4 is conceptualized with the USB form factor and also combines DNSe 2.0 sound technology, FM radio and a one and a bit inch grey OLED display plus three LED lights. With a weight of 27 gms and measurement of 27x83x13 mm, the MP3 player comes with a battery life of 16 hours and also supports MP3, WMA, OGG. The U4 MP3 player is available in 2 and 4 GB capacity and one can choose the color from rose, purple and blue.

The front surface of the U4 looks completely flush, which is possible due to to the touch-sensitive buttons. One of the main draw of U4 players is the price which is quite a steal at S$89 and S$129 for the 2GB and 4GB versions, respectively. In addition, the Samsung U4 music player is equipped with an integrated USB plug, which eliminates the need for cables and docking stations. This aids in the convenience with which this MP3 player is able to be plugged directly into a PC or Mac USB port, transferring files and charging the player.

Barring the headphones, this is an all-encompassing device that eliminates the need for any additional accessories to operate the player's features. This user friendly music player has created history in the electronic industry, thanks to the user friendly manual that allows one to "drag and drop" music files, sort play lists, and establish favourite data casts to upload automatically. Having a great sound quality, it is a must buy for one and all.

The shiny Q1 'Diamond' model MP3 player on the other hand comes in a DNSe 3.0 sound technology including an audio upscale function, which claims to restore missing sound range. The company has immense hope in the product and is also aiming to make Q1 MP3 player as having 'world's best sound quality'. Bedecked with the automatic EQ effect, this device is able to analyses the mood and genre of the MP3 files and work accordingly. It's compatible with the iPlayer, so one can transfer all the required and desired series in the MP3 player and catch up on the move. Besides this there is also an inbuilt FM radio with 12 preset 'street modes' to accommodate noisy environments and to assist the owner with blocking out the jarring and poorly recorded rap coming from the mobile phones of many. Available at an attractive price of $79.99 (4GB), $109.99 (8GB) and $149.99 (16GB) Q1 is a sleekly designed player which will appeal as much to consumers' eyes as their ears. A glossy finish, minimalist appearance and LED back lighting on the touch pad, QVGA LCD display and a bevy of useful bonus features make this product a hit in the electronic market.

These MP3 players come with visual support and is capable of offering a 2.4-inch TFT LCD display with 30 hours of playback for the music. This device too is available in black, white and silver variants carrying 4GB, 8GB and 16GB memory variations.
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Dell Computers, New Zealand

Having trouble looking for the perfect computer? Your search ends right here, at Dell NZ Computers. Because we understand what you need. Dell NZ Computers is in fact an affiliate of Dell New Zealand, and we carry forward the Dell tradition of dealing directly with our customers and ensuring that they get the best! Our focus is upon bringing you the best deals to be found online on computers and laptops.

Choosing and finding the computer or laptop that really works for you can be an ordeal. At Dell Computers New Zealand, we turn that ordeal into an experience you’ll want to have again and again. Specifications, systems, memory, RAM, battery life, warranty – words such as these add to the niggling sense of panic in a first time buyer or even a seasoned hand at computer purchasing. We like to make things simple and uncomplicated at Dell Computers New Zealand.

But, how is that possible? Through information! Correct information can influence your buying decisions in an intelligent and reasoned manner. Dell Computers New Zealand provides extensive information on all Dell products. You will also find carefully researched reviews of the different ranges of Dell laptops and personal computers.

A standard Dell NZ Computers computer review mentions the correct specifications pertaining to the model, discusses the build, design, ports and features, the screen, the keyboard, the touchpad and media controls and most importantly the performance and benchmarks of the model. Prompt reviews of latest products means that you don’t have to wait before you make a purchase. Each detail is taken into account and mentioned. In a nutshell, when you are aware of all that’s available to you, you will necessarily make an informed decision and choose the computer that best suits your lifestyle and your requirements.

The Dell NZ Computers website also offers various helpful tips to consumers, such as tips to keep in mind when selecting a computer model or tips to help you maintain the optimum performance of the battery. We do not want you feeling lost when you come to us. We believe in letting the consumer take charge and relate to the products dynamically. The personal computer is one of the most important electronic appliances of our lives. It makes sense to be meticulous and pay attention to details when buying one; all we do is make sure that when you navigate away from this page, you are confident that you have made a smart purchase.
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Intel D945GCLF2 Dual Core Mini-ITX Carputer Motherboard

After dealing with the numerous issues of my previous AMD Geode carputer motherboard, I decided to upgrade. Some of the problems I had were hanging at POST, bluescreens due to driver issues, and overall weird behavior. I also wanted more features, such as the ability to boot from a USB drive. Not only that, but the board ran pretty hot in my glove box and lacked performance that I wanted.

Alas, the Intel D945GCLF2, based on the Intel Atom, is finally released. One of the key features that caught my eye was the dual core Atom processor. Not only is it dual core, but its power usage is outstanding. It's estimated to use 4 watts under load while consuming milliwatts (thousandths of a watt) when idle. Being in a carputer, power consumption is a vital specification because you need to figure out how large of a power supply you will need. The power consumption spec can also give you an idea of how much heat will be disappated, because after all, the power not used for computing will dissipate into heat.

The power supply I am using is an Opus 120. It's rated for 120 watts and has powered my previous build just fine. I ran into one snag that I didn't expect, however. The motherboard uses a 12v P4 ATX connector (see pic on the website) as well as the standard 20-24pin ATX connector. The power supply I have (and most that I've seen) do not have this connector incorporated into their harness.

To solve this problem, you can either purchase a molex to P4 adapter, or you can mod your existing wiring harness and add the P4 connector. I chose to mod my existing wiring harness and add the P4 connector to one of the existing molex connectors. Basically, I cut off the P4 connector from a regular ATX power supply, stripped the wires, and crammed them into an existing molex connection. See the pictures on the website to see what I mean.

After everything was setup, I installed the full Windows XP Pro with SP3. I opted not to use TinyXP because I felt that it could cause issues down the road with all the drivers it has stripped out. After the installation, I installed the usual Winamp, VLC media player, SpeedFan, iGuidance, Centrafuse, and finally the drivers. Instead of configuring Windows to hibernate after the car was shut off, I chose to shutdown completely because I've had lots of issues with hibernation such as it not resuming correctly.

With 1GB of RAM and a 2.5" 80GB 4200RPM hard drive, the performance isn't too bad. You would think that a 4200RPM hard drive would be kind of sluggish, but I can hardly notice it. Windows starts up from a cold boot quickly and so do all of the programs I use. I'm never left waiting for the next song to load or a program to open.

The low power consumption of the board is also very noticeable. With my old board, the CPU temperature would always be at least 45C upon boot, and rise to a little over 60C after being used for awhile. On a cold morning, at about 55F, The Intel Atom managed to boot up at 30C and after 20 minutes, it had only risen to 35C! Now, when I open my glove box, there's no more hot air oozing out. The air inside the glove box is almost the same temperature as the air in the cabin! However, the temperatures will differ based on the ambient temperature inside the cabin, so the CPU will run hotter on a warmer day. On an 80F day, the CPU boots at 30C and rises to about 55-60C, still not bad on a very warm day.

All in all, the Intel D945GCLF2 is a great buy. At only $89.99 from Mini-box.com, you get tons of features, and best of all, a dual core processor. With low power consumption, low temperatures, and high performance it seems as if the board was made explicitly for carputer usage, in which it excels.

Visit http://www.IsYouGeekedUp.com for more carputer information

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Nguyen
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Define Computer Hardware

By Candis Reade
It is quite well known that the working of the computer is pulled by hardware and software. One can define computer hardware as the electronic, magnetic, and electric devices that carry out the computing functions. Hardware is the physical components of the computer like microprocessor, hard disks, RAM, and motherboard. The peripheral devices such as monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer, and speakers can also be included in the list of hardware parts. The programs that run on the computers like Windows, C++, and Photoshop are the software parts of the computer. A good example for an easy understanding of hardware-software definition is music CDs. The actual compact disk is the hardware, while the songs and music in the CD are the software parts.

There is another way to define computer hardware. Hardware devices are the executors of the commands provided by software applications. For example, let us see what happens when you click the print button of the web browsing software. The software application provides a command to the processor, which is the central part of all computer hardware. Processor in turn checks for an attached printer. If the printer is ready, the software will get a positive response from the processor. Then the software application provides instruction to the printer via the processor to print the web page. In that sense, hardware parts are the foot soldiers and software applications are the commanders in the digital operation that takes place within a computer.

The main player of computer hardware is undoubtedly the microprocessor. It is the sun in the solar system of computer hardware devices. It is the central component and all other components work around it. It is an integrated chip on which a number of functions are incorporated. Two specifications determine its efficiency. One is its processing speed, which is measured in gigahertz. The other is its bit rate. Commonly available processors are 32 bit and 64 bit. The bit rate is a measure of the efficiency of a processor to carry out multiple operations at the same time.

One cannot define computer hardware without mentioning the two types of memory used in computers. One is permanent memory. It refers to the magnetic storage capacity of hard disk. It is measured in gigabytes. The second is RAM or random access memory. This memory is able to store data only when the computer is switched on. The memory will lose all the data when the computer is switched off.

Another important product that one should mention when one defines computer hardware is motherboard. It is the electric and electronic circuit board on which all the other components are inserted. There are several other kinds of products such as sound card, video card, network card, and modem that complete the hardware spectrum.

Candis Reade is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about Define Computer Hardware, please visit Electronics Software for current articles and discussions.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Candis_Reade
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Dual-Core Vs Quad-Core - The More the Better?

By Ray Chee Lim
With the advancement of computer hardware, quad-core prices has dropped down to a level that can compete with dual-core CPU (central processing unit). The quad-core CPU that are commonly known are AMD Phenom X4, Intel Core 2 Quad and the newer Intel Core i7, while dual-core CPU have AMD Athlon X2, Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Pentium Dual-core. There are also tri-core CPU that manufactured by AMD call AMD Phenom X3.

When dual-core CPU was released, the hardware advertisers claimed that you can do more things in one time without bogging your whole system down. That is true, as you can open a anti-virus scanner while surfing the web or playing games while converting movies. Now, software programmers have devised a way to make program multithreaded for dual-core or more, that is, make the program to utilize 2 cores instead of 1. This causes the software to compete for the cores, which also causes the system to bog down.

The arrival of quad-core saves the day, making software that utilizes 2-cores to run smoothly. However, at the same price point, quad-core CPU have lower GHz count compared to their dual-core siblings. Thus, it may seem that quad-core CPU sometimes outmatched by dual-core CPU when using dual-core multithread software. In software that optimizes quad-core CPU, they can beat the dual-core CPU by 50% or more.

Benchmark software such as PCmark or 3Dmark always shows that quad-core CPU obtains higher score than dual-core CPU. Thus we can safely conclude that in the same price point, quad-core should always be your choice.

Power consumption, on the other hand, is in dual-core favor. Those wishing to make a silent home-theater pc are better off with dual-core as they are more silent and less power hungry. Those wishing for performance are wise to choose quad-core CPU to make use of all it's cores.

In the end, if you wish to assemble a computer now, you are better off with quad-core as they are the future. The more is better after all.

Rig Your Hardware

http://righardware.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ray_Chee_Lim
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A CPU Revolution - Sun's UltraSPARC T1 and T2 Processors

Sun Microsystems's new UltraSPARC T1 and T2 series of microprocessors has revived Sun's position as one of the few third-party manufactures capable of competing with the Big Two processor companies (Intel and AMD) who currently dominating the processor market. Sun fell behind for a few years as their flagship processor, the UltraSPARC IV series, hit its performance limits. But they have reentered the competition with their new UltraSPARC processors, completely redesigned from the ground up, and capable of new heights of power and flexibility.

The UltraSPARC T1 is the first processor produced by Sun that is both multicored and multithreaded. It first became available in 2005 with from four to eight CPU cores. Each core is capable of handling four threads at the same time. This means the processor as a whole is capable of handling anywhere from 16, 24, or even 32 threads simultaneously.

The UltraSPARC T1 is the first SPARC-based processor whose multiple cores can be partitioned. Several cores can be grouped together to work on a single task or set of tasks, while the remaining cores deal with the rest of the processes and threads. Furthermore, the UltraSPARC T1 supports the Hyper-Privileged execution mode, which means that it can partition its cores into as many as 32 logical domains (one for each thread in an eight-CPU system). Each of these logical domains could run its own operating system instance (usually Solaris).

The only drawback to the UltraSPARC T1 is that it is only available in uniprocessor systems, which limits its vertical scalability in large business networks. The UltraSPARC T2, released in late 2007, addressed his problem amidst many other advances and improvements.

The UltraSPARC T2 is in many ways a souped-up TI. It contains eight CPU cores, and each core is capable on handling eight threads each, for a total of 64 threads being handled simultaneously. This is double the maximum capacity of the T1, which toped out at 32 concurrent threads. Also like the T1, the T2 supports Hyper-Privileged execution mode. Whereas the T1 could only partition its cores into 32 logical domains, the T2, with more cores available, can partition them into 64 logical domains. Furthermore, a two-way SMP T2+ system can be partitioned into as many as 128 logical domains, each capable of running an instance of Solaris.

In addition to doing everything the T1 does (only better), the T2 also had several new features. Among other things, it had increased thread scheduling and instruction prefetching, allowing it to achieve a higher single-threaded performance. It also increased the processing speed for each thread from 1.2 for the T1 to 1.4 GHz. While the T1 has a Jbus interface, the T2 has a PCI Express port. The L2 cache on the T2 was increased to 4 MB (as opposed to the T1's 3 MB). It has four dual-channel FBDIMM memory controllers, and eight encryption engines. In early 2008, Sun released a new UltraSPARC T2 Plus processor, which is an SMP-capable version of the UltraSPARC T2.

Sun MicroSystems' UltraSPARC T1 and T2 prove that, despite increasing competition from Intel and AMD, Sun is still in the processor race, particularly in the high-end server processor market. Sun's designs continue to be innovative and, as the core partitioning system demonstrates, flexible.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Kranz

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How to Clean your Keyboard-Part 2

Many methods that can be used, some harder and more effective than others.

1. Shake Method. It is so easy that you can do it right now. Pick up your keyboard, turn it over being careful not to press any keys, and shake it. See all of that stuff fall out? It is dirtier than you thought, isn't it? You can use one of the following methods to clean it further.

2. Blow Method - You can buy cans of pressurized air at the computer department or computer store which are made especially for cleaning your computer. They usually have either a hose and nozzle or a tube extending from the nozzle. Hold the keyboard up vertically (that means that end of the keyboard is up and the other end is down), aim towards the keys and press the button. Keep blowing until all of the debris is blown out. Be sure to get around and in between all of the keys. This can be done with the computer on, but it is better if it is off so that you do not have to worry about pressing the keys and coming up with a page of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa's.

3. Vacuum Method - This is just like the Blow Method except that a vacuum is used instead of a can of pressurized air. It is quite simple. Just turn the vacuum on, pull out the hose, and run the nozzle over the keys. Before doing this make sure your keyboard does not have any loose pop off keys that could be sucked into the vacuum.

4. Cotton Ball Method - This can be done in addition to the above methods and in lieu of the following methods. Take a cotton ball or cloth and wet it with rubbing alcohol. It should not be so wet that the alcohol runs down into the cracks of the keyboard. Wipe the tops and sides of the keys.

5. Dishwasher Method - I hesitate to tell about this method because there is the possibility that it could fry your keyboard. When I had less experience with computers, I dunked my keyboard in a sink full of water to clean it. It did work afterwards, so I don't doubt those who say this method will not mess up your keyboard, but if it does, don't complain to me. I warned you. If your keyboard is not the standard membrane type of keyboard or if it is on a laptop, do not even think of trying this.

6. Disassembly Method - This is the most thorough method, but it should not be done on laptop keyboards or non-standard non-membrane keyboards.

Turn off the computer and unplug the keyboard. Turn the keyboard upside down. You may want to get two books or short boards to place the keyboard on. Position them so that they hold up the keyboard on the edges when it is turned over. This should leave the keys dangling and not touching the books or the floor. This is especially needed when the keyboard's back is off; otherwise the keys will be lifted out of their position by the floor (or whatever surface it is laying on).

Get a screwdriver and remove all of the screws from the back of the keyboard. Lay the keyboard down on the books and carefully remove the back.

Take everything apart and clean thoroughly. It is better to take the keys out one at a time and clean them so that you do not put them back in the wrong place. Wipe each one down with a wet cloth and then with a dry cloth. Any keys that may be hard to put back in, can be cleaned in place without removing them. Wipe around the keys as they sit in place and blow any debris out with your lungs (using compressed air or a vacuum may upset the keys). If you are really brave, you can remove all of the keys at once and give the frame a good wipe down too.

Do a once over and make sure that you have cleaned everything. Then reassemble it all.

Don't forget the keyboard's cable. Wrap a wet cloth around it and wipe it down. It may have an accumulation of grime that needs to be scrubbed off. Also if any of the letters on the keys have rubbed off, you can use a fine point permanent marker to draw the letter back on the key. Read more ...............

How to Clean your Keyboard- Part 1

I know most of you will not heed this advice, but KEYBOARDS CAN MAKE YOU SICK (how's that for tactfulness?). Germs live on your hands and fingers. When you type, many of them jump on to the keyboard. When someone else types on your keyboard, those germs transfer to their fingers. Or when you later type on the same keyboard, those germs reconquer your fingers. Regularly disinfecting the keyboard can prevent this.

To disinfect the keyboard, turn off the computer. Then spray disinfectant on a cloth. Be sure to use disinfectant and not just any type of cleaner because not all cleaners disinfect. Also do not spray the disinfectent directly on the keys. Spray it on the cloth. Wipe down the top and sides of the keys. Give the keys a few minutes to dry off before turning the computer back on.

Now that you know how to do it, you should make it a regular practice to disinfect the keyboard. It's one step towards a healthier you.

So you have your keyboard disinfected and life is great. Then your child spills koolaide all over it. What do you do? There are certain steps that you should take when something, like pop, beer, wine, coffee, milk, or kool-aide, is spilled on the keyboard.

The first thing to do is immediately unplug the keyboard from the back of the computer and turn the keyboard over so that its keys are down. This will allow the liquid to drain out. You will probably want to put a cloth under the keyboard or at least make sure that the surface you have put it on is washable.

Then use the mouse to shut down Windows and turn off the computer (this is important because later you will have to plug the keyboard back into the computer and you should never plug any device into a computer while it is on).

While the keyboard is upside down use a cloth to dry as much of the liquid off as you can. If you have a can of compressed air or a vacuum, while the keyboard is upside down blow or vacuum it out. Then let the keyboard set upside down for at least a night so that it can adequately dry out.

If the liquid that spilled on it was sticky, you may want to follow the extensive cleaning procedure explained in the next article, How to Clean your Keyboard - Part 2.

Liquid spilled on a laptop keyboard can easily reach the hard drive, so turn it over immediately and leave it in that position until it dries.

Keyboards are quite resilient and so it should work when you turn it on again. But if not, another attribute of keyboards is that they are cheap and so it won't cost too much to buy another one.

With these pointers in mind and a quick reaction, you just may save your keyboard from total destruction the next time it gets coated with coffee. Read more ...............

AMD Dominates Top 10 Supercomputer Sites and Provides the Muscle for World's First Entirely x86-based Supercomputer

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov 17, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that its Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processors are powering "Jaguar," the first ever wholly x86-based supercomputer to achieve the petaflop performance milestone. AMD Opteron processors now help drive seven of the Top 10 supercomputer systems in the world.

The AMD Opteron processor-based and IBM PowerXCell processor-based "Roadrunner" system at Los Alamos National Labs again captures the number 1 spot on the bi-annual TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list, while the "Jaguar" supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory comes in at number 2 and is the highest performing entirely x86-based system ever on the survey. "Jaguar" is based on Cray XT4 and XT5 systems and runs on over 45,000 Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, enabling a balanced system with unrivaled x86 performance.

"Today's TOP500 Supercomputing Sites list reaffirms AMD's leadership and the tremendous performance capability that HPC customers have enjoyed for years," said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager, Server Workstation Division, AMD. "Seven of the ten most powerful computing systems in the world now leverage the balanced platform of our Direct Connect Architecture. Our commitment to the HPC community only gets stronger with the recent launch of our 45nm Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor which has already set new standards in HPC performance." In addition to seven of the premium top ten, AMD Opteron processors have helped catapult 53 other global supercomputers on the TOP500 to newheights of HPC performance. Today's list highlights industries of all types that are harnessing AMD's world-class computing capability including IT service providers, financial institutions, automotive design, and researchers in energy, geology, meteorology, social sciences, astronomy and many other disciplines.

Recently, AMD announced widespread availability of its 45nm Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, codenamed "Shanghai." These latest Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors already hold multiple HPC workload-related performance records including: -- 34 percent higher floating point throughput performance than the competition on SPECfp(R)_rate2006 for two-socket servers -- 51 percent more memory bandwidth performance than the competition on STREAM benchmarks for two-socket servers -- Approximately 65 percent faster job runs than the competition on FLUENT 12 beta (ANSYS) for two-socket servers -- More than 30 percent better performance than the competition on LSDYNA MPP971s for two-socket servers.

Additionally, readers of HPCWire this week voted "Shanghai" as one of the Top 5 New HPC Products or Technologies to Watch.

About AMD Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is an innovative technology company dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners to ignite the next generation of computing and graphics solutions at work, home and play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Opteron, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SPEC and SPECfp_rate2006 are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation.

1. Comparison based on SPECfp(R)_rate2006. Results for Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor Model E5472 published on www.spec.org as of October 27, 2008. Results for Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processor Model 2384 based upon data submitted to Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Results published on amd.com as of November 13, 2008. See http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8796_8800,00.html.

For the latest SPECfp(R)_rate results, visit http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/.

System configurations: "Shanghai": 2 x Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processors Model 2384 in Supermicro A+ Server 1021M-UR+B motherboard, 32GB (8x4GB DDR2-800) memory, 300GB SATA disk drive, SuSE Linux(R) Enterprise Server 10 SP1 64-bit Xeon: 2 x Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors Model E5472 in Supermicro X7DWN+ motherboard, 32GB (8x4GB DDR2-800 FB-DIMM) memory, 74.8GB SATA disk drive, SuSE Linux(R) 10 SP1 64-bit.

http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/results/res2007q4/cpu2006-20071112-02546.html 2. STREAM: Comparison based STREAM benchmark measurements performed at AMD performance labs as of October 27, 2008. STREAM results represent Add, Copy, Scale, and Triad performance. Results published on amd.com as of November 13, 2008. See http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8796_8800,00.html.

System configurations: "Shanghai": 2 x Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processors Model 2384 in Supermicro H8DMU+ motherboard, 16GB (8x2GB DDR2-800) memory, 150GB IDE disk drive, SuSE Linux(R) Enterprise Server 10 SP2 64-bit.

Xeon 5472: 2 x Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors Model E5472 in Supermicro X7DWN+ motherboard, 16GB (8x2GB DDR2-800 Low-Power FB-DIMM) memory, 150GB IDE disk drive, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 64-bit.

3. FLUENT 12 beta (ANSYS) sedan_4m and LSDYNA MPP971s: Comparisons based on 2 x Quad-Core AMD Opteron(TM) processors Model 2356, 2384 in Supermicro H8DMU+ motherboard, 16GB (8x2GB DDR2-800), 150GB IDE disk drive, SuSE Linux(R) Enterprise Server 10 SP1 64-bit and 2 x Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors Model E5472 in Supermicro X7DWN+ motherboard, 16GB (8x2GB DDR2-800 FBDIMM, low power), 150GB IDE disk drive, SuSE Linux (R) Enterprise Server 10 SP1 64-bit. All results based on internal testing at AMD Performance Center of Excellence except competitive data in clusters which is publically available. Performance on final FLUENT software release may vary. Results published on amd.com as of November 13, 2008. See http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8796_8800,00.html.

SOURCE: AMD CONTACT: AMD Public Relations Teresa Osborne, 978-795-2506(PR) teresa.osborne@amd.com or Ruth Cotter, 408-749-3887 (IR) ruth.cotter@amd.com Copyright Business Wire 2008 -0- KEYWORD: United States

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ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner

Watch and record high definition digital cable programs and enjoy a stunning home theater experience on your Digital Cable Ready Windows Vista® PC with the new ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner. Designed to work with Windows Media Center, the ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner is the world’s first PC TV tuner offering CableCARD™ support for receiving premium HD content from digital cable channels such as HBO, ESPN, Cinemax, and many others. In addition to being the first product to bring premium digital cable to the PC, it also supports over-the-air ATSC digital TV, NTSC analog TV, and satellite set-top box connectivity. The ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner is the ultimate solution for adding HD entertainment to Windows Vista PCs!

AMD—the leader in HDTV solutions for the PC
The ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner continues AMD’s industry leadership and legacy of multimedia innovation to bring new Digital Cable TV solutions to the PC. Building on AMD’s vast range of experience in both PC and digital TV products, the ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner delivers the ultimate HDTV product for PCs running Windows Vista™.

Premium digital cable content comes to Windows Vista™ computers
The ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner enables Digital Cable Ready Windows Vista™ PCs to view and record premium HD digital cable. With an installed CableCARD™ from a cable operator, the ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner can receive premium HD content from digital cable channels such as HBO, ESPN, Cinemax, and many others.

Cable Labs- Certified™ CableCARD™ support
An OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR), The ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner uses CableLabs Certified™ CableCARD™ technology to watch and record premium HD digital cable content on Windows Vista™ PCs. OpenCable certification ensures compatibility with U.S. digital cable networks, and offers technical excellence that delivers a superior entertainment experience on the PC.

Standard and high definition content for Windows Media Center™
The ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner showcases advanced hardware accelerated video processing features including advanced 3D comb filtering, and delivers support for both standard and high definition TV signals. When not using an installed CableCARD™, other options include Clear QAM, over-the-air ATSC digital TV, NTSC analog TV, and satellite set-top box connectivity.

Shipping with new Windows Vista™ PCs
The ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner is shipping with new Digital Cable Ready PCs running Windows Vista®. Hardware requirements include HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) support on digital displays, providing a robust and premium HD viewing experience.

Certified for Windows Vista™ Ultimate and Home Premium
Certified for Windows Vista™ Ultimate and Windows Vista™ Home Premium-based Media Center PCs, the ATI TV Wonder™ Digital Cable Tuner ushers in a new multimedia-rich experience while harnessing the advanced capabilities and premium high-definition content available within Windows Media Center when you have a supporting CableCARD™ from your local cable provider. Read more ...............

AMD Phenom X4 9950 BE processor tested

AMD recently upped the ante on their flagship Phenom X4 processor line-up. Consumers have been able to purchase a Phenom X4 9950 processor for a couple of weeks now. The 9950 comes in two models, the regular version and a BE version, which is the Black Edition. These little BE tagged processors often are only 10-20 bucks more expensive, yet have a little treat harbored in them. These processors are given the two thumbs up to overclock, and the little bonus is increased in the form an unlocked multiplier allowing you to really push the envelope on your tweaks.

So the BE editions in essence are the 'regular' processor, yet they passed quality and analysis for better overclocking performance and have their multiplier unlocked. This obviously is the product we'll be testing today. We'll conduct our test in two ways though, first off we'll check baseline performance just like the regular Phenom X4 9950 and then start an overclocking session. Throughout our benchmarks we'll show you the results on both that baseline and overclocked performance with all benchmarks.

So what is the Phenom X4 9950 precisely? Last year Phenom was introduced, it's AMD's first quad-core processor. And though they had a really tough launch as the early models had a bug in them, late March/April things took a turn. The bug was fixed and the overall performance of these processors went up dramatically well. There was a little sunshine at the end of the horizon. Ever since April 2008, AMD has been introducing new models of Phenom processors based on the fixed cores. We now even have triple-core processors which quite honestly perform really well, but nobody will buy them just because of that weird unusual number of 'three' on them. That's a nasty stigma to fight, whereas 6 cores... would sound perfectly fine. It's weird how the mind works, eh?

No, the more successful models obviously are the Phenom X4 processors. They are now available in a wide variety, and though it's still difficult to compete with chipzilla Intel, no one will deny that the Phenom X4 processors offer heaps of value and are in fact really good processors to have in your PC. Our office now runs two PCs based on Phenom X4s in combo with 790GX mainboards, and I guarantee you... these PCs are fast and snazzy.

The Phenom X4 9950 BE is the cream of the crop processor of the quad-core product line, it runs at 2600 MHz on all four cores with a multiplier of 13. But really, it doesn't mind 3000 or 3200 MHz either. And that's what we'll show you in today's article. To do so we need to chat a little about the architecture underneath that heat spreader. The Phenom is based on what is called the 'Barcelona' architecture. The silicon has four native independent cores merged together into one die; opposed to Intel who merges two dual-core chips together in one die.

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AMD Phenom X4 9850 Processor Review

When the AMD Phenom series of processors launched back on November 19th, 2007 no one could have expected just how rough things were about to get for AMD. First, they sent out Phenom 9900 processors to the press that were was unable to keep up with the Intel Core 2 series of processors. Second, the Phenom 9700/9800/9900 processors that AMD sent out to the media were pulled at the last second and replaced with the lower clocked Phenom 9600 (2.3GHz) and Phenom 9500 (2.2GHz). Then after the Phenom series was lauched it got caught up in the TLB erratum 298 controversy and found itself plauged by benchmark problems. On top of all this AMD kept telling the media, who in turn told consumers, that everything was fine and AMD was on track to deliver the Phenom 9700 and 9800 later in Q1 with a new 3GHz model in Q2 of 2008.

AMD is committed to bring quad-core to the desktop market in Q4, and we are meeting that commitment with the launch of AMD Phenom quad-core processors 9500 and 9600 (2.2GHz and 2.3GHz) on Nov. 19th. AMD is going to initially introduce these two mainstream AMD Phenom quad-core processor models in order to satisfy customer demand in 2007. Since the October meeting, AMD has decided to launch our AMD Phenom 9700 (2.4GHz) quad core product in Q1 2008, along with our AMD Phenom 9900 (2.6 GHz) quad core processor. The launch of these two higher performance processors models will coincide with the introduction of related, significant performance enhancements in the platform; namely CrossFireX and our new enthusiast graphics product. Higher performance AMD Phenom processors will follow the introduction of the AMD Phenom 9700 and 9900 models, with a 3.0 GHz model in Q2 2008. AMD has a great history of delivering faster parts through a product’s lifecycle, and we are confident that this will remain true. - AMD PR 11/14/2007

The past four months could not have gone by fast enough for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), but there does seem to be a new hope for Phenom as the latest revision of the core (stepping B3) fixes the TLB erratum along with many other erratums that were on the list. The TLB fix is now done at the silicon level, so the performance hit users were seeing with the BIOS workaround should be gone. AMD has now stopped production on the older core steppings as a result of this change. If you see a Phenom 9500 or Phenom 9600 in a system or for sale at a retailer you know that the procesor is a B1 or B2 stepping that has the TLB issue. All of the new Phenom B3 steppings will be named with the nomenclature of what AMD is calling the '50 series' of processors. The four new AMD Phenom X4 processors that AMD is announcing today are the 9550 (2.2GHz), 9650 (2.3GHz), 9750 (2.4GHz) and 9850 Black Edition (2.5GHz). AMD has told us to expect the new 50-series processors to perform the same, clock-for-clock as older revision (B2) processors operating in a platform that is not implementing the TLB erratum fix. For example, the 2.2GHz Phenom 9550 processor will replace the Phenom 9500 (B2) processor. AMD is basically 'fixing' Phenom and is making the model numbers clear to make sure consumers know what processors they are getting without having to open the retail box. Read more ...............

ATI Theater 650 Pro

The good: Best-looking TV tuner hardware we've seen; supports both NTSC and ATSC; works well with Media Center and other PC DVR apps.

The bad: Even the best TV tuner has a worse image than a standard cable signal; CableCard will make other TV tuners obsolete next year.

The bottom line: Though it improves upon the category leader, with CableCard's technology for PCs on the horizon, ATI's latest TV tuner chip, the Theater 650 Pro, is only a stopgap solution for those looking to add TV to their PC.

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ATI TV Wonder™ - TV Tuners for the PC

ATI TV Wonder™ is the perfect product for the media and home entertainment enthusiast. ATI TV Wonder™ will load your PC with all the media power you need for The Ultimate Viewing Experience™. Now on your PC watch, pause and schedule recordings of your favorite TV shows¹. Additionally, you will be able to watch the latest DVD movie titles or burn your own DVD (DVD burner required). Bring life to years of analog video stored on camcorders and VHS tapes as you can watch, digitize and preserve all those priceless family moments. You will even be able to choose from your vast library of TV shows and video and transfer them to your Portable Video Player¹.

ATI TV Wonder™ products provide simple way to add advanced TV, personal video recorder (PVR) and video capture and editing capabilities to your PC. The ATI TV Wonder™ offers more on screen content, accurate colors and crisp lines and high definition, true to life images. Offered as PCI, PCI Express add-in card or as an external USB 2.0 peripheral, the ATI TV Wonder™ Series adds superior multimedia power to your PC. Exceed your living room experience.

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Memory Controller Optimizations for Web Servers

This paper analyzes memory access scheduling and virtual channels as mechanisms to reduce the latency of main memory accesses by the CPU and peripherals in web servers. Despite the address filtering effects of the CPU's cache hierarchy, there is significant locality and bank parallelism in the DRAM access stream of a web server, which includes traffic from the operating system, application, and peripherals.

However, a sequential memory controller leaves much of this locality and parallelism unexploited, as serialization and bank conflicts affect the realizable latency. Aggressive scheduling within the memory controller to exploit the available parallelism and locality can reduce the average read latency of the SDRAM. However, bank conflicts and the limited ability of the SDRAM's internal row buffers to act as a cache hinder further latency reduction. Virtual channel SDRAMovercomes these limitations by providing a set of channel buffers that can hold segments from rows of any internal SDRAM bank. This paper presents memory controller policies that can make effective use of these channel buffers to further reduce the average read latency of the SDRAM.

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