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Oh the good old days, if you havn’t already read my blog post on external graphics for laptops then search for it! The original article was based on ATI’s version of the implementation. They stated that an external box liked device could be connected to your laptop, the interfaces used were unclear because they didnt know how to actually connect the device, some special interconnect?

Fujitsu Siemens have stated that they have created the first external notebook graphics card called the AMILO notebook Sa 3650. The  external device has a inbuild Radeon HD 3870 (surprise, surprise). F S claim that the device will increase performance by 470%.

The device comes with external USB to connect keywords and mice. It has HDMI and DVI ports for plugging in those 42″ tv’s you all have! Expected release date is December 08, wow thats close!

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If you have been reading my blog recently you may well know that the Core i7 processor has been released. it seems that current trends are showing a shine for DDR3 memory suddenly, why is this? Well Intels new architecture and it support DDR3 properly unlike older Intel chipsets.

The downside to Intels architecture is that the memory controller does not support dual channel memory and the memory is not asynchronous meaning the memory works better in singles rather than powers of, 2, 4 ,8, 16, 32 etc.

So the next upgrade is either one or three memory modules, weird! So the current trends for memory company’s are you guessed it! tri memory kits! The sizes range from 3GB to 12GB using the full 1,333Mhz clock.

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Intel haven’t changed there pricing for sometime now, well virtually since launch! Now Intel have released their new core i7 processors, you would expect the company to re-price their stock and get some sort of return to research future products, may be they are keeping prices high because they need to!

With that said, AMD are doing the opposite, they will be releasing their new phenom II processor early next year. With this in-mind AMD have reduced the prices of their current processor range. Will Intel strike and offer more competition? We can only find out

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AMD have adjusted their processor pricing for the last quarter of this year. Why is this I hear you say!? Well AMD want to be more competitive in the mid-range/ main stream markets. By lowering their pricing they have a better chance at selling  more processors for the christmas period.

AMD not only using this strategy to increase sales but to sell a high number of their current products ready for the release of their new phenom II processor. AMD feel with an 10%, 20% price cut their products will fit the main stream market where as Intels core i7 processor for the enthusiast

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The phenom processor never really cut it against Intels range of processors. Once Intel released the 45nm prefab AMD were in trouble, AMD quickly released a quad core processor with bug implemented into the processor! They counter-acted this with a newer version and even a triple core processor, but why?

Any who, times change and AMD will be releasing a processor called the Shanghai running at 2.7Ghz which is normally used in server environments. AMD will also be releasing a 3Ghz Deneb processor which is the Phenom II. The best bit is they are releasing the processor very soon!

With the Intel core i7 released will Intel take the limelight away from AMD’s phenom II processor? Will they be able to stack up to Intels new architecture, who knows! But I cant wait to find out!

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We all know the core i7 has been released but how does it compare within the graphics market? I remember way back when enthusiast started buying dual socket motherboards to find nothing near double the performance, now with core i7 with Intels threading implementation how will graphics perform under the pressure of three sli 280 Nvidia graphic cards? Will Core 2 quad still offer better performance? Well lets find out!

Well in COD4 we have 145 FPS with the core 2 extreme and the core i7 has 146.4 fps. the resolutions used were 1,920 x 1,200 4 x AA and 16 x AF. The same game but with an higher resolution of 2,560×1,600 4xAA and 16xAF, there was only 5 FPS between them!

Far cry 2 was a different story, the core i7 had at least 20 FPS+ more then the core 2 extreme with high settings and the same resolution as the first benchmark in cod4. What was disappointing was the second benchmark, the core i7 only performed better results by 10 FPS when running 2,560 by 1,600. You would think this would have the opposite effect when increasing the resolution.

The performance of the core i7 just is not justified. Old socket 775 processors with x48 chip sets are well suited to perform well with these games and when you see these benchmarks when new technology is introduced the future can only mean increased scores over the next few months, lets wait and see.

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Intel have released their Intel corei7 architecture last month. Intel have obviously moved into the high end bracket of the computer hardware market. A new corei7 system could cost around £1500 where the motherboard alone costs £200.

Intel Core 2 quad is now considered main stream along with amd phenom processors. AMD’s price bracket is alot lower than Intels So AMD still have a health share of the mainstream markets.

Right, more to the point. AMD will be releasing the AMD x4 45nm processor CPU coded named the Deneb, lets hope they give Intel a run for their money, to be honest Intel are not going to have anything up their shelve at this stage anyway.

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Intels new processors are now out! They are widely available across the uk in most major hardware retailers. The Nehalem processor retail name Core i7 comes in three flavours, these include: 2.66 Ghz, 2.93 Ghz and 3.20 Ghz (Extreme edition).

Price range
2.66 Ghz - £280
2.93 Ghz - £500
£3.20 Ghz - £900

These prices above are give or take +- £50. There will be however cheaper versions in the US. Even when adding tax the processors are still cheaper.

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Nearly all computer system vendors wil be introducing the core I7 range to their current product range. IBuyPower are a Californian based company who are off to a head start by selling Core i7 equipped paladin systems.

The Core i7 machines are called the Paladin F-Series and are aimed at the high end market with a selection of Intel Cor ei7 940 processors.

The systems use coolermaster HAF chassis in a selection of different colours, ranging from bright green, red and camo! Thrown into the product range are high based systems delivering 12GB of RAM and high end GPUs for gaming.

Prices start at 2,000 dollars and rise up to 4,000 dollars. The official date hasn’t been set but you can view the specification of their Paladin F Systems bellow.

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Thermal heat is a common problem in computing environments. One of the most common flaws with computer malfunction is due to computer hardware over heating. The over heating issue can be caused by many factors such as the hear sink being installed incorrectly but the main reason is due to computer stress! When a computer system is put under stress, calculating millions of operations a second, performance over a given time period can be reduced dramatically especially in warm environments during summer.

So how can this be avoided?

Air conditioning
The processor temperature is usually around 60 degrees centigrade which usually makes the systems temperature an average of 30 degrees depending on the amount of hard disks and other hardware like graphics acceleration cards. With the use of air conditioning systems can be cooled to give a constant work manageable temperature. Air conditioning can be applied by using mobile units which can be moved to the desired position. Other more advanced systems are usually in-built units which are controlled remotely from a computer system or wall unit. The latter are usually used in server environment where as mobile units are used in small businesses where small areas can increase environmental temperature.

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