family meeting

Alright guys, gather ’round. There’s something we’ve been wanting to tell you.Dan and I have talked about it, and we’ve decided that it’s in all of our best interests if we take a vacation. I mean ‘we’ being Dan and me. I know, I know, it’d be nice if we could all go, but look at it this way: we’ll all benefit when Dan and I come back tan, relaxed, and feeling like entirely new people.This is a lot to swallow all at once, so for now I’ll just tell you that we’ll be there for the first week of May (including our second anniversary), and that “there” is…Wait for it…Florid-aaaaaaaaaah.

Intel Sandy Bridge Previewed

Anandtech has published an in-depth preview of Intel's upcoming Sandy Bridge CPUs. The Roadmap has been confirmed as the one previously leaked,and just as confusing, alongwith pricing indications. However, perhapsthe most important question would be - How fast is Sandy Bridge? The CPUAnandtech tested was a 3.1 GHz quad-core sample, the same speed as theCore i5 2400. Unlike the eventual i5 2400, however, the sample couldhave HyperThreading enabled but Turbo disabled. Clock-for-clock, SandyBridge is approximately 10% faster than Lynnfield, and perhaps a fewmore percent with Turbo enabled. This well supports long termspeculation that Sandy Bridge will only bring minor performanceimprovements, favouring efficiency.

Since Intel skipped quad-core for the Westmere 32nm refresh, today's Lynnfield CPUs are still 45nm. Hence, by moving to 32nm, Intel have been able to bump up the Sandy Bridge clock speeds significantly. Hence, the Core i5 2400 clocks in at 3.1 GHz, well over the 2.8 GHz Core i5 760. Thus, the Core i5 2400 will end up outperforming the Core i5 760 by around 25%, despite a lower price tag. It will consume less power as well. The real replacement for the i5 760, and possibly the best value-for-money part, will be the Core i5 2500K. This will be a 3.3 GHz CPU with no HT, but a Turbo Boost of 3.7 GHz. We can see this CPU comfortably outpacing the Core i5 760 by over 30%, at the same price point - $210. The most important part is the "K" suffix, indicating an unlocked multiplier. One of the major changes with Sandy Bridge is moving the BCLK generator to the chipset. Hence, this results in very limited overclocking of any kind from traditional means of increasing BCLK. The unlocked multiplier thus offers the best avenue for overclocking. The Core i5 2500 is identical to the 2500K, except it features a locked multiplier. The price difference between the two is $15 - something any overclocker can easily justify. If you are not interested in overclocking, the Core i5 2500 provides a formidable option at $196.

Above the Core i5 2500 series lies the only CPUs with HyperThreading for the initial release. Core i7 2600 is a 3.4 GHz product with 8 threads and 3.8 GHz turbo. However, unlike the Core i5 2500, the price difference between the locked and unlocked multiplier versions is massive. The i5 2500 is expected to be priced somewhere between $200 and $350 segment (more likely on the higher side), with the i5 2500K being priced as high as $562. At the lower end, the cheapest Sandy Bridge at release would be the dual-core Core i5 2100, which is a dual-core CPU clocked at 3.1 GHz, but with no Turbo. HT is enabled thankfully, for 4 threads. Lower priced Pentium branded products will release in Q2 2011 with even cheaper Celerons in Q3 2011.

The TDP for most quad cores will be 95W, with dual cores at 65W. However, the roadmap is further convoluted by "S" suffixed products, with TDP of 65W for quad-cores, and further low-power "T" products with 35W TDP for dual-cores and 45W TDP for quad-cores.

Finally, there is the on-die IGP featured with all Sandy Bridge products. While Intel made a major leap forward with Clarkdale, the graphics improvements with Sandy Bridge is even more impressive. Depending on the model, the IGP is clocked at 850 MHz, with an incredible 1350 MHz Turbo capability. The results are incredible, with Sandy Bridge obliterating not just Clarkdale, but every IGP out there today. In fact, it keeps up with the HD 5450 in most cases, and even sneaks by in some benchmarks. Low-res, low IQ gaming in modern games is definitely a possibility with Sandy Bridge for casual gamers.

Overall, there are no major surprises, and Sandy Bridge is turning out to be a worthy successor to the Nehalem generation. While it is an evolution of Nehalem rather than a brand new architecture, and clock-for-clock improvements are limited at best, Sandy Bridge makes up in the efficiency and clock speed department. Overall, we expect a roughly 30% increase in performance across the board at similar price points, with a drop in power consumption as well. Certain disappointments such as the very limited locked multiplier overclocking have been covered by unlocked K series CPUs and other benefits like AVX and massively improved graphics performance.

The Sandy Bridge CPUs previewed today by Anandtech will be available in January 2011. The lower priced CPUs will follow in Q2/Q3 2011. On the opposite end, the high-end LGA 2011 Sandy Bridge 6/8 core CPUs will only release in Q3 2011. With Sandy Bridge previewed and anticipated, the focus now shifts over to AMD's Llano.

For the full preview, you can read the Anandtech article.

Mobile Penryn Pricing Unveiled

X9000, T9500, T9300, T8300 and T8100 based on 45nm Penryn which is partof the Santa Rosa Refresh line-up will launch in Jan '08

Intel Prepares Penryn For Santa Rosa Refresh In Q1 2008

SegmentProcessor CodenameProcessor NumberClock Speed (GHz)FSB (MHz)L2 CacheCore 2ExtremePenryn
(Santa Rosa Refresh)TBA2.88006MBMerom
(Santa Rosa)X79002.88004MBX78002.68004MBCore 2 DuoPenryn
(Santa Rosa Refresh)TBA2.68006MBTBA2.58006MBTBA2.48003MBTBA2.18003MBMerom
(Santa Rosa)T78002.68004MBT77002.48004MBT75002.28004MBT73002.08004MBT72502.08002MBT71001.88002MB

Intel is preparing to include Penryn line-up for the Santa Rosa Refresh in Q12008 with Penryn-based Core 2 Extreme clocked at 2.8GHz/800FSB with 6MB sharedL2 cache and Penryn-based Core 2 Duo series from 2.1-2.6Ghz clock speed with3/6MB variants. Faster clocked and higher FSB Penryn will be available in Q22008 for Montevina Platform to be paired up with the new Cantiga chipsets. Therewill be Cantiga GM and PM chipsets with ICH9M that support DDR2-667/800 orDDR3-800/1066, 1066MHz FSB, Enhanced Intel AMT v4.0, Turbo Memory 2.0, Echo PeakWi-Fi/WiMAX combo, Shirley Peak Wi-Fi and Boazman GbE. There will also beCantiga GS and Cantiga GL with ICH9M later in Q3 2008 for SFF and Value segment.

Apple WWDC 2011 News Roundup

Apples annual WWDC kicked off this morning in San Francisco with Apple CEO Steve Jobs taking the stage to announce what has his company is going to release in the upcoming days and months. Here are what is announced this morning in children-friendly bit-size:

Mac OS X Lion - The lastest inception of the companys flagship operating system boast a whopping 250 new features for end users including Multi-Touch gestures, system-wide support for full screen apps, the Mac App Store (which by now most Mac users has experienced), Mission Control, Launchpad, and Mail app, just to name a few. Available as a digital download for just US$29.90, it will be available for all Mac users running Intel Core 2 Duo and above Macs on the Mac App Store next month in July.

iOS 5 - New version of Apples mobile operating system, iOS 5, will feature 200 new features to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users later this fall. New features includes Notification Center, iMessage, Newsstand, OTA updating and more.

iCloud - Apple will be offering an all-new cloud service which will give users former MobileMe services as well as iCloud Storage, iCloud Backup, iClouds Photo Stream services and enhancment to iTunes with iCloud. Most features will be available for free and it will be released later this year in fall.

Many expected the announcement of the successor to Apples iPhone 4 as traditionally, Apple has used WWDC as a platform to announce and showcase the latest iPhones since the iPhone 3G. But many were disappointed that not a single mention of the next iPhone was said. Speculation of the next iPhones announcement has pushed back to something in fall as a seperate special event.

If youre interested to watch the keynote delivered by Steve Jobs and his colleagues, head over to Apples stream and watch it there. QuickTime 7 is required on Windows.

AOpen Low Profile GeForce 6600 Card For SFF

AOpen, recognized worldwide as a manufacturer ofhigh-performance, high-quality display cards and computer peripherals, launched“Aeolus PCX6600–DV128LP”, one of the most powerful PCI Express video displaycards in the world today.

The new product is built with NVIDIA’s powerful GeForce™ 6 Series GPU — 6600.The graphics processing unit is designed to deliver a new generation ofperformance for powering 3D graphics and video processing.

Its foundation is a revolutionary new 3D graphics architecture that is the firstto deliver Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 support for ultra–realisticimages, and a superscalar design for unmatched performance. In order to addressthe growing demand from PC users for advanced video functionality, an on-chipvideo processor is added to the GeForce 6 Series GPUs — a first in the GPUindustry.

The company’s new display card comes with heat pipe solution which ischaracterized by excellent heat dissipation performance because high-end GPUsnormally generate high temperature and require heat reduction design.

A second unique feature of the graphics display card is its small size (lowprofile). It fits ideally into small size personal computers such as minibaresystems. In order to provides ultimate graphic power, Aeolus PCX6600-DV128LPuse MicroBGA type with latest DDRIII-2ns memory. “The Aeolus PCX 6600 will bethe perfect graphic card for small form factor with silence solution which basedon NVIDIA’s 6600 GPU,” asserts Jonathan Yen, product manager of the company.

Despite its compact size, the display card provides many valued-added strongfeatures with its integrated HDTV encoder. Within AOpen standard package, itprovides HDTV-output cable so that a computer system installed with this cardcan display world-class full-screen HDTV or plasma TV video of 1920 x 1080resolutions.

When a computer is installed with this graphics card and a TV tuner card, a usercan watch a TV program with higher resolution because the card providesexcellent video encoding capability. A user can store video sources (TV program)into the hard disc drive of such a system, and then copy the stored video onto aDVD disc given that user has the required software.

The card is designed with supercharged gaming performance that ensures top-notchcompatibility and performance for Microsoft DirectX 9 Shader Model 3.0 andsupports PCI Express bus architecture. It supports games like Far Cry andS.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl. Its PCI support delivers 8GB/sec of rawgraphics bandwidth in both upstream and downstream data transfers.

With the on-chip CineFX 3.0 engine, the card powers the next generationcinematic realism, which delivers stunning and complex special effects andfaster and smoother gameplay.

With the UltraShadow II technology, it enhances the performance of bleedingedgegames like id Software’s Doom III, that feature complex scenes with multiplelight sources and objects.

The 64-bit texture filtering support of the display card delivers full-speed,high dynamic-range lighting effects. It also delivers unmatched image qualitythrough the new 16x anisotropic filtering and rotated grid antialiasing.

The on-chip video processor delivers an unmatched multimedia experience. Thecard’s hardware-accelerated MPEG and WMV9 decoding delivers smooth,artifact-free video. The dedicated video hardware reduces CPU utilization andimproves overall system performance.

The high quality video scaling and filtering improves playback quality at anywindow size. The OpenGL 1.5 optimizations and support ensures top-notchcompatibility and performance for all OpenGL applications. “In conclusion, thedisplay card is an ideal product for consumers who require high-end graphicsdisplay card,” Yen says.

christmas with the psychopaths “santa’s slay”

Let’s wrap up our little Batshit-Crazy-Santas review series with a look at the 2005 straight-to-DVD “starring” vehicle for ex-wrestler Bill Goldberg, Santa’s Slay, shall we? Glad you agree.

So, yeah, here’s the straight dirt on Jolly Old St. Nick — he’s really a demon, got it? in fact, truth be told he’s not just any garden-variety demon, he’s the son of the Great Horned One, good ol’ Lucifer himself! Okay, so you could already have guessed as much.? Nobody’s that fucking cheerful out of the goodness of their heart, it just ain’t natural. He’s an unlucky demon, though, in that he lost a bet to an angel and had to go around being nice for the next 1,000 years. Time’s just about up, though, and this Christmas is the Christmas that Santa gets to revert back to his old ways and pay back the human race — with interest!

Teenage schmuck Nicholas (Douglas Smith, who’s absolute cardboard and represents the weakest link in this movie’s casting) lives amidst a family of typically nauseating Christmas-lovers (even his girlfriend, future Lost beauty Emilie de Ravin seems to enjoy the “festive” season), with one notable exception : his curmudgeonly old grandpa (the late, great Robert Culp, who I guess it’s fair to refer to here as a Christmas-horror veteran since he also featured in Silent Night, Deadly Night 3), who for some mysterious reason knows the truth about the jolly fat man and shares it with his grandson. It might be too little, too late though, since (again, for reasons initially unexplained) Santa’s set his newly-evil sights squarely on Nicholas and intends to make him and his family the first victims of his new campaign of sadistic evil!

I’m not much for the whole wrestlers-turned-actors thing, but Goldberg’s casting as the wicked Santa here was definitely a stroke of genius — he tackles the role with absolute relish and looks to be having the time of his life. Culp is fantastic as always as grandpa (sporting an uncharacteristic five o’clock shadow here), and Fran (The Nanny) Drescher ,? Dave Thomas of Mackenzie Brothers fame, and the always-solid Saul Rubinek turn in fun ? performance in smaller roles, as well.? the direction from David Steiman (who also wrote the screenplay) is unremarkable in any sort of stylistic sense, but certainly workmanlike and highly competent. My only gripe with this flick is that some of the CGI looks pretty dated (and was probably even substandard for its time), but apart from that this is a fun, original, slapstick-ish Christmas horror-comedy.

Santa’s Slay is available on DVD from Lionsgate and features a nice selection of extras including a full-length commentary track and some behind-the-scenes-type stuff. The anamorphic widescreen transfer looks great and the 5.1 surround-sound mix is very nicely done, as well.

If foul-mouthed children, even-fouler-mouthed old ladies, a flying bison, a gaggle of strippers, a demonic St. Nick out for revenge, jokes about caulk, and a cinematic salute to the sport of curling sound like your cup of tea, look no further — you’ll not only enjoy the hell out of Santa’s Slay, it will become a new holiday tradition in your home.