Lets get that bad Windows 8 taste out of our mouths with a little Speccy

 Speccy

Get your Windows Key / Windows 8 for free

Windows 8 is a great operating system. I use it everyday and haven't had a single issue. It takes some getting use to but thanks to Apple force feeding us now Microsoft feels they need to do the same. 

Speccy is a free program for home use to let you uncover your windows 8 key from Piriform (the great makers of CCleaner). With Windows 8 and Media center I ran into a lot of confusion about how this really works. You can only install with your original key and you upgrade to you media center key. So if you get your media center key it will only help you in the upgrade. You will need to find your original receipt with the Windows 8 key.

http://www.piriform.com/speccy

What the HELL - x16/x16 vs. x8/x8 crossfire

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crossfire-pci-express,2095.html

I don't have any revelations about this. What I can tell you is there is about a 5% performance loss with x8/x8. However there is a rule of thumb that might work.

As you increase the graphics processing requirements such as higher resolutions usually above 1600 x 1200 or as you turn up the shader and AA as your FPS drops the gap between x8 and x16 will grow larger. Now understand this is with both cards running at x8 or both at x16. A single card of the same model will never out pace a crossfire setup.

If your above 60fps on x16 you won't see much change. You might see 58fps on x8

At 50fps you will see about 45fps on x8. At 40fps you will see about 25fps at x8.

So this basically tells us the harder the cards work the bigger the gap. If you aren't pushing the limits of the cards you will likely only see your best performance gains with crossfire at very high resolutions.

Nostromos n52 Windows 7 work around

If you have a n52 and use it all the time you soon realize that you can't live without it. You are almost better off not knowing something like this exists. This piece of hardware is so well made that its going to be around until something better catches your eye. Belkin knows you are addicted and like a crack dealer they want your money. So I don't expect to see a fix for this problem. So here is the work around.

Problem: The n52 loadout manager won't work after sleep or hibernate.

Work around: Unplug the n52 then plug it back in. If you can't unplug it easily remove it from the devices then scan for hardware changes. Open device manager and go to human interface devices.

Disable HUD Compliant Controller then the Nostromos Loadout will launch the re-enable and you will be up and running without pulling cables.

Turn your PC into a super computer to save humanity

As a PC enthusiast I have way too many PCs. Even if you just have one PC would it be nice to put some of that Uber hardware to good use and to benefit humanity?

I was reading an article about a university group called Vision Lab of the University of Antwerp who created a computer designed to do tomography calculations which out performed the CalcUA on campus costing 3.5 million dollars. The CalcUA is the most powerful super computer in Belgium. (Tomography is the analysis of 3D medical images)

To read more about this click here: http://www.dvhardware.net/article27538.html

What is amazing about this machine is that it can be constructed for about $3800 from parts found on NewEgg.com.

AMD Phenom 9850 processor + Scythe Infinity CPU cooler

4x MSI 9800GX2 graphics card

4x 2GB Corsair Twinx DDR2 PC6400 memory

MSI K9A2 Platinum motherboard

Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB HDD

ThermalTake Toughpower 1500W Modular PSU

Lian-Li PC-P80 Armorsuit case

Windows XP 64-bit

This got me thinking about some of the distributed computing projects out there.

Remember the Seti project? The search or extra-terrestrial life in the universe. This project uses a distributed computing method to use your home PC to help analyze white noise data from space in an attempt to find defined patterns that could indicate the existence of life on planets other than earth. I consider this a complete waste of time considering many factors but if your geeky enough you might enjoy participating.

Then I though about protein folding. Which has real world benefits and could result in the cure for deceases as well as help us create many advancements is drugs such as antibiotics. This can also have commercial benefits as well.

Check out the web site: http://folding.stanford.edu/



Here is a video explanation:
http://zdpub.vo.llnwd.net/o2/ziffdavisplayer/flvplayer2.html?show=PCMAG&movie=135

As it turns out they have a version of the folding simulation software that supports advanced GPUs such as the Nvidia 8600 and up as well as the ATI 3750 series on up. My 6 Ghz machine folds at 60 iterations per second. Using the GPUs to run the calculation brings this to super computing speeds of 1300 iterations per second. This can be further tweaked to run on multiple GPU cores depending on how your hardware is configured.

Link for the latest graphical client I am using:
http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther

The nvidia 8600 cards show they are not supported until you load the CUDA display driver. This is much newer display driver from Nvidia than the one currently available for download.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_get.html

This worked on both my 8800Gt and my 8600GTX cards.
One note about the display page for nvidia; it will not show your user name and shows you a test protein is selected. You can ignore that. Its best to run the application minimized anyways.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@Home

For multi cpu support you copy your folding@home folder creating multiple folders. The shortcut in your start menu points to a folder in you application data folder. You can change this to point to the other folder created in the Program Files directory. Then you change the shortcut to include the "-gpu N" flag (N starts at 0)

Your extra parameters in the advanced page of the systray clients, or the advances settings of the console clients. Again N starts with 0 not 1, so your primary display is 0, the next is 1, etc. Each client if you are running more then one needs a different -gpu and a different machineD, and a different working directory, so follow the instructions for multiple clients.

Here are 2 tools that can give you more insight on what is going on with your progress.

http://www.blogger.com/http://fahspy.com/index_eng.shtml// - you point to your folding at home folder. You can monitor multiple folders for multiple GPUs with this tool.

http://fahmon.net/

My stats are here: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=userpage&username=vbiggar

MIT open courseware on the subject of Protein Folding

I'm on the DL.TV team 57391, feel free to join.

Monster Prices on HDMI Cables

http://www.monoprice.com/home/index.asp

Its time to slay this dragon. Digital signals usually don't degrade on cables until you get over 225 ft in length. I typically see 6ft HDMI cables from $60 to $150 dollars. Monster cables only makes for a monster bank account for the company and to be honest makes a fool out of you.

6ft HDMI cables for $5.24 - at monoprice.com

There is another company offering ok prices with lots of conversion options:
bluejeancables.com

FREEDOM not Free the dumb

I'm sorry you bought an iphone. I'm sorry Apple chose the worst cell provider in the world (AT&T). I'm sorry they are robbing you blind for the level of services they provide. Apple has chosen to enslave its customers with DRM on the IPOD so whats to stop them on the Idiot Phone. Well http://iphonesimfree.com has a legal solution.

They have 2 links from mass media outlets such as CNN where industry experts discuss product. None of this is High tech on a budget but it makes me feel good to help.

Life is a popularity contest, as we are seeing the most popular may look good on the surface but is rarely the best choice.

I don't own a iphone and can not make a recommendation. You need to make a decision for yourself based on the information provided by iphonesimfree.com (Apple could brick your phone)

Finally a DIRECTX 10 card worth buying

ASUS Radeon HD 3870 512MB G-DDR4

This is under $200 and goes head to head with the big boys.
It also consumes 1/3 less power which means less heat, longer life, and a smaller utility bill.

Check out the reviews.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2217044,00.asp
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1222/asus_radeon_hd_3870_512mb_g_ddr4/index.html

Do you want to get High End

This looks like a great system for the money but its not really for those on a budget. I get asked all the time what system to buy for a gamer under $2000. I know what your thinking but I love my parents none the less. I was browsing NewEgg and found this Gem. You can put together a system yourself for less but for those of you who aren't so inclined, here it is.

Its has a great motherboard, very good power supply, nice case, and everything else is just about perfect. This is built and ready to go. The brand name in this case has nothing to do with the great choice of components for the money. I would get a DVD Burner but if he doesn't burn DVDs its not necessary.

PC:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229012

Monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009102

Reuse that old supply

You can use a old supply to run devices such as a water cooling system or anything that needs 12 volts by following the steps mentioned below.

This is also a good method to test a supply before you plug it to the main board.

Using something such as a thin wire/paper clip, short pin 14 [PS ON] for the 20 pin connector or Pin 16 on the 24 pin connector to any one of the pins with the black [ground/return] wires.

There are no voltages that can hurt you on any of the pins but if you short the wrong one you could blow out the supply or trip a breaker.

The first ten pins from the orange wire end are the same for the 20 and 24 pin connector Just that what is pin 11 for the 20 pin connector becomes pin 13 on the 24 pin connector. Shown below is a 20 pin connector.



More resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

NewEgg Serious Gamer Rig for people on a budget.

Check it out at: http://biggarrig.blogspot.com/


NewEgg Serious Non - Gamer Rig for people on a budget.

Power Supply: $24.99
Processor: $75- See the upgrade option at the bottom of this post
Motherboard: $75
Memory: $60 with rebate - WOW
Hard Drives X2: $54 each - $110 for striped RAID - RAID is a must for performance. The hard drive is a huge performance bottleneck.
The Raid will noticeably speed this up for video capture, editing, and gaming. Even for something as simple as surfing the web if you follow my Operating system configuration guide.

Case: $50
Operating System: $111 (optional)

$343 ($502 with OS and case)


Add IN:Video Card: $119.99 with rebate (optional for the non-gamer with this rig.)

$463 - Serious Gamer on a budget

PC Cooling products and impossible prices

http://www.xoxide.com/



http://www.xoxide.com/hardrivcool1.html

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http://www.frozencpu.com/