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- Core 2 Duo E6600
- MSI P6N SLI Platinum
- Powercolor X1550 VGA
- ASUS M2N32 Pro Mobo
- Athlon64 X2 4800+
- PCstats Weekly Tips
Newsletter Archives
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Intel's Core 2 Duo E6600 Processor
Hello,
This weeks issue
is short and sweet. Starting from the top is a review of the CPU
du jour, the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600. With a clock speed of 2.4GHz and
the all important 4MB of L2 cache, the E6600 is quick, both in 32-bit and
64-bit benchmarks. Next up is MSI's P6N SLI Platinum motherboard - an
Intel platform built on the economical new nForce 650i SLI chipset. Following
along is a budget Windows Vista videocard, the Powercolor Radon X1550. The
weekly Tech Tip picks up where we left off last week, with an expanded
commentary on how Windows Event Manager can help trouble shoot your
computer system. Lastly, we have another look at the 65nm AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+
processor (both 32/64-bit benchmarks).
From last week, you recommended: notebookreview.com, what-laptop.com forums,
and for cameras the only opinion that matters is dprevew.com.
In Canada? Lucky you, Intel has a contest
running till May 13 for a Toshiba Intel Core 2 Duo laptop! Want to enter? Answer the "Commuting and Computing" survey
that's accessible after the jump, by following along with "...an IT Manager's Best Friend..." This secret contest is only visible to those who are eligible, so decipher these cryptic clues and good luck!
Thanks for
Reading,
Max Page
Editor-in-Chief -
PCSTATS
Intel's Core 2 Duo
processor kicks some major
butt. PCSTATS has not seen a jump in CPU performance like this since...
well for as long as we can remember! When a new processor architecture is
released, at first it runs just slightly faster than
the previous generation but not this time around. As you'll see in the
benchmarks the Core 2 Duo is a good 25% faster than the Pentium D family.
Team that up with the fact that it costs less and consumes less power, and
it is easy to see that Intel has a winner on its
hands.
When choosing an Intel Core 2 Duo
processor, do your homework because
cache size varies between models. For example mainstream oriented Core 2
Duo's come with 2MB of L2 cache, where as high end models have 4MB L2
cache. Tests have shown many times
over that cache size makes a significant impact on overall performance.
Now, on with the show as PCSTATS stress tests the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
dual-core processor in a full range of 32 and 64-bit
benchmarks. Continue Here>>
The MSI P6N SLI Platinum
motherboard is a good mainstream
motherboard for part time tweakers, full time gamers, or for anyone who
wants a fully featured board without too steep a price tag. The P6N SLI
Platinum boasts a unique silent chipset cooling
system, an eSATA port for external
hard drives to connect to, and a full compliment of solid state
capacitors. Even your friendly neighborhood PCSTATS techies have suffered
at the hands of blown and leaking electrolytic capacitors. Built with the workhorse
nVidia nForce 650i SLI
SPP and nVidia nForce 650i MCP
chipsets (nForce 430i according to MSI), the MSI P6N SLI Platinum
motherboard is compatible with all Socket 775 processors on
the market. Expansion is possible via two PCI Express x16 slots for
graphics cards (when running SLI, both PCI Express x16 slots get 8 lanes
each)....Continue Here>>
The
PowerColor X1550 512MB
videocard supports dual DVI monitors
through its two DVI outputs, and TV output via a dongle. For 2D
workstation use the PowerColor X1550
512MB
is perfect little videocard,
the two DVI outputs are perfect for two digital LCD monitors. If you're
still using CRT monitors, there is one DVI to analog connector included.
PowerColor has a special version of its X1550 512MB with a "Silent Cooling
System" but I have to say the regular X1550 512MB
videocard
is already pretty darn
quiet. The ATI Radeon X1550 GPU is based on the RV515 core (X1300) and is
built on 80 nanometer manufacturing technology. The core speed has been
increased to 600 MHz (from 450 MHz with the X1300) and the DDR2 memory comes clocked at
800 MHz, making it fully Microsoft Windows Vista
ready. Continue Here>>
The 2.5GHz AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+
processor offers us a decent mix of
performance and value, it certainly won't break the bank either. The
Athlon64 X2 4800+ is built on AMD's 65 nanometer
manufacturing process, and this means
it will help to address the power and heat issue that PCSTATS has been
commenting on for the last six months. We do like it when processors
become more powerful and more energy
efficient, after all. Aside from the
die shrink from 90nm to
65nm, the K8 architecture is
identical to that of the Athlon64 X2
5000+ processor PCSTATS examined
previously. Each core in this dual core Athlon64 X2 4800+ CPU has a 128KB L1
cache along with a 512KB L2 cache.Continue Here>>
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PCstats Weekly Tech Tips: Windows Event Viewer, What's Next? |
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The
integrated Windows Event Viewer (right click on the "My
Computer" icon and go to "Manage") can be a handy tool for
diagnosing problems with your computer, but how do you read
what it says, and what are you to do with the errors? First
identify potential problems; the white dialog box
with an "i" in it simply tells describes operations that have
completed successfully. The yellow warning sign indicates there were non critical problems during a process. The red circle with the big "X" indicates a complete program or
service crash. To read what happened, double click that process event and a window full of information will display.
To use this
newly found information, you'll want to look at the Microsoft Windows Knowledge base ( https://support.microsoft.com ). input the error code (something like "0x800401F0") and put any other relevant information
like the application name into the search box. The next place to
look for information is Microsoft's Events and Error Message
Center ( https://www.microsoft.com/technet/support/ee/ee_basic.aspx ). to get information from this utility,
type in the "Event ID:" along with the name of the application
that's causing the problem. What you have to do next is
carefully screen the search results to find an instance that
matches yours, once you do open it up and find/follow the
fix.
If neither
the Microsoft Knowledge base or Event and Error Message Center
can help you, there's always Google. You might not get an
exact fix for your situation, but it usually has a wealth
of information that allows you to figure out your particular
issue.
To clear all event notices, go into one of the four Event
Viewers (ACEEventLog, Application, Security, System) then "Action" and select the "Clear all Events" option. After that's done, reboot the PC or restart the application
causing errors to see if there are new event logs to
view.
Let PCSTATS
know what you think about this Tech Tip, and be sure to stop
by PCSTATS Forums and post your comments or questions. |
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PCstats Issue
No.240
Circulation: 152,075
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