Going For 4GB: DDR2-1066 Kit Round-Up : 4 GB DDR2 Kits For the Masses

This is an excellent time to upgrade your main memory. Not only have memory prices come down to a level where 4 GB or even 8 GB of memory has become highly affordable, but a memory upgrade provides a positive impact with Windows Vista and an increasing number of game titles and applications. We looked at six 4 GB DDR2 memory kits, trying to find the best bang for the buck.

Intel will soon be releasing its Core i7 processor family, which will only support DDR3 memory due to the fact that the memory controller is about to be relocated from its traditional location on the northbridge right into the CPU. Combined with ramped-up production volumes, DDR3 memory has undergone significant price drops in recent months, finally making mainstream DDR3 memory attractive for the average Joe.

4 GB DDR2 Kits are Just Perfect

However, mainstream isn’t necessarily DDR3-1600 or faster, as many of you pointed out in the comments section of our recent DDR3-1600 roundup. It is DDR3-1066 and DDR3-1333. These are the speeds that have hit the market in ever larger quantities, to finally get to a point where DDR3 can take over from DDR2. However, this point is still pretty far away, looking at current memory prices for 2 GB and 4 GB memory kits, and the fact that even 8 GB kits have appeared at an almost acceptable cost. And let’s not forget that all AMD platforms depend on DDR2 memory (as do the majority of Intel systems).

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While 4 GB of RAM cannot be fully utilized on 32-bit operating systems such as Windows XP and Windows Vista 32, you’ll still get between 3.3 and 3.7 GB of effective memory capacity. The exact figure depends on BIOS configuration, among other factors. We still believe that there is nothing wrong with purchasing a 4 GB dual channel memory kit, even if you won’t be able to utilize the entire capacity. Knowing that 2x 2 GB DDR2-800 kits start at as little as $80, that’s still a good deal.

Other Memory Options?

Utilizing more memory requires 64-bit versions of Windows XP or Vista, but the step from 3.3-3.7 GB usable capacity and the full 4 GB is small enough to be neglected in most of the applications today. 3+ GB of memory will provide sufficient capacity for 95% of all mainstream applications, and most of the high-end game titles as well. If you want more, you’ll have to switch the operating system, and that may still lead to driver issues. You’ll get 64-bit drivers for all core components, but the more you look around—think older printers, cell phone / smart phone drivers, and certain software—the more likely it is that you’ll get stranded in your quest for more memory.

Although 8 GB memory kits (which consist of four 2 GB DIMMs) are affordable, these only make sense if you have applications that really take advantage of the increased memory capacity and if it is worth going through the 32 to 64 bit transition. But these kits might give you the same headache as 3 GB kits, because all of them include four memory modules. This may force the BIOS to work with relaxed timings and can cause memory compatibility issues. We put together a short recommendation list to help you navigate the memory jungle.

Check List

Here is our recommendation for memory purchases, which will remain valid even for the next generation platforms:

Stay within the market sweet spot to get a good deal: today that’s 2x 1 GB or 2x 2 GB of DDR2-800 or DDR2-1066 memory.
Look for quick timings (smaller numbers are better), but don’t spend substantial money on slightly faster modules.
Spend additional budget on a faster processor, a faster graphics card or a faster drive instead of fast memory, unless you need overclocking memory.
Always get as few memory modules as possible, but equip all memory channels of a system to get maximum performance. The ideal configuration consists of two DIMMs today, and three DIMMs with Intel’s upcoming Core i7 systems.
Go for name brand memory.

Sneak Peek: Four Core i7 X58 Motherboards

And so it begins. The first motherboard to land in our lab (besides Intel’s own X58 platform, which remains under embargo, but is hardly a secret given its presence at IDF) is ASUS’ P6T Deluxe. This ASUS plaform seems to be targeted at both overclockers and workstation customers. After all, it includes a USB-powered OC Palm device, used for handheld overclocking and an onboard SAS controller, which enables high-availability storage at a considerable premium for those who need more enterprise-like functionality.

As you can see from the box, SLI and CrossFire support are both part of this package, as is a considerable amount of voltage regulation—the P6T Deluxe levels 16-phase vCore circuitry and an additional two phases for the QPI/integrated memory controller inside the Core i7 CPU. Express Gate, ASUS’ insta-boot operating environment, and EPU, the company’s energy-saving technology, are also included.

G31 And E7200: The Real Low-Power Story : Combining Performance and Efficiency

Combining Performance and Efficiency
Combining minimal power requirements with decent desktop performance seemed to be a nearly insurmountable task for many years, but it now seems to be possible. There are processors and chipsets on the market that will allow you to run a decent desktop system at a very low idle power level, while providing amped-up CPU performance when it’s needed. We’ re taking a look at two motherboards, which their vendors Foxconn and Gigabyte aim at power-conscious customers, and pairing them to one of the most affordable mainstream processors on the market: Intel’s Core 2 Duo E7200.
Efficient Computing Requires Reasonable Components
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When you want to create a truly efficient computer, you must bid farewell to some of the components that you may have once taken for granted. First of all, it is necessary to avoid hardware that increases idle power without doing anything important—this includes all add-on cards and drives that you may not really need, as well as most high-end or enthusiast products, and discrete graphics cards in particular. Once this decision has been made, you can go ahead and select your components according to your efficiency goals.
Upper mainstream and high-end graphics cards are typically some of the most power-hungry, as most are optimized for 3D features and performance— often at the cost of high power consumption. Despite recent optimizations in Nvidia’s lineup, for instance, most high-end cards still don’t offer sufficient power saving options, resulting in idle power requirements of graphics cards that match or even exceed the power requirements of an entire entry-level PC. While a high power requirement is not an issue as long as you get something in return, components in idle mode don’t provide any benefit, so we demand minimum idle power during times of low or no activity. In the case of our test systems, this meant we bid farewell to gaming in order to stay with the integrated graphics unit. Luckily, there is always the option of upgrading to a discrete graphics card down the road should it be something you’re missing.
Components: Core 2 Duo E7200 and G31
Once you accept the fact that powerful graphics, high-end components, and numerous disk drives cannot be part of an efficient low-power computer, you can choose the right foundation for your machine. We went with a mainstream Core 2 Duo E7200processor manufactured using 45 nm technology, which runs on a 1,066 MHz FSB with a 2.53 GHz core speed. Unlike the E8000-series, the E7200 has only 3 MB rather than 6 MB L2 cache. We’re also arming this setup with 4 GB of RAM and a nimble 7,200 RPM hard drive.
We decided to look at two motherboards using Intel’s G31 chipset: Foxconn’s G31MG-S and Gigabyte’s GA-EG31MF-S2. Both are reasonable platforms for our high-efficiency PC project.

Intel's 15 Most Unforgettable x86 CPUs : 8086: The First PC processor

The 8086 was the first x86 processor—Intel had already released the 4004, the 8008, the 8080 and the 8085. This 16-bit processor could manage 1 MB of memory using an external 20-bit address bus. The clock frequency chosen by IBM (4.77 MHz) was fairly low, though the processor was running at 10 MHz by the end of its career.
The first PCs used a derivative of this processor, the 8088, which had only an 8-bit (external) data bus. An interesting aside is that the control systems in the US space shuttles use 8086 processors and NASA was forced to buy some from eBay in 2002 since Intel could no longer supply them.
Intel 8086
Code name
N/A
Date released
1979
Architecture
16 bits
Data bus
16 bits
Address bus
20 bits
Maximum memory
1 MB
L1 cache
no
L2 cache
no
Clock frequency
4.77-10 MHz
FSB
same as clock frequency
FPU
8087
SIMD
no
Fabrication process
3,000 nm
Number of transistors
29,000
Power consumption
N/A
Voltage
5 V
Die surface area
16 mm²
Connector
40-pin

AMD Launches Radeon HD 4830 on Cheap

The newly launched ATI Radeon HD 4830 offers excellent performance for gamers on a budget. Priced officially at less than $150, the card is already appearing at online retailers for just $109, after a $20 mail-in rebate, which puts it in direct competition with the Nvidia Geforce 9600GT and 9800GT.
The ATI Radeon HD 4830 is based on RV770LE silicon, which is essentially a crippled version of the RV770 silicon found in the ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870. The ATI Radeon HD 4830 features 640 stream processing units, 956 million transistors and a 256-bit GDDR3 memory interface. The clock speed and memory clock are set at 575 MHz and 1800 MHz, respectively, which are only a bit lower than those of the ATI Radeon HD 4850. Texture units total 32, compared to the 40 found in the ATI Radeon HD 4850, but both come with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory and a peak power consumption of about 110 W.
The ATI Radeon HD 4830 comes with support for DirectX 10.1, hardware video acceleration, CrossFireX, two dual-link DVI display ports, HDMI with integrated HD audio controller and DisplayPort. From early reviews online, the ATI Radeon HD 4830 seems to offer good mid-range performance with decent gaming capabilities. The performance of the ATI Radeon HD 4830 is nearly twice that of the ATI Radeon HD 4670 and it gives the Geforce 9800 GT a good run for its money.
For those curious about Far Cry 2 performance, the ATI Radeon HD 4830 can achieve rather playable frame rates with high image quality settings, although only at modest display resolutions. Some gamers may wish to get the ATI Radeon HD 4850 instead, especially those with older computers or larger displays. Overclocking is a risky alternative, but it would seem that the ATI Radeon HD 4830 can be overclocked to be nearly the same performance level as the ATI Radeon HD 4850, saving roughly $30.

BFG Geforce GTX 200 Series Bundled With Far Cry 2

For many consumers, the choice between which new graphics card to purchase often comes down to a few factors; price, performance and the list of software that comes bundled. Sometimes the included software is comprised of unheard of racing car simulation demos or DVD playback software. Other times the included software can actually be pretty good; such is the case when you purchase any new BFG GTX 200 series of graphics card.
With the purchase of any BFG Geforce GTX 200 series of graphics cards from October 22, 2008 and onwards, BFG will ship to the customer a pretty decent software bundle. Included is a free full copy of Far Cry 2 (DVD), a free full copy of 3DMark Vantage Advanced Edition (online download) and a BFG branded mini super bright LED torch light. The total value of this bundle is claimed to be over $70. The graphics card needs to be registered online before the bundle will be shipped and the offer is only available for a limited time and while supplies last. Official details can be found here.
Newegg.com has the BFG Geforce GTX 260 starting at $259.99, after a $30 mail-in rebate, and the BFG Geforce GTX 280 starting at $374.99, after a $30 mail-in rebate. According to the Tom’s Hardware Gaming Graphics Charts Q3/2008, both the Geforce GTX 280 and the Geforce GTX 260 series of graphics cards offered top overall performance. If you were hoping to play Far Cry 2, but were still using an old Geforce 6600 GT, right now may be a great time to upgrade. Far Cry 2 is a first-person shooter, offering visually stunning next-generation graphics and a massive open world for players to explore.

Asus Launches 'Dark Knight' Graphics Cards

All new cards are named under Asus’ new Dark Knight (DK) name. The new Dark Knight cards come with varying specifications, but most notably the Dark Knight Fansink that will apparently deliver "extreme" cooling and "low noise levels." Other features include the EMI shield, DIP Spring Chokes, LF PAK MOS, and Japanese made Solid Capacitors.
The new Dark Knight Fansink is manufacturer from aluminum alloy, has four heatpipes and a larger surface area. From the description and available pictures at this time (see below), it looks pretty slick. Though we find it odd that Asus chose aluminum over copper. The aluminum definitely looks cool color-wise, but based on the target audience — where’s the copper?
Hopefully we’ll get our hands on some of these for a closer look soon. For now we will leave you with some eye candy to look at and the specs of the new cards to go along with them – draw your conclusions in the comments sections!

ATI: Expect DirectX 11 and 40 nm GPUs in 2009

DX11 is expected to bring several substantial advancements over DX10, including the introduction of Shader Model 5.0, as well as GPGPU support and multithreading support, both of which are essential for the graphics industry and the myriad of multi-core graphics cards that exist today. Also, hardware tessellation will be supported by DX11. Hardware tessellation has been supported by ATI cards going back to the 2000 series, but has never been popular with PC game developers. Tessellation, which allows for a low-polygon model to see a real-time increase in polygon density with minimal performance loss, was part of the GPU ATI designed for the Xbox 360, and with DX11, may finally be a feature utilized by PC game developers.
While DX11 is expected to improve visuals over DX10, according to Ars Technica, the bulk of improvement is reserved for "...improving GPU computational capabilities and efficiency in a variety of environments." Now that the software will be in place, we may see the GPGPU become a widespread trend.
While a specific date is not yet clear, we will see a 40nm GPU form ATI sometime in 2009. This means that we will most likely see DX11 cards based on an older manufacturing tech for the time being. While we will wait for 40 nm, ATI did say that GDDR5 will be its dominant memory standard starting next year.
ATI is also looking forward to other advances in the field, including GPGPU support, OpenCL (Open Computer Language), support, and an increase in the number of programs that can utilize GPU computing capabilities effectively. "The push here is to drive the idea of the video card as a computing platform in its own right, out of the supercomputer/HPC arena and into the home," observed Ars Technica.