Some new CPU’s from Intel

So Intel has decided to make the lunch date for their new 5th gen Broadwell and 6th gen Skylake to be both in 2015 to 2016.

I always though 4th gen was pretty powerful with the 22nm chips, until I discovered what the 5th gen cpu can do with only 14nm with still a max of 4 cores. What tickles my curiosity is why they launched 2 generations of cpu’s in consecutive years.

The broadwell chips will be the more mainstream chips in desktop computing and had a delay in the manufacturing process, hence the release date being so close to the Skylake release date.

Intel boosted with their Skylake chips set in more laptops and tablets. With the new chips you can expect up to 8 hours of battery life, meaning more than one full HD movie with one charge. These chips with optimized security and gpu configuration for on-the-go usage will be a new found favorite for laptop and tablet users.

With a base clock speed of 3.0ghz on a 5th gen i7 chip, performance will literally be next level. The 14nm also ensure less heat is created so heat will be less of an issue. Cooler Master and Corsair will have to market their liquid coolers in a new way new. Although the Broadwell will have an unlocked version.

Broadwell won’t be coming to replace budget socketed desktop Haswell parts, though performance and HEDT parts should get the Broadwell treatment by mid-2015 as well. When it does come though it will see for the first time Iris graphics coming to socketed systems, which could give reason for AMD to worry, IGP graphics is its strongest and only niche it can compete well in at the moment.

Due to the initial 14nm production ramp up issues Broadwell is being rolled out quite late. By the time the new high end laptop Broadwell-H and desktop Broadwell-K parts come, Skylake (the next architectural refresh) will be just about ready to launch in the second half of 2015, giving mere months for some Broadwell parts before they potentially become outdated.

So while your 4th gen will still be good enough, the new gens will most certainly be something to look at, depending on your cpu. Some of the 4th gen k-chips will still outperform some 5th gen cpu’s. Only bad thing is that 6th gen cpu will be on a new 1151 socket. DDR4 ram will also only be supported on these boards. 5th gen will only go up to 1600mhz ddr3 but probably can be overclocked as I overclocked my 1333 ram to 1402(my motherboard stated it can only do 1333). Most high end motherboards will also handle the 5th gen so you are good to go to purchase one of those if you currently thinking of upgrade.

Bottom line is that where will always be something new from these guys. If you are not upgrading from 1st gen, then don’t wait for something better. Just go out and do it.

If you do need to upgrade and be set for the next 5 years, go for an unlocked 4th gen i7 cpu and a 4th and 5th gen board, for example the Asus Z97-k. Then later on replace the 4th with a decent 5th gen cpu.

Hope you guys learned something new with my post.

Cheers

Watercooling 101!

So from time to time I get the question; What do I think about water cooling?”

I work in a computer store where my boss, Dean know the level of intelligence of some clients. (Hi Dean!) More than often they come with really unintelligent questions. Water cooling is actually a legit question. About 5 to 10 years ago water cooling was definitely a way to go, due to the fact that manufacturers did not put the best cooling units on their components, but lately they have put more thought into it to increase performance. If you look at the more high-end gpu’s, you’ll see some pretty awesome cooling units. So this brings me to the question: To water cool, or not to water cool?

This discussion can go on for hours, but let’s put it in a nutshell. If your cpu and gpu does not reach temperatures of 80-90 degrees Celsius, then no. If you want a more quiet pc and you have a few bucks to spend then water cooing may work for you. Some closed loop systems offering a 2-year hassle free warranty might be ideal.

On the other hand if you are a high overclocking gaming enthusiast, then you cannot go wrong with water cooling. Open loop water cooling.

On the left is closed loop, and on the right is open loop. (Images just dragged of Google, so credit to those who uploaded it)

    

Open loop water cooling usually involves custom building your system and also probably losing the warranty on your components. But in return you get a insane looking build that will lower the heat up to 20%, depending on the components.

With the open loop system, you remove all the fans and noise so it will run much quieter. Most of the things you need will be available online. This will include the reservoir for the liquid, pumps, pipes, radiator and of course the blocks.

Like I said, most cooling units on the components it pretty sufficient, but most can be turned into water cooling. This involves removing current heat sinks and fans, then replace them with cooling blocks and brackets to fit the pipes to it.

The more important units will the pump. If the pump is not strong enough it will obviously not do a great job removing the heat from the units. Secondly is the radiator. The bigger and better the radiator, the better the fan can remove the heat. Consider the law of area over effect, with a bigger radiator, a single fan at 800 rpm can do the job. Of course this dependent of the units in your system.

With the open loop system the color management can also be custom build 100% to your taste, with copper units to black and white and even acrylic. Color of the fluid can vary from neon colors with a UV light or any color of your choice. Of course most units will be copper unless indicated that it is nickle. Copper is mainly used to improve heat dissipation and the fact that it is less visible inside a case. With the gpu, there is two different back plates to choose from. The more half plate that just covers the main heat generating part of the gpu, and then the full plate that covers the whole pcb, These boards are created in reference with the gpu manufacturers to fit most boards.

Also when buying the components for the water cooling try to get the same brand, as the brackets will all sync with each other and with that you cannot damage any units, due to the fact that the threads just stop at their limit and you cannot go past it.

So in the end, custom open loop water cooling will be the way to go if you overclock and after-market air coolers just doesn’t cut it. Keep in mind an operation like this can go up to R 5000 on a full water cooling system. But in return you get a super cool, super quiet pc, jealous friends and some cred when you go to lan parties.

Like I said before, when customizing units you will lose the warranty most probably so do enough research with the experts before starting a project like this.

Anyway people, I hope you enjoyed my blog and if so, please hit the like button below.

I hope you all have a great day tomorrow, as I am at work and my boss Dean have his day off.

Some new CPU’s from Intel

Some new CPU’s from Intel.

UN Report – £34bn worth of wasted electronics growing rapidly

Hello and Welcome!!

This is what I heard with each and every webinar over the past four weeks while I was doing an online marketing course. I did it at the Shaw Academy and I really can recommend them if you want to do some online courses. They phone you straight out of the UK and help you with every step of the way at your own pace.

But this is way off topic.

So; My question is: When you upgrade your computer, fridge, toaster, microwave or mobile phone, what do you do you do with your used appliances? Well most of us sell it or give it to a family or friend. Well what do they do with their old parts? Well according to a 2015 report of the United Nations University (UNU) we dump our “e-waist” at a rate of two million tons per year. Estimating the total waist to reach an astonishing 50 megatons by 2018 if we continue this pattern.

The fast-growing mountain of waste also contains alarming quantities of toxins, including 4,400 tons of ozone-depleting chemicals and 2.2 megatons of lead glass weighing more than the equivalent of the Empire State Building. If all this waist from all the countries was gathered it would generate enough waste to fill 1.2 million 40-ton lorries each year. A queue of such lorries would stretch from New York to Tokyo and back again. Best of all, is that most of this waste is either in working condition or require minor repair work.

The cause of all this is based on new technology being released and everybody wanting the new parts, and secondly due to mass manufacture and inflation, components is created cheaper, therefore they have a shorter lifespan. It is this shortened lifespan that also contributes to this massive problem.

The UNU research found that rather than being dominated by discarded electronics such as mobile phones or computers, the majority (nearly 60 per cent) of e-waste consisted of large and small domestic appliances or office equipment. It included 12.8 megatons of smaller items such as microwaves or toasters and 18.8 megatons of “white goods” such as fridges, washing machines, dryers and other large appliances.

Among the resources being lost annually, as millions of items from mobile phones to fridges are inadequately disposed of, are 300 tons of gold worth £7bn (equivalent to more than a 10th of global production in 2013) as well as 1,000 tons of silver worth £400m and 16 megatons of steel with a value of £6.5bn. All of these valuable resources that is much needed in most developing countries, but at the same time, the hazardous content of e-waste constitutes a ‘toxic mine’ that must be managed with extreme care.

Then again this is a major opportunity for creating jobs and starting to collect these materials and sell them to be recycled. These recycled materials are then used and obviously sold at a lower cost to company. The amount that was actually recycled is estimated to be less than one sixth of all the e-waste.

Britain is identified as among the world’s most profligate producers of e-waste, ranking fifth in the weight of material discarded per inhabitant, with each Briton generating 23.5kg each year. The UK was also sixth worldwide in the total amount of e-waste the country generated, with some 1.5 megatons – barely 100,000 tons less than India which has 20 times the population.

Experts said Britain, in common with other European Union countries, was missing an opportunity to ensure that its inhabitants’ appetite for consumer durable results in a thriving recycling industry. The UNU report said that only one-third of e-waste in the UK is recycled through recognized schemes – a figure that must reach 85 per cent under EU rules by 2019. Federico Magalini, a UNU researcher, said: “In the UK we are seeing that the ‘lifespan’ of an electric or electronic product may be particularly short.

This creates massive responsibilities to waist management companies that is responsible for dealing with these issues.The Environment Agency estimates that some 11,500 shipping containers are illegally exported from the UK each year containing either household or electrical waste – the equivalent of 200,000 tons of material a year.

Watercooling 101!

Watercooling 101!.

Will an 18-karat Apple a day keep the doctor away?

Will an 18-karat Apple a day keep the doctor away?.

Will an 18-karat Apple a day keep the doctor away?

A gentle tap to notify you there is a new message. Real-time stats of all activity done for the day. This is just two features of the Apple Watch. As you might have heard in utter disbelief, Apple has made a new line of solid 18-karat gold watches that has been engineered to be twice as hard as normal gold, Even the display is protected by a polished sapphire crystal. This watch has stunning designs with smooth edges designed for ultimate comfort and everyday use.

All these elements add up to its $10 000 price tag. But this brings us to the question, why would Apple make a $10 000 watch? I mean there are many other watches with the same price tag, but in return you get a solid mechanical watch, not a gadget. Now apple created the watch to be a more personal device, more than any other device, almost like using your DNA to make it. But instead they used 18-karat gold on a technically speaking retail product, with 24-karat considered the most pure gold. Although 8 different variants of the watch is available, why would you buy one? It comes out with 8GB of storage but with limitations, 2GB will be for music, while 75MB is for photo’s. The other 6GB will be for the OS and other applications. Furthermore the watch can be used as a watch and a fitness monitor, but it’s also more than that. It is a new way of interacting with the information we currently receive on our iPhones. And the most heaviest one weighing in at 125g.

All of the above qualities is indeed quite unique to Apple, but what will the impact be on the environment? Based on projected sales of one million units per month, mostly in demand in China, and two troy ounces of gold in each watch, Apple will go through 746 tons of gold annually. That’s about 30% of the world’s current gold production. In total the world produces 2500 tons of gold every year. This will indeed influence the market, also for investors who invested huge numbers in gold. Based on the concept of supply and demand, investors might benefit from their investments due to the larger demand. If the demand tips the balance, the cost of gold might drop and increase the profitability for Apple.

Gold miners certainly have their jobs cut out for them. But speaking of miners, what is the effect of gold on the skin? Egyptians believed the healing powers of gold could cure all manner of physical, mental and spiritual ailments. Romans used gold preparations for treatment of skin lesions and sores. It is believed that Cleopatra wore pure gold for a radiant complexion. In ancient Chinese medicine, gold was the secret to youthful skin.

So while buying a watch, you also receive free health benefits from wearing the gold watch. But the question if it is worth the price? Maybe one of the entry level watches might be worth it, but let us keep the high-end products to the high-end buyers.

To all my readers!

Good day all!

Just a quick thank you to all who have read my blogs up to date. This really means so much to me and shows that some people out there reads and likes all the stuff I post.

One again I appreciate every click given to get to my page.

Happy days everybody!

Overclocking 101 for dummies

By the looks of the topic most of you expect me how explain the best way to overclock and software to use and concerns.

So the only thing you need to know is DO NOT OVERCLOCK!

I have done some research on overclocking and the voltage settings, but let me tell you my story.

A few nights ago I decided to test my overclocking skills because my PC is kinda old, so I used a overclocking program that came with my motherboard. It was an Ashrock, which is pretty good, seeing that Ashrock motherboards is in almost every Playstation and xBox and Gigabyte also uses Ashrock.

So mhz by mhz I worked my way to the top. I knew my 775 chip will not get to 4.5mhz but I still tried. At the end my ram speed reached 1406 instead of 1000. My cpu went from 2.2 to 2.38. Funny enough my windows didn’t pick up the difference, even after I have done the windows rating score. But it showed the ram being better. Next thing I went into by bios and change it there.

The cpu configuration was set to auto, so I changed it to manual and the same frequency and voltage as I used in the overclocking program. I saved and exit and boom! My pc was dead.

After about 30 seconds of just staring at the “no input detected” sign I realized what I did, although I didn’t want to accept that I killed my baby. So I took out my bios and drained the power to reset all bios settings and I left it for a while. After that I pressed the button and my pc started up! I was so happy. Immediately I went into my bios and changed everything back to normal. All should be good right? I wished!

After I restart with the default settings it started up. Then right before the windows loading screen, a white dash just sat there, flickering and taunting on my screen. Meaning either a hdd is not plugged in or one of them shorted..

Funny enough both drives is showing in my bios so now it is back to the google drawing board to figure out what to do.

So bottom line, if your computer works and it plays all the games within reason of your specs, then don’t overclock.

If you know exactly what you are doing and only what a few better specs then overclock. Otherwise just don’t. Manufacturers release parts at certain specs for a reason.

This will be my last overclocking attempt. My next chip will straight be an i5 4690k chip, set at 4.0 mhz and as I promised my girlfriend, I will not overclock my chip.

If any of you have advise on my scenario, please I am in need of help!

Unidentified Addictions. Are we really smarter than a million years ago?

IN the beginning, humans lived off the earth. Taking only what they needed from earth to survive and indeed they did good for themselves, because they did not expect anything more. They had basic needs to satisfy and that is it. Millions of years later, we are the same people. Yes we evolved into more intelligent beings, but the question is: Are we smarter?

Today technology owns the human race. If the power goes out, we are screwed. We can communicate until our, not-generating-power not-so-smart phone runs dead. We cannot send any mails or texts or calls. If the server at work is dead the whole company comes to a grinding halt. How is it that we have become so fast paced that we cannot keep up without that what we created?

It is because we got used to the easy way, and now we are addicted to it. Every 99.9% of humans have an addiction of some sort. Most smoke or go for a drink or pop a pill. Others hit the caffeine bar. Some bite nails, while others check facebook every 5 seconds, but bottom line is that almost every one you know is addicted to something physical or psychological. Then they call it a hobby or a necessity to their minds don’t feel too bad. We have become so addicted to the good life that we cannot live without it. If the day should come of a nationwide power blackout, like the one in south africa, fact is that after a week, the streets would look like a scene out of The Walking Dead. People would not know how to find food or build shelter or provide for their families. There would be no mcDonalds to go to.

As technology get smarter, we get dumber. Technology does all the work for us, but the thing we rely on is relying on us. Like the robot said in iRobot; Humans are killing themselves. We are way to addicted. I believed that humans a million year back had no addictions, that is why they survived. They only took what they needed. They invented objects to make their tasks easier, but still had the skills to go without it. Until evolution came and they developed tools to do the work for them, but now I’m repeating myself.

Bottom line is humans have too many addictions. Ways to deal with problems they created themselves. If you take only a knife and get dropped in a remote location, you will see how quick real problems arise.

Sometimes we all must take a pause for the cause and get back to nature and do a little survival trip and get perspective of life and how to spend the time given to us on Earth.

Time is the only matter in the universe that we cannot control, make, modify or give.