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ready to launch in the second half of 2015, giving mere months for some Broadwell parts before they potentially become outdated.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.

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.

Legends of Heroes passed or Died? (part 2)

In part one we talked about the new Maxwell chip from Nvidia and what it brings to the gaming table. Now I will tell you what company pulls the most out of this GPU and how it compares to the most recent graphic card on the market.

Today the most popular ones are(not in any particular order) MSI, ASUS, EVGA, GIGABYTE. All there cards are the ti versions that comes overclocked out of the box and as they all use the same nanometer GPU’s the smallest details will determine the beter card. Each manufacture puts on different heat sinks, fans, pcb’s, and the size of the card. Here is the different specs;

GIGABYTE: Base clock:1033 mhz, boost clock: 1111 mhz, 2048MB GDDR5 memory and 128-bit memory interface. 5400 mhz memory clock. Max resolution 2048 x 1536. Power requirement is 400w.

http://www.gigabyte.co.za/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4948#sp

MSI: Base clock:1085 mhz, boost clock: 1163 mhz, 2048MB GDDR5 memory and 128-bit memory interface. 5400 mhz memory clock. Max resolution 2560 x 1600. Power requirement is 400w.

http://www.msi.com/product/vga/N750Ti-TF-2GD5OC.html#hero-specification

ASUS: Base clock:1072 mhz, boost clock: 1150 mhz, 2048MB GDDR5 memory and 128-bit memory interface. 5400 mhz memory clock. Max resolution 2560 x 1600. One 6pin PCI connector is required for power, but also helps with overclocking.

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/GTX750TIOC2GD5/specifications/

EVGA: Best one from EVGA is their FTW edition. Base clock:1189 mhz, boost clock: 1268 mhz, 2048MB GDDR5 memory and 128-bit memory interface. 5400 mhz memory clock. Max resolution 2048×1536. Power requirement is 300w.

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-3757-KR

Each manufacture has their own overclocking software and features, but based on speed, the EVGA FTW 750ti is the best one according to my summary.

So how does this one compare to the best graphic card? Well that is alot harder to determine. out of hand the gtx 980 is the best with the best ghz, memory bandwith, all despite being a 4GB card, but then I realized, the Titan Z is running on a duel GPU so in essance it is twice as powerfull tham any other card. So what is the best?

In my opinion, still the 980. Because the power consumption and heat generated will be less, plus for gaming it will be best, If a game can only do ultra setting, then ultra is the best it will display. A games’ resolution on ultra will look the same with a 750ti in relation with a 770. The difference comes in with the software and features such as the picxelation software, phycx and so on.

The duel CPU will only be usefull when using rendering programs and CG software.

So in the end it will be the EVGA FTW 750ti vs the GTX 980. Unfortunately our power has tripped so I can’t go into detail of those two. Maybe next time.

If you have different ideas or know something else, please feel free to comment on my blog.

Please follow me so I can share my thoughts with you.

Legends of Heroes passed or Died? (part 1)

Finally I have a chance to write my next blog! Home and work kept me so damn busy, but here I am! So about a year ago, Nvidia released a chip that would be significantly better than their Fermi and Kepler chips.

Ladies and Gents, I present to you, Maxwell! Their latest and greatest design at only 28 nm. With this new chips, Nvidia put the focus on power efficiency. This chip was first used in the famous GTX 750 and the Legendary, 750ti. The more popular choice for games as they got all the horse power they needed, without having to worry about an external power adapter that would trip the power of their neighborhood. Although the GTX 760ti is still using Kepler chips. So what is the difference between Maxwell and Kepler? Well apart from being on more of an electricity diet, it boasts with a better TDP(thermal design power), meaning less heat generated by power. It has a better TDP than AMD R9 290X. Maxwell has less CUDA cores per SM(streaming multiprocessors), but there are now twice as many SMs (the Kepler has 8 SMs, for 1536 CUDA cores; the Maxwell GM204 has 16 SMMs, for 2048 cores). Each SMM is further split into four blocks of CUDA cores, each with four warp schedulers, and other dedicated scheduling and buffering hardware. Basically this means greater processing power per SM, as the saying goes: Less is more! Furthermore Maxwell uses what they call Dynamic Super Resolution. This means your GPU renders games at 4K and then the GPU filters and downsamples the output frames to your screen resolution. With Dynamic Super Resolution, the game actually thinks it’s being played on a 4K monitor so it display as 4K, while rendering only 1080p.

The next one is totally awesome. It is called: Voxel Global Illumination! A.k.a GI, this is what makes a game look more realistic, or totally computer faked. Almost like a low budget IMAX movie. Although this technology is really expensive, the new Maxwell chip supports it. For reference, go check out the Unreal Engine 4 “Elemental” tech demo video on youtube.

There is a few more to tell, but I won’t go into many more details, but one thing I can say is Maxwell also gives better MFAA. In short, this technique can offer image quality that approaches 8xAA, while only costing around 4xAA in terms of processing time.

So the difference between Maxwell and Kepler? Kepler does it faster and better, but Maxwell does it fast, more realistic and with more dimensions and overall makes it look better, put with less power usage.

In my next blog I will compare the older but famous 750ti with the best graphic card up to date. Follow me to automatically receive the update on my post.

Cheers