<![CDATA[Overclock.net - Overclocking.net - Blogs - Joe-Pinions (txtmstrjoe's OCN Blog) by txtmstrjoe]]> http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/ An overclocking forum devoted to maximizing the performance of graphics cards, CPUs, motherboards, RAM and everything else found inside your computer case. en Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:25:00 GMT vBulletin 1 http://static.overclock.net/images/oc/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[Overclock.net - Overclocking.net - Blogs - Joe-Pinions (txtmstrjoe's OCN Blog) by txtmstrjoe]]> http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/ Turning Over a New Leaf http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1434-turning-over-new-leaf.html Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:30:23 GMT Veteran OCNers might know that I am one of the co-founders of the Socket 939 Appreciation Club (http://www.overclock.net/amd-general/293448-socket-939-appreciation-club-knowledgebase-official.html) here on OCN. If nothing else, this signifies that I have a certain affinity, even admiration, for... Veteran OCNers might know that I am one of the co-founders of the Socket 939 Appreciation Club here on OCN. If nothing else, this signifies that I have a certain affinity, even admiration, for what is now undoubtedly an old computing platform.

Despite its age, however, S939 is still quite capable. It loses out to the latest that Intel (especially) and AMD have to offer when it comes to just raw computing power, but for my own personal purposes, it's still more than sufficient.

Think of it this way, perhaps: S939 is a Lamborghini Countach; in its heyday it wore the performance crown and forced its biggest rival to come up with something really special to best it. There is no doubt S939's performance advantage, and the subsequent inroads AMD made into Intel's dominant market share, woke the sleeping giant and angered it enough to want to retake the losses it had incurred during the Netburst era.

As surely as the Countach was supplanted, so has S939; it has been three long years (and counting) since it, and AMD, had a legitimate claim to being the most powerful and fastest computing platform available to the regular consumer, as well as the choice of performance enthusiasts. Intel's Core/Core 2 series, as well as the subsequent Nehalem generation of CPUs, have firmly put S939's halcyon days in the rearview mirror.

On the AMD side, S939 was first replaced with AM2. AM2 was basically just a refresh of S939's K8 roots. It was equivalent to the Lamborghini Diablo: Touted as a major advance, in reality it initially was merely a little bit more powerful, just a tad bit faster, than its immediate predecessor. As with the Diablo replacing the elder sister, the Countach, AM2 replacing S939 left me decidedly cold. I felt no desire to love the Diablo, and the same was true with AM2.

I guess you just can't ever forget your first love. ;)

Compared to its immediate predecessor, AM2's differences boiled down to two salient features: 1) It now could use DDR2 (which had supplanted DDR in the marketplace); and 2) it slightly elevated the performance potential. AMD's move to terminate S939 was calculated to keep in step with developments in the memory sector; with their integrated memory controllers (IMC), AMD's chips had to be redesigned to be able to use DDR2, since 1st generation DDR was consigned to marketplace obsolescence. In most other respects, though, under the IHS, AM2 was still K8, with all its inherent strengths and limitations.

Indubitably, K8's biggest weakness was that it was impractical to cram four logical cores within one processor package. In other words, AM2 (and S939) were limited to a maximum of two cores per CPU due to power consumption and TDP concerns primarily. In a world where Intel was not only destroying AMD's best with just two cores, but with the prospect of having a quad-core processor coming to market imminently, AM2's status as an upgrade step up from S939 was looking less and less logical. Despite a gradual escalation in clock speeds, AM2 was simply not enough of a speed increase for me to justify starting over and buying new equipment (just to say I had the latest AMD kit).

Through constant development, though, AM2 gave rise to AM2+, signaling AMD's willingness to move on from its venerable K8 design genetics onto something far better. AM2+ opened the door to AMD's first quad-core CPUs, the Phenom X4, as well as the consumer market sector's first tri-core CPUs, the Phenom X3. There were also still AM2+ AthlonX2 dual-cores available for AM2+, but these were basically the ultimate refinements of the K8 microarchitecture.

The Phenom series, though, was quite different.

Although the first Phenom series for AM2+ was not all that great, with its fairly limited overclocking ability, it could be argued that it still was a significant release for AMD. If nothing else, it was the very first quad-core from AMD. Moreover, as often happens, once weaknesses and limitations are identified, they can be attacked and rectified.

And thus we have come to AM3, and the Phenom II series.

As an AMD fan, I was intrigued when I first read tales of superb overclocking coming from the Phenom II generation of CPUs. In a single stroke, it seemed as if the second generation of Phenom processors overcame the biggest reason why the original Phenoms did not earn the interest and admiration, much less the sales dollars, of performance computing enthusiasts. Tales of insane clock speeds (upwards of 6GHz), even if from cherry-picked chips with hyper-exotic cooling equipment, were enough to grab the collective attention of the enthusiast crowd. The fact that Phenom II quads could finally beat Intel's Core 2 quads (albeit NOT the yet-to-be-released Nehalem chips at the time) was also very exciting to AMD enthusiasts.

AM2/AM2+ definitely did NOT inspire any desire for me to upgrade from my S939 systems. But news of AM3 making waves certainly did make me consider upgrading sooner than my self-imposed target date of May 2010 (by which time my first, and still OCed and functional, original system will be four years old).

Four years is an eternity in the tech industry; I know that many OCNers would scream in abject horror that I've not yet moved on at all from S939. However, while I am an enthusiast, I have to be really selective when it comes to adopting new hardware. If there's one absolute law in this hobby, it's that it costs a lot of money to stay on top of the performance tree.

To be quite frank, I did consider going with a Core i7 for my next platform upgrade. Unquestionably it is the king of the performance mountain right now; not even AM3 can keep up with it, especially when we're talking about overclocked performance. But some factors dissuaded me from seriously pursuing this option.

Chief is money (sorry to disappoint you, but it wasn't AMD fanboyism ;)). Ultimate performance will always be the most expensive, and I don't have a lot of disposable income. Even in terms of value as I perceive it, Core i7 makes little sense to me.

A second factor is my actual needs for all that excess power. As I'd written earlier, even given its age S939 is still plenty adequate for my personal needs. I don't benchmark (totally useless activity, in my opinion); my systems can play any game I own (no, I don't own nor play Crysis, so don't go there); I don't do a ton of media creation/processing, but when I do my system doesn't slow to a crawl and beg for mercy. Perhaps my needs aren't typical of the average performance computing enthusiast (one of my favorite oxymoronic juxtapositions), but my needs are satisfied.

A third factor is a strong curiosity to learn about what AMD currently has to offer. AM2 OCing isn't much different from S939 (or any other K8) OCing, but AM3 Phenom II OCing looks decidedly different. As OCN's AMD Editor, I feel a responsibility to know as much about AMD OCing as possible. I'm not comfortable about doling out advice on something I don't personally have experience in; I don't feel good about merely regurgitating what someone else said or wrote without KNOWING for myself whether or not the information/opinion is correct or factual or accurate.

So yes, I'm going to be turning over a new leaf. I am amassing the core components of an AM3 system. I already have the CPU and the motherboard, as well as the HDDs, the PSU, Windows 7 pre-ordered, and the video card. I have a case, but it needs some modifications by thlnk3r before I put everything in. I also have all the watercooling parts I intend to use on this build (it will also be my first watercooled PC project). Basically, I need to amass a budget for some DDR3 RAM.

I'm so excited about this. Learning something new is so stimulating. Just as I was filled with enthusiasm when the Diablo was pushed aside by the Murcielago, so I am filled with fervor now that AM3 and Phenom II have arrived and are in my hands and are here to stay.

OCN

This is also my 100th OCN Blog Post. Thank you so much to all who have read, and hopefully still are reading, my words here. Many of you have engaged me and others through my blog and shared many provocative thoughts. I dedicate my first 100 blog posts to my regular readers; you know who you are. :)

I know the journey to the next 100 posts will be just as fun. :thumb: ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1434-turning-over-new-leaf.html It was Eight Years Ago, Today http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1386-eight-years-ago-today.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:27:06 GMT I'm not one who has the gift of an outstanding memory, but inevitably some things just stay with you forever for whatever reason. Such memories etch themselves onto your mind, like a deep wound that scars your skin even as it heals.

Some days, such as that Tuesday eight years ago today, I'll never ever forget. ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1386-eight-years-ago-today.html A Few Thoughts on Operating Systems - Part Two http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1321-few-thoughts-operating-systems-part-two.html Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:36:10 GMT In my most recent entry (http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1313-few-thoughts-operating-systems-part-one.html), I mentioned that I was at last trying out Vista after using XP almost exclusively (aside from a brief, and temporarily interrupted, dalliance with Ubuntu) as my operating system. ... In my most recent entry, I mentioned that I was at last trying out Vista after using XP almost exclusively (aside from a brief, and temporarily interrupted, dalliance with Ubuntu) as my operating system. At the time of writing, I was feeling a mild tinge of disappointment with Vista, primarily because of how it felt a little slow compared to a fresh-out-of-the-box XP installation.

A couple of evenings of use later, I must admit that perhaps my initial observations may have been a result of a colored perception; I will allow that I had at least a mild bias against Vista. Part of that is because of the marketing spin against it, both official (from Apple) and unofficial (from Apple users and XP diehards). Part of it is also because of a near complete absence of experience using it. Apart from taste tests at the local Best Buys or Fry's Electronics stores, I have to say that I acquired a strong resistance to Vista.

It must also be said that I felt absolutely no motivation to buy a license to be able to use it.

However, once the impediment of cost was removed, I only had to overcome my own biases in order to finally give Vista a try. And so, a couple of nights ago, I installed it.

It felt slow then. Everything acted smoothly, but it felt slightly sluggish.

But I settled on actually trying to use Vista as I would XP. That is, I wanted to see if I could actually LIVE with it and USE it.

I installed my drivers and programs; I ran my programs (nothing heavy-duty yet at this point) and used my machine as normal. Strangely enough, the perception of sluggishness dissipated. Instead, I was drawn even more to Vista's huge appeal for me, which is the gorgeous eye candy.

Computing is all about functionality, and Vista didn't seem to have any serious "gotchas" even into my third evening of living with it. The one problem I ran into it was trying to run an older version of Nero 7 which, I found to my mild surprise, was incompatible with Vista. That's okay; I expected that some older software would not be compatible with it.

Perhaps my mind has been sufficiently distracted by the beauty of Vista's visuals. Maybe my initial perceptions were actually just colored by my underlying biases against it. Whatever the truth is, at the moment Vista feels just fine. It's not snappy like a brand-new XP installation always feels, but it's not molasses-slow either.

In the coming days and weeks I shall be installing and playing my games on this Vista system. It's an exciting thought. ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1321-few-thoughts-operating-systems-part-two.html A Few Thoughts on Operating Systems - Part One http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1313-few-thoughts-operating-systems-part-one.html Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:55:36 GMT At the outset I'd like to make a quick disclosure: I'm really still just a green-horn PC enthusiast who is still wet behind the ears. My enthusiasm for this hobby far outweighs any real knowledge or experience that I have.

Unlike many on OCN, I've only been involved in this hobby for a little more than three years. Before May 2006, my family and I only ever bought retail PCs. We would tend to use these machines until such time as when they didn't perform well enough for our purposes (not that our performance requirements were steep; school work and word processing were pretty much all these machines were used for). I have fond memories of a late '90s Hewlett-Packard, if only because it allowed me to play Formula One simulation games (specifically, Geoff Crammond's awesome Grand Prix 2) on my own PC for the first time in my life. A good friend later rebuilt this machine into something a little bit more potent, changing the motherboard and adding a good AGP video card (the H-P ran with onboard graphics). Both the H-P and the Frankensteined PC ran Windows 98.

A couple of years later, I bought a second H-P, a Prescott Pentium 4 with onboard graphics again for school work mostly, but now also for some gaming (KotOR tugged at my heartstrings). This machine had Windows XP.

I remember quite clearly that I didn't like this second H-P so much because XP seemed so unfamiliar. I was so used to Windows 98 (not to say I was an "expert" in using it, because at that point I definitely was nothing of the sort).

Familiarity breeds contempt, as the saying goes, only this time it really means familiarity with an older product bred contempt for its newer substitute. In time, though, through constant use I learned just how superior WinXP was compared to Win98 (and especially over WinME, probably THE worst operating system I've ever tried to use).

By the time May 2006 rolled around, I wanted to build my very first custom PC. WinXP was firmly entrenched as the OS of choice, so there was no question as to what OS my first machine would use. Whatever early bugs there were had been sorted out; the only thing remotely jittery and unstable about that first time I installed an OS was me (most "first times" are nerve-wracking, after all).

Between 2006 and the present-day, I've only ever used WinXP on my machines. I had a brief period of experimentation when my personal office rig dual-booted to WinXP and Ubuntu. Ubuntu is pretty neat, but my own impatience with learning to be proficient with this form of Linux (or any other form of Linux, for that matter) currently outweighs my desire to acquire that proficiency.

I've now installed Windows Vista for the very first time. I fully realize this is an odd time to do this, with Windows 7 on the verge of release to the market. But since the OS license that I've got is absolutely free, I figured I may as well give it a run to see if it's better than good ol' WinXP.

Vista is definitely prettier. XP is painfully ugly in comparison. Colors, transparency effects, anything to do with visual aesthetics all look far far better on Vista. If there's one thing I have always admired about Vista, it's the visual aspect. XP honestly is so boring to look at now. I guess it shouldn't matter how your OS GUI looks, but if I'm honest I'd say that to me it has now become a matter of some importance.

The thing I'm discovering with Vista is how it feels slower than XP. Even on a clean install, it's not nearly as snappy as XP is. Of course, I'm not running a top-of-the-line machine, but it's no slouch, either. An Opteron 170 @ 3.0GHz earned a Vista Experience score of 5.4 (I cite this not because I care, because I don't, but only to lend some sort of context on the matter), which is a half-point away from a best 5.9; I suspect that running a 64-bit OS on just 2GBs of RAM might be just sufficient.

I'm a touch undecided at the moment as far as what operating system I should keep on my machine. I don't mind learning more about Vista, but its apparent lack of quickness at this point already has me worried that my long-held assumptions about it (that you need something close to top-level hardware to really enjoy using it) might be right on the nose.

Either that, or it's simply just too early to tell definitively at this point.

(I guess I should reinstall Vista on a RAID 0 array...) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1313-few-thoughts-operating-systems-part-one.html <![CDATA["I got my first real six-string..."]]> http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1192-i-got-my-first-real-six.html Sat, 20 Jun 2009 06:02:26 GMT Lately I've been looking back at significant parts of my past. I think one of the most fun, satisfying, and memorable phases of my life was when I was actually a practicing "musician" and songwriter.

I'm not daft enough to call myself a real musician because, well, I'm really not. I used to play guitar with a modicum of proficiency, but I'm not really a musician. Musicians are what you call people with real talent; I'm more of a ham-and-egger who just has far more enthusiasm and love for a craft than actual talent and innate ability.

I used to play rhythm guitar and had a band. Well, perhaps I shouldn't say that I had a real band. It's not like my guys and I ever played any gigs or anything. But for a period of maybe three years or so, my pals John and Phil and I used to play together. We called ourselves "The Leader Beans."

I was the least-accomplished guitar player amongst us, for sure, but John and Phil were really really good. Both were (and probably still are) very talented musicians.

John played guitar; in fact, he taught me how to play the basics. With much patience and care he showed me the basic concepts of playing rhythm guitar. He stressed the importance of being able to play on time and staying on time (i.e., not speeding up or slowing down unless it was by design, and staying on beat), as well as techniques on chord changes and strum patterns.

More than just being my guitar teacher, John and I were also songwriting collaborators. He would play the tunes, and I would write the words. We thought of ourselves as Lennon and McCartney; I would call him "Paul," and he would call me "John" (if only to humor my own delusions). After a few years of working together, he gave me the greatest gift of all: I became confident enough to try and write complete songs, music and words, all on my own. He also got brave himself and wrote songs solo, and I must say his work stands up quite well on its own. As a nod to Lennon and McCartney, all of our old material is jointly credited to "Dionisio and Dalmacio," just like "Lennon and McCartney" did so many years ago. Until the Beatles broke up, John and Paul jointly credited their compositions. Not only that, but John was also a very good singer. He had a really great ear for melody (just like Paul McCartney), and could reproduce the melodies his ears heard with both the guitar and his voice.

Phil became a friend of ours towards the end of the 1990s. Talk about a really talented musician. He was a violin player, but learned how to play guitar from John as well. The amazing thing is, he far surpassed his teacher very soon after learning. Other than the guitar and the violin, Phil could also play the harmonica, bass guitar, dabbled in mandolin, and was (and still is) a pretty good singer himself. The thing that amazes me most about Phil is that he learned to play one of the most difficult guitar styles around, gypsy jazz.

Gypsy jazz is one of those things that I know I can never learn on my own; I simply do not have the talent nor the patience to learn such an advanced form of the craft of guitar playing. A good gypsy jazz guitarist often sounds like he's playing three or four different people's parts all on top of each other; there is a speed and precision required to playing any kind of gypsy jazz.

Lately I've been listening to music even more than I'm wont to. I mean, I always listen to music as I'm going to bed, and I listen to tunes whilst I'm in the car. But lately I've been thinking about music while I'm at work, or when I'm working out, or even while I'm just doing nothing in particular. I've always loved music, and lately I'm rediscovering my love and desire to once again make music. It's akin to not having eaten a great meal for a long time: You remember how good and how satisfying that meal was the last time you indulged, and you get hungrier the more you think about it. Your desire for a return visit grows the more it's on your mind.

I wish my apartment complex's walls weren't so thin; otherwise I'd take one of my guitars back here from my parents' house (where my guitars all are) and indulge in the unadulterated joy of playing and singing and learning songs. Maybe a song or two will find its way to me again, the way a few of them used to a few years back.

Love makes anything possible.

(Posted here first, by the way.) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1192-i-got-my-first-real-six.html Dominos http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1160-dominos.html Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:48:26 GMT The first domino has fallen. (http://www.dailybreeze.com/latestnews/ci_12505600) Now that the mayor of Los Angeles has signed the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (which starts on July 1st of every year and runs through to the end of June of the following year), the long-rumored layoffs and... The first domino has fallen.

Now that the mayor of Los Angeles has signed the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (which starts on July 1st of every year and runs through to the end of June of the following year), the long-rumored layoffs and mandatory unpaid furlough days for Los Angeles City employees pass from possibility to likelihood. If there is no opposition to the acceptance of this budget (none is expected), the first round of layoffs will commence, starting with 1,200 City employees. Additionally, all City employees will be required to take twenty six furlough days throughout the fiscal year.

Though initially only 1,200 people are going to lose their jobs imminently, City Hall has clearly indicated that this is a "work in progress." Such is the scope of the City's financial troubles that City leaders are forced to try to hit a moving target. More layoffs are possible, and the number of mandatory furlough days (which ultimately mean that there is less income for each individual City employee who keeps his/her job) is likely to increase as well.

If the current economic climate persists, and especially if it worsens, more of these ominous dominos are sure to fall. Moreover, if and when things get bad, the rank and file amongst the City's workforce, ordinary people who depend on their salaries and income to live, eat, and pay for the essentials of living, will be the ones who get crushed by these toppling dominos. (I personally have not seen any evidence of the City's bigwigs voluntarily taking cuts in their pay, or taking mandatory unpaid furlough days themselves.)

I am likely to be one of those who may eventually find himself under one of these dominos.

Seniority is one of those factors which will determine who gets laid off. I've been a City employee for three years and five months. This is not a long time, for sure. But I am fairly confident (not to mention very hopeful) that I will not be amongst the first 1,200 cuts.

I've been on the lookout for a new job for the last two months, just in case the worst happens. The problem with this part of the strategy, though, is that the job market is presently quite dry. There is a real shortage of opportunities at the moment, at least here in Southern California. My personal reality is that I require a certain minimum in income, as I literally depend on my paycheck to live.

I have no real luxuries at this point in my life.

As I look at life, at this array of dominos arranged to fall in sequence, I can only hope that the one that has my name on it isn't slated to crush me at any time soon. It's hard to not be pessimistic during these times, but I do get a crumb of comfort knowing that, despite everything that might happen, the future is not set in stone.

I'm still here, and I can still change and affect things for the better. ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1160-dominos.html <![CDATA[Murphy's Law]]> http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1152-murphys-law.html Sun, 31 May 2009 04:26:11 GMT At work, my boss, my co-worker and I joke about "Murphy's Law" almost everyday. It's not that we're negligent or careless or anything; actually, I think we really do all we can to minimize hitches and problems. Per Murphy's Law, though, despite our efforts something seemingly beyond our control will jump up and bite us. We actually don't even cite Murphy's Law by name; we simply "blame Murphy."

Well, I now wish to invoke the same privilege and blame Murphy for the delay in my assembly of my ongoing PC assembly project, Darth Raivo. I have been quite methodical (more so than usual) with this particular build, performing PC assembly's equivalent to the carpenter's adage of "measuring twice before cutting once," that is, test-fitting component layouts, cable management choices, and other such details.

Murphy's Law hit the Darth Raivo project just after I had installed an aftermarket cooler on the video card. After putting the Scythe Musashi on the Radeon HD4870, I mounted the video card onto the board. That's when I realized the problem: The video card is so long that it would overhang the primary SATA ports on the motherboard.

Now I have SATA cables which have right-angled connectors, which theoretically would have solved the problem; right-angled connectors take the cables on a parallel path to the motherboard PCB, thus getting the cables to sit beneath the overhanging video card. However, to my dismay (not to mention annoyance), DFI has the SATA ports on the LANParty UT nF4 SLI-DR oriented so that right-angled cable connectors are facing the wrong way; instead of the cables going towards the front of the board (i.e., the same side as the front of the computer case), right-angled connectors on this board lead the cables towards the rear of the case.

I shook my fist at Murphy with this discovery...

The only viable solution is to purchase LEFT-angled SATA cables. Oddly-named, perhaps, but functionally they get around the problem. It cost me some money to get the cables, but more than that this delay costs me time. My eagerness now castigates me with the consequent swell of impatience.

I suppose this is the kind of frustration that seems to crops up when you seemingly care too much for the results of your work.

Then I think again, and I guess this is when I have to remind myself that this is a hobby before anything else, and so it is meant to be fun and not a source of frustration or annoyance.

The moment I accept this, all becomes right in the world again.

Sometimes the path to wisdom crosses paths with such life constants as Murphy's Law, but that's just the way it is. ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1152-murphys-law.html Status Update - 21 May 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1143-status-update-21-may-2009.html Thu, 21 May 2009 18:24:32 GMT These are somewhat strange days of late for me.

I've intimated to a few select OCN friends about the major event demanding my attention; I now wish to disclose it to everyone who might be reading this.

There is a very real danger that I might be laid off by my employer.

I work for a municipal government, and not even we are immune to the very serious financial crisis currently at play. Though nothing is for certain at this point in time, the threat is very serious and is very real. I believe it is only a matter of time before possibility becomes reality.

Whether or not I will become one of the unfortunate ones to find myself jobless is something I do not know at the moment. Suffice it to say that the possibility is large enough for me to want to have a contingency plan in place just in case the worst happens.

As a consequence of this very real threat (for someone who depends on his income to live, which, I suspect, is not something everyone on OCN can truly appreciate at this point in time in their lives), much of my spare time is now devoted to searching for a new job.

I'm pretty sure that nobody really notices my absence from OCN or its Blogs section (well, maybe one or two people do), but this is why I haven't been around too much except to come in for small, three-minute doses at various parts of a given day. It's a pleasant moment's distraction in the face of a serious problem.

Anyway, there it is. I don't honestly know when things will get settled down enough for me to be on OCN the way I want to be, the way I'm supposed to be, but I do know that this is a great community to be a part of. I have huge ambitions and big plans for the AMD Section in my role as the AMD Editor, and thankfully I have the help of a few select collaborators there who have made the job easier (if only because their knowledge is far greater than my own).

When the sand settles, the waters will be clear as once before. :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1143-status-update-21-may-2009.html Quick Hits http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1113-quick-hits.html Wed, 06 May 2009 17:06:17 GMT So much has happened since the last time I updated this here blog, and so many things are still happening. As John Lennon sang memorably, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

Work still dominates the majority of my time and attention. Lately we have had people feeling ill, or having family members being sick, so this means that the workload increases for those of us more fortunate to not have such maladies. This is not a complaint, of course, merely a description of the situation.

In fact, I really have nothing to complain about, to be honest. I celebrated my birthday last Saturday, and it really was one of my best and most memorable. My girlfriend sometimes asks me about my most memorable birthday, and for some reason I always struggle for an answer; I guess I don't really look at my own past all that much, nor in any great detail. But now I definitely have an answer the next time she asks me. ;)

My baby sister's youngest son, Alex, was baptized on my birthday, so we share that date. I was also designated his godfather (as I also am to Jacob, Alex's older brother), which makes me super-proud and happy. I love my nephews.

We had lunch in China Town in Los Angeles, then spent a wonderful afternoon at the L.A. Zoo, where I work. My best friend Rick and his wife, Monette, joined us there. I wish I had a camera with me (I think my other sister was able to take a few shots; if she did, I'll post a few select ones later).

(I think catmmm would like the L.A. Zoo; our giraffes can get really close to the zoo patrons. :) Plus we have a two-month old calf who was born here who is new to the exhibit.)

After the Zoo we had dinner. Afterwards I hung out with Rick and Monette for several hours, just catching up and having a great time. Christmas was the last time I saw Rick and Monette, but even after extended absences we always feel as if we'd just talked yesterday. I think this is one of those ways we know that they are friends for life.

I could go on and on about everything that happened during the weekend, but I might go on forever. But suffice it to say that I had so much fun playing with my nephews.

I was so sad to see them and my sister (and yes, even my brother-in-law, since he's part of the family) leave for Canada.

(I even cried a little - just a little - when the time for good-byes was at hand.)

Sometimes it's hard when you're the emotional type... ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1113-quick-hits.html Stop the world! I want to get off! http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1069-stop-world-i-want-get-off.html Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:08:36 GMT Life has been incredibly busy lately. Work and my private life have been hectic, to say the least, with so many things demanding my attention.

Visits to OCN have been restricted to quick pops and peeks. I've had precious little time to get stuck in and contribute the way I'd want to. At least I know that, when things get settled again (which will happen eventually), I'll be able to enjoy OCN the way I'm accustomed to.

In my few cherished moments of freedom from responsibility (late at night, before I go to sleep before the next work day), I've indulged in a little bit of gaming. Three games have captivated my interest: Far Cry, GTR Evolution, and Project Torque.

It's a little unusual for me to have a selection of games to choose to play at any given time. Of the three, Far Cry has demanded the most attention. I can honestly say that no game since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has made me want to escape from reality the way Far Cry has. It's an older game, sure, but if the story is good and if the gameplay is likewise superb, who's to say it's inferior to newer games? :) I have to confess that I pulled a near all-nighter last night just to get to the end of this game, and I have to say that it was a superb romp.

GTR Evolution and Project Torque are interesting to me as well since they represent different challenges. Perhaps it's absurd to say, but I find Project Torque to be more difficult. For one thing, I'd just begun playing it, so I have just a starter car. I'm also having to race real human beings as well, which is interesting because they do so many unpredictable things whilst in a race. I'm also very very poor at "drifting" (an annoying misappropriation of a term describing a controlled four-wheel slide; modern misused parlance describes an intentional power oversteer technique done more for style than actual performance benefit); I'm more accustomed to playing Formula One simulations, so my senses are more attuned to these cars' handling requirements (I tune the handling to favor a slight understeer most of the time). Project Torque is a fun arcade racer, I'd say, with some sim-like elements thrown in.

GTR Evolution is closer to the type of racing game I typically enjoy, and I've owned it for a while. Only recently have I tried to delve into it more deeply. I'm in a championship series (single-player) for the first time, driving an Audi R8 GT Concept racer. It's a twitchy car with not a lot of horsepower compared to some of the brutes I'm competing against (Corvette C6R, Saleen S7R, etc.), but with handling that's more responsive. It's funny; I lose out on a drag race down a straight, but if I get ahead of any of the competitors, I can usually just keep the lead down to the end of a straight by virtue of having superior performance going into and out of the corners. ;) After three races, I've got twenty four championship points (one fourth place and two consecutive wins); I've also got a big weight penalty now (since the championship "penalizes" winning cars with increased weight added onto the car with each finish in the points, to help level the playing field).

The next race is at Monza, a super-fast circuit near Milan in Italy. I have my doubts about winning on this track; I don't have the horsepower to compete with the other cars with their superior engines, plus I have an appreciably heavier car (+60Kg added due to my points), which will punish the brakes.

We'll see how things go. ;) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1069-stop-world-i-want-get-off.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - March 24, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1026-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-24-2009.html Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:47:31 GMT Tuesday is now designated "Tuneful Tuesday."

Pass it on. ;)
  • Movies without beautiful music as part of their soundtracks are like paintings done only in shades of gray.
  • Today's Giant of Cinematic Music is, of course, John Williams.
  • I think it is very likely that I will weep the day John Williams leaves this world for a better place.
  • One of my favorite pieces by John Williams is the track called "Leaving Home" from 1978's "Superman: The Movie." It starts off very mildly, very quietly, as befits the start of a new day; it ends in a grand, almost operatic crescendo which foreshadows the great destiny in front of Clark Kent/Kal El.
  • John Williams, more than any other film music composer I've known, is able to tell a story completely through music. His compositions seem to get fused with the onscreen action.
  • One of John Williams' most memorable movie compositions is "The Asteroid Field" from "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back." The blast of the brass section near the end of the piece always makes my mind's eye picture the Millennium Falcon banking here and there avoiding the TIE Fighters in pursuit. :D
  • An impossible dream, most likely: Something I wish I could afford to do every single year until the day I die is to watch John Williams perform with the L.A. Philharmonic at the famous Hollywood Bowl in the summer.
  • Like some of my other personal heroes, John Williams seems like a humble, down-to-earth, soft-spoken man with no pretenses whatsoever. You can see these qualities on full display in the following interview: George Lucas + John Williams = Scoring SW AotC
  • Someone once said that John Williams is George Lucas' best collaborator.
  • I was at the Hollywood Bowl when this footage was taken.
  • One thing I've always endearing about John Williams is his willingness to acknowledge the work of other people. Over the years, I've heard him pay tribute to the likes of Henry Mancini (his predecessor as the King of Hollywood music composition), Miklos Rosza (another of my personal favorites), Michael Kamen, and others.
  • Here is an interesting take on the epic theme from "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," "Battle of the Heroes."
  • Can you imagine such movies as "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," "Schindler's List," the "Harry Potter" movies, and the "Indiana Jones" quartet without John Williams' distinctive work? I can't.
  • During some moments of madness, I've considered using Darth Vader's iconic theme, known more correctly as "The Imperial March," when I get married as the song that the bride and groom use as they enter the reception hall after the wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, my youngest sister has already used this idea... :doh:
  • Did you know: "The Imperial March" uses many of the same notes as Frédéric Chopin's "Marche Funèbre"?

Keep your minds and ears open, always! :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/1026-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-24-2009.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - March 13, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/995-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-13-2009.html Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:02:38 GMT Here is today's helping of Friday finger foods for thought:
  • An act of kindness is its own reward.
  • Today's Giant of Literature is C.S. Lewis.
  • Far more aggravating than bird poop hitting a new car is when some schmuck gets too close to it with his own vehicle and leaves SCRATCHES on the paint and part of the headlight pod. :swearing:
  • It's only a car, but if I'm honest I'd freely disclose that I had something close to an urge to kill when I saw my new car all marked up after leaving it parked outdoors overnight.
  • txtmstrjoe's Girl Friday You May Not Know is Kari Byron.
  • At the end of the day you should be thankful not for the successes you may have achieved, nor the failures you may have eluded, but most of all for your true friends that love you even if you have no successes to celebrate or failures to make you miserable.
  • txtmstrjoe is lusting for either this or this. Whichever I eventually choose depends on how successful I am in repairing the damage on my (1 month and six days-old) car.
  • I am so incredibly busy at work these days, it leaves me a little bit breathless, to be perfectly honest.
  • The battle against soda addiction rages on. I have been without for the last week and a half, maybe two weeks, now. It's a day by day battle. :)
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is such a compelling game, I feel the urge to play through it again.
  • I honestly didn't know until today that someone else reads one of my other blogs. :o
  • There are few things more beautiful than a gentle yet strong-willed woman.
  • A dear old friend sent me this: The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. -- Winston Churchill
  • The word of the day is: Milieu.
  • It's been almost a week, and I'm still angry about the damage done to my car.

May life find you happier by a hundredfold by the time you see the "period." :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/995-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-13-2009.html Overclocking Armageddon (The End of Overclocking) (Title by thlnk3r) http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/927-overclocking-armageddon-end-overclocking-title-thlnk3r.html Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:08:15 GMT I believe we are living in the end times, an era which will see the termination of an age. The war between the two great enemies will consign reality as we know it today to oblivion. The day is soon coming when AMD and Intel will make it impossible for all but the most affluent enthusiasts to... I believe we are living in the end times, an era which will see the termination of an age. The war between the two great enemies will consign reality as we know it today to oblivion.

The day is soon coming when AMD and Intel will make it impossible for all but the most affluent enthusiasts to overclock their CPUs.

A bold statement, I know.

Maybe even a touch provocative.

But if I am reading the tea leaves correctly, I truly foresee that overclocking as we know it today will cease to exist. There are several reasons why I believe that this is an inevitable outcome.

The "Core War" between AMD and Intel is the primary reason why I think that overclocking will someday be impossible for all but the most affluent enthusiasts. From the sidelines, it looks that it's far easier to simply keep on adding more and more discrete processing cores to a single CPU package than it is to design, test, manufacture, and sell poly-cored CPUs that have massive performance headroom left untapped.

Though there is still huge prestige attached to having CPUs which overclock like crazy, I think that there will come a point when you simply cannot have both a maximized number of discrete cores as well as overclocking headroom designed into the chip.

Something has to give.

If given a choice, I think that both AMD and Intel will favor simply increasing their products' "processor densities" (a term I'm inventing here, to describe the number of discrete processor cores within a given space). Given that it seems far simpler to just increase the number of cores than it is to cater to an enthusiast audience and design poly-cored CPUs with bags of overclocking headroom, the manufacturers will go where the dollars are more forthcoming. In other words, there are far fewer enthusiasts than there are "average" computer users. Not only that, but the corporate sector, which values stability far more than just outright speed, is a bigger revenue stream than the entire enthusiast market sector by orders of magnitude.

There are three major, significant, and inter-related consequences of having a chip with overclocking headroom. These are 1) increased power consumption, 2) increased thermal output, and 3) increased complexity and cost.

Not surprisingly, these three major consequences are also largely true of multi-core processor designs. There is no getting around the fact that higher performance parts are more hungry for power, run hotter, and are more expensive not just in initial purchase terms but more importantly in terms of actual use and ownership. It doesn't matter how you achieve the performance increase; the consequences are exactly the same.

Effective heat dissipation is one of the most crucial factors of a successful overclock. Increasing the number cores by itself necessarily increases the demands on a system's CPU cooling. A single-core chip runs cooler than a dual-core chip; a dual-core runs cooler than a triple- or a quad-core. Thermal output, therefore, scales upward as you increase the number of cores in the CPU package. Even at stock speeds, even at lower VCore levels per CPU, the more cores you have, the hotter your CPU runs. Forcing chips to run faster than stock will always increase the thermal output, and the increased number of cores merely exacerbates the problem of excess thermal energy that requires dissipation. The ultimate consequence is that even water cooling will no longer be adequate to maintain stable operation with a certain number of multiple cores. To maintain effective, stable overclocks, more exotic (and expensive) means of CPU cooling will need to be employed. The more cores you squeeze in, the more this becomes true.

Only the hardest of the hard core, those with the ability to spend money with impunity to do what is necessary, will likely be able to overcome these immutable realities defined by the laws of physics and chemistry. While we all might want to satisfy our need (or greed?) for ever-increasing performance, I have to say that most of us will have no choice but to admit defeat and accept that our wallets simply cannot afford to sustain our pursuits of performance.

But there are other reasons why I think overclocking as we know it will be forced to go the way of the dodo. One of these is that software these days is miles and miles behind the capabilities of modern hardware. Modern hardware is so advanced compared to the software available, the hardware isn't being used to its maximum potential. This means that hardware performance is inefficient.

Inefficiency in any machine is undesirable. Though the manufacturers will likely want the bragging rights to having the most cores, overclocking prowess is largely relevant only to the enthusiast sector. As I've said before, the enthusiast sector simply is not big enough to dictate market decisions completely. Overclocking only exaggerates the inefficiency inherent in the current gap between hardware and software.

Finally, in the minds of non-enthusiasts, bigger numbers are always more attractive. If we say that only enthusiasts indulge in overclocking, the number that becomes most relevant to purchasing decisions will likely be the number of cores under the hood. Clock speeds will matter, of course, but even today the focus seems to be fixed on the number of cores. The manufacturers will chase the money where it is easiest to come by.

I would be glad to be wrong in my analysis of the situation. Some might even say (quite rightly, too), that my analysis is pessimistic, even cynical. However, there is no question that no design conceived by humans can cheat its way past known physical, chemical, and thermodynamic laws. It's not my prognostication that stands in the way of the continuation of the lifestyle of the modern overclocker. ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/927-overclocking-armageddon-end-overclocking-title-thlnk3r.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - March 6, 2009 (Released a day LATE!!) http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/961-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-6-2009.html Sat, 07 Mar 2009 18:22:31 GMT Here is Friday's serving of finger foods for thought:
  • Life is neither all fate nor all self-determination.
  • Today's Giant of Literature is Balzac.
  • One of the most aggravating things for any car owner who cares about his vehicle is bird poop hitting your car (eew) :eek:. You always wonder, "Why my car, out of all the others in this parking lot?"
  • Soundwave (the original, G1 character) simply had THE coolest voice effect in the entire Transformers universe.
  • txtmstrjoe's Girl Friday You May Not Know is Audrey Tatou.
  • A major frustration in my life is to have my sense of priorities and ability to organize still be overwhelmed by various responsibilities.
  • There is a very thin line between patriotic love for one's country and ultra-nationalism.
  • My own sense of self-doubt (and, by extension, self-confidence) comes and goes, as if with the tides.
  • Lance Armstrong is a far greater sportsman than Michael Jordan ever was, in my opinion.
  • It's incredibly very easy to be a critic; it's unbelievably difficult to be a GOOD critic.
  • I find it extremely jingoistic when some people said that foreign films (i.e., films not made in the U.S.A.) shouldn't even be up for consideration for Best Picture or any of the other major categories in the Academy Awards; far worse is the suggestion (I actually heard a few yo-yos suggest this) that there shouldn't be a Best Foreign Film category.
  • Too many people are afraid to at least explore unconventional solutions.
  • A dear old friend sent me this: I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers
  • The word of the day is: Kilobyte.
  • This blog entry is a day late :eek:; hopefully, it's not a dollar short too.

Have a great weekend. :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/961-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-6-2009.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - March 3, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/950-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-3-2009.html Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:54:25 GMT Tuesday's tray of tasty treats for your mind to chew on:
  • The scars we earn on our own individual quests for wisdom read like a map in a jungle of struggles and choices.
  • Today's Giant of Literature is Roland Barthes.
  • I miss my little nephews so much (they live in Vancouver, B.C., Canada). :(
  • Money can buy lots of things; it can't buy class nor common sense, unfortunately.
  • Today's Random Song Lyric is: Because you're sweet and lovely, girl, I love you. -- "For You Blue," The Beatles (George Harrison)
  • Contrary to expectations, a person's age is not directly proportional to how much wisdom he or she has earned.
  • Human nature is, in many ways, ANTI-NATURE.
  • The use of legalese ought to be illegal, if only because it serves to obfuscate and confuse instead of illuminate and clarify.
  • The technological race to squeeze ever more processing cores into a single-CPU package will kill the art of overclocking for all but the most affluent PC enthusiasts.
  • More signs of Joe's addiction to soda?: Despite having slept really well and having lots of water to drink, I presently have a headache, and I think about having a can of soda from time to time. :eek:
  • Speaking purely for myself, a music video is as useful for appreciating music as an ashtray is on a motorcycle.
  • Too many people care far too much about winning than for having played the game well.
  • A dear old friend sent me this: I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -- Winston Churchill
  • The word of the day is: Igneous.
  • The fingers on my left hand sometimes unconsciously makes chord shapes on a flat surface.

Be all that you can be today! :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/950-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-3-2009.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - March 2, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/949-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-2-2009.html Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:36:19 GMT Here is today's heaping helping of hopefully helpful and thought-provoking hors d'oeuvres for the mind:
  • I feel almost zero motivation to work on a couple of PCs at home which are in various states of incompleteness.
  • Today's Giant of Literature is Joseph Campbell.
  • Most of my creative energies are flowing towards my still-growing fan fiction novella based on the mid-1980s television saga "V."
  • I shall not soon forget something that an old creative writing professor once told his class: "When writing fiction, concentrate on writing scenes of conflict; conflict is always interesting."
  • Today's Favorite Piece of PC Hardware is the Western Digital 300GB VelociRaptor HDD.
  • Verbs are far more dynamic than nouns.
  • I have long been in love with words...
  • Anarchy should never be mistaken for freedom.
  • I'm finding it difficult to totally abstain from soda (which really rams home the idea that I am addicted to it).
  • Today's Song You May Have Never Heard Before is Bryan Adams' "Into the Fire."
  • I don't understand why music videos are necessary to appreciate a song (or, why do you have to watch a video to listen to the song?).
  • A people's relationship with its myths is symbiotic.
  • A dear old friend sent me this: Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But then I repeat myself. -- Mark Twain.
  • The word of the day is: Gristle.
  • I wonder if this blog entry's readers will fixate on just one part of it again. :lachen:

Be kind and rewind, kids! ;) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/949-fifteen-daily-nibbles-march-2-2009.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - February 27, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/940-fifteen-daily-nibbles-february-27-2009.html Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:05:23 GMT Here, hot off the stove, is today's serving of finger foods for thought.
  • The best journeys we all should take are those which take us from the battleground to common ground.
  • Today's Giant of Literature is Mark Twain.
  • For people who work a typical full-time schedule (40-hour workweek = 5 x 8-hour workday), "Friday" is always the last day of the workweek... even if "Friday" doesn't fall on a Friday.
  • txtmstrjoe's Girl Friday You May Not Know About is Michele Boyd.
  • Quality > Quantity, for me.
  • For many greats (in whatever field or endeavor), to die young and in your prime is a guarantee of some measure of immortality.
  • Today's Friday KLASSIK is Antonio Vivaldi's Le quattro staggioni(The Four Seasons)
  • In the realm that is the internet, everyone wears a mask; the interesting phenomenon is that there are people whose masks are intended to obscure their real selves, yet reveal more than they can ever hide.
  • Thanks to catmmm's comments to one of my recent blog entries, I have very good reason to suspect that I am chronically dehydrated. :(
  • The wail of a 3.0L Ferrari Formula One V12 in top gear at 16000RPMs is music to me.
  • txtmstrjoe's Friday Movie You May Have Never Seen Before is John Frankenheimer's classic Grand Prix.
  • Amongst certain groups of car enthusiasts, it is said that there are only two manufacturers who know how to design automotive engines: Ferrari and Honda.
  • A dear old friend sent me this, a saying attributed to today's Giant of Literature no less: If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed. -- Mark Twain
  • The word of the day is: Eponymous.
  • I wish I was a professional test driver.

Good day to y'all! :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/940-fifteen-daily-nibbles-february-27-2009.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - February 26, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/937-fifteen-daily-nibbles-february-26-2009.html Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:35:58 GMT Here is today's serving of hors d'oeuvres for the mind:
  • Speak plainly; that way it's not your fault if you're misunderstood.
  • Today's Giant of Literature is John Donne.
  • TV play-by-play man Joel Meyers is easily the most annoying person associated with the Los Angeles Lakers; if you cannot see what's happening on TV and have to rely on Meyers to know what's happening in the game, you're doomed to be extremely frustrated (because the fool is a total failure at describing what's going on in the game).
  • I sorely miss Chick Hearn, who must be turning in his grave because that idiotic fool Meyers is now the so-called "TV Voice of the Los Angeles Lakers."
  • Sketches and outtakes and demo recordings are often far more instructive and interesting than the finished works.
  • Respect may be something that people earn, but in truth everybody is entitled to have it by default.
  • When people argue over Coke or Pepsi, I just say "Barq's, please."
  • My own levels of patience are like the tides, in that they are always in an endless cycle of rising and falling.
  • I've presently got a craving for some Shakey's Pizza (thin crust, with pepperoni on top), Mojo Potatoes and their divine fried chicken. :drool:
  • Today's "Song You May Have Never Heard Before" is U2's "Running to Stand Still."
  • There are few things more satisfying than a perfectly executed, rev-matched heel-and-toe downshift. ;)
  • A dear old friend sent me this: In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a Congress. -- John Adams
  • Today's Influential Person is Mohandas Gandhi.
  • The word of the day is: Clairvoyant.
  • This blog entry feels like one giant fortune cookie. :eek: :p

Be good, kids! ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/937-fifteen-daily-nibbles-february-26-2009.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - February 25, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/932-fifteen-daily-nibbles-february-25-2009.html Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:32:05 GMT Today's serving of fifteen hopefully delectable (not to mention digestible) morsels for thought:
  • Today marks the twenty-third anniversary of the historic bloodless "People Power Revolution" in the Philippines (where I was born). The event brought to an end Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship; unfortunately, the country is in a much more sorry state today than it ever was.
  • Wisdom > knowledge. Right? :thinking:
  • Nothing is ever black or white; there are only infinite shades of gray (please ignore the irony of this statement, if you see it).
  • I mistrust many things that are popular (LOST notwithstanding, though the way the story has progressed the last season and a half is giving me yet more fodder for this mistrust...).
  • Black is a great color on most cars (especially when the car is clean).
  • Black is a terrible color on most cars (because it's impossible to always keep the car clean).
  • I have never understood, nor will I ever understand, why Tiger Woods is such a popular sports figure...
  • If golf is considered an athletic event, why are racing drivers (especially the pilotes in Formula One) and road racing cyclists sometimes not considered to be "true athletes"?
  • The "Core Race" will eventually lead to the death of overclocking as we know it. :ninja:
  • Can the software side of personal computing catch up to the incredible lead that the hardware side presently has?
  • ESPN is evil... :ninja:
  • "Ridiculous" is a horrendously misused adjective, even if done so intentionally (as by idiots like Trey Wingo -- at least I think he's doing this intentionally to spawn another ridiculous ESPN fad). "Ridiculous" means "subject to or deserving of ridicule;" it emphatically does not mean "awesome."
  • Barre chord shapes are tough for me to play.
  • Today's Word of the Day: Assiduous.
  • I have nurtured a very deep and long-lasting lust for... a Gretsch 6120.

Play nice, kids! :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/932-fifteen-daily-nibbles-february-25-2009.html Fifteen Daily Nibbles - February 24, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/926-fifteen-daily-nibbles-february-24-2009.html Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:43:36 GMT Fifteen bite-sized morsels for thought:
  • To mangle a well-known saying, "Kids: You can't live with them; you can't live without them; you can't make them listen to you, either."
  • OCN is like a mirror for me, in that in the myriad youth I meet within its confines I see a reflection of many facets of my younger self.
  • Images on any mirror are forever in flux; all it takes is the will to change.
  • The best leaders are like cream: They seemingly just naturally rise to the top.
  • The term "making love" is far more wise and profound and insightful than it can ever be construed as salacious.
  • It is simply the height of arrogance to believe that there are no limits to anything.
  • When the shadow is darkest is when the light can be the most bright.
  • Overclocking as we know it is coming to an end... :ninja:
  • Formula One... how I love thee...
  • A word of kindness is an easy gift to give to someone.
  • Simplicity is under-rated.
  • Kane was far more awesome when he wore his mask.
  • Something an old creative writing professor told me that has never left me is this maxim: "Show; don't tell."
  • I feel overjoyed when I see OCN's blog section so active these days, and with so many big-spirited, big-hearted people.
  • My hands miss my guitars... Too bad I live in an apartment complex where the walls are too thin.

Be good, everyone. ;) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/926-fifteen-daily-nibbles-february-24-2009.html <![CDATA[Today's Number is 80 (as in txtmstrjoe's 80th Blog Entry)]]> http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/920-todays-number-80-txtmstrjoes-80th-blog.html Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:30:21 GMT More quick quips, hits and observations for today (February 23, 2009):
  • Everybody's entitled to an opinion; unfortunately, not everybody understands nor accepts that this also means they can have the wrong opinion.
  • Murphy's Law is as pervasive as the laws of gravity.
  • Number 80 always makes me think of the incomparable Jerry Rice.
  • I don't know why I'm so fascinated by characters who wear masks. Perhaps it is because I believe everybody wears a mask at all times.
  • George Bernard Shaw was so sage when he posited that "Youth is wasted on the young." Unfortunately, not everyone grows up and appreciates the wisdom of this saying.
  • I have far too many and diverse interests. This means I will never be a specialist at anything.
  • Specialization is great in professional terms, but isn't so great when it comes to getting as much out of life, in my opinion.
  • "Amateurs" are so worthy of admiration and respect: They do things out of love and passion. ("Ama" is, after all, derived from the latin root for love...)
  • Night Court occupies an eternal place in my personal pantheon of favorite TV programs.
  • I thought LOST would also, but the developments of the last couple of seasons are making me seriously (and sadly) rethink this...
  • Don't work harder; work wiser and more efficiently.
  • Women co-workers (well, mine, anyway) dig my ability to attack a corner, steer, and change gears, for whatever reason. :p
  • thlnk3r drove my car on Saturday when he and I had our semi-regular meetings. I think he's smitten with it too... ;)

Hope y'all are well!

Be good! ;) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/920-todays-number-80-txtmstrjoes-80th-blog.html Quick Quips, Hits, and Observations - February 19, 2009 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/910-quick-quips-hits-observations-february-19.html Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:17:50 GMT It seems like life (well, my life, anyway) is presently moving at a breakneck pace, so instead of writing a more formal type of discourse in this space I'll just resort to a rapid-fire, don't-quite-care-where-the-dart-lands approach to this particular blog entry.
  • I just got a new car. I actually wanted a color other than black this time around (I wanted blue), but blue Civic Si coupes are apparently difficult to find without the Honda Navi System + Summer Tire package.
  • There are few things more fun than nailing the throttle, waiting until your tachometer reads 7800RPMs, then changing to the next gear.
  • A six-speed transmission with close-coupled ratios is a heck of a lot of fun with a peaky engine.
  • Honda is a master at ergonomics.
  • I've never lost my enthusiasm for driving, but driving a new car has its way of revitalizing that enthusiasm.
  • I don't miss my old car (a black 1996 Ford Probe GT) at all.
  • It's a ton of fun learning how a new car handles compared to your old one; there's nothing like analyzing observations.
  • I still have never owned a reasonably powerful RWD car.
  • John Lennon said it best: "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
  • The L.A. Lakers are probably the NBA's most talented and deepest team. For them to win the Finals this year they have to remain as focused and get even hungrier for success than they've shown lately.
  • I think they can -- nay, they WILL -- win the NBA Finals Championship this year. (Yep, I'm calling my shot now.)
  • The Cowon D2 is a great example of something old which still works supremely well. It's an older model than my SanDisk Sansa e280, but its two advantages - the D2 plays FLAC and, in back-to-back listening tests with the same MP3 files, its sound output quality is superior in every way - make it a great portable music player.
  • Time for my various personal computer projects - including my first foray into water cooling - has seemingly dried up with my life being what it is right now.
  • I need to budget more time for my official OCN duties. :eek:
  • Do things with love, for love, out of love, and you will never be short of reward.
  • I have way too many projects. These include a still-growing piece of fanfiction based on "V", a couple of PCs in various stages of construction, and writing a piece explaining the philosophies, concepts, and strategies and tactics of football's "West Coast Offense" (including an examination of some staple plays).
  • My guitars are all crying out to me for me to resume my musical adventures.
  • I miss my baby sister and my nephews, who now live in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

And it goes on and on and on and on... ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/910-quick-quips-hits-observations-february-19.html On RMAs http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/873-rmas.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:37:06 GMT How often have you been granted an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) for a broken computer component?

In complete honesty, I've broken precisely two pieces of hardware; of these, I have good reason to believe that one was already broken before subjecting it to the horrors of the S&M stress program. I've been given RMAs for a set of DDR500 Corsair XMS RAM and for an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe. The RAM, I strongly believe, was never healthy. Even when it was new, at stock settings, it always induced BSoDs and corrupted one OS installation. The motherboard, on the other hand, was subjected to a hard life as my testing platform. I learned much about overclocking on my first A8N32-SLI Deluxe.

When I applied for an RMA with Corsair, they asked me about the RAM kit. They asked about its performance, and after finding out that it struggled to consistently run in a stable fashion even at DDR400, much less at DDR500 (which Corsair certified that it ought to be able to) they granted me an RMA and a choice of either a lesser RAM kit or a full refund. To their credit, Corsair gave me a complete refund with no problems whatsoever.

Asus also treated me superbly. They asked me if I overclocked with the motherboard; I told them that I did. Nevertheless, this did not disqualify me from an RMA request. In fact, Asus sent me a brand new motherboard to replace my original A8N32-SLI Deluxe. This was, in my opinion, service that was above and beyond any reasonable expectations. I would not have been surprised if my RMA request was denied because of my disclosure that I overclocked on the motherboard.

Now why do I bring this subject up at all and disclose my two experiences with RMAs? I have to say that it bothers me when I read about overclockers who apply for an RMA with less than honorable motives and intentions. We've all seen forum posts all over the place of people who are upset with their CPU or their graphics card because theirs wouldn't hit a nominal target overclock.

"This chips sucks," they go. "I wanted a chip that could hit 3.xGHz on air like so-and-so's. I'm getting an RMA for mine."

Or, "I hate my nVidia card. I can't get my shader clocks as high as so-and-so. RMA time!"

Then there's the bottom-of-the-barrel: "My motherboard is poopoo. REP + to whomever gives me the best advice on how to break it without the vendor/manufacturer knowing that the damage was deliberate."

So what's wrong with all these examples? An RMA is part of the manufacturer's warranty service extended to consumers who bought (and rightfully expect to receive) a fully functional product, but instead receive a non-functional or defective product; it must also be said that granting an RMA is entirely the manufacturer's discretion. An RMA is emphatically NOT for equipment that works perfectly fine, but doesn't hit nominal overclock targets, nor is it for parts which are deliberately damaged.

Personally speaking, I find it distressing when I see posts where people suggest RMAs for perfectly-working parts. These parts work fine; they just don't OC as well as we'd hope they would. Even more distressing are the posts where people intend to break something, then request an RMA.

Both are gross abuses of the RMA privilege that manufacturers extend to consumers. RMAs are supposed to protect buyers from receiving broken parts, and nothing more. In my opinion, this is a laudable service that is given to consumers.

But to continue to abuse RMAs will only do harm for everybody in the long term. First of all, this is unethical and, in some cases, criminally fraudulent behavior by people who abuse the RMA service. Another knock-on effect is an increase in purchase price for all our parts. The manufacturers will somehow have to compensate for the costs of doling out new parts for RMA returns that do not, in fact, qualify as RMA returns because such parts were actually healthy and functional.

Take these negative consequences to a far enough extreme, and you see the most grievous of consequences: The death of our hobby. If hardware gets too expensive for the majority of people who enjoy it, the hobby will simply die.

And who wants that? ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/873-rmas.html On Artists and Teachers http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/834-artists-teachers.html Sun, 25 Jan 2009 04:08:19 GMT I have long believed that two of the very best things a human being can ever be are to be an artist and a teacher. Artists are admirable because, well, you might say it is perhaps the only way a human can ever know what it is to be the Supreme Creator. The act of creating something from... I have long believed that two of the very best things a human being can ever be are to be an artist and a teacher.

Artists are admirable because, well, you might say it is perhaps the only way a human can ever know what it is to be the Supreme Creator. The act of creating something from nothing more than ideas and inspiration is one of those profound things that make homo sapiens a different kind of animal. The ability to express abstract concepts, either as a concrete construct or as a transformed abstract interpretation itself, is something no other kind of animal can do. Most of all, in the act of creating a piece of art, the artist can engage his fellow humans in ways which challenge the mind. The stimulation of the audience's mind is akin to an act of giving, for making a viewer (or reader or listener or watcher) think about the work of art is a precious experience.

True artists create not for acclaim or glory, for these are selfish motives. You might argue that all artists are selfish; I may even agree with you on that point because you could say an artist draws from within himself/herself. The very best artists can create very personal works, but simultaneously these works have an element of a universal human experience in them. Who amongst us has never felt true happiness, no matter how it is gifted to us? Who amongst us has never felt the pain of rejection, or the suffering borne from the guilt of doing something harmful to someone else? True artists will inspire you to feel these things and many more; they can reach you at your core through the works that they create.

Teachers also are worthy of great admiration. In my own life, some of my most favorite people are, in fact, teachers. Most of them actually do teach in schools, but all of them are teachers in the sense that they give freely the fruits of their experiences. A teacher is not just someone who has earned the right, through education and the conferring of a degree, to educate others; rather, teachers are people who will very willingly share what they know about life. Like an artist, a good teacher just knows how to stimulate minds. A good teacher, like an artist, will engage you mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. The best teachers never give you answers; rather, they would rather challenge you with questions; they would rather teach you not the answer, but how to ask the best kinds of questions.

Life is difficult, and sometimes it is ugly. But if you surround yourself with artists and teachers, if you open yourself up to such supreme exemplars of the best of human potential, if you appreciate such people in your life... then I hope that the burden is a little less difficult to bear, and the ugliness is actually just a mask for the beauty of learning from experience. :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/834-artists-teachers.html Testing Thoughts (Part 1 - The Appeal) http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/795-testing-thoughts-part-1-appeal.html Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:02:29 GMT My name is Joe, and I'd like to make a confession: I'm addicted to computer hardware testing.

There's just something undeniably exciting about the thought of going testing. Whether it's computer hardware or automobiles (I've tested various cars for Chrysler, Ford, GM, and BMW, among others), or even whilst playing my racing simulation games, there are few things I enjoy as purely as testing.

Why is it exciting? That's a deceptively simple question. It looks simple, but for me, it's deceiving because I've never come up with a correspondingly simple answer to it. What I do know for sure is that testing is partly driven by a thirst for knowledge and experience, as well as partly by a need to satisfy certain emotions. These are, I would think, universal human experiences, but they are nevertheless abstract.

Curiosity is a very strong motivator. Obviously, if you're testing something new, what you've got is essentially unknown. You're curious about what makes this piece of hardware tick. For an open mind, all kinds of possibilities are just simply exciting; you want to fill in that empty blank and take in a new experience for all that it's worth.

If I'm honest, though, I have to also admit that I experience a certain amount of skepticism (mistrust seems too strong a word, but only just) with some "professional" reviews. I don't know about you, but as far as I'm concerned, despite reading so many reviews on all sorts of computer parts (or cars, or whatever else), I personally could never shake a private nagging feeling that the review is somehow inadequate. Oftentimes the inadequacies are in the testing methodology: Either the reviewer doesn't know how to really quantify and describe the performance characteristics that truly matter, or he/she doesn't have access to proper testing equipment that can make accurate, correct measurements of the performance criteria. I've come across such appalling reviews of parts such as fans which basically amount to this: "Yes, this fan is capable of moving air, and it's pretty, too." There are no CFM or static pressure measurements, no dB (decibel) measurements, no RPM data, nothing remotely objective about that kind of review.

But I digress.

What else makes testing so fun? Newness is always exciting. It's like... well, think of how you feel at Christmas every time you open up a present. Who doesn't enjoy that particular thrill? Though I'm rapidly approaching my mid-thirties and have long ago experienced a redefinition of that kind of Christmas thrill (I get far more of a thrill at finding the perfect gift for someone I love, rather than receiving one), the excitement over testing a brand-new, unknown piece of hardware is a good replacement.

The quest for firsthand knowledge is exhilarating like few things are. In testing cars, it's always great to put a machine through a test course, and then tune into every aspect of it. You try to become "one with the machine," as some professional test drivers say. It's very much a physical experience, but in truth it's a mental experience as well. Your senses must interface with the machine, and your mind must be in direct communication at all times to be able to understand how the machine responds to your inputs (and therefore quantify and describe its performance characteristics). Moreover, the tester must have a good methodology to his testing in order to ensure his testing results are correct. (There are proper techniques to use when cornering a car on a twisty road course; hanging the tail out in power oversteer is emphatically NOT one of them.)

Computer hardware testing is similar, except that you are usually using fewer senses (you're not sitting on a computer and feeling G-Force, after all). But a focused and total engagement with the subject under testing requires the tester's full attention. This mental focus is a large part of the appeal, as well.

It's undeniable that testing is fun. There are many dimensions and reasons why it's fun.

But I think it should be said that there's more to testing than just indulging in "fun."

The thirst for knowledge is never frivolous... ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/795-testing-thoughts-part-1-appeal.html The Spirit is Willing... http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/810-spirit-willing.html Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:41:24 GMT As someone who is cursed with the appearance of being big, strong, and robust, sometimes it's hard for some people to believe just how unhealthy I really am. Without indulging in some unwise full disclosure here, let's just say that that I've dodged death by sickness a few times in my life already. That's a direct consequence of being born and living the first part of my life in a Third-World country, I suppose.

Anyway, presently I've been forced to stay home for several days because of gout, as well as a bad cold which probably developed because of the depressed state of my immune system when the gout attack started over the weekend. This is my third day away from my desk at work, and to be perfectly honest, it's quite embarrassing to have to call my boss in the morning and tell her that I cannot come to work due to illness. Now she is a kind, understanding person, but I still do feel an obligation to be at my desk and contribute to our team's goals. When I'm not there, everybody else has to pull harder. That is just the nature of things.

For people who don't know me really well, there is, I suppose, an illusion that Joe is hearty and hale, hard to bring down. The truth is, it's like having a suit of armor made of well-painted cardboard: You test the defenses, and you'll see just how frail those defenses are.

I'm sick of being sickly. :( Alas, I've resigned myself to always being more vulnerable to illness than anyone who looks like me (I'm built like a fullback or a run-stopping linebacker in football) would ever be expected to.

If only the flesh was as strong as the spirit. ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/810-spirit-willing.html Aesthetics (Part Four - Graphics Cards) http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/799-aesthetics-part-four-graphics-cards.html Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:46:51 GMT This is part four of a series of lighthearted discussions on why aesthetics, and not just outright performance, is a major consideration when making hardware purchases. You can find part one here (http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/736-aesthetics-part-one-heatsinks.html), part two here... This is part four of a series of lighthearted discussions on why aesthetics, and not just outright performance, is a major consideration when making hardware purchases. You can find part one here, part two here, and part three here.

XXX

Quick, answer this question for me: Green, red, blue, or black PCB for your graphics card?

Without a doubt, this is one hardware category where looks certainly matter. Despite what you may think or believe, it's not all about the shader or core clocks, or how much GDDR bandwidth the card is capable of generating.

Sometimes the choice comes down to what a card looks like. You don't think so?

Single-slot cooler, or double-slot? How about an aftermarket cooler for your RV770? A DuOrb or an Accelero S2? No? A T-Rad2, perhaps?

In my journeys across the internet watching the people in this fascinating hobby, there are times when some say, upon looking at the next latest must-have graphics card, "That's so sexay!" Or, "That's a hawt card!" Or sometimes even, "I want manufacturer X's card more than manufacturer Y's because the chick on the sticker of the cooler is hotter!"

Silly, huh? But I bet you you've seen (or have even said/thought) the same too.

Some people refuse to buy cards from certain manufacturers because, well, ATi cards just must have red or black PCBs, and never blue. Blue is NOT an ATi color. I've even seen entire conversations where people refuse to buy nVidia cards because, well, their cards just look so boring with that generic green PCB.

Sounds goofy, doesn't it all? But I'm not making any of this up.

Truthfully, if we're talking about stock heatsinks, I just never really liked how many of the nVidia G92 dual-slot coolers look like strangely-contoured bricks...

(To be concluded in Part 5 - Summation.) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/799-aesthetics-part-four-graphics-cards.html Impossibly Trying to Understand the Irrational http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/791-impossibly-trying-understand-irrational.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:55:30 GMT Let's just be up-front about things at the onset: To be human is to have biases. It is an inescapable facet of the human experience. In my opinion, it is nearly impossible (if not actually so) to be completely indifferent about anything at any time. True indifference, of course, should never be confused with ignorance. Biases, after all, are usually an expression of opinion and are borne from some type of experience. It matters very little whether this experience is direct or if it is indirect.

The difference between people is not the obvious fact that biases are all unique; rather, I think the true important difference among people is that we all have different degrees of expression of our unique biases.

Some people hide their biases carefully, while others shamelessly trumpet theirs from the highest mountains. Some are very tolerant of dissenting biases, ideas which are different from their own; other people feel threatened and get unreasonably aggressive once they detect a differing stance or opinion about something they hold dear.

It hardly seems to matter what aspect of life we are looking at. Discussions of politics, religion, race (and race relations), nationality, and other such abstract constructs are correctly judged to be utterly divisive because not only are there black and white sides, but infinitely different shades of gray in between. In other words, there is such a wide spectrum of possible opinions on such topics that the potential for conflict is much greater than the possibility of having consensus agreement. That, and the fact that biases are products of not just reason, but emotions as well.

(As a quick aside, OCN expressly forbids discussions of such topics in its ToS very likely for the reasons expressed above.)

Because biases are at least partly emotionally-motivated, discussions of topics for which people attach certain emotions should always be approached with a conscious attempt to be careful with what you say (or, as in the case of an online forum like OCN, write). This circumspect approach, actually, should be at the forefront of anybody's mind in regards to anything we do; always must we be mindful that anything and everything we do, whether it is good or bad or somewhere in between or a mixture of the two extremes, will have consequences. This is emphatically not an argument in favor of political correctness (though you can choose to use it as such, if you wish), but merely a reminder of a basic fact of life. It's like a Newtonian principle: Actions will have reactions.

Sadly, there are people on OCN who seem to never have this mode of thought at all when they see certain threads. A recent example deals with the News threads discussing Steve Jobs' absence due to illness. In such threads, there were actually people posting their wish to see Mr. Jobs dead. Other posting in such threads expressed similar sentiments, but targeted at other people such as Bill Gates. Since I don't frequent the News sections much at all, I didn't actually find these on my own, but because of an OCN staffer with whom I am friendly I saw such atrocious behavior. Moreover, since I was at work, I didn't have enough time to spend more time in such threads and therefore hit the "Report" button for what I judged to be reprehensible behavior.

It did motivate me to quickly write this piece on my lunch break, though, on the back of a couple of paper napkins and my pen.

Am I the only one who is disgusted by this? I mean, I'm sure that the offenders would argue that they meant such words in jest. I don't know if it's ever amusing to express a desire to see someone dead, all because he is the head of a company that manufactures certain technological products. I fail to see the joke in wishing ill will towards someone you don't know at all.

Besides, this isn't the first time when biases for or against the hardware manufacturers and software producers have been the sparks for massive and destructive conflicts on OCN. The battle lines are drawn very clearly. It's an old topic on which I've made comments in the past, but alas, perhaps because we are humans (and therefore probably fundamentally flawed in basic ways) the lessons are hard to hear and learn.

It's okay to have our biases. All I'm saying is that we have to be careful in how we say things. This is not an argument against honest spontaneity. You can still be honest and spontaneous without being hateful and irrational and venomous in revealing your biases, though. Whether it's for certain companies, and especially when we're talking about people, we all have to be mindful about what we say, and how.

For that is the only way to be a better human. ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/791-impossibly-trying-understand-irrational.html <![CDATA[OCN's Blog Section: Do's and Don'ts]]> http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/785-ocns-blog-section-dos-donts.html Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:18:08 GMT I'm one of the few OCNers (that I know of) who visit the Blogs section every time I log on. It's always interesting to read about what OCNers have going on in their noggins at any particular time.

However, I feel that there are simply some things that ought to never be posted here. Not because I make the rules that everyone ought to follow, but because some people have the wrong idea about how to use OCN's Blogs section.

As ever, since the Blogs Section is still a part of OCN, OCN's ToS must always be adhered to. Freedom of speech is like all freedoms: To enjoy this freedom means to accept responsibility and accountability for the consequences of one's actions defined by this freedom.

To wit, then, here are some things that DO fit in the Blog Section:
  • The writer's thoughts about OCN and its membership.
  • The writer's thoughts about PC enthusiast hardware/software/games/trends, etc.
  • The writer's thoughts about anything in his private life that he/she wishes to disclose.
  • The writer's thoughts about any topic that does not violate any terms of the ToS.

With the Yin comes the Yang, some things that should NOT be in the OCN Blogs Section:
  • Spam. (I've been seeing a lot of these in the last few months now. Someone, or a cleverly-programmed bot, writes coherent discourses that are poorly disguised spam.)
  • Profanity of any sort (a ToS violation).
  • Personal insults directed at OCN members (thankfully, I've yet to come across any of these).
  • Entries that are horribly misplaced pleas for hardware tweaking advice.

My cynical side is particularly jarred by this last one. Often I fight the urge to comment in these kinds of entries and tell the blogger that it's useless to post a blog entry like this because no one hardly reads the Blogs Section. :( Posting a thread in the relevant part of the forum is always the best place for seeking advice about hardware or software.

A recent entry moved me to write this particular blog post because I tried to PM the relevant blogger about seeking advice for his/her technical questions in the forum section and not in the Blogs section; unfortunately, he/she did not have his/her PM function enabled. My attempt to help this person fell on deaf ears. :(

max302 wrote a great entry that explains what blogging is and isn't. This piece aims to just simply support what he has already said.

The Blogs Section is still a part of OCN, albeit not a heavily-trafficked one. Therefore we should all still strive to work on making sure it's up to snuff. :) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/785-ocns-blog-section-dos-donts.html Aesthetics (Part Three - Fans) http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/770-aesthetics-part-three-fans.html Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:06:04 GMT This is part three of a series discussing how sometimes aesthetics, and not outright performance, is the primary influence that dictates purchasing decisions of certain types of PC hardware. You can find part one here... This is part three of a series discussing how sometimes aesthetics, and not outright performance, is the primary influence that dictates purchasing decisions of certain types of PC hardware. You can find part one here, and part two here.

XXX

There are few parts (or rather, types of parts) that are more innocuous and simple as the humble fan. After all, it is just a collection of shaped aerofoils rotating about a fixed axis, powered by electromagnetics. Most fans available for use on a computer are contained within a square-shaped frame, but there are also circular-framed fans available.

Now some may be questioning the idea that aesthetic considerations are among the reasons why some people buy fans. All that matters is how many CFMs a fan generates, or how much static pressure it can create when used on a radiator (or heatsink). Perhaps the quietness of the fan in operation is also a performance criterion that must be paramount when purchasing a fan.

Well, I would like to humbly posit that sometimes how a fan looks is also part of the equation.

Sometimes LED fans lend an undeniable pizzaz to something as utilitarian as a heatsink doing nothing but trying to keep a CPU relatively cool.

An all-black fan, in comparison, just looks so, well, dull. So much so that the case stickers are on the fan just to dress it up just a little bit.

Now that I think about it, there's something really striking about those orange and black fans, so perhaps they'd look as good on the heatsink (even if they're secured by a ziptie).

If fan aesthetics were not a true consideration, then SilenX's truly atrocious fans would never have been allowed to sell, and Noctua's effective (if unfortunately colored) fans would sell far more than they already do. There are fewer products that I absolutely hate than SilenX fans because of their horrible performance and reliability. I will, however, say that if all a fan had to do was look pretty, a SilenX fan would be difficult to beat.

If aesthetics were not a consideration, then all fans would just be squarish (okay, fine, a few would have circular frames too), with just a bunch of aerodynamic blades around a hub, and most likely black. How boring would that be?

(To be continued in Part Four - Graphics Cards) ]]> txtmstrjoe http://www.overclock.net/blogs/txtmstrjoe/770-aesthetics-part-three-fans.html