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- Shuttle xPC SN27P2 SFF
- Athlon64 FX-62/X2-5000+
- Tforce 6100 mobo
- Corsair PC2-6400 C4
- Asus EN7900GT PCIe x16
- Mushkin XP650W Power
- Zalman CNPS9500 AM2
- PCstats Weekly Tips
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Shuttle's socket AM2 xPC - Small Formfactor Done Right
Hello,
Did you ever think a
Toaster sized PC would exist that could pack in 8GB of RAM, SATA RAID, and
a dual-slot PCI Express videocard? We didn't until the socket AM2 Shuttle xPC
SN27P2 small formfactor barebones arrived in the labs. Small, sleek,
with plenty of expansion in a quiet little
black box... sometimes you've just got to love the pace at which
technology runs. PCSTATS has an extensive review of the Shuttle xPC
SN27P2 right here, running on the 2.6GHz AMD
Athlon64 X2-5000+ processor and some nice Corsair PC2-8500 DDR2 RAM.
If bundles of cash aren't flowing from your
pockets, the socket AM2 Biostar
TForce AM2 motherboard will certainly interest you. It's got
integrated Geforce 6100 video, is socket AM2 compliant, and pretty darn
cheap. Mushkin busts into the powersupply world with a modular 650W
PSU with rather cool shielded
cables that click into the back of it - so you only need to connect
what's needed. PCSTATS also reviews the newly announced Asus En7900GT
Top PCI Express videocard and Corsair
PC2-6400 CAS4 DDR2 memory kit in this Newsletter edition.
The final installment of PCSTATS' look at AMD vs. Intel can be found just off to the left, and Colin Sun's Weekly Tech Tip is right where
you expect it.
Thanks for reading,
Max Page
Editor-in-Chief, PCstats.com
Shuttle's latest Small Formfactor PC is its XPC
SN27P2 which is based around nVIDIA's nForce
570 Ultra chipset and supports 940-pin socket AM2 Athlon64 X2/FX and Sempron processors.
There are a whopping four 240 pin DDR-2 DIMM slots, making this toaster
capable of supporting up to 8GB of
memory. The BTX-style motherboard layout means you can
install a PCI Express x16 videocard with a dual-slot heatsink! Other
standard features integrated into the nVidia nForce 570
Ultra chipset include Gigabit Ethernet LAN, IEEE 1394a Firewire, high
definition 'Azailia' 7.1 channel audio, three 3GB/s SATA2 ports (one IDE
channel) that offer up RAID
0/1/0+1/5, an external Serial ATA II jack and the full gamut of nVidia
nTune, FirstPacket and MediaShield technologies. Overall theShuttle XPC
SN27P2 Small Formfactor barebones PC is a nice package - it looks
great and is built with reducing an impact both in the space it occupies,
and in the amount of noise it generates.Continue Here>>
nVIDIA's integrated
GeForce 6100 is on par in both 3D abilities and feature sets as other
stand alone entry level videocards. To anyone on a tight budget looking to
get the most from their computer, a motherboard with this kind of
chipset offers a tone of value. The Biostar
TForce 6100 AM2 motherboard packs quite a lot into a microATX
platform; top of the line integrated graphics, PCI Express, networking,
SATA and IDE hard drive support, and integrated sound card. The Biostar
TForce 6100 AM2 should be a good little
workstation motherboard, perfect for one of the new Socket
AM2 Sempron 3600+ or Athlon64 3800+ processors.Continue Here>>
Advanced Micro Devices' latest release in its
salvo of 64-bit chips is the Socket AM2 Athlon64 dual-core 64-bit processor, a new
940-pin CPU whose integrated memory controller now thrives offlow latency
DDR-2 RAM. In
this review PCSTATS will introduce you to two socket AM2 processors; the
2.8GHz AMD
Athlon64 FX-62 and 2.6GHz Athlon64
X2-5000+. We'll discuss new socket AM2 CPU family, the different type
of heatsink you'll need for AM2, performance
per watt metrics, hardware
virtualization, AM2 chipsets from nVidia/VIA/Sis, DDR2 and EPP memory, and
even wet your whistle with some overclocking and benchmarks!Continue Here>>
What makes a good power supply? Well, it must have a
sufficiently high output wattage to handle top of the line components, but
more importantly is how that power is split up between the various voltage
rails. Looking at the Mushkin
Enhanced XP-650 power supply I see four pretty hefty +12V rails
which will have no problems feeding even the most demanding dual core,
mutli-videocard system - each has 20A headroom. Nice. XP-650 power supply
has a peak power rating of 650W and is multi-videocard
ready. The first thing you're eye will be drawn to on the Mushkin
XP-650 is its metallic
glossy grey finish, and its modular cable
system. The surface looks very cool, and picks up fingerprints like
iron filings to a magnet.Continue Here>>
Corsair has just released a set of its DDR2-800
memory that is perfect for Socket AM2
Athlon64 processors. Fast memory modules with low latencies? Its new
Twin2X2048-6400C4
memory is exactly what the doctor ordered. This state of the art 2GB
set of memory incorporates the new EPP memory standard. When running in
dual channel mode, with timings of
4-4-4-12, the Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C4 provides 12.8GB/s worth of
memory bandwidth which happens to be exactly what the dual core
Socket AM2 Athlon64 X2/FX processors need.Continue Here>>
The Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 heatsink is
compatible with all current AMD Athlon64 processors, and in particular the
just introduced AMD
940-pin AM2 processor and socket AM2 heatsink retention frame. The Zalman
CNPS9500 AM2 is a full copper heatsink, except its surface has been
brightly chrome plated to give it that nuclear winter, Terminator 2
android feel. The heatsinks' 92mm fan is internally illuminated with a
pair of nVidia green LEDs, which create a very spectacular light effect,
and plus it is backwards
compatible with socket 939 Athlon64 processors too. Continue Here>>
At
first glance, the Asus
EN7900GT TOP/2DHT/256M/A looks like a normal GeForce 7900GT... Closer
inspection shows that it is a highly tuned videocard that is faster than
the average stock
7900GT. The 256MB Asus EN7900GT
TOP/2DHT/256M/A videocard is compatible only with PCI Express x16
slots so that means AGP users needs to get their fix elsewhere. The game
comes with a large software bundle and DVI to analog converters. The
Asus EN7900GT
TOP/2DHT/256M/A can connect to the television via a couple of
different methods; through S-Video and component output for high
definition televisionsContinue Here>>
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PCstats Weekly Tech Tips: AMD Cool 'n' Quiet |
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With the release of Socket AM2, AMD has shifted the majority of its product line to dual core processors. Unfortunately WindowsXP w/SP2 can act a bit wonky with Athlon64 X2/FX processors when Cool n Quiet (as noted here https://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256) is enabled. there is fix, albeit a complicated one.
first you must contact microsoft support for a patch, if you don’t want to get microsoft involved, you can download the patch here (https://www.evilkitty.org/misc/windowsxp-kb896256-v3-x86-enu.exe). after it has been installed, you need to reboot your system. once it's back up, click "Start" -> "Run", type "regedit", then press the "OK" button and follow this path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control -> Session Manager. Right click on the "Session Manager" folder, create a new "Key" and name it "Throttle". In the new "Throttle" key right click in the right hand window and create a new "DWORD" value and name it "PerfEnablePackageIdle". Modify its value (default is 0) and give it a value of "1". Quit the registry editor and reboot your system.
Now your new shiny dual core Socket AM2 Athlon64 system will no longer have any stuttering or performance problems. =)
Was Colin's tip as good for your PC as it was for his? Let PCSTATS know what you think, and be sure to stop by PCSTATS Forums and post your comments or questions.
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PCstats Issue
No.215
Circulation: 176,908
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AMD vs.
Intel Part 6
A World of Two CPUs |
In the last few years I've witnessed a lot
of fan hardware sites pop up and primarily praise one manufacturer
while vilifying the other. I don't see much of a point to this since
every company has its own distinctive strengths and weaknesses. In
the computer world, brand loyalty is useless; there are no frequent
buyer points or discounts for returning customers after all, now are
there? Now it's not my job to tell you what to buy, but rather
try and give you enough information to make an informed decision on
what's probably going to be the best solution for your situation.
As it stands right now, AMD's Athlon64 architecture is better
than anything that Intel has to offer, plain and simple. The current Intel
platform simply runs too hot, too slow, or is considerably more expensive than
its AMD performance equivalent. The direction Intel is headed certainly
looks promising considering the mud is licking its fenders right
now, but those processors aren't available yet. As enticing as early 'Conroe' samples appear, let's not rush to judge. After all delays can pop up anywhere at anytime. Remember 90 nanometre!?
All of Athlon64's success cannot be attributed to
AMD alone, and I have to give credit where credit is
due. nVIDIA has done a fairly phenomenal job at making the transition from
a VGA company to motherboard chipsets. Of course this partnership can disintegrate
at any time now that nVIDIA also spits out chipsets for Intel. Will this spell doom for AMD's
success in the long run, and will ATI ever decide to issue an attractive K8
chipset of its own? These are the questions I'm left wondering.
AMD has
dramatically improved the quietness and reliability of
its retail heatsinks, and durability of its processors from just over two years
ago. Intel has tried to make the best of a bad situation; with the
Netburst architecture essentially stalled it has moved towards parallelism (multi core) for
more performance. Intel's large enough to suffer the financial impact of such problems, and
it's reassuring to see its next generation processor is not being rushed out the
door. Intel's 'Conroe' core looks like it may be a force to contend with, but
it's way to early to call that fight. We'll see next year.
So where does all of this opinion leave you?
You're struggling with a decision and I'm talking about a bunch of
seemingly unconnected issues. The question should be simple; AMD or
Intel, Intel or AMD? So, which will it be?
I think if you need to buy a computer in the very near future, gravitate towards a PC based on AMD's Athlon64 processor. It's simply superior to Intel's current Pentium 4 or Pentium D or Pentium XE processors. The Athlon64 trails a little when it comes to multitasking, but it's not behind by much.
Now, if you're planning on a new computer in eight
months to a year's time from now, then I don't recommend Intel, or
AMD. The way things are going now, both companies are involved with massive changes to their computing platforms, and there isn't a clear winner to side with right now. You'll be better of waiting and see how the next AMD VS. Intel war turns out... Just remember though, it's an eternal struggle and you'll need to choose a side at some point. Right now AMD simply kicks Intel's offerings out of the arena.
The Last Word Goes To... You
What do you think of the current AMD vs. Intel situation? If your opinion
differs from mine, feel free to press your case by using PCSTATS feedback
page - we read every single comment that comes in.
(PS. For the record, after a few Intel Pentium 4 systems over the last
couple years my latest rig packs an AMD Athlon64 processor, and it's totally sweet.)
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