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- AMD Sempron 3600+
- Biostar TForce P965
- Corsair PC2-8500 RAM
- Guide To Overclocking
- Albatron Geforce 6150
- Pentium D 940 CPU
- PCstats Weekly Tips
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AMD Sempron 3600+ Value for the CPU
Hello,
Every now and then we receive emails from
readers who lament at the fact that PCSTATS mostly tests out flagship
computer hardware; the fastest CPU, bleeding-edge videocards, enthusiast grade motherboards
that come with every imaginable option, and in general just the PC
hardware that costs the most. Yet when it comes to deciding on what to get
for our own PCs, affordable gear is oddly
overlooked and unevaluated by review sites, and publications like PCSTATS.
Well you know what? You're right, we
shouldn't overlook the computer gear that's made for the mainstream, for
average people who can't justify a videocard that costs as much as a full
computer!
With that in mind, things start off this week
with a review of the budget-minded AMD Sempron
3600+ processor for socket AM2. This 2.0GHz
chip packs a nice punch, particularly in those
general everyday applications we actually need
computers for. Also in this issue, PCSTATS tests out the Biostar
T-Force P965 Deluxe motherboard, a pair of 512MB Corsair
PC2-8500 DDR-2 memory, the Albatron KM51PV-AM2
motherboard and a 3.2GHz Intel
Pentium D 940 processor.
Last but not least is another excellent
Weekly Tech Tip from Colin, and back by popular demand the Beginners
Guide to CPU Overclocking. Along the right column you'll find the
Essential Guides Toolkit, with over 65 Beginners Guides to help you get your PC up and running in top, tweaked form!
Thanks for reading!
Max Page
Editor-in-Chief - PCSTATS
The AMD Sempron processor has received little
press, but that hasn't stopped it from getting noticed. This 'value oriented' line of CPUs is only separated from the flagship Socket AM2 lineup by clock speed and cache, and that has enabled the
single core Sempron to sit at the dual core AM2 Athlon64 table
without causing too much of a disruption.
The single core 2.0GHz Sempron 3600+ CPU is
certainly easy on the wallet... but just how well does the Sempron stand
up to best and brightest AMD and Intel produce? Well, we're about to show
you...Continue
Here>>
 In this
review, PCSTATS is testing the Biostar TForce P965 Deluxe motherboard.
This board is based on Intel's P965 Northbridge and ICH8 Southbridge
chipsets. With Intel phasing out IDE, Biostar address the lack of
native IDE channels by integrating a separate IDE
controller onto the Tforce P965. Other integrated goodies on this full
sized ATX board include Gigabit LAN,7.1 channel high definition Intel
Azalia audio, a flurry of USB2.0 jacks, and expansion
slots. For the tweakers out there, Biostar
also equips this board with hand power and reset buttons right on the
PCB! Continue
Here>>
In the two years since DDR-2 memory was
introduced, modules have rocketed from PC2-4200 speeds right through to
PC2-8500! Corsair Memory has introduced a
whole slew of memory in the last month; the releases spanned the gamut
from low latency DDR2-800 parts to super high speed DIMM's like the
Twin2X1024-8500 C5 modules that PCSTATS is evaluating now. Even though
much of the memory has been targeted towards Socket AM2 and Core 2 Duo
users, these DDR-2 parts will work equally well with dual core Intel
Pentium 4/D processors. With default
timings are 5-5-5-15, each PC2-8500 module is guaranteed by Corsair
to run at a blistering 1066 MHz! This is gonna be good... Continue
Here>>
In this Beginners Guide, PCSTATS will explore the process of
overclocking processors, motherboards and memory to achieve a faster yet
still stable computer. The article will guide readers step-by-step through
understanding overclocking concepts, how to discover their hardware's
overclocking options and the actual process of overclocking. If you
consider yourself an expert already, read on - there are a few tips and
tricks packed into this guide that you may not know... or have a look at
our recent experiment with underclocking. For insight into
videocard overclocking, please see our companion guide on that subject right here. Continue
Here>>
The Intel Pentium D
940 processor is the latest victim, errr.... component to pass through
the PCSTATS test labs. Built on Intel's 65nm manufacturing process
and with two physical processing cores running at 3.2 GHz
each, backed up by 2MB of L2 cache, the socket 775 chip certainly
makes quite a splash. Each core on the Pentium D 940 has access to its own
L1 and L2 cache memory, 16KB and 2MB respectively. Both class of processor
run on a 800MHz front side bus like traditional
Prescott Pentium 4s, and are currently only supported with DDR II
memory.Continue Here>>
The nVIDIA GeForce 6150 is the best of the bunch when it comes to integrated
graphics chipsets on the AMD Athlon 64 platform.
The Albatron KM51PV-AM2 is one such microATX motherboard which fulfills multiple usage roles. The
KM51PV-AM2 is based on the nVIDIA GeForce 6150 and nForce 430
chipsets, and the bargain basement prices of the AMD Sempron 64-bit
processor are genuinely the best suited for it. Albatron's KM51PV-AM2
motherboard has six USB2.0 jacks at the rear of the board,
along with 5.1 channel audio, Gigabit Ethernet, and both DVI
and analog video jacks support multi-monitor video output.Continue Here>>
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PCstats Weekly Tech Tips: BitTorrent and Port Forwarding |
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On the
heels of last issue, this week's PCSTATS Tech Tip is also be
on the subject of BitTorrent (BT) and how to enable Port
Forwarding on your router, if you have one.
Port Forwarding is necessary to
get the best data transfer speeds from the BT client. The
first thing you'll need to do is log into your router's
administrative settings (the address is usually 192.168.0.1 or
192.168.1.1) and go to the section that deals with "Port
Forwarding". If your router doesn't support this, you're out
of luck. Some broadband routers put port forwarding in the
advanced section.
Note that you can only forward a series of ports to a single computer IP but luckily, the BitTorrent client allows you to configure which ports it runs on, so you can set a different port number to be port forwarded to an additional PC. Something to keep in mind if there are multiple BitTorrent clients operating off the same router in the home, or dorm.
Let PCSTATS know what you think about this Tech Tip, and be sure to stop by PCSTATS Forums and post your comments or questions. |
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