Tech Tok

AMD has shipped the first DisplayPort video card, the ATi FireGL V7700.

DisplayPort is a new video connector that is supposed to replace DVI (which SVGA). It allows for HD resolution and will be expanded to handle audio as well.

Sounds like HDMI to me..

XBitLabs is running a very interesting article comparing several of the latest CPUs from Intel and AMD.

The most interesting charts for me were the one above and below, which show the CPUs’ energy efficiency

PC-Gamer Jan 2008 gave Guitar Hero III a low rating because of “low frame rates”. Let me be the first to tell you this is not fair. They review Crysis in the same magazine, and that game requires serious horsepower and a new graphics card. If they had actually tried Guitar Hero III on the same system, they would get results like I do for both games on my now 2 year old AMD dual core 4200+ with the latest Saphire ATI 3870 chipset HD video card. It’s all in the video card.

I will be the first to admit that Intel was the place to be for the last 2 years, however I do not buy computers *that* frequently. I plan to upgrade soon, but not before some serious comparisons (as opposed to ridiculous speculation) come out between Intel and new AMD technology.

Anyway more to the point, with the latest video card, Guitar Hero III’s game play is amazing and the graphics are great. Yep, Crysis is good too. Sorry to break the news to you, but unless you’re in nVidia 8800 or ATI 3800 chip territory, you’ve got crap. Now upgrade and buy some games to wow yourself on your 1920×1080 flat-panel TV. Actually, a $500 Samsung 245BW 24″ 1920×1200 monitor works just fine.

One other little thing, the games utilize 5.1 sound, so be sure to grab a $70 logitech X560 or better set of speakers. (I’ve had something like that for many years, actually).