Archive for: vga
- December 27, 2010 8:07 am
As any true PC enthusiast knows, it’s not the biggest, highest end, fastest piece of hardware that is most sought after. It’s the cheapest part you can snag that can be overclocked and hacked to run as fast or better than the high-end offering. In the world of custom computers, the two heaviest modded parts are easily processor and video card. Both pieces benefit greatly from faster clocks, unlocked cores, etc., etc. Today’s story of unlocking hidden potential comes by way of the recently released AMD 6950 and 6970 graphics cards. Would you believe you can get all the performance of the 6970 in the cheaper 6950?
Well, you can — because they’re the same exact card. The only difference the two cards is that the higher-end 6970 has a few more unified shaders unlocked — 1536 vs. the 6950′s stock count of 1408.
But the best part about this new-found power is that it’s easily obtained. A simple bios flash on your 6950 will get the job done. At this point, there is absolutely no reason to pay extra for the 6970. With that said, I can’t imagine AMD will be too happy to see such information released, that’s there fault for designing the card the way they did.
In the meantime, I suggest you hop to it. Who knows how long AMD will let this hack run rampant. I’m sure a future update will some how block the feature highlighted above. But as we’ve seen today, the PC enthusiast crowd is persistent and determined. Another cat and mouse game in the making?
Get the full list of instructions and needed files over at Tech Power Up.
Common practice for high-end video cards is gobs of power, big heat sinks, and endless smiles. While all are very flattering, sometimes you don’t want to take up gobs of space, as factory overclocked cards can often spill into a third PCI slot. The performance is definitely wanted, the extra girth from heat sinks is not. Thankfully, consumers now have cards such as the eVGA GTX 480 Hydro Copper to help them with such issues.
The Hydro Copper is actually a tweaked version of the reference GTX 480 that does away with the stock heat sink and fan, and instead slaps on their own very slick looking water block. You can see from above, this waterblock is huge, covering the entire card. A benefit to this is that it also reinforces the PCB of the card itself.
But the biggest *wow* factor is the size — it only takes up a single PCI slot while still managing two DVI-ports and an HDMI tucked away in the corner! Talk about an engineering feat.
The only hold up for a fair amount of consumers will be price. The stock GTX 480 is already pricey, topping out around $500 USD. The eVGA Hydro Copper pushes that number even higher, upwards of $650USD! For a single GPU card, that’s a lot of money. The dual-GPU ATI Radeon 5970 is faster in most benchmarks, yet costs a solid $50-$75 less depending on where you shop. Not to mention, if you shop around, you can pick up two ATI 5870′s in CrossFireX and really blow the single GTX 480 out of the water.
But even all of those cards can’t match one critical bullet point sitting under the Hydro Copper — the single slot design. Is it worth it to you?
Geeks and PC builders usually fall into two classes: (1) performance or (2) quiet computing. I personally love speed, not giving too much care to noise as I often am wearing headphones, so it’s a moot point. But others would like to be able to hold a normal conversation or play a song without having to crank the volume up just to be heard of the sound of spinning fans.
For the ATI 58xx series, there hasn’t really been a legitimate 3rd party solution for cooling. The stock heatsink/fan/shroud combo isn’t particularly bad. Though if you overclock at all plan on setting the fans to spin faster, earlier. Of course, all that extra spinning means more noise. That’s where the ZALMAN VF3000A comes in.
Featuring twin 92mm fans that spin between 1,300 – 2,500 RPM’s, the VF3000A will easily cool even the hottest running OC’d 58xx cards. I guess it’s good that ATI cards, the 58xx series especially, don’t really run all that hot.
There is one thing to keep in mind before getting to excited though. This cooler is big! Weighing in at 430 grams and thick enough to consume two PCI slots on it’s own means you’re going to need a massive amount of PCI slots/motherboard space if you’re considering running two of these on a CrossFireX setup. From the looks of it, it appears the best installs will be single card setups only.
Pricing coming soon.
Gallery
[Product Page: ZALMAN]
Overclock.net Forums > Hexus
- November 20, 2009 4:53 am
Going wireless is a liberating experience that sets apart those who merely like technology with those who can’t live with out it. Die hard technology fans. Wireless, especially high performing wireless, is what we care about most. Besides, nothing says old and outdated like a junky cable poking out from your beloved gadgets. Building upon the success of their first gen HDAiR, Atlona Technologies took their customers’ ideas and requests to heart by adding one of the most highly sought after features — audio support. Perhaps we should backtrack a tad just in case you don’t even know what the HDAiR is.
- What it is: a wireless USB to HDMI or VGA converter.
- What it does: Allows users to connect any computer to any projector or TV via the wonders of wireless technology.
When the need arises, the HDAiR gives users the ability to distance their display from their computer by up to 30 feet while still offering up video resolutions of 720p or PC/VESA resolutions up to 1440 x 1050. Looking at the resolutions, it’s pretty admirable as this isn’t the standard 480p that many would think would come with cutting the cord. This updated HDAir packs one new addition however — the ability to output audio through the units onboard HDMI port or 3.5mm audio port.
The HDAiR is available to Windows users running XP, Vista, or Windows 7 for $219. I for one hope they eventually expand to offer Mac support as I’m sure quite a few Mac users would find such a device extremely useful. Agree?
[Press Release]
- January 10, 2009 12:37 pm
Take a stroll to your local electronics store and look at the back of a high end monitor or TV. What do you see? You’ll see every type of connection known to man kind and multiple’s of some of them. One would ask, “How did we get to the point where we have so many connections?”. It’s manufacturers thinking that they have the next latest and greatest, or best solution for the industry. Naturally not everyone sees eye to eye and someone else or some other group release their own connection format and well there you go. Currently, HDMI and DVI are the two main contenders when it comes to connecting HD components together. Even though they look amazing, you still have to deal with the size of the connectors. The camp behind HDMI is looking towards Wireless HDMI which would get rid of the cords and clutter. Meanwhile another technology is coming into the foray going by the name Display Port (which was created especially for PC’s). From display port comes mini-display port, a variation of Display Port that has a smaller connector. Apple has thrown it’s support behind mini-display port as the next gen Hi-Def connection.
