NVIDIA’s Shield Priced To Not Move

Posted on May 14, 2013 by No_Style

Remember NVIDIA’s Project Shield? That horrendous looking Android handheld that can also stream Steam games finally has a price: it can be yours for just $349.99.

That’s $100 more than a PlayStation Vita and $150 more than a Nintendo 3DS. It is cheaper than a spec comparable smartphone or tablet but that’s not something I would want to bring out in public.

So what does $349.99 get you? A handheld that can play the “hottest” Android games powered by one of the fastest (if not the fastest) SoC on the market today. If Android games doesn’t float your boat, there’s always a plethora of PC games that you can stream via your NVIDIA GeForce GTX video card.

This is one hell of a niche product for that price.

For those who have cash burning in their wallets, pre-orders open May 20^th.

AMD Radeon HD 7990 & the tale of AMD

Posted on April 24, 2013 by No_Style

I see the AMD Radeon HD 7990 and could not help but think of it as a dire representation of AMD as a whole. It’s very late to the party and it’s not quite as efficient as competition when it comes to power consumption; AMD’s inability to execute and develop a truly competitive technology in full effect here.

Poor Advanced Micro Devices. They had such promise before Intel woke up and crushed them with steady improvements over time. Who is to blame? Based on Ars Technica’s brilliant summation of AMD’s history to date, it looks like it all began with the company’s founder: Jerry Sanders.

Both Raza and Barton recalled, independently of one another, one of Sanders’ mantras: “Real men have fabs.” Raza called this comment “simultaneously a sexist remark and the most stupid thing you can say,” and he saw the fab decision as one of Sanders’ “significant acts of irresponsibility.” After he quit, Raza never spoke to Sanders again.

Irresponsible decisions made by a CEO who was far too comfortable spending more than what his company can afford. He set the company down a path that it wasn’t able to diverge from despite the technological wins it had.

AMD isn’t dead yet and I hope it manages to stick around to help keep the competition honest. Thankfully if they do go belly up, there are other worthy contenders to step up to the plate.

Rumor: Windows 8.1 will bring back the Start Button

Posted on April 22, 2013 by No_Style

Windows 8.1 or Windows Blue is a major Windows 8 coming later this year. Think of it as a service pack but with additional apps, functionality and spans multiple platforms.

Of course it will also include fixes addressing unintentional bugs and perhaps even some design snafus. The omission of the Start button to launch the Start screen was quite the blunder. That simple omission caused a lot of confusion for people but it’s good to hear that Microsoft is considering putting it back.

I am also pleased to hear that Microsoft isn’t abandoning the idea of the Start screen. I’m not a huge fan of it but there’s promise in its implementation and I’m glad Microsoft took the chance to try something new. Don’t regress!

If people don’t like the Start Screen and the Modern UI, then stick with Windows 7. It’s still viable. It may reach end of life before Windows 8 but Microsoft haven’t announced a date for that yet. I also want Microsoft to keep the Start Screen so that people who are fed up with it and modern Windows will consider other operating systems. Diversity and competition is a good thing.

History of OpenGL vs Direct3D

Posted on April 15, 2013 by No_Style

“Why do game developers prefer Windows?”

An innocent question that resulted in an excellent summation of the OpenGL vs Direct3D war from the mid-1990′s until now. It’s a well written and informative post that spells out how Microsoft caught up to OpenGL and eventually overtook the open standard through opportunism and the incompetence of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board.

The author also answered some age old questions like why NVIDIA video cards performed so well with OpenGL. He also provided insight on how catered Shader Models and exclusive OpenGL extensions during the GeForce 3 and Radeon 8500 days.

It was an interesting read to say the least.

April Fool’s Day 2013 Google Roundup

Posted on April 1, 2013 by No_Style

It’s that day again. The day where I tune into Google’s blogs and look for all the silly things they burned money on. They’re fun — and what I can only suspect — expensive gags. Unfortunately, these fun videos have become a reason for upset Google Reader users to focus on.

Introducing Gmail Blue

Continue reading →

Watch My Next PC Being Built

Posted on March 13, 2013 by No_Style

Well isn’t this a bit of a coincidence. The guys at Tested.com are building what is essentially my next PC. They’ve recorded an instructional “How-to” video of them assembling it and since I’m waiting for CentOS to install, I’ve decided to give it a watch.

My system isn’t going to be as hardcore or high grade as theirs. It’s not going to sport a Core i7, or a Geforce Titan or a $155 Seasonic PSU despite how awesome it looks. Here’s a spec sheet for a PC if I were building it today:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K – $226.99 @ NewEgg.ca

MB: GIGABYTE GA-Z77N-WIFI – $128.99 @ NewEgg.ca
ASRock Z77E-ITX LGA 1155 Intel Z77 – $174.99 @ NewEgg.ca

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 – $93.99 @ NewEgg.ca

SSD/HDD: SAMSUNG 840 120GB – $99.99 @ NewEgg.ca

Case: Bitfenix Prodigy White – $79.99 @ NCIX.com

GPU: Radeon 7850 1GB – $169.99 @ NCIX.com
PowerColor Radeon 7870 PCS+ – $235.99 @ NCIX.com

PSU: CORSAIR HX series HX650 650W @ $119.99 @ NewEgg.ca
Rosewill Capstone-650 650W @ $94.99 @ NewEgg.ca
OR
Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-550-M 550W – $94.99 @ NewEgg.ca
SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W – $89.99 @ NewEgg.ca

Cooler: Corsair H100 @ $116.99 @ NewEgg.ca

It’s not too expensive but like I said I’m not planning to build it now. I am planning to build a new PC for Intel’s upcoming Haswell CPUs which should arrive sometime this summer. I miss getting my hands on new hardware so I’m looking forward to that build very much.

2010 PC Specifications Rev 1.3

Posted on March 3, 2013 by No_Style

Upgraded to XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Core Edition

	Model
Processor	Intel Core i5 750
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3
Memory	OCZ Gold 4 x 2GB DDR3-1600
Video Card	XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Core Edition
OS Drive	OCZ Vertex 2 60 GB
Storage Drive	Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7,200 RPM
Case	Antec Mini P180 White
Power Supply	Antec EarthWatts 650W
CPU HSF	Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
Additonal Fan	Scythe Slip Stream 120mm (SY1225SL 12L)
OS	Microsoft Windows 8 64-bit
Monitor	Dell 2007WFP
Keyboard	Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000
Mouse	Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
Speakers	Logitech Z-2200
Other	Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows

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