Tom’s Hardware cooked up another value-for-money gaming system, again part of the website’s September 2009 System Builder’s Marathon. This time, they managed to squeeze in four video cards—each featuring a gigabyte of memory—working in tandem into a $1250 budget. Here are the parts chosen by Tom’s experts:

Type
Component
Price

CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor
$170

CPU Cooler
XIGMATEK HDT-RS1283 120mm CPU Cooler
$35

Motherboard
MSI 790FX-GD70 ATX AMD Motherboard
$165

Memory
Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
$85

Video Card
Four (4) GIGABYTE GV-R485OC-1GH Radeon HD 4850 1GB Video Cards
$480

Hard Disk
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 3.5″ SATA …read more

Through its September 2009 System Builder’s Marathon (SBM), Tom’s Hardware has managed to build a pretty powerful gaming PC—for only $650. That price doesn’t include a display, keyboard, and mouse, but it still represents significant value for money, especially when you consider the use of two ATI Radeon HD 4850s.
Here are the parts used in this build, all available from NewEgg. Prices are current as of this writing (September 24, 2009):

Type
Component
Price

CPU
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1GHz Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Processor
$102

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P ATX AMD Motherboard
$110

Memory
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) OCZ2G10664GK
$70

Video Card
Two …read more

So, with Intel stealing some thunder with the launch of the Core i5 and core i7 Lynnfield processors, AMD struck back by focusing on its strengths: somewhat similar performance at a significantly lower price tag.

That’s the conclusion of Tom’s Hardware, who were able to put the budget-friendly 45nm Athlon II X4 620 through its paces. Running at 2.6GHz on the “Propus” core, AMD’s new creation seems similar to Intel’s Q8200, also a quad-core processor. It’s clear the $100 SRP means limitations for AMD’s offering, like a lower cache and limited processing independence between the chip’s different cores, but again, AMD …read more

Savvy laptop owners learned a long time ago that manufacture claims on laptop battery lives were essentially best-case scenarios. An XPS M1330 for instance never reaches the promised 3 hours—even with all connectivity off and the screen dimmed to minimum.
But why, you ask? Here’s Daniel Lyons’s theory
These battery-life numbers are based on a benchmark test called MobileMark 2007 (MM07). The test was created by a consortium called BAPCo (Business Application Performance Corp.), whose members are—you guessed it—computer makers and other tech companies.

y now you’ve probably heard about the European commission fining Intel a record of 1.45… BILLION DOLLARS! So of course main rival AMD wanted to drive the point home, collecting quotes highlighting Intel’s allegedly abusive behavior on the newly-launched AMD Break Free page. Some choice tidbits:
“The abuse of market power to protect a monopoly hurts consumers and hinders innovation — locking out smaller rivals that may have better products with new features or lower prices. With an 80 percent to 90 percent share of the microprocessor market, Intel wields much more power than your local supermarket. Its threat to raise …read more