Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Play Mass Effect 3, Watch HDTV & Remote Control Network

All on 4 screens run off of one computer. Unreal and this sucker is 4 years old!! Amazing what can be done when you know what to throw at something. This things raw CPU output is equal to a brand new i7-3820. It may not have the memory bandwidth a machine with the 3820 may have but at 32gigs (I upgraded today) of Quad channel memory it does pretty durn good!

The MSI ATI 6950 with 2 gigs of memory ain’t the fastest video card but quad monitor support or the ability to play one game on all 4 monitors… AWESOME!!!

I’m not a gamer but I figure why not see what this machine can do so I downloaded Mass Effect 3, started that on one screen, kicked on some HDTV on the next screen and remote controlled several servers on the last two monitors so 4 monitors going full tilt. With 2 SSD drives in RAID 0 this thing is butter smooth and insane fast.

I’m in ADD heaven!!!! Smile with tongue out

12 comments:

Big Matt said...

Heh, wouldn't mind that much power, Minecraft wouldn't lag quite as much when I build skyscrapers :p.

Anonymous said...

You realize dontcha that computer sucks cause the cpu is from 2007!! lamerz! my laptop would crusch that junker!

Erik's RV Blog said...

Hmmm well, I agree the CPu's were released in 2007 but what matter is how much work they can do in a given amount of time.

These CPU's in multi-threaded applications and OS equal the performance of a brand new 3820 i7.

The quad channel memory operates at 667MHz so here is the weak link. Also, the 3G Sata ports can be considered a weak link however with the SSD's in RAID 0 there is just one config that beats this set up in disk performance.

I am not saying this is the fastest computer on the planet, my goal was to surpass my Mac Pro which I did easily while putting money IN THE BANK instead of it going out of the bank.

If I was going for all out performance I would have to spend $2,500 just for the main parts to beat this rig.

As for your laptop, who cares? My wifes laptop is fast as hell too, what does that have to do with what I was trying to accomplish? What are you, 10?

I'm very happy with this rig and with Windows 8 having better multi-threaded performance I'll get great use off all 8 cores.

I'm happy with that... now unless you have something constructive to say....

Anonymous said...

obviusly you dont know what yer talkin about. that cpu is too old to keep up with a new i7 you jus wishin! my laptop gots a i7 640um and 4gb of rams and 2tb hard disc! eat that!

Erik's RV Blog said...

Anonymous,

The i7-640UM is no faster than a Core 2 Duo T9400. Being newer does not mean faster my friend.

4 Gigs of memory is fine and so is the hard drive. I'm not sure why you're trying to have a contest where one doesn't need to be.

I'm sure your laptop is fine, be happy with it.

Big Matt said...

Considering I work with all of the generations of Intel's hardware (At Intel! :p) this guy is making me laugh my ass off touting a first generation i7-640UM is a higher powered unit.

Big Matt said...

Here ya go kiddo, here's yer CPU, she's a UM series, which were meant to be battery misers, not performance beasts.

http://ark.intel.com/products/47700/Intel-Core-i7-640UM-Processor-%284M-Cache-1_20-GHz%29

Now, here's my wife's laptop CPU from the same generation:

http://ark.intel.com/products/43122/Intel-Core-i7-720QM-Processor-%286M-Cache-1_60-GHz%29

The secret here is that external video cards in the first generation still performed vastly better than the on-die HD graphics system that was around in the Arrandale line.

Anonymous said...

you both have no idea the i7 is faster than core 2! best buy told me the um is for ultamate mobile cpu so its real fast.

Erik's RV Blog said...

Anonymous,

I'm not sure how to put this. Just because it has "i7" in it doesn't mean it's going to be fast.

The "UM" is a power saving CPU that does about as good in raw processing as the Core 2 Duo T9400.

It also runs faster memory but as far as fast CPU's go, the one in your laptop isn't considered anything more than lower end of the i7 family.

There are a host of Core 2 Duo's that would put it to shame but in the end what matters is are you happy with it?

If so great, what the heck are you doing here talking smack for? I didn't post my system to brag or cut anybody else down, there are plenty of faster systems but for the amount of cash I have in this one, you won't beat it for the money.

That's what I care about.

Big Matt said...

Erik, I don't think he grasps the concept that the whole i3, i5, i7 thing is a branding gimmick, kinda like the Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad branding was in the pre-on die northbridge/southbridge generations.

Anonymous, you can have a Dual Core i7 Ultra Low Power CPU with a basic 2 core low end HD graphics processor on die (U stands for Ultra Low, L stands for Low).

You can waggle yer little bits all you like, but you've got a business grade laptop, not a gaming laptop.

The only reason it feels fast is because the Intel Graphics Processors used in the previous generations were complete and utter garbage.

Your processor can only support DDR3 at a maximum of 800mhz bus speed.

Here's the specs for your CPU:
http://ark.intel.com/products/47700/Intel-Core-i7-640UM-Processor-%284M-Cache-1_20-GHz%29


Now, here's the specs for an old Penryn T9400:

http://ark.intel.com/products/35562/Intel-Core2-Duo-Processor-T9400-%286M-Cache-2_53-GHz-1066-MHz-FSB%29

Anonymous said...

you guys talk out ur ass!

Erik's RV Blog said...

Anonymous - Listen, "talking out ur ass" is when you make comments with nothing to back them up. Some kid at Best Buy told you that you bought the end all in powerful laptops and you bought it hook line and sinker. I actually feel sorry for you on this one.

Be happy with your laptop, I'm sure it's all that and a bag of chips. Now move on please since you don't understand what you're even arguing about.