Is there hope for DELL with AMD?

A few years ago AMD broke the Intel CPU monopoly at DELL Computers which allowed their Opteron and Athlon processors to be offered into a wide range of DELL desktops, laptops and servers. At that time AMD Opterons ruled the server processor world, whilst their Athlon X2 CPUs seemed to offer an early dual core processor capability to the desktop market. For a while I was selling affordable DELL Dimension desktops and later Inspiron laptops with AMD processors.

Then the Intel Core 2 Duo processor was released and quickly became the market leader for performance and then 'bang for the buck' systems. The DELL AMD-based models disappeared until now all that remains is a business Optiplex desktop retained for continuity reasons and a minitower PowerEdge file and print server that struggles in a rapidly disappearing market.

Now it is all change again as AMD released the Phenom X4 II processors that are price competitive with Intel's quad core models. The recent price cuts by Intel and then quickly following those from AMD show that for the first time there is a real competitive situation again. Recent comparative reviews reflect this. So where does that leave DELL? Does the old agreement remain in place and if so, will DELL start announcing new AMD CPU-based models?

Finished Far Cry 2

So I've finally finished Far Cry 2 after over three months of play. A great game which easily made my Top Ten. The wide open spaces, the beautiful vistas, the weather and daytime lighting effects. The natural landscape textures and the non-scripted paths that you could take to obtain the goals of the game. Just driving (or boating) through the Savannah was a real joy.

Many reviews said that it was repetitive, but not for me. Either detour around the guard post, or decide to snipe at it from a suitable height, or set fire to the grass, or try to drive straight through it, or fire a couple of rockets and the take out the survivors. Great decisions. Judge accordingly. The end was a bit predictable and the final journey to it was difficult, but it left the possibility open for a sequel (please).

So now I started Fallout 3 and though an intriguing start, we are back into poorly lit corridors and limited maps, no directions, weird weapon selection keys, etc. Hadn't these people heard of fluorescent tube lights? I doubt if I will continue.

Awash with graphics cards

For the last few months I've been had a XFX 9600GSO overclocked graphics card which replaced my Sapphire HD3850. It gives a better performance and the £64 price was really good. My only worry was that the card specified a 500W PSU, but my DELL Inspiron 530 was only rated at 300W. However it has been working well. The recommended twin 12V rail cables had only one of them plugged into a single 12V power output of the DELL.

The best of all was that this XFX card had a thermostatically controlled fan which went from completely silent on boot up to a quiet hum on the 3D PKR web site game to a slightly louder hum when playing Far Cry 2 at full screen. As the computer is up on the table next to me this was acceptable and indeed having used and sold XFX graphics cards before, it has always been a good, reliable brand.

So why in a moment of madness did I buy an Asus HD4670 graphics card? I'd read reviews that they offered the best 'bang for the buck' in the lower midrange market. It didn't need extra power and was for sale for again only £64. What a mistake to make! It started off noisy even though it had a larger fan which wasn't thermostatically controlled. Admittedly it didn't increase in volume when running Far Cry 2, but the graphics performance was noticeably poorer.

I even tried a Sapphire Radeon HD3650 that I'd 'liberated' from a DELL system that I'd sold last week. Even worse! It gave really poor performance and still made quite a bit of noise that was more of a whine. Probably acceptable in a large system case under your desk and you weren't interested in the best quality graphics display, but not for me. So that one is also added to the cupboard along with the nVidia 8600GTS and the ATi Radeon X800 cards.

Anyone want to buy a PCI-X graphics card? I'm sticking with what I've got.