The Tech Report - PC Hardware Explored

Exploring the impact of memory speed on Core i7 performance

The Core i7's triple-channel DDR3 memory controller offers mind-boggling peak theoretical bandwidth, but does the CPU need fancy DIMMs to excel? Join us as we explore the performance impact of memory bus speed, latencies, and even the number of channels on a couple of Core i7 processors. Read more...

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Last post by Usacomp2k3 at 12:05 PM on December 3, 2008

Feature articles

AMD's 'Shanghai' 45nm Opterons
November 30, 2008
With higher clock speeds, lower power consumption, more cache, and a multitude of tweaks, the "Shanghai" Opterons aim to restore AMD's competitiveness in the server and workstation worlds. But are they good enough to match Intel's 45nm Xeons? Read more...

109 comments —
Last post by eitje at 1:13 PM on December 2, 2008
TR's Christmas 2008 system guide
November 24, 2008
We cleverly side-stepped Intel's Core i7 offensive in our previous guide by focusing on cheaper systems. Now that the Core i7 is out, we've revised our guide with higher-end configs that use the new hardware. And, of course, price fluctuations have given us an opportunity to freshen up our... Read more...

106 comments —
Last post by Meadows at 8:41 AM on December 2, 2008
Intel's X25-E Extreme solid-state drive
November 23, 2008
Intel's new X25-E Extreme SSD reads at 250MB/s, writes at 170MB/s, has near-instantaneous seek times, and may very well be the fastest drive you can plug into a standard Serial ATA port. Read on to see it blow away mechanical hard drives, other SSDs, and even our own expectations. Read more...

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Last post by Convert at 11:47 AM on November 27, 2008
The TR Podcast 26: Faith, revelations, and exploring Shanghai
November 22, 2008
This week's episode adds two new X58 motherboards and games to the discussion, another editor to our series of biographies, and a sneak peak of our upcoming Shanghai Opteron benchmarks. Read more...

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Last post by TechNut at 7:43 PM on November 29, 2008
Gigabyte and MSI join the Core i7 motherboard crowd
November 19, 2008
Core i7 processors are finally trickling onto the market, joined by a growing list of LGA1366 motherboards. Keep reading to see how X58 offerings from Gigabyte and MSI stack up against the competition from Asus and Intel. Read more...

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Last post by Nomgle at 7:32 AM on December 2, 2008
The TR Podcast 25: All about AMD, fixing the shift key, and a new season of TV
November 15, 2008
If you're looking for the skinny on AMD's plans for the next few years, this is the episode to listen to. We also discuss graphics card pricing, Geoff's Eee PC keyboard hack, our favorite TV shows, and more. Read more...

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Last post by _Sigma at 10:37 PM on November 19, 2008
Asus' G50V gaming notebook
November 10, 2008
Asus' G50V-A1 gaming notebook crams a Core 2 Duo T9400 processor, GeForce 9700M GT graphics, dual hard drives, and a 1680x1050 display into a sturdy chassis with a full-sized keyboard and even a number pad. Read on to see how it performs in the wild. Read more...

37 comments —
Last post by blubje at 1:08 PM on November 12, 2008
Apple's aluminum MacBook
November 9, 2008
Last month, I succumbed to temptation and purchased a $1,299 aluminum MacBook. As a die-hard fan of Lenovo's ThinkPad line of laptops, I didn't make this choice lightly. However, the MacBook's build quality and features proved too tempting to resist. Read on as I share my thoughts on Apple's... Read more...

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Last post by Synchromesh at 11:18 AM on November 15, 2008
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