Currently, AMD struggles with their 45nm processors in the test labs, despite the fact they said the results so far are great, we won't get to see them on the market until this year's late autumn, probably. In the meantime, Intel revealed 16 new 45nm processors at CES, and some of them are already being used inside the new Mac Pros but, as it usually happens with new hardware, they are not that easy to find as CPU-in-a-box. Well, not anymore... but you have to be in Japan to get one!

Unfortunately, as you can see above, the pricing in Japan is higher than in US, but for now, everywhere, the problem is availability, and not price. For example, the E8400 is priced at 26,800yen, which means about 250USD, and previous statements from Intel said this CPU is going to sell at $183, in 1,000 batches. These being said, let's see what new 45nm CPUs from Intel we should expect, shall we?

The announced 16 new processors go like this: 5 mobile dual-cores, 7 desktop processors (4 dual and 3 quad-core), as well as 4 Xeon processors for servers. While the mobile processors don't leave you much freedom of choice, as long as you don't get to choose your laptop's hardware parts, in most cases, I'll tell you a few things about the current desktop 45nm parts available from Intel...

Phenom's competitors on the desktop market look pretty strong on paper, and I don't think they'll disappoint in practice, either. Here's what we have here for our desktops (or what we'll have, because not many people could simply go today in a computer store and grab one)...

The dual-core gang includes the E8190 and E8200 "junior" models, with frequencies below 3GHz and 6MB L2 cache, and a FSB speed of 1333MHz. The top dual-core model is the E8500, with 3.16GHz frequency, 6MB of L2 cache and the same FSB speed as all new 45nm desktop processors from Intel, 1333Mhz.

At last, we have the almighty Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550 quads, first of them having 6MB of L2 cache, and the last two, 12MB. The frequencies are all below 3GHz, but I am sure that can be "solved" with proper cooling and a bit of overclocking...

These being said, I have to remind you: if you're in Japan or you have a trip planned for the near future, you may consider purchasing a new 45nm Intel CPU there, if you can't find any of them in the neighbourhood!

No matter how much memory you got in your new or not-so-new computer, I am sure there's room for more, and if your mainboard allows you to use DDR2 modules, then you're on the right track! Being given the current memory prices, having 4GB is not something outrageous, especially since today's applications, especially games, are easily eating up 1-2GB when running. In such a situation, the new 4GB DDR2 memory kit from OCZ arrived just in time...

The OCZ DDR2 PC2-8000 / 1000 MHz / 4GB Platinum Edition kit, pictured above, is only available as 2X2GB 1000MHz modules, as its name says. This high performance kit offers a serious bandwidth, and the timings achieved at 1GHz are 5-5-5. The kit integrates Xtreme Thermal Convection, or simply XTC, Heatspreaders, which allow you to have a cooler memory (and maybe to overclock it a little bit further, if you really want to do that with DDR2 memory that already runs at 1000MHz...) by increasing ventilation and heat dissipation with the help of its honeycomb design.

This OCZ memory kit, just like other of their similar products, is hand-tested to ensure perfect compliance with the highest quality standards of the industry, and the OCZ DDR2-1000 XTC memory comes with Lifetime Warranty, toll-free technical support and an exclusive Extended Voltage Protection (EVP) coverage.

Currently, there's no information about pricing and availability, but you can go to the official product page and see if you can find a reseller in your region, first of all... Good luck!

 

Windows Vista 32 is very popular at the moment, but the 64 bit version is also gaining ground as well, and that is due to the fact that it allows the users to enjoy the entire quantity of RAM they have on their computers. The 32bit is limited to 3.5 GB maximum RAM usage due to the distribution of the computer system resources. So, as an example, if a gamer wants to boost the "speeeed" from Unreal Tournament 3 for example, and also wishes to make use of the 4GB he just installed, he would need to use Windows Vista 64. We have been asked by some friends to present them some quality upgrade RAM modules. Especially for this purpose, we have selected the OCZ PC3-10666 ReaperX HPC With Enhanced Bandwidth kit because it comes with 2 modules that can work in dual-channel, each having 2GB! Imagine if you buy 2 kits, that equals 8GB of RAM for your system. The bottom line is that any user normally doesn't normally use more than 4GB of RAM for desktop applications and games. 8GB is more often met within server environments, where there's a huge traffic of high amounts of data - it is understandable the "need for speed". This OCZ set not only is of 4GB, but it is also a DDR3 type, which means fast proceesing of big quantities of data - highly recommendable for the enthusiast gamers. The specs are: DDR3, PC3-10666, 1333MHz, with the timings 6-5-5-18 (1.85V). The thermo-conductive pipe guides heat away and quickly dissipates it through the aluminum fin array.

As you can see in the image above, the ReaperX HPC (Heat Pipe Conduit) modules offload heat with extreme efficiency due to a new dual copper heat pipe design. Each memory chip is in direct contact with a thermo-conductive pipe that guides the performance robbing heat away from key memory components and quickly dissipates it through the aluminum fin array. The addition of the extended fin array nearly doubles the total surface area available for heat dissipation while the heat pipes warrant near isothermicity throughout the entire design. The result is a doubling in effective heat dissipation at equal delta t or, in real systems, a significantly lower operating temperature of the memory modules. The price is quite good for the value: $280.

There are not many motherboards that support the DDR3 memory standard yet, however, if you like Intel CPUs, and if by any chance you find an ASUS Maximus Extreme main board - you can start looking for DDR3 memory kits. One of the memory makers, Crucial has created a special dual channel set of 2GB kit (1GBx2). The specs are: Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800, 8-8-8-24 timing latencies, DDR3-1600 to be used at 1.8V bios setting, with 128Meg x 64. For normal Windows XP systems, you will be fine with 2GB, but if you need an visibly increased speed and processing power - you could get 2 kits so that you can have 4GB of DDR3 RAM for the most memory demanding applications like games and graphic editing programs. Another bonus of the BallistiX is that they can be overclocked - they work both at higher speed and tweaked timings: there are two "high" profiles - XMP Profile 1: 1600MHz 8-8-8-24 and XMP Profile 2: 1600MHz 7-7-7-24. A very big downside for this memory kit is that it is VERY expensive at the moment - nearly $450 - but prices will lower down in time. And since they are so expensive, it must be noted that the buyers must be people who have experience on tweaking and overclocking hardware, otherwise it will be a total waste and the customer would better be looking for DDR2-1066 modules.

The latest RAM module produced by OCZ that goes in the line of CrossFire is the Reaper HPC CrossFire Certified Edition. The specs are DDR2, PC2-8500, 1066MHz and it comes in dual-channel kits of 2GB (2x1024). This memory was designed under AMD's certification program and it can bring the best of a PC if used within a Crossfire system. The latest top notch video cards from the AMD line, the radeon 3870 were the first to support the DirectX 10.1 standard. So what about that interesting heatspreader? The official description says: "These unique DDR2-1066 modules feature the patent-pending Reaper HPC (Heat Pipe Conduit) heatspreader which is engineered to deliver superior silent heat dissipation over traditional heatspreaders. The Reaper HPC is an innovative cooling solution developed by OCZ to effectively minimize heat produced by high-speed memory. As heat rises into the thermo-conductive copper heat pipe conduit, it is dissipated through a compact aluminum fin array. By strategically guiding performance-robbing heat away from key memory components, the unique Reaper HPC design maximizes passive cooling to improve longevity and stability of the modules." The timings are 5-5-5 which should be pretty good for the category in which these modules can be classified and if I were to build a CrossFire, these modules would come in handy.