A thought of change in 2007

Changes are good and bad; change is a verb and a noun that scares most of us from childhood. How and what I did before matter no longer; the first day going back to school after a long summer vacation was a scary day for me; a mix and complex feelings. Glad that I would meet my old friends; be afraid of not knowing who I would meet and what kind of teachers awaiting my first mistake the moment I stepped into the school yard.

Changes in the past couple of years in PC hardware were scary to say the least. C2D was a good change for Intel; ATI was a bad change for AMD. Vista was a bad change for Microsoft; all the changes were good to Nvidia.

| Intel E2160 | Intel E4500 | Intel on 45nm |

We saw the change of thermal output of CPU and GPU reducing along with the die size, a good change. We are seeing power supplies getting higher, and higher and higher wattage output, the change certainly does not help the soaring energy consumption. Intel Chipset change(s) in the last 18 months could be at historical rate, 975, 965, P35, P31, X38 and X48, more to come next year.

| HSF Roundup June | HSF Roundup Fall | VGA Coolers | DD Water-Cooling | TTIC Waterblocks | P35 Motherboards | Asrock Budget Board | 1KW PSU | Passive Cooled PSU |

The change in DDR2 pricing was good for consumers and bad for business. The industry is trying to change “us” the PC enthusiasts to go for more expensive DDR3. LCD display screens are changing in one direction, size; the bigger the better. The same applies to case fan which has grown in size to 140 mm; an attic fan size may be next.

| DDR2 Roundup Summer | DDR2 Roundup Fall | 18 Case Reviews |

We have seen the result of some changes that has nothing to do with good or bad. It has to do with time. Joey changed from a hardcore PC enthusiast to a side line observer. John no longer tried the extreme stuffs, he rather spends his time with his new born daughter; may be there is something to do with his wife. At the same time, Jimmy is getting really interested in what John has left behind what a change in how he spends his evening. It will take a determined girl friend to change Jimmy from now on.

| Asus P5W OC | X6800 Under LN2 | A64 with Dry Ice |

If Brain Storming is good and two-heads is better than one; the same for Quad cores are better than Dual Cores. There is no way that I would allow Jimmy’s rig runs faster than mine, hence my high frequency of PC turn over rate. This is something that Jimmy won’t change in the foreseeable future, at least not with Penryn is within his line of sight and 8800 GT is looking mighty attractive, now that we know what HD3800 and K10 could do.

| 8800 GT Tested | 10-Way 8800GTS Roundup | 8600 GT | 8600GE | 7-Way 8400GS |

There are more hardware review sites coming onboard too; while the industry seems to be getting smaller. The change from traditional PC hardware into consumer electronics hardware opens up more “opportunities”. Ask Apple, and take a good look at Asus. Who could image the change Apple made in the last three years creates so many millionaires? Looking into Asus product lines lately, the change in PC hardware might be in one word, ASUS in a few years.

| 21 Mousepads | Digicam reviews | Gateway Laptop | Monitor Color Calibration | 20” LCD Monitors Compared |

The change in Asia, especially China has been drastic in a positive manner with strong growth in PC sales. However, another change is needed soon or NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) will not mean anything. There are rules even in a Ping Pong game or we will change winning into cheating.



2007 is coming to an end soon; whatever changed for better is good, otherwise stay put and don’t change for worst. 2008 will bring more changes. AMD must change from whatever that is not working. Intel must not change to becoming greedy. TMS will make more news next year, thanks to AMD. Nvidia will only be bigger and stronger, thanks to China expansion. Microsoft will only turn into more profit because making Vista DVDs from cookie cutter cost only pennies; whatever amount of Vista sales will be incremental to Windows XP.

As for me, the color and density of my hair changed quite a bit in the last 12 months. I am glad my peers at [M] are healthy and remain enthusiastic in what we do best, something that I would not want to see changes. Whatever you plan on changing for betterment next year, don’t forget to drop into our forum and share with us your progress.