Wednesday 2 March 2011

Time for something different

Well, I didn't have uni today, so there's not much to say on that front. However I did work today. I awoke at 6am (after stupidly going to sleep at about 1am), got all ready to go to work and bam! I realized I didn't start until 1pm. The morning was then spent browsing the interwebs and reading about upcoming technology, which brings me to my next point.



 Also exciting; my new found ability to draw things with photoshop.

With the impending release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim late this year (November) I've been thinking that I'm definitely going to need a new PC to play it. I was reading around on some tech sites and came across the AMD Fusion generation of chips. I've always thought that it would be a good idea to incorporate the GPU right onto the same piece of silicon as the CPU and just be gone with the south-bridge entirely, and that's what AMD have done. Firstly, this is a good idea because you remove the bottleneck that the south-bridge causes between the GPU and CPU. Secondly, you go from having to cool three chips to just having to cool one. Thirdly, you get a GPU specifically matched to the performance of your CPU (it was always funny to see my friends by a ridiculously fast GPU, only to have it bottlenecked by a crappy CPU). And finally, it drastically reduces the real-estate needed by the motherboard, something specifically useful in laptop applications.

AMD Fusion test rig. 
"Umm sir, we've been having some negative feedback 
about the appearance of the new system".

I'm not sure if I'll end up getting one though, as I'm after a desktop, and the Fusion processors aren't quite as fast as current CPU+Discreet GPU set ups (although significantly faster than comparable on-board GPU laptops). I wonder if any of my followers have been looking into them at all and if they think they'll become significantly competitive in the desktop market?

Let me guys know what you think. Also, feel free to use that comic I made anywhere you want, I would however, appreciate a mention as the author or even a link back to my blog if it all possible.

To finish up, we'll play another game! This time we'll be doing guess the physiological cycle!



Those of you that have studied physiology should get this pretty easily (I would hope). Others may have more trouble getting it. And remember, you're playing for your own personalized drawing by me!

35 comments:

  1. Your skyrim comic is amazing! :D

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  2. I'll leave the physiology to you sir, but I agree as regards Skyrim = new PC time. Ah well, needed a good excuse anyway..

    Just gotta hope student finance decide I deserve free money.....

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  3. Well I guess I know that from something. Not sure actually
    http://baxxmans.blogspot.com/

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  4. it's hard to understand all info but in fact it is good info.

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  5. Never studied physiology but it doesn't seem too bad. Mostly memorization Ive heard

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  6. give us more explanations about physiology, i mean we all now gaming,
    we are still quite dumb, so more physiology please!

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  7. Great post, although I have no idea what's going on in the physiology part.

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  8. thx for the share, interesting post man!!

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  9. Haha, I've got you guys stumped do I? I'll give you a hint; it's a process that takes place in the mitochondria of cells. It has a functional name and a common name, the common name being the name of a scientist that contributed to the discovery of the cycle.

    Good luck guys, I'll be sure to make a real good picture for the winner of this one!

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  10. Oh, and onegrin, be sure to check back, I might do some more physiology posts. :D

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  11. dude, i'm so psyched for skyrum. it's going to kick so much ass. that game will be the reasone for my future insomnia :P

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  12. my brain is trying to compute all this information damn these fusion processors

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  13. I have no idea what that physiology is all about. lol Good read though!

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  14. This is such a cool blog, followin :)

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  15. I was at the border of my english-knowledge while reading your blog, but it's very interesting stuff.

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  16. Dat der' is some awesome shit. I don't care who ya'are.

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  17. well that image at the end is pretty complicated

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  18. Hope they dont fuck up Skyrim like they fucked up Oblivion. >8/

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  19. Can't wait for Skyrim jesus christ

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  20. should hold out on the fusion chips until they're in the market for a while, don't want a chip that gets recalled like the sandy bridge

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  21. Everyone seems to waiting for new Elder Scrolls.

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  22. Interesting read indeed. If i'm not completely mistaken the physiological cycle in your blog is the Citric acid cycle.

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  23. i plan on upgrading my comp for this game as well.

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  24. I prefer laptops, so I might be getting one of the fusion chips in the future, but mine is still kicking along. You're art is great too, thanks for the spiffy profile pic. (I'll mention you and link in my next post.)

    As for the physiological cycle, I won't answer it because I won the last one. But it definitely takes me back to undergraduate biology. It's a bit Krabby.

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  25. Haha AP, thanks for the future link back. I think Broda's answer is sufficient. I'm working on a drawing for him right now.

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  26. Nice, I haven't seen that Fusion chip before, I'm going to need to upgrade my rig too. Also I tried to cheat but there were no clues in the filename.

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  27. Keep up this format, I especially enjoyed how you captions your images. Really brings personality into your posts.

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  28. Oh very interesting. Nice comic

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  29. Great Comic, My worry with GPU/CPU on one chip is if one breaks you have the replace everything, But I guess if the cost is reasonable it would be worth it.

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  30. I think the best thing you can do is get a nice Sandy Bridge quad-core processor, and a geforce gtx 460 or 560..
    I have a core i5 750 4-core processor and it's great, too bad my video card kinda sucks...I need a new one for this game, and DNF and ME3.

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