Category: GPU

RivaTuner – Taking Control of Graphic Card Fans

As graphics cards get a bit long in the tooth they may have to work at their peak performance for longer to let you play the latest games at an acceptable level compared to the latest cards which might use less of their overall capacity (which may also run cooler). As such, your old graphics …

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LogMeIn and Windows 8 Release Preview Stability

I finally got the chance to install the Windows 8 Release Preview on my MacBook Pro this weekend. I was rather annoyed that my laptop didn’t seem to support booting of a USB stick for the installation so I had to go “old school” and burn a DVD to kick off the installation process. Anyway, …

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Raspberry Pi (Model B) Unboxing and Preview

This morning, I was surprised to receive a package at work (which is unusual first thing on a Monday morning). Anyway to my surprise it was the Raspberry Pi that I had ordered just over three months ago – awesome! Now, when this computer was described as tiny they really meant it. This thing has a footprint smaller …

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Incoming Gadget – Raspberry Pi

A quick heads up for tonight. I have had my eyes on an interesting credit card sized computer called the Raspberry Pi. It’s an ARM-based computer (similar to the CPUs found in phones and tablets these days) and is designed to run Linux. It’s also low cost as well with Model A costing around AU$30 …

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Change the DirectX Level in Team Fortress 2

Perhaps a niche piece of knowledge but one that will come in handy when troubleshooting graphics issues in Team Fortress 2. If, for whatever reason, you’ve set the game to use a lower version of DirectX to correct a graphical glitch and you want to revert back to a higher DirectX level then this is …

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Dell XPS 8300 Unboxing

This was an unexpected gadget but a colleague of mine recently bought a new computer to replace an aging laptop that gave up the ghost earlier in the year. Anyway, he’s handed over his Dell XPS 8300 to me to do some basic tweaking for him. So, of course, I had to unbox it. I …

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Why You Shouldn’t Install Third Party Codecs on Windows 7

Another quick update for this evening. What many people may not know but Windows 7 actually supports a wider range of codecs (i.e. COmpression / DECompression software) compared to Windows XP and Vista, specifically: H.264 (popular for Apple devices and web streaming), AAC (a popular audio format also preferred by Apple), DivX, Xvid. As a …

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OnLive – Cloud Gaming for the Masses

As services in the cloud continue to proliferate it was only a matter of time before ground was broken with respect to gaming. OnLive has released its MicroConsole TV Adapter (a little box around the size of a thick smartphone) which provides wireless connectivity for up to four controllers as well as Bluetooth headsets, two …

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If You’re Computer Won’t Sleep Then Check Your Drivers

Part and parcel of building your own computer is that you need to look after driver upgrades yourself which can either be part a fun part of the ongoing tweaking process or an absolute pain. It can be particularly annoying when your machine just doesn’t behave the way you intended. For instance, my computer has …

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Graphics Cards Need Rethinking

In recent years, the graphics card industry has been pretty much a two horse race. nVidia has been around for a while after having taken out and absorbed 3dfx and has been sparring with ATi for most of the last decade. What has become apparent to me, at least on a basic level, is that …

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