Defending AMD FX: A Losing Battle.

So, since yesterday's release of AMD FX CPUs, including the FX-8150 Octo-core, there's been many discussions online, referencing benchmarks, value, quality, and performance. As can be expected, there are actually still some fanboys dumb enough to think they have a chance of defending these piles of shit. So, in interest of... fairness, I've decided to discuss some of the... reasoning.

Excuse 1: It's not technically an 8 core CPU blah de blah.
As much as I normally love being technically accurate, there is such a thing as having shit for brains, and this excuse shows us the people who do. AMD advertised FX-8150 as an 8 core CPU, why shouldn't I judge threaded performance by the standard of 8 cores? Are you accusing the company you love of fraudulent advertising?

Excuse 2: It's really only intended to be a server architecture though!
Sorry, comes down to the same damn thing. AMD spent a fortune sponsoring IGN Proleague and shoving their AMD FX ads down our throats, trying to convince people that an 8 core CPU was good for gaming. You market it for gaming, you get benched in gaming performance. Not our fault it fell completely flat on it's face. Most people using Intel would prefer if AMD could compete, it would be awesome for CPU prices.

Excuse 3: Well, it's worse clock for clock, but it overclocks way higher!
Sadly, this means nothing to the vast majority of users. Why? Because, during testing, Anandtech found that the FX-8150 can only hit the same clocks on air as a 2500k or 2600k. It goes a bit higher on water, but quickly ends up needing extreme cooling. And sorry, the clock you could hit if you kept liquid nitrogen hanging around doesn't mean a whole lot if you don't.

Excuse 4: It isn't working well with Windows yet!
Yes, we know, you've burned that one into the ground. Unfortunately, the tasks it does the worst on are less threaded tasks, like gaming, where it has to try and compete with Phenom 2, the utterly obsolete predecessor. 

Excuse 5: But it does compete with Sandy Bridge on multi-threaded tasks!
And it wants a cookie, I assume? For the vast majority of consumers this means... oh yeah, nothing. AMD FX is replacing Phenom 2 in bad product placement, as the poorly priced, late to the game CPU that you might get if you really need physical cores and don't want to pay for better hardware that costs from slightly less to slightly more.

Excuse 6: All those benchmarks are biased, and not representative of anything.
On the second one, welcome to benchmarks, jackass. Find a good analog for performance that gets benched frequently, or bench things yourself. As for bias, I really doubt all the reviewers were so biased that they had a damn conference at some executive resort in the Swiss Alps just to plan out how BD would do on each test.

So, AMD Fanboys, for your tenacity in the face of logic, for your stubborn pride and arrogance in the face of benchmarks, and for your inability to listen to reason, I salute you. Someone has to keep AMD in business so Intel can't really monopolize the market.

AMD's Bulldozer, Bad Signs for CPU Prices.

So the ads during IGN Pro League SC2 finals yesterday got me thinking, along with various discussions I've been a part of, and different promotional stuff. AMD is, possibly, about to finally release the Bulldozer FX CPUs, starting with their high-end offerings, including some Octo-Core stuff. Now there's some stuff that sounds promising for overclockers and benchmark fans alike, but there's a lot more that scares the piss out of me.

For starters, we're almost six months late getting these CPUs now. Now obviously, in the chip world, this sort of thing isn't a shock on its own, but combined with some other factors, it makes me think the delays are due to being completely incapable of competing with current (or even recent) Intel offerings, sticking with the trend of the last few years.

Then, of course, there's the video AMD released, talking about setting a world record for overclocking. Now this should be awesome for enthusiasts, right? Well, except for a quote around the 45 second mark. "We're not running any benchmarks, we're just shooting for the highest CPU-Z." Sorry, but in my humble opinion, a clock you don't run shit at is kind of pointless. I can get all kinds of random ass numbers in CPU-Z and have my PC bluescreen 2 seconds into any stress test or benchmark under the sun.

That brings me to another point. Who in hell brags about clock speed if their CPU is actually better than the competitions? No, they'd run benchmarks, even if they were benchmarks specifically favoring their hardware due to number of physical cores or whatever else, and announce the "Fastest Desktop CPU Ever*" "*large quantity of small print defining fastest to the point that it's useless." But then, looking at stuff people

Using Google Translate (sorry) on (purported) leaked benchmarks, ". In this case the Intel Core i7 2600K to run at 3.4GHz base and could climb up to 3.8GHz was used when one thread, while the AMD FX-8150 worked at 3.6GHz can climb same conditions up to 4.2GHz." In other words, running stock v stock, even in tasks like Handbrake encodes, the 8150 and it's 8 physical cores were barely keeping up with a 2600k and HT technology. Owch. The rest of them aren't any better, with 3dMark physics score being < 80% of the 2600k.


All this is only confirming what I've been saying for a while. When you've been getting smashed in almost every performance category for as long as AMD has (not price/performance, which I'll admit they took at certain points), you don't withhold a product for 6 months if it's looking like it might compete. You certainly don't withhold a product that can set overclocking speed records, unless it can't compete. 


Sorry, AMD, looks like Intel has nothing to worry about any time soon, and you've sealed Intel's ability to price wherever the hell they want for the foreseeable future, again. And I'm sure some people think I'm an Intel fanboy at this point. Sorry, I'm not. I'm a performance fanboy, and I'd LOVE for Intel to have some competition and have to consider price points for once. So please, feel free to prove me wrong.

First-time PC Builder FAQ

This FAQ is only going to apply after you've picked parts. I'm assuming you're reading this after either asking on your forum of choice, or getting a list from the family member who works in IT and thinks workstation components are good for gaming rigs, and you wouldn't listen to me on what to use anyways. Besides which, picking components is all about deciding what you want out of your PC and buying the best parts for that, which is mostly about prices and benchmarks.

Source X (includes GPU manufacturer) says I need a higher wattage PSU than this, will it work?

Well, I can't answer for any configuration without making one up, defeating the purpose, but keep in mind, GPU manufacturers have to account for all kinds of PC configurations, and low quality PSUs. A high quality PSU in a typical configuration will generally work fine well below the "minimum wattage". Bear in mind, some PSU calculators exist to sell products, and others have to be used properly or they aren't helping at all. Example, the calculator at extreme.outervision.com, used correctly, gives the wattage needed for your PC at full load to hit the load percentage you designate. It doesn't list the wattage your PSU will use under load.

How hard is it really?

Assuming you can read, and have the ability to match rather specific shapes, it's pretty simple. Yes, you need to be moderately careful, but as long as you take your time, read instructions, and pay attention, it's pretty hard to screw up, and moreso in a way that causes permanent damage.

I was installing my Intel CPU, got resistance, and heard a crunch. Did I break it?

As long as you lined up the notches, yes, the weird grindy pressure noise thingy is normal. It's the tactile response version of hearing fingernails on a blackboard, but it's ok.

My PC won't boot, and I'm hearing a bunch of beeps, what's wrong?

Well, the specifics depend on your motherboard, but that's called beep code. If you either look in your motherboard manual, or google your motherboard's model number and the words "beep code", you can find a translation, and it will help you troubleshoot. It's usually a sign you installed something slightly wrong, or have a DOA (Dead on Arrival) CPU or RAM stick, but it can mean other things.

My PC seems to boot, but the screen stays black, what's wrong?

There's several common causes for this issue. One of the more frequent problems is plugging the video cable into the motherboard's video out with a discrete GPU installed. Another cause can be not having PCIE power cables plugged in, or incorrectly plugged in. Poorly installed video cards can also be an issue.

I got my computer to boot, and installed my OS, but now I can't connect to the internet and nothing is working, what did I do wrong?

Look in the box your motherboard came in, and find the CD. You just need to install chipset and ethernet drivers. No big deal at all.

I got an SSD, what should I put on it?

Your OS and anything you want to load at startup. PDF readers and office software are also good, as they tend to load slowly. Games with lots of single player loading time are ok, but multi-player games, there's no real point, as your loading will be restricted by the slowest loader anyways, and he invariably has a massively fragmented USB 2.0 5400 RPM external HDD.

Do you suggest a particular guide?

I personally direct people to the Hardware Canucks video guide. Other people like other ones, but a lot of the other ones I see suggested come from etailers, and I refuse to send people to a resource provided by someone with a conflict of interest.

Airflow, Cases, Coolers, or DIY Wind Tunnel Kits.

Ok, so I've been thinking about a rant on this topic for a while anyway, but a good friend's predicament made me decide to go ahead and do it. For the sake of this post, we'll call him "Thomas", to avoid any potential embarrassment.

If you've ever seen a high end Enterprise workstation, or an older PC, you might remember something being vaguely different from a lot of PC's these days. If you can guess what I'm talking about, raise your hand. Then feel like a moron, since nobody can see your hand. The thing I'm talking about, of course, is the fact that those computers don't move enough air to achieve escape velocity. Holy shit, crazy talk, I know. No turbofan sitting next to your desk? How dare I blaspheme the pantheon of PC case manufacturers that way?

Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with a case with a decent amount of airflow. But a decent amount of airflow and a decent amount of moving air that doesn't do a damn thing are entirely different animals. My friend "Thomas" is a great example of this. He has some cheap-ass gamer case that Ali-Baba and the CyberPower Thieves stuck him with. It has two front 120mm intakes, top-mounted isolated PSU intake, optional (in this case installed) 140mm top exhaust, the radiator for his (ugh) Corsair H50 mounted as an exhaust in the back, and one or two side 120mm fans. That's a metric asston of air moving around, in case you hadn't noticed. Somehow, though, he can't keep SLI GTX460's very cool. Granted, that's not always easy, but it's not insanely difficult, either, and he's hitting dangerous temps under load.

So. why am I bringing this up? Well, airflow is complicated, and I'm not going to claim to know everything (or even close) about aerodynamics. What I do know, though, is that a lot of things people think they know about PC cooling are very very wrong. A popular myth: "Get a bigger case to keep things cooler." Horribly wrong. Get a case that's got room for your components. Large amounts of dead airspace with no components create a path of least resistance for airflow that doesn't serve a purpose.

There's a couple of (general) rules to follow when trying to figure out your airflow.
1: Know your components. Nothing more important than knowing your configuration's needs. Granted, these can change later on with upgrades and whatnot, but it's still good to know.
2: Keep dead air space to a minimum within reason. Don't cramp your components, trapping heat is bad. But once your components fit reasonably, too much more space makes for bad airflow to where you need it.
3: No competing airflow. Avoid cases where your PSU is going to be fighting your CPU cooler or GPU airflow.

Here's the thing. Air follows the path of least resistance. Hot air rises, and heat is bad stuff. Because of this, if you can stand the slightly higher noise, External Exhaust graphics cards are good stuff, since they blow the hot air out of the case, unlike radial coolers that just get the heat away from the GPU and let it rise up through the CPU cooler. Negative pressure cases are ok for systems with limited restriction on airflow, but if there's a lot of stuff in there, actively directing the airflow with a positive pressure system is frequently better.

Don't forget to prioritize cooling. RAM doesn't need cooling as much as your CPU, so don't stick some retarded fan over your memory that thrashes airflow for your CPU. If you have a side panel, push air into your GPU if it's external exhaust, or pull air away before it can rise if it's radial cooling. If you're using a closed loop liquid cooler, I don't care how much it helps your CPU temps to use the radiator as an intake, just say no to pulling heat into your case.

Above all, apply common sense. The more directly cool air gets to your components, and hot air gets away from them, the better. Always. Avoid dead air, and avoid competing airflow. Avoid pointless restriction.

Remember, a lot of moving air doesn't mean good cooling. A space shuttle launch moves a shitload of air, and that's not cold at all.

Benchmarking for Fun (Or for Info.)

So if you frequent tech forums, you might hear something along the lines of "...only matters in synthetic benchmarks." or "You can't tell the difference without a benchmark." And, if you like the idea of having a slightly overpowered system, you may just want to know how to go about those benchmarks. Even if that's not the case, you may be wondering what will help your performance in a particular game the most, or wanting to find out just how effective your CPU or GPU is for a certain game.

If you read a lot of reviews, you've probably seen all the methodology, all the different names of software, and seen tons of numbers with pretty bars and graphs. Well, I hate to tell you this, but generally, the pretty bars and graphs don't just come with the software. Luckily, it's the numbers that matter anyway.

 So, for starters, lets discuss benching for fun. The most commonly used benches for gaming performance are Futuremark's 3DMark series. The "standard" comparison points are the default settings, which you can get in the free trial version. Lets you get a better database of scores going.

If you're going to bench for fun, the most important thing to remember is that you need a consistent set of benching processes. The best way to do this is to have a secondary account on your PC with the absolute minimum of automatic services, to make sure memory use is consistent. Keep drivers updated, although you usually won't want to use Beta drivers unless you need a specific feature. (Always test beta drivers prior to sustained use, some graphics drivers have been known to cause thermal issues.)

So, now that you have your consistent stuff, you get a baseline. That's just at your normal settings, how does it work. After that, you can try tweaking things to see if they gain you performance. Whatever you decide to tweak, make sure you test with the same processes as before. It really can make a huge difference in scores, or enough to skew data to the point of unreliability.

Generally, the GPU is the easiest thing to tweak, since there's simple GUI based OC utilities that work reasonably well, like MSI Afterburner, or (to a point) EVGA Precision. Remember to push it up a little at a time, and test for stability before starting the benchmark. If you raise your GPU OC and suddenly lose performance, you either need to raise your GPU voltage (at your own risk), or lower the clock back down a bit. Generally, in graphics cards, RAM clock will be less performance for the voltage than core clock and shaders, so you generally won't want to bother with it.

The CPU, is, of course, one of those things people really think about overclocking, and a lot of people are scared of it. If you do your homework, have the right components, and do it carefully, it can be a perfectly safe way to gain performance. You only void your warranty if you do damage that can definitely be attributed to overclocking, so usually you're safe if you keep the OC within the CPU manufacturers specified voltage range.

This isn't an overclocking guide, but I will say that in recent i7's, it's usually best to raise clock to the desired level first, then see if you can squeeze hyperthreading back on safely. Hyperthreading will raise your score in 3DMark, but less than most clock speed gains. RAM speed and timings can also affect it, as can IMC clock, and basically all the usual culprits.

But now, I'm sure, you're wondering about the benching for information thing. After all, E-peenery is fun, but there's only so much you can say about it. If you want to learn something through benchmarking, you're going to need a few things.

1: Consistent Monitoring. Be it FRAPS for FPS/Frametimes, HWMonitor for temps, or something else, you must use software. Eyeballing it is worse than useless.

2: Consistent Playthrough. You need a replay, or a specific save file, or something that you always use for benchmarking. If you're getting an FPS recording of different things, it doesn't tell you much.

3: Objectivity. This is the key. If you aren't objective, you're useless. You need to be willing to get results you didn't want or expect.

Well, as for methodology, it depends a bit, based on what exactly you're wanting to test, but essentially you need to isolate a component. For CPU/RAM testing, graphics settings not requiring the CPU should be turned down, to include resolution. This ensures that the limiting factor will be your CPU. For RAM, you just get a baseline at a "Typical" setting, like CL9 1333 for DDR3, and work from there, using the same CPU clock.

If you want to isolate GPU, you crank the desired graphics settings, turn down anything you can involving the CPU, and hope you aren't trying to isolate the graphics card on an RTS. Won't happen unless you have a really screwy rig.

If you want to monitor temps, you need a consistent ambient temperature, and consistency in everything except what you're testing. Including what you use to heat up the PC, and how long you run it prior to measuring.

I know this hasn't really been long on details, but it's really more to get you thinking the right way.

Cable Management: The Good, The Bad, and the OCD.

Cable management and routing in a PC can be a weird topic, because there's such a huge difference between pure substance, and smooth, sexy style. Now obviously, cable management in your computer can be very important for  airflow and cooling, but it can have another function as well. If your cables are out of the way but accessible, you can have a much easier time moving things around, adding things, or troubleshooting.

Now I'm sure a lot of enthusiasts are freaking out right now, because I'm suggesting that there might be a drawback to having all but the last 3cm of cable invisible. That's ok, it still looks sexy, and unless you're actually adding a new component, it's not really that much more difficult.

For the lazy, understand: I'm not endorsing some tangled rats nest that looks like it was wired by a spaghetti chef that turns into a semi-solid wall between your fans and your components. If you do this, trained killer robot mongooses will track you down and stab you in the eyeballs with a rusty wooden spork. And you'll deserve it.

So we're clear, I'm all for functional cable management. Get those puppies out of the way of airflow. Of course, that means you have to understand the direction and purpose of airflow in your case, but that's a whole different topic. Use zip ties, stuff things behind the motherboard tray, hide unused cables, use sleeved cables. I don't care how you do it, but let the air move in the directions it needs to in your PC.

On the other hand, I refuse to do the OCD cable management. Gasp and shudder in horror if you so desire, but I just can't see the point in spending so much time hiding cables that my PC is obsolete by the time I install the OS. (Granted, it probably will be anyway, but that's a different rant.) Now I'll be the first to admit, it looks damn sexy, but it's just ridiculous, particularly considering the fact that it's really not helping that much, unless you need the room for plumbing.

Back to the rats nest people... did you know your PC will stay cleaner, operate cooler, make less noise, and possibly even perform better if you fix your wires? (Individual results may vary, rant shown with optional equipment. Professional airflow in a closed case, do not try this at home.)

There Are No Stupid Questions... really?

Ever heard the old adage, there are no stupid questions? I'm here to tell you, that's as big a load of crap as a C-130 carrying fertilizer. I've heard quite a few impressive ones, between various forums, and people I've met. Sadly, I see about twenty times more stupid answers than questions. I'm far from perfect, and I know it, but I usually try to say when I'm not sure about something, and I can admit it when I'm proven wrong.

For starters, a couple of the dumbest questions. Just today, I saw a good one. "I want to put the liquid cooler back into the computer. I bought an extra syringe of thermal paste, and the instructions tell me to remove old thermal compound reside with isopropyl. Is this really necessary? I was planning on just heating up the old paste with a hairdryer, adding a bit of new paste, and "gluing" my computer back together. Is it bad to mix compounds? Even if I do remove my old paste, I'm not going to use this isopropyl stuff."

Now for starters, how do you get old enough to be trusted with tools and electronics and not know how to google on the very slim off chance you've never seen a bottle of rubbing alcohol? More importantly, a hair dryer? Last time I checked, moving around hot air, if it's dry enough, can cause some pretty hefty static. Static, of course, being one of those things we try to avoid having near our CPU for some batshit crazy reason. I think we're trying to keep balloons from sticking to it or something.

Another time, back in the Army, I got asked this gem: "I have my PC hooked up to my bigscreen TV with HDMI, but the sound won't come out the TV speakers." So, of course, my first question: "Is it connected to an HDMI port on your graphics card, or are you using an adapter?" I'm sure you can figure the rest of this one out. I guess since HDMI carries audio, it should be able to extrapolate appropriate audio from a video signal, and play it, right? Makes sense to me.

And now, for a collection of a tiny fraction of the dumbest advice I've ever seen given on various tech boards.

Here's one talking about paging issues and HDD speed. One of my all-time favorites.

"They USED to be a lot slower than ram. But the fundamentals are no longer like this. You see, RAM bus is outside the chip, hence subject to abysmally slow speeds compared to intra-chip solutions. It also means that the speed growth of the connections is limited. And while harddrive read/write speeds are increasing EXPONENTIALLY, similarly how hard drive sizes are, the linear growth of ram speed cant keep up. So hard drives ultimately have come close to the speed of RAM read and write, only being limited by the same outside-chip fundamental problems."

Advice on cleaning old TIM:

"tbh you are ok with a slightly damp cloth as long as you are gentle+careful and dont run any power through the cpu until its totally dry"

And, the best solution for scareware I've ever seen!

"try to update drivers! if not, just clean all unnecesary files from youre hdd, or reinstall (reinstall is the last option) ofcours you may need to buy a new hdd, cause these kinfs of slowdowns are happening cause of HDD or drivers, sometimes it maybe something like a soundcard, or overheating!
change the thermo paste on youre CPU, cause it might be overheating! its called autothrottling, you can disable that, just google it, but it maybe risky!"

So, let's get into explaining this really complicated concept, for anybody considering giving out tech advice. If you aren't sure, GOOGLE IT.  Please. You'll save time explaining why you're wrong, and lower the potential of turning somebodies PC into a collection of overpriced paperweights. It isn't rocket science, hell it isn't even computer science. It's a combination of common sense and common courtesy. It isn't your PC, you don't have the right to ruin it by being a moron.

If you aren't willing to do a photo guide of whatever advice you're giving with YOUR PC, don't tell someone else to do it. I mean seriously, Information Technology isn't an event in the Special Olympics, so why try out?

A Fool and His Money: Old CPUs.

One of the hot topics always popping up in discussion, is, of course, price/performance, value, and pure performance of CPUs. People try to generalize and say AMD is always better price/performance, even if Intel is slightly better. Or people point to clock speed and number of cores, like those are the only two relevant statistics in a CPU.

Since nobody with three functional brain cells is going to say AMD can outperform Intel these days, we can skip who has pure performance. That just leaves value and price/performance comparisons. I'm going to start those two off with value.

What is value, in terms of CPU, or computer parts in general? Well, there's several categories that have to be weighed here. Performance, price, needs, additional associated costs (motherboard, PSU, etc.), and upgrade path. The additional associated costs come into this, because lets face it, it doesn't do you any good to save $20 on CPU, and pay an additional $40 on motherboard. It does make you look kind of dumb, but that's about it.

Now, only you can determine the weight of the factors in value, but it's good to think about them anyways, when considering new components. Is it worth an additional $20 to have a socket with more CPUs coming for it? Are you willing to pay 15% more for a 30% improvement? Do you actually need the 6 physical cores of that PhenomII when you're only planning to play games, most of which are optimized for 2?

While you're deciding on the subjective value of components, price/performance is pretty much guaranteed to come up. There's only one real way to handle that. You need direct comparison benchmarks for the task you want to do, assign the lower value 100%, and determine the percentage of the higher performer. Then, do the same with the prices of CPU and motherboard combined, and see whether the additional performance is a higher percentage than additional price. For example, if the Intel configuration is 25% better for your primary task, and costs 15% more than the AMD configuration, the Intel build is better price/performance.

Why do I say you have to combine motherboard price with the CPU price? Because, we're determining price/performance, and since they can't go in the same motherboard, the only logical way to compare is to combine all the factors that will be different, and compare price/performance that way.

Granted, motherboard can affect performance, depending on features, but most of the features that can really affect performance, like SATA 6Gb/s, or extra power phases to OC cost more. Once you're looking at adding to the price for raw performance, you should stop comparing price/performance, and just shoot for performance again.

Peripheral Vision: Gaming Keyboard and Mouse

This is a topic that comes up a lot in discussion, especially in the various competitive PC gaming communities. People will see Razer, TTEsports, or SteelSeries sponsoring players, and they'll look into buying the high end, fancy, and oh yeah, kind of pricey peripherals. Of course, as soon as someone asks, the guy who thinks that his budget should determine every other person's spending habits shows up. (An idiotic asshat on the internet? No!)

So, here come the arguments: Overpriced, gimmicky, doesn't matter at all, don't need extra buttons, better stuff won't make you play like a pro! Well no shit, Sherlock, you figured that out all by yourself, did you? I thought that since Nike shoes let me get up from making a Krispy Kreme shut down early for the day and run a marathon, that a Razer Abyssus would make me the best pro gamer ever!

Obviously, no, you don't need to pay more for flashy LED's, teflon mouse feet, 5600 DPI mice, and a Windows button you can turn off. But you know what else I didn't need to pay for? My whole damn PC. I could buy a netbook for browsing the internet. Hell, these days you can use your phone. So my gaming rig is a luxury purchase. And like every other luxury purchase, there's nothing wrong with spending a little bit more for features that help just a little, or look sexy.

Now, obviously, the question becomes one of value. Well, last time I checked, value is relatively subjective, particularly in the leisure time/luxury purchase department. I can't benchmark how comfortable my mouse is, and if I did, it wouldn't mean a damn thing for someone else. But if it makes my hobby a little easier, or a little more comfortable, then it's cool. If I decide I like the flashy LED's? That's my decision, and you and your notion of what I should do with my money can go to hell.

Then you hear: Higher mouse sensitivity doesn't matter. Well, yeah, it does. If you take one of those old fashioned mice with the ball underneath, and used nothing but software mouse acceleration to change how fast it moves, and give it to the best pro gamer out there, he's going to do worse. It's like handing a chainsaw to a surgeon.

So, all in all, what do I think about fancy gaming peripherals? If you can afford them, and your rig doesn't need the money dropped in more, go for it. If it makes your hobby easier or more enjoyable, that's awesome. This may seem a bit strange after the way I ripped into Water-Cooled RAM kits, but as long as you know what you're getting, who really cares what you get? You should, and nobody else.

A Fool and His Money, RAM Edition.

So, generally, there's a lot of gimmicky stuff available as far as "High Performance Memory" goes. And while there are some slight benefits depending on what you're doing to tighter latencies or higher bandwidth, the real fact of the matter is that on systems that aren't pretty top-end, you could spend the extra money on something else for more performance.

Now, obviously, we have stuff like memory kits that are tested at say, 1600, 1866, 2000, or even 2133 Mhz. That's great and all, but what they fail to tell you in the big, bold, easy to read part of the text, is that... oh yeah, some memory needed to be tested at up to X voltage, which may or may not actually be safe for your CPU's Integrated Memory Controller, or your motherboard's North Bridge and Voltage Regulation.

Next up, heat sinks on RAM! Why? Because obviously, the Enthusiast pumping excess voltage through his hardware is going to make his RAM really really hot, right? Well, the funny thing is, those chips are usually rated for temperatures of something like ninety degrees Celcius. If you didn't know, that is hot as hell. Like, second or third degree burns hot as hell, no sweat. Now granted, cooler temps can help stability on RAM, yes. But really, unless you're pumping some stupid high voltages with bad airflow in your case, odds are your RAM is staying plenty cool without a heat sink.

So, all that being said, yes, some people actually are pushing systems hard enough that heat sinks make sense. I would guess that's somewhere around 8-10% of the enthusiast community, which is probably under 0.01% of people who own PCs. So, those people can buy RAM with heat sinks, and maybe even add some fans or whatever. Cool, no problem.

Now we get to the really fun part. Despite the fact that memory cooling as a needed component is already only slightly less of a niche product than Purina Pet Rock Chow, someone found another way to profit off of the masses of gamers who think that running games makes it vital to install automatic halon fire suppression systems in their rigs.

What is this amusing product? Liquid-cooled memory kits. Now I'll go ahead and credit the manufacturer, Kingston HyperX. These guys already advertise Starcraft 2 pros that they sponsor using their products as nail files and combs, but what are they going to do with this? Beer bong? What the hell, Kingston? The only use I can imagine for this is making your rig look badass with UV reactive coolant.

I think the thing that really bothers me the most is the fact that hundreds, if not thousands of gamers will spend a pile on adding this stuff to their already pointless plumbing loop, either under the assumption that it will help their performance (usually, NO) or assuming that since Kingston HyperX supports E-sports, that they should buy their products.

Now I will admit, supporting sponsors is all well and good for the growth of E-Sports, if you're into competitive gaming on any front. But lets face reality. They don't put money into pro gaming teams because they really like E-Sports. They do it to engender that exact response out of you and make money. So if you don't buy the craziest products they make, it doesn't mean you're hurting E-Sports, I promise.