Check out the front page, forum regulars...

[SysOpt]

For those of you who bookmark the forum because SysOpt's home page (http://www.sysopt.com) is only updated every week or two, you should check it out today. We have recently published (two today):

-A review of the Athlon 700
-An article addressing the Microsoft antitrust case and the 150 page Findings of Fact report
-A look at the G400 DualHead

Thanks,
Scott

[This message has been edited by SysOpt (edited 11-07-1999).]

[KillerBug]

About time, may I make a humble review request? I would love to see some of the speeds a proporly cooled 700mhz Athlon can achieve with an Alpha, a P-125 should fit on the Athlon slot, get one wth a 40w peltier, and if you don't know how to overclock the Athlon, go to http://www.tomshardwareguide.com

[socalgal]

Well, I'm a Forum regular, and I just want to say that Scott and Heidi both have produced an excellent review and article, respectively.

Great work and nice pics too! /forum/smile.gif

[Dominus]

I'd like to congradulate the SysOpt staff on the great reviews they've put together. Very detailed and in-depth. I also enjoyed the summary of the MS trial, and have referred others to it for a concise report of the judge's findings. Keep up the good work.

I second Killerbug's notion about how far the Athlon 700 will overclock. I'd like to see how it'd perform with a MC1000 peltier, and one of those pre-modified jumper modules.

[SysOpt]

Killerbug: I'm not going to destroy our Athlon CPU by soldering resistors here and there. If I can obtain the programming module from AMD, I will be glad to do an Athlon overclocking article. And, "about time"? A little respect would be nice, you are a guest here after all.

Dominus: Thanks, we appreciate the kind words.

Scott

[This message has been edited by SysOpt (edited 11-07-1999).]

[Ygor]

Hmmm, I saw the Athlon article and the one on the Matrox Dual head... back to the title page about microsoft tho!
Thanks for all you do, and am looking forward to more reviews!
Sheesh, it's a lot just to keep up eith all the posts here!

[KillerBug]

Sorry scott, not disrespect intended, as for the ruining the Athlon, go down to radio shack, get some ribon cables, switches, and if you don't already have it, a 15w soldiering iron, and make your "old" 600mhz Athlon into the overclocker. Sure, it is a lot easier to use the official device, but it does not exist, not to consumers.

[deep_sky]

while I think it would be an interesting intellectual exercise to try and see how far one can overclock that athlon, they are not cheap and to potentially destroy one would serve no purpose.
secondly, I think that the review is directed to the audience who wants to know what the athlon is about and if it is a technology worth investing in, not how to wring the processor dry performance-wise.

there is a wide variety of experience on this board, so we and the sysadmins have to take into account that there are people how are not as knowledgeable as the rest and to give them information that they can understand.

to sysopt sysadmins...
great job overall on the site!!! I enjoy your articles because they are informative in a technical and a non-technical sense. sometimes I want to find out about a product without having to wade through the 3 letter acronymns all the time, but want to know more than the average user would want to know. i think you guys do a good job in balancing those two viewpoints...keep it up!!!

[Bleeding Edge]

It’s nice to see, and read, new reviews on this site from you guys. I enjoy them. It would be even better if it were on a regular (and somewhat more frequent) basis. Perhaps some time in the near future…

Couple of things you may be aware of that I’d like to point out on the two articles. In the Athlon article, I would like to have seen the inclusion of the Pentium III 733MHz Coppermine CPU, as a head-to-head comparison to the reviewed Athlon. Or perhaps, a Pentium III 733MHz Zeon? I’m aware of the reason (the cause) of the omission; I’m just pointing out, what I would have considered a more valid and/or needed comparison. The charts (and the accompanying text) reflecting the test results of the performance differences of the other CPUs are highly valuable because most of us can relate to and understand the results in that MHz range. Especially, the inclusion of the over clocked Celeron 300a.

I suppose you could have waited until the said processors were in-hand, but that’s not really realistic is it? Maybe an addendum to this article, if and when, the CPUs become available to you, can be written. Or perhaps a new review on the Intel 700Mhz range CPUs with reference back to this test results in this article. Either way, you did a good job.

On to the Matrox review...this was a bit more difficult to enjoy because of the interpolation throughout the article of the reviewer’s overly enthusiastic “take” for this product. Reading the article, I felt his enthusiasm for the vidcard (and Matrox) was the main point and not the card itself. It’s fine to know the reviewer is very keen on a product. The problem in this article was that we’re aware of it from the very start but it carries on to the end. I think this made the detail of the product in review, seem less valid or important -somewhat secondary. Or at the very least, made it less enjoyable to read.

I am not, at all, commenting about Patrick’s ability as a reviewer. I for one, couldn't do better nor would I even attempt to. If I could write half as well as he, I would contribute reviews myself in the User’s Review section. But I can’t and I don’t.

I’m hoping to offer a couple constructive criticisms. That’s all I’m trying to do, nothing else.


PS
Some of you guys going to Comdex getting excited yet? Next week, huh? Soon. /forum/smile.gif


[edited 11-08-1999)

[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 11-09-1999).]

[Zacko10000]

Great job on the front page, great job on the reviews, but I have one question, what happened to the news? That was one of the best parts of Sysopt, when I sign on to the site I could get the latest technology news, its a real bummer that is no more.

[SysOpt]

Bleeding Edge: Thanks for the extensive feedback. As for the Coppermine, I would have been more than happy to include it in the benchmark tests, but the problem is, Intel is snubbing us - I'm going to contact them again and see about obtaining an eval unit. If I can snag one, I'll be sure to do a Coppermine vs. Athlon piece in the near future.

As for the G400, Pat is new around here and it might take him a while to adjust to the writing that you're used to seeing. But he is a seasoned reviewer, having owned and operated a site called Thermalnet for quite some time.

Regarding Comdex, you bet /forum/smile.gif. Joel and I have both registered but we don't have our airline tickets yet (doh!). I'm still supposed to be on ZDTV's live broadcast from the show floor on Tuesday at 4pm PT, so watch if you can!

Zacko10000: It saddens me as well that the news section isn't being updated. However, our news guy, Drew Hodson, had other obligations and could no longer continue news. If anyone out there reads this and thinks they can do an apt job of it, comparable to Anand's news, Tom's news, etc., the compensation is attractive and the work is very part time and totally flexible.

Scott

[MrEd]

Great job. I know what processor I want now... Although, I still want a V770 Ultra instead of the G400. It's pretty cool that AMD took into consideration the overclocking community and didn't totally lock out the ability to overclock. Do you know how much the attachment would run for a person wanting to overclock one of those "BadBoys"?

-MrEd
/forum/smile.gif




[This message has been edited by MrEd (edited 11-08-1999).]

[SysOpt]

Thanks.. Unfortunately the module isn't for sale to the public yet and I haven't heard back from AMD about obtaining one for ourselves. At least, I'd like to be able to do an article on the overclocking abilities of the Athlon, if even just for amusement /forum/wink.gif.

Course, if we could present you with a list of speeds/voltages that worked well for us for each Athlon (using the module), you could then use Tom's soldering method and hopefully not have to make any trial and error changes.

Scott

[KillerBug]

I know this: I am saving up my cash, I figure I need soem PC133 ram, a good Athlon Mobo, and whatever is their first .18 micron CPU, I figure it may be as far as a year from now, before I can affor everything, but I can wait. By the way, there is PC150 ram, CAS 2 at that, so maybee you would want to put that at the end of your page, since you said that DRAM only did 133mhz, while 150 and 166 are still quite possible, even at cas 2.

[pickel]

I'm not really too much interested with the new processor, however the article about Microsoft was very informative and well written, in my humble opinion. I know that most of the folks here have alot more going
for them intellectually than myself but I try to put my $.02 in when I feel like I'm not going to make a fool out of myself.I enjoy this forum very much and hope that it continues for a long time.

[Pat Kennedy]

Sorry about my enthusiasm Bleeding Edge. I have to work on adjusting my style to appeal to you, the SysOpt readers. I’ve used over 50 video boards in the past few years. Most of the cards are speed and image quality improvements over previous generation parts yet there are little other forms of innovation. My enthusiasm came from the fact that the Millennium G400 is a well-rounded product. I thank you, Bleeding Edge, for your criticisms. I will attempt to work on improving with future articles. If anyone else out there has any other suggestions I hope that you will free to e-mail me them.

Pat

[Bleeding Edge]

Thanks for your considerate reply. I know you could have easily jumped on me for this. As we all know, there's no need for you to apologize. "Your style is your style." Don't change on our account. I appreciate your thought to adjust to the audience; however, I am only one of many. We all have parts of ourselves that need some polishing.

Thanks for the enlightenment. 50 boards. -lol- Now I understand your enthusiasim. /forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Bleeding Edge (edited 11-11-1999).]