PC Curb

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It is a common dilemma for people to contemplate whether or not turning off their computers overnight is beneficial. While there is potential for a reduction in the wearing of hardware because it is running 8 hours less per day, there is also a posibility that turning hardware on and off repeatedly (especially hard drives) can cause more damage than leaving them on for extended periods of time.

The general concensus seems to be that either option is fine because the effect on the hardware is too insignificant to cause damage. Servers can be left on 24/7 and run fine for years untouched, but at the same time hardware is now manufactured quite delicately and can usually withstand being turned off and on.  Ofcourse, this statement only applies to computer setups that provide adequate environments for optimal function. eg. having fans to reduce temperature.

Some of the pros for leaving computers on overnight include; allowing time to complete downloads/uploads and not having to worry about the high bandwidth use effecting your web browsing, it is more efficient to be able to leave particular programs or browser windows open and be able to access them straight away the next day and the potential to increase the life of components.

Some cons include; a greater amount of heat is exhausted and can damage components if not properly ventilated, the extra power usage can increase the price of your electricity bill and lastly, the potential for hard disks to deteriorate or become corrupted after starting and stopping continuously.

Whether or not you choose to shut down your computer every night, the decision you make will most likely not damage your hardware or have drastic effects on anything. It is still advisable to weigh up the pros and cons as you might end up saving a buck or 2 every day or renouncing paranoia due to an uneducated decision.

Solid-state drives (SSDs) are a new form of data storage. Differing to regular hard drives, they don’t contain any moving parts or mechanical actions. They are much quicker for random access of data, quieter and are less prone to damage. They are known for speeding up the loading times when opening programs by common percentages of 10% and sometimes 50% faster compared to regular hard drives.

Two types of SSDs include flash and DRAM based. Flash is a more a non-volatile solution as it doesn’t require a constant power supply to support RAM, whereas a DRAM drive will include an internal battery to make sure data is not lost when the primary power is turned off. While DRAM dives are faster, they are also very volatile which is why flash based drives seem to be more suitable for the consumer market.

The market for solid-state drives is increasing as they grow in popularity and prices decrease. One of the factors holding back its development is the scepticism from potential purchasers about performance degradation aswell as data loss. Data can be read many times and not cause any problems, but the issue is concerned with the modification and overwriting of data because it weakens the tunnel for data preservation.

Some popular drives out now include the Intel x25-m 80g,  Intel x25-E 32g,  OCZ Vertex 60g and the OCZ Vertex 120gb. These range from $400 to $800. These prices are blatantly expensive for the storage they provide for most consumers and they won’t provide much bang-for-buck at the moment. OCV is currently in the development stage of a new SSD series, where sequential read and write speeds expect to reach 200-250mb/s.

Fast speeds, less power use, total silence and faster computing are just some things offered by solid-state drives. Their prevalence in the computer industry is sure to increase in the near future.

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Want your PC setup to appear on Awesome PC Setup Saturday? Send an email to admin@pccurb.com with photos attached.

Click to enlarge.

Want your PC setup to appear on Awesome PC Setup Saturday? Send an email to admin@pccurb.com with photos attached.

After prolonged exposure to computers, some people become interested in the practice of overclocking. This is supported by the thought that they find out they can make their computers run faster without any expensive upgrades. Even unexperienced users are attracted to this concept. Although it is a simple process to perform, overclocking should remain something that only computer enthusiasts attempt because of the negative side affects.

Overclocking will force your components to run faster. It will use more power and perform tasks faster than stock speeds. This can be done by raising particular settings through FSB in your BIOS. While it can speed up your CPU, graphics cards and overall system, there is a reason why it is unsupported by hardware manufacturers. If hardware could comfortably handle the speeds some people overclock to, manufacturers would release products running at those speeds. However, when releasing a product to the market it is important that it runs smoothly on the wide range of computers it will be used in.

The downsides to overclocking include:

• decreasing the life span of your components.
• voiding warranty.
• creating extra heat (which could require a better heatsink if your stock can’t handle it).
• destroying hardware if overclocked too much.
• making your system unstable.
• creating extra dust that can clog up your heatsink and/or other components if not regularly cleaned.

It is up to you to exercise precaution before overclocking. Be sure to analyse both pros and cons before messing with your BIOS settings.

F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin is a survival horror first person shooter. It is a sequel to the original F.E.A.R. and is scheduled to be released on 10th February 2009 on all major platforms including Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. The demo was released yesterday (january 22, 2009) featuring a full level from the game.

It has been just over three years since the release of the original F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon). This sequel follows the same principals as the first aswell as utilising technological advances to add in better features.

I have just completed the demo and have been blown away by the experience this game offers. The amazing graphics, gameplay, weapons and storyline all contribute to my initial positive reaction. The demo begins witha short video introducing Alma, a young paranormal girl (she was also in the first game). You then spawn on to a dark road with debris flying everywhere and must follow the little girl. After falling through a hole in the floor, Alma disappears. There is immediate interaction with an enemy after that and you acquire your first submachine gun to annihilate him.

After continuing through this linear style gameplay it is obvious you are in a school of some sort, judging by the lockers and classrooms. It becomes a scary task to patrol through this school as all the lights are either off or barely flickering, a violent wind is flowing through the rooms knocking over furniture and you encounter flahses of Alma and other ghosts. There is also a suspenseful music bed and the sight of dead bodies and blood splattered all over the walls.

As the demo approahes the end, you travel through a subway and finally make it to gound floor where you have to eliminate more enemies.  The last mission is to ride on Powered Armor, which is a robot-like vehicle that allows you to walk and shoot with high powered guns. While riding on Powered Armor you have to destory other robots aswell as ground troops. This leads you to the end of the demo and you see a collaboration of firefight scenes and before a screen displaying the release date.

I was very impressed with the contents of the demo and will be sure to purchase the game when it comes out on February 10. In the mean time I recommend you try out the free demo of F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin. The file is 1.76gb in total and can be downloaded from here. For those of you who are on limited bandwidth it might be
a good idea to check with your ISP and enquire as to whether they can mirror the file for an unmetered download.

It’s been a few days now since the first beta of Windows 7 was released for public download.  Microsoft have said they will stop the distribution of product keys at 2.5 million people and it will remain a closed beta. After some problems with Microsoft servers following the intitial release to the public on 9th January,  they will be adding more servers to greater serve the large amount of traffic requesting downloads and product keys.

It seems Microsoft aren’t very strict to this limit of 2.5 million users as they are only generating and distributing ten unique keys in total (5 for 32 bit and 5 for 64 bit). This means that keys will be freely available around the internet even after the 2.5 million user limit has passed.

The immediate reaction from some early beta testers include being impressed by the start-up time and the new GUI (graphical user interface) of Windows 7. They also admire the quick installtion of drivers and the compatibility with existing programs (with the exception of games running punkbuster as it will cause players to get kicked) . Some of the complaints include memory usage and the fact Windows 7 appears to be using the same resources as its predecessor; Vista.

Incase Microsoft have any more problems with giving out keys, here are the five product keys for both 32 and 64 bit computer for use with Windows 7 Beta 1.

32bit
GG4MQ-MGK72-HVXFW-KHCRF-KW6KY
QXV7B-K78W2-QGPR6-9FWH9-KGMM7
TQ32R-WFBDM-GFHD2-QGVMH-3P9GC
6JKV2-QPB8H-RQ893-FW7TM-PBJ73
4HJRK-X6Q28-HWRFY-WDYHJ-K8HDH

64bit
JYDV8-H8VXG-74RPT-6BJPB-X42V4
D9RHV-JG8XC-C77H2-3YF6D-RYRJ9
7XRCQ-RPY28-YY9P8-R6HD8-84GH3
RFFTV-J6K7W-MHBQJ-XYMMJ-Q8DCH
482XP-6J9WR-4JXT3-VBPP6-FQF4M