What Can the Core I7 Do For You?

One of the new features on the Intel X58 motherboard is its new CPU platform: The LGA 1366 for Intel's new Core i7 Nehalem processors. These processors are new pieces of extremely promising technology.

So, as the title says, I'm going to talk about the value of the Core i7. What do I mean by "value"? When I say "value", I mean how the processor will be in your mind when you are thinking about upgrading. Yes, the processor series has only been out on the market for a little over 4 months, but I think it's time to start thinking about this. At least ponder the possibilities.

Now, I talked about some of the awesome features of this processor, including Hyper-threading, support for tri-channel memory, and the on-die memory controller. And this is just the beginning; there are many features of this processor that just makes this processor fantastic. On the other hand, it does have some small drawbacks, including lack of Error Correction Code and its somewhat inconsistent levels of overclocking. But that's about it on the small cons.

So, you ask, how valuable is this processor at the moment. Well, it all depends on the budget of your computer or upgrade; I mean, the lowest processor of the series so far (Core i7 920) costs a hefty 290 dollars, and the motherboard alone costs a minimum of 200 dollars, or at least that was the lowest price I could find. Now, let's get down to the nitty-gritty.

There are three Core i7 processors so far in this Nehalem series: the 920, 940, and the 965 EX. The 920 currently costs around 290 dollars, the 940 costs around 560, and the 965 EX costs a bit over 1000 dollars. Now, from benchmarks I have seen on the Internet sources, the 920 alone does amazingly well for the price it is at right now; even though it's a hefty 290 dollars, when you compare it to other processors that cost around the same price, you'll be surprised how much better the 920 does against its predecessors.

Now, you're probably wondering why the 965 EX is so outrageously overpriced. Well, the EX, as you might have guessed, stands for Extreme Edition. Now, if you have seen some of the Extreme Edition processors in the previous Intel series(the Core 2 series), they are similarly priced. Why? Because of its Unlocked Clock function. Basically, it lets you overclock way more than any other processor. Is this worth the ridiculous price? Well, that's up for you to decide. Now, this topic will be elaborated even more on a later article, so stay tuned for the next part!

How to Speed Up Windows 7 Quickly and Easily?

Is your Windows 7 slow? Wondering how to speed up Windows 7 without breaking the bank? Well I may be able to help you. But first off you need to make sure you are meeting the minimum hardware requirements to run Windows 7 on your system. Here they are:

• 1GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• 1GB of main memory
• 16GB of available disk space
• Support for DX9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)
• A DVD-R/W drive

Keep in mind however, that if you were able to effectively run Windows XP or Vista, there should be little reason that you cannot also run Windows 7. The new Windows OS is designed to be very light and run quickly without requiring huge amounts of RAM or GHz's. Most folks having problems are the ones trying to jump from Windows 2000 to Windows 7.

If you meet or come close to these requirements and Windows 7 is still slow, then the issue lies somewhere else. For starters, cut down on the amount of programs running in the background. You can use MsConfig to do this or simple install software that will identify programs secretly running in the background and eating up loads of virtual memory.

The second option is to clean the Windows registry. This is perhaps the most effective means to speed up Windows 7. There is no internal cleaning tool to clear out errors and corrupt files from the registry. This contributes to significant congestion which will slow down Windows 7 significantly.

While these tweaks can be complicated to perform alone, you can scan your system with software which will fix these problems automatically. It will only take a couple minutes and you should notice a faster Windows 7 right away. Don't worry about compatibility issues, if the program can run on Vista it can run on Windows 7.