One of the services we offer here at Puget Systems, aimed at high-end gamers and enthusiasts, is overclocking. It is a practice that has been around for quite some time which involves pushing the processor in a computer beyond its rated clock speed. This can provide an additional performance boost without the need to spend more money on a faster processor, though there are some trade-offs involved: additional heat and stress above and beyond what the CPU may have been designed to handle.
Overclocking Done Right
Gaming Performance with Dual Monitors
Many of the computers we sell here at Puget Systems will be used for playing games, and we also get a lot of folks wanting to run two (or more) monitors. Sometimes those goals intersect, and in those situations I have had people ask if they needed to get a second video card so that using additional monitors will not impact their performance for gaming. I myself use two monitors here at work, which has been a great improvement in usability, but I don’t play games in the office. Because of that I’ve had to fall back on anecdotal evidence when this topic comes up, and make educated guesses depending on individual scenarios. Rather than continue in that approach, though, I wanted to get hard numbers to support my advice.Â
Posted in Gaming / Entertainment, Hardware Analysis
Tagged Computer, Dual Monitors, Gaming
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Clarifying “Made in the USA”
It is not uncommon for our sales staff to field requests from people searching for a computer that is made in the USA. We suspect this uptick in interest originates from those looking to support American workers, especially in times of economic uncertainty. We also believe that many American shoppers are demanding a higher level of after-the-sale support that an US based company is often better positioned to deliver.
Posted in Hardware Analysis
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How We are Handling the Hard Drive Shortage
Image credit to Bright Side of News
Widespread flooding in Thailand is affecting millions of people there, and has shut down many thousands of factories. In the computer industry, this is creating a severe hard drive shortage. Some manufacturers (such as Western Digital) are directly affected, with plants in Thailand that are shut down. In addition, many hard drive component suppliers are also impacted by the flooding, extending the reach of this shortage to all hard drive manufacturers.
Posted in Hardware Analysis
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Spanning Multiple Monitors
Early this year, I decided to purchase and setup a trio of monitors for a triple monitor display. The setup itself was going to be used in a span configuration with a resolution of 5760 x 1080 on an ATI 5870 Eyefinity Edition video card with the goal of being able to see more while gaming. I thought I’d share my experiences, and what I learned may help you with your own monitor configuration.
Posted in Hardware Analysis
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Announcing Puget Labs
Last December, we got together at Puget Systems and talked about our industry, how we see computers evolving, and how Puget Systems can continue to grow as a leader in our industry. We mapped out an exciting long term plan, with some ambitious goals for 2011. I am happy to announce today one piece of that plan — Puget Labs. What is that all about?
Posted in Business Practices, Company News
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PCI-Express Performance and nVidia’s New Warning
Puget Systems has been in the business of building computers for 11 years now, and we know what we are doing when it comes to assembling top-notch custom computers. It is a bit insulting, then, when a parts manufacturer puts out a warning which appears – on the surface – to indicate something we do is resulting in anything other than the highest performance possible. Yet here I am, to let you know about just such a notice that nVidia’s latest driver software is giving when using their graphics cards in certain configurations.
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Posted in Gaming / Entertainment, Hardware Analysis, Technology Commentary
Tagged graphics, motherboard, nVidia, PCI-E, PCI-Express, performance, SLI, video, warning
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H67, P67, and Z68 – Which one is right for you?
Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor architecture is turning 6 months old in July, and has been a major seller in the PC market in these few short months. There was a slight hiccup a month after it was released, when it was found that there was a defect in the SATA controller of the chipsets designed to work with these processors, but that has long since been resolved and no further problems have arisen.
Posted in Hardware Analysis, Technology Commentary
Tagged chipset, H67, Intel, motherboard, P67, Sandy Bridge, Z68
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How is the Tablet Market Affecting Puget Systems?
Yesterday Gartner released a report that worldwide PC shipments fell in the first quarter of 2011. As I read over the article I couldn’t help but compare this current state of the PC industry as a whole to that of Puget Systems, but before I get into those thoughts, here’s a key excerpt from the article:
“Weak demand for consumer PCs was the biggest inhibitor of growth,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “Low prices for consumer PCs, which had long stimulated growth, no longer attracted buyers. Instead, consumers turned their attention to media tablets and other consumer electronics. With the launch of the iPad 2 in February, more consumers either switched to buying an alternative device, or simply held back from buying PCs. We’re investigating whether this trend is likely to have a long-term effect on the PC market.”
Posted in Hardware Analysis
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Custom vs. Closed Loop Liquid Cooling
As a custom computer manufacturer, we’ve sold liquid-cooled systems from well before I joined the company. A water-based coolant is able to transfer heat away from hot components like the processor (CPU) and video card (GPU) more quickly than air alone would. That added cooling is appealing for folks who want to push their systems beyond design specifications. Overclocking ability is perhaps the most the most tangible benefit of liquid-cooling, but there are other reasons some folks are interested in it: liquid-cooling can make a computer look very stylish, for example, or allow operation of more hot-running components than a chassis could normally keep cool.
Posted in Hardware Analysis, Technology Commentary
Tagged cooling, liquid, liquid-cooling, overclocking, water-cooling
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