Intels Core Xperiment i9 9990XE

Intel launched a new processor in their Core X series recently, and it is novel in many ways. It combines a fairly high core count with very high clock speeds, at the cost of power consumption and high heat output. It also is very limited in availability, being offered only to select system integrators via a private auction. We got our hands on one in the first auction, and have been putting it through several rounds of benchmarking to see if it is worth the price and hassle, as well as to determine if we will be offering it in our workstations.

Intel Announces New 9th Gen Core CPU Series

Today Intel has officially announced the launch of new mainstream desktop processors, including the first Core i9 branded chip for this market segment. We are testing these processors now, and are excited about what we have found so far, but cannot publish performance data until October 19th.

Keeping Up To Date

One comment I hear often when talking to a client is, “I used to keep up to date with technology, but it’s been a while now, and I’m out of touch with the latest trends.” I can certainly understand why.

Stop Directly Comparing CPU Specs

Every time a new generation of CPUs is announced, I see a number of people writing about how they think it will be faster (or slower) than current technology because of the advertised specifications. CPU specs alone don’t tell the whole story, though, and comparing core count and clock speed across different brands or generations of processors is extremely misleading. Stop doing it!

Intel & AMD: The 2017 CPU Wars

AMD is releasing a whole spectrum of new CPUs this year, from the consumer oriented Ryzen to the server-class Epyc. In response, Intel has accelerated their normal processor release cadence and is putting out new products across the board as well. We are here to explain a bit about what is going on, what to look forward to, and whether it is worth waiting for.

In Search of Competition

While speaking to our customers, I’m often asked why we don’t carry a specific brand or type of product. For example, AMD recently released a CPU called Ryzen that competes with Intel CPUs. AMD is positioning these chips as comparable to Intel’s offerings but at a lower price. Some customers are interested in how these new chips stack up.

Visiting Supercomputing 2016

I made the trek to Salt Lake City to attend the Supercomputing conference. I’ve attended conferences both large and small going back 20 years, but nothing could prepare me for what I saw at Supercomputing. If you’re not familiar with Supercomputing, it’s an annual conference where scientists, researchers, and engineers gather to discuss high-performance computing, network storage and related technologies.

Boot Time Comparison

How quickly a computer boots up doesn’t always correspond to how much processing power the system has, or how fast the system drive is. This blog talks a little about what contributes to both faster and slower boot times, with a video comparison.

Product Announcement – New Traverse Mobile Workstation

Over the years I have worked here, our laptop line has changed a lot. We’ve had massive gaming-oriented models with 19-inch screens, tiny 12-inch models for the ultra-portable market, and everything in-between. We even had a touchscreen model for a while, since lots of people asked about that tech… and then it sold only a handful of units. We have just launched another update to our laptops, though, and I wanted to talk for a moment about our direction and goals.