Rorschach.net

Here you go Matt:

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850, 3GHz, 65nm, 4M L2 cache
• Mobo: Gigabyte P35-DS3R, FSB 1333Mhz, onboard network and sound
• Memory: Corsair 1Gx2, PC6400, DDR2
• HDD: 500G Western Digital, 7k rpm, SATA2
• Vid: Nvidia 8800 GTS, 320 M, PCI-Ex16
• OS: Windows Vista Premuim OEM
• Case: Antec P180 full tower, 4 120mm multi-speed fans
• Power Supply: OCZ Stealth Stream 600W

I can run the Bioshock demo at full 1280×1024 res with all graphics turned up to high without slowdown. I can also play a game of Supreme Commander. I’m very happy with the system and not too much of a pain to put together.

I must brag. My so smart husband has been put up with some pretty impressive names for the Western Information Security Executive of the Year Award. See the bottom right hand corner of the page.

And quoted in another article.

So after almost 4 years I’m building a new desktop computer, a.k.a forming a new tiny god. I’ve done the research and learned about who’s in the lead right now Intel or AMD and Nvidia vs ATI /AMD. Sadly AMD loses in both areas, a reversal of my last system. I know how many cores I want, I know my memory timings, and I’m going to install Vista.

What’s interesting is I live in SoCal now, which means all the online computer stores are all in my state and I have to pay sales tax. The scales are balanced though, as I’ve got confirmation and a tracking number that order I placed this morning has left the warehouse a scant 100 miles north of me and should be on my doorstep on Monday. So it’s like I paid for next-day shipping and on Monday the assembly begins!

If you own an Xbox 360 then you must go download the free Bioshock demo now. How can you pass up exploring an art-deco styled underwater city run by a Howard Hughes gone psycho? Plenty of creepy bad guys and guns and weird powers by hacking your own genetics.

Go get now. It’s out next Tuesday. Can also run on a beefy PC if you have one of those (I don’t).

Sony is a consumer electronics company. For many years Sony dominated their industry with their TVs, DVD players, CD players, and portable music with the Walkman brand. Lately though the only dominance Sony has enjoyed was the undisputed leadership in console gaming of the Playstation 2.So the Playstation 3 was released last year. Its computing power is based on multiple Cell processors and feaured a Blu-Ray DVD drive. The Cell architecture is notoriously difficult for game developers to program for and the Blu-Ray delayed the release of the PS3 and is a large part of the $600 pice tag. But that doesn’t matter because Sony is sacrificing its dominance in the game console space to give the rest of the company a leg up. The PS3 was not designed to be a game console it was designed to put Sony back on top of the consumer electronics industy first and to play games second.

Sure as a console it’s solidly in 3rd place. Currently in North America there’s 2 X360s being sold for every PS3, and twice as many Wii. But the PS3 is helping Sony win the public relation phase of the new DVD format war with 1.3M of the total 1.4M Blu-Ray players in the home being PS3s. The PS3 is the basis for Sony’s attempt to take back consumer computing even going after Intel at their own game.

Nintendo made the Wii to bring videogames to every man, woman, and child on the planet. Microsoft made the X360 dominate the traditional console gaming market and drive its online services. Sony made the PS3 to win the last media format war (it’s not going lose another one with Betamax, Memory stick, UMD, MiniDisc as existing black marks) and to have the CPU for every consumer electronic device.

Personally I like to play games so I’ve got an X360 and seriously considering getting a Wii when they have some more traditional games out. I just don’t see why I should spend $600 on a device that’s more a proof-of-concept for Sony’s attempt to reclaim the throne than something to play games.