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Overclocked Ivy Bridge Chips Run Much Hotter Than Sandy Bridge

Whenever a new processor line gets released by Intel or AMD, the enthusiasts are usually the first to pick them up. As well as enjoying the increased stock performance, many also decide to overclock their chip to see how much extra performance can be squeezed out.
However, anyone who has overclocked a Sandy Bridge processor successfully may be in for a shock when they pick up an Ivy Bridge part. It has been discovered through testing that Ivy Bridge runs significantly hotter when overclocked. By significantly, I mean as much as 20 degrees Celsius more at the same clock speed.
The Tech Report did a real-world test where they pitted a Sandy Bridge Core i7-2600K against an Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770K. Both chips were pushed to 4.9GHz using air cooling and the results logged.
The power use was slightly higher for the 3770K (236w vs. 231w), voltages were almost the same, but again Ivy Bridge was a little higher (1.368V vs. 1.381V). Heat is where the two chips really differed, though. At 4.9GHz the Sandy Bridge chip held a steady 80 degrees Celsius, but Ivy Bridge was at 100 degrees Celsius. That may still be within operational limits, but suggests anyone wanting to run an overclocked Ivy Bridge is going to have to invest in some better cooling.
As for why there is such a big difference in temperatures, the culprit is most likely going to be the change Intel has made to the thermal interface. Sandy Bridge chips use a fluxless solder for the link between the CPU and the heat spreader. Ivy Bridge has switched to thermal paste, which is less efficient at dissipating heat.
Intel has confirmed the additional temperature is down to “different package thermal technology” and a “higher thermal density” for the Ivy Bridge chips. Neither of which are going to change, so if you intend to overclock one of these new chips, be sure to invest in rock solid cooling.

More at The Tech Report

Date Night

Guest post by Jewel Cole

Tonight is our date night. We even got a babysitter all lined up. The kids have a birthday party to go to that the sitter was going to take them to, so I’m actually thinking about seeing if my husband wants to just stay home for our date. I’m totally serious. We never get to be home alone at our own house without the kids. We always go to a restaurant or something. It would be nice to be able to cook and eat dinner just the two of us, and maybe watch Direcv Movies on the couch together. It’d certainly be cheaper than going out to eat and spending money on seeing a movie at the theater. I’d be more relaxing, too. Then, the sitter could bring the kids back home to us, and we could bathe them and put them in bed. I think that sound like a really nice date. It’s something different, anyway. You don’t have to go “out” to have a nice date, especially if the kids are gone.

6 Glasses With Integrated Displays Available Today

I was introduced to this concept through William Gibson's Virtual Light. The McGuffin in the story is a pair of sunglasses that have similar capabilities as the most recent entry into the heads-up lenses.

"While Google’s augmented-reality glasses are receiving immense attention — and scrutiny — they’re certainly not the first pieces of eyewear to include an integrated display.
A company called Vuzix released its first pair of augmented-reality glasses, the iWear VR920, in 2009. The glasses contain two LCD displays that mimic a 62-inch screen sitting nine feet away. An add-on camera routes real-time footage of the real world to the LCDs, overlaying augmented-reality elements powered by LinceoVR software.

The Vuzix glasses were perhaps the first low-cost integrated-display glasses on the market that didn’t outright suck. Nonetheless, that distinction hasn’t translated into mass-market appeal and sales."

Read the full article at Wired:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/04/6-glasses-with-integrated-displays-that-you-can-buy-today/

Bluffbot is Alive!

No, not Johnny 5! Bluffbot!

BluffBot 2.0 - Strategies for Heads-Up No Limit Holdem

Bluffbot is a world champion poker "bot" designed by Teppo Salonen for the purpose of competing in AI poker tournaments. In 2007, the new BluffBot 2.0 went undefeated!

Now you can learn the winning strategies behind Bluffbot. When to Make a continuation bet on the flop, Draw against the odds, Make blocking bets on the river and more.

You can even download an earlier version of Bluffbot at the official Bluffbot site.

Hackers Attack Power Grid. Sorta.

Hackers armed with computers attacked a power grid, causing an electrical turbine to spin out of control, shudder, lock up and explode in smoking ruin.

Or at least it would have, if this had been real.

The event was essentially produced by the Idaho National Laboratory for top policy makers in Washington.

"They've taken a theoretical attack and they've shown in a very demonstrable way the impact you can have using cyber means and cyber techniques against this type of infrastructure," said Amit Yoran, former U.S. cybersecurity chief for the Bush administration. Yoran is chief executive for NetWitness Corp., which sells sophisticated network monitoring software.

"It's so graphic," Yoran said. "Talking about bits and bytes doesn't have the same impact as seeing something catch fire."

My question would be; "how did a hacker cause such an event to occur?"

Call me cynical, but I have little faith in our government enough as it is and barely any trust in their motives or their objectives. Could this be a legitimate threat or more fear mongering to justify an ever-increasing budget windfall for any group involved in so-called "national security"?

The full story from Yahoo and AP

Apple Sucks It Up

Your money, is usually what they're sucking up, but in this case, they're stepping up and sucking up their pride to offer early adopters some of that money they scammed off of them.

After their initial announcement that they were going to lower the price of their flawed iPhone's by $200, those Apple-blinded minions who slapped down $600 to be the first to have the dimly lit phones were pretty pissed off that they ponied up such a hefty fee, only to have Jobs lower the price a month later. Have to admit I'm finding it difficult to feel sympathy for people would would spend that kind of money for a phone, but I still feel pretty irked that the obvious "real" price of the item versus the cynical "market" price of it is so clearly uneven.

Announced today, Jobs is offering $100 to those who bought iPhones early on, to mitigate the damage he's done to his legions of faithful minions. Personally, with the kind of mindless and blind product loyalty Apple engenders, I don't even think it's necessary, but it's good to see Jobs doing 'almost' the right thing.

Full Story from Wired Online

- interestingly, the $100 he's offering to early adopters is not cash, but store credit. Crafty bastard.

Pfizer's Computers Are Zombies

Pfizer's computers have apparently been infected by malware and are spewing out spam to millions of users everywhere. The irony is, out of shear coincidence, the ads being spammed are for their own products. I guess that's not quite that ironic considering they are the reason for a majority of spam in the first place.

The full story from Wired Online

Board Deals

Board Deals sells Skate Shoes, Element skateboards and sweet ramps and rails. they also offer skateboard parts and full-on decks.

Checking out the site, it's pretty well set-up. I liked the simple but edge graphics and the easy navigation. All of the brands they carry are right smack in the middle of the page and there is a clear, convenient menu to the left. Basic but simple. The last thing I want when I'm trying to buy stuff is a confusing flash-animated maze.

I checked out a couple of brands and categories and they were as simple as they seem. The selection for the particular product line, Billabong, was a little light, but they did have a few products and I would think they'd have more soon.

Overall, I give Board Deals a 4 out of 5. The sheer number of brands available almost makes up for the lite offerings within each brand's page.

Animated GIFs Could Be Harboring Attacks

According to PC World, animated GIFs could be hiding a malicious script that can infect your computer and leave it vulnerable to further attack.

Innocent-Looking GIFs Host Malware Attacks

Hackers have begun circulating a PHP exploit embedding it in a seemingly harmless GIF image, according to security researchers.

The exploit was discovered in at least one GIF on a major image-hosting website, according to a bulletin from the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Center (ISC) on Tuesday.

Full Story from Yahoo and PC World