AMD cuts CPU prices again

AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, dropped prices on their microprocessor chips again today. For those of you who don't know the name, AMD is the worlds second largest producer of CPUs, or Central Processing Units. They are now also the worlds second largest producer of GPUs, or Graphics Processing Units, after their aquisition of ATI at the end of 2006. ATI also produces the graphics processors for the Xbox-360 and Nintendo Wii, along with processors for devices like cell phones and HD TVs.

Some of the cuts on AMDs mainstream Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processors were as large as 48%. You can now purchase a dual-core AMD CPU for a mere $73!! Those of you looking to build a budget desktop system with an AMD CPU, now would be a good time.

You can read the full story (here) at Extremetech and (here) at TG Daily.

First remote code execution virus hits Vista

This new virus, which is oddly enough carried by animated cursor files, allows a remote user to execute code on your pc if you become infected. Vista is not the only version of Windows affected, and is actually more resistant to the virus than XP, 2000, etc... But this is the first publicly announced remote code execution vulnerability for Vista. I know Cody is going to love this one.

You can read the story (here), and watch a video of a McAfee employee send Vista into an endless reboot loop via this virus. Be careful folks!


IF YOU USE WINDOWS, DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY NEW ANIMATED CURSORS UNTIL MICROSOFT HAS FIXED THIS VULNERABILITY!!!

Bad week for hardware

Hello everyone,
If you didn't already know, my name is Jordan. I'll be your host here on Project Silicon, your source for the newest hardware news; PC and just tech in general. I'll be covering PC hardware mostly, and maybe preview a few cool upcoming gadgets here and there along the way. I'll even throw out some tips on how to keep your Microsoft Windows machine running in tip-top shape! Cody, our resident Mac man, and I like to go back and forth on the whole Windows vs. Mac debate fairly often, so you'll get both sides of the story here at geekout.tv!

To give you a little background on myself, I am the In-store Easy Technician for Staples at the local store here in Mt Vernon, IL. I do hardware repairs, software installs, and lots of other odd jobs. I am what a lot of people would call a "PC enthusiast". By this I mean that I custom build my own systems, and tweak the CRAP out of them, mostly successfully. Some tweaks here and there end up in disaster, but it's a constant learning experience. I overclock, custom cool, and play with everything in my pc that has the options. I've messed with watercooling in the past, but it's just too much of a hassle in my busy life nowadays. Ask Cody, he claims that he "can't keep track of my constant computer upgrades anymore". The upgrades don't come as constantly these days, with the limited budget of your average college student, but I try to keep up.

This week has been a somewhat testy one between my hardware and I. Since Friday, I've had a motherboard die due to a corrupted BIOS (that's Basic Input/Output System), and tonight one of my hard drives has begun to fail. Ugh... Oh well, it was getting to be time for upgrades soon anyway. My new motherboard I just received today is quite nice so far. Haven't tried any overclocking on it yet, but very feature rich. It's the Abit AT8 32X Crossfire board with an ATI RD580 chipset. Very sexy.


For tonight I don't have any news for you really. I did, however dig up this neat write-up by the guys over at (www.madshrimps.be). It details their quest to overclock their Intel Core 2 Duo X6800 processor not only using air cooling, but also "phase change" cooling (similar to how your refrigerator and freezer cool themselves) and LIQUID NITROGEN! That's extreme stuff! I don't even dare mess with that kind of stuff. Too expensive and pretty dangerous. So enjoy, and I'll be back soon with all the newest hardware news!

Thanks for joining us here on geekout.tv! Once again, my name is Jordan, and this is Project Silicon. Good night.