Well we finally got a sample of the GTX 275. I don’t mean to be down on nVidia for this being a paper launch but like everyone else I would rather have seen a hard launch. Either way the parts are out there now and seem to be quite plentiful. I just wish things were a little bit less confusing in their product line up. I try my best to explain it in the edition of Tech Tips. Enjoy!

Yeah. It’s pretty much the best Tech Tips ever. I apologize in advance for the intro. I th0ught it would be funny, then it turned out really brutal, but then it got so brutal it got funny again.

I had a lot of fun with these products and making this edition of Tech Tips, and I think that they both represent a compelling value as unique products in the market. Without further ado: The Razer Mamba #5….

“So Linus, you’ve probably made some great value upgrades to your system that increase performance while decreasing total cost of ownership.”

At least, that’s what most people would be concerned about with a computer upgrade. Here’s what I’ve actually done over the last couple of weeks:

1. Changed from a Gigabyte EX58-EXTREME to a DFI X58-T3EH8 for looks and to get an extra internal USB header
2. Added a $135CAD (by the time it’s shipped to me from Europe) fan controller
3. Made a whole lot of adapters & sleeved a lot of cables
4. Added another water cooling radiator to the front of my case (a HW Labs Black Ice Pro II that I had lying around)
5. Modded 6 mesh front bay covers to sit in place of the solid aluminum ones that came with my case
6. Took my case apart down to the bare frame and washed it with soapy water (much like I should do to my car

Things still to be done:

1. The fans don’t match, as those of you with a good eye may have noticed, so I need to get some more GELID UV Blue fans for the top, back, and bottom rad. I also need some LED blue fans for the front rad, but I’m not yet decided on that one. I may just add a UV cathode in the front for the UV blue fans I already have there.

This was the second most stressful tech tips I’ve ever filmed. The most stressful one was the first one where I had no idea what I was doing pretty much.

That should give you some idea what sort of things stress me out… Haha.

These CPUs are samples from AMD, so breaking them at least doesn’t cost the company money, but it’s a matter of personal pride that I’ve never damaged a CPU beyond usability, even though I did run one through the wash once, and I did drop this entire tray of OEM parts on the floor (that’s how the pin got bent in the first place). The 720 Black Edition is working awesome and I think you’ll find this short & unexpected edition of NCIX Tech Tips quite enjoyable.

It’s been an AMD sorta week in the Tech Tips lab! We covered how to unlock your Phenom II X3 710 or 720 Black edition and turn it into a quad core.

We’ve had a lot of comments about this video from people concerned about the legal ramifications of this video. All I have to say is this: Don’t worry about it.

This is no different from overclocking a 2.8GHz processor and turning it into a 3.6GHz processor (something we’re going to cover very shortly). It’s also no different from unlocking “pipes” on older generation graphics cards before the manufacturers took that option away from us.

It’s not a guarantee, but if you get one that unlocks, it’s a terrific value

That’s right. A 9 cell battery. I realize in retrospect that many people may not have taken this seriously when we released it on account of it being April 1st.

It’s a very short Tech Tips, but consider it a precursor to the updated netbook round up we have coming!

No, this is not one of those stupid ads about how you can “make $100,000/wk getting students to click on ads for you. The reality is that the students are probably a lot smarter and more capable than you if you’re clicking on those ads…

No, this cheque is not for $100,000, but it is 3-digits, and it was nice to see some cash coming in from Tech Tips.  We’d ideally like for Tech Tips to be self-sustaining somewhere down the line, but it’ll be quite a while before that happens. For now, a big thanks to my boss for keeping this project going!

BTW, yes… That IS the cameraman, and this photo is taken by the one and only AdamC!