The Tech Report

This episode of the TR podcast is a bang-for-buck compilation of listener mail and hardware reviews. To top it off, we're delivering it to you four days earlier than usual! Jordan, Scott, Geoff, and Cyril start off with several listener questions covering everything from USB 3.0 to the progression of CPU technology and the latest GPU drivers. In the second half of the episode, Scott delves deep inside Nvidia's latest graphics architecture, and Geoff gives us the lowdown on Western Digital's newest 10,000-RPM hard drive.

While Scott is hard at work finishing his Nvidia GF100 review, Cyril and Geoff join Jordan for this short and sweet episode. We start with a roundup of gaming-related topics: the size of the market for top-of-the-line PC gaming hardware, EA's broken DRM being assaulted from within, and Valve's Gabe Newell speaking his mind about Ubisoft's equally dysfunctional copy protection. Moving on, Geoff has the scoop about AMD's new gaming manifesto, and rumor has it cheaper DirectX 11 GeForce graphics cards could be coming out this summer. We wrap things up by going over our latest poll, which reveals the IT roots of a surprising portion of our readership, and by examining Google's souring relationships with both Apple and the Chinese government.

Join us this week for a classic TR Podcast episode—sans our lovable French news jockey Cyril. Scott, Geoff and Jordan kick off the episode with a follow-up to our recent ".5" episode, which discussed AMD's Eyefinity and the new Radeon HD 5870. Scott gives us his updated take on day-to-day Eyefinity gameplay after tweaking the monstrous six-display rig. Moving across the graphic aisle, Nvidia brings us both good and bad news as the next-gen Ion takes flight amid reports that the latest ForceWare graphics drivers are causing GPU overheating. And there's more from the snafu department; Newegg has dropped a major supplier following the recent fake Core i7-920 debacle. Our news roundup concludes with a flurry of gaming stories, including some sexy Crysis 2 screenshots, Portal 2 goodness, and much to Jordan's delight, the news that Steam is coming to the Mac.

This episode's hardware reviews start with the crazy-fast Intel Core i7-980X Extreme CPU, a chip that has it all: headroom, value, efficiency, and speed. Geoff gives us the scoop on AMD's new 890GX integrated graphics chipset, and Scott gives the shortest GPU review we've every aired, succinctly summing up the disappointing Radeon HD 5830. Finally, Scott gives his thoughts on the issue of ad blockers, and the harm they do to publications like TR.

In another exciting ".5" episode, Scott and Jordan give us the low-down on AMD's Eyefinity technology. AMD's traveling press team has just installed a six-display monster rig in Damage Labs, and Shane Parfitt of AMD joins Scott to talk about the graphics power needed to power twelve megapixels, not to mention bezel compensation, display grouping, and more.

We start this episode with a panel discussion of Apple's iPad. Scott, Geoff, and Cyril voice criticisms about the device, while Jordan makes his case for the iPad succeeding as an everyman consumer tablet. Moving on to PC hardware, we cover a variety of news surrounding Nvidia's upcoming GF100 graphics processor, not to mention the company's latest switchable graphics technology, a.k.a. Optimus. Scott goes on to deliver an exclusive podcast preview of his Radeon HD 5830 article, which should pop up on the website this week. Finally, our editors explain the new CPU picks, price hikes, and component tweaks from our latest system guide.

In a mix of penance for last week's podcast absence and momentum from our latest hit article, Jordan and Scott have teamed up for a special edition of the TR Podcast. Scott talks about his latest CPU roundup, what processors came out on top, and how our baseline Pentium 4 fared in comparison. The conversation also addresses our newest take on CPU and system value, overclocking, and more.

In this special episode of the TR Podcast, we're taking you back to Sin City and imparting some of the sights, smells, and sounds (okay, maybe just the sounds) of the world's largest consumer electronics expo. Along with a taste of the CES experience, we provide added insight and information into the news and buzz we've already covered on the site and on the podcast. This episode includes special interviews and conversations straight from Vegas hotel suite meetings—you won't want to miss it!

Fresh back from CES 2010, the gang attempts to recap everything seen during and after this year's upbeat electronics expo. We start with Intel's new mobile and desktop platforms and other interesting technologies, like the Wireless Display (WiDi) feature included in a few different Arrandale laptops. From AMD, we have both external graphics and the new, $99 Radeon HD 5670. Nvidia, meanwhile, showed its next-generation Tegra system-on-a-chip and GeForce 3D Vision Surround, a 3D gaming scheme Scott actually likes.

Other CES delights include an exciting motion-control product coming soon from Razer and EVGA's ridiculously massive dual-Xeon motherboard, which we're not sure will actually fit into existing PC enclosures. We also go over Asus' new line of stylish-looking laptops, the fab behemoth that GlobalFoundries is becoming, and a bevy of new SSDs from, well, just about everybody.

After kicking off this episode with a review of James Cameron's Avatar, the gang welcomes Rob Williams of TechGage, who fills in for TR's venerable chipset and storage expert Geoff Gasior this week. Cyril then follows up on last episode's GPU shortage discussion, giving us the latest on the availability of AMD's Radeon HD 5850 and 5870 graphics cards. Later, in a round of ultraportable stories, Scott shares his experiences with GPU-accelerated Flash video, installing Windows 7 on his Samsung NC20, and using Acer's Aspire Timeline 1810TZ ultraportable. A listener question subsequently prompts several Intel-related stories, including updates about the Larrabee graphics processor, the Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit, and the upcoming 32-nm Clarkdale, Arrandale, and Gulftown CPUs.

The fall movie season is well under way, and Scott starts this episode by asking the panel whether $500-million megafilm Avatar> will be worth the cost of a ticket and popcorn. Jordan and Cyril suggest James Cameron will score another hit, while Scott and Geoff are dubious and draw parallels with Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 1998—a lot of hype and a big letdown. Scott goes on to relate the woes of giving tech buying advice to friends and family. Moving on, it's time for another TR system guide, and our Christmas '09 edition is rife with compromises to combat the RAM price hikes and GPU shortages. We talk about the possibility of GPU scarcity continuing well into 2010, as well. Also in this episode: Microsoft is trying to combat Steam, we pit two 2TB hard drives against each other, and choosing between Dell and Asus for a 14" notebook turns out to be somewhat complicated.