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The TR Podcast 107: Chasing Ivy and mechanical keyboards

Jordan Drake
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The Tech Report Podcast Date: March 4, 2012
Time: 1:13:55

Hosted by Jordan Drake

Co-Hosts: Scott Wasson, Geoff Gasior, and Cyril Kowaliski

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Show notes
This episode kicks off with a sizable amount of listener mail. We answer questions about Ivy Bridge, the best practices for applying thermal compound, and whether or not we’re going to use the upcoming Project CARS game for benching. Then, we dive into our news and reviews with an in-depth discussion of the upcoming iPad 3 and its rumored 7.85″ variant. From there, we talk about what Windows 8 has to offer, and what our newest system guide has to say for itself (“arrrrr”). Finally, we revel in mechanical keyboards as Geoff discusses two offerings from Thermaltake, the Meka G1 and the G-Unit.

Send in listener mail, and we’ll answer on the podcast. – [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter – ScottJordanGeoffCyrilThe Tech Report

Listener mail/tweets:

30in display, integrated graphics, and Ivy Bridge (0:03:39) – from Pete:

“I’m looking ahead at a small form factor PC build to replace a Micro-ATX desktop that is strictly used for office work in the house. I would like to utilize a Mini-ITX setup with my single 30 inch Dell monitor. The current system is an Intel E7200 with Geforce 9800 graphics. It is loud and it takes up quite a bit of space. From the rumors on the web, the “not yet released” Ivy-bridge processor’s HD4000 graphics would appear well suited for this setup, since my preferred enclosure cannot fit a graphics card. I don’t know what motherboard options will be sufficient with respect to graphics.

Specifically, is there any known reason to immediately exclude Z68 from the list of motherboard options, when Ivy Bridge is actually released? The only up-front item I foresee is that Z68 w/ Ivy Bridge would give up native USB 3.0 and possibly triple display. I have not seen anything about Ivy Bridge requiring RAM faster than the 1333MHz desired by Sandy Bridge. I’m not in a hurry, it needs to be built by the end of 2012.quot;

TIM: Best practices? (0:08:40) – from Keanan:

“As a website that does a lot of CPU testing, I am curious to know what thermal interface material (TIM) does the team use when doing their testing and what application technique do they use to apply the material? Do they have a favorite brand like Arctic Silver 5 or Shin-Etsu? Do they use a bb size drop, a straight line, or a crisscross pattern? Do they allow the heat sink to spread it or spread it manually with a credit card?

Scouring the many pages of the interwebs you will read several different ways to apply TIM and which brand is the best. I often see amazing temperatures for the overclocked CPUs on this site and I am curious to hear Scott, Geoff, and Cyril’s approach as to what methods and products they use gain such amazing temps whether they have a best practice or not.”

Ivy Bridge in June? (0:16:38) – from Integer:

“Is Ivy Bridge really pushed to June? (Question based on this article). Only asking about the desktop quad cores.”

Project CARS (0:19:21) – from Michael:

“You guys should check out Project CARS under development by Slightly Mad Studios. Really uses multi core processors.”

Tech discussion:

    A look at TR’s new GPU test rigs – (0:01:23) – Read more

    Apple sets iPad 3 launch for March 7 – (0:21:40) – Read more

    Rumor: 7.85” iPad to hit production later than expected – (0:31:41) – Read more

    The Windows 8 Consumer Preview is now available – (0:34:19) – Read more

    TR’s March 2012 system guide – (0:41:57) – Read more

    Thermaltake’s Meka G1 and G-Unit keyboards – (0:59:07) – Read more

That’s all, folks! We’ll see you on the next episode.

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