Differences.

They come in all sizes. Some can be game changing while others can be so minute that you don't notice. For instance, going from 1.2GHz to 1.4GHz on a netbook. Sad news: it isn't game changing. Noticeable? Yes. Spectacular? Not really.

However, going from a 2GHz Athlon X2 on a 939 board to an AM2 Athlon x2 at 2.8GHz is. Surprising I know. But really. I never understood the impact of clock frequency on games until this past weekend. The difference is between WoW lagging hard in Dalaran at lowest settings to running at 40+ fps in Dalaran on highest settings. And on a 9800GT, Dalaran should be no sweat on any quality settings.

So I've come to the easy conclusion, that my gaming desktop needs an upgrade. The Phenom 9600BE was great when I bought it. Quad core multitasking power for under $120 was a steal, no matter the clock speed. But now that 2.3GHz clock speed is starting to show. My Radeon HD4770, which is technically more powerful than a dying 9800GT, also struggles in Dalaran on any setting on this computer. And I've never understood why. Simple: it's being held back by my processor.

Lesson learned? Never underestimate the impact your CPU has on your games. Time for a cheap way out. Overclock? Not on an old school Phenom baby. I can't get it past 2.5GHz without raising the core voltage, which raises the temperature quite a bit. Lemon much? An Athlon II X4 is in my future. With another 4GB of DDR2 and a second HD4770 for some Crossfire love. Now I just need the cash for it. How much do kidneys go for online?

Take it and run with it.

Into a wall. Haven't posted anything in a while, school's been hell.

Apparently the scene has been moving past me. The ultra-portable scene that is. Things are heating up out there in the big bad world of not-quite-netbooks. All the cool companies are getting into the game for a bit of action. Just like with netbooks, people are snatching them up. All these Pentium CULVs and Core 2 Solos hitting the market are making me a bit insecure about my little Athlon 64 (that I use every day now as a school computer).

So what can I do to combat my processor related insecurities? Well, get a new one. But that's out of reach for a poor college student. And you know how that is.

So what else can I do? Cry? Complain? I try to do as little of those as possible. I make due with what I've got. And overclock.

That's how you do it. Hop on over to this forum and check out a few methods. Getting a cool new wallpaper is optional by the way, but highly recommended.

Cause and effect baby.

Last score was 2.4. Oddly enough, the Aero graphics score went up from 2.4 as well. The processor really is the bottleneck on this system. 1.43GHz doesn't seem like a lot, but if it pushes that score up by half a point, I can't wait to take it further. If it'll go further that is. Locked down laptop BIOSes aren't friendly, and neither is restrictive cooling on a laptop.

On a less warranty-voiding note, I finally figured out a way to use my Gateway on my desk comfortably. As you probably know, typing on a completely flat laptop keyboard on a flat surface can get rather tiring after a while. But reading Lifehacker recently has put me in a "solution oriented" mood. So I rummaged through the crap in my room and found a 2" hard plastic ring binder. Makes a perfect mount for my Gateway. It even brings it up perfectly level with my 19" LCD for my desktop. And I can stuff the AC adapter inside the binder to clear the clutter on my desk. Nice.