How to Enable Nvidia SLI on Crossfire support only motherboard

First let see the difference between the SLI and Crossfire Support.

         Scalable Link Interface (SLI) is a brand name for a multi-GPU solution developed by NVIDIA for linking two or more video cards together to produce a single output. SLI is an application of parallel processing for computer graphics, meant to increase the processing power available for graphics.SLI allows two or three graphics processing units (GPUs) to share the workload when rendering a frame. Ideally, two cards using identical GPUs are installed in a motherboard that contains two PCI-Express slots, set up in a master-slave configuration. Both cards are given the same part of the 3D scene to render, but effectively half of the work load is sent to the master card through a connector called the SLI Bridge. As an example, the master card works on the top half of the scene while the slave card works on the bottom half. When the slave card is done, it sends its output to the master card, which combines the two images to form one and then outputs the final render to the monitor.

                AMD CrossFireX (previously known as CrossFire) is a brand name for the multi-GPU solution by Advanced Micro Devices, originally developed by ATI Technologies. The technology allows up to four GPUs to be used in a single computer to improve graphics performance. CrossFire can be implemented with varying-GPU cards of the same generation (this is in contrast to Nvidia's SLI, which generally only works if all cards have the same GPU). This allows buyers who have varying budgets over time to purchase different cards and still get the benefits of increased performance. With the latest generation cards, they will only crossfire with other cards in their sub series. For example, GPU in the same series can be crossfired with each other. So a 5800 series GPU (e.g. a 5830) can run together with another 5800 series GPU (e.g. 5870). However GPU's not in the same hundred series cannot be crossfired successfully. (e.g. a 5770 cannot run with a 5870).A nameless razor fusses.


Now lets' go back to the main topic.

Here's the step how can you enable SLI on crossfire motherboard.

1. First you must have of course a crossfire motherboard( like p45,890gx,890fx,etc)
2. Two identical sli support video card like Geforce 9800GT, GTX 260 and etc.
3. An SLI bridge but updated "magic" SLI driver doesn't need an SLI bridge.
 4. And the most important is this driver to support your crossfire motherboard to SLI.
     Check out this link:  SLI support driver.

Here's some screen shot taken. Regards to TPC.

Here's an example of SLI enable on P45 motherboard Crossfire support only.
GPU screenshot.

Test games on Crysis Warhead to see the difference between single and SLI enabled video cards.

SLI disabled

SLI enabled

Conclusion:

       As we see, SLI benifits a lot on games. Thanks to this magic SLI enable driver coz we don't need to purchased an SLI motherboard.

LG Flatron 24inch LED monitor (Model: W2486L)

         LG is a well known computer monitor manufacturer in the last few years and becoming more and more popular. There have been numerous such monitors manufactured by LG specialists and many users have been interested in analyzing their features especially their new technology the L.E.D. backlight. Im here to discuss you about the features and a little review of LG W2486L computer monitor.

Specifications:

• Display Type LCD display / TFT active matrix - LED backlight
• TFT Technology TN
• Width 22.7 in
• Depth 7.8 in
• Height 17.4 in
• Weight 9.7 lbs
• Enclosure Color High-gloss piano black 

Display:

• Diagonal Size 24.0 in - Widescreen
• Dot Pitch / Pixel Pitch 0.277 mm
• Max Resolution 1920 x 1080 / 60.0 Hz
• Video Format 1080p
• Color Support 16.7 million colors
• Max Sync Rate (V x H) 75.0 Hz x 83.0 KHz
• Video Bandwidth 135.0 MHz
• Response Time 2.0 ms
• Controls / Adjustments Phase,
  Clock,
  White balance,
  Gamma correction,
  H/V position,
  Brightness,
  Contrast
• OSD Languages Russian,
  German,
  Finnish,
  Spanish,
  French,
  Polish,
  Italian,
  Swedish,
  Greek,
  English,
  Portuguese
• Display Screen Coating Hard coating,
  Anti-glare
• Video Output None
• Signal Input 2xHDMI, DVI-D, VGA
• Features HDCP,
  eZ Zooming,
  F-ENGINE technology,
  Digital Fine Contrast (DFC),
  sRGB color management,
  AutoBright,
  Photo Effect

Image:

• Image Aspect Ratio 16:9
• Image Brightness 250.0 cd/m2
• Image Contrast Ratio 2000000:1 (dynamic)
• Image Max H-View Angle 170
• Image Max V-View Angle 160

Video Input

• Analog Video Signal RGB
• Digital Video Standard Digital Visual Interface (DVI),
  High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)

Input Device

• Type None

Expansion / Connectivity

• Interfaces 1.0 x VGA - 19 pin HDMI Type A,
  1.0 x DVI-D - 24 pin digital DVI,
  2.0 x HDMI - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)

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An AMD Phenom II processors Overclocking Overview

      AMD processors nowadays becoming more competitive to its direct competitor the Intel company whereas they try to build quality cheap processors but still have awesome performance on gaming. I've experienced it when I switch my system from Intel i7 860 to AMD Phenom II X6 1090T . My gaming still have rocket fps on most games especially when I overclock it up to 4Ghz. But to be fair to Intel, gaming, encoding and benchmark still posses the number one spot because when I try to compare the performance head to head on stock settings, i7 860 still wins but not a greater margin. 

       Newer AMD systems build what so called the Black Edition in which it provides a easy way on overclocking. Overclocking with a Black Edition Phenom II is as easy as it was using recent Phenom chips. By the way Black edition means that it has an unlocked multiplier in which it is the most straightforward way to scale up and down 100 MHz at a time on a 200 MHz reference clock. For example, with 19.5x keyed in, set the processor’s voltage to 1.60 V which for me is the safest voltage and recommended for aftermarket air cooling. If blue screen loading up into Windows appears, it means you must do some trial and error on memory and multiplier settings of the processor until you reaches out the maximum stable clocks of it. You can used some applications like intel burn test, sisandra software,prime95, 3dmark 06,vantage to test the effectiveness and the stability.

Here are some of my experience when I overclock my Phenom II X4 B55 on a MSI 890FX motherboard:

Test System:

Phenom II X4 B55 Black Edition

MSI 890FXA motherboard AM3

MSI GTX 480 Lightning

4gb DDR3 GSkill Ripjaws X 2133Mhz

HEC Cougar CMX 700 watts power supply

          First I set it the maximum clocks to 4Ghz at stock voltage and Cool and Quiet Off. But when I try to boot on windows, BSOD(Blue screen of Death) appears. So I try to lower it down to 3.8 GHz with a 19x multiplier and allowed me to successfully boot into Windows, but starting any of some of my benchmarks resulted crush so I tried set it to 18.5x which is equivalent to 3.7 GHz. At that speed and after increasing the processor voltage to 1.5 V I was able to complete most synthetic and gaming benchmarks. But some of my games like Dirt 3 wouldn’t stabilize in which it sometimes freezes or restart while Im playing. So I try to  set 3.6 GHz by dropping the multiplier to 18 with voltage at 1.45V and all the synthetic benchmark and games I've played where all become stable..For me its the best overclock that I saw with the 65 nm Phenoms, but the sad thing is, its not quite still impressive enough and what Im hoping for with Phenom II chips. I think it can still pushes up to 4Ghz but I think it must cranked up the voltage up to 1.65V but Im worried because  its to high and probably it can fries up the processor or shorten its lifespan especially when your not using quality aftermarket heatsink fan so remember to select good quality HSF before you do some overclocking. Goodluck....:)

AMD Phenom II / Athlon II Extra Core Unlocking

            Nowadays, price/performance ratio was the battle on making the most affordable processor. AMD launches the unlocking method on todays motherboards including their little bit old motherboard like the 790FX/GX series. Unlocking power of this motherboard can done via bios update by just checking on the specified website of the mobo you were using. For me I recommend MSI and ASUS mobo cause they always have updated bios to be download.

Things you must have:

Choose the right Processor:

AMD Phenom II x2,x3,x4 (with a T at the end of their model number like the 955T), or Athlon II with a cacad stepping code. (Currently Im using Phenom X2 555)


Get a good motherboard:
         A good motherboard is a must like the 790/870/880/890/990 GX/FX chipset. Currently, Im using MSI 890FX motherboard.

The most important:
           The most important is, "LUCK" . I successfully unlocked my Phenom II X2 555 to Phenom II X4 B55 with L3 cached.


Unlocking procedure:


Unlocking your hidden or some people called it a“defective” cores, the process is very very simple.

   1. Enter BIOS.
   2. This settings are the most common method you gonna found on most motherboard:  Set Automatic     Clock Calibration (ACC) or Nvidia Core Calibration (NCC) to AUTO.
        For Asus and Gigabyte owners : Enable "Unleashing" or change "EC Firmware" mode to "Hybrid". And my current using MSI 890FX was done via "Unlocked Core" selection in bios,
   3. Then Reboot.

            Remeber if it was successful, your processor should have a new name; ending in either x3, x4, or x6. (Mine was rename as Phenom II X4 B55) Though naming is not always consistent on some boards.

Once you are in Windows, or any other OS that you use, you should begin stability testing for your unlocked processor. I highly suggest to use of Prime95 "Blend Test" or Intelli Burn Test for 24 hours to ensure stability before overclocking. Mine was running now at 3.6Ghz with 1.4V.

This is the test hardware used when I successfully unlocked to X4:

Phenom II X2 B55 ( unlocked to Pheonom II X4 @ 3.6Ghz)
MSI 890FX motherboard
MSI Geforce GTX 480 Lightning ( runs at stock)
Gskill Ripjaws X @ 1600Mhz
Cougar CMX 700watts power supply

The CPUZ and GPUZ:

Creative Gigaworks T40 2.0 Speaker System

           Creative Labs offers an impressively wide range of multimedia products especially in computer speakers. For me Gigaworks T40 is one of the top notch speakers they successfully created even though this is only 2.0 setup. Just wanna share some thoughts about this razor sharp like sound speaker.

            I just recently purchased this locally here locally in our country.At first, I was little bit upset upon purchasing it because of the price was too high but as soon I heard the sound when I test on my pc, I can say that's its really worth it. Bass and treble sound absolutely perfect and balanced well. I try to play games like Call of Duty and Need for Shift II and absolutely the sound was fantastic. I can't imagine that 2.0 setup speaker will sound that well. Also, it has a plug you can wire it up to an iPod, portable DVD player, or anything else with a headphone jack. There's also a connector for the wire that goes to the left speaker and a connector for the separate DC power supply. The headphone jack is upfront, under the volume control. Unfortunately, the power switch is on the back. It's easy enough to toggle it by feel while reaching behind, but mounting it on the front would've been preferred. We found the right speaker's bright blue LED which adds style and as good aesthetic of the speaker.

         By the way, I paired up this speaker with Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion PCIe sound card  and I  recommended this as the perfect combination.Also I tested it with built sound card on laptop and it  also performs very well.This is a great speaker and I recommend it especially those looking for space conscious desk..

I took some photos of it on my pc:

The box:

JBL Harman Kardon Soundsticks II

         Recently I got this jelly fish look speaker (The JBL Harman Kardon SoundSticks II) whereas match performance with attractive visual design and a combination that always makes our hearts beat a little faster. They're nearly perfect, save for a few design flaws.
          I never knew that this speaker would pimp up my room because the way it looks, you would never know that it sound that big. I paired it up with good quality sound card (Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatality) which really enhanced the quality of the sound in gaming, movie watching and music.Even if I've used the on-board sound card., it also sounds good but of course you can't compare on X-Fi's performance.^_^.

Product Features and Technical Details

Product Features

• 3-piece plug and play multimedia speaker system
• Stunning, original design with great sound
• Features computer-optimized multi-band parametric equalization
• Capacitance touch control buttons provide direct access to volume control
• 20 Watts RMS subwoofer power output

GSKILL Ripjaws X 8gb DDR3 1333 CL9

          Recently, I decided to seek for an upgrade on my desktop pc memory even though I know that my existing mems were capable enough to run all my applications stuff installed. Its just  Im quite intrigue how much performance would I gain if I will double up the numbers of memory installed( its an upgrade itch again,lol!). My previous installed was a GSkill Ripjaws 4Gb DDR3 1600 CL9 whereas this kind of memory is so fast because it runs at 1.6Ghz maximum speed but the downside was its only 4gb.That's when I decided to convinced myself that I still need more ram so I purchased this  8Gb GSkill Ripjaws X DDR3 1333 and check it out if I would feel the differences of 8gb against 4gb. BTW, according to some reviews the speed difference between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600 is quite not noticeable that's why I purchased DDR3 1333 only and to save also some money or I can say that I m short of molah (that's the main reason..hahaha).

          And that's it, I put it on this mems and do some test run benchmarking on 3dmark 11, 3dmark vantage, wprime and etc and also try to play today's latest games like Crysis 2 and Need for Speed Shift 2. I noticed that loading on games became so fast and it also added  fragments of fps on  some games . Now, I can burned dvds while playing games without lagging my system. I can say that 8gb of memory is a worthy upgrade not only because it adds performance but your system setup will became future proof as incoming games and applications  were becoming ram and speed hungry.

By the way kindly see details below for specifications: (from www.gskill.com)

Designed For 2^nd Generation Intel^® Core™ Processors

Main Board	intel
System	Desktop
System Type	DDR3
M/B Chipset	Intel Z68Intel P67 / H67 / H61
CAS Latency	9-9-9-24-2N
Capacity	4GB (2GB x2)
Speed	DDR3-1333 (PC3 10600 / 10666)
Test Voltage	1.5 Volts
PCB
Registered/Unbuffered	Unbuffered
Error Checking	Non-ECC
Type	240-pin DIMM
Warranty	Lifetime
Qualified Motherboards List
ASUS	P8Z68-V PRO
ASUS	Maximus IV Extreme
ASUS	SABERTOOTH P67
ASUS	P8P67 DELUXE
ASUS	P8P67 EVO
ASUS	P8P67 PRO
ASUS	P8P67-M PRO
ASUS	P8P67-M
ASUS	P8P67 LE
ASUS	P8P67
ASUS	P8H67
ASUS	P8H67-M PRO
Gigabyte	GA-Z68X-UD7-B3
Gigabyte	GA-P67A-UD7
Gigabyte	GA-P67A-UD5
Gigabyte	GA-P67A-UD4
Gigabyte	GA-P67A-UD3P
Gigabyte	GA-P67A-UD3R
Gigabyte	GA-P67A-UD3
MSI	P67A-GD65
MSI	P67A-GD55
MSI	P67A-GD53
MSI	H67MA-ED55
MSI	H67MS-ES3
MSI	H67MA-P35
ASRock	Fatal1ty P67 Professional
ASRock	P67 Extreme 6
ASRock	P67 Extreme 4
ASRock	H67M-GE
ASRock	H61M/U3S3
Biostar	TP67XE
Biostar	H61MH
ECS	P67H2-A

        Note: Based from its website, it was designed for Intel 2nd generation processor, but it doesn't mean that it cannot run on AMD systems because now Im running it on MSI 890FXA motherboard which is an AMD designed motherboard.

Coolermaster Sentinel Advance Zero-G

        
          Here we go again my never ending search of the best bang for the buck gaming mouse.lolz! Few days go, I visited one of my favorite computer shop at Gilmore avenue to check the prices for my cousins computer parts to build and while hanging around, I found out this eye catching gaming mice which was display on their show room. I ask one of the staff there for the price but i was a bit unlucky because it does not had a price yet. But because I'm one of the "suki" buyer on that shop and I really get one this, I ask them if they can give me the price that time coz i really want to test this mouse and i had gaming battle this June(pretending a hardcore gamer, if they know, my game was Angry bird,hahaha!). So thats it, they gave me the price in which I was suprised because i didn't expect that it would be that cheaper.So i immediately  bought the unit and went home forgetting my real business of checking prices of  pc parts for my cousin.lolZ!.


        As I've check the unit, I'm quite surprised because it already includes a mouse pad which is very rare on any package of gaming mice.Also the things that really catch my attention were the multiple back-lighting illumination (5 colors) and the little OLED display screen harbored on its surface. I've never seen any mice with lcd display on it. On its display, you can upload any customized logo and also it can display your preset resolution (up to 5600dpi). The grip on hand(for right handed only) really suites for those hardcore gamers like me(still pretending.haha!). Other features of it were the dual laser engine, a 128kb onboard memory, multiple preset profiles which is selectable via built in button as well as the hardware DPI selection and the adjustable weight.