We know who the daddy is when it comes to single-card graphics performance, and we've even witnessed NVIDIA and ATI duking it out with multiple cards before, but this here roundup is what you might call comprehensive. Comparing a mind-boggling 23 different configurations, the Tech Report guys set out to determine the best bang for your DirectX 11 buck. Their conclusion won't shock those of you who've been following the recent love affair between reviewers and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460: a pair of these eminently affordable cards regularly outpaced the best single-GPU solutions out there. Slightly more intriguing, however, was the discovery that its elder siblings, the GTX 470 and 480, have improved in performance to the point of being markedly ahead of ATI's Radeon HD 5870, with the blame for this shift being put squarely on the shoulders of NVIDIA's driver update team. Hurry up and give the source a read while it's still fresh, we can't imagine ATI letting this be the status quo for too much longer.ATI CrossFireX versus NVIDIA SLI: performance scaling showdown originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  Tech Report  | Email this | Comments

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It's rare to come across a universally lauded product nowadays, but NVIDIA's fresh new GTX 460 is just that sort of exceptional creation. Contrary to its GTX 465 elder brother, the 460 isn't a chopped-down top-tier part and is instead built on the new GF104 core. This smaller core, designed from the start to perform humbler functions, has ameliorated the famed power inefficiency that has been a Fermi signature so far, and has resulted in AnandTech describing the new card as "the $200 king." You'll get 768MB of onboard RAM at that point, but we'd splurge an extra $30 to make that a round gigabyte and enjoy some extra L2 cache and ROPs on the card. Either way, the GTX 460 seems to have completely killed off the market for the 465 and is stepping all over ATI's toes with its competitive pricing and, for once, decent heat and power metrics. Oh, and apparently it "overclocks like a monster" too -- hit the links below for the full reviews. Read - AnandTech Read - HardOCP Read - Hot Hardware Read - Tom's Hardware Read - PC Perspective Read - Bit-tech Read - Guru 3D Read - Legit ReviewsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 becomes everyone's favorite midrange graphics card originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

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Choices, choices. Do you get the 16GB or 32GB iPhone 4? The black one now or the white one a little later? We can't tell you which variant of Apple's next phone will hold its value best over the coming months, but we can try to clear up a bit of the fogginess surrounding price plans on offer from UK networks. Orange and O2 are the first to drop handset pricing and full contract details, but they haven't made it easy for the discerning buyer, with each carrier offering more than a dozen options. Vodafone, T-Mobile, Three, and even Tesco Mobile are set to follow suit in the coming days and weeks, but we thought we'd get the ball rolling with the pair we have now. P.S. -- And just as we publish this, Voda has gone official with its tariffs. We've now broken them down into a more digestible format as well. Just for you.Continue reading How-to: figure out the best value iPhone 4 contracts in the UKHow-to: figure out the best value iPhone 4 contracts in the UK originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

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Got $125 and a burning desire to get in on the SSD fun? Intel and Kingston both have models priced to seduce that cash away from your pocket, and here comes AnandTech with a comparative review to help you make an informed decision. To start off with, Intel's X25-V sports 40GB of storage and is described as a smaller version of the X25-M G2, whereas Kingston's V Series boot drive offers a smaller 30GB capacity but also comes with a fuller upgrade kit. Since this is 2010 and not some prehistoric age, both drives naturally come equipped with Trim support. In benchmark results, Intel's drive took the advantage in the performance of random read/write tasks, but was second best when it came to sequential write jobs. Ultimately, that extra 10GB of storage and the fact you're more likely to capitalize on random, rather than sequential, drive access swung it in favor of the X25-V. Hit up the full review for the more nuanced impressions.Intel's X25-V and Kingston's SSDNow V Series face off in battle for best value SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink   |  AnandTech  | Email this | Comments

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So my last post was about Authorize.NET and PHP. It received quite a bit of attention. For that reason, I’m focusing again on PHP and I’m planning to elaborate on the use of arrays. Arrays are useful for many purposes. I’ve used them to store session data, pass values into functions, as well as a streamlined method of managing and validating data.

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