In the fast moving world of technology, it can become impossible to keep up with the ever changing landscape. This is why I have introduced this new series of posts to give you guys an idea of what is upcoming in the world of computers and whether it is worth the wait or better to just buy what is currently on offer. New technology also leads to price drops in the older (but not outdated) technology. For example, when Sandy Bridge processors from Intel came out, they offered a large jump in processing power as well as efficiency but laptops with the older generation of i5 and i7 could be found for $500-700, a far cry from the $1700 they were available for 6 months before. If you're willing to buy slightly older technology, the newer components can lead to massive savings for you especially as manufacturers and shops try to clear out their stocks. So what's new in the world of CPUs?

Intel

Intel is on the verge of releasing its new Ivy Bridge processors built on the 22nm architecture. They should by unveiled early next year and released soon after. It promises processors with more cores, more power and more efficiency than the previous generation as well as bringing 6 core processes to a more mainstream level (although still at the higher end). Obviously the high end will be well above $1000 but it should bring prices of existing Sandy Bridge processors down significantly. Sandy Bridge should be fine for the majority of people and is perfectly adequate for gaming as well. The potential cost savings are huge for those who want to build a cheap desktop or buy a new laptop. The advantages of upgrading to Ivy Bridge would be significant mainly for laptop users. The 22nm manufacturing process means less heat generated with more power. It should also be good news for overclockers especially due to the already high clock speeds and availability of multiplier unlocked processors.

AMD

AMD has already released their Bulldozer processors which includes the highest clock speed processor currently available however benchmarks have been disappointing. An interesting direction AMD seems to be taking is in launching Accelerated Processing Units (APUs) which aim to combine the roles of CPUs and graphics cards into one. This has the advantage of utilising the power of often unused graphics cards for everyday tasks. This also provides the benefit of lower power usage and less components in the system. This new concept will be of particular importance to laptops due to these key aspects. AMD is expected to replace its Bulldozer processors with the new Piledriver architecture in mid-late 2012. One key point about AMD processors is they are also significantly cheaper than Intel ones but offer similar performance. These soon to be released processors are capable of competing directly with both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors from Intel and can be an excellent choice for those with a tight budget not looking to skimp on performance.

This is a brief summary of things to come in 2012. If you are considering building or buying a new computer, you might want to wait a few months for these new technologies to be released, either to have the latest and greatest or save a few bucks on the previous generation products. Please note that this information is based on leaked roadmaps and may not be 100% accurate, it is just meant to be used as a rough guide. The next post will cover motherboards.

Higher number is better

Continuing on from a fortnight ago, I am going to talk to you about choosing the best value video card for your money.

Basically, when choosing video cards you have two options - ATI (now AMD) or Nvidia. Both of these companies have been making graphics cards for ages and they are good quality. One of the first things you will notice when you go out to buy your chosen cards is the fact that there are several different brands which make the same type of card you want. For example, if you were looking for an Nvidia 9800GT, you might find a Gigabyte 9800GT, an Asus 9800GT or an MSI 9800GT. These cards will often have slight differences but they are made to follow a guideline. they all use exactly the same chip which is made by their respective company (Nvidia or ATI) and then these other companies (Gigabyte, Asus etc.) make the video card and put the chip inside it. Sometimes you might get some factory overclocked cards which give better performance than the reference design. Others might give better coolers or silent coolers. It is all up to you. It is probably better to stick to a brand you trust as there have been problems such as failing fans on graphics cards from lesser known brands, but they are still good.

If you are buying a card today, you are most likely interested in a DirectX 11 card, the latest version for the latest games which adds a few new features such as tessellation to make games look  even better. With this, you now have the choice of Nvidia's Fermi chips and the ATI 5xxx series. Both of these cards can get blazing fast but one of the shortcomings of the Fermi is that it runs very hot and uses a LOT of power so you need a serious power supply for some of the higher end card. Obviously, if you want to go crazy, you can get the top of the line card which costs well over AU$1000. Typically though, when looking at price to performance ratio, the ATI cards have the best value. You can get cards for $250 which will play all the latest games on high settings at decent frame rates. What more could you ask for?

The best value ATI card currently is the 5770 which costs around AU$250 and will handle just about anything you throw at it. It is a perfect mid-range graphics card and should satisfy most users. Of course, if you must have Nvidia then an excellent card is the GTX460 which costs only a little bit more than the 5770. It can however outperform the 5770 by quite a fair margin and easily justifies the small price premium. If your budget can stretch that far then I would recommend getting the GTX460. It comes to around $270 with 768MB of RAM compared to the ATI's 1GB.

Today I thought I would talk about the advantages which smaller fabrication processes offer. All of the next gen chips are made on smaller and smaller processes. Intel has recently announced their 32nm fabrication process for the next generation processors. Nvidia has started manufacturing their latest GPUs on 55nm processes. So what does all this mean?

Smaller fabrication processes not only benefit the manufacturer but also the end user. They run much cooler and are more power efficient than older processes. If this isn't enough, even the costs come down significantly. An example of this is Intel's Wolfdale. Previously, an all round processsor would have been 2.4GHz and cost around $300. Intel released a 3.0GHz processor for $250 which was not only faster but it could be overclocked like no other processor and still run relatively cool. An Intel E8400 at 3.0GHz could be overclocked to 3.6GHz with no problems whereas previous Intel processors struggled to make such a speed jump without extra cooling.

This means that a 32nm processor will outshine a 45nm processor in everything. Speed, overclocking ability and cooling. Not only this but it will mean that not only gamers will have access to incredibly fast processors due to their affordable price. Anyone will be able to get a processor with a speed greater than 3.0GHz. The effect on Video Cards will be similar. Discrete graphics cards will not be limited to just users needing high performance. Not only this, but it adds the potential to easily build powerful graphics chips into motherboards as cooling will be less of a problem and it will take up less space. Currently Nvidia's latest graphics card, the GTX 295 is fast but it runs incredibly hot. It is impossible to run it in triple SLI with only air cooling. Part of the problem is the 65nm chip. This needs more power and runs very hot. In the future Graphics card manufacturers can fit similar performance in a smaller more accessible package. A smaller process also means more can be crammed onto the chip. As you can see from the above image, Intel is able to fit a graphics chip and memory controller into the processor now as well!

This is what these smaller fabrication processes mean. The advantages they give us are huge. Computers could be put in places you never thought possible. IBM is experimenting with chips right now using structures similar to DNA. This allows manufacturing processes as small as 22nm.