“I didn’t realise that so many men were actually women!”
This pearl of wisdom from Walrusbonzo summarizes what I’ve been pondering for some time.
The Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back
A number of places reviewed the AMD Thoroughbred and found that it didn’t overclock very much. One place did somewhat better than the others. It looks like the person managed the feat long enough to test for stability, then he had to go on a business trip.
From some of the forum action I’ve seen, there has been a substantial lack of belief and an even greater lack of patience to allow the man to get back home and go into this some more.
Natural Variation
We don’t have a whole lot of facts on the matter at the moment, but I hardly find it inconceivable that someone could get a processor that does roughly 10% better than the others.
Right now, I have two PIV 1.6As, and one does about 10% better than the other with the same exact treatment. This sort of difference is hardly unusual in overclocking.
The other reviewers received 2200+ processors with an AIRCA stepping, weeks 14/15. Perhaps the one tested here is different from that.
It could well be that, one way or the other, this particular reviewer got a pick-of-the-litter CPU. Maybe he just got lucky, or maybe wherever he got the CPU handed him the best one they had.
If in fact, this is a “pick-of-the-litter” case, you would expect them to be few and far between. You’d only expect to see one out of ten or twenty.
This is the dirty little secret of overclocking: a lot of it is dumb luck. Some CPUs are just more or less “talented” than others.
In the past, we’ve seen people who have gotten four or five processors not only from the same batch, but the same area in the batch get significantly different results.
So often, I see people get mad because somebody else did better than them. Yes, it’s unfair. Tough. Bitching about this is about as useful as the Sacramento Kings bitching about Shaq (or the Nets doing so now).
Brad Pitt is better looking than me. Should I tell Jennifer Aniston, “Stop being so unfair and sleep with me, too?” Since life has been so unfair to me there, should I have the right to take a chainsaw to his face to fix that injustice? Or should I tell myself constantly, “Everyone is blind, I’m the best looking guy around?”
What Is Important
This person didn’t die and take the CPU into the grave with him. He’ll be back and talk more about this.
Actually, the proof of the pudding will not be what he got from one processor, but rather the performance curve of the product based on the experiences of many people.
Let’s presume this is all legit, and this CPU is perfectly capable of running all the benchmarking tests wonderfully. All that means is that one processor could do this. Doesn’t mean you will. Means even less you’re entitled to it.
What will be my interest (and what should be yours) is whether or not this particular CPU is at the right-end tail-end of the bell curve of the CPUs AMD will be selling, or more towards the middle.
I suspect the first, but there’s a number of items I don’t know yet that could change that suspicion in a flash. Just don’t know enough yet, and do you know what? I’m in no rush to find out. Not like al-Queda is planting a radiological bomb tomorrow, and I can only stop them with a .13 micron AthlonXP running at 2GHz+.
A Bigger Lesson
If you view Internet forums, it’s apparent the strong, silent type is at least an endangered species. Apparently replacing it is the “croissant;” crusty on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside.
Was Devo right twenty-five years ago?
they tell us that we lost our tails
evolving up from little snails
i say it’s all just wind in sails
are we not men? we are DEVO!
we’re pinheads now we are not whole
we’re pinheads all jocko homo
are we not men? D-E-V-O
monkey men all in business suit
teachers and critics all dance the poot
Devolution is hardly a step in the right direction.
Perhaps it’s a result of societal pandering to instant gratification and lack of attention span. That’s a good definition of infancy.
Is it devolution if you never evolved to begin with?
Maybe it’s the Internet being the electronic inebriant in the Land Where The Inner Child Comes Out Of The Closet. If so, could you please put that little bastard back in where he belongs? Children should be seen, not heard.
Could it be it’s “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Gossip is the employer of last resort.
Or is all of this just ridiculously overintellectualized overcomplicated ways of saying, “There’s a lot of assholes out there.”
Whatever it is, it’s hardly impressive.
Really, folks, it’s pretty bad when it often seems like the only real difference between a computer hardware forum and the Home Shopping Network forum is that one talks about processors, the other, perfume.
I swear, if I were a young woman, and saw what my potential mates were really like, I’d be sorely tempted to update the old Hans Brinker routine. 🙂
An Old Role Model For New Times
I have a namesake whom I find a role model, and maybe you should, too. He wasn’t real; he wasn’t even human. His name was Mr. Ed.
Why? As the theme song said, “People yakkedy-yak and speak, and waste your time of day. But Mr. Ed will never speak unless he has something to say.”
Please note that that was a virtue back then. Nowadays, it seems like Mr. Ed would be under care and get Prozac in his feed.
Want to be both rad and retro at the same time? Want to distinguish yourself from the crowd? The next time you have nothing to say or add, don’t. If somebody asks, tell him or her you have MES: Mr. Ed Syndrome. When asked what that is, quote the theme song.
Let’s bring back “Silence Is Golden.”
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