Green Computer/Environment Part 1

     We'll I am trying to start a new greener (environmental) chapter in my life. One of my first steps to be greener is my test computer. The biggest thing I have done to the test computer is turn off the overclocking and turn on Amd Cool n Quiet. So you might be asking what does Amd Cool n Quiet do. What this does is brings the speed of all the cpu cores down when the computer is not in heavy use. Now when the cpu cores speed comes down the amount of power the cpu needs comes down as well. The speed only lowers when the default cpu speed is not needed. When the speed is needed the default cpu speed will come back up.
     The lowest speed that it drops down to is 800 Mhz on all cores. When the cpu is at full speed it is 2.8 Ghz. This is a 2 Ghz drop on all cores when in power saving mode. I have also noticed that the temperature has dropped down 10 degrees from 45 to 35. My next step with the computer is to replace the two hard drives with solid state drives. Now I know I have one but replacing the other two with solid state drives will help with power consumption. The way solid state drives are better is because there are no moving parts. The moving parts in regular hard drives take more power to function.
     Also one of my next certificates I am working towards is CompTIA Green IT. This certificate will go along way with with showing to myself and others that I have a firm commitment to the environment. In part 2 I will be going over how to get Amd Cool n Quiet to work on your computer. I will be also talking about how Ubuntu works with the Cool n Quiet technologies.

Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 Released

     Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 has been released today with a few new features. But since this is still in the Alpha stage I am not going to highlight the changes. Remember the changes could/can change once the final release is out. Remember you should not run the Alpha 2 on your main computer. It can break down easily and you might have to reinstall. If you are interested on giving it a try you can download it here. If you are going to install and try it out I would install it in a virtual environment.

Comptia A+ CE Continuing Education (MCDST)

     We'll if you have read my last blogs about certifications you will be able to tell that I have my Comptia A+ CE certification. Now with A+ CE, Network+ CE and Security+ CE they are only valid for three years. If you want them longer then three years (three year extension) you have to get Continuing Education credits. If you do not go this direction you will have rewrite the certifications after the three years is up.
     Now with any of the CE's you will have to do a few things. First thing is that you will have to pay a $25.00 fee for three years $75.00 total for the A+. For the Network+ and Security+ it will cost more per year. You can either pay once every year or the full amount up front. Once you make the payments you will have to start earning credits. Now there is a full list of different ways you can start to earn credits. Now there is a list of External Credits that you can get, this is the way I got my extension of my A+. When I got my Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (MCDST) certification it was one of the External Credits.
     Now I know this can be a little bit of a pain but remember this does show you are willing to work towards better education for yourself.

Certifications And Certificates #2

     Current certifications that I have are CompTIA A+ CE, Microsoft Certified Professional and Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician. Certificates that I have are CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals.

Microsoft Certification #2

     We'll on Tuesday the 28th I went to write Supporting Users and Troubleshooting a Microsoft® Windows® XP Operating System (072-271) and passed. Now having this plus 072-272 gives me the Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician designation. This is the next best step for myself, this will help me more to understand how to help out people with computer issues. This will also help me out to get Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA). I am a big believer that the more certifications you have the better you are to help people out. I think right now though I will be holding off on more certifications and more on my school work.

Certifications And Certificates

     Current certifications that I have are CompTIA A+ CE and Microsoft Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Microsoft® Windows® XP Operating System (72-272). Certificates that I have are CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals.

Microsoft Certification

     We'll I know it has been sometime since I have posted on here and I am sorry about that. I have been really busy with personal issues and with school issues. On a positive note yesterday I passed my first Microsoft Certification. The one I passed is called Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Microsoft® Windows® XP Operating System (072-272). This certification gives me the MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) designation. I am aware that this certification is pretty old but I believe that this is a good start for myself. I will be working on new blogs again in the very near future.

How To Run Another Operating System In Ubuntu

     If there is some reason that you still want to use the Windows OS while still using Ubuntu it will not be that hard to do. There are two programs out there that will emulate Windows OS very easily VirtualBox and VMware. Both programs will work with Windows, Apple (Mac) and Linux machines.
     Now I will take a look at VMware and why I find it a stronger program to run a virtual operating system. Now VMware has two versions for desktop users the free version VMware Player this version is a stripped down version. VMware also has a Workstation version. I am going to be covering the Player version in this write up. To get your hands on this version you will have to register and download a copy off the VMware website.
     To install this program will take a little bit of work. Go to were you downloaded the program. Right click on the file and go to properties. Go to the Permissions tab and click on the Execute box. Then close the box and then you should move the file to your Desktop if it is not all ready there. You will then have to open up your Terminal program. Once the program is up you should be able to get to your Desktop by just typing in cd Desktop and then press enter. You will have to then type sudo sh and then the whole file name. Terminal will prompt you to put in your password to install the program. You will then just have to follow the prompts until it is installed. When it is done installing you will have to click on your Ubuntu icon on the top left and do a search for VMware.
      When the program opens up you will want to right click on the Home icon and select Create a New Virtual Machine. Here is a list of operating systems you can install Windows, Linux, Novell Netware, Sun Solaris, MS-DOS and FreeBSD. Now I am not going to be covering all the installs but I will cover Windows a little bit. The other operating systems should be pretty straight forward if you are use to them. Now depending on what Windows version you are installing there will be things you can enter to help the installation. Depending on the install you can put in a system password and put the product key code in. You will also be able to install the operating system into what ever hard drive you want. If you have a faster hard drive I would install the OS on the faster hard drive.
      Now another great feature that VMware has is that if you have to format or remove VMware you can still reuse the OS you installed. You will have to make sure you save the directory the VMware OS is installed. Right click on the Home icon after VMware is reinstalled and click on Open a Virtual Machine. Then look for were you saved the OS and look for the file with .vmx extension. Once your operating system is installed you can start it up by double clicking the operating system name in VMware. VMware also lets you move one VM from one to computer to another. This is a great idea because if you are running a production system that needs to stay up all the time. You can move the OS to another computer while you shut down the other one if need be in real time. So if you are running say a web site your customers will not see it go down. The only down side is that you need another computer running at the same time that is identical to the production computer.
     Now I know I have not covered VirtualBox but that program works almost the same as VMware. There are a few things that VirtualBox can not do like move a VM from one computer to another in real time. Also I wanted to cover the stronger of the two, I might cover how to install with VirtualBox down the road.

A little Off Topic (Tux The Linux Mascot)

     Hey there if you are not aware yet the mascot for the Linux operating system is the penguin named Tux. I found on YouTube a video showing him on a Fruit Loops commercial. This is off topic but I thought it would be a little fun to see were Linux is showing up at. 

DVD, Flash, MP3 Playback And Much More

     Are you new to Ubuntu and you are wanting to watch DVD's, watch on-line video's or listen to mp3 music. Then you will have to install a certain software package. This package should work with any Ubuntu version out there. Please note that this package may not be legal in some countries. If this package is illegal in your area you should not install it.
     You will need to open up the Ubuntu Software Centre or Synaptic Package Manager. You will want to do a search for ubuntu restricted extras. You will want to install this package and also ubuntu restricted addons package. If you are running Xubuntu, Kubuntu or Lubuntu you will need to install the package that belongs to that distro. You can also buy and download the Fluendo Windows Media Pack for $24.95. You can get this program in the Ubuntu Software Centre under Get Software then under For Purchase. But note this program will only work for Windows related media files. I have found that the ubuntu restricted extras/addons package has everything that the Fluendo Windows Media Pack has. I have also bought and tried playback of a .avi file with the Fluendo Windows Media Pack and found it to be choppy.
     Now you need to note that this package will play dvd's but only if they are not encrypted. So home movies and some foreign movies should be fine. Now to play restricted movies you will have to install libdvdread4 into your system. Now what you will need to do is first open up the terminal program. After that you will need to put this in "sudo apt-get install libdvddread4" without the quotes. Next you will have to put in " sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh" without the quotes. After that you should be able to play DVD's without reseting the computer. Remember you will need to make sure this is legal in your area.

Ubuntu 11.10 Release Schedule

     With Ubuntu 11.04 now out Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu) have now set there eyes on a release date for Ubuntu 11.10 code named Oneiric Ocelot. The dates are as followed and remember they can change at anytime:
June 2nd, 2011 - Alpha 1 release
June 30th, 2011 - Alpha 2 release
August 4th, 2011 - Alpha 3 release
September 1st, 2011 - Beta 1 release
September 22nd, 2011 - Beta 2 release
October 13th, 2011 - Final release of ubuntu 11.10
     Now I will not be going over the up coming changes right now. The reason for this is because of how far the release date is. With the other versions that have come out things have changed a lot before they were released. Once the alphas start coming out more I will take a better look into what has changed or should be changing. The next release after 11.10 is 12.04 and it is a long term release support (LTS). Mark Shuttleworth has recently stated that with the new releases coming and the change to the Unity interface. Canonical is pushing for two hundred million new users.

CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals Certificate

     Today I went to write and passed the CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals certificate. You maybe saying since I have my CompTIA A+ CE I should have taken the CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals first. You would be right in saying that. I felt that getting this certificate would help me have a stronger feel for computer hardware and software.

     Now the certificate is seventy questions and you only have sixty minutes to complete the test. If you have never done a test before or you are new to computers you should take your time. Make sure you read over all the questions carefully. Make sure when you are done answering all of the questions if you have time to review your answers.

     If you are just getting into the computer industry the CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals certificate is the best place to start with before going for your CompTIA A+ CE. The IT industry looks very positive towards getting your papers. Certifications and certificates will not only show to yourself but to employers that you know what you are doing when it comes to computers.  For more information on CompTIA Strata IT Fundamentals and CompTIA A+ CE certifications/certificate CompTIA.

Atom Zombie Smasher Review

     We'll today I am going to take a look at a game I have been playing on and off for the past 6 months the game is called Atom Zombie Smasher. Remember that this game is tested on Ubuntu so it does not one hundred percent reflect any other platform that this game maybe on.
     This game is a top down action style game with not a lot in the way of cut scenes. You play from a over the city few of the game. During the game you get different mercenary units that can help you out in different ways. You will have to get the people out of the city via a helicopter before night fall. If you get them all out before night fall you capture the city.
     For some information about the back story of the game. The game looks and feels like it is based around the 1940's. There is a zombie out break for what looks to be a country and you have to go around to each city and destroy the zombie's there. 
     Taking a look first at the good points of the game. The music plays very well with the game play, the music is better to have on then no music at all. The controls are really solid I did not have any issues getting my characters to were they needed to be. The graphics are solid as well with buildings being able to be destroyed and the people and zombies as square dots. Now I did not mind the fact that people/zombies are square dots. Since you do play on a top city view it would be to hard to see the people/zombies if they looked real. They seem to be also putting out updates almost every week or so, so they are actively supporting the game. 
     For the bad parts of the game and there are a few. The first part would be the fact that then you are picking up people to rescue they seem to run away from you. I have found quite a few times people running away from the helicopter and right into zombies. Speaking about the helicopter it does not stay down long enough on the ground. What I mean about this is that you could be almost full of people and more people coming and the helicopter just takes off. You should be able to tell it to stay down as long as you want. There is also no installer for the game so that means also that there is no game icon in your game menu. This would be bad for people that was not use to finding the game in the game directory. There is not much in the way of replay value in the game you just play the same levels over and over. The levels do change a little bit were the zombies come out but there really is no difference in the levels. There is also not much in the way of a story to the game. You have to click on a button during the load times between levels to see what little story there is. When you do click on the button the story that is told does not have any continuity in the story. There are characters in the game but you do not have a feeling about what there involvement in the game really is.
     I would give this game 5.0 out of 10. It would have been nice to see with all the updates that they have been putting out to make it a more solid game. You can find the game here Blendo Games and as of this writing the game cost $15.00.

Test System Hardware Update #3

     We'll I have upgraded the test system with adding a second Nvidia Geforce GTS 450 video card. I now have the the system in a three way sli configuration. Now you maybe asking how do I have a three way sli with only two Nvidia Geforce GTS 450 cards. We'll the Asus M3N-HT motherboard has a built in video card with what Asus calls hybrid technology. What this does is let you run your built in video card in a sli configuration so you can get more graphic power. When you want to use your built in video card this way you have to make sure that you have the card enabled in the BIOS. You should start the Nvidia X Server Settings program when your operating systems starts up.  In there you will see well for this motherboard the nForce 980a/780a SLI video card and the other video cards in your computer.
     When I added the Asus Xonar DX 7.1 and the D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme N cards I could not install another Nvidia Geforce GTS 450 card. There was just no more room on the motherboard to add another one. So remember if you want more video cards you need to plan out what you are going to put into the computer first. You will also need to be aware of how much more power another video card is going to pull from your power supply. If you are going to run two or more none built in video cards you should be running 800 watts or more of power. If you do not have enough power you could do some damage to your computer components. I have yet to push this system yet with the new video card installed but I will let everyone know how it works out.

Gnome 3 Issues

     We'll I just tried Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 11.04 and I have mixed thoughts on it. Some good thoughts but mostly disappointed thoughts on my Gnome 3/Ubuntu 11.04 experience. It took some effort to get Gnome 3 to install in Ubuntu 11.04. It would not install with out adding a Gnome 3 ppa installed and if I tried without the ppa it would come up with a broken package error.
     So when I finally got it installed it worked great when I got it to finally to install. I found the interface a lot more user friendly then Unity and found there more you could do with the desktop. There is a lot of similarities to the Unity interface with the left side bar for your programs. The ability to be able to use multiple desktops easier. I was not able to do a full test of Gnome 3 because of the major issue so I can not highlight all the positives. 
     Then everything went down hill my mouse froze as I was in a game to test out how well it works. My keyboard was working but my mouse would not work and I could not back out of the game so I had to reset the computer. After the computer reset I tried to load Gnome 3 again it would not load. The background would load up and a couple of programs I had to start up in background would load. But that was it nothing else would load. So I tried Ubuntu Classics and that would not load because Gnome 3 update Gnome 2.32.1 to 3.X. Also Unity would not load up I am not sure why that is. I did not have any other desktop interface installed like KDE or XFCE. So the only thing I could do was to reinstall the Ubuntu operating system. At least it only took me under fifteen minutes to reinstall the operating system.
     I am not sure why this has happened, as of right now I will not be trying Gnome 3 again for some time. From what I read Gnome 3 will be out in 11.10 by default along with Unity. Right now other Linux distro's like Fedora in there up and coming version 15 will have Gnome 3 as there default desktop. Right now at least till 11.10 I would recommended Gnome 3. Ubuntu users should stick with Unity or Classic. Even with the slick desktop that Gnome 3 there is no guarantee that it will not crash on you and you will have to reinstall your operating system.

Ubuntu 11.04 Released Today

     We'll the new Ubuntu 11.04 operating system has been released today. This also means that I have updated the test computer to full version of Ubuntu 11.04 from beta. There are a lot of major changes that has gone into the new version of Ubuntu.
     The first major change is the fact that they got rid of Gnome as the default desktop. Canonical (the makers of Ubuntu) decided to make there own desktop called Unity as the default desktop. There is still a version of Gnome in the list of desktop's you can choose from called Ubuntu Classics. But from what I have read on-line with version 11.10 Canonical will get rid of that option. Now you are still able to install what ever desktop you want and with Gnome 3 out you can install that one if you want as well. I have not tried out Gnome 3 yet but I may try it out down the road. Another major change would be on how the installer for Ubuntu 11.04 works. The installer is very sleek and is very user friendly to new and veteran users. Also if you have a internet connection you can download important updates while Ubuntu is installing. These updates are important for new people to start using Ubuntu 11.04 right away. The next major change they did was to get rid of Rhythmbox as the default media player and put in Banshee in it's place. They have also taken out OpenOffice as the default office suite and put in LibreOffice. From what I have read the reason for the office change is because of the fact that LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice. LibreOffice is also being supported more in the open community. Also Firefox has also been updated to 4.0 as the default web browser. They have also got rid of the Netbook Edition so you will have to use 11.04 on your netbook now. There is no real difference from the feel and look of the Netbook Edition to 11.04 since the Netbook Edtion was using a version of Unity.
     With all the changes I find that this update to the Ubuntu operating system is a very much welcomed and needed. Kubuntu another spin off of Ubuntu has released there 11.04 update as well today. With Xubuntu another spin off of Ubuntu will be bringing out there 11.04 update very soon. I would give Ubuntu 11.04 10 out of 10. If you are wanting to upgrade from any earlier version press Alt and F2 then type update-manager -d. Your update manager will open up and there will be a option there for upgrading to the new version. If you are looking to download Ubuntu you can go here Ubuntu and remember there is no cost for this operating system.

New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte) Update #6

     We'll the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle has ended with $909,849.56 in sales and 183,193 copies sold. As it stands linux users have spent the most on average $11.82, Mac users $6.42 and Windows users $3.91. Also as it stands Windows users bought the most copies with Linux users and Mac users next. On the Huble Bundle website you will be able to download your games for sometime and also sign up for future humble bundle news.

Trine

     I am going to take a look at the game Trine another game from the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle. Remember that this game is tested on Ubuntu so it does not one hundred percent reflect any other platform that this game maybe on. I am reviewing this game next because of how different this game is compared to the other games in the bundle.
     First off this game is a full side scroller game with not a lot of cut scene, they are focusing on game play here. The only cut scene they have in the game are during loading times between levels.
     Now for some information on the back story and what is going on in the game. You are set in a medieval kingdom and evil has taken over the entire kingdom.  You either pay as a thief, knight or magician that has been trapped in a magic orb. The only way to get free of this orb is to make it to the end and free the kingdom of the evil.
     Now for all the good points of the game and why this game is Frozenbyte best game out of all the games in the bundle. Installation of the game went very well, the install put a shortcut onto the desktop and games menu. A lot of games that run on Linux that are cross distro (different Linux companies) do not even do this. The graphics for the cut scene and game play were maybe the best I have ever seen in a long time. You could tell they put a lot of effort into the graphics. The background had just as much going on as the foreground did. The soundtrack also worked very well for each level and did not over power what was going on in game. There was also very strong voice acting in the game and cut scene. The controllers were also very solid I had no issues with the controls randomly freezing. The game also had multi player action but no online multi player. From what I have read they are looking to put online multi player in Trine 2. From what I am told Trine is Nvidia 3D Vision compatible but for only Windows users right now. I am told this issue is a Nvidia driver issue and it looks like there will be drivers out soon.
     Now I am going to go over the bad parts of the game because there is not a lot of bad points. For the game play itself when you would walk on a trap to open a door your character freezes but enemies or other items can hurt you or kill you. I find this frustrating when your frozen from a door opening and a big spike ball is coming at you. But this does not happen that much through out the game and you can work around this issue.  The next issue and it's not with the game but what should come with it is a level editor. I am aware that there is one for Windows versions but there should been one for Mac and Linux users.
     With all the small bad points in the game I would give this 9.5 out of 10. If it was not for the small issues in this game it would be a 10 out of 10 game. Now with one of these issues (level editor) I do know it is a Linux related issue. But the other one I am not sure if it is Linux related or not. Either way I can not wait for Trine 2 to be released in the next few months. You can find the game here Frozenbyte and as of this writing the game cost $19.99.

New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte) Update #5

     It looks like Frozenbyte has made some big news for there games. First they have released the source code for Shadowgrounds and Shadowgrounds: Survivor. They have also put out a level editor for Trine it is only out for Windows not Mac or Linux. They also have a sneak peak for the game splot in a flash game demo. There is also talk that there maybe a release of Jack Claw for Linux in the next few weeks.

New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte) Update #4

     With the Humble Frozenbyte Bundle more then have way over the bundle has hit over 143K copies sold with over 713K dollars made from the bundle. Windows users are still leading with number of copies sold with Linux and Mac right behind them. Linux users are still spending more per copy then Windows or Mac users. You still have a little over 5 days left to get your self a copy of the bundle. Remember if you own a copy already you can still gift a copy to friends or family.

Shadowgrounds

     We'll now that I have had the bundle for a few days now I thought I would first take a look at the game Shadowgrounds. Remember that this game is tested on Ubuntu so it does not one hundred percent reflect any other platform that this game is on.
     The game is a 3D top down shooter for your in game play. I am going to take a look at some of the back story for the game. The game is set on a moon that orbits Jupiter in the distant future. There is a large colony that is setup on the moon. Then there is a alien attack that wipes out most of the population on the planet. You play as a maintenance worker that is in the colony that survives the initial attack. You have to go around helping other people out to get off the planet. You will uses different weapons that you can upgrade and tools along your way to help you out.
     Now I am going to start of with the good points of the game. The installation of the game went very well, the install put a shortcut onto the desktop and games menu. A lot of games that run on Linux that are cross distro (different Linux companies) do not even do this. The in game graphics were really top notch with a lot of proper lighting effects. The enemies and environment were really well done as well.
     Now for the issues that hurt what could have been a really solid game. The first issue was with the in game controls. There was a few times that I would be running away from aliens and I could not move. It was not like I was stuck on a item this was a wide open area that I was stuck for a few seconds. I found this to be a issue when you were trying to deal with all a lot of aliens at once. Another issue was in the cut scene that they had in the game. There was quite a few times that you hear them talk then the talking would stop but the text on the screen would change. It was like they forgot to record that part of the conversation. There was also random music that would start playing in parts of the game. This hurt for the fact that when they started talking you could not hear them over the music that was playing. The type of music they used also did not sound right when it came to what was going on in the game. The game would be a lot better of if the music was not in it.
     Still for all the issues I give this game a score of 5.5 out of 10. The amount of issues that the game has I really felt it really took you out of the game when these issues happened. Now with these issues I am not sure if they are only Linux related or other platform related. If these issues were solved when the game came out to the bundle I would have had no problems giving it a higher score. I will be taking a look at the other games in the near future. You can find the game here Frozenbyte and as of this writing the game cost $9.99 to $40.00 depends on were you buy the game from.

Why Good Cooling Is Important For Your Computer Part 2

     Now I am going to cover cooling for your computer case and why it is so important to your system. Today's computers case come in a variety of sizes from one that will fit in your hand to the very big bulky ones.
     With the computer case that I am using the Fractal Design R3 this case has six fans running. Some of them are 140mm fans and the other ones are 120mm fans. The reason for the different sizes is because this is were they thought the best air flow design would be. How I have the fans set-up is blowing the air in the case from the front and bottom out the back and top of the case. The reason for this is because the CPU cooler is blowing the air out of the top of the case as well. The CPU cooler is drawing the cool air in the push pull (2 fans) to cool down the CPU better. With all this air being drawn this way it has a better chance to cool all the components. Now what ever design you you have for a computer case you should use all the spots for the fans. This is extremely important if you are pushing your computer components beyond what they are meant to do because of the heat issue.
     If you are worried about how loud your computer could be with all them fans. You can get low rpm fans some as low as 600 rpm. Now at that speed it will not push as much air but some is better then none. Remember when you are installing the fans there will be arrows on the fan to let you know what way the air will be pushing. This will be important because of the air you will be pushing either in or out of your computer case.
     Now you maybe wondering about if you have a laptop how can you cool it down even more. You can buy a laptop cooler it is a thin pad with fans that your laptop would sit on. This will help to displace the heat that most laptops get on the bottom of the case. You can spend from twenty dollars and up on a cooler. Remember to get one that is meant for the size of your laptop. If you get one to small or to big your laptop will not cool properly.
     Now that we have looked over cooling for your computer case, in part 3 I will be going over cooling for your power supply and video card. With power supplies I will cover the different ways they are cooled. With video cards I will also be covering the different ways they can be cooled. Cont 3

New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte) Update #3

     We'll just a few days into the Frozenbyte bundle they have raised over 566K with over 110K copies sold. From what it looks like Linux users are still spending the most per copy with Mac users next and then Windows users. It also looks like there are more Windows copies sold with Linux and then Mac users buying. There is still a little over 11 days left to get your copy.

Update On The Asus Xonar DX 7.1

     We'll I have been using the Asus Xonar DX 7.1 for a little over a day and I am really impressed. Ubuntu found the card with the CMI8788 [Oxygen HD Audio] codec with no extra drivers to install. This is the first card I have ever used that Ubuntu found it as a high definition sound card. The major benefit to this is when you are listening to high quality music or high definition movies you will take full advantage of the audio. It also looks like the extra power you have to supply it via a berg connector is to give you a louder sound.
     So what extra items does the sound card give you in the box. The sound card has an adapter so you could plug digital audio out (SPDIF) from the sound card. This would be helpful if you are plug-in the card into a stereo or high end computer speakers. It also comes with a low profile back plate bracket so it will fit in smaller computer cases. There is also the manual and cd for the drivers for Windows. If you are installing this card on Windows you should go to the company's website and download the latest drivers. There is also a cable that comes with it to connect to a analog device.
     Now for a look at the features that comes built onto the sound card. If your computer cause has front audio you can connect them to this card. I have not done this yet only because I have not had a reason to. This card also has a internal auxiliary input for connecting devices that require an analog connection to the sound card. There is no cd input to this card but there is also no need for one for along time.
     For the cost of this card I would recommend it to anyone looking for a solid sounding card to replace your built in sound card. The card cost under one hundred dollars and they had a twenty dollar mail in rebate.

Test System Hardware Update #2

     Keeping with the updates for the test system I updated the internal sound card (Auzen X-Plosion 7.1 Cinema) with the Asus Xonar DX 7.1 (pci-e). The reason I did this is because of the design of the motherboard. I am looking to add a second video card for sli and to do this I have to give up the pci slot the other audio card is in. So I bought a sound card that would fit into a pci-e slot. This slot would have been used for a third video card in sli. The only real draw back to this card is that I had to install more power to the card via a berg power connector.  From what I read in the manual if you did not add the power the card would not work. Also this card worked right out of the box with Ubuntu.

Test System Hardware Update

     We'll I took out one of the 500 GB Western Digital hard drives for a 2 TB Western Digital hard drive. The new drive is only a green drive what this means is that it is runs only 5400 rpm (speed of the hard drive platters). I understand it is slower but I was looking at the size for this drive rather then speed. I was able to pick it up for a really cheap price on-line. I will keep the other 500 GB drive installed until I get a new 2TB or 3TB drive in the near future.

New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte) Update #2

     The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle has now made over $389K in sales with over 75K copies of the bundles sold. The information on there web site still shows that right now the most downloads are still with Windows user but still Linux users are spending the most money on average. There are still over 13 days left to get your copy of buy (gift) a copy for someone else. I bought my copy last night but I have not had a chance to go through the games yet.

New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte) Update

     We'll the humble bundle has been up and running for a little over two hours and it has raised over $44K of sales between Windows, Linux and Mac users. With almost 8300 copies sold it looks like windows has the most copies sold but with Linux buyers spending more money. The bundle has 14 days left so you have sometime to buy a copy or you can buy (gift) a copy for someone else.

New Humble Bundle (Frozenbyte)

     We'll there is a new Humble Bundle coming out at www.humblebundle.com with five games from the Frozenbyte game developer. This would be the third humble bundle brought to us from Wolfire Games. The new bundle should be up and running in the next couple of hours. The five games in this bundle are Trine, Shadowgrounds Survivor, Shadowgrounds, Jack Claw and Splot. Trine will be making its Linux debut with this bundle. Four games are available on Windows, Linux and Mac. Jack Claw is the only one that is on Windows but it does come with the source code. When you make a payment some of the money does go towards The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play Charity. When I pick up the bundle I will go over the games in more detail.

Your Second Option Operating System

     With all the new Asus motherboards and Asus computers out right now. There is another option out there for your operating system. This operating system is called Express Gate and is built right into the Asus BIOS.
     To get into the OS you will have to do a few things first. After you start the computer you will have to press the F8 button to get into the BIOS. You will then need to go into the Tools option and make sure that the Express Gate option is enabled. You will then need to back out and save your settings. When your system reboots it will bring you into a screen for the Express Gate operating system. You will have a 10 second timer countdown by default so if you do not do anything it will try to boot to your other operating system installed.
     So you maybe asking what does Express Gate give you out of the box? It comes with Skype client, a chat client, on-line games client and a web browser client. It also lets you set up your network and other settings related to your network. An important note when it comes to downloading anything via the web browser or chat you will not be able to. This only relates to things that you would want to keep on your computer. This does not relate to watching videos on-line. The reason for this is because there is no space on your BIOS to save anything. If you know that you will be downloading anything on your computer then you will need a operating system like Ubuntu on a hard drive.
     Now you maybe asking yourself if I can not download anything why would I want to use it. We'll the biggest reason I would think of is time. If you needed to check your e-mail or quickly surf the internet it would only take a few seconds to get on-line. Or if you are a new/novice user and you just want to do some basic things.
     You also maybe asking why I would be bringing this up when I have been talking about Ubuntu on your computer. Express Gate is based on the Linux kernel as with Ubuntu is based on Linux kernel as well. It shows how easy a operating system that is based on Linux can be. Express Gate is not a 100% replacement for a operating system on your hard drive. In fact I would say it would be a really good idea to have both Express Gate and Ubuntu installed.

Why Good Cooling Is Important For Your Computer Part 1

     Today I will be talking about the importance of proper cooling for your computer components. If you have read our past post you will have read that our test computer CPU is over-clocked. With this over-clock our CPU will create a lot of heat that will have to be dealt with.
     CPU cooling has been a issue since the first processor came out to the market. Through out the years CPU coolers have changed quite a bit from just a heat sink with no fan to the extreme dry ice cooling (VERY DANGEROUS). Now you maybe asking why has it gone from just a heat sink to the extreme of dry ice. The reason for this is because how fast the CPU is and how many resistors are in it. When you buy a CPU today you can either buy them as a retail box or OEM. If you buy with a retail box you will get a CPU cooler and OEM's do not come with any. Now stock CPU coolers do a really good job of cooling CPU's they do fall short when you want to push your CPU farther. I would recommend a really good after market CPU cooler. You should be expected to pay from $60.00 and up for a good one. Also be aware that most after market coolers will need you to buy thermal paste. Thermal paste is the material between the CPU and the cooler to move the heat from the CPU. You could go more extreme with water cool or more but you will be spending more money for this set-up. New types of air CPU coolers will let you added a second fan to the cooler. The benefit to this is what is called a push pull system. With this set-up you will be able move more air in your cooler to help regulate the temperature.
     Now I know I have talked a lot about air cooling for your CPU and you maybe asking about the other types. We'll there are three other types of cooling only two that are realistic. The first one would be water cooled and as the name states it is cooled by water not air. There are different companies out there that make water cooling components. The biggest benefit is that you can add the water cooling to other components for added cooling. You will also notice a larger drop of temperature then you would with air cooling. The biggest issue is if you have even a small leak it can destroy your computer components. The next one is called Phase Change cooling OCZ made one called Cryo-Z. The major benefit to this idea is that you can get a much larger temperature drop for your CPU. Also there would be less chance of leaking in your computer. But the major draw backs out way the positives. First the amount of power the machine takes to work also you would need room for it right beside your computer. Also the fact that you can not use it with any other device on your computer as you could with water cooled. The last way to cool a CPU that we will cover is dry ice cooling and as we stated at the start it is VERY DANGEROUS. The major benefit would be that you would be able to push your over-clocked CPU more without heat issues. With dry ice you can get your temperature to under 0 degrees Celsius. Now for the bad news first it is really hard to get a hold of. Dry Ice is something you can not just get anywhere and you may have to order in. The set up is not meant for daily use you can not use this while in a computer case and running daily. Also why it is dangerous is because it can burn you. If you do not take extreme care you can cause a 2nd degree burn so this is something we would not recommend.
     Now that we have covered some basics for cooling your CPU let's take a look at what we will cover in part 2. We will be talking about your computer case and why it is a good idea to have good cooling for your case. Cont 2

Ubuntu (Linux) Versus Computer Viruses

     Hi there today I am going to talk about computer viruses on Ubuntu machines or lack of. I will also be covering basic things you can do to prevent a viruses on your computer no matter the operating system. Viruses are a major problem today in the computer world with every operating system being affected today. The most affected operating system today is the Microsoft Windows family. There are many different reasons for this, the lack of quick updates from Microsoft. The fact that right now Windows is the most popular operating system. The biggest reason and this would go for any operating system would be lack of user education. Now Apple and Linux has had viruses made for there operating systems in the past. The biggest reason for the lack of so many viruses is that you can not run Microsoft programs by default. What I mean by this is that files that end in .exe, .bat, .cab or .scr can not be opened by Apple or Ubuntu. These files could be opened if you used another program to install them like a program called Wine. But even installing these files with Wine will only limit the virus to Wine and not your Apple or Ubuntu machine. These four ways are the most popular ways to spread viruses. Also with Ubuntu programs need to ask you to put a password in (by default) to be installed.
     Now if you are worried about your Ubuntu machine getting viruses you can download a free anti virus program called Clamtk. This program is free and is updated often. If you want to use it you can download it at http://clamtk.sourceforge.net/ or through the Ubuntu Software Centre. This program does not run in the background but only takes up 18% of your cpu when it runs. This program is not just for Ubuntu it should be able to run on any Linux distro. You should also download clamav-unofficial-sigs from the Synaptic Package Manager. This will help with "phishing, spear phishing, fake lottery, ecard malware, casino, fake jobs, fake loans, 419s, fake diplomas, porn, emailed malware and other general spam." There are other programs out there that will help you with viruses on your computer but this is the easiest one I could find.
     Another great advantage with Ubuntu is that it "can" help to cure a virus on a Windows machine. For this you will need to know the name of the virus so you can look it up online. When you look up the name of the virus they may tell you the directory that it should be in. If it does then all you have to do is start Ubuntu in a live cd mode on the computer that is infected. When the cd boots up you can go into the infected hard drive and look for that folder. When you delete the folder the virus should be gone and your computer should be virus free.
     Remember the biggest way to prevent viruses on your computer is user prevention. If you do not know about were a file you are downloading comes from or about were a e-mail comes from you should not open it. Also remember to make sure whatever anti virus program you are using to make sure it is up to date.
   

Test System Full Specs

     We would like to show you the full technical specifications of the testing system we will be using in these blogs.

Cpu: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHZ (stock)
Motherboard: Asus M3N-HT BIOS revision 3202
Cpu Cooler: Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 (2 Fans)
Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5
Ram: 8 GB OCZ 1066 Mhz
Hard Drives: 2X 500 GB Western Digital Green Hard Drives
                      64 GB Kingston Solid State Drive
Video Card: Nvidia Geforce GTS 450 
Sound Card: Auzen X-Plosion 7.1 Cinema
Computer Case: Fractal Design R3
Case Fans: Six
Power Supply: Thermaltake TRX-1000M 1000W
Misc: Rocketfish Multi Card Reader
          Four Fan Controller
Operating System: Ubuntu 11.04
Wireless Card: D-Link DWA-556 Xtreme N

When we do upgrades to the test machine we will do a update on here about the upgrade. We will also go over what this upgrade will do for our test system. Remember for the time and budget these parts were the best for our needs.

CPU Overclocking With Ubuntu 10.10 Part 3

Cont. From Part 2

     Now that we have moved on from the hardware aspect now we are going to take a look a some tools that can be downloaded and used with Ubuntu. These tools are going to make sure everything with your over-clocked CPU is running fine. These tools will be able to be used in real time. What this means is that the programs will show you what is going on with your CPU right away.
     The first program that I am going to be talking about and that can be downloaded via the Ubuntu Software Centre is Xsensor. This a great program for letting you know the speeds of the fans that are in your computer. These fans will have to be plugged into your motherboard. Your bios will have to be able to detect the speeds of the fans for this program to work. This program will also let you know the temperature of the motherboard and CPU. With the CPU we are using the AMD Phenom II X 1055T the maximum temperature is around 60C. If your cpu is around this temperature I would say there a few issues that need to be looked at. With the over-clock I am using right now my CPU temperature is around 30C. The next program I would use is called Sysinfo this program will give you the same information as cat /proc/cpuinfo but in a easier way to view the information. 
     With over-clocking being able to burn out your CPU a lot faster then what the manufacture made it for, you will need to make sure everything is working fine. The biggest thing you need to remember with over-clocking is cooling for your CPU. Do not use the stock cooler that comes with the CPU, spend some money on cooling built for over-clocking. Also make sure you have a power supply that has enough power to give to your over-clock.
     We'll this ends my first ever blog I hope you found this full of incite about basic CPU over-clocking with Ubuntu. I will doing more post in the near future dedicated all around your computer and how to try to help you out.

Important Update

     We'll I found out that Ubuntu 10.10 was reporting the wrong speed. The proper speed is 2.94 GHZ this was after a update I did to Ubuntu. It is only a speed increase of .14 MHZ but it is still a increase. I am not sure why it was coming up with this speed but at least it is the right speed on the system now. Also I have update the systems operating system to Ubuntu 11.04 64bit. It is still not officially released yet but it is working just fine with the over-clock.

CPU Overclocking With Ubuntu 10.10 Part 2

Cont. From Part 1     
     Now that we got all the hardware in place now lets take a look at the motherboard's BIOS (Basic Input/Output System). In here is were we will be over-clocking the CPU to the stable speed we can get. To get into this BIOS for this motherboard when the system starts up you will have to press the F8 button. Once you get into here you will have to fist go to the Advanced tab. From there you will have to go the JumperFree Configuration option. Once you are in there you will see a lot of different options. What we are going to be concerned with today is the AI Tuning option. This option is set so you can easily bring the cpu speed up with out having to configure anything else. This is the safest option because if you tweak the other options you can break things pretty quickly. You will then be presented with being able to over-clock at 3%, 5%, 8% or 10%. If I was you I would start at 3% and then go up. The reason for this is to make sure that the system is stable at the speeds the over-clock gives you. You will then need to go back up one screen to the get to the CPU Configuration screen. Once you are in that option you need to disable the AMD Cool "n" Quiet Function. The reason you need to do this is because Ubuntu will not recognise the over-clock. This option tells the OS to only use what CPU speed you will need. It will want to bring the speed down when not in use. Once that is done you will need to back out to the main screen. From here you will need to save and exit the BIOS. Once your computer resets it will try to load Ubuntu if it does not then you will need to go back in to the BIOS. You will need to bring the over-clock percentage down. The reason this happens is because the the system becomes unstable.
     Once Ubuntu boots up there is a simple thing you can do to make sure the system is running the way you set it up. The first thing you should do is to start up the Terminal program that is under Accessories. Then type in cat /proc/cpuinfo this command will output something similar to this:

processor    : 0
vendor_id    : AuthenticAMD
cpu family    : 16
model        : 10
model name    : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor
stepping    : 0
cpu MHz        : 3464.972
cache size    : 512 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 6
core id        : 0
cpu cores    : 6
apicid        : 0
initial apicid    : 0
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 6
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save
bogomips    : 5879.94
TLB size    : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 64
address sizes    : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor    : 1
vendor_id    : AuthenticAMD
cpu family    : 16
model        : 10
model name    : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor
stepping    : 0
cpu MHz        : 3464.972
cache size    : 512 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 6
core id        : 1
cpu cores    : 6
apicid        : 1
initial apicid    : 1
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 6
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save
bogomips    : 5880.00
TLB size    : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 64
address sizes    : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor    : 2
vendor_id    : AuthenticAMD
cpu family    : 16
model        : 10
model name    : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor
stepping    : 0
cpu MHz        : 3464.972
cache size    : 512 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 6
core id        : 2
cpu cores    : 6
apicid        : 2
initial apicid    : 2
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 6
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save
bogomips    : 5880.00
TLB size    : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 64
address sizes    : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor    : 3
vendor_id    : AuthenticAMD
cpu family    : 16
model        : 10
model name    : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor
stepping    : 0
cpu MHz        : 3464.972
cache size    : 512 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 6
core id        : 3
cpu cores    : 6
apicid        : 3
initial apicid    : 3
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 6
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save
bogomips    : 5879.98
TLB size    : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 64
address sizes    : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor    : 4
vendor_id    : AuthenticAMD
cpu family    : 16
model        : 10
model name    : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor
stepping    : 0
cpu MHz        : 3464.972
cache size    : 512 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 6
core id        : 5
cpu cores    : 6
apicid        : 4
initial apicid    : 5
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 6
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save
bogomips    : 5879.97
TLB size    : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 64
address sizes    : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]

processor    : 5
vendor_id    : AuthenticAMD
cpu family    : 16
model        : 10
model name    : AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor
stepping    : 0
cpu MHz        : 3464.972
cache size    : 512 KB
physical id    : 0
siblings    : 6
core id        : 4
cpu cores    : 6
apicid        : 5
initial apicid    : 4
fpu        : yes
fpu_exception    : yes
cpuid level    : 6
wp        : yes
flags        : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni monitor cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt cpb npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save
bogomips    : 5879.98
TLB size    : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment    : 64
address sizes    : 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm stc 100mhzsteps hwpstate [9]


As you can see it is showing the cpu speed at 3.46.972 GHZ that is a overclock of 584.972 MHZ. This is from the stock speed of 2.8 GHZ (GHZ=gigahurtz MHZ=megahurtz). This is as far as I have pushed this cpu right now but I might look down the road to push it farther. In the next part we will be looking at software you can use in Ubuntu to make sure things are running fine for your cpu. Cont. in Part 3

CPU Overclocking With Ubuntu 10.10 Part 1

      Hey there this is my first blog ever so this is going to be a milestone for myself today. I am going to talk about the basics to over-clock your Central Processing Unit (CPU) and running Ubuntu as your Operating System (OS). The system we will be using for this test will be a Amd Phenom II X6 1055T CPU, Asus M3N-HT motherboard revision 3302, 8 gigs of OCZ DDR2 1066 ram, Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 CPU cooler, Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, Thermaltake TRX-1000M 1000W power supply and Ubuntu 10.10 64bit OS. I will not be going into any other parts of the system because they are not relevant to over-clocking the system.
      The first thing I am going to talk about is why I picked these parts over generic parts. Remember these parts are what I felt at the time was the best choice for my budget and wants out of a system. First is the Amd Phenom II X6 1055T CPU from what I have read and have dealt with in the past. Amd runs cooler and is really good for over-clocking. When I bought the CPU it was also very cheap for a 6 core CPU for under $200. Next is the choice for the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste over the stock thermal paste. I read that it does a better job transferring the heat from CPU to heat sink. I picked up the paste for under $20.00. Maybe one of the most important parts of the build is the Corsair Cooling Air Series A70 CPU cooler. The first thing I would have to say is that this cooler is VERY LARGE make sure you have the space in your case before you buy this. The cooler comes with two fans for a push pull cooling but can run with just one fan (I would highly recommend the two fans). I know there are other cooling types out there like water. But for myself I am to paranoid that there will be a leak and that will be it for the system. So that is why I stayed with a air cooling CPU. I picked up the cooler for under $60.00 I would "NOT" use a stock cooler to do over-clocking. Now for the motherboard the Asus M3N-HT. Not much I can say for this board at the time it was the only one I could find that would take all 4 sticks of my DDR2 ram. The reason for that issue was the fact DDR3 was being pushed out. It does do over-clocking very well and has a really good heat sink system for the north and south bridge. I was able to pick it up for under $250.00. The reason I picked OCZ ram was because from what I have read and was told they are really good for over-clocking. You need this because when you increase your front side bus speed for over-clocking you also increase the speed of your ram. You want to make sure that your ram can handle the increase if not the ram with start giving you errors in your programs. Now for the most important part of the over-clocking the power supply. I picked up a Thermaltake TRX-1000M 1000W power supply for the simple fact that I new I was going to need a lot of power. With all the extra cards and drives in my computer that extra power a over-clocked CPU would take is a lot. I was able to pick it up for under $250.00. I had a 650 watt OCZ power supply when I tried to over-clock a Intel CPU it fried the motherboard. I am glade it was only the motherboard and nothing else that went.
      We'll this is the first part of this write up about over-clocking with Ubuntu. I will have more up about this in the next day or two. Cont. in Part 2