I've been experimenting with the speed of my CPU, wanted to see how slow I could run it but still have enough CPU power to do the every day mundane tasks in Windows. (Not gaming)

Why?
To save power and money, make less heat and at the same time maybe extend the life of my PC.

I successfully got it to run as low as 1.2Ghz @0.85 volts, but at that speed there were signs of a slow down, the worst was in media Center where the PC couldn't successfully keep the video playback of HD content running smoothly.

I have ended up with a core speed of 1.6Ghz (roughly) and a core voltage of 0.96V, at this speed the PC seems to run almost as quick as default, not really any noticeable slowdown and HD video playback is perfectly smooth.

I have achieved this underclock by setting the multiplier to 6 instead of 8 (the default) and then reducing the FSB until I got to 1.6Ghz.

Then reducing the CPU voltage to a stable place.

Then reducing the RAM voltage to a stable place also.


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IEEE releases new standard for body area network


Source: IEEE releases new standard for body area network

Ultra-cool companion helps reveal giant planets


Source: Ultra-cool companion helps reveal giant planets

Found a good site for testing out your computer power. See if yours measures up :

http://computerpowertest.com/

I already have two freeview TV or (DVB T1) PCI cards in my PC but they don't support freeview HD in the UK, Oh! no, we need DVB T2 cards that support mpeg4 for that.

After hunting around on the web and doing a bit of research I discovered that there aren't many serious options available on the market for the desktop PC, we seem to be limited to two card manufactures.

TBS

Black & Gold

Both of these cards get good customer reviews, have options of single or dual for watching one channel and recording another at the same time and most importantly they both work in Windows Media Center.





I will be going for the TBS PCI-E DVB-T2 Dual card simply because it's the cheaper option.

Will post some screenshots and maybe a video when I have it installed and running.

Not really motor sport, but it seemed to fit here best. Thought this might interest you guys. BTW if I ever get a super car it would be a TVR.

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/news/fancy-a-drive--darling--on-road--off-road-or-in-the-sea-.html