Of all the players Rafa has signed, Xabi Alonso is perhaps the classiest. There hasn't been a deep lying midfielder that good since perhaps ...... wait !! There hasn't been anybody like Alonso in the EPL! I think the closest person to Alonso in terms of impact is Seedorf at Milan. It'll be sad to see him go. I think Liverpool's chances will leave with Alonso. He was the difference between winning and losing so many times last season.
Despite good reviews I had a paper rejected. I did however have another one accepted but fuck the PC for halving my joy. A big Thank you to K.Kothapalli, Suhail, SKP and PJN for all the kewl work that went into the paper that got accepted. Who ever thought you could mix parallel computing, cryptography and GPU's!! The paper that got pawned was perhaps a victim of some rather shoddy writing on my part. Lesson: never write a paper that is double column, 9pt font and 12 pages long in one day even if you are Shakespeare.
This week I Shall be leaving my home of 17 years at Lab Quarters in Hyderabad. For the ignorant it's a DRDO colony and is an extremely beautiful one at that. We will be shifting to a place nearby. I will miss the lawns and Grounds and Badminton courts and the squash courts and all the pretty girls. No matter where life takes me, it'll always be *the* place I'll call home. I grew up there, met my best friend there, and did a lot of other firsts there too. Alvida.
Today also starts my last semester at IIIT. I think I'll spend this semester doing what I can, to help IIIT. This is a unique place in India, and after a few months when I am gone, I will dearly miss the slow, BC filled tension-less life that IIIT offers. Unlike many others I will not hate this place because of some differences with the people who run the place or their lame ass antics. I will remember IIIT for the friends it gave me and the things it taught me.
PS: Rafa Benitez you snobbish little panzie !! Look what happened when you didn't sign Arshavin, look what happened when you didn't sign Owen. Please Please Please sign Huntelaar. Dont make me sad.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
It's that time of the year......
When the hot shot magazines (who don't understand squat) start to rank colleges. In the last two years I've tried to analyze these "rankings" and make sense (or the lack of it) of them. This year seeing IIIT Hyderabad ranked 16th is rather disappointing and I feel that these rankings are doing prospective students a great disservice by advising them to join places like BHU or some of the NIT's or even VIT ahead of IIIT (Rofl. How can you take a ranking that has VIT as 10th seriously ??)
This post is for those prospective students, wondering why they should join IIIT.
Firstly, from a purely academic point of view, Only the 5 main IIT's i.e. Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Madras can compete with IIIT in CS. I don't think any faculty member from any institute mentioned in that India Today list would argue with that. IIIT has about 55 full time faculty members and about 20 more visiting + adjunct + Emeritus + blah blah blah faculty members. Each one of these people has a PhD and has significant research contributions even before coming to IIIT. Basically they are bloody damn good. Almost all non-CS/Electronics faculty (Humanities) are borrowed from the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), located just next door. They too are really really good.
Secondly, the quality and amount of research being done at IIIT is simply spectacular( Why would a undergrad bother ?? read on..). In the last academic year, papers from IIIT have been accepted to almost all top venues in CS. These are not some crappy local conferences that I am talking about. I refer to conferences and journals where the history of subjects is being made, the big league, where all the top notch people in the field publish. For those who understand I'm talking about A+ and A level conferences. But that's not the impressive part. Almost 90% of these papers have Undergraduate and Masters students as the prime contributors!! IIIT gives an extraordinary scope to Undergrads to publish at the highest level. I am confident that nobody in India comes anywhere close to IIIT in this regard. In my experience, if you have a quality publication(s), you can pretty much go wherever you want for a MS/PhD. IIIT students getting regular admits to all the top 10 US universities (except Berkley ... somehow nobody applies there) is proof of this being true.
Third, the future prospects after graduating from IIIT are pretty cool. For those interested in placements, IIIT averaged about 7.2 LpA for the 2008 batch (about 140 people. Includes B.Tech, M.Tech and MS) and 5.3 LpA for the 2009 Batch (about 160 people) All IT companies that visited the IIT's came here too. Not bad considering whats going on with the job market right now. As for MS/PhD admits abroad, IIIT has the faculty that a) Will help you do enough work to get noticed b) Give you a recommendation that will seal the deal. The reach of IIIT faculty members extends to cover all universities of any significance. Basically IIIT will give you all the tools to work and the faculty to push you to your "dream" admit.
Fourth, the Alumni network. You know your college alumni is doing well when you step into any google/microsoft/amazon/adobe/yahoo/cisco/(endless list) office and cant walk 5 steps without meeting an alumni. You know your alumni is doing well when half the people coming to conduct campus intervies on behalf of these companies are alumni themselves. You know your alumni is doing well when you know that there will be some IIIT student in the university where you are going to join a graduate program. Keep in mind that only 8 batches have graduated from IIIT thus far. Imagine what things would be 15..20...25 years from now.
And now what can you expect to find at IIIT by the way of facilities ? Well this isn't a glitzy glamorous college. IIIT as an institute, has a philosophy of simple living. And that's just how the campus culture is too. Facilities are a mixed bag. Basic facilities like hostels are very good and are much better compared to most of the IIT's. Don't expect any VIT/Manipal style AC hostels. Messes are decent. The canteen is rather average, but that has more to do with the subways and dominos and the likes that surround the college. Recreation facilities are rather limited. A Swimming pool, a gym, a basketball court, volleyball, TT and a Football ground is pretty much all you have. I personally find it rather lame.
Computing resources are again a mixed bag. Large portions of the hostels have WiFi as the only network. It's good for browsing but not really good for movies and LAN gaming. But once you are on a wired network, it's smooth sailing. IIIT is unique in that there is unrestricted internet/LAN access. The labs are pretty cool. They stock some of the nicest hardware around. In that respect IIIT is pretty good.
To summarize IIIT: If you want to study and learn, come to IIIT. There is no equal in India period. If you are more interested in other pursuits, especially extra curricular activities you might end up disappointed here. IIIT is yet to evolve beyond academics. I personally don't see a student having to make any significant concessions by being at IIIT. The only limiting factor for a student here is his/her motivation.
And as far as the rankings go, I don't consider IIIT to be an "Engineering college" per se. IIIT has a specific focus on Computer Science and IT and offers no other dimensions as of now. As far as computer science is concerned IIIT is a unique center of excellence. IIIT has 24 research centers that work on core computing and it's applications. If somebody were to rank CS courses in India, IIIT would be far ahead of the rest (including the IIT's) by a mile. But CS alone doesn't constitute an Engineering college. The diversity on offer at the IIT's is truly wonderful. Perhaps IIIT would catch up in a decade or two. Rankings take a lot of stuff into account. An institute that offers only CS and Electronics as courses can't and shouldn't compete for rankings with other places that offer courses ranging from electrical to mechanical to aerospace to marine engineering. That said, I am of the opinion that you should give up a seat at IIIT Hyderabad only for a seat in CS/ECE/Mech/Chem in the 5 Main IIT's. You are likely to regret any other choice you make. Not now, but perhaps while in your 4th year or after you graduate. That doesn't mean other options are bad or anything. It is always ultimately down to the individual. All I'm saying is that IIIT would give you a most competent platform to excel.
PS: Please don't write any hate comments.
This post is for those prospective students, wondering why they should join IIIT.
Firstly, from a purely academic point of view, Only the 5 main IIT's i.e. Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Madras can compete with IIIT in CS. I don't think any faculty member from any institute mentioned in that India Today list would argue with that. IIIT has about 55 full time faculty members and about 20 more visiting + adjunct + Emeritus + blah blah blah faculty members. Each one of these people has a PhD and has significant research contributions even before coming to IIIT. Basically they are bloody damn good. Almost all non-CS/Electronics faculty (Humanities) are borrowed from the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), located just next door. They too are really really good.
Secondly, the quality and amount of research being done at IIIT is simply spectacular( Why would a undergrad bother ?? read on..). In the last academic year, papers from IIIT have been accepted to almost all top venues in CS. These are not some crappy local conferences that I am talking about. I refer to conferences and journals where the history of subjects is being made, the big league, where all the top notch people in the field publish. For those who understand I'm talking about A+ and A level conferences. But that's not the impressive part. Almost 90% of these papers have Undergraduate and Masters students as the prime contributors!! IIIT gives an extraordinary scope to Undergrads to publish at the highest level. I am confident that nobody in India comes anywhere close to IIIT in this regard. In my experience, if you have a quality publication(s), you can pretty much go wherever you want for a MS/PhD. IIIT students getting regular admits to all the top 10 US universities (except Berkley ... somehow nobody applies there) is proof of this being true.
Third, the future prospects after graduating from IIIT are pretty cool. For those interested in placements, IIIT averaged about 7.2 LpA for the 2008 batch (about 140 people. Includes B.Tech, M.Tech and MS) and 5.3 LpA for the 2009 Batch (about 160 people) All IT companies that visited the IIT's came here too. Not bad considering whats going on with the job market right now. As for MS/PhD admits abroad, IIIT has the faculty that a) Will help you do enough work to get noticed b) Give you a recommendation that will seal the deal. The reach of IIIT faculty members extends to cover all universities of any significance. Basically IIIT will give you all the tools to work and the faculty to push you to your "dream" admit.
Fourth, the Alumni network. You know your college alumni is doing well when you step into any google/microsoft/amazon/adobe/yahoo/cisco/(endless list) office and cant walk 5 steps without meeting an alumni. You know your alumni is doing well when half the people coming to conduct campus intervies on behalf of these companies are alumni themselves. You know your alumni is doing well when you know that there will be some IIIT student in the university where you are going to join a graduate program. Keep in mind that only 8 batches have graduated from IIIT thus far. Imagine what things would be 15..20...25 years from now.
And now what can you expect to find at IIIT by the way of facilities ? Well this isn't a glitzy glamorous college. IIIT as an institute, has a philosophy of simple living. And that's just how the campus culture is too. Facilities are a mixed bag. Basic facilities like hostels are very good and are much better compared to most of the IIT's. Don't expect any VIT/Manipal style AC hostels. Messes are decent. The canteen is rather average, but that has more to do with the subways and dominos and the likes that surround the college. Recreation facilities are rather limited. A Swimming pool, a gym, a basketball court, volleyball, TT and a Football ground is pretty much all you have. I personally find it rather lame.
Computing resources are again a mixed bag. Large portions of the hostels have WiFi as the only network. It's good for browsing but not really good for movies and LAN gaming. But once you are on a wired network, it's smooth sailing. IIIT is unique in that there is unrestricted internet/LAN access. The labs are pretty cool. They stock some of the nicest hardware around. In that respect IIIT is pretty good.
To summarize IIIT: If you want to study and learn, come to IIIT. There is no equal in India period. If you are more interested in other pursuits, especially extra curricular activities you might end up disappointed here. IIIT is yet to evolve beyond academics. I personally don't see a student having to make any significant concessions by being at IIIT. The only limiting factor for a student here is his/her motivation.
And as far as the rankings go, I don't consider IIIT to be an "Engineering college" per se. IIIT has a specific focus on Computer Science and IT and offers no other dimensions as of now. As far as computer science is concerned IIIT is a unique center of excellence. IIIT has 24 research centers that work on core computing and it's applications. If somebody were to rank CS courses in India, IIIT would be far ahead of the rest (including the IIT's) by a mile. But CS alone doesn't constitute an Engineering college. The diversity on offer at the IIT's is truly wonderful. Perhaps IIIT would catch up in a decade or two. Rankings take a lot of stuff into account. An institute that offers only CS and Electronics as courses can't and shouldn't compete for rankings with other places that offer courses ranging from electrical to mechanical to aerospace to marine engineering. That said, I am of the opinion that you should give up a seat at IIIT Hyderabad only for a seat in CS/ECE/Mech/Chem in the 5 Main IIT's. You are likely to regret any other choice you make. Not now, but perhaps while in your 4th year or after you graduate. That doesn't mean other options are bad or anything. It is always ultimately down to the individual. All I'm saying is that IIIT would give you a most competent platform to excel.
PS: Please don't write any hate comments.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
80 Million Pounds
The first Champions league final I watched was in 2000 when Real Madrid played Valencia. It was a classy performance by madrid. My then favorite player McManaman scored a goal and Redondo made what was the best move in a CL final till Zidane struck the sweetest of volley two years later. I watched madrid win again with their "Galacticos" in 2002. Both these teams had good attacking players but even better defenses. Madrid had Hierro and Helguera at center half and Roberto Carlos and Salgado as full backs. Makelele used to sit in front of them like a rock. Fast forward to 2009. Madrid have the worlds best central midfielder Kaka (zidane then) and winger Ronaldo (figo then). But at the back they have Cannavaro, Pepe and Metzelder all of whom can be described as bullshit. The only really quality players that madrid have at the back are Casillas and Sergio Ramos (for whom defending is an afterthought).
Looks like Senor Perez has learned nothing in his years out. The Galacticos were quite good for a few years. Then one fine night they sold both Hierro and Makelele. And that was the end of that. Madrid have still not recovered from that sale. In hindsight the sale of Makelele to Chelsea was one of the defining moments of World football in this decade, much like Fergie talking Keane into joining ManUre.
As for Ronaldo, he will be a big miss at ManUre. I think Ronaldo's greatest contribution to ManU was to be able to absolutely demolish mid table and lower teams. Don't get me wrong, Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but he was most effective in "taking out the trash". I can remember him winning at least 4 matches this term (Villa, Blackburn,Porto and some other game i don't remember), where ManU were drifting, with just one brilliant swing of his boot. ManU will miss him next season and that is just the start of their problems. ManU look to be losing Tevez as well. Hargreaves looks to be done and dusted and Giggs, Scholes and Neville are not 25 anymore. ManU have 4 world class players. Rooney, Ronaldo, Ferdinand and Vidic. Without Ronaldo that's a pretty lightweight midfield. A midfield of Fletchers and Carricks and Parks and 35 year old Giggs and Scholes is not going to threaten the likes of Gerrard-Masch-Alonso or Lampard-Essien-Ballack. Up front Berbatov seems to have his issues and wants to leave (Will he be allowed?) Fergie has his task cut out.
Onto Liverpool and Rafa Benitez is in a spot of bother. He has assembled the best Liverpool team since the days of King Kenny, and he cant spend a pound because to utterly incompetent Yanks have screwed up. What a pity. I think he might get to sign a player but not more than that. Actually Liverpool really only need one player and that is somebody to partner Torres. Rafa missed great chance to fill that void when he failed to sign Arshavin(apparently Liverpool's interest was what took Arsenal so long to finish a deal with Zenit). He has come to regret that 4 times in 90 mins already last season. If I were Rafa I'd be closely looking at a certain Ruud Van Nistelrooy's situation at Madrid. He might be a good bargain. So might Michael Owen or Trezeguet and even perhaps a look at Saviola. What's clear is that there will be no Torres like signings this year. It'll have to be bargain shopping. I'm also happy Liverpool didn't sign Gareth Barry. He's crap and nowhere near as good as the pass-master Alonso.
PS. A post after a long time. Feels good to write about football.
Looks like Senor Perez has learned nothing in his years out. The Galacticos were quite good for a few years. Then one fine night they sold both Hierro and Makelele. And that was the end of that. Madrid have still not recovered from that sale. In hindsight the sale of Makelele to Chelsea was one of the defining moments of World football in this decade, much like Fergie talking Keane into joining ManUre.
As for Ronaldo, he will be a big miss at ManUre. I think Ronaldo's greatest contribution to ManU was to be able to absolutely demolish mid table and lower teams. Don't get me wrong, Ronaldo is a fantastic player, but he was most effective in "taking out the trash". I can remember him winning at least 4 matches this term (Villa, Blackburn,Porto and some other game i don't remember), where ManU were drifting, with just one brilliant swing of his boot. ManU will miss him next season and that is just the start of their problems. ManU look to be losing Tevez as well. Hargreaves looks to be done and dusted and Giggs, Scholes and Neville are not 25 anymore. ManU have 4 world class players. Rooney, Ronaldo, Ferdinand and Vidic. Without Ronaldo that's a pretty lightweight midfield. A midfield of Fletchers and Carricks and Parks and 35 year old Giggs and Scholes is not going to threaten the likes of Gerrard-Masch-Alonso or Lampard-Essien-Ballack. Up front Berbatov seems to have his issues and wants to leave (Will he be allowed?) Fergie has his task cut out.
Onto Liverpool and Rafa Benitez is in a spot of bother. He has assembled the best Liverpool team since the days of King Kenny, and he cant spend a pound because to utterly incompetent Yanks have screwed up. What a pity. I think he might get to sign a player but not more than that. Actually Liverpool really only need one player and that is somebody to partner Torres. Rafa missed great chance to fill that void when he failed to sign Arshavin(apparently Liverpool's interest was what took Arsenal so long to finish a deal with Zenit). He has come to regret that 4 times in 90 mins already last season. If I were Rafa I'd be closely looking at a certain Ruud Van Nistelrooy's situation at Madrid. He might be a good bargain. So might Michael Owen or Trezeguet and even perhaps a look at Saviola. What's clear is that there will be no Torres like signings this year. It'll have to be bargain shopping. I'm also happy Liverpool didn't sign Gareth Barry. He's crap and nowhere near as good as the pass-master Alonso.
PS. A post after a long time. Feels good to write about football.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
The Privilege of Teaching
This year I had the privilege of being a TA for two UG courses. Data Structures and Algorithms. I am a rather unusual case. I have not had the best academic records through my UG curriculum, but have developed pretty well albeit quite late. I think the rigors of the dual degree program forced me to work very hard and improve myself. This TAship has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my stay at IIIT till date. How well I have done is for UG groups A1 and A2 to decide.
I must admit I was very nervous and rather skeptical of my abilities to teach what could be considered IIIT's premier course for UGs. A few words from K.Srinathan before the first lab I took gave me a lot of confidence. Piyush also told me not to worry and it would turn out to be just fine. To walk into a class with 60~70 people staring at you, waiting for you to give the class direction is a daunting task. The fear of screwing up or worse teaching something wrong was a very big concern for me in the first few classes. I used to prepare for 3~4 hours for a lab and perhaps even more for a tutorial (I later discontinued tutorials for my group but more on that some other time). I think this year has been particularly challenging for the TA's as there is a new curriculum, and a lot of new topics were taught in the DS course. On some occasions, some of the things we were teaching was stuff we had not studied. This made for an even tenser situation. However something Abhilash said, calmed me down at the time, quite a bit. He said that no matter who the TA is and how good or bad they do, the DS course is always kind of on auto pilot. At the time i was relieved as I was assured that UG1 can be sand boxed from any failures that I may be responsible for. In hindsight I find that to be sad because, I believe that TA's can have a fundamental contribution to the course and despite having some wonderful talents among the 3/4/5 years if we are not able to influence a DS course it is a tragedy.
In my opinion, that was not the case. During each lab session I found myself challenged by some or the other student who wanted to implement a particular DS or solve a problem in a completely new way. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how good a lot of ug1 students are. The way they responded to the last assignment we posted was extraordinary. I was also very impressed by the the assignments Abhilash produced. The assignment set this year was in my opinion was one of the best sets produced during my stay. GG Abhilash.
Over the years, I have always believed that knowing a subject well enough is necessary and sufficient to be a good teacher. Based on my experiences this year, I can confirm that the sufficiency case is false. To be a good teacher requires a unique ability to communicate and get through to people. My experiences have helped me develop a new found admiration for those people who are blessed with the ability to teach well. It is indeed a rare gift.
I hope I do get to interact with UG1 again. It is hard work, but it's also an unmatched satisfaction. To work with some of the best and the brightest truly is a privilege.
I must admit I was very nervous and rather skeptical of my abilities to teach what could be considered IIIT's premier course for UGs. A few words from K.Srinathan before the first lab I took gave me a lot of confidence. Piyush also told me not to worry and it would turn out to be just fine. To walk into a class with 60~70 people staring at you, waiting for you to give the class direction is a daunting task. The fear of screwing up or worse teaching something wrong was a very big concern for me in the first few classes. I used to prepare for 3~4 hours for a lab and perhaps even more for a tutorial (I later discontinued tutorials for my group but more on that some other time). I think this year has been particularly challenging for the TA's as there is a new curriculum, and a lot of new topics were taught in the DS course. On some occasions, some of the things we were teaching was stuff we had not studied. This made for an even tenser situation. However something Abhilash said, calmed me down at the time, quite a bit. He said that no matter who the TA is and how good or bad they do, the DS course is always kind of on auto pilot. At the time i was relieved as I was assured that UG1 can be sand boxed from any failures that I may be responsible for. In hindsight I find that to be sad because, I believe that TA's can have a fundamental contribution to the course and despite having some wonderful talents among the 3/4/5 years if we are not able to influence a DS course it is a tragedy.
In my opinion, that was not the case. During each lab session I found myself challenged by some or the other student who wanted to implement a particular DS or solve a problem in a completely new way. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how good a lot of ug1 students are. The way they responded to the last assignment we posted was extraordinary. I was also very impressed by the the assignments Abhilash produced. The assignment set this year was in my opinion was one of the best sets produced during my stay. GG Abhilash.
Over the years, I have always believed that knowing a subject well enough is necessary and sufficient to be a good teacher. Based on my experiences this year, I can confirm that the sufficiency case is false. To be a good teacher requires a unique ability to communicate and get through to people. My experiences have helped me develop a new found admiration for those people who are blessed with the ability to teach well. It is indeed a rare gift.
I hope I do get to interact with UG1 again. It is hard work, but it's also an unmatched satisfaction. To work with some of the best and the brightest truly is a privilege.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Is the desktop dead ?
In recent years I have seen almost everybody buy laptops. People have kind of lost track of what it is to have a desktop and the power it brings to the table(no pun intended). With people spending as much as 55~60K on laptops with crappy CPU's and GPU's and virtually no possibility for any meaningful expansion, I wonder if they are making the right choice. This post is a must read for those people planning to buy new machines over the summer.
So is the desktop dead ? NO NO NO not in your wildest dreams. In 60k you could buy a desktop that can easily outperform the best laptops money can buy for the next 5 years. So what do we put into this PC ? And what does it have to do ? Simple. You need to be able to watch movies, play games and be microsoft proof :O. Here is what I'm putting in.
1. Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700@ 2.6 GHz : Rs.9,000
2. CPU Cooler : OCZ Vanquisher + Arctic Silver(5gms) : Rs.1,500
3. Motherboard : MSI P6N-SLI-V2 : Rs.5,500
4. Graphics : Nvidia GTX 275(palit): Rs.1,7000
5. Memory : 2x2GB OCZ Gold : Rs.3,000
6. HDD : 2xSeagate 500GB Raid-0 : Rs.6,000
7. Cabinet : Zebronics Antibiotic : Rs.2,150
8. SMPS : CoolerMaster RP 600 : Rs.3,450
9. Optical drive : DVD writer : Rs.1,200
10. KB+Mouse:Cordless Logitech/M$ : Rs.1,500
11. Monitor : Samsung 2233sw - 22" 1080p : Rs.10,000
Grand Total : Rs.60,300 (All these prices are current prices in CTC, Secunderabad)
Some of the stuff put in looks really weird. Let me explain everything.
1. Processor and the 2. Cooler : This desktop is being built for both multimedia and gaming. While a higher clocked dual core will most likely be slightly better at gaming, a quad core would decimate it in any sort of multimedia apps. For those wondering what arctic silver is, it's a cooling compound - that shiny paste you find on the back of the CPU cooler. Arctic silver is damn effective. My laptop's CPU was getting really hot. I had idle temperatures of around 61'C. I purchased a 3 gram AS pack and opened my laptop up and put it on. Now the idle temperature is 36'C. Awesome!! So a OCZ cooler and Arctic Silver will easily allow you to overclock the processor to about 3.2 GHz. I think that's as far as you can go on air based cooling. @ 3.2GHz you can pretty much remove any significant CPU bottlenecks.
3. Motherboard : Why an SLI board and that too such an old one ? Well this board is the best bang for the buck. Intel boards with the same features are just as expensive. I went for this board as it has a better RAID controller and an extra PCIe slot . And I have something special planned for this slot. Stick in a low end card like a GeForce 8600 and use it for PhysX or CUDA :)
4. Graphics : The GTX 275 is about 6% slower then the GTX 285 and costs a good 7K less. Plus the power consumption is about 40% lower. The 275 beats all the cards in the same price range i.e. the GTX260 and the Radeon4890 by quite some distance. This pick was a no brainer.
5. Memory : You really don't need more then 4 Gigs of memory for anything. OCZ modules are a bit expensive but they have lifetime warranty and if you are interested, can be easy to overclock!
6. HDD : I used two HDD's instead of one, so that I could set them up in raid-0. The effective throughput is at least 60% higher. So if you get 70 MB/s transfer rates with one disk, a Raid-0 configuration would give you about 110 MB/s. It means significantly lower load times, and faster seeking in those high def videos that masked-menace downloads :). If you share a lot of data in DC++, your HDD's will experience lesser wear and tear as well.
7. Cabinet : With a GTX275 and CPU cooling you need to have a large and well ventilated cabinet. The zebronics antibiotic has 3 large fans, a temperature display and loads of front ports. Plus did I mention it's got custom lighting and it's transparent :O
8. SMPS : Most people never buy an SMPS seperately. But his desktop needs one. A GTX275, Overclocked quad core, SLI motherboard, and 2 HDDS need a lot of power. Coolermaster's SMPS' are awesome and 600W insures you against all future GPU/SLI upgrades
9. Optical drive : Buy whatever you want. It's all the same shit.
10. KB+mouse : You could buy a cheaper option but I like using cordless stuff.
11. Monitor : This was a no brainer. The Samsung 2233SW is a 22 inch full HD (1920x1080) monitor. DCR 15000:1 and response time of 5ms. And it looks really really nice. It's a steal at it's price.
I am missing a speaker set :( I could save Rs.600 by buying ordinary RAM Modules, Save about Rs.500 by buying a 1TB instead of 2x500 GB, save about Rs.700 by buying a cheaper KB/Mouse combo, and about Rs.1500 by using a cheap local SMPS. That's about Rs.3300, enough to get you a creative 5.1 system. In my opinion - Buy the speakers later. It's not worth making any of those sacrifices. Thats pretty much it. In 60K you get a machine that
# Plays all present days games @ Full settings @ 1920x1080 >60 FPS (except crysis@35fps)
# Watch Full HD movies on a 22inch screen
# Has expansion space to put in another GFX card/4GB RAM/4 more HDD's
# And puts the current best machine in CVIT to shame (This is the best part :P)
So do you you still want to spend 60,000 on a laptop that's going to be a useless old piece of plastic, incapable of running anything other then PAC-man in 2.5 years time ??
PS. Desktop Prices fall @ 1% every month. By the time you get back from your holidays, this same system would cost 57,500. You could get yourself speakers with the extra cash :)
So is the desktop dead ? NO NO NO not in your wildest dreams. In 60k you could buy a desktop that can easily outperform the best laptops money can buy for the next 5 years. So what do we put into this PC ? And what does it have to do ? Simple. You need to be able to watch movies, play games and be microsoft proof :O. Here is what I'm putting in.
1. Processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700@ 2.6 GHz : Rs.9,000
2. CPU Cooler : OCZ Vanquisher + Arctic Silver(5gms) : Rs.1,500
3. Motherboard : MSI P6N-SLI-V2 : Rs.5,500
4. Graphics : Nvidia GTX 275(palit): Rs.1,7000
5. Memory : 2x2GB OCZ Gold : Rs.3,000
6. HDD : 2xSeagate 500GB Raid-0 : Rs.6,000
7. Cabinet : Zebronics Antibiotic : Rs.2,150
8. SMPS : CoolerMaster RP 600 : Rs.3,450
9. Optical drive : DVD writer : Rs.1,200
10. KB+Mouse:Cordless Logitech/M$ : Rs.1,500
11. Monitor : Samsung 2233sw - 22" 1080p : Rs.10,000
Grand Total : Rs.60,300 (All these prices are current prices in CTC, Secunderabad)
Some of the stuff put in looks really weird. Let me explain everything.
1. Processor and the 2. Cooler : This desktop is being built for both multimedia and gaming. While a higher clocked dual core will most likely be slightly better at gaming, a quad core would decimate it in any sort of multimedia apps. For those wondering what arctic silver is, it's a cooling compound - that shiny paste you find on the back of the CPU cooler. Arctic silver is damn effective. My laptop's CPU was getting really hot. I had idle temperatures of around 61'C. I purchased a 3 gram AS pack and opened my laptop up and put it on. Now the idle temperature is 36'C. Awesome!! So a OCZ cooler and Arctic Silver will easily allow you to overclock the processor to about 3.2 GHz. I think that's as far as you can go on air based cooling. @ 3.2GHz you can pretty much remove any significant CPU bottlenecks.
3. Motherboard : Why an SLI board and that too such an old one ? Well this board is the best bang for the buck. Intel boards with the same features are just as expensive. I went for this board as it has a better RAID controller and an extra PCIe slot . And I have something special planned for this slot. Stick in a low end card like a GeForce 8600 and use it for PhysX or CUDA :)
4. Graphics : The GTX 275 is about 6% slower then the GTX 285 and costs a good 7K less. Plus the power consumption is about 40% lower. The 275 beats all the cards in the same price range i.e. the GTX260 and the Radeon4890 by quite some distance. This pick was a no brainer.
5. Memory : You really don't need more then 4 Gigs of memory for anything. OCZ modules are a bit expensive but they have lifetime warranty and if you are interested, can be easy to overclock!
6. HDD : I used two HDD's instead of one, so that I could set them up in raid-0. The effective throughput is at least 60% higher. So if you get 70 MB/s transfer rates with one disk, a Raid-0 configuration would give you about 110 MB/s. It means significantly lower load times, and faster seeking in those high def videos that masked-menace downloads :). If you share a lot of data in DC++, your HDD's will experience lesser wear and tear as well.
7. Cabinet : With a GTX275 and CPU cooling you need to have a large and well ventilated cabinet. The zebronics antibiotic has 3 large fans, a temperature display and loads of front ports. Plus did I mention it's got custom lighting and it's transparent :O
8. SMPS : Most people never buy an SMPS seperately. But his desktop needs one. A GTX275, Overclocked quad core, SLI motherboard, and 2 HDDS need a lot of power. Coolermaster's SMPS' are awesome and 600W insures you against all future GPU/SLI upgrades
9. Optical drive : Buy whatever you want. It's all the same shit.
10. KB+mouse : You could buy a cheaper option but I like using cordless stuff.
11. Monitor : This was a no brainer. The Samsung 2233SW is a 22 inch full HD (1920x1080) monitor. DCR 15000:1 and response time of 5ms. And it looks really really nice. It's a steal at it's price.
I am missing a speaker set :( I could save Rs.600 by buying ordinary RAM Modules, Save about Rs.500 by buying a 1TB instead of 2x500 GB, save about Rs.700 by buying a cheaper KB/Mouse combo, and about Rs.1500 by using a cheap local SMPS. That's about Rs.3300, enough to get you a creative 5.1 system. In my opinion - Buy the speakers later. It's not worth making any of those sacrifices. Thats pretty much it. In 60K you get a machine that
# Plays all present days games @ Full settings @ 1920x1080 >60 FPS (except crysis@35fps)
# Watch Full HD movies on a 22inch screen
# Has expansion space to put in another GFX card/4GB RAM/4 more HDD's
# And puts the current best machine in CVIT to shame (This is the best part :P)
So do you you still want to spend 60,000 on a laptop that's going to be a useless old piece of plastic, incapable of running anything other then PAC-man in 2.5 years time ??
PS. Desktop Prices fall @ 1% every month. By the time you get back from your holidays, this same system would cost 57,500. You could get yourself speakers with the extra cash :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)