[Ti] The Benchmarks

[b]

Well, it's a good news/bad news thing:

The bad news only applies to folks who put reverential 'stock' in 
restricted, temporary, lab tests.

The good news: most of these benchmarks don't mean shit in the real world.

These over-clocked pentiums, or centrinos, or whatever, are a case in 
point. Let's see how they do after not being rebooted for a couple of 
weeks, (very theoretical now, given Windows' penchant for reboots) 
and give them some full-screen (external monitor 22", millions of 
colors... 'full') and let 'em take a whack at 18 hours of d-e-e-p 
Photoshop and PhotoRetouch Pro renders. Maybe toss in a shift or two 
of Bryce in the background, and for a 'breather' run some LiveType 
samples in from an external drive, ported into a live full-size 
render.

Wanna try? Be my guest. I have been doing exactly that, with a lowly 
667 Ti. I keep the lid closed and use only the external, and to feel 
any appreciable heat out the top: I have to let fingers drape over 
the BACK of the laptop.

A Dell, or some other discount box loaded with 'seconds', could fry 
friggin' eggs in the same place. And don't think that paying three to 
four times as much for Alienware is going to come up any better, 
after some non-stop 'real World' usage. It won't.

Remember, In Theory, there's no difference between Theory and 
practice, but in Practice, it doesn't work out that way at all.

I admire - in a way - those who move from box to box like those 
suburban guys who go insomniac as soon as they get wind that Fred 
over there has a new yacht that's a few C-hairs longer....

mmhmm. I'll stick with the 667, and maybe pop for a 1.25 Ghz after 
their resale prices have been trounced by newer boxes. And if I start 
feeling 'out of it' or, heaven forbid, sorry for myself, I'll 
remember that for the overwhelming majority of people on the planet, 
the cheapest Dell desktop represents multiple years of 'salary'.

~flipper