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New computer

I was shopping for a new computer at Alienware this morning. Some of their upgrade prices, especially for RAM, looked fishy. You can get what appears to be the same items from Newegg for less than what Alienware charges as the upgrade price. The upgrade price means additional cost to what you are already paying for the base component. This seemed especially true for the 2 GB low latency patriot memory upgrade. Alienware wanted an additional $600 but I can apparently buy this from NewEgg for $240.
The memory from NewEgg

If the items are not equivalent I’ll correct this but they definitely need to work on justifying why I should pay $600 for 2 GB of memory.

I found Cyberpowerpc.com which gives you a great deal of freedom in what parts to pick. I built a computer that would cost about twice as much from Alienware. The only problem is that it’s very hard to know what parts to pick given the wide range of options, some of which are incompatible. The website form isn’t that good either, often resetting your choices if you go back and forth between pages.

I basically ordered the top of the line AMD, with dual top of the line video cards.

Code: ULTRASLIQUADZ $2,627.00 x 1 $2,627.00
Gamer Ultra SLI Quad (NO MONITOR)
www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gamer_Ultra_SLI_Quad/

*BASE_PRICE: [+2259]
CAS: NEW!!! CoolerMaster Cosmos Silent Gaming Tower Case w/ 420 Watts Power Supply (Original Color)
CASUPGRADE: NONE
CS_FAN: Default case fans
CPU: AMD Phenom(TM) X4 9950 Black Edition Quad-Core CPU w/ HyperTransport Technology [+16]
CD: (Special Price) LG 20X DVD+/-R/+/-RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
CD2: NONE [-18]
CABLE: None
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
FA_HDD: None
FAN: Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System (Extreme Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
FLOPPY: NONE
FREEBIE_OS: None
HDD: Single Hard Drive [-327] (300GB Gaming Western Digital Raptor 10,000RPM SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache WD3000GLFS [+244])
HDD2: NONE [-54]
IEEE_CARD: NONE
KEYBOARD: PS2 MULTIMEDIA INTERNET CONTROL KEYBOARD (BLACK COLOR)
MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse (BLACK COLOR)
MODEM: NONE
MONITOR: NONE
MONITOR2: NONE
MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) Asus Crosshair II Formular 780A SLI Chipset DDR2/1066 SATA RAID PCI-E MBoard w/GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394,&7.1Audio [+155]
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard) 2GB (2x1GB) PC8500 DDR2/1066 Dual Channel Memory [+150] (Corsair Dominator)
NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/1000 NETWORK CARD
OS: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional w/ Service Pack 3 [+61]
PRINTER: None
PRINTER_CABLE: None
PRO_WIRING: Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis with High Performance Thermal Compound on CPU [+19]
POWERSUPPLY: 900 Watts Power Supplies [+38] (Apevia Warlock Series)
RUSH: RUSH!!! READY TO SHIP IN 5 BUSINESS DAYS [+49]
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
SPEAKERS: Logitech (BLACK) X-540 70Watts 5.1 Configuration Speaker System
TEMP: NONE (AS SHOWN)
TVRC: None
USBHD: NONE
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
VIDEOCAMERA: NONE
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX280 1GB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA [+5])
VIDEO2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX280 1GB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA [+5])
VIDEO3: NONE
WNC: PCI Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Interface Card + GigaByte GN-AT2050D 2.4GHz Indoor Omni-Directional Dipole Antenna [+25]
_PRICE: (+2627)

Categories
Game Development

Memory heap allocator faster than new/delete

Here’s a class that given a predefined area of memory, allows you to allocate and deallocate areas of that memory. In other words, a custom memory manager.

Only partially done yet, but it’s already 25% or so faster than malloc and free
Header
CPP

Full alloc, then dealloc
Heap = 1304 us
malloc = 878256 us

Fragmentation
Heap = 3525 us
malloc = 4462 us

Most of the speedup comes from linked lists of buckets. There are 7 buckets, from 32 bytes to 2048 bytes, incrementing in powers of two. 20% of the given memory is dedicated to buckets. If an allocation is requested and a bucket is available, the allocation goes to that bucket instead. Because buckets are contiguous and reserved, those allocations cannot cause fragmentation.

The alignment boundary is 32 bytes, so all allocations returned to the user are aligned, and the average memory wasted per allocation is 32 bytes, excluding buckets.

The speeds shown are with a critical section lock. This is not necessary, and for single threads it would be even faster.

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Uncategorized

Ron Paul on the bailout

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnWuUcL2otk

I’m moving my money out of US dollars. Foreign currency CDs are the best. Currently Canada has the most sound banking system, so is the least likely to suffer a depression when the dollar crashes.

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Uncategorized

By IQ scores, Palin is dumber than 85% of the population

According to this site, McCain has a 15% chance of dying of old age while in office.
http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081003/MNH06/810030395

The chance of Palin becoming president is higher than that, since you usually are unable to work for some time before dying.

So with that news, according to the public records on this site:
http://clapboard.org/temp/SarahPalinReport.pdf

Palin’s IQ is only 83, over one standard deviation, which means she’s dumber than roughly 85% of the population:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deviation

Most of my views lie with Republicans, but the last thing we need is another idiot in office. As much as I can’t stand socialism, I’m going to vote for Obama just so McCain doesn’t become president.

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Uncategorized

Representative votes for the bailout

http://www.votesmart.org/issue_keyvote_member.php?cs_id=22467

Who is my representative?

California in particular.

Register to vote in California

The deadline to register is October 20, 2008.

  • CA 1 Rep. Michael Thompson Democratic Y
  • CA 2 Rep. Walter Herger Jr. Republican Y
  • CA 3 Rep. Daniel Lungren Republican Y
  • CA 4 Rep. John Doolittle Republican N
  • CA 5 Rep. Doris Matsui Democratic Y
  • CA 6 Rep. Lynn Woolsey Democratic Y
  • CA 7 Rep. George Miller Democratic Y
  • CA 8 Rep. Nancy Pelosi Democratic Y
  • CA 9 Rep. Barbara Lee Democratic Y
  • CA 10 Rep. Ellen Tauscher Democratic Y
  • CA 11 Rep. Gerald McNerney Democratic Y
  • CA 12 Rep. K. Speier Democratic Y
  • CA 13 Rep. Fortney Stark Democratic N
  • CA 14 Rep. Anna Eshoo Democratic Y
  • CA 15 Rep. Michael Honda Democratic Y
  • CA 16 Rep. Zoe Lofgren Democratic Y
  • CA 17 Rep. Sam Farr Democratic Y
  • CA 18 Rep. Dennis Cardoza Democratic Y
  • CA 19 Rep. George Radanovich Republican Y
  • CA 20 Rep. Jim Costa Democratic Y
  • CA 21 Rep. Devin Nunes Republican N
  • CA 22 Rep. Kevin McCarthy Republican N
  • CA 23 Rep. Lois Capps Democratic Y
  • CA 24 Rep. Elton Gallegly Republican N
  • CA 25 Rep. Howard McKeon Republican Y
  • CA 26 Rep. David Dreier Republican Y
  • CA 27 Rep. Brad Sherman Democratic N
  • CA 28 Rep. Howard Berman Democratic Y
  • CA 29 Rep. Adam Schiff Democratic Y
  • CA 30 Rep. Henry Waxman Democratic Y
  • CA 31 Rep. Xavier Becerra Democratic N
  • CA 32 Rep. Hilda Solis Democratic Y
  • CA 33 Rep. Diane Watson Democratic Y
  • CA 34 Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard Democratic N
  • CA 35 Rep. Maxine Waters Democratic Y
  • CA 36 Rep. Jane Harman Democratic Y
  • CA 37 Rep. Laura Richardson Democratic Y
  • CA 38 Rep. Grace Napolitano Democratic N
  • CA 39 Rep. Linda Sánchez Democratic N
  • CA 40 Rep. Edward Royce Republican N
  • CA 41 Rep. Jerry Lewis Republican Y
  • CA 42 Rep. Gary Miller Republican Y
  • CA 43 Rep. Joe Baca Democratic Y
  • CA 44 Rep. Ken Calvert Republican Y
  • CA 45 Rep. Mary Bono Mack Republican Y
  • CA 46 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Republican N
  • CA 47 Rep. Loretta Sanchez Democratic N
  • CA 48 Rep. John B.T. Campbell III Republican Y
  • CA 49 Rep. Darrell Issa Republican N
  • CA 50 Rep. Brian Bilbray Republican N
  • CA 51 Rep. Bob Filner Democratic N
  • CA 52 Rep. Duncan Hunter Republican N
  • CA 53 Rep. Susan Davis Democratic Y
  • For me, it’s John B.T. Campbell III. He voted yes, so I’m voting him out of office next month.

    Categories
    Uncategorized

    Senators that voted for the mortgage bailout plan

    Here’s the list of senators that voted for the amended version of H. R. 1424, the mortgage bailout plan

    1. Akaka (D-HI)
    2. Alexander (R-TN)
    3. Baucus (D-MT)
    4. Bayh (D-IN)
    5. Bennett (R-UT)
    6. Biden (D-DE)
    7. Bingaman (D-NM)
    8. Bond (R-MO)
    9. Boxer (D-CA)
    10. Brown (D-OH)
    11. Burr (R-NC)
    12. Byrd (D-WV)
    13. Cardin (D-MD)
    14. Carper (D-DE)
    15. Casey (D-PA)
    16. Chambliss (R-GA)
    17. Clinton (D-NY)
    18. Coburn (R-OK)
    19. Coleman (R-MN)
    20. Collins (R-ME)
    21. Conrad (D-ND)
    22. Corker (R-TN)
    23. Cornyn (R-TX)
    24. Craig (R-ID)
    25. Dodd (D-CT)
    26. Domenici (R-NM)
    27. Durbin (D-IL)
    28. Ensign (R-NV)
    29. Feinstein (D-CA)
    30. Graham (R-SC)
    31. Grassley (R-IA)
    32. Gregg (R-NH)
    33. Hagel (R-NE)
    34. Harkin (D-IA)
    35. Hatch (R-UT)
    36. Hutchison (R-TX)
    37. Inouye (D-HI)
    38. Isakson (R-GA)
    39. Kerry (D-MA)
    40. Klobuchar (D-MN)
    41. Kohl (D-WI)
    42. Kyl (R-AZ)
    43. Lautenberg (D-NJ)
    44. Leahy (D-VT)
    45. Levin (D-MI)
    46. Lieberman (ID-CT)
    47. Lincoln (D-AR)
    48. Lugar (R-IN)
    49. Martinez (R-FL)
    50. McCain (R-AZ)
    51. McCaskill (D-MO)
    52. McConnell (R-KY)
    53. Menendez (D-NJ)
    54. Mikulski (D-MD)
    55. Murkowski (R-AK)
    56. Murray (D-WA)
    57. Nelson (D-NE)
    58. Obama (D-IL)
    59. Pryor (D-AR)
    60. Reed (D-RI)
    61. Reid (D-NV)
    62. Rockefeller (D-WV)
    63. Salazar (D-CO)
    64. Schumer (D-NY)
    65. Smith (R-OR)
    66. Snowe (R-ME)
    67. Specter (R-PA)
    68. Stevens (R-AK)
    69. Sununu (R-NH)
    70. Thune (R-SD)
    71. Voinovich (R-OH)
    72. Warner (R-VA)
    73. Webb (D-VA)
    74. Whitehouse (D-RI)