Competitive shopping for computer parts

I still shake my head when someone comes to me and brags about how cheap they bought a personal computer part (i.e. motherboard, video cards) and then I show them on the Internet they they could have bought the part much cheaper. Doing a good search on the Internet can usually save you money.

While we're on the subject of saving money I find that in many cases prices in the United Kingdom (UK) for software + hardware is far more expensive than it should be in my personal opinion. It is for this reason I'd like to see the European Union pass laws to fully open all sales channel in Europe so some retailers can buy from any distributor within the European Union without fear that the manufacturer will make them stop. This might drive down prices in the UK to fair and reasonable market conditions. More than likely this is yet another reason why the UK has failed to adopt the Euro. If a vast majority of people in the UK found out much their PC items cost in Euros compared to mainland Europe I believe you'd find huge numbers of disgruntled PC users.

New NVIDIA beta drivers

It is nice to see that NVIDIA has released some beta drivers for MS Vista again. This time there are two betas. One driver is a normal run of the mill beta NVIDIA video driver while the other driver is a beta for the PC real time strategy game World in Conflict. Read more about the World in Conflict beta here:

http://www.worldinconflict.com/beta/

Download the NVIDIA drivers here:

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_rel70betadriver.html

If you feel uncomfortable installing beta drivers then please refrain from doing so.

Processor Price Cuts

AMD announced price cuts on their processor line yesterday and Intel will probably follow suit later this month. Price cuts drain profits of both of the companies, but consumers are clearly the winner here because it will make PC prices hopefully cheaper. Many rumors abound about why AMD is cutting prices. It could be that they are trying to make up for lost market share to Intel or perhaps they are clearing their inventory shelves when their new CPU codenamed Barcelona hits the streets which I believe will start in August. I realize of course that AMD does not have the hefty bank account that Intel has for research and development, but AMD has waited far too long to bring new CPUs and new ATI videocards to the market. Innovation is a key to profit but you must be able to bring that innovation to the market before anyone else.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, it is still my personal opinion that IBM would be wise to buy AMD. AMD might never be able to achieve a majority marketshare of the CPU industry unless drastic new technology is delivered by them to the consumer. IBM can do that if they owned AMD.

EVGA step-up for 650i ultra motherboard in July

EVGA has decided to start a step-up program during the month of July so that if you buy a EVGA 650i Ultra motherboard you are allowed to upgrade it within 90 days of the purchase date to an EVGA 680i SLI or the EVGA 680i LT. Full details of the part numbers eligible for this special promotion are shown here

http://www.evga.com/articles/367.asp