Announcing DotNetNuke 6!

DNN Blog | DotNetNuke - Announcing DotNetNuke 6!: "shing of documents stored in Sharepoint to public web sites, extranets or intranets. Organization"

DotNetNuke 6

The simplified DotNetNuke 6 user interface dramatically increases productivity by making it much easier to build and maintain Web sites. New pop-up dialogs, a new control panel, updated administration modules and mega-menus combine to deliver a highly modern platform for building and operating websites.

A New Look

DotNetNuke 6 delivers a fresh new look out of the box with a great looking contemporary skin and a default site template that helps new users get started quickly. Using modern mega-menus and some lightweight containers, DotNetNuke 6 provides the perfect canvas on which to build your next web masterpiece.

Fully Integrated

For the first time ever, the DotNetNuke Store(Snowcovered.com) and the Extensions Forge, with over 10,000 application extensions, are directly accessible from within the core DotNetNuke platform. The tight integration simplifies the process of finding, purchasing and installing DotNetNuke apps

DotNetNuke in the Cloud

DotNetNuke 6 delivers a platform that is fully compatible with Windows Azure Hosting and provides cloud service integration with the addition of the new Windows Azure Storage and Amazon S3 folder providers. DotNetNuke 6 provides a great foundation for moving to the cloud, whether you need to your whole site to live in the cloud or just your content.

DotNetNuke Commerce

DotNetNuke 6 Professional and Enterprise includes a great new eCommerce module that empowers organizations to quickly add eCommerce capabililities to their website. The new eCommerce module is designed for organizations seeking to deliver a small portfolio of digital goods and services to their end users and is built from the ground up with simplicity and customer experience in mind.

SharePoint Meets DotNetNuke

Available exclusively in the DotNetNuke Enterprise Edition, the Microsoft SharePoint Connector for DotNetNuke enables fast, secure publishing of documents stored in Sharepoint to public web sites, extranets or intranets. Organizations can securely manage their document library within SharePoint and selectively publish those documents using the flexible, cost effective DotNetNuke platform.

DotNetNuke Learns a New Language

DotNetNuke 6 has gotten a major new platform upgrade as the result of a complete conversion to C#. This language change will make it more accessible to a larger development community and allows us to leverage many development tools which have always had strong C# support. The C# version of DotNetNuke has been available for the past year and starting with DotNetNuke 6, it is officially the primary development language of the platform.

What Are You Waiting For?

There are so many changes in DotNetNuke 6 that we encourage you todownload a copy today and try it out for yourself. DotNetNuke 6 includes something for everyone, whether you are just trying it for the first time, are a long time user, or are just coming back to see what all the excitement is about. We hope you enjoy what has been a labor of love over the last several months by the team at DotNetNuke Corp and the DotNetNuke Community.

For a full list of the bug-fixes, changes and enhancements please see the DotNetNuke 6 Changelog.

As always, remember to do a trial upgrade in a test environment and to make a file and database backup prior to upgrading to DotNetNuke 6. While most of your DotNetNuke 4 & 5 modules and skins will work in DotNetNuke 6, some of our vendors have already started releasing updated versions of their modules that take advantage of new DotNetNuke 6 features, so check with them to see if upgrades for your modules or skins already exist.

Nice Web Tools

Nice Web Tools is a great web site for web developers and users, you can find these tools and more in this site

Unit Conversion

• Length Conversion
• Area Conversion
• Weight Conversion
• Volume Conversion
• Temperature Conversion

Web Tools

• HTML Decode page
• HTML Encode page
• Decimal Decode page
• Decimal Encode page
• Base64 Decode Page
• Base64 Encode Page

Definitions

• Definitions

Clarifying our ad implementation policies - Inside AdSense

Clarifying our ad implementation policies - Inside AdSense: "site"

We’ve recently made some changes to the language of our program policies. We highly encourage publishers who have signed the AdSense online Terms and Conditions to check the AdSense program policies often, and we'd like to take a moment to clarify our ad implementation policies and mention a few updates that have been made.

Publishers are encouraged to experiment with a variety of placements and ad formats to enhance the user experience and thereby maximize their earnings. However, altering the behavior, targeting, or appearance of AdSense ads without explicit approval from Google is generally prohibited. This behavior includes but is not limited to placing ad code in iframes in such a way that manipulates the standard behavior, targeting or delivery of ads. An iframe is an HTML tag used in web design that allows a webpage, picture, or graphic to be displayed in a frame within another page. Our policies have always disallowed the misuse of iframes, and recently we clarified our language to explicitly prohibit the misuse of iframes in our program policies.

Improperly iframed ads are a disservice to our advertisers since the ad itself can be obscured. Not only are they not viewable, these implementations can lead to accidental clicks if these hidden ads are placed in a location that users frequently click. Please see below for an example of a partially hidden banner.

Hidden iframed ads is one form of misuse. The other is cross-domain iframing abuse. Cross-domain iframes are used to frame content from a different site. This type of implementation can allow other sites to frame ads that belong to another site without the publisher’s knowledge.

As a result, we’ve modified our Ad Behavior policy to the following:
AdSense code may not be altered, nor may the standard behavior, targeting or delivery of ads be manipulated in any way that is not explicitly permitted by Google. This includes but is not limited to the following: clicking Google ads may not result in a new browser window being launched, nor may Google ads be placed in an IFRAME.

We’re aware of certain ad implementations that require the valid use of iframes. As per our program policies, exceptions to our policies are permitted only with authorization from Google.

With our updated language, our goal is to be more proactive about enforcing the misuse of iframes. Iframing is not only deceptive when improperly implemented, but it often leads to unintended behavioral outcomes that result in policy violations, such as the double-serving of ads. As ourprogram policies also note, we reserve the right to disable ad serving to sites and/or accounts that fail to comply with these policies without permission from Google. To best adhere to our policies and experience better targeting results, we recommend pasting our ad code directly into the source of your web page HTML.

We hope you found this clarification to our program policies useful. If you have any questions regarding iframe policies or program policies in general, feel free to contact us. To help ensure the good standing of your account, we encourage you to check your content and implementations on a regular basis. You can also stay informed about policy updates by revisiting our Help Center, ourHelp Forum, and subscribing to this blog for updated posts, tips, and upcoming AdSense events. If you find sites within our network that are clearly violating these guidelines, we encourage you toreport them to us.

Posted by Cecelia Choi - AdSense Policy team

TTC Maps

TTC Maps

Maps

Subway / RT Map

Drag the map from left to right to reveal the entire map. You can highlight the features of a station by hovering over the station dot. Select that station to go to that Station Page.

System Map

The System Map shows all routes operating in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area.

Blue Night Network Map (200k)

TTC all night bus service across Toronto, operating every 30 minutes or better, from approximately 1:30 am to 5:00 am is shown on this map.

Downtown Map (250k)

A detailed view of TTC routes operating in the downtown area; from Bloor Street to Queens Quay, and from Bathurst Street to Parliament Street.

Coding Horror: Whatever Happened to Civility on The Internet?

Coding Horror: Whatever Happened to Civility on The Internet?

Jul 25, 2007

Whatever Happened to Civility on The Internet?

In response to Wil Shipley's recent post about the lack of an iPhone SDK, a reader left this comment:

I often enjoy reading these entries, but you always come across as a little bit of an a**hole. Full of yourself, overly critical and a bit mean. Dismissing and dissing, out of pure ignorance and spite, the work of the people who made Javascript -- people who have done more for the world, and written a better language, than you have or likely ever will -- is truly a huge a**hole move.

Although I'm a staunch proponent of comments for most blogs, it's comments like this-- what Anand Iyer calls nerd rage-- that cause me to question my stance. I don't think it's necessarily wise to dignify these kind of comments with a response, but a few comments later, Wil Shipley responded with exactly what I was thinking:

Miss Manners once said the rudest thing to do is point out someone else's rudeness in public. By extension, what do you suppose the biggest a**hole move is?

Bonus points for invoking Miss Manners; her Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior has been a staple of my bookshelf for years. Think what you will about stodgy old Judith Martin, but she has a razor wit and an enduring, keen eye for human behavior. I learned a lot about life by reading her guide in my early twenties; it's a rich comedy of errors in book form that I earnestly recommend to everyone.

I understand the G.I.F.T. is an unfortunate side-effect of anonymity and the faceless interaction mode of the internet. But I think we can do better. As Miss Manners said:

You can deny all you want that there is etiquette, and a lot of people do in everyday life. But if you behave in a way that offends the people you're trying to deal with, they will stop dealing with you. There are plenty of people who say, 'We don't care about etiquette, but we can't stand the way so-and-so behaves, and we don't want him around!' Etiquette doesn't have the great sanctions that the law has. But the main sanction we do have is in not dealing with these people and isolating them because their behavior is unbearable.

I don't object to criticism. Criticism is what comments are for. What I object to is criticism that resorts to least-common-denominator attacks. The use of angry invective negates any criticism you were trying to make. Insulting someone might make you feel temporarily vindicated, or give you a brief, cathartic moment of release, but you aren't convincing anyone of anything. People will read your angry words and see them-- and you-- for what you are. It's a completely self-defeating exercise. The minute you call someone an a**hole, they're no longer listening to you.

For an example of effective criticism of the strongest kind, I can think of no better piece than Martin Luther King's Letter From Birmingham Jail. I re-read it every year, and each time I'm floored by the passion behind this incredible persuasive essay-- and the deep anger and frustration it presents in such rational terms.

While confined here in the Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely." Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas. If I sought to answer all the criticisms that cross my desk, my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence in the course of the day, and I would have no time for constructive work. But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.

This legendary essay demonstrates the fine art of disagreement: the ability to respect the people you disagree with, and to earn their respect in turn. The only way to do that is to be civil, reasonable, and rational.

Posted by Jeff Atwood

Coding Horror: Lessons from Garry's Mod

Coding Horror: Lessons from Garry's Mod

Jul 24, 2007

Lessons from Garry's Mod

Garry's Mod is a fascinating study in guerilla programming. It's an incredibly successful mod for the game Half-Life 2 that essentially converts it into a giant sandbox powered by Lua.

There are a large number of Lua scripted 3rd party modifications for Garry's mod. In a server running the Roleplay modification, you have money and tools which enable you to sell items on the map, or to interact with other players. Newer game modes have inventories and highly advanced capabilities including Item Combining and Stock Markets.

Another example is "Wood Wars", where teams make vehicles or buildings out of wood, and then attack the other team's creations with weapons made up of anything from gas canisters with thrusters on, to shells launched from makeshift cannons.

It has also become a tool for users to create music videos, comics and other forms of Machinima.

If Garry's Mod sounds a lot like a full-blown development environment inside a 3D world governed by physics, that's because it is. But it started out as something much simpler. In this recent interview, Garry describes the humble beginnings of his eponymous mod:

Garry Newman: [GMod] was a total experiment. I was really out of my depth in the Source engine at that point. I had no idea how anything worked, but managed to throw version one together by thinking back into Half-Life 2--to work out where I'd seen the feature before. For example, the rope gun. I didn't know how to make rope so I thought back and realized that the Barnacle's tongue was rope. So I just pretty much copied that code into a simple weapon and it worked. Well, kind of worked. This was one of the good things about GMod. I could see the right way to do stuff because a lot of the time Valve had already done it somewhere else in the code. So their code would teach me. I'm not the kind of person that can learn from books, I really need working examples.

Shack: What would you suggest to mod teams to help them avoid getting held up on the details? Start with a simple idea and build on it?

Garry Newman: I would recommend the iterative method to anyone. The main argument against this is that they don't want to release a shit version of their idea and turn everyone off. Fair enough, but it's going to be so much worse if you work your balls off on it for 2 years then release, and your idea is still rubbish. Iterating would have let you know that this idea isn't working out, so you could adjust it. In every update you're picking up more people playing your mod. You build a community.

Garry cites classic sandbox games as his inspiration, such as SimCity, The Sims, and Rollercoaster Tycoon. But I'd say the current version of GMod goes far beyond those games and delves deep into software development territory -- he's created a sandbox for creating new sandboxes.

Coding Horror: Building a PC, Part IV: Now It's Your Turn

Coding Horror: Building a PC, Part IV: Now It's Your Turn

Jul 23, 2007

Building a PC, Part IV: Now It's Your Turn

I previously documented the "Ultimate Developer Rig" I'm building for Scott Hanselman:

• Building a PC, Part I
• Building a PC, Part II
• Building a PC, Part III

I added a little bit of PC quieting magic as a finishing touch. Here's a picture of the final interior, with two types of damping foam -- generic eggcrate foam and thin PAX.MATE style foam. Which one I use depends on how much room I have to work with in each area of the case.

The goal is to build a sound dampening chamber around the motherboard, CPU, hard drives (particularly the hard drives), and video cards. Instead of the typical hard, reflective metal inside a case, the sound now bounces off rough, absorbent foam surfaces instead. You can't see it in this shot, but the case cover has a layer of PAX.MATE foam applied as well to complete the "chamber". If you've ever been in a recording studio with foam damping material on the walls, you know how effective it can be at absorbing and diffusing sound. As I discussed in my earlier article on building a quiet PC, the foam damping is a final, finishing step. It won't magically convert a noisy PC into a quiet one, but it can make an already quiet PC that much quieter. The effect is subtle but definitely audible.

At any rate, the rig is now burned in, complete, and ready to ship to Scott. I was surprised to find that the 64-bit version of Vista produced better Windows Experience scores on the exact same hardware: Scott's system now scores 5.9 across the board, except for memory, which scores 5.8. Go figure.

I hope you found the series useful and fun. I know I did. We also recorded a Hanselminutes episode where we discussed the philosophy behind the build, and answered a bunch of listener questions; listen to the show for background.

But in the meantime, if this piqued your interest, now it's your turn to build a PC. There was a lot of interest in doing a PC build jamboree at the office, and I invite everyone to participate... at least virtually. I can offer the following refined build menu based on my experience with Scott's build-- and recent Intel CPU price cuts.

	Basic		Premium		Deluxe
Case	Antec NSK 4400	$80	Antec Sonata III	$150	Antec P182	$170
PSU	(Included 380w)		(Included 500w)		Corsair 520HX	$130
Mobo	EVGA 680i	$155	EVGA 680i	$155	EVGA 680i	$155
Memory	Mushkin 2GB DDR2-1066	$160	Mushkin 2GB DDR2-1066	$160	Mushkin 2GB DDR2-1066 x 2	$320
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz	$164	Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz	$223	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz	$375
CPU cooler	Scythe SCKTN-2000 "katana"	$30	Scythe SCMN-1100 "mine"	$33	Scythe SCNJ-1100P "ninja"	$40
Video	MSI 8600GT 256 MB Silent	$105	EVGA 8800GTS 640 MB	$350	EVGA 8800GTX 768 MB	$487
HDD	Hitachi Deskstar 500GB	$120	Hitachi Deskstar 500GB x 2	$240	Raptor 150GB	$165
					Hitachi Deskstar 500GB	$120
DVD	Sony 18X SATA DVDR	$34	Sony 18X SATA DVDR	$34	Sony 18X SATA DVDR	$34
		$848		$1345		$1996

Of course, prices are only valid as of the time I write this post. And feel free to substitute any items between the configurations as you deem necessary. It's your PC; build it the way you want.

A previous comment from Bob McCormick summarized my build philosophy remarkably well:

Building a PC at least once gives you a deeper understanding of your hardware. It isn't going to fill a specific checklist item in your resume, but the desire to try it at least once is part of the passion that a true craftsman should have for his tools. I think it's similar to how you'll frequently see the celebrity chefs on PBS go visit a winery, an organic farm, a bakery, and so on. They aren't going to learn something there that will make or break their ability to cook a specific dish. But as master craftsman they're passionate about their tools and ingredients. They want to know everything they can about them.

Building (and overclocking) PCs isn't for everyone. But I hope my series illustrated that it isn't particularly difficult -- and it sure can be rewarding if you have the time and inclination.

Posted by Jeff Atwood

Coding Horror: Building a PC, Part III - Overclocking

Coding Horror: Building a PC, Part III - Overclocking

Jul 11, 2007

Building a PC, Part III - Overclocking

Now that we have Scott Hanselman's computer completely built up and stable -- or at least that's what our torture tests told us yesterday-- it's time to see how far we can overclock this system.

Overclocking a computer sounds complicated, but it really isn't. We'll use four tools:

1. The motherboard's BIOS settings
2. CPU-Z
3. Prime95
4. CoreTemp

While overclocking, CPU-Z will become your new best friend. It tells us exactly what's happening inside our PC. Let's start with a shot of CPU-Z showing the stock settings for this Core 2 Quad 6600.

The left side is idle, and the right side is under load. Notice how the system automatically and dynamically adjusts the multiplier and voltage (the areas highlighted in red) to reduce power consumption. On the Intel platform, this technique is known as EIST, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology.

First, a little basic math. This Core 2 Quad is clocked at 2.4 GHz, or 2400 MHz. The CPU speed is a function of the front side bus speed times a multiplier.

Bus Speed	Front Side Bus Speed	Multiplier		CPU Speed
266 MHz	1066 MHz	x9	=	2400 MHz
266 MHz	1066 MHz	x6	=	1600 MHz
333 MHz	1333 MHz	x9	=	3000 MHz

As you can see, increasing the front side bus speed from 266 MHz to 333 Mhz increases the speed of the CPU. It's also theoretically possible to increase the CPU's speed by changing the multiplier, but Intel locked down multiplier changes years ago at the silicon level. So the only way to increase the CPU's speed is to increase the front side bus speed. (There are exceptions, but they're rare.)

Armed with that knowledge, let's go into the BIOS (by pressing DELETE while the system is booting) and start adjusting the CPU's speed. On the MSI P6N, the CPU speed options are tucked away under a menu titled "Cell Menu". This varies from BIOS to BIOS, but the gist of the settings is the same.

I covered overclocking briefly last year when I built my last home computer. The principles are still the same. To overclock, we simply bump up the front side bus speed from 1066 MHz to something larger. To give ourselves additional headroom for overclocking, we also need to bump up the memory and CPU voltages a tad.

Note that this particular motherboard allows me to overclock the CPU front side bus independently of the memory front side bus. The memory bus speed is expressed as a ratio of the FSB, eg, 5:4 or 3:2. Modern motherboards offer a wide range of ratios, so almost any memory bus speed is achievable within a few MHz. I had terrible results overclocking the memory in this system, so the memory is staying locked at its stock 800 MHz speed.

Successful overclocking is a game of inches, not yards. Start small. Increase voltage slightly and the FSB slightly, then reboot. Remember-- we started from a stable system. If your system shows any sign of instability, no matter how small, you've definitely overclocked too far.

And if your system fails to boot, or if you can't enter the BIOS to set things back, don't fret. This is why vendors include the "reset CMOS" function on the motherboard. On the MSI P6N, it's a small button; on other motherboards it's a jumper. If all else fails, you can also pop out the CMOS battery and let the system sit for a minute or so. That'll definitely clear the BIOS settings. However, make sure you disconnect the power before clearing the CMOS.

If you successfully boot into Windows, that doesn't mean your overclock is stable. You have to run Prime95 torture test for at leastan hour to see if things are truly working, and ideally overnight to be completely sure.

Overclocking ability varies widely per sample of CPU and even per motherboard. Some overclock well, some don't. It's largely the luck of the draw, although most Core 2 chips have reputations as solid overclockers for good reason. The Core 2 Quad Q6600 and MSI P6N combo in this system were able to deliver a successful overclock from 2.4 GHz to 3.0 GHz, as shown in this CPU-Z screenshot:

But is it stable? I ran four instances of Prime95 torture test, alongside CoreTemp to make sure the CPU temperatures stayed under control. CPU temperatures are the enemy of speed-- all other things being equal, the higher the CPU temperature, the less likely it is your system will be stable. (This is also why extreme overclockers use water cooling and liquid nitrogen.) That's one reason why we have a fancy aftermarket CPU cooler.

Once the torture test is running, you can minimize Prime95. The taskbar icon should stay red if things are working properly. If you see a yellow icon, that means Prime95 bombed out and your overclock isn't stable.

After a few hours of heavy Prime95 load on each core, I was satisfied that the system was nominally stable.

Here are the benchmark results reflecting the newly overclocked CPU:

	Stock	Overclocked
3DMark2006 (@1024x768)	7217	7398
PCmark2005	7353	8432

Yes, overclocking is a lot of manual effort, a lot of tedious trial and error tweaking. Is the risk of instability and all that effort worth it for a tiny speed bump? Why bother? Well, judge for yourself:

Core 2 Quad Q6600 (stock)	2.40 GHz	$480
Core 2 Extreme QX6800	2.93 GHz	$1,345
Core 2 Quad Q6600 (overclocked)	3.0 GHz	$480

I'd say saving nearly a thousand bucks is a pretty good argument in favor of overclocking.

Posted by Jeff Atwood

Coding Horror: Building a PC, Part II

Coding Horror: Building a PC, Part II

Jul 10, 2007

Building a PC, Part II

Yesterday, we completed a basic build of Scott Hanselman's computer. We built the system up enough to boot to the BIOS screen successfully. Today, we'll complete the build by installing an operating system and burning it in.

The first thing we'll need is hard drives. The Antec P182 case has a well engineered drive mounting system. The bottom cage holds 4 drives, with soft rubber grommets to support each drive, and more importantly, to isolate the case from transmitted, resonant hard drive vibration noise. After all, they are giant hunks of circular metal spinning at 7,200 to 10,000 RPMs.

The boot drive is a 10,000 RPM Raptor, which I can't recommend highly enough. The secondary drive is a run of the mill 500 GB model. I slid them in and secured them using the long screws provided with the case.

I connected two SATA cables and threaded them down to the bottom channel through the center cutout. I snapped a modular SATA power cable into the Corsair HX series power supply, and routed that cable around the back, into the hard drive compartment.

Houston, we have storage!

But we can't install an OS without an optical drive. Fortunately, DVD drives are dirt cheap; I chose the latest Lite-On DVD drive, in black to match the case. I suppose eventually we'll be buying HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drives, but until the format war is decided, it's DVD all the way for me.

The 5 1/4" drive bays at the top of the P182 require the use of rails, which are provided with the case. I find rail mounting annoying, but since we're only installing a single DVD-R drive, I can deal. It took a bit of trial and error, but I got the rails screwed into each side of the drive and snapped it in to the top bay.

This is not one of those fancy new SATA DVD drives, so we'll need to break out the old-school Parallel ATA cable included with the motherboard. I snapped in another modular power connector to provide the necessary 4-pin power. As usual I routed the power cable along the back of the motherboard tray to preserve the clean interior layout.

We're now ready to boot up the machine. Plug in the power cord, connect a keyboard and mouse, then hit the power switch. During boot, press DELETE to enter the BIOS setup screen. Go into the basic settings and verify that all the drives we installed are properly detected by the motherboard.

Looks good-- all three drives are showing up. From here you may want to adjust a few basic BIOS settings. For example, I alwaysset the floppy drive to "Disabled". You'll definitely want to set the boot order to ensure the right drives are booting first-- in our case, it's DVD-R, Raptor, then the second drive. Beyond those basic settings, mucking around in the BIOS isn't required at this point; we want to test the system with stock settings anyway.

However, do I recommend flashing the motherboard BIOS to the latest version before you go any further. You'd be surprised how often motherboards ship with out-of-date BIOSes. It isn't required, but your life will be easier if you flash to the latest BIOS now before you complete system setup. A full description of how to flash your motherboard's BIOS is outside the scope of this article, but here's the condensed version:

• Check the manufacturer's website for the latest motherboard BIOS. Be absolutely, positively sure you have the BIOS for the correct motherboard model!
• Copy the BIOS files to a bootable USB Flash drive.
• Boot from the flash drive and follow the instructions.

This is a typical BIOS flash scenario. Some vendors do make it easier, though. On my ASUS P5B Deluxe, the flash program is embedded into the BIOS. Others provide programs that allow you to flash the BIOS from within Windows using a friendly GUI.

At any rate, BIOS update or not, we can now install an operating system. I placed my OEM copy of Windows Vista into the DVD tray, rebooted, and selected a 120-day trial of Windows Vista Ultimate.

Here's one thing I've learned from experience: if your system can't finish a clean install of Windows, it's not stable. Period. It's tempting to blame Microsoft, but the only possible culprit if you have problems at this stage is the hardware (or possibly a scratched DVD). Trust me on this one.

Fortunately, our new system completed the Windows install without a hitch. Remember those driver CDs that came with the motherboard? Throw them right in the trash. They're way out of date by the time the motherboard gets from the factory, to the vendor, and then finally to you. The MSI P6N SLI motherboard we chose is based on the well-regarded NVIDIA 650i SLI chipset, so we have a one stop shop at the NVIDIA drivers page. I downloaded the 650i SLI platform drivers for Windows Vista x86, and the latest 8600 GTS graphics driver.

Now that we have Windows installed, and our platform drivers firmly in place, we know our system is reasonably stable. But we want to confirm that our system is totally stable.

To do that, we'll need to download a few essential burn-in utilities:

• Prime95
• 3DMark2006
• PCMark2005
• Rthdribl
• CoreTemp

I run through basic benchmarks first. If the system can't complete a run of 3DMark or PCMark, it's definitely not stable. The rig we just built generated these scores:

3DMark2006 (@ 1024x768)	7217
PCMark2005	7353

And of course the obligatory Windows Experience results:

These tests aren't just for stability; they're also reality checks. Make sure these scores are in the ballpark for comparable systems. If not, you got something wrong in the build and somehow crippled your system's performance. Fortunately, these numbers check out (although the memory subscore is suspiciously low), and we didn't have any crashes or reboots during the benchmark runs. So far so good.

Now for the real torture test. We'll use:

1. Four instances of Prime95 (one per core) to load the CPU
2. Real-Time HDR IBL (RTHDRIBL) to load the GPU
3. CoreTemp to monitor temperatures

To run four instances of Prime95, create four shortcuts to Prime95.exe using the -A(n) flag, where (n) is the core number. That's documented in this forum thread. Start with "Small FFTs" on the Options | Torture Test dialog in each instance. Then launch RTHDRIBL in a maximized window, and CoreTemp, as pictured here.

Now we need to monitor our patient during the torture test, at least for the first 30 minutes or so.

I use my trusty Kill-a-Watt to determine how much power the system is consuming. I saw 130 watts at the Windows desktop, and during the extreme CPU and GPU torture test, 220 watts.

That gives us a rough idea of how much power dissipation, and therefore heat, we have to worry about. I also use my temperature gun to spot check various heatsinks in the system and make sure they're not getting unusually hot. Here, I'm checking the northbridge heatsink, which gets pretty toasty in modern systems.

Fancy laser temperature guns are fun, but they're not required. I often use my built-in Mark I finger to touch various items in the computer (but not the bare electrical components, obviously) and make sure they're within normal temperature ranges. You might call me "The PC Whisperer"-- I love nothing more than getting in there and physically touching everything that's at risk of temperature damage:

• CPU heatsink
• Northbridge
• Southbridge
• Video card heatsink
• Hard drives

You'll know you're in the danger zone when something is too hot to leave your finger on for more than a few seconds. I'm happy to report that all the temperatures on this system check out, both with my temperature gun and my Mk. I finger-- even after hours and hours of torture testing.

Looks like we have a stable, complete system. And when you have a stable, complete system, it's clearly time to overclock it until it breaks. The CPU heatsink remained quite cool throughout the torture test, and CoreTemp confirms relatively low temperatures on each core. This is a very good omen for future overclocking. We'll do that tomorrow.

Posted by Jeff Atwood