Date: August 9, 2009 Time: 1:29:49 Hosted by Jordan Drake Co-Hosts: Scott Wasson, Geoff Gasior, Cyril Kowaliski Special guest: Mike Graf and Ton Khowdee Listen now: Download: MP3 (82.4MB) | M4A (84MB) Subscribe with RSS | Subscribe with iTunes

Sponsored by MSI's Master Overclocking Arena 2009. Congratulations to the Phase 2 winners!. Visit the official website or follow TR's sponsored coverage for more.

Show notes
In the wake of the Windows 7 RTM rollout, our panel shares their impressions of the new operating system, from the new, OS X-esque taskbar to the departure of Windows Mail. Later, a listener question prompts some display discussion, while upcoming Left 4 Dead bonus content suggests Valve isn't neglecting fans of the original game, after all.

Moving on, MSI's upcoming Wind U200 laptop prompts an "old-man rant" from Scott, after which Geoff briefs us on the pros and cons of AMD's 785G integrated graphics chipset. Finally, we share our thoughts on OCZ's upcoming terabyte SSD (and its rumored $2,500 price tag).

Also in this episode: two cool interviews with contestants from MSI's Master Overclocking Arena 2009. First-place winner Mike Graf tells us about his practical uses for overclocking on a day-to-day basis, while acclaimed case modder Ton Khowdee talks pro modding, overclocking, and more.

Send in listener mail, and we'll answer on the podcast. - jdrake@techreport.com

Listener mail:

Display upgrade questions - from Jonathan (Pax-Ux) - (0:30:08):

"I’m planning on upgrading my Samsung SyncMaster 244T (24”) which I picked up in ’06 for something in the 30” range. My main two options are either a Dell or Apple both of which ship for about €1,800; would that money be better spent on something like high quality HDTV with DVI support? What do you guys thing of using a HDTV instead of a dedicated monitor when you start going over the 24 inch mark as it incurs quite a cost premium."

Tech discussion:

Windows 7 panel discussion (0:02:36)

New Left 4 Dead campaign coming next month (0:39:53)- Read more

Interview with 1st place MSI overclocker Mike Graf (0:44:41)- Read more

MSI's Wind U200 is not a netbook, is coming soon (0:53:08)- Read more

AMD's 785G integrated graphics chipset (1:03:39)- Read more

Interview with 3rd place MSI overclocker Ton Khowdee (1:12:18)- IronMods.com - The "War Machine" - TF2 Sentry

Report: OCZ's 1TB solid-state drive prepped for mid-August (1:20:31)- Read more

Fix for 34-nm Intel SSDs should be ready this week (1:26:04)- Read more