Kit Menlove

Cash Back Rewards Comparison

noreply@blogger.com (aork) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 22:32:00 +0000

Here's a little comparison between the cashback programs I've used. They are all free, but the ones affiliated with a bank generally require you to have a checking, savings, or credit card account to use. Here I've compared the rewards they offer at the sites I've shopped at in the past. Unless otherwise indicated, numbers indicated in the chart (without a dollar sign) indicate the percentage of the purchase price awarded as cash back (not including tax and shipping charges).

Retail

	Chase Rewards Plus+	Citi Bonus Cash Center	Live Search Cash Back	Ebates	Zions Cash Rewards
Barnes & Noble	6	2	10	4	5
Buy.com	2	1	1–5	1	3
Overstock.com	10	3	2–7	4	$10 off $100
REI.com	3	2		3
Cabela's	2	1		2	4
Staples.com	2	1		2
JCPenney.com	6	2		4
BestBuy.com	3	1		1	2
CompUSA.com		3			2
TigerDirect	3	2	5	3
Walmart.com	3	1	2–5	1	4
Target.com	6	2		4	2
Kmart.com	3	2	2–5	2	2
National Geographic	8			4	9
GiftCertificates.com	3	6		2
Road Runner Sports	4	4		5
Sony	3	1		3
Gap/Old Navy	3	6	4	3	4
OfficeMax.com	3	2	3–5	4	4
MacMall.com	2		3	2
newegg.com	2	1	2.75	2	1
Famous Footwear	8	7		9	10
The Home Depot	4	2		3
Snapfish	15	8		10
Verizon Wireless		8			15

Travel

	Chase Rewards Plus+	Citi Bonus Cash Center	Ebates
Delta.com	$1.5/order	$2
United.com	$2/booking	$1	$3
Expedia.com		1	1
Travelocity.com	3	1	1
Orbitz.com	$7	$3	$3
Priceline.com	1	1	2
CheapTickets.com	$3/booking	$3.25	$2
Hotwire.com	4	1	2
Budget.com	2	2	3
Choice Hotels	3	2	3
Carnival Cruise	1	4
Royal Caribbean		4

Of course, these amounts change occasionally, for better or worse, but at least this may give you a place to start.

Also see

Latest Server Processors

noreply@blogger.com (aork) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:04:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago I did some research on server processors for a cluster the lab I was rotating in is planning to buy. I thought I would post them here in case they are of use to anyone else.

Specs

Two-Socket Systems:

Type	SKU	Clock (GHz)	Cores	Cache (MB)	FSB (MHz)	Price	Max TDP (W)	Arc.
Neh- alem -EP Xeon*	W5580	3.20	4	1_L2+8_L3	N/A	$1600	130	Gainestown
	X5570	2.93	4	1_L2+8_L3	N/A	$1386	95	Gainestown
	X5560	2.80	4	1_L2+8_L3	N/A	$1172	95	Gainestown
	X5550	2.66	4	1_L2+8_L3	N/A	$958	95	Gainestown
	E5540	2.53	4	1_L2+8_L3	N/A	$744	80	Gainestown
Nehalem -WS*	W3570	3.20	4	1_L2+8_L3	N/A	$990	130	Lynnfield
Intel Xeon	X5492	3.40	4	12 L2	1600	$1493	150	Harpertown
	X5482	3.20	4	12 L2	1600	$1279	120	Harpertown
	X5472	3.00	4	12 L2	1600	$958	120	Harpertown
	X5470	3.33	4	12 L2	1333	$1386	120	Harpertown
	X5460	3.16	4	12 L2	1333	$1172	120	Harpertown
	X5450	3.00	4	12 L2	1333	$851	120	Harpertown
	X3380	3.16	4	12 L2	1333	$525	95	Yorkfield
	E5472	3.00	4	12 L2	1600	$1022	80	Harpertown
	E5462	2.80	4	12 L2	1600	$797	80	Harpertown
	E5450	3.00	4	12 L2	1333	$915	80	Harpertown
	E5440	2.83	4	12 L2	1333	$690	80	Harpertown
	E5430	2.66	4	12 L2	1333	$455	80	Harpertown
	E5420	2.50	4	12 L2	1333	$316	80	Harpertown
AMD Opt- eron	2386SE	2.80	4	2_L2+6_L3	2200	$1165	105	Shanghai
	2384	2.70	4	2_L2+6_L3	2200	$989	75	Shanghai
	2382	2.60	4	2_L2+6_L3	2200	$873	75	Shanghai
	2380	2.50	4	2_L2+6_L3	2000	$698	75	Shanghai
	2378	2.40	4	2_L2+6_L3	2000	$523	75	Shanghai

*Nehalem-EP and -WS Xeons will be available on March 28th

Four- to Eight-Socket Systems (more processors per board):

Type	SKU	Clock (GHz)	Cores	Cache (MB)	FSB (MHz)	Price	Max TDP (W)	Arc.
Nehalem -EX*			8
Intel Xeon	X7460	2.66	6	9_L2+16_L3	1066	$2729	130	Dunnington
	E7450	2.40	6	9_L2+12_L3	1066	$2301	90	Dunnington
	E7440	2.40	4	6_L2+16_L3	1066	$1980	90	Dunnington
AMD Opt- eron	8384	2.70	4	2_L2+6_L3	2200	$2149	75	Shanghai
	8382	2.60	4	2_L2+6_L3	2200	$1865	75	Shanghai
	8380	2.50	4	2_L2+6_L3	2000	$1514	75	Shanghai

* Nehalem-EX Xeons will be available in the 4th Quarter

Articles

First look: Intel dual- socket Nehalem EP benchmarked
"as good as AMD's new Shanghai chip is, it appears that Nehalem EPill slap it aroundith aet fish."

Rumored server Nehalem EP prices hit the ‘Net
"We all saw the excellent scores that appeared in legally leaked benchmark results on several sites on the ‘Net. Thus, AMD’s Shanghai should better brace for impact, because Nehalem is coming from high altitude."

ZDNet's Benchmarks
"Buyers looking for a balance between power consumption, computational performance and memory throughputill find Shanghai processors extremely attractive. But in two-processor systems, Intel can offer clock speeds up to 3.40GHz,ith commensurate increases in arithmetic performance.
"For pure arithmetic performance, Shanghai still falls short of Intel's chips. But once clock speeds are taken into account, the gap is mostly reduced to a single-figure percentage. Only in single-precision arithmetic using SSE instructions do Shanghai systems show a 35 percent performance shortfall against a comparable Core 2 architecture Xeon system.
"If Intel releases the first two-processor Nehalem systems in the spring, it's reasonable to assume theyill outstrip the present Shanghai CPUs in most areas. AMDill have to counter that threatith HyperTransport 3.0 and DDR3 support."

New Testament Institute Manual

noreply@blogger.com (aork) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:15:00 +0000

In case anyone is interested, here's a version of the New Testament Institute Manual (that can be found online at www.ldsces.org) that I converted to Mobipocket/Kindle format. Its extension is .prc, but can be changed to .azw or .mobi.

New Testament Institute Manual

Our Family Blog

noreply@blogger.com (aork) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:58:00 +0000

We posted a family blog back in December. It is private, but we welcome anyone who knows us and would like to see what we're up to these days. Details on how to join can be found at menlove.org. We hope to see you soon!