GSBUG Hardware Info SIG May 9, 2002. 2 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Agenda – May 9, 2002 7:00 – 7:05...

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

May 9, 2002

May 9, 2002 2

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Agenda – May 9, 20027:00 – 7:05 Administration7:05 – 8:15 Featured Topic – Hard Drives and

“Floppies”8:15 – 8:30 Hardware News8:30 – 8:55 Random Access (Q&A)8:55 – 9:00 Recap, Preview, and Close

May 9, 2002 3

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

AdministrationWelcome! Please Sign In.What the SIG is…and is not.

Is – an information resource for computer users and potential computer users

Is NOT – a way to get your computer built or repaired (contact the GSBUG Daytime Hardware SIG)

Log – Random Access/Q&A (First Come…)

May 9, 2002 4

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Administration (continued):Presentation materials will be posted at:http://gsbug.apcug.org/hwinfosig.htm

Prior presentation materials are also posted.

May 9, 2002 5

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hard Drives “Hard disk drive (HDD)” – a readable/ writeable,

storage device with NON-separable media; the device which stores most computer programs and data.

“IDE” – integrated drive electronics “ATA” – advanced technology attachment; ANSI for

IDE “SCSI” – small computer system interface

May 9, 2002 6

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hard Drives (continued) “Ultra ATA” – higher speed ATA, incl. Ultra ATA/33,

Ultra ATA/66, Ultra ATA/100 and Ultra ATA/133; depending on supplier, may be called UDMA (ultra direct memory access)

Primary manufacturers – IBM, Maxtor (Quantum), Seagate, Western Digital

Lesser manufacturers – Fujitsu, Hitachi, Samsung, Toshiba

May 9, 2002 7

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hard Drives (continued)Key performance indicators:

Spindle speed – faster the better Internal (media) transfer rate (Mb/sec) – higher the betterAverage seek time (ms) – lower the betterLatency (ms) – lower the betterDisk cache/buffer size (MB) – larger the better

Benchmarking:Ziff Davis’ Disk WinMark (Business and High-End) – most

recognized; virtually free

May 9, 2002 8

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hard Drives (continued)Current capacity leaders (ATA)

IBM 120GXP series & Western Digital Caviar series (up to 120GB, 7200 rpm) – ATA/100

Maxtor D540X series (up to 160GB, 5400 rpm) – ATA/100Current performance leader (ATA)

Western Digital Caviar “Special Edition” series (up to 602Mb/sec internal) – includes an 8MB cache, ATA/100, 80/100/120GB

May 9, 2002 9

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hard Drives (continued)Current leaders (SCSI) – shipping products

Capacity – Seagate Barracuda 180 (181.6GB, 7200 rpm, U160, 12 disks, 24 heads, 1.6” height)

Performance – Seagate Cheetah X15 36LP series (up to 709 Mb/sec internal, 15000 rpm, U320, max 36.7GB)

May 9, 2002 10

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hard Drives (continued)Price example - $189 for a Western Digital Caviar

“Special Edition” 80GB drive (WD800JB, direct/online); as low as $122 elsewhere on the web.

Availability – check the web, Pomona,…Reliability – even the best drives fail!Warranty – MAY be non-existent if not purchased

from a reseller that purchased through an “authorized” distributor or the drive was stolen. Check the manufacturer’s web site.

May 9, 2002 11

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hard Drives (continued)Tips:

Watch the motherboard connector keying “Short” end of cable towards the driveDrive end of cable – the “red” wire/stripe installs closest to

drive’s power connector; red wire of power connector towards the data cable.

Set BIOS to “Auto”Ultra ATA/66/100/133 drives require a 40-pin, 80-

conductor cable & compatible HDC

May 9, 2002 12

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hard Drives (continued)Tips (continued):

Put HDD on its own channelUse “cloning” software to upgrade (e.g., PowerQuest’s

Drive Copy or Drive Image, Symantec’s Ghost – as low as $9 + S&H on the web – check www.pricewatch.com).

May 9, 2002 13

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

“Floppies” “Floppy disk drive (FDD)” – a readable/writeable,

storage device with separable media; for our purposes uses a 3.5” “diskette” as the storage medium

Key issues:Capacity, performanceAbility to read/write standard 1.44MB FDOS compatibility Interface – available, appropriate, cost?

May 9, 2002 14

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

“Floppies” (continued)Standard floppy

1.44MB; 62.5KB/sec transfer (standard internal floppy)Reads/writes 1.44MB diskettes100% OS compatible (standard internal floppy) Interfaces – standard internal floppy, parallel, PCMCIA,

SCSI (internal and external), and USBLess than $10 (standard internal), Web

May 9, 2002 15

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

“Floppies” (continued)LS-120 (SuperDisk – Imation, Mitsubishi, Panasonic)

120MB; up to 1.1MB/sec transfer (ATAPI)Reads/writes 1.44MB diskettes<100% OS compatible (pre-DOS 5 and pre-NT3.51 not

supported) Interfaces – ATAPI, parallel, PCMCIA, SCSI (internal and

external), and USBLess than $60 (ATAPI), Web

May 9, 2002 16

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

“Floppies” (continued)Sony HiFD (High Capacity Floppy Disk)

200MB; claims 3.6MB/sec transfer rate, BUT only 700KB/sec “interface throughput” (USB)

Reads/writes 1.44MB diskettes<100% OS compatible (no DOS or NT support claimed,

no drivers included) Interfaces – parallel and USB (NO internal, at least

directly through Sony)…appears no longer in production/available!

May 9, 2002 17

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

“Floppies” (continued)ZIP (Iomega)

100 & 250MB; 1.4 & 2.4MB/sec (ATAPI, 100 & 250MB models, respectively)

Will NOT read or write 1.44MB diskettes<100% OS compatible (DOS and pre-Win 3.x not

supported) Interfaces – ATAPI, parallel, PCMCIA, SCSI (internal and

external), and USB Less than $30 (ATAPI) for 100MB, Web

May 9, 2002 18

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware NewsProcessors

AMD officially names Hammer products: ClawHammer (desktop/workstation version) will continue with

Athlon branding (with some TBD differentiator) SledgeHammer (workstation/server version) – “Opteron” For the latest Hammer (Opteron) tech presentation see:

http://www.amd.com/us- en/assets/content_type/ DownloadableAssets/Opteron_Press_Preso2.pdf

May 9, 2002 19

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Processors (continued)

Intel released the 2.4GHz Xeon (DP version for servers and workstations) – simple line extension.

Intel officially names McKinley (IA64) – Itanium 2 Intel released 2.26, 2.4, and 2.53GHz P4s with 533MHz FSB – first in a

series with 533MHz FSB. NOTE: While these processors will run in a 400MHz FSB motherboard, they will

run at only 75% of rated speed. As with all current Intel CPUs, these CPUs have locked FSB multipliers. A 533MHz FSB-capable motherboard is required to run at full speed. As such these CPUs may NOT be appropriate for upgrading.

May 9, 2002 20

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Core Logic (chipsets)

Intel released the 850E MCH (Northbridge) – same as 850 with 533MHz FSB.

System RAM – nothing newMotherboards

ASUSTeK released the P4T533-C – P4 with 850E MCH Intel released the D850EMV2 and D850EMD2 (ATX and microATX,

respectively) - P4 with 850E MCH

May 9, 2002 21

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Graphics processor & card

3Dlabs announced its “Visual Processing Architecture” and upcoming P10 VPU (Visual Processing Unit) – first boards to ship in Q3’02.

Matrox announced its Parhelia-512 GPU – major push to return to 3D market in the mid-range and high end. 20GB/sec bandwidth, 80 million transistors, 256-memory interface, up to 256MB RAM, 8X AGP capable, triple monitor display (separate displays or one across 3 at 3840x1024). Cards to be announced within 60-90 days.

SiS released the Xaber400 – first AGP 8X GPU; no card announcements yet.

May 9, 2002 22

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Hard Drives

Seagate announced Cheetah 15K.3 and Cheetah 10K.6 SCSI drives – up to 73GB w/ 891Mb/sec internal transfer rate for the 15K.3 and up to 146GB w/ 871Mb/sec internal transfer rate for the 10K.6; both will be available with U320 or FC (Fibre Channel) interfaces; volume production in Q3’02.

Western Digital released an 80GB version of their Caviar “Special Edition” series (8MB cache).

May 9, 2002 23

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued) Hard Drive Controllers – nothing newOther Drives

ASUSTeK and BenQ (Acer) release 48x16x48 CD-RW drives (ATAPI) – both model 4816A.

Teac released the CD-W540E 40x12x48 CD-RW drive (ATAPI)Sound processors & cards – nothing newModems & NICs – nothing newChassis & power supplies – nothing new

May 9, 2002 24

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Random Access (Q&A)

May 9, 2002 25

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Recap, Preview, and CloseRecapPreview

Featured Topic for June 13, 2002 – CD, DVD, and Other Non-”Floppy”, Removable Media Drives

Close (please police up the area)