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Rocky Moore wrote: Over the last three weeks I have dug through tons of information trying to what works with what, what is just overpriced and what is garbage. Additionally, what will work with Vista or at least to a point.
I'm waiting for Quad Core processors to come out before I build my next machine!
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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Dave Kreskowiak wrote: I'm waiting for Quad Core processors to come out before I build my next machine!
Same here. I'm also planning to wait until mid nextyear to see if the architecture changes AMD is releasing with it's quadcore design will surpass intel again.
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Yeah, I am figuring once Vista settles after the first of the year, I will probably get a new high performance machine for development and give this to the wife. Hope I getting this one running by then 
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Rocky Moore wrote: Was amazed to see some MBs did not even come with LPT ports since one of my printers still only works via LPT.
PS2, COM, LPT, and Game ports have been legacy interfaces with no new hardware for years. The shedding of the ports has been starting on desktop boards for at least a year. Laptops have been shedding PS2 ports for years. Paradoxally those are the ports with the greatest desktop longevity.
Rocky Moore wrote: In the old days, you needed RAM, you purchased some of the speed you needed and presto it worked. Now it depends on vendor, volts and other things.
Unless you're having wierd compatability issues (or overclocking) none of these should matter. All DDR1 runs at the same voltage, all DD2 at the same voltage. Matched sets are basically marketing BS other than the fact that modern cpus use twin sticks to double bandwidth, which has happened in the past as well.
Rocky Moore wrote: Then there is the different CPU socket types and chip sets, along with different cores. In the mix we have to included the diffent models, where there are several for each brand and before you know it you a MESS!
You had diffent cpu types and sockets every few years in the past as well, along with mobos that had the same socket but didn't support chips beyond a different rev. Aside from the fact that AMD started designing it's own sockets (initially to avoid playing catchup with intel) nothing's changed.
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dan neely wrote: all DD2 at the same voltage.
Actually, no! They range from 1.8v to 2.6v and on some systems is quite sensitive (at least at the 800 PC26400 level). There have been numerious problems with different motherboards on Newegg regarding this issue.
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The specification is 1.8V. Higher voltages are used by idiots trying to overcome the fact that at higher-than-rated speeds (overclocked modules), there isn't enough time for the outputs to stabilise at the level required to detect a value transition. I can't honestly remember whether a high voltage represents a 1 or 0 bit these days.
Using higher-than-rated voltages means that the inherent R/C (resistance/capacitance) junctions within the circuit will take less time to charge and will therefore stabilize more quickly. It also means that more power will be dissipated and therefore more likely that the chips will overheat and melt the very thin metal traces joining parts of the circuit, meaning failed chips.
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Hi all,
I am really frustrated with the SCSI drive r/w speeds on our systems. One system is having Adaptec on-board controller with a Fujitsu 15k drive connected to it and the other one is having LSI logic on-board controller with a Seagate 15k drive connected to it. They both are giving me r/w speeds of 14MBps to 17MBps which is not acceptable with a SCSI drive. I have tried a Maxtor drive in place of Seagate and that too is having the same speeds. But strangely the Fujitsu connected to adaptec controller is acting differently, I have downlaoded a scsi diagnostic utility from Fujitsu website and whenever I run this utility, the r/w performance boosts to 70MBps. But this utility can not be used on other drives (only on fujitsu drives).
You can download the speed utility program that I use to check the drive performance from here
HARDDISK.exe
Can someone help me out with whats going wrong over here?? I even updated my aspi drivers to the latest version (V4.71). What speeds are you getting on you SCSI drives in non=raid option??
thanks,
-Pavan.
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All of my servers are in the the range > 14MBps to 34MBps (more or less with your software.),
All of them are either LSI or Adaptec SCSI. But all are Maxtor Drives.
(I never had any good luck with Seagate.)
I don't know where your getting the 70MBps, but I didn't.
Sorry, Not much help..
Progload
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I'm getting 70MBps using a Fujitsu drive and only after I run the SCSI diagnostic tool provided by Fujitsu. But it works only with Fujitsu drives though... at present it is on-board adaptec controller, I haven't tested it on other cohntrollers.
-Pavan.
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Could be the Fujitsu software tools "communicate" right to the drive controller on the drive and do somthing, and not to the SCSI controller.. humm.. don't know.. but it's interesting.
I did notice your software produces a different speed average each time it runs but it was mostly in the ranges I gave you.
Wish I had a Fujitsu drive and time to dink around with it..
Don't think i'll be much help, Sorry.
Curiosity.. where did you get the diag tool?
Progload
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I got it off Fujitsu Europe website at that time... here it is http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/storage/hdd/support/utilities.html the SCSI utility - now its available on US website too..
I think SATA is far better than SCSI in my case. I built a new system with SATA drives in RAID0 and I am getting around 121MBps (using WD Raptor 10K SATA drives).
-Pavan.
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Yes, SATA as in most cases would be a better option I think.
I only do Scsi, if I really need or want it "Bullet-Proof-No-Fail"
Sorry I was asking about the Spectrum Speed tool..you had a link too..
I couldn't find it on google..
Progload.
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That tool is specially created by the Spectrum GmBH corp (strategic-test) to test their systems while testing their high speed PCI and PCI-X Signal acquisition and AWG cards. So, its not a commercially available tool.
-Pavan.
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I see, ok, well thanks.. It's an interesting little program anyway.
If I come across a fujitsu scsi drive, in the near future I'll drop you an email on what I find out.
Wish I could be of more help. It's interesting issue..
Progload
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What is the best Laptop for doing .Net developement.
working with large databases, image and file manipulation.
Our company usually purchases Dell Laptops.
I was looking at the Dell Inpiron 9400
100 Gig 7200 RPM Drive
1 gig ram
ATI Video card
The biggest drawback I see with this laptop is that it doesn't have a docking station like the Latitude series has.
Please if you have any suggestions let me know.
Thanks
GSC
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I think the biggest drawback to that laptop is that its a Dell 
"a fool will not learn from a wise man, but a wise man will learn from a fool"
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." - Theodore Roosevelt
"Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
My Website || My Blog
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Any suggestions on the best laptop for performance, stability and of course price.
Thanks
GSC
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Well I am not really sure, what the best is but I can tell you what I have been using for the last year or so. I use a toshiba Satelite Pro, I extended the memory on it, so I basically have 1 GIG, and it works like a dream, I have no complaints. I have VS2003, VS 2005, SQL server 2000, sql 2005, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop, Opera Browser, The Whole Office Suite, Firefox, and a myriad of other programmes, a couple of games on there, Broadband Internet and it hasn't complained once! I watch DVD's on it. I think I only paid about £500 for it.
I have left it running for weeks on end on my home desk, it never complains. I am definetly considering another toshiba early next year!!
"a fool will not learn from a wise man, but a wise man will learn from a fool"
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed." - Theodore Roosevelt
"Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
My Website || My Blog
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My Alienware m9700 rocks for dev. I got it specifically for the 17" screen and big keyboard. It's not one you'd want to carry around all the time, though (yeah it's heavy).
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I've got a Latitude D820, without a docking station. But it's got a nice screen - not that TrueLife cr*p that the consumer-level models have. But even with a 1.66 GHz proc / 7200 rpm drive / basic video card / 1Gb ram I get some of the fastest compilation speeds I have ever seen! Or maybe that's 'cause I'm not including any Windows files... But in any case, I've been *very* happy with it.
Just a hint, if you didn't think of this already - make sure you get the OS installation disks - and XP pro, at that. Not home or mce. That way you can wipe your hard drive and get rid of all the OEM stuff that's pre-installed. And then install drivers via Windows to avoid even more unwanted software.
My .02 cents
Mike
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PREMSONBABY wrote: Is the BIOS able to detect a USB device without the help of an OS
Possibly, it depends on the BIOS int he machine.
PREMSONBABY wrote: is it possible to access the bios details of the system, using the low level program in this USB device
The machine would ahve to support booting off a USB device. Most new machine can do this.
Install DOS on it, and write your code as a DOS app in C or C++ and it should work. As for HOW to read the BIOS stuff, you'd have to consult the programmers guide for the BIOS your working with. Check with the manufacturer's site to see if you can get some information on it.
Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP - Visual Basic
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I am about to buy a new computer and is having some problems.
I have no experience at all on RAID. From what I understand, RAID 0 increase performance since two disk are sharing the work load. RAID 1 is reduce the risk of disk failure.
However, I have some questions?
1.) If I buy a pc with RAID 0, later, can I change it to RAID 1? Is it just a matter of setting jumpers?
2.) For RAID 1 config, if one drive fail, do I get any notification in such failure(so that I know it had failed)? How do I get my data back from the working drive?
3.) This is unrelated, but anyone know the difference between the Pentium D process and the Core 2 processor? Core 2 cost more, I assume it is better?
Thanks in advance
-- modified at 16:21 Monday 25th September, 2006
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One more thing, does the RAID 0 config really boost performance a lot? Or just very little?
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EscapeKey wrote: 1.) If I buy a pc with RAID 0, later, can I change it to RAID 1? Is it just a matter of setting jumpers?
Backup all your data, re-build the RAID array as RAID1 (this will delete everything from the drives), restore the system from backups. No jumper settings are used, just software.
EscapeKey wrote: 2.) For RAID 1 config, if one drive fail, do I get any notification in such failure(so that I know it had failed)? How do I get my data back from the working drive?
You should get a monitoring program with the RAID controller that tells you about drive failures. Replace the failed drive with a wworking one and the array will be restored automatically.
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