GSBUG Hardware Info SIG April 11, 2002

2 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Agenda – April 11, :00 – 7:05 Administration 7:05 – 8:15 Featured Topic – System RAM plus Motherboard Features Beyond Core Logic (Chipsets) 8:15 – 8:30 Hardware News 8:30 – 8:55 Random Access (Q&A) 8:55 – 9:00 Recap, Preview, and Close

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Administration Welcome! 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…)

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Administration (continued): Presentation materials will be posted at: Prior presentation materials are also posted.

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG System RAM “System RAM” – the random access memory (RAM) used by the CPU for instruction and data purposes. “DRAM” – dynamic RAM (only retains data when power is applied/refreshed) Primary types: SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) or DRDRAM (Direct Rambus DRAM)

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG System RAM (continued) CAS Latency (CL) – definition per Crucial Technology (division of Micron): “The amount of time in nanoseconds (often measured in clock cycles) between a request to read the memory, and when it is actually output. SDRAMs are typically referred to as CL 2 or CL 3, with CL 2 parts being faster.” Today, frequently also CL 2.5 Unbuffered vs Registered vs Registered ECC – consult your motherboard manual for what you need. For the curious, see

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG System RAM (continued) SDRAM All types with 64-bit wide data path PC MHz (800MB/sec transfer rate – 8 bytes x 100MHz) 168-pin DIMM PC MHz (1.06GB/sec transfer rate) Requires 133MHz data bus (chipset support) Supported by all the current SDR SDRAM chipsets 168-pin DIMM

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG System RAM (continued) SDRAM (continued) DDR (double data rate) SDRAM Currently 100/200MHz, 133/266MHz, and 166/333MHz 1.6GB/sec (PC1600), 2.1GB/sec (PC2100), and 2.7GB/sec (PC2700) transfer rates, respectively Sometimes referred to as PC200, PC266, and PC333 DDR SDRAM, respectively Requires DDR chipset support – see last presentation (on Core Logic/Chipsets); varies by chipset 184-pin DIMM

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG System RAM (continued) RDRAM 16-bit wide data path Three speed grades - current: PC600 (600MHz – 1.2GB/sec transfer rate) – seldom seen PC700 (711MHz – 1.4GB/sec transfer rate) – seldom seen PC800 (800MHz – 1.6GB/sec transfer rate) PC1066 (1066MHz – 2.1GB/sec) – sampling now 184-pin RIMMs (Rambus In-Line Memory Modules) Requires “Continuity RIMM (CRIMM)” in empty sockets

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG System RAM (continued) RDRAM (continued) Compatible chipsets – currently only Intel 850 and 860 NOW priced roughly on par (possibly lower than) quality DDR SDRAM; higher than PC100/PC133 Performance – depending on the configuration and application, faster than other forms of DRAM (PC800 is equivalent to PC3200 DDR SDRAM in max transfer rate – 2 Bytes, 800MHz, dual channel).

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Other Motherboard Features “Slots” AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) 32-bits wide, capable of 66MHz(1X) to 266MHz(4X) 264MB/sec (1X) to 1.06GB/sec (4X) transfer rate Video cards only. Brown connector. PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) - typical 32-bits wide, capable of 33MHz (desktop) 132MB/sec transfer rate (desktop) Used for older video cards; current HDCs, sound cards, modems, and NICs; various specialty adapters. White connector.

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Other Motherboard Features (continued) “Slots” (continued) PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) - other 32-bits wide, 66MHz (desktop/server); 64-bit wide, 33 or 66MHz (workstations and servers) Up to 528MB/sec Used for HDCs, NICs, and some specialty adapters ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) 16-bits wide, typically capable of 8.33MHz 16MB/sec transfer rate Typical used for older sound cards, modems and NICs Black connector.

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Other Motherboard Features (continued) “Ports” Serial (1 or 2 ports typ) Parallel (ECP/EPP; 1 port typ) PS/2 (2 ports – keyboard and mouse)

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Other Motherboard Features (continued) “Ports” (continued) USB (Universal Serial Bus) – chipset dependant Three speed: Low speed = 1.5Mb/sec (.187MB/sec) – USB 1.1 Full speed = 12Mb/sec (1.5MG/sec) – USB 1.1 High speed = 480 Mb/sec (60MB/sec) – USB 2.0 Attach up to 127 devices – including mice, keyboards, cameras, printers, ZIPs, some HDD, etc. Number of ports varies – min 2. Combos of USB 1.1 and 2.0. For “outside the box” devices

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Other Motherboard Features (continued) “Ports” (continued) Audio (sound “card”, down) – line in, line out, mic, joy stick(MIDI port) Video (for video “card”, down) NIC (network interface “card”, down) Typically “10/100” (Mb/sec) IEEE 1394 (“firewire”, iLink) Today provides a maximum 400Mb/sec (50MB/sec) transfer rate ( ). For “outside the box” devices. Typically used to connect digital video cameras, HDDs.

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Other Motherboard Features (continued) Other Interfaces, Misc. Internal connectors – floppy, IDE, SCSI USB header(s) IrDA (infrared) header CD-ROM (sound) – 1 or 2 Wake-on-LAN SMBus (System Management Bus) Fan headers

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Other Motherboard Features (continued) Other Interfaces, Misc. (continued) Panel lights (power, HD activity, sleep) & switches (power, reset, sleep) Jumpers and/or DIP switches (CMOS clear/flash, CPU multiplier, CPU voltage, bus speeds, keyboard power-on, suspend-to-RAM, etc.) Power (ATX, ATX12V, WTX, proprietary) Show-and-Tell

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News Processors Intel released the 2.4GHz Pentium 4 – simple line extension. Core Logic (chipsets) SiS released the SiS 645DX Northbridge – adds DDR333 support to the SiS 645; for Intel P4; “OC” to 533MHz FSB SiS announced the SiS 648 Northbridge – adds DDR 400 and AGP 8X support to the SiS 645DX.

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) System RAM – nothing new Motherboards – nothing new Graphics processor & card – nothing new Hard Drives – nothing new Hard Drive Controllers Promise announced the FastTrak 2000 – IDE RAID for Ultra ATA/133 hard drives

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Other Drives Plextor introduced the PlexCombo 12/10/40-12A drive - 12x10x40 CD-RW with 12X DVD read; ATAPI TDK introduced 40x12x48 CD-RW drives with ATAPI and USB 2.0 interfaces Sound processors & cards – nothing new Modems & NICs – nothing new Chassis & power supplies – nothing new

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Random Access (Q&A)

April 11, GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Recap, Preview, and Close Recap Preview Featured Topic for May 9 – Hard Drives and “Floppies” Close (please police up the area)