1. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG May 9, 2002

2. 2 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Agenda – May 9, 2002 7:00 – 7:05 Administration 7:05 – 8:15 Featured Topic – Hard Drives and “Floppies” 8:15 – 8:30 Hardware News 8:30 – 8:55 Random Access (Q&A) 8:55 – 9:00 Recap, Preview, and Close

3. May 9, 20023 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…)

4. May 9, 20024 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Administration (continued): Presentation materials will be posted at: http://gsbug.apcug.org/hwinfosig.htm Prior presentation materials are also posted.

5. May 9, 20025 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

6. May 9, 20026 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

7. May 9, 20027 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hard Drives (continued) Key performance indicators: Spindle speed – faster the better Internal (media) transfer rate (Mb/sec) – higher the better Average seek time (ms) – lower the better Latency (ms) – lower the better Disk cache/buffer size (MB) – larger the better Benchmarking: Ziff Davis’ Disk WinMark (Business and High-End) – most recognized; virtually free

8. May 9, 20028 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/100 Current performance leader (ATA) Western Digital Caviar “Special Edition” series (up to 602Mb/sec internal) – includes an 8MB cache, ATA/100, 80/100/120GB

9. May 9, 20029 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)

10. May 9, 200210 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.

11. May 9, 200211 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hard Drives (continued) Tips: Watch the motherboard connector keying “Short” end of cable towards the drive Drive 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

12. May 9, 200212 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hard Drives (continued) Tips (continued): Put HDD on its own channel Use “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).www.pricewatch.com

13. May 9, 200213 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, performance Ability to read/write standard 1.44MB FD OS compatibility Interface – available, appropriate, cost?

14. May 9, 200214 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG “Floppies” (continued) Standard floppy 1.44MB; 62.5KB/sec transfer (standard internal floppy) Reads/writes 1.44MB diskettes 100% OS compatible (standard internal floppy) Interfaces – standard internal floppy, parallel, PCMCIA, SCSI (internal and external), and USB Less than $10 (standard internal), Web

15. May 9, 200215 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 USB Less than $60 (ATAPI), Web

16. May 9, 200216 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!

17. May 9, 200217 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

18. May 9, 200218 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News Processors 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

19. May 9, 200219 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware 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.

20. May 9, 200220 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Core Logic (chipsets) Intel released the 850E MCH (Northbridge) – same as 850 with 533MHz FSB. System RAM – nothing new Motherboards ASUSTeK released the P4T533-C – P4 with 850E MCH Intel released the D850EMV2 and D850EMD2 (ATX and microATX, respectively) - P4 with 850E MCH

21. May 9, 200221 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware 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.

22. May 9, 200222 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware 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).

23. May 9, 200223 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Hard Drive Controllers – nothing new Other 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 new Modems & NICs – nothing new Chassis & power supplies – nothing new

24. May 9, 200224 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Random Access (Q&A)

25. May 9, 200225 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Recap, Preview, and Close Recap Preview Featured Topic for June 13, 2002 – CD, DVD, and Other Non-”Floppy”, Removable Media Drives Close (please police up the area)