1. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG October 10, 2002

2. 2 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Agenda – October 10, 2002 7:00 – 7:05 Administration 7:05 – 8:15 Featured Topic – Your New System: Planning Phase 8:15 – 8:30 Hardware News 8:30 – 8:55 Random Access (Q&A) 8:55 – 9:00 Recap, Preview, and Close

3. October 10, 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. October 10, 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. October 10, 20025 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase What follows is intended to assist you in planning for your new system. The objective is the development of your new system specification (spec). We will address only “mainstream” solutions – no overclocking or “exotics”.

6. October 10, 20026 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) The Process Answer “four” basic questions. Develop short lists for key components – CPU, RAM type, chipset, graphics solution, monitor type. Review key component specs (technologies). -party assessments. Review 3rd-party assessments. Develop the balance of the component set Develop the balance of the component set “Finalize” the spec (develop a set of minimums) – the prelude to sourcing your components (next month). “Finalize” the spec (develop a set of minimums) – the prelude to sourcing your components (next month).

7. October 10, 20027 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Answer “four” basic questions: What are the intended PRIMARY uses of the system – i.e., what will the system be used for 80-90% of the time? How long does the system need to last? What’s your budget? Other than budget, what are KEY constraints in re: Anything that “needs” to be carried over? Anything that will dictate any significant part of the solution (software and/or carry-over hardware compatibility, physical constraints, etc.)?

8. October 10, 20028 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Answer “four” basic questions (continued) What are the intended PRIMARY uses of the system? General business apps (word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation) Personal finance Multimedia processing Photo editing Internet browsing Entertainment (“games”) Attempt to quantify – importance x frequency

9. October 10, 20029 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Answer “four” basic questions (continued) How long does the system need to last? If 2 years or less, tend to the upper mid-range for your spec If over 2 years, tend to the upper end for your spec. What’s your budget? If under $1000, max RAM (up to 256MB) and storage If over $1000 but less than $2000, max RAM (up to 512MB), storage, CPU, and graphics solution (card) If $2000 or over, enjoy yourself!

10. October 10, 200210 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Answer “four” basic questions (continued) Other than budget, what are KEY constraints in re: Anything that “needs” to be carried over? Consider how your new system will be impacted. Establish “hard” requirements. Anything that will dictate any significant part of the solution (software and/or carry-over hardware compatibility, physical constraints, etc.)? Compatibility – operating system, expensive or “critical” apps Physical – space, noise

11. October 10, 200211 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Develop short lists for key components CPU Low end – P3, “old” and “new” Celeron, Duron, C3 Mid-range – Athlon XP (up to top 2 SKUs), P4 (up to top 3 SKUs) High-end – up to and including the fastest Athlon XP or P4 you can find

12. October 10, 200212 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Develop short lists for key components (continued) RAM type Low end – PC133 Mid-range – PC266, PC333 High-end – add RDRAM (all versions)

13. October 10, 200213 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Develop short lists for key components (continued) Chipset Low end – Intel 81x/845G, SiS 651/740, VIA ProSavage Mid-range – Intel 845E; SiS 645/745; VIA KT266A/333, P4266A High-end – add Intel 850E, SiS 648/R658, VIA KT400

14. October 10, 200214 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Develop short lists for key components (continued) Graphics solution Low end – integrated graphics (integrated into the chipset); try for an AGP port Mid-range – mid to upper-mid-range GPU, 32-64MB RAM ATI RADEON 7500 – 9000 Pro; Matrox G550; NVIDIA MX 440, 4200 High-end – up to and including max performance GPU, 128MB RAM ATI RADEON 9700 Pro; Matrox Parhelia, NVIDIA 4600

15. October 10, 200215 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Develop short lists for key components (continued) Monitor type Low end – 17” CRT Mid-range – good quality 19” CRT, 15” LCD High-end – up to and including 18” or larger LCD and the best 21” CRT (games)

16. October 10, 200216 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Review key component specs (technologies) CPU AMD – www.amd.comwww.amd.com Intel – www.intel.comwww.intel.com VIA/Cyrix - http://www.viatech.com/en/viac3/c3.jsphttp://www.viatech.com/en/viac3/c3.jsp

17. October 10, 200217 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Review key component specs (technologies)(cont.) RAM type Micron – www.micron.comwww.micron.com RAMBUS – www.rambus.comwww.rambus.com Samsung – www.samsungusa.comwww.samsungusa.com

18. October 10, 200218 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Review key component specs (technologies)(cont.) Chipset Intel - http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htm?iid=ipp_hom e+browse_chipsts& http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htm?iid=ipp_hom e+browse_chipsts& NVIDIA - http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=productshttp://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=products SiS - http://www.sis.com/products/index.htmhttp://www.sis.com/products/index.htm VIA - http://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/prodindex.jsphttp://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/prodindex.jsp

19. October 10, 200219 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Review key component specs (technologies)(cont.) Graphics solution ATI - http://mirror.ati.com/products/index.htmlhttp://mirror.ati.com/products/index.html Intel – http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htm?iid=ipp_hom e+browse_chipsts& http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htm?iid=ipp_hom e+browse_chipsts& Matrox - http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/home.cfmhttp://www.matrox.com/mga/products/home.cfm NVIDIA - http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=productshttp://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=products SiS - http://www.sis.com/products/index.htmhttp://www.sis.com/products/index.htm VIA - http://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/prodindex.jsphttp://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/prodindex.jsp

20. October 10, 200220 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Review key component specs (technologies)(cont.) Monitor type VERY subjective – see July SIG presentation materials http://www.edscustomcomputers.com/PowerPoint/OCIPUG%20 Hardware%20SIG%207%209%202002.ppt http://www.edscustomcomputers.com/PowerPoint/OCIPUG%20 Hardware%20SIG%207%209%202002.ppt

21. October 10, 200221 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) -party assessments Review 3rd-party assessments www.aceshardware.com www.amdzone.com www.anandtech.com www.extremetech.com www.pcmag.com www.pcworld.com www.sharkyextreme.com www.tomshardware.com

22. October 10, 200222 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) Develop the balance of the component set Develop the balance of the component set See prior SIG presentations re: Hard drives and “floppies” CD, DVD, and other non-“floppy", removable-media drives Sound processors, sound cards, and speakers Modems, NICs, chassis, power supplies, HFAs, fans, keyboards, and mice

23. October 10, 200223 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Your New System: Planning Phase (continued) “Finalize” the spec “Finalize” the spec Develop a set of minimums Develop a set of minimums Acceptable key components Acceptable other components This is the prelude to sourcing your components (next month). This is the prelude to sourcing your components (next month).

24. October 10, 200224 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News Processors AMD released the Athlon XP 2700+ (2.167GHz) and 2800+ (2.25GHz) processors - first with 333MHz FSB (167MHz DDR). “Fall availability”. AMD 8 th Generation Athlon and Opteron processors delayed one quarter (now Q1’03 and Q2’03, respectively). Intel released 2.6GHz and 2.8GHz Xeon workstation processors, both with 400MHz FSB – simple line extensions. Intel also released a 2.0GHz Celeron processor (P4 core) – simple line extension.

25. October 10, 200225 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Core Logic (chipsets) Intel released the 845PE, 845GE, and 845GV MCHs (Northbridges). All support Hyper-Threading technology (HT) - dual processor mimicing coming with the 3.06GHz P4 (Nov). The 845PE/GE support DDR333 (PC2700) DRAM. The 845GE has a faster core speed for the integrated graphics engine (266MHz). The 845GV adds 533MHz FSB processor support. They also announced that the 850E has been validated for PC1066 RDRAM (max 1.5GB); also supports HT.

26. October 10, 200226 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Core Logic (chipsets)(continued) VIA announced that the previously announced KT400 (VT8368) and KT333 (VT8367) Northbridges are both enabled to support the new AMD Athlon XP 2700+ and 2800+ processors with 333MHz FSB – neither spec shows a 333MHz FSB capability. Therefore???

27. October 10, 200227 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) System RAM – nothing new Motherboards ASUSTeK, Gigabyte, Intel, and MSI announced boards based on the Intel 845PE, 845GE, and 845GV. The Intel D845PEBT2 has OPTIONAL SATA RAID and IEEE 1394; the spec (TPS) suggests there may also be a Promise- based IDE RAID version. Graphics processors & cards The AGP 3.0, Rev. 1.0 spec was released (AGP 8X)

28. October 10, 200228 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Graphics processors & cards (continued) 3Dlabs/Creative drop P10 plans for the desktop. ATI released the ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 PRO – RADEON 9700 PRO VPU, 128MB RAM, AGP 8X, supports DX 9.0. Video capture and edit version of the RADEON 9700 PRO. NVIDIA released AGP 8X versions of the GeForce4 MX 440 and Ti 4200 GPUs (previously code named NV18 and NV28, respectively). Leadtek only (?) customer to announce associated cards.

29. October 10, 200229 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Hard Drives IBM announced the Deskstar 180GXP series – 60- 180GB, ATA/100, 7200 rpm, 699Mb/sec internal transfer rate, 2MB and 8MB cache versions, 3 yr warranty? Maxtor announced the MaXLine II and MaXLine Plus II series of “Enterprise” ATA drives – unclear that they will be available to the general public. MaXLine II includes 250 and 320GB models, 5400 rpm, ATA/133 and SATA, 2MB cache, 44MB/sec internal transfer rate, 3 yr warr. MaXLine Plus II includes 200 and 250GB models, 7200 rpm, ATA/133 and SATA, 8MB cache, 54MB/sec internal transfer rate, 3 yr warr (5 yr warr?).

30. October 10, 200230 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Hard Drives (continued) Western Digital announced the WD2000JB drive – the Special Edition (8MB cache) version of the 200GB “Drivezilla”. A 180GB “Special Edition” version is also now available (8MB cache, 3 yr warr – like the Drivezilla). Hard Drive Controllers HighPoint announced the RocketRAID 1540, a 4-channel, SATA, IDE RAID controller.

31. October 10, 200231 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Other Drives Lite-On released the LTR-52246S 52x24x52 CD-RW, fastest currently available. Plextor released the PlexWriter 48/24/48A (ATAPI) and 48/24/48U (USB 2.0) 48x24x48 CD-RWs.

32. October 10, 200232 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Hardware News (continued) Sound processors & cards Creative Labs announced the Audigy 2 sound processor and sound card (including Platinum model – front access) – 6.1 analog, 24-bit DVD audio, THX certification, 24- bit/96kHz recording, 106 dB SNR. Also announced a 6.1 speaker system – Creative Inspire 6.1 6600. Sixth speaker is rear center. Modems & NICs – nothing new Chassis & power supplies – nothing new

33. October 10, 200233 GSBUG Hardware Info SIG Recap, Preview, and Close Recap Preview Featured Topic for November 14, 2002 – Your New System: Sourcing Your Components Close (please police up the area)