GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

1. GSBUG Hardware Info SIG October 10, 2002

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. 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. 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. 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. 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). • Review 3rd-party assessments. • Develop the balance of the component set • “Finalize” the spec (develop a set of minimums) – the prelude to sourcing your components (next month).

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

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

18. 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_home+browse_chipsts& • NVIDIA - http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=products • SiS - http://www.sis.com/products/index.htm • VIA - http://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/prodindex.jsp

19. 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.html • Intel – http://www.intel.com/products/browse/chipsets.htm?iid=ipp_home+browse_chipsts& • Matrox - http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/home.cfm • NVIDIA - http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=products • SiS - http://www.sis.com/products/index.htm • VIA - http://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/prodindex.jsp

20. 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%20Hardware%20SIG%207%209%202002.ppt

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

24. 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 8th 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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)