EggXpert

Draft Specs for My Next PC Build

steppinwolf — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:28:00 GMT

System Specs
Budget: $2200 to $2600	VGA: SPARKLE SFPX95GT512U2HP GeForce 9500 GT 512MB	Monitor: Samsung T260HD 25.5-Inch LCD HDTV Monitor (tentative)
MB: Intel DP55KG	OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit	Browser: IE8 & Chrome
CPU: Intel Core i7 860	Sound: M-Audio Revolution 5.1	Purpose: Writing/research; IT development/research; VM host; HTPC
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3 PC3 12800	PSU: SeaSonic M12II 500 Bronze 500W ATX12V V2.2	Brand:
HD: Intel X25-M G2 80GB (RAID-1) & WD Caviar Green 1TB (RAID-1)	Cooling: ZALMAN CNPS9900LED for CPU (tentative)	Misc: 2 SSD RAID-1 for OS/programs and 2 WD Green RAID-1 for data

Asus+Toshiba? Probably not

intelguy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:37:00 GMT

Recently a report from a Chinese website that Asus is contemplating acquisition of Toshiba has attracted a lot of attention. One thing for sure, it will benefit the consumers but the question is that will Toshiba sell it notebook division? Personally, I think it is a mission impossible for asus to acquire Toshiba. After Toshiba has set a goal to achieve a worldwide notebook market share of 15% in 2010, it has done very well and has climbed the fourth place of PC markets. Toshiba's current ODM partners...(read more)

My Alternate Reality

eggpie — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:16:00 GMT

Computer games had always been an integral part of my being, a gateway to a fantastical reality, a mystical door to a parallel universe were the confining rules of reality are nullified. Some may call me a geek, some even shun me as a loser who spends all her time behind an alter ego and facing an LCD monitor or tv screen. May be I am but I don't care and I honestly do not give a damn what others may say or how they perceive me to be. After finishing all my chores around the house, accomplishing all my custom essays, and doing my homework, I log in online and I'm all set to rule my alternate reality.

Games have a relaxing and calming effect on me, especially RPG's and MMORPG, even if the battles are intense and far from easy. World of Warcraft and RF On-line are my hands-down favorite in on-line games because of the involving storyline, the gripping tales of action and lores of war and the community that can be daunting at first but really friendly once you get the hang of it. As for RPGs in my home consoles, nothing beats the Final Fantasy franchise from a little company called Squaresoft because of the unforgettable characters and the deep plots within the story. When I play, it's just like reading a book and novel because all the elements are there: the riveting drama, the intense twists and turns in the storyline, the action, climax and the resolution as the final battle is set. And as you control your main character and heroes, you feel genuine pride with every achievement and with every mission you accomplish.

So call me a geek. Call me a loser; I don't mind. Because in my world, I am the queen and the top dog. I can kill you with a single, decisive blow and never look back in regret, no remorse whatsoever. And I encourage everyone who are fed up with the real, absurd world and anyone who wants to relieve some stress to give computer games a whirl because it is really the next best thing to a mundane and ordinary reality that technology has to offer. When I am not contributing to essay writing services, I encourage my nieces and brothers to try out some games. Of course, not the violent ones like Grand Theft Auto and Halo 3 but exciting and addicting all the same like Ragnarok and Flyff. But, as I always insist and reiterate, school comes first, always. No sense in playing if your stupid, no fun in that.

4G Cell phone and New Era?

whitelotus — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:16:00 GMT

What exactly 4G will bring us? ---- I still can’t figure it out. What do you find in this picture, guys?

4G mobile technology is the name given to the next generation of mobile devices such as cell phones. 4G system is anticipated to revolutionize the functioning of communication networks with comprehensive and secure IP based solution facilitating voice, data and streamed multimedia Anytime, Anywhere and with much higher data transfer rates than its predecessors. Read more…

Generally speaking, high-bandwidth data capability is often accompanied by a greater communication system transmit power. The industry’s concern about the problems caused by electromagnetic radiation in the 3G era will be even more prominent in the 4G system. Moreover, there will be many more problems such as these in the future 4G system. How to technically achieve its function parameters and the effective shielding its drawbacks will be an inevitable challenge for 4G.

OMG, this is way too complicated to find out what will constitute 4G mobile, and what kind of new ear on earth 4G will bring us? Ericsson has described for us: a person’s glasses suddenly flashes a friend’s call, he blinks his eyes, his friend’s face appears on, and then comes his friend’s voice from the glasses legs; simply point with your fingers, signals can be transmitted through the phone on your glove or your home appliances will get well under control immediately; Through the virtual reality equipment (telephones?) on the street, you can look around any attraction or visit remote places…

Mobile phones of the 4G era, whether its form, or function, will have a big difference with the present ones.

From the morphological point of view, 4G phones will be various: It could be a cell phone held in your palm, or a camera, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants), a pair of glasses, a watch, an earplug, or a pair of gloves, a mask, a wallet, a brooch, or a string of key ring…any paraphernalia we can imagine could become a 4G mobile phone, which will provide us with call and information browsing services.

From the view of function, the intelligent degree of the 4G phones will be pretty high. For example, according to the environment, time and other factors, remind the phone owners timely; multimedia applications will be more extensive, which will not only achieve mobile transactions, mobile downloads, mobile multimedia entertainment, multiplayer video conference, etc. like an 3G mobile phone, but also better meet everyone user’s individual requirements, like helping the user to select a different mobile phone company. In addition, the advantage of the 4G mobile phones is more obvious in speed. For instance, it takes 200mins to download all the music on a CD from the internet through a 3G cell phone, but only takes a few seconds to do so through a 4G cell phone. Wow, how amazing it could be!

Perfect Gifts - For parents & grandparents

RjBass — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:19:00 GMT

Well it's getting to be that time of the year again. The smart people have been anticipating what their friends and loved ones want for Christmas and have most of the shopping already finished, while most of the rest of us have waited to do our shopping, and still more will continue to wait till that last week or even that last day right before the big day. If you are reading this blog then most likely you are a tech geek like me. When it's time for me to do some Christmas shopping I tend to get...(read more)

Wedding + Honeymoon = Broke

root — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:02:00 GMT

Trailer: Kick-a** Music: "I want you to (acoustic)" - Weezer ft. Sara Bareilles Wow. I'm married. Still can't believe it. It's been a crazy past two weeks. Between wedding, honeymoon, and work the week after.... Well, I can't complain. Awesome wedding. Couldn't have picked a better day. Once I get my hands on the video, and the pictures, I'll post them up. Honey moon was good to. First night we did the Four Seasons in Dallas, just to relax. Then the next day was just packing and getting ready for...(read more)

I'm never drinking again.

root — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:56:00 GMT

Trailer: Sherlock Holmes Music: "I want more part 2" - Faithless In the words of Penny in The Big Bang Theory.... "Holy c**p on a cracker". I'm never drinking again. You would think one bachelor party was enough. But no. What about two? Neh! ...Three? (unfortunately) There is only so much my liver can handle. I won't disclose any of the juicy details. Just know that if you are every in South Beach (Miami, FL), you MUST check out a place called Mangos. And if you happen to be in the Vodou room after...(read more)

Windows 7 the savior....errrrr almost.

RjBass — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:12:00 GMT

Well here we are, just a couple days away from the big Windows 7 launch. Critics are abuzz, people are applauding, and it appears as though, even in these very early stages, that Microsoft has the first hit on their hands since the release of XP back in 2001. But is it really all it's made out to be? I think not. Now I don't want to start this off on the wrong foot. First let me say that I love Windows 7. I have been using it already for the better part of a year. First as a beta, then an RC and...(read more)

MagicJack Computer for $303.00!

n0lxx — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:05:00 GMT

Are you thinking of getting MagicJack for your home phone and want a separate computer so it doesn't tie up your main computer?

Try this little computer with all the extras you need to get it working with only 1 monitor, 1 keyboard, and 1 mouse!

OPERATING SYSTEM NOT INCLUDED!

Qty.	Product Description	Savings	Total Price
2	TRIPP LITE 8" Serial ATA (SATA) Signal Cable (7Pin/7Pin Model P94008I - Retail Item #: N82E16812120164 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$19.98 ($9.99 each)
1	LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM Item #: N82E16827106289 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$28.99
1	Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Item #: N82E16822135106 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$35.99
1	IOGEAR GCS22u 2-Port USB KVM Switch w/built-in cables - Retail Item #: N82E16817399032 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$19.99
1	MSI Wind PC Intel 945GC Black Barebone - Retail Item #: N82E16856167032 Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy	$15.00 Mail-in Rebate56-167-032	$134.99
1	Kingston 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Laptop Memory Model KVR533D2S4/2G - Retail Item #: N82E16820134317 Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy		$38.99
Subtotal:			$278.93
Calculate ShippingZip Code: 55111 FedEx 3Day Express Saver -- $68.94FedEx 2Day -- $101.52FedEx Standard Overnight -- $120.78UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Service -- $23.63UPS 2nd Day -- $58.00UPS Next Day Saver -- $73.03		Shipping:	$23.63

Redeem Gift Certificates Claim Code: Security Code:		Gift Certificates:	$0.00
Apply Promo Code(s):		Promo Code:	$0.00
Take 90 Days to Pay on orders over $250 with Bill Me Later. Subject to credit approval.
Grand Total:			$302.56

This is small, quiet, and can be put out of the way so no one can see the computer. Yet it can handle all the way up to a Gigabit connection to your router.

It has a little Intel Atom 1.6GHz. which SHOULD run fairly cool. (The computer doesn't come with the SATA cables so I added 2 8" cables to hook-up the hard drive and DVD burner.) A single 2GB stick of laptop DDR2 533MHz. memory. A small Western Digital Caviar Blue 80GB SATA hard drive with an 8mb cache. (Shouldn't need to much hard drive speed or space for MagicJack.). A cheap Lite-On DVD burner since you really just need it for installing the operating system and maybe an Internet Security program.

The IOGEAR KVM switch I selected has a remote with a 6' cord so everything else can be hidden. The monitor uses the VGA (D-Sub) connection. The mouse and keyboard use USB connections.

Just add Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 for System Builders for $89.99 with free shipping, a freeware firewall, and a freeware virus scanner like Avast! and you're all set to go once everything is all updated.

As usual..

Good Luck With Your Build!

Netbooks

intelguy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:50:00 GMT

W hat is a netbook? It is very simple to define as CNET called netbooks "nothing more than smaller, cheaper notebooks." But there is also something else to be noted such as processors used in netbook lineups. Whether the earlier Intel Celeron M or latter Atom processor, these processors are only capable of some basic computing even comparing with old Intel Pentium D processors. We often treat Intel Pentium processor as castrated Intel core Duo, most of times; it comes with low frequency and smaller...(read more)

Apple, rip off the “Jobs” label!

royce64ever — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:05:00 GMT

The news about Jobs has caused “aesthetic fatigue”, seriously! After the media bombardment for more than a year, masses have focused on Jobs’ health condition, but still it seems to get more attention than Apple launching new products.

On the previous news conference for new products, media has turned their attention to Jobs’ health condition, which was described as emaciated. And the future of Apple is tied up with Jobs. But it looks like the more successful Apple products are, the worse Jobs’ health condition becomes.

We do understand how important Jobs is to Apple; the classical history of Apple is created by him, as a matter of course Apple is labeled with “Jobs”. A few months ago, Jobs just had liver transplantation, looks meager yet still peppy; his return get us pumped up and excited, but what confused me is that Jobs seems to be the soul of Apple, would Apple sink if Jobs did not make it back?

For every successful enterprise, the influence of its founder is inrooted. However, they should precisely spurn this inrooted influence when they enter a more mature period of development. Like IBM and Intel, they both went through the times from founder to professional manager, so should Apple, without a question!

Compared to Jobs’ situation, Bill Gates of MS seems luckier. Gates to MS is completely the same as Jobs to Apple; however, Gates could leave MS to do his own charity with a light heart, yet Jobs had to return with a transplanted liver to exert his utmost effort for Apple, which inevitably makes Apple fans a bit heavy-hearted.

Even if Jobs still wants to participate in the management of Apple, the only option that may help Apple rip off the “Jobs” label might be working behind the scenes.

Jobs said: "I now have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash and was generous enough to donate their organs, and I wouldn't be here without such generosity." And this is exactly why Jobs should treasure more of himself, which is good for his health and also more propitious for the long-term development of Apple.

Change

root — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:24:00 GMT

Trailer: Surrogates Music: "Tangerine Sky" - Kottonmouth Kings I have a new goal in life... I want to work less but get paid more. You might wonder where I've been the past month or two. And to be honest, me too. Freaking work has sucked the life out of me. I feel like my new theme song is "Every Day is Exactly the Same" by NIN. While some people are afraid of change, I'm begging for it. Hopefully the upcoming bachelor party in Miami, and bachelor party #2 in Dallas, and the wedding on 11/1 will...(read more)

Windows 8 to Support 32, 64 or 128-Bit?

whitelotus — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:36:00 GMT

Windows 7 is not even officially released yet; rumors are already circulating about Microsoft’s next OS, Windows 8. One rumor is that Windows 8 will support 128-bit architecture only, dumping 32 and 64-bit compatibility completely based on the linkedin profile of Microsoft employee, Robert Morgan. The profile in question has been taken down, but thanks to Google cache, users can still access it and read info about the 128-bit work done at Microsoft for Windows 8 and Windows 9 right from the source. I believe some of you have read this info on other sites, believe it or not.

Let’s review what he has revealed: “Working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and long term projects. Research & Development projects including 128-bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP, and IBM.

Robert Morgan is working to get IA-128 working backwards with full binary compatibility on the existing IA-64 instructions in the hardware simulation to work for Windows 8 and definitely Windows 9.”

Okay, he is working in a "high security" dept. at MSFT; this info tells us exactly what he is doing there? WOW! However, I still don’t think Microsoft have fully unlocked the potential of 64-bit software. It’s true that AMD and Intel are working on 128-bit chips; this is something that’s been out there for a while now. But Windows 8 can’t possibly be 128-bit only or else it will become a nightmare when you consider that you have to maintain compatibility with 32-bit applications.

Windows 7 still features its editions both in 32-bit and 64-bit and it’s the fact that almost every modern processor supports 64-bit computing. More important, this is to maintain compatibility with older software primarily in Microsoft’s business market. XP Mode, the virtualization plug-in that allows you to run older software in a licensed copy of XP, goes some way towards addressing this and many people are hoping that 32-bit support will be dropped from Windows 8 completely. Unfortunately, it can’t happen, because you need hardware virtualization support on the motherboard to make XP Mode work for you, but nowhere near have motherboards supported this yet. By the time Windows 8 comes out (probably in 2011 or 2012) it might be possible that all motherboards will, but still they can’t guarantee this will happen.

Also, you can’t seriously expect everyone, especially the notoriously slow to upgrade corporations to abandon their 32-bit hardware. Are vendors and developers going to have to support 3 versions of their programs? GOD knows.

In my endless search with both Google and Bing, I found most rumors were about “Windows 7 only supports 128-bit”, which all came about due to Morgan’s story. Well, it seems pretty pointless to me. Most people will still only just be going with 64-bit, and will not really need so much RAM in desktops or notebooks to justify the additional memory space. Anyway, what do you learn from these rumors? Is it possible that Windows 8 will concentrate on 128-bit version? Or will things simply be like they are today, except instead of people running 32-bit applications on 64-bit machines they’ll be running 32-bit apps on 128-bit machines? And what do you think of the idea that Windows 8 might ship in 32-bit AND 64-bit AND 128-bit versions simultaneously？Ha-ha, I am confused now.

A newby looking for advice

gamingnewby — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:49:00 GMT

gamingnewby

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Gaming newby looking for guidance

Hello everyone, I am looking to build a full computer for the first time and looking for some advise. I have a list of items and I am looking to see if they are all compitable. I am building this computer so that I can play the better games and be able to keep up with the guys like you. My dell desktop just does not cut it. I also do a lot of home media so there is a few things for that, but the gaming will overkill just the media for the most part. Alot of my concern comes in the spacing of all of the items on my list. I am aware that some of them are on the large side, and I am wondering if they will all fall together. I do think the board I chose does seem to be more spread out. I hope that I am right. There are a couple of things for other computers as well. So please keep that in mind too. Please feel free to be open about your suggestions thank you.

Qty.	Product Description	Unit Price	Savings	Total Price
1	CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail Model #:CMPSU-750TX Item #:N82E16817139006 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock Mail in Rebate Card17-139-006	$179.99	-$60.00 Instant	$119.99
1	RAIDMAX AZTEC ATX-619WB Black/ Silver 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case - Retail Model #:ATX-619WB Item #:N82E16811156189 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$99.99		$99.99
1	DFI LP DK 790FX-M2RS AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail Model #:LP DK 790FX-M2RS Item #:N82E16813136044 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$134.99		$134.99
1	SPARKLE Calibre Series P980 GeForce 9800 GT OC Dual Fly 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported ... - Retail Model #:P980 Item #:N82E16814187026 Return Policy:VGA Standard Return Policy In Stock	$119.99	-$20.00 Instant	$99.99
1	SYBA IEEE 1394 4 ports Lucent FireWire PCI Card With Ulead Software Model SD-LUC-4F - Retail Model #:SD-LUC-4F Item #:N82E16815124015 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$11.99		$11.99
1	AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX - Retail Model #:HDZ940XCGIBOX Item #:N82E16819103471 Return Policy:CPU Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock	$169.99		$169.99
1	CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 - Retail Model #:TWIN2X4096-6400C5 Item #:N82E16820145184 Return Policy:Memory Standard Return Policy In Stock	$64.99	-$3.00 Instant	$61.99
1	Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM Model #:WD5001AALS Item #:N82E16822136320 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$69.99	-$10.00 Instant	$59.99
1	Eagle Tech 750GB External Hard Drive ET-CS750TESU2-BK - Retail Model #:ET-CS750TESU2-BK Item #:N82E16822324006 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$84.99		$84.99
1	ASUS VW198T Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail Model #:VW198T Item #:N82E16824236032 Return Policy:Monitor Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock	$149.99	-$10.00 Instant	$139.99
2	SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM Model #:SH-S223L Item #:N82E16827151188 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$31.99		$63.98
1	Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Full - Retail Model #:GFC-00019 Item #:N82E16832116716 Return Policy:Software Return Policy Out Of Stock	$199.99		$199.99
1	Recertified: NETGEAR WNDA3100-100NAR USB 2.0 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Adapter Model #:WNDA3100-100NAR Item #:N82E16833122264 Return Policy:Limited Replacement Only Return Policy In Stock	$39.99	-$14.00 Instant	$25.99
1	NETGEAR DGND3300-100NAS IEEE 802.11a/b/g, IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N DSL Gateway - Retail Model #:DGND3300-100NAS Item #:N82E16833122314 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$149.99	-$8.69 Instant	$141.30
1	Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM Model #:AS5-3.5G Item #:N82E16835100007 Return Policy:Consumable Item Standard Return Policy In Stock	$6.99		$6.99
1	Thermaltake CL-P0257 Blue orb II CPU Cooler for LGA775 & K8 - Retail Model #:CL-P0257 Item #:N82E16835106069 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$44.63		$44.63
1	IPCQUEEN IPC-12025LED-BL 120mm Blue LED Case Fan - Retail Model #:IPC-12025LED-BL Item #:N82E16835168007 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock	$6.99		$6.99

SB700 vs. 3Ware

Sidicas — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:05:00 GMT

These are benchmark results of a pair of 300GB WD VelociRaptors running on an SB700 RAID-0 setup vs. a RAID-5 of four 7200 RPM hard drives on a 3ware 9650SE RAID card.

Here is the benchmark from the 300GB WD VelociRaptors running in RAID-0 with 128KB stripe on an SB700 onboard chipset ( ASUS M3A78-CM ). I would have liked to use a larger stripe to improve random access performance, but these cheap onboard chipsets don't give you much options.

You see that squiggly line? That is a problem.. Really, the I/O should not be performing like that at all. As the head gets closer to the center of the drive, the performance of the drive should drop accordingly, I believe the irregular squiggly line indicates that I'm having issues with the SB700 chipset / controller keeping up with these drives in RAID-0. I'm running 64-bit Windows Vista with latest drivers, latest BIOS, latest patches, and I've tried it with native command queuing on and off.. I get the same results everytime.. The image above clearly shows that there is a problem in the I/O system that is not related to the hard drives themselves. Also note the CPU usage in the graph, a little high at 12.5%, this is an AMD 5050e Dual-Core 2.6 Ghz. Vista seems to do a great job at balancing the CPU across both cores and so this 12.5% is in fact a 12.5% load on two cores simultaneously. Despite the CPU load, there is still something either in the I/O controller, in the drivers, or in the chipset that is preventing these drives from running to maximum capability.. ~~Theoretically, each of these drives should be hitting 160MB/sec which means I should be at least 320MB/sec..~~. (Edit: 10/8/09 See Correction below) If you take the tail end of the curve and arch the front part of the curve upwards to account for the performance difference due to the radial data storage location of the data, you can see where it "should" be. It's only on the very end of the graph ( inner spindle) of the drives where the chipset/drivers/rest of the IO system starts to catch up to the hard drives. Data access on the inner circles of a hard drive platter of course are slower since the platter always spins at the same speed and of course due to the smaller diameter of the circle, less data is traveling under the head per revolution. That's why it's only in the very end of the chart where the drives just almost start to become the bottleneck in the I/O system. In this setup, I could estimate I'm losing at least 80MB/sec due to a lack of controller performance on the motherboard.

Correction: The HD Tune stats of a single 300GB Velociraptor are below...
Transfer Rate Minimum : 72.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 118.4 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 99.4 MB/sec
Access Time : 7.3 ms
Burst Rate : 158.5 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 2.3%

More transfer stats on these raptors are reviewed here:

http://www.uberclocker.com/?page_id=95

So I'm getting only about 60% speed-up when putting two of these drives in RAID-0, mostly due to chipset / driver limitations on the SB700.

Now let's take a look at a RAID-5 setup with four hard drives. 3 of the drives are Seagate and the fourth drive is a WD.. Yes, I know it's VERY bad to be mixing drives in a RAID array, but in this situation, I just couldn't get my hands on another old Seagate drive and even if I could, I couldn't stomach paying a premium for it when newer drives give you so much more capacity for your money. Below is from the RAID Controller's configuration page which is an HTML document that you interact with in a web browser, just like setting up a router..

Again, yes I'm well aware that WDC drive in the RAID array is an ugly duckling and most of the capacity of the WD drive is going to be lost while it's in the RAID-5 array. The WD drive of course, will shrink down to 149.05GB size of the other drives.. However, as it turns out, this is much less of a problem than you would expect.. In fact, I didn't have any issues at all with the WD drive in the array. No issues deploying the RAID and certainly, as you will see below, no issues with RAID-5 performance.

Four Desktop grade 7200 RPM drives running in RAID-5 on a 3Ware card with 256KB stripes.

And there we have the beautiful curve that we would expect to see when the hard drives themselves are the bottleneck in the I/O system. Also a thing to pay attention to is the CPU usage. It's only at 3.4%, this is an old AMD Athlon 64 (single core) 2.1 Ghz CPU and it's only using 3.4% of a single CPU core to hit much higher transfer speeds than the setup above.

Thanks for reading! Remember people, Raid-5 is not for onboard chipsets... I saw massive performance drops switching from a 3 drive RAID-0 array to a 4 drive RAID-5 array back when I was using the onboard RAID controller. I threw in this 3ware controller and I'm now seeing performance exactly where it should be when the performance of the drives themselves is the bottleneck. These are not low performance drives either, they had the biggest cache, fastest RPMs, best warranty, and best access times of just about any Desktop level (Raptors I consider to be Workstation level) hard drives out there.

Conclusions that I've made thus far:

The SB700 chipset, and most likely other onboard RAID chipsets are insufficient for a RAID-0 setup using Velocirapters if you wish to get all the performance out of your raptors.
RAID-5 should not be used with any onboard chipsets if it's at all possible to avoid. I saw a massive write performance drop moving from three drive RAID-0 to a four drive RAID-5 on an nvidia 570 Ultra chipset.
RAID-5 should have a write-back cache to significantly boost performance. I'm seeing over 500% performance boost on random writes with write-back cache enabled on a RAID-5 array.
During a sudden power loss, having a large write back cache will likely mean more lost data and more corruption. To counter this, make sure you either have an UPS unit or a battery backup module for your RAID Card. Personally, I recommend an UPS unit since the battery backup modules for RAID cards are quite costly and are often make/model specific to the RAID card.

Coming Soon:

Raptors with a Raid Card! I just need to decide which RAID card to go with as my other RAID card doesn't have any more spare ports.

Audio Newbie

callykid — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:27:00 GMT

Hooking up Logitech x540 Surround to my HP dv9000 laptop. Want optimum audio out of 5 speakers.

3 external ports available (not color-coded): one Microphone, one Headphone and one S/PDIF. 3 jacks from Logitech: one green, one orange, one black. Instructions say to determine if sound card is 2 channel: 4 channel: or more. Don't know. Anyone know which connection config will work best?

Apple, what’s your next product?

whitelotus — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:01:00 GMT

Okay, let’s say Apple had the most stylish and the most useful and arguably the most profitable products in the history of mankind. Particularly its iphone, at a mere 2 years old, is inarguably the best computer and media device, ounce for ounce, which has ever graced the globe. It so surpasses previous notions of what a telephone, media player, handheld computer, pathfinder and personal gaming device could be that it continues to astonish owners and observers alike.

Of course, Apple is much more than the iPhone, and its earnings report last month showed that it’s desktop and notebook Mac sales continue to enjoy a halo effect as consumers worldwide continue to seek out the ease with which it marries technology with functionality.

"Well, then," the stock market would say. "That was nice. What else you got?" That is the dilemma faced today by Apple.

Oh yes, the new little Nano with video capture is said to be remarkably good, extremely simple to operate and takes decent video, and the total bit rate of its movies is around 2,500 to 3,000, making the output files portable and compact, and well-suited for online use…blah…blah… This is good to hear and definitely another nice shot of Apple. Some reviews even say given that the video recording feature of this new Nano doesn't cost any premium over its previous generation, it will be effectively dumping millions of free video recorders into the market. Nonetheless, this is far more than enough, like lots of people, I’m kinda disappointed too, and I was actually expecting more from Apple in the first place. But, it’s ok; let’s give our hope to its next announcement. I want a netbook from Apple and hopefully it will be cheap enough that everyone can afford one. Speaking of this; I got to mention a couple of rumors swirling around recently.

One thing the rumors have in common is that the new device will have a 10" screen. Could that be an oversized iPod Touch? I don’t really care that much. Whatever it is, it will have Touch technology built in. One rumor is that it will be a tablet-based eBook reader (with iPod Touch features of course). This is tantalizing. Will that be a competitor to the relatively successful Kindle 2 from Amazon? Let’s keep tabs on it. Another rumor is that the new Apple will be a netbook based around iPod Touch technology. In this instantiation it would be a clamshell design, complete with keyboard. If I had my wish, this is the one I’d like to see come true. But God knows what it will be.

I’ve posted a tread here to collect thoughts on Apple’s next products, someone wants a portable Apple TV, someone wants Apple to make iTunes better for Windows OS. Me? A cute inetbook. What do you want then? BTW, what do you think Apple’s next product would be? XD

HELP!..... Source:Kernel-Power???

myfix — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:11:00 GMT

I recently recieved an order from Newegg for a new gaming PC rig. After carefully assembling it, I successfully loaded Windows 7 64bit and installed Call of Duty 4 on it. When playing multiplayer online for about 10 minutes, the OS locks up and I am forced to use the reset button on the tower. I get the following critical message in the event viewer's Administrative Events: "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly. Source:Kernel-Power" This has happened about five times now, and I've ruled out some obvious things like; The Operating System, All drivers/patches/bios are current, No overclocking/tweaks ever applied to anything. According to the error message above, I think it may be the CPU or graphics card since they are the only things with a processor. However, I don't think it's the power supply since it doesn't shut down the system. The following list details my rig, less the DVD drive. Please let me know what needs replacement ASAP!

    AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ965FBGIBOX - Retail
    Item #: N82E16819103692                    /
    mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996601 - Retail
    Item #: N82E16820146777                /
    CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail
    Item #: N82E16817139006              /
    Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM
    Item #: N82E16822136284                  /
    ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
    Item #: N82E16813131363                /
    XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
    Item #: N82E16814150359               /
    Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
    Item #: N82E16811129021

Internet: shares more and more

Freebird — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:23:00 GMT

Recently I saw an article about cloud technology, then I cannot help but exclaiming: yes that’s it, the essence of Internet is sharing, and it has being giving us more and more convenience. Had a quick brainstorm, make a summary about everything I know about sharing of network:

First of all, terminal, can we consider it as a network? Yes, I think so, although it was happened within one console, but it was a network inside, multi-users, sharing information, the console is a data pool, just like the internet, mass information.

And then it’s ARPANET, we could say it’s a real network, because data flows among computers, and also x.25 protocol.

And then comes to WWW, World Wide Web, after that, we have real Internet, based on TCP/IP protocol.

What’s next, of course human beings need to make improvement, but what’s that? It seems like that this problem is beyond my imagination. But I think recently I have an answer. As I mentioned, we know that the essence of Internet is sharing, and currently we can share nearly everything (of course should be legal) through internet, and we see quite a few of websites have being setup for information sharing, facebook, youtube, photobucket, and all that jazz, including nearly every aspects in our life such as how to build a house or how to catch laptops with your butt O_o. Until recently, I guess Cloud technology gives me a new clue.

I don’t know if you guys familiarized with our networks, for the big joint, there are always routers transmitting data so that one client could receive necessary data in a timely manner, routers calculate hops, bandwidth, timing or other elements, so to decide the best path. For Cloud computing, it is not just redirect data, but offers extra functions, calculation. One good example is the completion of DNA model; it has been completed by the scientists all over the world, each scientist is just like a computer, if computer A sends the request, all the related computers could offer the power to make the calculation, then at last computer A could receive the result. So no matter what’s your rig, you could get the result of your needs, only if you’ve got a fast enough night work. Someone says: My computer could do it without others’ assistance: yeah you can do it, but have you ever considered about other devices? For example, a handled computer or cell phone needs to output 3D model which needs to be rendered for million times, mission impossible? Impossibility belongs to the past. How? Let’s wait to see what’s gonna happen…

Shipping! What’s the Hitch?

royce64ever — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:22:00 GMT

Looking back at all the cases we’ve dealt with on EggXpert, I noticed that there are a lot of posts made about shipping. Personally I feel that shipping is something we don’t have as much control over (compared to our own services; I even remember a customer complained that the delivery guy called him and yelled that he didn’t know the way!), but there are two sides to this story: what can Newegg do, and what can our shippers do?

Staff quality!

Most complaints are regarding: bad manners, mis-delivered packages, damaged or lost shipments, and even the leaking of customer info. Well we know that the delivery job is hard, and like all industries some staff do a better job than others. Therefore, apart from a mutual understanding between the customer and the delivery staff, strict management and a clear-cut line between reward and punishment might be the only way to improve.

The victims?

Shipping service is at the forefront of a customer’s online transaction. Their attitude and service affect the rawest feeling of the whole shopping experience, including their feelings about our products, services and reputation. Therefore, when the shipping service is unpleasant, customers always tend to report it to e-tailers first, even though the problem occurred after the e-tailer handed off the order to the shipper.

I once saw a message from an upset customer: Maybe losing a few customers won’t greatly affect your sales, but what you lose is our faith in you. And this is utmost satire to the quality and service that you always pursue and build. As an e-tailer, who would want to lose even a single customer?! In this situation, the customers and e-tailers are both victims.

Play hard!

In the example above, the shipping company is also a victim, because every company wants to improve their reputation! Some shipping companies take responsibility and apologize to their customers, giving financial and spiritual compensation and rectifying or improving their services. No matter what change this may make, at least they are trying! But obviously, the driver, who provides the direct service and represents the company, is the crucial aspect of a shipping company. They could and should pay more attention to training their drivers; or even make a harsher policy based on the amount of complaints received. E-tailers may only urge shippers to perfect their service, but it’s the shipping company that must reinforce this with their management.

Race up, Express!

What they call “sharing woe” applies directly to shipping companies and e-tailers, as they are closely related and mutually dependent. It’s impossible for every e-tailer to have its own logistics & shipping system. So, if the level of shipping service cannot keep the pace with the highly developing e-commerce industry, it will affect the development and benefits of both industries.

E-commerce is a crossover of traditional industry and internet, and shipping is the last mile of this industry chain, also a part of customers’ experience. If the quality of its service does not improve, it would eventually be a hitch to the progress of the e-commerce industry.

To spend your money wisely

intelguy — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:52:00 GMT

After years of pursuit of happiness in the IT industry, I finally come to the conclusion that there is really no need to care about hardware with full enthusiasm. Maybe we still remember the first time we got a new PC and even did not know how to power it on. Then maybe we got our first Smartphone, and found out that the smart phone was not smart at all especially the Windows CE. Apple’s Iphone, RIM’s palm and Google’s Android jumped on the bandwagon, Symbian and Window Mobile has suffered a lot...(read more)

The Intel Core i5's are Here! Basic Under $940.00!

n0lxx — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:57:00 GMT

Well, the 1st Intel Core i5 showed up at Newegg. The Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz with an 8MB L3 Cache. This sits on a socket 1156 motherboard. So far both Gigabyte and MSI have motherboards out for them. Gigabyte has the information on their website and MSI does not. They use DDR3 Dual-Channel memory like the AMD AM3 motherboards do.

Here is a basic build for the i5.

I went with a Gigabyte motherboard since they have their information up on their website.

Grand Total including $29.64 shipping charge in the Shopping Cart is $938.55.

Qty.	Product Description	Savings	Total Price
1	SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223B - OEM Item #: N82E16827151187 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$30.99
1	Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM Item #: N82E16822136320 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$69.99
1	XFX HD-485X-ZDFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail Item #: N82E16814150351 Return Policy: VGA Replacement Only Return Policy		$129.99
1	OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1333LV4GK - Retail Item #: N82E16820227478 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$97.99
1	Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM Item #: N82E16832116677 Return Policy: Software Return Policy		$109.99
1	COOLER MASTER UCP RS700-AAAAA3 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Power Supply - Retail Item #: N82E16817171032 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811119137 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy	-$35.00 Instant -$35.00 Combo	$234.98 $164.98
1	Intel Core i5 750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail Item #: N82E16819115215 Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Item #: N82E16813128405 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy	-$15.00 Combo	$319.98 $304.98
Subtotal:			$908.91
Calculate ShippingZip Code: 55111 FedEx 3Day Express Saver -- $118.51FedEx 2Day -- $178.12FedEx Standard Overnight -- $213.81UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Service -- $29.64UPS 2nd Day -- $98.79UPS Next Day Saver -- $112.70		Shipping:	$29.64

Redeem Gift Certificates Claim Code: Security Code:		Gift Certificates:	$0.00
Apply Promo Code(s):		Promo Code:	$0.00
No Interest for 6 Months on orders over $500 or 12 Months on $999 or more. Subject to credit approval.
Grand Total:			$938.55

This has the bottom of the line Gigabyte motherboard for the i5's in it. It still is on their Ultra Durable line so it's a good motherboard.

I put this in the Cooler Master 690 case which has 3 fans with room to add more. This is in a combo with the Cooler Master UCP 700 watt power supply. This is a tier 2 power supply on the Eggxpert Tiered Power Supply List. It has enough power to run an ATI Crossfire set-up with room to spare.

The OCZ Platinum DDR3 1333MHz. Dual-channel has good timings of 7-7-7-20 and needs 1.65 volts to get it there. OCZ is on the Gigabyte memory support list as a company.

The XFX 4850 1GB video card has a double lifetime warranty and should be a good video card for at least high settings in games. But not really high settings.

A Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA hard drive with a 32mb cache is in here. This is a pretty fast drive.

Samsung's 22x SATA DVD burner is both fairly quiet and stable.

As Always...

Good Luck With Your Build!

Moms and Video Games

Carcharocles58 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:32:00 GMT

Sad to say, I'm 25 and living with my mom. Part of its because she's disabled. The other part is because I'm disabled. As a kid, I remember playing Mortal Kombat with my mom. She was a titan. Shooters, however, have never really been a part of her gaming experience. She did one (some Call of Duty spinoff for the game cube) that she wasn't really good at. However, she really want to play World of Warcraft, so I built her an inexpensive gaming computer.

She never bought World of Warcraft. However, she discovered Steam had Max Payne for 10 dollars. Just Thursday, she bought it. I've never felt so pwned in my life.

As I'm writing this, she has hit her first real challenge: the Valkyr trip. She decimated Jack Lupino and his men, obliterated Vinny, and all this without the use of bullet time. She's only played it for a total of 8 hours or so, and well, she has completely destroyed my one claim to fame: that I am better at shooters than she is. On one hand, I have something to brag about. On another, its almost sad that I can't keep up with her in this game.

After beating Lupino she was left with almost full health and 3 painkillers. His soldiers did more damage than he did. She didn't die once during the fight. However, I was left heavily injured with no painkillers and had died countless times both at his army's hands and his before I beat him the first time. Its amazing.

Sound off: Do you guys have a relative that is better at a game than you? An older relative, like a mom, a dad, or grandparent, that mops the floor with you when they play?

Intel Core i7 920 for $1,002.00! UPDATED!

n0lxx — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:50:00 GMT

Well, I put together as best I could an Intel Core i7 set-up for $1,002.00.

It's in a Mid-Tower Cooler Master HAF 922 case with a tier 2 OCZ StealthXStream 700 watt power supply with all the right connections.

The video card is a 4870 1GB so it should be able to do gaming.

The 6GB of Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz. memory have good timings of 7-7-7-20.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte UD3R. This is on their Ultra Durable (UD) line of motherboards, which are some of the best out there at this time.

The hard drive is the Western Digital Caviar Black 750GB SATA with a 32mb cache.

The DVD burner is a Samsung 22x SATA with LightScribe.

Grand Total including the $10.10 shipping charge is $1,001.02.

These prices and combos should hold through the end of October 2009.

Qty.	Product Description	Savings	Total Price
1	SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM Item #: N82E16827151188 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$31.99
1	Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM Item #: N82E16822136283 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy	-$10.00 Instant	$79.99 $69.99
1	XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail Item #: N82E16814150436 Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy	-$5.00 Instant	$149.99 $144.99
1	CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1333C7 G - Retail Item #: N82E16820145250 Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy	-$10.00 Instant	$139.99 $129.99
1	COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811119197 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail Item #: N82E16817341019 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy	-$30.00 Instant -$20.00 Combo $20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card17-341-019	$209.98 $159.98
1	Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail Item #: N82E16819115202 Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Item #: N82E16813128375 Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy	-$19.00 Instant -$15.00 Combo $15.00 Mail-in Rebate Card13-128-375	$487.98 $453.98
Subtotal:			$990.92
Calculate ShippingZip Code: 55110 FedEx 3Day Express Saver -- $105.66FedEx 2Day -- $158.75FedEx Standard Overnight -- $190.48UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Service -- $10.10UPS 2nd Day -- $90.92UPS Next Day Saver -- $105.72		Shipping:	$10.10

Redeem Gift Certificates Claim Code: Security Code:		Gift Certificates:	$0.00
Apply Promo Code(s):		Promo Code:	$0.00
No Interest for 12 Months on orders over $999 with your Newegg Preferred Account. Subject to credit approval.
Grand Total:			$1,001.02

As always..

Good Luck With Your Build!

EggXpert

Draft Specs for My Next PC Build

Asus+Toshiba? Probably not

My Alternate Reality

4G Cell phone and New Era?

Perfect Gifts - For parents & grandparents

Wedding + Honeymoon = Broke

I'm never drinking again.

Windows 7 the savior....errrrr almost.

MagicJack Computer for $303.00!

Redeem Gift Certificates

Apply Promo Code(s):

Netbooks

Apple, rip off the “Jobs” label!

Change

Windows 8 to Support 32, 64 or 128-Bit?

A newby looking for advice

gamingnewby

Gaming newby looking for guidance

SB700 vs. 3Ware

Audio Newbie

Apple, what’s your next product?

HELP!..... Source:Kernel-Power???

Internet: shares more and more

Shipping! What’s the Hitch?

To spend your money wisely

The Intel Core i5's are Here! Basic Under $940.00!

Redeem Gift Certificates

Apply Promo Code(s):

Moms and Video Games

Intel Core i7 920 for $1,002.00! UPDATED!

Redeem Gift Certificates

Apply Promo Code(s):