IDE Hard Drive Bus

Nominally called the IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) bus; how ever it's more correctly known as the ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) specification [ATA Bus]. The IDE bus is used in Personal Computers [PCs] as a hard-drive or peripheral bus to interconnect the PC mother board and a hard drive. The IDE bus is a Parallel bus. With the introduction of the Serial ATA [SATA] specification Parallel ATA [IDE] is now being called PATA.


The specification has been up-graded a number of times each building on the past specification. ATA-1 and 2 were single documents, but like SCSI, after ATA-2 the specification was divided into a number of different documents. Most maintain backward compatibility, keeping in mind the cable changed. Each new version of the standard saw an increase in bus speed. The data transfer rate is shown after each version listed below. The current maximum IDE bus speed is 133MBytes/sec [133MBps].


Data is passed Single-Ended,via data line and ground. Only the 40 pin connector pin out are referenced below, which are used on 3.5-inch drives, but there is also a 50 pin connector used on 2.5-inch drives. The 50 pin connector adds the power and Master/Slave functions. PCMCIA uses a 68 pin connector. A graph showing the difference between ATA and Ultra ATA timing is shown on the below. The standard defines a single Host or adaptor which connects to one [device 0] or two [device 1] devices in a daisy chained configuration. The IDE, ATA connector pinout is listed in the table below. Note; there is text to decode the 80 pin cable onto the 40-pin connector.. There are a number of versions of the ATA bus, with each of the different versions listed below. The Serial ATA: which replaced the ATA bus is listed on its own page. Details for each bus version are listed below. A graphic which provides a comparison of all the different IDE interfaces listed here is provided on the HardDrive Interface Speed page.


ATA-1 (IDE), [Obsolete] 8.3MBytes/sec, 8 or 16 bit data width, 40 pin data ribbon cable/connector. With a maximum of 2 devices on the bus. Using PIO Modes 0, 1 or 2. Performed no bus error correction. The ATA-1 specification was released in 1994, and was withdrawn in 1999.

ATA-2 (EIDE, or Fast ATA), [Obsolete] 16.6MBytes/sec, 8 or 16 bit data width, 40 pin data ribbon cable/connector. With a maximum of 4 devices on the bus. Using PIO Modes 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4. The ATA-2 specification was released in 1995 and was withdrawn in 2001.

ATA-3, 16MBytes/sec, 16 bit data width, 40 pin data ribbon cable/connector. Using PIO Modes 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 and Multiword DMA modes 1 and 2. Runs with 120nS Strobes (rising edge to rising edge). Includes CRC.

ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface)is the CD-ROM side of the interface. It uses the same connector as ATA, and adds 1 for analog and 1 for digital audio. The ATA-3 specification was released in 1997 and was withdrawn in 2002.


ATA-4 Ultra-ATA/33, 33MBytes/sec, 16 bit data width, 40 pin data ribbon cable/connector. Using PIO Modes 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 and Multiword DMA modes 1 and 2 and Ultra DMA modes 0, 1, and 2. Runs with 120nS Strobes (rising edge to rising edge), but used both edges of the Strobe producing an effective 60nS Strobe rate. 33MBps Transfer speed = [(1/120nS) x 2 bytes x 2]. Where 120nS cycle time is 4 clock periods at 30nS each. Added CRC checking. The ATA-4 standard was released in 1998.

ATA-5 Ultra-ATA/66, 66MBytes/sec, 16 bit data width 40 pin data connector/80 pin cable, with the additional 40 new pins being Ground. The new cable allows ATA/66 to run at a faster rate then ATA/33. Using PIO Modes 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 and Multiword DMA modes 1 and 2 and Ultra DMA modes 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Runs with 60nS Strobes (rising edge to rising edge), but uses both edges of the Strobe producing an effective 30nS Strobe rate. 66MBps Transfer speed = [(1/60nS) x 2 bytes x 2]. Where 60nS cycle time is 2 clock periods at 30nS each. The ATA-5 standard was released in 2000.

ATA-6 Ultra-ATA/100, 100MBytes/sec,16 bit data width 40 pin data connector/80 pin cable, with the additional 40 new pins being Ground. Using PIO Modes 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 and Multiword DMA modes 1 and 2 and Ultra DMA modes 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. 100MBps Transfer speed = [(1/40nS) x 2 bytes x 2]. Where 40nS cycle time is 2 clock periods at 20nS each. The ATA-6 standard was released in 2002.


ATA-7 Ultra-ATA/133, 133MBytes/sec,16 bit data width 40 pin data connector/80 pin cable, with the additional 40 new pins being Ground. Using PIO Modes 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 and Multiword DMA modes 0, 1 and 2 and Ultra DMA modes 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. 133MBps Transfer speed = [(1/30nS) x 2 bytes x 2]. Where 30nS cycle time is 2 clock periods at 15nS each. The ATA-7 standard was released in 2005. With the introduction of Serial ATA, this is the last expected update of the IDE [PATA] bus. SATA: is faster, and requires a smaller cable, which means better air flow in the Chassis.

Serial ATA: (Ver 1.0) High Speed Serialized AT Attachment

Serial version of the IDE [ATA] spec. Uses a 4 conductor cable with two differential pairs [Tx/Rx], plus an additional three grounds pins and a separate power pin. Data runs at 150MBps [1.5GHz] using 8B/10B encoding and 250mV signal swings. Serial ATA is not compatible with the IDE [Parallel ATA] because the connectors are different, the voltage levels are different, and data format is different [SATA sends a bit at a time while PATA sends 16 bits at once]. SATA will not interface with the IDE bus. No cable can be made to connect SATA with IDE. However a converter may be purchased which translates SATA to PATA. One module appears as a 2" x 2" board, for $50 and converts IDE controllers 66/100/133/150 MB/s to Serial ATA 150.

Regardless of the electrical interface the drives uses, there are also Solid State Drives available that do not require a platter. Or just Hybrid Hard Disk Drives that still use a platter, but have a greater amount of Flash Memory.

Ground Bounce

Ground Bounce: defines a condition when a device's output {really a number of outputs} switches from High to Low and causes a voltage change on other pins. The problem is cause by the large current flow through the ground pin which develops a voltage drop over the lead inductance. This voltage drop on the ground line creates two main problems; first it rises the chip off ground [0 volts] potential which increases the devices input threshold level, and increases the voltage level on an output pin which is not switching. Because a quiet output is effected by the other switching outputs, this is also called Simultaneous Switching Noise. It's really a question of loss of noise margin. The faster the slew rate of the logic family, the worse the problem becomes.

With Glue Logic, the ground pins may have been moved around to reduce the inductance. Using a surface mount device instead of a Through Hole will reduce the lead inductance. For FPGA's with hundreds of possible output pins the situation may change, and it's more up to the designer. Start a noise budget to determine if the ground bounce [rise in ground potential] effects the design. The voltage developed over the ground lead is proportional to the rate of change in current, so the faster the logic family the worse the problem becomes: V = L * [d_i/d_t]. The more outputs switching at the same time, the larger the current value, and greater voltage bounce. Also occur when the outputs switch from a 0 to a 1 but to a much smaller degree. Series termination of the line is one method of reducing ground bounce. Series termination resistors slow the rate of change of the output, and so reduce the instantaneous current on the ground line. Also Resistor Pull-Ups on the line cause the ground bounce voltage to increase. The pull-up resistor allows the load capacitor to charge to it's full value, so as the line switches maximum current is delivered back to the driver. Eliminate pull-up resistors on devices with an issue, use pull-down resistors or series resistors if possible. Reducing the loading on the driver also reduces ground bounce. Ground Bounce may also be called Ground Lift.

The future of RS-232

New I/O Panel Format

This post consolidates a few other postings about the RS-232 [EIA-232] interface going obsolete.

The picture shown above depicts the back panel I/O found on some newer mother boards. Comparing that picture with the one at the bottom of this post and the difference becomes obvious. The RS-232 and IEEE-1284 connectors have been replaced by a heat sink. The video interface has also been removed.

It makes perfect sense to remove the RS232 interface and the other two connectors from the back of computers. The video interface is normally found on the video card, so the 15-pin D-sub connector is not required. Many video cards ship with a DVI and VGA connector, so why have another one the mother board. The 25-pin parallel port connector is out dated. Many new printers ship with an Ethernet port which is much faster then the IEEE-1284 interface bus. With over 6 USB ports to handle any required peripheral, and 2 circular DINs to accommodate a keyboard and mouse the RS-232 interface is just not required.

When you add all this up, the benefit to removing these out-dated interfaces translate to higher speed peripheral connections, reduced cost by eliminating 3 large connectors, and the better use of the motherboard back panel.

In the three different mother boards I looked at the free space was taken up by a heat sink and fan. Both used to vent heat from the chip set ICs

The Apple computers removed the RS232 bus and IEEE-1284 [Printer Port] bus some time ago.

Links with detailed information about the interfaces:
EIA-232
IEEE-1284
VGA
DVI

The RS232 interface is dead and should not be used for new designs. The IEEE-1284 interface is dead. The 15-pin VGA interface is dead on the newer mother boards. These interfaces should start to disappear next year


Mother Board I/O

AGP Bus

The AGP [Accelerated Graphics Port] is a Point-to-Point [Chip-to-Chip] interface using 1.5 Volt or 3.3V signaling. The main use of AGP is as a Local Video bus in IBM compatible Personal Computers [PCs]. The AGP interface bus is based on the PCI [Peripheral Component Interface] spec, using the PCI specification as an operational baseline. The AGP specification adds 20 additional signals not included in the PCI bus. The AGP specification defines the Protocol, Electrical and Mechanical aspects of the bus. Refer to this page for a comparison of Video bus through-put for different expansion buses.

The Mechanical definitions include a connector and AGP Board [Add-in card]. The Card sizes and 1.5v and 3.3v connectors are also defined within the spec. There are five connectors defined: AGP 3.3v, AGP 1.5v, AGP Universal, AGP Pro Universal, AGP Pro 3.3v, and AGP Pro 1.5v.

PCI and AGP boards are not mechanically interchangeable.

The AGP 1.0 spec defined 1x and 2x speeds with the 3.3v keyed connector.
The AGP 2.0 specification defined 1x, 2x and 4x speeds with the 3.3v, or 1.5v keyed connector or a 'Universal' connector which supported both card types.
The AGP Pro specification defined 1x, 2x and 4x speeds with the 3.3v, or 1.5v keyed connector or a 'Universal' connector which supported both card types.
The AGP 3.0 specification defined 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x speeds with the 1.5v keyed connector or a 1.5v AGP Universal / Pro connector.

Each up-grade is a supper-set of the 1x mode, so 4x will also support the 1x speed. The base clock rate is 66MHz, but to achieve to 2x, 4x, and 8x speeds the clock is doubled each time. AGP uses both edges of the clock to transfer data.

AGP (1x): 66MHz clock, 8 bytes/clock, Bandwidth: 266MB/s [3.3V or 1.5V signal swing]
AGP 2x: 133MHz clock, 8 bytes/clock, Bandwidth: 533MB/s [3.3V or 1.5V signal swing]
AGP 4x: 266MHz clock, 16 bytes/clock, Bandwidth: 1066MB/s [1.5V signal swing]
AGP 8x: 533MHz clock, 32 bytes/clock, Bandwidth: 2.1GB/s [0.8V signal swing], still uses 1.5 volt motherboard power

The AGP data bus may be 8, 16, 24, 32, or 64 bits. Due to timing requirements the maximum bus length is 9". The trace impedance is specified as 65 ohms +/- 15 ohms (no termination resistor is specified). For the 8x speed the bus requires a parallel termination or 50 ohms. Some lines may require a Pull-Up Resistor to insure the lines come out of reset in the proper state. The AGP Interface is optimized for FR4 PCB designs. Both 4 layer and 6 layer PCBs have been studied.
AGP 2.0 pin out, 2 rows of 66 finger [pins]. The Pin Outs for AGP 3.0 specification differ from the AGP 2.0 Standard.

Not all AGP cards will work in all AGP slots. Use the table below, to determine if an AGP board will function in a particular motherboard. The AGP pinout list is provided lower down the page.

RAID

Hard Disk Drive Storage

I found a comparison test showing the performance difference between having RAID 0 and having no RAID at all. The term RAID means; Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. RAID 0 is the 'Stripping' form of RAID ~ each disk of a two disk set gets half the data speeding the process of reading/writing to disk.

Unfortunately the test showed that when using normal office software [which is what I use] there really was no difference in performance. So why purchase another $200 HDD for just 1 or 2% speed increase. So, my next computer will not use RAID 0, however I may still set it up for RAID 1.

The test did show that my Seagate Barracuda drive is much slower then my Western Digital Raptor.

Automotive Buses

CANbus Interface 

Ok I have to admit there are a lot of Automotive Buses, I list more then a dozen. Sure some are showing their age, but I have to track them all.

I updated one of the Automotive and Vehicle Buses sub pages tonight, and then the main Auto page. The CANbus still rules, but the audio/video buses are starting to make head-way.

Making things harder to track is the fact that many car makers run multiple buses ~ which makes sense because the buses are aimed at different areas of the car market.

It's all about number of signals, connector type and protocol....

Serial ATA Hard Drive Interface

The Serial ATA bus [SATA] is the serial version of the IDE [ATA] spec. SATA uses a 4 conductor cable with two differential pairs [Tx/Rx], plus an additional three grounds pins and a separate power connector. Data runs at 150MBps [1.5GHz] using 8B/10B encoding and 250mV signal swings, with a maximum bus length of 1 meter . Later SATA enhancements move the data transfer speed to; 300MBps [3.0Gbps], and then 600MBps [6.0Gbps]. The current speed for SATA is 300Mbps [3Gbps]. Shielded external SATA [eSATA] data cable runs out to a maximum of between 3 feet and 6 feet. eSATA cables are used external to the chassis or case.

SATA Protocol
The SATA Frame structure used between Host and Device is shown in the graphic below. The frame is made up of multi Dwords, which are in turn encapsulated by flow control and CRC information. The SATA frame begins with a Start-of-frame [SOF]. The SOF is followed by the Frame Information Structure [FIS]. Then the Cyclic Redundancy Code [CRC] is placed in the frame. The final block in the message is an End-of-Frame [EOF].

SATA uses a 32bit CRC [calculated over the contents of a (FIS) Frame Information Structure], stored as the 'Dword'. The 32-bit CRC polynomial is X³²+ X²⁶+ X²³+ X²²+ X¹⁶+ X¹²+ X¹¹+ X¹⁰+ X⁸+ X⁷+ X⁵+ X⁴+ X²+ X + 1.

SATA Electrical
Serial ATA uses LVDS [EIA/TIA-644] with voltages of 250mV; while the obsolete parallel ATA interface is based on TTL signaling levels and rates. Serial ATA is a point-to-point interface where each device is directly connected to the host via a dedicated link. Because Serial ATA uses a dedicated link, adding another drive to the computer will have no impact on bandwidth. With Serial ATA the additional hard drive uses a separate SATA link, while the older IDE parallel standard [PATA] would see a degradation in speed because the drives would share the same link band width.

The Bit Encoding used is: Non Return to Zero (NRZ) encoding for data communication on a differential two wire bus. The use of NRZ encoding ensures compact messages with a minimum number of transitions and high resilience to external disturbance. The termination resistor is 100 Ohms [+/- 5 Ohms] differential.

SATA Physical
Serial ATA uses only 4 signal pins, improving pin efficiency over the parallel ATA interface which uses 26 signal pins going between devices [over an 80 conductor ribbon cable onto a 40 pin header connector].
Serial ATA also provides the opportunity for devices to be 'hot-plugged', devices may be inserted or removed while the system is powered on. The pinout tables for Serial ATA are listed below.

The primary function of Serial ATA bus is to form an interface between the Motherboard and the Hard Disk Drive [HDD]. The Hard Drive may have a SATA connector and a legacy PATA data connector, with a legacy PATA power connector, so the device may function in either a legacy [older] motherboard or a currently produced motherboard. In this case the mother board S-ATA interface would be developed from a peripheral add-on board and not the motherboard. Power connectors on a HDD are header pins for a P-ATA interface and card-edge finger blades in the case of S-ATA. Some drive connectors shield the S-ATA power connector preventing their use, so you must use the P-ATA power pins to supply power to the drive. Terms used to describe the obsolete Harddrive interface which preceded the SATA interface include; IDE, Parallel ATA, PATA, and P-ATA.

PCI Express Interface

The PCI Express [PCIe] bus defines the Electrical, topology and protocol for the physical layer of a point to point serial interface over copper wire or optical fiber. In addition to the Physical Layer, the PCI Express specification also covers the Transaction Layer and Data Link Layer. The Physical Layer resides with Layer 1, and the Data Link Layer resides with Layer 2 of the OSI protocol model.


PCI Express is the new serial bus addition to the PCI series of specifications. How ever the electrical and mechanical interface for PCI Express is not compatible with the PCI bus interface.

This is a serial bus which uses two low-voltage differential LVDS pairs, at 2.5Gb/s in each direction [one transmit, and one receive pair]. A PCI Express link is comprised of these two unidirectional differential pairs each operating at 2.5Gbps to achieve a basic over all throughput of 5Gbps [before accounting for over-head]. PCI Express uses 8B/10B encoding [each 8 bit byte is translated into a 10 bit character in order to equalize the numbers of 1's and 0's sent, and the encoded signal contains an embedded clock].

PCI Express supports 1x [2.5Gbps], 2x, 4x, 8x, 12x, 16x, and 32x bus widths [transmit / receive pairs]; 2.5Gigabits/second per Lane per Direction. The 8B/10B changes the data transfer numbers to 250MBps per lane, raw data [B= Bytes, b=Bits]. The reduction in throughput is accounted for under the protocol section. LVDS stands for: Low Voltage Differential Signaling.

The basic LVDS interface is a single differential link in either one or both directions. Each link requires a termination resistor at the far [receiver] end. The nominal resistor values used is 100 ohms, but would depend on the cable or PWB trace impedance used.

LVDS is a scalable bus; one uni-directional link or multiple links may be used. The LVDS graphic above indicates a 1-meter length, but the PCIe specification only allows a 20 inch trace. Refer to the LVDS page for additional information.

You can read more, and find links to component manufacturers on the PCIe page

New Video Interface

I found a new up-and-coming video interface today. I was a little surprised, as I figured I had already identified the replacement for DVI. I thought the new interface was P&D. There are so many video interface standards. Now I see a newer one called DisplayPort which may replace both.

I also saw that the DVI standard was frozen ~ and dead [my words]. If it's true that the DVI standard is not being worked then that would indicate that either the Plug and Display interface or the new DisplayPort may start to replace it some time next year.

Both interfaces are listed on my web site; the PC Monitor page is listed here

SpyWare Detected

I got hit by spyware software today some time around 6:00 AM. I was checking incoming web sites from one of my e-mail accounts. I run multiple Internet Explorer windows while also running Firefox. While in Firefox I notice the Internet Explorer group of windows closed. When I got around to re-opening IE I notice I had a new tool-bar ~ not a good sign.

I tried to run Spyware Doctor but it just locked up my computer, or I refused to wait more then 20 seconds for it to start. Any how, I down loaded Spyware Doctor from the web again as I assumed that the spyware had disabled the program. How ever, to my dismay the program is no longer free. I wasted 45 minutes as it slowly scanned my computer only to find out that it would detect spyware but would not remove it unless I sent them money. Of course the next thing I did was to delete Spyware Doctor.

I then disconnected my internet interface.

Tonight I down-loaded and ran to different programs; Spybot and McAfee. I ran Mcafee first, and it found 2 trojans. Finding two trogan programs is good, but they did make it a little hard to delete the program ~ I had the 30 day free program. I then ran Spybot which is free.

I always run Norton Internet Security, and it's set to always run. I assume no information was lost because they should stop any program accessing the internet with out me knowing about it ~ now I wonder.

I don't think I'm as protected ~ I will no longer run Internet Explorer unless I'm on my own web site, I'll surf the web with Firefox from now on.

I did download and run SpyWare Doctor the next day which found more spyware. I then down loaded and ran Ad Aware which only found a few cookies.

Removing Standards Bodies from the PC

The original PC cards developed by IBM were the PC-XT bus and the PC-AT bus. The PC-AT interface was later developed as a standard by the IEEE as IEEE-P966. Today the PCI bus and PCI Express bus are controlled by the Peripheral Component Interconnect - Special Interest Group [PCI-SIG].

The AGP interface standard was developed by Intel, the motherboard design and specification is also controlled by Intel.

The old IDE hard drive standard [ATA] was controlled by the T13 working group of the InterNational Committee on Information Technology Standards. Today the serial ATA [SATA] interface is controlled by the Serial ATA International Organization.

The old SCSI hard drive standard was controlled by the T10 working group. These days Serial SCSI [SAS] retains its protocol but uses the same physical layer as SATA.

The Universal Serial Bus [USB] is controlled by another non-profit corporation.

If it's true that Firewire is moving into disfavor, then it would remove one of the last interface standards controlled by ANSI, or the IEEE. Firewire is also known as IEEE-1394. Recall that the other major bus controlled by the IEEE is the IEEE-1284 Parallel "Printer" bus, currently being obsoleted and replaced by the USB port on most new devices.

RS232 serial ports [EIA-232] are also being removed from the newest motherboard designs. More here

So in another year a new computer will not contain a card or interface controled by a national standards institute. Instead all the boards and interfaces will be controlled by 4 or 5 non-profit corporations.

Firewire Bus Support

I just read an article about how Apple had moved it's Firewire page to a sub page and that it was down graded in an intel product as well.

I don't have one device that uses Firewire. All my devices are USB; Memory, Mouse, Keyboard, Web Cam ... What did we use Firewire for. My site has a description of the Firewire bus on this page HIGH PERFORMANCE SERIAL BUS. Firewire is also know as the standard IEEE 1394.

If in fact the Firewire bus is in the process of being dumped, then there are larger issues to consider ~ as in there would no longer be any standards organizations working in the Personal Computer area. All interfaces are now controlled by other companies, more later.

System Motherboard

Abit Motherboard

Here is the motherboard used in the Alienware computer system. The Abit AV8 supports the AMD 939-pin processor.

The board supports four 184-pin DIMM sockets, as Un-buffered Non-ECC DIMM ~ Dual channel DDR 400/333/266. The chipset is the VIA K8T800 Pro + VT8237. The Accelerated Graphics Port connector supports AGP 8X/4X. SATA 150 Raid 0/1. An on-board PCI Ethernet Controller; LAN. On board 6-channel AC 95 CODEC for audio.

One 8x AGP slot, and 5 PCI slots

Wireless Router

Linksys Wireless Router 

The router I use is the BEFW11S4 Wireless-B broadband router from Linksys. The router is hard-wired to the desktop PC, and also to my cable modem. The wireless connection is for my laptop.

The router operates at 2.4GHz, over the old 802.11b standard [with 11 possible channels]. It has one 10/100 RJ-45 port for the cable modem and four 10/100 RJ45 switched ports.

PC Printer

HP Printer 

This is the printer I use with the PC. It's a color printer, Fax machine, Scanner, and copier. The printer is the OfficeJet 600 produced by HP. I've had this printer for 5 or 6 years now and have never had a problem with it.

The Scan Resolution is 300 dpi, 1200 dpi maximum. Copy speed of 5 minutes per page in color or 1 mpp for monochrome ~ up to 99 copies can be made at once. Fax/Modem speed is 14400.

Here is a listing of Printers Manufacturers & Plotters Manufacturers

5/24/07 update; this printer has been discarded and replaced. Here is the latest printer being used.

Hard Drive fragmentation

I also checked my hard drives for fragmentation. The 'C' drive which holds the OS and most of the computer programs was not fragmented. The 'J' drive which holds all my web programs and HTML files was not fragmented. How ever the 'L' drive which I just set up as my external back-up hard drive was 100 % fragmented.

Having the external drive completely fragmented doesn't sound good, I've only been running the drive for a week now. Judging by the file name it's currently de-fraging tells me that the back-up software generates the back-up as some compressed file format and not a group of changed files ~ under their original files names...

S/PDIF Interface

S/PDIF Interface

I added a few additional comments on the S/PDIF interface page. The S/PDIF may be seen on the 5/14 audio bay shown above. The interface for S/PDIF is shown as two RCA jacks on the far left of the bay. The pic is the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Sound Card used in my computer system [interfacebus: Desk Top PC].

S/PDIF Description
S/PDIF [Sony/Philips Digital Interface] is used on digital audio consumer products while the AES3 interface is used with professional products. The S/PDIF may also be listed as SPDIF. Version 2.2 of Audio Codec '97 [AC 97], released in 2000 talks about the S/PDIF interface as it relates to computer support. AC 97, which is written by intel, recommends against using S/PDIF in favor of either USB or Firewire. The AC 97 document indicates that S/PDIF is not as user-friendly as USB or IEEE 1394. S/PDIF is non-PnP, uni-directional, low bandwidth, and carries data only ( .. no indication the S/PDIF is installed or operational..). However as of the 2002 revision of AC 97 those comments have been removed.

S/PDIF uses 75 ohm coax cable with BNC Connectors. However RCA jacks are common on computer equipment. The maximum cable length is 10 meters. The output voltage level for SPDIF is 0.6 volts maximum, with input voltage levels of 0.2 volts. SPDIF signals may also be provided as TTL voltage levels. Fiber connectors are also common using TOSLINK fiber connectors. Because the IEC standard defines the characteristics of S/PDIF, the IEC specifications should be used instead of the SPDIF standard

FYI: a new standard was released by intel in 2004; High Definition Audio Specification [HD Audio]. HD Audio is not backward compatible with AC 97.

SPDIF Standard Organizations

IEC 60958-3: Digital audio interface - Part 3: Consumer applications
IEC 60958 and EIAJ CO-1201 cover both consumer and professional definitions

LED Manufacturing Page Update

I up-dated the LED page again, and I divided it up into sections just like the Capacitor page. LED Manufacturers. LCD Manufacturers. Lamp Manufacturers.
www.interfacebus.com

Capacitor Page Up-date

I up-dated the capacitor page last night. I took the main capacitor page which included all types and divided each dielectric onto it's own page. The main capacitor page is at
Capacitor

The new sub pages are here;
Electrolytic Capacitor
Ceramic Capacitor
Plastic Film Capacitor
High Voltage Capacitor
Tantalum Capacitor
Trimmer Capacitor

Hard Disk Drive Transfer rates

Hard Drive Throughput Rates

The maxtor external USB Hard Disk Drive [HDD] I just got has a maximum transfer rate of 480Mbps [bits per second]. That transfer speed is based on it's USB interface bus. Both the internal hard drives I use are Serial ATA interfaces, and operate at 150Mbps. These are maximum numbers, not sustained transfer rates over a long transfer operation.

The graphic above shows the increase in transfer rates for the IDE bus and the new Serial ATA [SATA] bus.

Just in case you looked at the numbers, and maybe they seem high for the USB interface, they just my be. The sustained transfer rate for the external HDD is only around 30MBps. I just defrag-ed that hard drive, and it took around 20 minutes, very slow.

FYI; there are also Solid State Drives that are 100% Flash Memory based. Same transfer rates, as the data transfer rates are really based on the electrical interface.

External Hard Disk Drive

Maxtor External Hard Drive
I got a new external Hard drive today. The Maxtor OneTouch II. The drive looks real nice, but the base that ships with it doesn't fit on my PC very well, so I just placed the drive on it's side. I'll add some sticky feet to the base this week-end so it won't slip off my PC case ~ which has a rounded top.

The hard drive uses the USB interface to connect to the PC. The data sheet indicates a sustained transfer rate of 34 MB/sec, and a bus transfer rate of 480Mb/sec.

The drive has 100GB of space with an 8MB cache size and spins at 7200 rpm with a 9mS seek time.

Best of all, the included software has an auto back-up option which I have been missing for a while on my system. Although I do try to back-up often, this software will insure that I always have a saved version of my site.

I took the fast approach and just set it up to auto-save my web page changes. I took that approach because I really wanted to use my computer tonight. However, over the coming week I'll set it up to just dup every thing I need to recover a system crash.

This page provides more details on my computer system; interfacebus: Desk Top PC

MotherBoard I/O Update

New I/O Panel Format

I went to the web and looked at different Mother Boards and their I/O formats.

One style looks normal but has no VGA connector. Another board removes the 25-pin parallel port and 15-pin VGA port. Another style removes the VGA port, the parallel and 9-pin serial port as well and replaces them with small fans. The style with out the ports also does not have any audio ports, but instead comes with a separate I/O card-panel with the audio ports. This small audio card is then installed in a AUDIOMAX slot.

The space freed up by removing the three connectors now has an OTES [Outside Thermal Exhaust System] port which appears as a heat sink, two small fans and a heat pipe running to the motherboard chipset.

All the motherboards do ship with the correct I/O panel cut-out to install on to the chassis.

Refer to this post for chassis aperture sizes; mother-board-io-panel


Mother Board I/O

Mother Board I/O Panel

Mother Board I/O

The back panel I/O for Mother boards is changing, the older 9-pin D-sub EIA-232 serial interface and 25-pin D-sub IEEE-1284 parallel interface are being removed in favor of more USB connectors. The 15-pin VGA connector is losing out to the new DVI connector. Fans are replacing the D-Sub connectors in the gif above.

Previous post here interfacebus: Motherboard I/O.

The question is who provides the chassis cut-out emi panel, I assume the Back Plane manufacturer. The chassis manufacturer provides a cut-out as defined by one of the chassis/Motherboard specifications. The BTX cutout is 1.553: x 6.675", while the ATX and Micro-ATX cut-out is 6.250 x 1.750" ~ the Motherboard most provide the emi panel based on the connector layout.

Orphan Page Update

I up-dated a number of orphan pages today. Pages that have had a web name change to better identify the web page. The old page address is still out there but with a link / notice to the new page name, but it should no longer have a link from the web site. How ever; it takes awhile to find all the links on all the pages of the web site.

I dislike changing page addresses, but some of the early names really did not indicate what the page was about.

I don't delete the old page address, I provide a link to the new page, and I just added a Google search bar to many of them, in most cases I delete the content to save bandwidth.

From: ----
To: COTS_Board_Manufacturers.html

From: ---
To: Computer_UPS_Manufacturers.html

From: ---
To: Fan_Manufacturers.html

From: ---
To: Mother_Board_Manufacturers.html

From: ---
To: Computer_Manufacturers.html

From: ---
To: Equipment_Chassis_Manufacturers.html

On a side-note the web site hits are up to 1,021,281 hits this year.. or 98,246 this month.

New Computer info

So this is what I'm thinking about so far:

Mother Board [both use AMD Processors]:
$163 ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX
$115 Abit ABIT KN8 SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX

Processor: [AMD Dual Core]
$787 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core
$97 Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory
$97 Kingston ValueRAM 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory

$00 Chip Set nVidia nForce4 SLI X16

$250 Video Card Aopen Aeolus 6800 GT

$200 Lian Li V COOL PC-V1000APLUS Silver Computer Case
$89 Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 550W Power Supply
$40 DVD/CD R/W ~ I still need to look around

Hard Disk Drives [HDD, both are Serial ATA with 8MByte Cache]
$161 Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10k RPMSATA150
$161 Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10k RPMSATA150

$142 Windows XP professional

I'm also thinking about a dual processor system, then up-grading those to dual core when the price drops...

PC Case

Computer Case

Ok so I will build my next computer. The pic above is the chassis I plan on using; the PC-V1000APlus Silver Computer Case from Lian Li. Newegg has it listed for

$200 PC Case [Lian Li PC-V1000APlus]
5 external 5.25" drive bays
6 internal 3.5" drive bays
7 expansion slots
The case dimensions are 20.7" x 8.3" x 19.3"

Here is another view of the inside of the PC case;


Case Inside View


The only issue I have is trying to figure out what the Motherboard I/O cut-outs are in the back panel....

Web Site Update

Not much going on today. I did up-date a few web pages.

I spent a lot of time looking at Motherboards and cases. I may just build my own PC next time. I was looking at a PC chassis from Lian LI which looked pretty cool. Their PC cases are all aluminum. A motherboard from Abit looked promising.

Today was the first I had heard of Lian Li. I added the link to the PC Case Manufacturers page.

Assuming I build my own PC, the case will be aluminum and either a mid or full tower. This is the number of 5 1/4 Bays I need: {kind of says full tower}
One 5 1/4 bay for a DVD
One 5 1/4 bay for a CD
One 5 1/4 bay for the Sound card panel
Two 5 1/4 bay for a pair of hard drives [Raid]
One 5 1/4 bay for a back-up hard disk drive

I hate the idea of a front door on the case ~ so I tend to click away when a case has a front door.

The Abit mother board was the AN8-SLI;
2 PCI Express x16 slots
2 PCI Express 1x slots
2 PCI slots
4 x SATA II
4x Slots DDR 400 {PC 3200}
Socket 939

Cost:
$202 Mother Board [AN8-SLI]
$787 Processor [4800 Dual Core]
$170 Memory [2x 1GB DDR DIMMs]
$200 Case [estimate]
$1359 Total

LED page Up-date

LEDs

I updated the LED page tonight. The page is located on the LED and Display Manufacturers page, and includes a listing of LED manufacturers, Lamp, and Display manufacturers. The page links to the PC Monitor manufacturers page but does not list PC monitors.

I added more then a dozen new manufacturers, many from a list that goes back two years. In most cases I just listed the products as "LED Manufacturer", lacking time to add any more detail. I'll hit the page some other time and add more details as to what the companies produce.

This is a big change to the page, but a small up-date. I'm making it, leaving time to see the movie The Devils Rejects tonight ~ it has Two Thumbs Up.

I hope I like it.

Processor

AMD X2 Processor
I pulled the latest prices for AMD Athlon 64 dual-core processors, all in the socket 939 form factor. The prices are starting to look pretty good, as I've been tracking the price of the 4600+ for a few months now because I plan to up-grade my current PC from a 3800 [Single core] to a X2 4600 [Dual Core]. The plan is to turn my current PC into an entertainment PC, when I get a new one.

Here are the prices for AMD X2:
4800+ .... $787 ....2400MHz Clock
4600+ .... $630 ....2400MHz Clock
4400+ .... $497 ....2200MHz Clock
4200+ .... $400 ....2200MHz Clock
3800+ .... $322 ....2200MHz Clock


By the way I saw an article indicating AMD will come out with a quad-core processor in 2007. I've also seen some gamer PCs offering dual Opteron processors which are to pricey for me, but that has a new socket coming out as well ~ the Socket F (socket 1207).

Any way, the processor will be an AMD 64-bit dual-core 2400MHz 4800+ processor ~ compared to my single core 3800 processor I have now.

So the next computer so far is:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+, 2400MHz, socket 939: $787
Memory: 2 memory sticks of 1GB DIMM, PC3200: $170

DDR, DDR2, DDR3 Transfer Rates

Just for reference here are the general speed ranges:

DDR: 200 - 400MBps [SSTL_2, 2.5 volts]
DDR2: 400 - 800MBps [SSTL_18, 1.8 volts]
DDR3: 800 - 1600MBps [SSTL_15, 1.5 volts]

In all cases a computer user does not care about the Interface standard or voltage level. Both translate into lower power requirements, but it's only a few watts. People with 100's of servers in a rack tend to care about the wattage.

The DIMM key is in a different location for each DDR type, so your system will normally only accept one style of DIMM. The key on the DIMM is a notch, or a free space with no pins.

Refer to http://www.interfacebus.com for more info.

DDR Memory

DIMM Modules

As previous discussed, my current system runs off normal DDR memory modules. Two separate 512MB DIMMs for a total of 1G Byte of memory. The memory is already at the maximum speed grade for DDR1: DDR 512, PC3200.

One 512MB memory stick in Bank 0 [bank 1 is free], and one 512MB memory stick in Bank 2 [bank 3 is free] ~ allowing for dual channel operation. The system is dual channel the memory is not. A common mistake when buying a pair of DIMMs is that their listed as dual channel when in fact they are only a matched pair [size/speed], and are to be used with a chip-set that supports dual channel operation.

AMD has already indicated that they do not plan to support the lowest speed grade of DDR2 or PC2-3200, which has the same through-put as PC3200 DDR. They indicate that because of increased latency PC2-3200 operates slower then PC3200. So I assume they will begin with support for PC2-4300. That translates into a difference of 1000M Bytes of through-put between what I have or could have if I wait.

I've seen an article that if I do the obvious and double my system memory to off-set the slower memory my system speed may actually slow down. That would be to populate all four banks with 512MB DIMMs.

I can understand why that's true because each bank has it's own 'channel'. One DIMM in each bank translates to 3200MT/s + 3200MT/s [Bank 1 + Bank 2]. So adding two DIMMs to one Bank requires the two DIMMs to time share.

So the question is; Should I use 4 DIMMs of 512MB each and populate all sockets, or continue to use one DIMM per Bank as two 1GB DIMMs.

$50 x 4 512MB [PC3200] = $200
$85 x 2 1GB [PC3200] = $170

New memory wish list is two 1G Byte DIMM memory sticks, leaving the other two slots as an up-grade path.

DDR DIMM Memory Manufacturers are listed on the;
Computer Memory Module Manufacturers page.

DDR SSTL Interface

DIMM


I just added a new page covering SSTL switching levels, including SSTL3, SSTL2, and SSTL18.

SSTL-18 is used as the electrical interface for the DDR II memory standard, and the SSTL-2 specification is used with the DDR I memory standard.

The new SSTL page is located under the IC bus listing at:www.interfacebus.com/SSTL_Logic_Interface.html. With that new page, three additional pages were up-dated to point to that new link. The DDR 1 DIMM, and DDR2 DIMM pages and the Interface IC Buses page were updated to include the new link.

The Sub Series Termination Logic [SSTL] standards defined under JEDEC are electrical only specifications, which means normally they only define the timing and switching levels.

DDR I memory modules are currently in wide spread production, while DDR II is seeing only limited use. In fact, AMD does not even support DDR2 memory yet. AMD will not support the DDR II standard until they introduce their new M2 processor socket which is not due out until the second quarter of 2006. The M2 socket will provide a re-designed on-die memory controller allowing DDR-2 support, and at the same time obsolete the processor socket 939.

My system uses a socket 939 AMD processor. I'd like to get my next system early next year, so I my be stuck with my current socket and DDR I memory modules again. I doubt I would wait another four months just to pay a premium for the new stuff. Although the price difference between DDR and DDR2 DIMMs seems to be zero. I'm sure the M2 socket will be pricey when it first comes out. That may just leave me with a dual core 939 processor with the same DDR memory

DDR stands for Double Data Rate [Memory], DDR I may also be seen as DDR1 or just DDR, and DDR2 may also be DDR II.
DIMM stands for Dual In-Line Memory Modules

You can find definitions, speed grades and a list of manufacturers on the Memory Module page.

Site HTML Coding

Home Page


Most of the site [www.interfacebus.com] is really just text and links, with a few graphics sprinkled about. The site does not contain flash or any other script to keep the bandwidth down and the page loading speed up. I've even pulled off the background from all the pages to keep the bandwidth down ~ just a white back ground at this point. It just costs to much money when I go over the limit of my bandwidth. Although I have a better hosting plan then I did 6 months ago.

Most of the time I use [Evrsoft] 1st Page 2000 as the HTML editor to work on the web site. 1st Page 2000 was a freeware program I've been using since about 2000. Some times I may also use Macromedia Dreamweaver MX version 6 which is a little better at finding some of the HTML mistakes. I have down loaded the First page; 2006 beta version, but it appears this latest version will not be free. Because I already have two HTML editors I don't need to purchase another editor. Also, the 2006 version appears very much like dreamweaver. All the coding is in regular HTML version 4 [I guess]. I've looked at XML but it seems to generate more code then what I already have so I've stayed away.

Many of the early graphics were generated using MS Publisher, but I stopped using that program some time ago because of the cost of upgrading and because it wasn't supported by other programs. Now most graphics are generated using Microsoft Power Point. With PhotoImpact as the touch up program. I have PhotoImpact version 10.

To check valid links on the site I use Xenu Link Sleuth, version 1.2g, which happens to be freeware. I also check selected links by hand. Xenu is really pretty good, but it has a habit of checking all 4000 links and then locking up on the last few waiting for them to clear. Tree Builder 2.1, also freeware, is used to generate the tree for the frame version of the site. Although I just pull off the link to the frames version.

I have all the different browser programs to insure the site looks right within each different program. Those include; MS Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and sometimes Netscape. I no longer run out-dated versions, instead I always download the latest version as soon as it comes out. As of this year I moved to Style Sheets for the web site, finally dropping support for Netscape 4.7 which I still found on our work computers. Those early versions of Netscape did not support stile sheets.

Oh and the OS is Windows XP Professional version [on the desk top PC], and Home edition on the laptop computer.

This should be the last of the "how the web site works" series. Now I can move onto just blogging and discussing computer issues...

Desk Top PC

The Desk Top PC used to generate this web site is an Alienware 5500. The software Operating System is Microsoft Windows XP, Professional Edition. The system is in a large tower case, so there's plenty of room for expansion.

PC

The CPU Benchmark as stated when the system shipped is: Dhrystone ALU 3966 MIPS and Whetstone FPU 3455 MFLOPS {before upgrades}

The Processor is an AMD Athlon 64 4800+ X2, capable of using 64 bit software and runs at a speed that appears to be 4.8GHz. The real clock speed is 2.4GHz. The processor uses an AMD Socket 939.

The Memory Modules used are four 512MB SDRAMs for a total of 2G Byte of memory. The style/speed of the memory chips are DDR512, PC3200.

The MotherBoard is an ABIT AV8 using a VIA K8T800 Chip Set. The MotherBoard also supports the IEEE 1394 bus at speeds of 400/200/100 Mbps. The USB 2.0 standard interface, at speeds of 480 Mbps. The S/PDIF digital audio interface standard is also included. Mother Board pic here

The Video Adapter is a ATI Technologies Inc. Radeon 9550 with 128MB of on-board memory. The MotherBoard supports the AGP video bus at 4x and 8x speeds. There are 5 additional PCI slots for expansion. {I was surprised that this system was not offered with a PCI Express solution, as the AGP bus was the only option ~ obsolete in my opinion.}

The Hard Disk Drive is a Barracuda 80G byte Serial ATA drive by SeaGate with an 8Mbyte buffer and spins at 7200 RPMs. The drive supports S.M.A.R.T. commands, and SATA-150. I added a second Harddrive; a 74GB Raptor from Western Digital Corporation, also with an SATA interface. The OS runs off the Barracuda, and the web site files reside on the Raptor. I also have an external HardDrive running over the USB bus. The external drive is a 100G Byte Maxtor One Touch II with auto back-up. The sustained USB-2 transfer rate of the external Maxtor is 34MBps, or up to 480Mbps. The 34MB/sec rate seems a little low, but I do like the auto-backup software, which I have not used for years ~ back when I had a tape drive system.

The system did ship with a Floppy Drive and still has the stock cpu Fan, and a 460 watt power supply. I'll change out the fan/heatsink if and when I up-grade to a dual core processor. Having the floppy disk drive is really a waste of chassis space, but the system still has spare bays, so it will stay for now.

The Mother Board has an Integrated 5.1 Audio Surround Sound with Digital Out. I upgraded the system with a Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Sound Card. The sound card also comes with a 5 1/2 bay control box and a remote. Here is a pic of the Drive Bay Connected to that I added a Logitech X-530 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker system. Here is a pic of the Speakers

The system has a dual video monitor system. I have a 19" flat screen as my main monitor connected to the DVI video input. I also have a second 19" flat screen next to it which is connected to the VGA input on the computer. One Flat Screen monitor was made by Balance Digital Technology, the other by ic Power, and have SVGA resolutions. Both are TFT with SXGA displayable resolution.

I use a Logitech 'QuickCam Orbit' for the web cam; pic here

I connect to the web via a Linksys Wireless broadband router. The router operates at 2.4GHz over 802.11b to support my laptop. The desktop is hard wired to the router. I connect to the internet over cable. Router pic here

The printer is manufactured by Brother International Corporation, the model number is 5840. Here is a pic of the printer. This is an inkjet printer, plus it will Fax, Print, Copy, Scan, PC Fax, and PhotoCapture. This includes a flat-bed scanner. The major features other then the printer function include either a USB Bus and/or an Ethernet Bus interface, a RJ45 33.6k fax connection, and a Digital Media Card reader. The Printer started out on an Ethernet cable interface. The printer may also be on a USB wireless printer server. The Printer server is a Linksys WPS54G, the detailed posting for the print server is here: interfacebus: New Wireless Print Sever

The HP printer that was replaced by this new one included a IEEE-1284 interface. Here is a pic of the old printer: HP PC Printer.

The notebook computer I use is an HP pavilion, ze4800. The HP uses an AMD Athlon 2800+ at 508MHz, and has 256MB of PC2100 RAM [in one of two slots]. The computer uses a Linksys Wireless-G PCMCIA card to connect to the router [but it almost never connects, unless the PCs are in the same room]. The laptop OS is Windows XP, Home Edition.

I use a UPS from APC, XS800 BLK, additional info is listed here: interfacebus: Un-interruptible Power Supply

The system also has a wireless range expander [repeater] to assist the laptop connecting to the desktop / router. The range expander is a Linksys WRE54G. The posting for the Wireless Expander is here; interfacebus: Wireless Repeater