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