Requesting comments on Video Card and Ultra SCSI 160 vs. ATA 100
Phil E. Lampe
I'm trying to configure a new Dell system for a AutoCAD 2000/ArcView
3.2, and I need to know the following:
To be installed hardware: Xeon 1.5 ghz, 1gb RAM, 40gb ATA-100 HD (boot
drive), 18gb Ultra SCSI 160/m (2nd drive), xxSpeed CDRW and 250mb Zip
(internal).
1 - Is the ATI Fire GL2, VGA/DVI (64mb) a good card for this
application? What does the DVI stand for? If you disagree, please offer
your suggested video card (comparable priced model of course).
2 - Is there any noticeable decrease in performance and time to boot-up,
when combining the two HD's, in that configuration? Dell cannot
configure the SCSI drive as a boot drive, so the ATA has to be the boot
drive. I plan on installing AutoCAD and ArcView on the SCSI drive for
max. performance, but am wondering if there's any kind of potential
bottleneck to be concerned with. Will the Zip 250 hold things up as
well?
3 - I am considering installing a dual-boot system with XP and Win 2000
(SP2). The question that I have is whether or not the PC would run
slower with a dual-boot system?
4 - The price for the 1gb RAM is cheaper if I go with 4 RIMMS instead of
2, will there be any noticeable loss in performance from doing that (4
instead of 2)?
Thanks in advance for your replie(s).
Phil in Orange County, CA.
pastor
Phil E. Lampe
Hopefully, it won't be that unclear to the other readers, as I don't
think my writing is THAT BAD, but you never know, I guess.
Apostolos Mamatas
> application? What does the DVI stand for? If you disagree, please offer
> your suggested video card (comparable priced model of course).
Make sure the graphics card you're considering is "certified" for use
with the software you plan to run. This means its total compatibility
with the software will be assured and that custom drivers will be
available for AutoCAD, etc.
The Fire GL2, to my knowledge, is a good choice for AutoCAD.
> 2 - Is there any noticeable decrease in performance and time to boot-up,
> when combining the two HD's, in that configuration? Dell cannot
> configure the SCSI drive as a boot drive, so the ATA has to be the boot
> drive
In a SCSI/ATA (IDE) system, the IDE drive MUST be the boot drive. If
you use large files or need a lot of data throughput for your work,
the ATA drive will be your limiting factor. I would suggest going for
an all SCSI system if you can afford it.
> 3 - I am considering installing a dual-boot system with XP and Win 2000
> (SP2). The question that I have is whether or not the PC would run
> slower with a dual-boot system?
No, the dual-boot configuration should have no impact on system
performace (other than taking up hard drive space).
>
> 4 - The price for the 1gb RAM is cheaper if I go with 4 RIMMS instead of
> 2, will there be any noticeable loss in performance from doing that (4
> instead of 2)?
>
RDRAM is set up in serial connection, unlike SDRAM, chich is hooked up
in parallel. In an RDRAM setup, the memory access time is as long as
it takes to retrieve the "farthest" piece of data. So, it is best to
keep the ram on as few RIMMS as possible to decrease length of the
signal path. Of, course the tradeoff is in higher cost. As for
*noticeable* loss of performance, it's questionable. What should
really determine you decision is how easy it will be to upgrade your
RAM any further once all 4 RIMM slots are taken up.
Good Luck.
tecknow
news:3C2BA8B5...@millerbrooksenv.com...
> I'm trying to configure a new Dell system for a AutoCAD 2000/ArcView
> 1 - Is the ATI Fire GL2, VGA/DVI (64mb) a good card for this
> application? What does the DVI stand for?
DVI is the interface used for direct digital connection to monitors.
Normally only useful with flat panel displays, but there are high end CRT
(picture tube) units that support it. If you have DVI, the picture will be
sharper, and the colour more precise than the VGA type connection. If your
monitor is not compatible with DVI, it is of no value to you right now. In
the next few years, DVI will be the standard.
Dual monitors are useful in the applications you mention. IIRC you can put a
monitor on the VGA connector on the ATI card, and a second one on the DVI
connector and use both at once.
> 2 - Is there any noticeable decrease in performance and time to boot-up,
> when combining the two HD's, in that configuration? Dell cannot
> configure the SCSI drive as a boot drive, so the ATA has to be the boot
> drive. I plan on installing AutoCAD and ArcView on the SCSI drive for
> max. performance, but am wondering if there's any kind of potential
> bottleneck to be concerned with. Will the Zip 250 hold things up as
> well?
Your question is unclear. The usual approach is to make Drive C: the boot
drive. You may also put application software there. This is the ISA- ATA
drive you refer to.
SCSI drives are somewhat faster for multitasking applications and moving
large blocks of data, though the modern ATA 100 and 133 drives are quite
competitive for most purposes, including AutoCAD. Nonetheless, if you insist
on SCSI, it is a good place to put the swap file, and to put the application
data.
You will really only notice the difference when doing rendering and the
like.
The ZIP drive, CDR/W, DVD drives etc. are slower than hard disc drives, but
with one exception, do not impact on the performance of the hard drives.
The exception is that you should not put these drives on the same ATA
controller channel as hard drives. If they are on the same channel, the
channel controller will throttle down to the lowest common denominator,
which you don't want. There will be a noticeable impact on applications if
you ignore this.
How to get around the problem? You can get ZIP drives and the like that use
USB (version 1 is slow, version 2 is quite fast), firewire (fast), or are
SCSI devices. SCSI, unlike ATA allows mixed speed devices on common channel.
>
> 3 - I am considering installing a dual-boot system with XP and Win 2000
> (SP2). The question that I have is whether or not the PC would run
> slower with a dual-boot system?
Again, the question is odd. The only delay would be when the actual booting
takes place. The system will pause when starting up, to offer you a chance
to pick which system you want. If you don't answer, then the default system
(set by you) will load. You only have one system running at a time, hence
the irrelevance of the number of bootable systems.
There exist virtual machine systems that do allow multiple operating systems
to load and run concurrently. There is a performance hit when extra systems
are loaded in parallel like this. You are unlikely to find such a system
useful.
Be aware that if you set up dual boot OSes, you have to be careful to ensure
that applications and data are accessible across the options. Usually the C
drive is set up as DOS compatible, though when using XP and NT2K you can use
the higher performance and more robust and secure file formats that they
hold in common.
> 4 - The price for the 1gb RAM is cheaper if I go with 4 RIMMS instead of
> 2, will there be any noticeable loss in performance from doing that (4
> instead of 2)?
There is no difference in performance, but if you load all 4 slots now, you
will have to throw away 2 of your existing chips if you want to add even
more memory in the future.
A general comment: most of the time your computer will be doing nothing
except generate waste heat. The difference in performance will be little
noticed by you for most practical circumstances. I had a boss about ten
years ago who was obsessed with having the highest spec computer. It was not
cost effective as few applications pushed the envelope, and when a limit was
reached, you could buy a new machine that would wipe the floor with
yesterdays wonder.
If money is in fact no object, you might look at dual CPU motherboards. Both
NT and XP Pro support dual processors. Again, you will only see the benefit
if you run tasks that know how to use multiple threads, or if you are
running parallel applications.
Dual Athlones are fearsome devices! Intel will be offering a form of P4 for
multiprocessor use, but they are not on the market. Intel would rather that
you buy an Itanium, and pay through the nose for it! <grin> AMD processors
also use lower cost but high performance DDR RAM. You do not want SD RAM.
Things like rendering with light and shadow, editing video imagery (and
games) and the like are the applications that make use of high end units.
Drafting doesn't, GIS can be a resource hog when doing polygon overlay
processing, net navigation and the like.
> Thanks in advance for your reply(s).