Hardware upgrade questionS (for gaming). - Hardware & Devices Discussion Boards

I would not think that there is any way to directly control weather the HDD LED is on or off, but simply replacing a file with a large amount of data at certain intervals would work. Or if you are lucky your computers still have their PC speakers installed, meaning you could use Beep(int freq, int duration); (duration in ms)

Or maybe you could use inpout32(); to control the binary outputs on a LPT/printer port, and then connect a LED and resistor to make it blink... [^]

//Johannes

Johannes,
Thanks for your reply.

Johpoke wrote:
simply replacing a file with a large amount of data at certain intervals would work.

This probably would work, but my concern with this method is that it might contribute to the hard drive failing sooner than otherwise. In this application, the device is intended to be in service for many years with minimal user intervention. For the units that we are replacing with this new unit, the hard drives were the most common point of failure.

Johpoke wrote:
you could use Beep(int freq, int duration);

This method might be a little too intrusive/annoying for the people working in the room.

Johpoke wrote:
Or maybe you could use inpout32(); to control the binary outputs on a LPT/printer port, and then connect a LED and resistor to make it blink...

However, this idea is very interesting. Thanks for the pointer!

--
Marcus Kwok

ricecake wrote:
This method might be a little too intrusive/annoying for the people working in the room.

I was thinking the room might be like the server rooms ive been in. If that where the case you would have to put you ear to the case to hear the beeping. (or *overclock* the speaker )

Glad I could help Smile | :)

//Johannes

Well, it's kind of like a server room in that there will be a large amount of equipment in there, but I believe people will be working in there for a significant part of the time as well.

--
Marcus Kwok

Well, the keyboard LEDs would work. You can control those with an interrupt, IIRC. Did that in TurboPascal once.

As for the HD-LED: difficult.

Cheers,
Sebastian

--
"If it was two men, the non-driver would have challenged the driver to simply crash through the gates. The macho image thing, you know." - Marc Clifton

I don't think you can mess with them that way in a modern OS. My turboPascal keyboard light toggler crashed under NT4(3.5????). There's got to be an API way to do it though.

--
Join the Campaign to Help Stamp Out and Abolish Redundancy
The preceding is courtesy of the Bureau of Unnecessarily Redundant Repetition Department.

Thanks for the suggestion; however, I forgot to mention in my original post that the keyboard and mouse will also be disconnected under normal use; they only get connected for maintenance.

--
Marcus Kwok

(Disclaimer : I'm not a Hardware guy)

I want to do a small upgrade on my current HW configuration. The upgrade is mostly for playing games since I do not really use my desktop for anything else.

Current configuration :
Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 ( supports PCI-ExpressX16 and Dual Channel DDR400 memory )
CPU : Athlon 64 x2 dual core 3800+
Memory : 2 gig (2x1gig) ( don't know the sort DDRwhatever )
Power supply : 450W.
Graphic Card : nVidia geForce 7600GT (256 meg ram)
Disk : 1 250 gig drive.

This configuration gives me a good "experience" with Hellgate:London, with most settings set to medium and with a 1280x1224 resolution, I want to be able to add a little punch to the performance and I think the big issue is with the graphic card.

I used http://www.srtest.com[^] and it tells me that I have 2 "issues" :

1- Memory : I should upgrade to 3 gig.
Dumb Question 1: I assume that if I want to add an additional 1 or 2 gigs I should match the memory specs.
Dumb Question 2: If I add only 1 gig, can I simply plug a 3rd bar in the slots or should I plug 2 512k bars? does "memory pair" that still have any meaning today ?
Dumb Question 3: Will that have a great impact on the whole system performance ?

2- Graphic Card : I should upgrade to a newer card.
Dumb Question 1: I always used an nVidia card, and probably continue using them, but is there a big difference between the Radeon and the GeForce when looking at higher level cards ?
Dumb Question 2: My current card is quite "small" in physical size compared to the newer packages (seems to be half in size), I assume that the newer cards still fit with a normal motherboard and cases ( Antec Sonata)?
Dumb Question 3: Do new card need additional "plug" and cabling ? are they still minimally plug'n'play ?

If I go for an nVidia, it looks like I have to have a 8800 series card, either 8800GTX, 8800GT or 8800GTS, Is there a real difference between those 3 cards ? the GTS seems the budget one with lower texture fill and bandwidth; if I want to have a long card life, me think I should go with the GTX, and that could survive a complete system rebuild in a year or so.

Generic Question 1: If I switch to a newer graphic card and the specs say that I need a 450W power supply, is that taking into account every other "things" plugged in ? the ATI Radeon 3800 says that I need a "75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express® power connector", is that another cable that comes out of the power supply ? is it well marked ? and/or standard in power supplies ?

Is there other things that I must really look into before committing money for new hardware ?

Is there a tool that can give me all/most hardware information without having me unplug and physically check the brand and names of every components ?

Thanks a lot..

Max.

Maximilien Lincourt
Your Head A Splode - Strong Bad

Memory:

You should try and match the speed an timing of the ram so that one set doesn't become a bottle neck compared to the the other. I'd always go for a pair of modules so that you can use "pairing".

An extra gig will probably help quite a bit if your running Vista, if your still on XP then I'm not so sure, 2 gig makes XP run very nicely Smile | :)

Graphics Card:

As per usual theres new stuff on the horizon, but right now I'd recommend the 8800GT for the best price/performance ratio, they are very fast cards and very cheap in comparison to the others.

finally if they recommend a psu wattage then they are guessing and what your probably machine spec will be and so how much you will need. The PCI Express power connector is a specific type of power supply connector.

Maximilien wrote:
Dumb Question 1: I assume that if I want to add an additional 1 or 2 gigs I should match the memory specs.

As long as you match the clock speeds it's only a very small effect and unlikely to be noticed outside of benchmarking.

Maximilien wrote:
Dumb Question 2: If I add only 1 gig, can I simply plug a 3rd bar in the slots or should I plug 2 512k bars? does "memory pair" that still have any meaning today ?

All modern mobos are dual channel, so you need pairs.

Maximilien wrote:
Dumb Question 3: Will that have a great impact on the whole system performance ?

are you using the swap file at present?

Maximilien wrote:
Dumb Question 2: My current card is quite "small" in physical size compared to the newer packages (seems to be half in size), I assume that the newer cards still fit with a normal motherboard and cases ( Antec Sonata)?

Are you refering to length or width (1 slot vs 2). Assuming the latter the only issue is having the slot below empty (slot above if your case holds the mobo upside down).

Maximilien wrote:
f I go for an nVidia, it looks like I have to have a 8800 series card, either 8800GTX, 8800GT or 8800GTS, Is there a real difference between those 3 cards ? the GTS seems the budget one with lower texture fill and bandwidth; if I want to have a long card life, me think I should go with the GTX, and that could survive a complete system rebuild in a year or so.

You want the 8800GT. The GTS is previous generation hardware (90nm v 65), even the 8800GTS-640 is slower than the GT, as well as using more power. The GTX/Ultra is 90nm hardware as well, and is only meaningfully faster at 2560x1600, and in a few rare cases 1920x1200. At lower resolutions the performance of the GT is identical to the GTX (give or take a few frame rates in either direction). The only problem is that demand is outstripping supply badly. They were released at a $200-250US price point and have since soared to almost $300.

Maximilien wrote:
Generic Question 1: If I switch to a newer graphic card and the specs say that I need a 450W power supply, is that taking into account every other "things" plugged in ? the ATI Radeon 3800 says that I need a "75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express® power connector", is that another cable that comes out of the power supply ? is it well marked ? and/or standard in power supplies ?

It's a 6 pin cable in the same form factor as the ATX power cable, with 3 yellow and 3 black wires. Most, if not all, cards that need one come with a molex adapter. It has 2 4 pin molex plugs that can provide the power needed if they're connected to different strings of cables coming out of the PSU (putting them both on the same string will risk melting due to excess current draw). This is only a viable option if your PSU is reasonably new and has a strong 12V rail.

If you go with ATI, the 3870 is slightly slower than the 8800GT but probably not enough to matter at 1280x1024. The slightly lower speed means they're not being swamped and aren't having any supply problems as a result.

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Help Stamp Out and Abolish Redundancy
The preceding is courtesy of the Department of Unnecessarily Redundant Repetition Department.

Hello,
I want to clone a bootable hard drive to a number of other drives using C++/Windows(MFC)

As far as the hard drive is concerned, would I be able to just open the physical device (\\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0) and copy the original disk sector by sector onto the new drives? Or is there more to it than this?

Also, would it be possible to do this just by editing the volume (\\.\D: ) rather than physical disk??

Thank you.

I'm trying to connect my IDE harddisk with my laptop through USB connector.. but it doesn't work.. My laptop is SONY VAIO and Windows Vista Home Premium installed on that machine. I'm using R-Driver III to connect my IDE Hard disk (3.5 HDD) through USB 2.0. it shows the indicator in system tray and I can remove the device safy.. but it doesn't show my harddisk in my explorer.. I have checked the Disk Manager from the Computer Management.. I didn't see my HD there too..

Any Idea??

Thanks in advance..

Thanks and Regards,
Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net)

"Please vote to let me (and others) know if this answer helped you or not. A 5 vote tells people that your question has been answered successfully and that I've pitched it at just the right level. Thanks."

Michael

How is the disk powered? Via USB or it's own power supply? If via USB then it is very likely that the port cannot supply enough current (amperes). Does the disk function correctly when plugged into a desktop IDE connector and power?

Try using an external supply or something similar to this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/EW-Link-SATA-Cable-Adaptor-Electronics/dp/B000LU2B38/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1195398257&sr=8-1

HTH

Jerry Evans wrote:
How is the disk powered? Via USB or it's own power supply

it has own power supply..

I have tested this connector and harddisk in Windows XP machine.. It works fine.. One thing is that my hard disk doesn't show automatically.. I had to go to the "Disk Management" and need to add/activate my harddisk.. and I had to add the volumn letter to my harddisk.. then, it works on windows xp..

So, I think that the connector and harddisk is working fine. maybe. my OS, Windows Vista, has some problems.... Sometimes, I'm able to see my harddisk in "Disk Management" but it shows my disk as "Dynamic" and "Offline" mode. It also shows the option "Convert to Basic Disk".. I don't know about this option but I don't wanna lose my data on my HDD..

Any idea??

Thanks....

Thanks and Regards,
Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net)

"Please vote to let me (and others) know if this answer helped you or not. A 5 vote tells people that your question has been answered successfully and that I've pitched it at just the right level. Thanks."

The help file said:
Note: Only Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate editions support dynamic disks.

According to this link, Only Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate editions support dynamic disks. Cry | :((

Ahhhhh!!! its suck.... Cry | :((

(

Thanks and Regards,
Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net)

"Please vote to let me (and others) know if this answer helped you or not. A 5 vote tells people that your question has been answered successfully and that I've pitched it at just the right level. Thanks."

I have two usb hd and Vista Family or wathever is the name for the populus version. (OEM) and had some problems with the one that had its own power supply, had to go to the computer management, and I could see him only when he was in the mood (worked fine on other OS). I don't know if this is the solution, in fact, I think it is just luck, but what solved it for me was to install the Romoval Storage Management Vista Components.

Maybe this works for you too.

_Zorro_ wrote:
computer management,

I mean, the "Disk Management" is under "Computer Management"... I think that my HDD was formatted as the dynamic drive so it can't be read from Windows Vista Home Premium version which doesn't support dynamic drive..

_Zorro_ wrote:
Romoval Storage Management Vista Components

Okay.. I will try to install this "Removal Stroage Management Vista Component".
How can I install? Is it in "Add/remove windows components"??

Thanks and Regards,
Michael Sync ( Blog: http://michaelsync.net)

"Please vote to let me (and others) know if this answer helped you or not. A 5 vote tells people that your question has been answered successfully and that I've pitched it at just the right level. Thanks."

Michael Sync wrote:
Is it in "Add/remove windows components"??

Yes

Hi all,

I brought a new USB HDD (with external power). It was formatted as "FAT32" by default. Is there any advantage for me on reformatting it with NTFS?

-Sarath.
"Great hopes make everything great possible" - Benjamin Franklin

My blog - Sharing My Thoughts, An Article - Understanding Statepattern

FAT32 will be alot more compatable with other operating systems, and it will also be slightly faster (depending on how slow/fast the control card is) NTFS will let you have things like permissions (which isnt very secure), EFS encryption (again not super secure). NTFS might be better incase of powerloss when copying files...

If you some folders that have *very* long names on a NTFS system, then windows might cut them down on a FAT32 system.
Also, if you have alot of NTFS files with data in the hidden NTFS streams, it might annoy you when copying files, it will confirm that some NTFS data may be lost (which isnt important, but annoying..)

Incase of dataloss FAT32 files will probably be easier to recover.

I think I use FAT32 on my external drive, I use it as a backup.

Dont forget to use a program like Seagate SeaTools for Windows[^] to test the hard drive for bad sectors, to be sure it is 100% perfect.

//Johannes

Thanks for the info..

I'm also using the the External HDD forbacup purpose. Anyway before data getting filled into that, I would like to format it into NTFS Smile | :)

-Sarath.
"Great hopes make everything great possible" - Benjamin Franklin

My blog - Sharing My Thoughts, An Article - Understanding Statepattern

And, If I'm not wrong, you can't copy more than 4GB at a time, this is a, problem for me.

Ah yea thats true too no files larger then ~4GB, it doesnt even want to read them right? (some low level program should be able to get them out though..)

//Johannes

I don't know, I actually discovered that trying to copy an Iso to a Mac compatible partition (FAT32). No idea if it is only right or both, right and read.

Just a question. If FAT32 is faster and easier to recover loss data. Why all NT servers or 2003, etc run on NTFS filesystems? Why not to format and install on a FAT32? Maybe just because of the maximum file size issue?

The max file size limit may be an issue, it probably is with *very* large page files..

If the Windows server is going serve files using the windows file sharing then NTFS is a must, as it is the most dynamic and easy to use way to set file permissions for many many users.

I consider FAT32 to be a easier file system to recover incase of bad sectors/power loss, as it is more compatable with many low-level restore programs. (In which NTFS can cause confusion)
(FAT32 can get problems easier though..)

On the other hand, NTFS may in some cases be less likely to data corruption upon power loss. (ive heard that, but no first-hand experience)

NTFS also uses clusters in a bettery way, which saves space.

//Johannes