Athalon 64, X2 or not

Hi, Larry.

Has something to do with a blue shift or red shift in the SATA spread spectrum clocking power band continuum.


Anyway, to be honest, I have NO idea. I don't have a WD SATA drive to compare with the diagrams but I do notice there is also an additional narrow rectangle immediately to the right of the rectangle that doesn't have a chink. Perhaps it's a narrow plug/socket of some sort?

Perhaps since the specs page states "(model WD2500JS, WD2500KS)" (You may need to switch the colors I assigned.), the drive is shipped either as chink and no narrow rectangle or no chink with narrow rectangle. If so, then I'd guess your configuration choices are limited to

EITHER [Default 1], [SSC enabled], [OPT 1] OR [Default 2], [SSC/PM2 enabled] (or vice versa)

depending on which model your drive is (ending with JS or KS).


EDIT: The difference between the two models is apparently the buffer size, according to the specs:

• WD2500JS 8 MB
• WD2500KS 16 MB

According to this post, you purchased the 16 MB cache buffer (WD2500KS) model.

EDIT #2: Well, I looked at other diagrams on this PDF document and there's even an extra diagram. However, all the diagrams appear identical except for jumper settings so I'm just as confused as I was to begin with. Looks I was barking up the wrong tree picking out other differences in the diagrams on the spec sheet.

I'd be inclined to say if the jumper is not on pins 5-6 (150 MB/s), then leave the jumper setting as it was shipped.

 

mailman:

Might that be the difference between a chink and a chunk?

 

Hi, Rockster.

Actually the chunks are in a different part of diagrams 2 and 4.

In those diagrams, there are 4 chunks on the rectangle immediately to the left of the jumper configuration. (The grey circle passes through the middle of the rectangle with the chunks on it.) I want to be sure you have your terminology straight!

Looking at those diagrams for differences is better than some of those newspaper "can you find the differences between the pictures" and cheaper (free) than the video ones that are in some bars. Let's see what other differences we can pick out!

BTW, I keep providing the link to the same specs page for convenience.

 

If I understand correctly, here's the scoop:

A byte (B) is approximately 10 times larger than a bit (b). (Actually 8 bits make a byte, but who's counting? )

Therefore 300 MB/s = 3000 Mb/s = 3 Gb/s (Close enough for the advertiser anyway.)

 

Well, it is completely evident that I have learned my lesson on HDD size... "once bytten twice shy ".

I used HDTach to test the HDD in 8mb mode and it came ups172Mb/s Burst and 55Mb/s Avg Speed. What does it mean in the graph when it drops from a higher speed (65Mb/s) at 10Gb to lowest at 250Gb (35Mb/s)?

On the subject of the WD HDD working in SATA2, their description in Device Mgr is "SATA Generation 2 -3G" which indicates SATA2 recognition. Whether or not their is some kind of optimization I can do, I don't know. Should I install the Data Lifeguard software? I have not done so as it seems like it might be some kind of unnecessary bloatware.

I checked the WD website for optimization info and they mentioned that I should have the controllers set to Ultra DMA in Advanced Settings. I do not have an Advanced Settings window in my Device Mgr. Do you?? WD Optimimzation

Thanks chunks,

Lar

 

Think this is a reference to BIOS - thats where one can change the drive settings re: DMA. Its not quite like 98 used to be where it could be enabled or disabled through the control panel under the drive's properties.

 

Very good point and yes, this still applies for standard IDE ports. Not so for the SATA controllers.

 

That screenshot is certainly what mine looks like. Thanks, Pete. The statement window (SATA Generation 2) is greyed out as long as I keep the first box checked (let BIOS select transfer mode).

THE WD link is errant as it specifies W2k/XP for those "Advance Settings" instructions... shameful. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

So,

1. Is Life DataGuard to be avoided?

2. Any way to speed things up?

3. Do HDD's have firmware/drivers that require occassional updating?

Thanks, Lar

edit: I am off on vacation so "I'll See You...In September"

 

Hey all, I am back. Everything is working great.

I am about to move my adopted child from the dining room table to the workstation and need to go from using my USB Wireless Adapter to the ethernet wire that is waiting there.

I use MAC addresses for security on the router but cannot find one on the A8N-SLI Dlx mobo (it has an onboard LAN controller). Is it printed anywhere? It is not on the front side and if it is on the underside, forget about that. If not, is the best/easiest way of finding it by defeating the MAC filter on the router, plugging it in and running ipconfig at the CMD window?

Rock, I am ready to tweak. What do you suggest?

Thanks, Lar

 

Hi, Lar. Welcome back!

I bet you could use one of the many system information programs available via Major Geeks to find the MAC address of your onboard network interface.

A popular system information utility around here is Everest Free Edition.

 

Hi Mailman, great to be back!

Everest worked great. Thank you.

The CPUID section says that HyperThreading is Not Supported. Is that right?

Thanks, Lar

 

Here's a little tool for you. You can save a scan range using the bookmark feature - ie: 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.254 and upon completion you can remove the inactive addresses or ports and look at your whole network by IP and MAC address. Nice little puppy that runs under windows.