GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

May 8, 2003

May 8, 2003 2

GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Agenda – May 8, 20037:00 – 7:05 Administration7:05 – 8:15 Featured Topic – System RAM plus

Motherboard Features Beyond Core Logic (Chipsets): 2003 Update

8:15 – 8:30 Hardware News8:30 – 8:55 Random Access (Q&A)8:55 – 9:00 Recap, Preview, and Close

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

AdministrationWelcome! Please Sign In.What the SIG is…and is not.

Is – an information resource for computer users and potential computer users

Is NOT – a way to get your computer built or repaired (contact the GSBUG Daytime Hardware SIG)

Log – Random Access/Q&A (First Come…)

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Administration (continued):Presentation materials will be posted at:http://gsbug.apcug.org/hwinfosig.htm

Prior presentation materials are also posted.

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

System RAM: 2003 Update “System RAM” – the off-processor (off-processor-

module), random access memory (RAM) used to store instructions and data.

“DRAM” – dynamic RAM (only retains data when power is applied/refreshed)

Primary types:SDRAM (synchronous DRAM)RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) or DRDRAM (Direct Rambus

DRAM)

May 8, 2003 6

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGSystem RAM: 2003 Update (continued)CAS Latency (CL) – definition per Crucial

Technology (division of Micron): “The amount of time in nanoseconds (often measured in

clock cycles) between a request to read the memory, and when it is actually output. SDRAMs are typically referred to as CL 2 or CL 3, with CL 2 parts being faster.”

Today, frequently also CL 2.5Unbuffered vs Registered vs Registered ECC –

consult your motherboard manual for what you need. For the curious, see http://www.crucial.com/library/glossary.asp

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

System RAM: 2003 Update (continued)SDRAM

All types have a 64-bit wide data pathSDR (single data rate) SDRAM

PC100 (seldom seen today) - 100MHz PC133 (used with older desktops & servers) - 133MHz Supported by all the current SDR SDRAM chipsets 168-pin DIMM (dual in-line memory module)

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System RAM: 2003 Update (continued)SDRAM (continued)

DDR (double data rate) SDRAM PC1600 (DDR200) - 100/200MHz PC2100 (DDR266) - 133/266MHz PC2700 (DDR333) - 166/333MHz PC3200 (DDR400) - 200/400MHz Requires corresponding chipset support – see last presentation

(on Core Logic/Chipsets); varies by chipset 184-pin DIMM

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

System RAM: 2003 Update (continued)RDRAM

16-bit wide data pathTwo speed grades (current):

PC800 - 800MHz PC1066 - 1066MHz

PC1200 (1200MHz) announced184-pin RIMMs (Rambus In-Line Memory Modules)Requires “Continuity RIMM (CRIMM)” in empty sockets

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

System RAM: 2003 Update (continued)RDRAM (continued)

Compatible chipsets – currently only Intel 850, 850E and 860, SiS R658 (SiS R659 announced)

Installed in pairs (dual channel) NOW priced at roughly 2x the cost of quality DDR400Performance – depending on the configuration and

application, may be faster than other forms of DRAM

May 8, 2003 11

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGSystem RAM: 2003 Update (continued)Memory bandwidth:

pipe width (in bytes) x speed (in MHz) xnumber of channels =

memory bandwidth (in GB/sec)“speed” is “effective speed”; e.g., 100MHz SDR,

200MHz DDR (both on a 100MHz clock)Example:

PC2100 DDR SDRAM 8 bytes x 266MHz (133MHz DDR) x 1 channel

= 2128MB/sec (2.1GB/sec)

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

System RAM: 2003 Update (continued)Memory bandwidth (continued):

Current system memory product implementations: PC100 SDR SDRAM 0.8GB/sec PC133 SDR SDRAM 1.06GB/sec PC1600 DDR SDRAM (DDR200) 1.6GB/sec PC2100 DDR SDRAM (DDR266) 2.1GB/sec PC2700 DDR SDRAM (DDR333) 2.7GB/sec PC3200 DDR SDRAM (DDR400) 3.2GB/sec PC800 RDRAM (dual channel) 3.2GB/sec[PC800 RDRAM = 2 bytes x 800MHz x 2 channels]

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

System RAM: 2003 Update (continued)Memory bandwidth (continued):

Current system memory product implementations (cont.): PC2100 DDR SDRAM (DDR266, dual channel) 4.3GB/sec PC1066 RDRAM (dual channel)

4.3GB/sec PC3200 DDR SDRAM (DDR400, dual channel) 6.4GB/sec

Coming system memory product implementations: “Quad channel” PC1200 RDRAM (Fall ’03) 9.6GB/sec

May 8, 2003 14

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGSystem RAM: 2003 Update (continued)Major Memory (Chip) Manufacturers

Elpida (Japan)Hynix (Korea) Infineon (Germany)Micron (USA)Mosel Vitelic/ProMOS (Taiwan)Nanya (Taiwan)Samsung (Korea)Winbond (Taiwan)All www.companyname.com

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIGOther Motherboard Features: 2003 UpdateProcessor Sockets

AMD Socket A (462-pin) – supports Athlon, Athlon XP, Duron, and

Athlon MP Socket 940 – supports Opteron

Intel Socket 370 – supports Celeron (P3 core) and Pentium III S Socket 423 – supports 423-pin Pentium 4 (earliest) Socket 478 – supports 478-pin Celeron (P4 core) & P4 (latest) Socket 603/604 – supports Xeon and Xeon MP

VIA Socket 370 – supports C3

May 8, 2003 16

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGOther Motherboard Features: 2003 Upd (cont.)“Slots”

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) 32-bits wide, capable (depending on the AGP spec) of

66MHz(1X) to 533MHz(8X) 264MB/sec (1X) to 2.1GB/sec (8X) transfer rate Video cards only Signaling voltage varies by spec – 1.5V (AGP 2.0, AGP 1X-4X),

0.8V (AGP 3.0, AGP 4X-8X); both use same physical socket Also AGP Pro50 and Pro110 (higher wattage for workstations) Brown connector www.agpforum.org

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Other Motherboard Features: 2003 Upd (cont.) “Slots” (continued)

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) - typical 32-bits wide, capable of 33MHz (desktop) 132MB/sec transfer rate (desktop) Used for HDCs, sound cards, modems, NICs, and older video

cards; various specialty adapters (USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, second parallel, etc.)

White connector www.pcisig.org

May 8, 2003 18

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGOther Motherboard Features: 2003 Upd (cont.) “Slots” (continued)

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) - other 32-bits wide, 66MHz (desktop/server); 64-bit wide, 33 or 66MHz

(workstations and servers) Up to 528MB/sec Used for HDCs, NICs, and some specialty adapters

PCI-X (some workstations and most servers) Spec 1.0 - 64-bit wide, up to 133MHz (up to 1.06GB/sec) Spec 2.0 - 64-bit wide, up to 533MHz (up to 4.3GB/sec)

PCI Express – coming in 2004 (possibly late 2003) 0.8V, 2.5GHz, up to 16GB/sec transfer – to replace AGP 8X +

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Other Motherboard Features: 2003 Upd (cont.) “Ports”

Serial (1 or 2 ports typ)Parallel (ECP/EPP; 1 port typ)PS/2 (2 ports – keyboard and mouse)

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Other Motherboard Features: 2003 Upd (cont.) “Ports” (continued)

USB (Universal Serial Bus) – chipset dependant Three speeds:

Low speed = 1.5Mb/sec (.187MB/sec) – USB 1.1 Full speed = 12Mb/sec (1.5MB/sec) – USB 1.1 High speed = 480 Mb/sec (60MB/sec) – USB 2.0

Attach up to 127 devices – including mice, keyboards, cameras, printers, ZIPs, some HDDs, etc.

Number of ports varies – min 2. Combos of USB 1.1 and 2.0. For “outside the box” devices

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Other Motherboard Features: 2003 Upd (cont.) “Ports” (continued)

Audio (sound “card”, down) – line in, line out, mic, joy stick (MIDI port), plus

Video (for video “card”, down) NIC (network interface “card”, down)

Typically “10/100” (Mb/sec) IEEE 1394a (“FireWire”/Apple, “iLink”/Sony)

Today provides a maximum 400Mb/sec (50MB/sec) transfer rate (1394-1995). For “outside the box” devices.

Typically used to connect digital video cameras, HDDs.

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Other Motherboard Features: 2003 Upd (cont.)Other Interfaces, Misc.

Internal data cable connectors – floppy, IDE, SCSIUSB and IEEE-1394 header(s) IrDA (infrared) headerCD-ROM (audio interface) – 1 or 2Wake-on-LANModem (audio for voice modem)Fan headers

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Other Motherboard Features: 2003 Upd (cont.)Other Interfaces, Misc. (continued)

Panel lights (power, HDD activity, sleep) & switches (power, reset, sleep)

Jumpers and/or DIP switches (CMOS clear/flash, CPU multiplier, CPU voltage, bus speeds, keyboard power-on, suspend-to-RAM, etc.)

Power (ATX, ATX12V, WTX, proprietary)Show-and-Tell

May 8, 2003 24

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware NewsProcessors

AMD formally released the AMD Opteron – first x86-64 (AMD64) processor; models 240 (1.4GHz), 242 (1.6GHz), and 244 (1.8GHz) for 1-way and 2-way servers and workstations; 128K L1 cache; 1MB exclusive L2 cache; integrated dual-channel memory controller (5.3GB/sec/CPU using PC2700/DDR333 SDRAM); able to directly address up to 1 terabyte of RAM; FSB = processor clock speed; three 16x16-bit HyperTransport links (6.4GB/sec per link); .13 micron SOI (silicon on insulator) technology; supports SSE2; 940-pin package with heat spreader

May 8, 2003 25

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Processors (continued)

AMD released the Athlon MP 2800+ – 2.133GHz, Barton core, 512K L2, 266MHz FSB (no faster chipset support)

Core Logic (chipsets)AMD formally released the AMD-8131 PCI-X Tunnel,

AMD-8151 AGP Graphics Tunnel (AGP 8X), and the AMD-8111 I/O Hub support chipset for its just-released AMD Opteron processor

NVIDIA announced the nForce3 Pro chipset for AMD Opteron workstations – single chip; AGP 8X; IDE RAID support (both PATA and SATA); integrated NIC

May 8, 2003 26

GSBUG Hardware Info SIGHardware News (continued)Core Logic (chipsets) (continued)

SiS announced the SiS655 for Intel Pentium 4 – a dual channel memory controller version of the SiS648; supports up to DDR333

VIA announced the UniChrome KM400 chipset (VT8378 Northbridge w/ VT8235CE or VT8237 Southbridge) for AMD Athlon – includes integrated UniChrome 2D/3D graphics processor (AGP 8X); supports DDR400 SDRAM; SATA RAID support w/ VT8237

VIA announced the K8T400M chipset for AMD Opteron – AGP 8X “Northbridge” with high-speed interface to the VT8237 Southbridge

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Hardware News (continued)System RAM – nothing new Motherboards

MSI released the K8D Master (MS-9131) server motherboard for dual AMD Opteron processors.

ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and several others introduce Intel 875P-chipset-based Pentium 4 motherboards.

Graphics Processors & Cards3Dlabs announced the Wildcat VP880 Pro workstation

video card – 256MB RAM, AGP 8X, ESP of $499.

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hardware News (continued)Graphics Processors & Cards (continued)

Matrox announced the Millennium P-series of video cards based on the Parhelia-LX processor – initially released the Millennium P650 ( 2 head) and Millennium P750 (3 head) cards. Both have 64MB RAM and are AGP 8X. Intended for video editing. These are low priced derivatives of the Parhelia.

Hard Drives – nothing new

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GSBUG Hardware Info SIG

Hardware News (continued)Hard Drive Controllers

Promise released the “FastTrak S150 TX4” SATA RAID card – supports 4 drives, RAID 0, 1, and 0+1.

Other DrivesPlextor released the PlexWriter Premium 52x32x52 CD-

RW (ATAPI) w/ GigaRec (store up to 1GB data on 700MB media – not readable on other drives).

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Hardware News (continued)Sound processors & cards – nothing newModems & NICs – nothing newChassis & power supplies – nothing new

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Random Access

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Recap, Preview, and CloseRecapPreview

Featured Topic for June 12, 2003 – Hard Drives and “Floppies”: 2003 Update

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