[Pc_Support] Western Digital Enterprise 250 GB <pde; wd2500js

[Bryan J. Smith]

Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> I am looking forward to your blog article.

Give me through the weekend.  I'm going to be taking the wifey to the
Keys, and will probably author it on the lappie early some morning on
the beach.

> I am comfortable on the PC_Support, unless you prefer that I link it to
> LeapList.

I generally try to avoid LeapList as of late, but feel free to link to
the PC_Support archives.  It's best that I let Linux users discuss
what they want, and not try to interject my anal enterprise
experience.  Doing such tends to piss a lot of people off because I
make assumptions / have expectation that people don't answer on-a-whim
what they've heard may work and try to only answer with what they've
tried personally (especially in a production environment).

Hence why I help people off-list from LeapList, or repost
hardware-related stuff here.

> I agree and could care less.   From what you are saying my best bet is
> to buy two of the WD3200JD/WD3200SD.

The 250GB WD2500SD is the "Caviar RE" version of the WD2500JD "Caviar
SE" (possibly JS too?).  Unfortunately, it's typically only found as a
refurb or opened item.  The few I found new on Froogle were almost as
much as the 320GB WD3200SD, so it's really no savings.

I have many 320GB WD3200JD (consumer) and WD3200SD (enterprise) units
in usage.  None have failed yet, and the performance of the
107GB/platter is quite surprising.

> I had forgotten about the previous discussions on model number -not
> manufacturer.  Thanks for the reminder.

It's really been the case for 8-10 years now in the PC industry.

> One again I agree that a new mother board might be best, but it must be
> an AMD 32bit, ATX format.

Pretty much 99% of individual mainboards sold are ATX or MicroATX (or
FlexATX, which is MicroATX only slightly smaller).

Only a very tiny portion are the newer Intel BTX or MicroATX (or
nano/pico-BTX, among some non-standard BTX-based designs).

> I looked at the Tyan n3400B and h1000s boards but Tyan's lack of support
> for Linux is scary.
> They are less than enthusiastic about the the Linux kernels, etc.

Huh?  I haven't had an issue with their boards under Linux yet -- sans
some 3.6-4.0GiB holes early on (back when other mainboards only
supported 2.0GiB maximum).

> Given that, can anyone suggest a good conservative (I do not care if it
> will never play "games").  I want to use the existing component ps,

Most existing ATX power supplies work.  Even older 20+4-pin ATX 1.0
(ATX12V) power supplies typically work on newer 24+4-pin ATX 2.0
mainboards, as long as you don't draw too much current (especially not
on video).

> video board, etc.

Today you can get a nVidia C51 (NV44 GPU + MCP51) chipset on a sub-$50
mainboard -- the NV44 GPU (GeForce 61x0 series) is _built-into_ the
chipset.  At the same time, there is a PCIe x16 slot for upgrading (if
you so desire).

It will get even $10-20 cheaper in the very near future with the new,
single-chip MCP61 chipsets from nVidia:
  http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/pc_support/2006-September/002517.html

There may or may not be a PCIe x16 slot on those for upgrading, and it
will probably be only PCIe x8 electrically (but still better than
AGP).

> Not to argue with your expertise, but in my instance, why?

Better 2D performance, features, support -- especially DVI, dual-head, etc...

And since this list also addresses Windows, "I need a 2004+ generation
3D accelerator just to do basic 2D graphics" Vista support starts with
the nVidia NV4x and ATI R4xx series.

> Given a new board, and good RAM memory what will the nVidia suggestion
> do that my current Millenium G400 won't do?  And, is the suggested board
> worth the extra dollars?

I think you keep missing the point.  See my blog article ...
http://thebs413.blogspot.com/2006/02/geforce-6-and-7-series-variants-nuts.html

The nVidia C51 chipset _includes_ a 2004+ generation 2D/3D GPU in the
NV44 (GeForce 61x0 series) "for free."  It's 2/1 pixel/vertex with
only a 425-475MHz clock might not be a major performance-crown winner
versus other GeForce 6/7 series cards, but versus even a GeForce
FX5200/5500/5700LE, it _smacks'em_silly_!

Going back to a 6 year-old Matrox G-series is like comparing a
contemporary sedan to a Ford model T.  ;)  Especially since even the
chipset-integrated GPU gets better performance using system memory
than the local 8-32MB on the G-series.

> I found one at Costco for $289 plus tax.  Is there one just about as
> good, at a lessor cost on the internet?

If you don't need widescreen, 19" LCDs with near-4:3 aspect, 1280x1024
resolution are as low as $100 after rebate, and typically well under
$200 out-the-door.  That includes having DVI (Digital Video
Interface), which is pretty much what you want to use for LCDs (and
not old analog VGA/DB15 connectors).

Just make sure your video card/mainboard has DVI out, or a riser card
available if the GPU is built-into the mainboard chipset.

> I am not married to Princeton.  It is just that they have done me well
> over the past 15/20 years.

Considering 99% of LCD panels are made by 3 companies, brand name
really doesn't mean squat -- other than for support.