BTX Technology/Native Command Queuing

After 2 Gateways (with poor peformance records), I decided to go for a Dell.
I'm not a techie so an above average 'puter for the masses is what I wanted.
Some questions still need answers, though. For example:
1) Gateway (not Dell) offers BTX Technology. Is this something most companies
will pick up soon?
2) The 160G hard drive with my Dell had Native Command Queuing. Is this a good
thing or a drain (and too early in the game)?

Thanks for any & all responses!

adaspam (AWriteny) wrote :

After 2 Gateways (with poor peformance records), I decided to go
for a Dell. I'm not a techie so an above average 'puter for the
masses is what I wanted. Some questions still need answers,
though. For example: 1) Gateway (not Dell) offers BTX Technology.
Is this something most companies will pick up soon?
2) The 160G hard drive with my Dell had Native Command Queuing. Is
this a good thing or a drain (and too early in the game)?

Do you want a computer or a buzzword box ?

Pozdrawiam.
--
RusH //
http://randki.o2.pl/profil.php?id_r=352019
Like ninjas, true hackers are shrouded in secrecy and mystery.
You may never know -- UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE.

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:54:51 +0000, AWriteny wrote:

After 2 Gateways (with poor peformance records), I decided to go for a Dell.
I'm not a techie so an above average 'puter for the masses is what I wanted.

Oh, my! You're in hell dood! ;-)

Some questions still need answers, though. For example:
1) Gateway (not Dell) offers BTX Technology. Is this something most companies
will pick up soon?

Why? IMO BTX was never intended for the desktop. ISTM to be expensive
with little gain.

2) The 160G hard drive with my Dell had Native Command Queuing. Is this a good
thing or a drain (and too early in the game)?

Parallel ATA command queueing never ammounted to much. It was a poorly
thought out kludge and not well (at all?) supported. SATA command
queueing may be a different thing. It was a promise, but I don't have any
idea how well it works in practice. In reality, you won't notice the
difference.

--
Keith

AWriteny wrote:
After 2 Gateways (with poor peformance records), I decided to go for a Dell.
I'm not a techie so an above average 'puter for the masses is what I wanted.

Hoo boy, have you come to the wrong group. We mostly like to build our
own boxes, or at the very least buy them from local computer shops. We
never touch brandnames. Ph-toui. :-)

Now just sit back while we rag on you for even considering a brandname. :-)

Some questions still need answers, though. For example:
1) Gateway (not Dell) offers BTX Technology. Is this something most companies
will pick up soon?

Nope, not likely to become common.

2) The 160G hard drive with my Dell had Native Command Queuing. Is this a good
thing or a drain (and too early in the game)?

Might add some value in a server environment where you have multiple
disk drives being accessed all at once, otherwise you won't notice a
difference.

Yousuf Khan

"Yousuf Khan" wrote in message ...
AWriteny wrote:
After 2 Gateways (with poor peformance records), I decided to go for a Dell.
I'm not a techie so an above average 'puter for the masses is what I wanted.

Hoo boy, have you come to the wrong group. We mostly like to build our own boxes, or at the very least buy them from local
computer shops. We never touch brandnames. Ph-toui. :-)

Now just sit back while we rag on you for even considering a brandname. :-)

Some questions still need answers, though. For example:
1) Gateway (not Dell) offers BTX Technology. Is this something most companies
will pick up soon?

Nope, not likely to become common.

2) The 160G hard drive with my Dell had Native Command Queuing. Is this a good
thing or a drain (and too early in the game)?

Might add some value in a server environment where you have multiple disk drives being accessed all at once, otherwise you
won't notice a difference.

I'll bet NCQ gets
over-marketed to stand-alone users though too (because the HD manf's have nothing
new to offer this year?). I was chomping-at-the-bit (hoping) for 3GB/s. I'd actually buy
a new HD and use my exiting 80GB SATA for backups if 3 GB/s was available (twice
the throughput! Ooops, no I won't, because my motherboard won't support it.) Apparently
it's harder to do than thought?

AJ

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 04:13:23 +0000, AJ wrote:


"Yousuf Khan" wrote in message ...
AWriteny wrote:
After 2 Gateways (with poor peformance records), I decided to go for a Dell.
I'm not a techie so an above average 'puter for the masses is what I wanted.

Hoo boy, have you come to the wrong group. We mostly like to build our own boxes, or at the very least buy them from local
computer shops. We never touch brandnames. Ph-toui. :-)

Now just sit back while we rag on you for even considering a brandname. :-)

Some questions still need answers, though. For example:
1) Gateway (not Dell) offers BTX Technology. Is this something most companies
will pick up soon?

Nope, not likely to become common.

2) The 160G hard drive with my Dell had Native Command Queuing. Is this a good
thing or a drain (and too early in the game)?

Might add some value in a server environment where you have multiple disk drives being accessed all at once, otherwise you
won't notice a difference.

I'll bet NCQ gets
over-marketed to stand-alone users though too (because the HD manf's have nothing
new to offer this year?).

Dunno, IBM ATA drives have had command queueing for at *least* five years
and no one cared (according to those in the know, it's not surprising).

I was chomping-at-the-bit (hoping) for 3GB/s. I'd actually buy
a new HD and use my exiting 80GB SATA for backups if 3 GB/s was
available (twice the throughput! Ooops, no I won't, because my
motherboard won't support it.) Apparently it's harder to do than
thought?

Look at the STR and then tell me what performance you wish for. You're
out of line by an order of magnitude and a half! ...at least!

--
Keith

Someone wrote
Hoo boy, have you come to the wrong group. We mostly like to build our own
boxes, or at the very least buy them from local
computer shops. We never touch brandnames. Ph-toui. :-)

Now just sit back while we rag on you for even considering a brandname.

Good thing I am more of an expert in several other groups and can "rag" on
those people who haven't a clue! :-D
So, what's a girl who has the computer tech saavy of a newt, to do? Buy from a
commercial company & hope for the best...I guess!

On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 09:14:55 +0000, AWriteny wrote:

Someone wrote
Hoo boy, have you come to the wrong group. We mostly like to build our own
boxes, or at the very least buy them from local
computer shops. We never touch brandnames. Ph-toui. :-)

Now just sit back while we rag on you for even considering a brandname.

Good thing I am more of an expert in several other groups and can "rag" on
those people who haven't a clue! :-D
So, what's a girl who has the computer tech saavy of a newt, to do? Buy from a
commercial company & hope for the best...I guess!

Buy a "white-box" from a reputable vendor or take a day to learn how to
build one yourself! Thre really isn't all *that* much to building a
computer these days, assuming you know which is the business end of a
screwdriver. ;-)

--
Keith

AJ wrote:
I'll bet NCQ gets
over-marketed to stand-alone users though too (because the HD manf's have nothing
new to offer this year?). I was chomping-at-the-bit (hoping) for 3GB/s. I'd actually buy
a new HD and use my exiting 80GB SATA for backups if 3 GB/s was available (twice
the throughput! Ooops, no I won't, because my motherboard won't support it.) Apparently
it's harder to do than thought?

I bet the next big thing will be to market home SANs (Storage Area
Networks), the way I go through disk space on my desktops and laptops,
I'd love to just plug a standard IDE or SATA hard drive into an array
and connect them all up through a dedicated network.

Yousuf Khan

keith wrote:
Buy a "white-box" from a reputable vendor or take a day to learn how to
build one yourself! Thre really isn't all *that* much to building a
computer these days, assuming you know which is the business end of a
screwdriver. ;-)


I don't know if people can learn this in one day. You can be taught to
do it in one day, but getting a feel for it is a different matter.

I can remember way back when, I taught a friend of mine to service his
own computer. Back then it was not quite as friendly as it is today to
setup a computer. For example, IDE connectors were rarely ever keyed, so
there was plenty of opportunity to put it in backwards without even
realizing it. Also there was no USB, and there were choices between not
only PCI and AGP, but also ISA & VLB. For the most part my buddy got it
all, and got proficient at it. However, despite learning all of that,
one thing he never got a feel for, quite surprisingly was how to put a
RAM module into its slot. To this day, he waits for me to install his
DIMMs for him! You can never tell how some of the most minor things can
sometimes stump some people.

Yousuf Khan