pcstuff

PC Stuff

So the adventure begins...
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Hi, this is as much a set of ramblings as things of interest I have discovered in my playing with pcs.
Kev's Tips
Here is a list of key things to keep in mind, when looking to make your pc efficient - and fast!

**Use decent components, good brand names come from reliability.**

1. Cooling is paramount for overclocking and reliability - use good thermal pastes, I recommend Artic Silver II.
Case cooling is an art, the target is; cpu, chipset, video, and powersupply - and keep them clean!
With faster hard drives (7,200 - 15,000rpm+) you may need to cool them too!
2. Keep drives organized - scandisked and defragmented. Use Diskkeeper Lite for NT, it's freeware.
3. Safe over clocking is possible under correct circumstances, but not really necessary now days.
Don't expect your overclocked cpus to run duel at the same speed as a single overclocked cpu.
NOTE!!! It is possible to kill your processor (and motherboard) if you over voltage them too far!
4. Avoid mixing and matching hard drives with cdroms, and with cdwr and cdroms, put the cdwr first.
5. SCSI was superior to ide, but ide with raid and serial has narrowed the gap!
USB and firewire will probably replace ide, as it is stretched to its limits.
6. Busmastering under 95 has to be tempered with care, use remide patch from Microsoft. (old tip)
7. Keep internal cabling lengths to a minimum, especially ide.
8. Optimize Windows settings, use Tweak UI, optimize windialer, (old tip to be removed)
don't run too many progs in background - especially virus scanning progs.
9. Consider using Get Right or equivalent, to assist in downloading large programs from busy sites.
If you have a lower powered machine, consider using Netscape 4.7X, or Opera.
10. Consider using ancillary programs like cpuidle to lower cpu temperatures in 98. (old tip)
11. Higher bus speeds mean a faster system - but it also means the build quality of everything must be better.
12. 98SE is a good operating system, it is still the choice of many over the suckcessors.
For a lower end single processor system Win 98SE is the way to go. It is very easy to install,
and as long as there are patch updates for devices, 98SE will be the fastest and most reliable Windows,
as for ME and XP, I truly hope that Windows 2003 is better written than them.
13. For duel processor, NT4 service pack 6 plus update A was a good choice. Avoid duel Celeron,
go true blue P3 / 4 or Xeon, and all will be well. Don't expect these any duel system to be twice as fast as a single.
15. Keep a backup of your registry and essential files like that, it can save you a lot of grief!
16. DVD/ CDR / W's are a great tool, and now they have come down in price - try one.
17. PPGA and Flip chips run at different voltages, and need different adaptors for slot one,
PPGA is 2 volt, Flip chip is 1.5 - not too many people were really aware of this - beware! (old tip)
19. The transition from Socket 7, to PPGA to Flip chip, i.e the die construction,
meant that heat was less of a problem, then they wound the speed up - so again good cooling is God.
20. Water-cooling your cpu is a viable option - and it does work, but it is not a set and forget solution,
and if you have kids or stupid flatmates, etc. forget it.
21. Use some of the Microsoft apps like: sfc.exe and msconfig.exe. (old tip)

PC LINKS

More speed tips than you will ever know what to do with! (Not for the faint hearted.)
Tweaking and tips related to Seti client performance.
98Lite a very good choice if you want to unclutter your pc - especially recommend the remove IE nonsense. (And most of it is free!)
Windows 98 annoyances, been around for years, and it shows.
Seti, an addictive form of pc racing, with the benefit of having a purpose.

This section is horribly out of date, but my encounters with pcs of course have been idling along - as usual. New platforms and still the same old issues - still running seti. Since I have put my pc addiction on a restrictive diet - I've even stopped sourcing second hand stuff. I'm only running 3 machines at the moment, they put out up to 10 wu's a day, but are now no longer dedicated to seti units. I also download vaious interesting items - and of course write, which consumes a lot of pc time. My experience with watercooling has come a long way, and to be honest I think it is not for the average user. With the new machines which have so much grunt, and are so cheap, there is very little need to overclock, for any reason. Common sense should prevail...

This small update will of course be added to in due time.

Dated 22/01/2004 = DD/MM/YY

The text below is really out of date and more some of my history than anything else now.

I'm was running a Senfu cpu watercooling kit on my Celeron II 566, the consequences of this was a speed increase from 876 to 912mhz. The kit is way too unreliable for 24/7 use, the pump is the problem, I gave up on it after 2 pumps died within a couple of weeks. Totally recommended kit, totally unrecommended pump (and follow up?), which ruined the package deal!

Had a close call today, dislogded the cable connecting the cpu fan from the motherboard. I'd just put in a new ide harddrive, and it was a tight fit. Well, I put my hand in to check that the drive was not too hot, and my hand did feel warmth, but not from the drive, it was from the heatsink on the cpu. I could not touch it for more than a second, it was HOT! Thankfully it wasn't on too long, and I had mounted a second cooling fan on the back of the slocket, and another facing it - without these it would have been toast. Still it is a credit to the robustness of the cpu, a 566 running at 850 (at this time) with no heatsink cooling to speak of - and it didn't even lock up! I'm seriously impressed, and it is back now at 864, as if nothing had ever happened. And who said Intel and Celerons were for toy boys, bang for bucks, they get my vote - and I challenge anyone to show me a better platform, for the money.

Hi all, well it's been a while, but I'm back. I have just upgraded to a Celeron 566, and overclocked it to 876. It runs at 912 with lots of cooling - but it's not a real life option. I will be trying the duel option soon, but I have found, that running duel is not double, or even half that. My Seti effort is going well, an enditement to computing, you are welcome to join me in this, my contribution to this date is quite large. Find me at NewZealand - Chistchurch, on the Seti board.

For the moment I have abandoned Redhat and kicking and screaming have bowed to the Microsoft God. Redhat is just too young an operating system to be expected to be loaded in an hour, and all apps and hardware running by the end of a week. A better installation sequence, and friendlier geeks would certainly make the average Joe a dediceted user, rather than a wannabe. I'm getting to grips with NT now, and for a challenge have added some 100meg network cards and a switch to the equation. My duel 458 (yeah I have to run at that for stability here in the summer) Nt box is now at service pack 6, directx 7, with a TNT2 card and mega big cpu heatsinks. Stability is now reality, I have not had a crash for over a week, not matter what I do. I'm presently using ishare for modem sharing, and it works some of the time. Wingate and Sygate have been tried and tossed out the door, reliability being the issue. I will be trying more modem sharing programs in the future, as I'm not happy with ishare either. Has anyone found a truly stable modem sharing program, does such a thing really exist? (I have my doubts) Both my machines are active 24 hours a day, running Seti, at the moment I'm doing a file every 18-20 hours, on both machines. My K6 2 300 running 98se is just as fast as the duel Celeron 458 running NT 4 SP 6, so it just goes to show, running duel is not necessarily an advantage. For me it was the challenge of going duel and learning NT, I have no other excuse.

Hi, well it's been a while, Dad's been ill, and my Sister has come to visit. Enough of me, back to the pc stuff. I'm still running my old board (mycomp) duel lot 1, ultra2 onboard etc. I have just upgraded to a 566 Celeron, I've read a lot about them, they are very overclockable - my 566 runs nicely at 864, and on a cold day at 912 - once I find a good slocket (Asus ones are not overclocker friendly anymore;-( ) I'll try doing the duel thing at full speed.

Hi, I've written this a couple of times, to have my pc crash, so I feel I can speak without it editing what I say. I have changed mother boards (mycom duel slot 1), hard drives (Seagate scsi ultra2 lvd 10,000 rpm), operating systems (Gack! NT4 Server sp6), well just about it all, and still think there is a way to go. I am now running duel Celeron 550 (PPGA with slot one adpator at 366 * 100) on a scsi ultra2 lvd platform, using a Seagate Cheeta 10,000 rpm drive. Going duel of course means trying a suitable operating system, I'm currently trying Redhat 6.0, NT4 and Windows 2000 - I'll let you know what I think of these in a month or so. I'm looking at changing my sound and vid' as well, in anticipation of the DVDram event. My thoughts are that with a Creative Labs Live value (for THX sound effects) and an Asus 3800 TNT2/TVR for games and video output, the package should be pretty much complete. I stand to be corrected on this, if you have any additional suggestions, let me know.

Well I'm running at 366, since I can't find a 300 that will run at 450, for myself. Still, to amplify on that, the 366 / 450 comparison was less than expected and the 300 at 450 wasn't exactly and totally stable. I'm quite happy here with a 366 celeron, which will be times two soon, as soon as I get Redhat 5.3 on cd at a reasonable price? I also have been evaluating Browsers, so far Netscape 4.61, IE5, and Opera 3.6, so far it looks like Opera 3.6 is the most stable, but it is not free ware, so I can't recommend it, since what you get free as share ware might not be what you get as a purchased product.
Other than that, on the board is a Asus 3400tnt/tv card, but the tnt2 is out, and kicks ass by the sounds of things.
Also, a Creative Labs Live Value card could be worth a shot, it has a shape price and is packed with features. I may evaluate one after I have shifted in the next couple of weeks.

Well here we are again, at a cross roads, and this time the machine is not an AMD beast, I have given that idea away for the time being. The K6 2 and 3 series seem to suffer from a lack of horsepower, and aren't really that wonderful. As much as I didn't want to, I have migrated back to an Intel machine, a Celery (Celeron) flavor to be exact. The new machine is a Gigabyte duel slot one, and I intend to run two modified 300a's at 450 in it. I am currently running one of the 300's at 450 in it at the moment. Ironically the 300 is not mine, I brought two 366's coz I couldn't get a Malaysian cpu. But the 366's are clock locked, both multiplier and bus, another evil plot by Intel to prevent it's customers from getting a bargain. I suppose a $200 processor that gives a $1400 dollar one a run for its money, was too much for them to swallow. Intel gets my big thumbs down for that one! The Intel press have duped us again!
Anyways a 300A at 450 is just about twice as fast as a K6 2 300, 1.4 gig of sound files can be compressed into mp3s in 55 minutes, compared to 1.48. Also there don't seem to be stability issues any more, things just work, rather than mysteriously coming and going. The operating temperature of a Celeron is much less than a K6, generally by about 10 degrees, and the heatsink on the Celery is pretty much cold to the touch. The same could definitely not be said for the K6.
The super socket 7 format is a disaster, fraught with compromises that make it a nightmare. The Asus p5 series is a classic example, with the flawed Ali chipset, I had nothing but endless trouble keeping my machine reliable. Then there is the TNT video card incompatibility, to add to the list of things you would like to have, but can't run...
Then there is the Seagate Medalist Pro drive, supposedly a high end reputable name brand drive. Pity it wasn't actually made in a Seagate factory, and suffers from heat exhaustion if you don't externally cool it. The Seagate is going to be given the push in favor of an IBM Deskstar, which is faster, runs cold, and is cheaper.
The maxim so far seems, don't rely on name brand products any more, just because a brand was good at one time, does not mean it will continue to be.
Of course when I go duel, and a lot of people say why did I even bother, well the price was right, and eventually duel will be just another upgrade path. I will have to change operating systems to take advantage of the duel thing, NT or Linux Redhat, or duel boot. Probably multiple boot, coz despite how awful 95 is, it is a workable platform, with lots of applications that work well most of the time in it.
So there you have it, another system, another upgrade, I'm not so sure. BTW the opinions and facts presented here are from personal experience, maybe you have different views and experiences with these products, it you have I'd be only too happy to hear of them...

So, the game is finally up, after all my problems I finally blew a fuse and got a new system, but the ironic thing was, a day later I discovered my system had the CIH virus! Every executable was infected, so it is possible my old hardware was not as bad as I thought. consequently I now have 2 machines, networked together and sharing the same modem via Wingate. Actually having two machines is quite convenient, surf the net times two, and you can play 2 player games :-). Setting up the network and Wingate was a good learning experience, I recommend it to anyone who can get the chance, it sure does hammer home the layers required in networking to get everything going.

Well after about 5 months of hell I have finally gotten to get my pc settled down, read below for further babble. One of the problems was obviously the cpu, which I replaced recently, over rating it - by overclocking and over voltage had obviously damaged it in some part, it still worked, but would be VERY unpredictable. I suspect this was caused not by the over rating process, but inadequate cooling, by an inferior heat sink. I have therefore fitted my own to the new cpu, and over rated it, K6 266 to 300. (75mhz X 4) so we shall see what we shall see. The system still has minor issues, but these could be caused by the Seagate Medalist Pro UATA IDE drive, which apparently does not like working with anything than the ide spec, which is a bus speed of 66 mhz. The obvious answer then is to swap out the mother board for a side bus super 7 100 mhz board. My choice would be an Asus p5a-b, but it only has 2 isa slots, and I have 3 isa cards, none of which I really want to change, so for the moment I wait, till something else breaks.

Past encounters.
I run windows 95 osr2 with the patch upgrade/s, and reluctantly have to say that it is getting to the stage where I actually am beginning to like it. Funnily enough the things that make it likable to me, seem to be echoed in other operating systems - which I discovered as I was in the process of loading Linux Redhat 5 Hurricane. I would have delved into Stampede, but it is too unfriendly at its early stage, and Linux / Unix people tend to be of the sort who when you ask them a question, reply simply - "Go and find the answer yourself." With an attitude like that, Windows will always have a place in the market, we can't all marry a pc...
I have had a bus mastering problem for a number of months, cpu load was 99 - 100% when accessing either of my hard drives (4.3g Quantum Fireball uta, and, 4.3g Quantum Big Foot) These are on separate ide channels, on a Asus TX97E motherboard. Wintune 97 and several other test programs confirm this loading. After running mb patches, upgrade from osr2 (bug fix I think) the problem remained. Then I found a link to a patch on a mp3 site, to of all places Microsoft, a fix for exactly what I was experiencing - but it was a removable media patch. Running this lowered the cpu load from 100 to 40-90% a huge difference.
A few other quick comments, I am an overclocker advocate, and have a AMDK6 200 running at 250 MHz with a bus speed of 83mhz, system is fast and reliable - but prone to issues if temperatures get too high. I have cover shielding off, with additional cooling fans, a decent heat sink on the cpu with good thermal paste - and all paste is not the same. Additionally, I have found an application called cpuidle.exe, which puts the cpu into an idle state the microsecond it is not needed, this reduces the cpu temperature from 45 C (under heavy load conditions) to a cool 29 C while writing an email in Netscape Communicator, and logged onto the net.