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Core i7 WorkStation revised

Core i7 WorkStation revised

Sep 20, 2009 by Paul White

A few of my friends wanted me to blog a little more about my computer setup.  With the recent addition of a 30 inch Samsung SyncMaster 305T monitor to my displays, I thought this would be a good time to update the world on what I am running.

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Reason to upgrade to SSD Hard Drives

Sep 10, 2009 by Paul White

SATA and SSD DrivesAfter some thinking about SSD hard drives, and looking for a logical reason to upgrade to them in my system, I have finally found the reason.  Conservation is the name of the game.

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Intel SSDs fast but lack endurance

Feb 19, 2009 by Paul White

Intel SSD driveIn past blogs I have talked about the reason I decided to go with my Dual SAS drives instead of jumping to the newer SSD drives.The guys over at PC Perspective have published an article recently that basically backed up my theories.  If you want to use your computer long term you are better off staying away from SSD drives for now.

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SAS RAID 0 VS SCSI RAID 0 VS SATA Benchmarks

Jan 30, 2009 by Paul White

SCSI vs SAS comparison testsNow that the server world is heavily adopting SATA drives and SAS drives for those who want extra performance,  there are a lot of people wondering how this technology compares to the old IDE and SCSI drives.  Time for some performance benchmarks to put this question to rest. 

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Dell Poweredge Server won't boot after Shipping

Jan 29, 2009 by Paul White

Dell Poweredge 1750If you have ever run into the problem of buying or selling something on ebay, only to have it not work once it reaches it destination, you know the kind stress this creates.  Basically the Dell Poweredge 1750 Server I had was not booting up, and would flash an orange / amber light on the front, and had no display, and no beeps.  The solution was pretty simple, Reseat everything!

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Windows 7 to increase hardware sales

Dec 19, 2008 by Paul White

Windows 7 logoWith the huge disappointment of Windows Vista. Microsoft needs to make waves with the highly anticipated Windows 7 OS.  There have been several rumors, some of which could have a huge impact on sales for hardware manufacturers.  Keep in mind there are just rumors.  But if true Microsoft may been a good company to invest  come June 2009.

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utilizing your core i7 with SETI at home

Dec 17, 2008 by Paul White

Task Manager at 100 percent on core i7Now that you have your awesome new core i7 workstation ( like me ), its a shame that whenever you look at task manager you rarely see your 8 processing threads being utilized.  Well if you are one of those people that prefer your 4 cores not being hanging around the water cooler all day ( System Idle Process ). Then I have just the program for you.  Help in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ( SETI )



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Most Software still does not Utilize Multicore Chips

Dec 14, 2008 by Paul White

Normally when you upgrade your computer to some new wild multicore chip, as I did with the Intel i7.  You would expect some dramatic performance results.  Unfortunately it would seem that most software was not written to take advantage of the multiple cores.  Read more for an in depth rant about software and the intel i7

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PCIe SSD blows away SATA and SAS drives

Dec 11, 2008 by Paul White

Fusion IO Solid State Storage PCIe cardFusion IO has a new SSD (solid state disk ).  Except this one doesn't connect with your typical SATA or SAS connectors.  This drive is card based.  Thats right you mount it on one of your available PCIe slots (assuming you still have one available ).  Since your PCIe slot can support up to 10 GB/sec transfers this is a huge jump in performance.  While other manufactureres are trying to pack NAND flash memory into 2.5 and 3.5 inch packages. Fusion IO has skipped this step all together.  After building my own workstation based on dual SAS drives in a RAID 0 configuration.  I feel like my system has just depreciated overnight. For more specs click read
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SAS drives on ASUS P6T RAID 0 Benchmark

Dec 7, 2008 by Paul White

SAS 15K drives mounted in full towerI finally got my new workstation up and running. I will post some photos of the actual unit soon.  But for now I wanted to share these bench marks with everyone.  No need to get a dedicated RAID card, the build in SAS RAID support from the ASUS P6T x58 motherboard gets the job done just fine.
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