Jade Falcon wrote:

Just got a PCI-e ASUS XONAR DX like new with box for 35$ 😀
My new dual 1366 system sold be cool, add that sound card and 48bg of ram, a 2gb 285 and 6 120gb ssd's in raid 😈

Enjoy your microphone and line out crosstalk if you use the front panel connector for a headset. No, it wasn't my case doing it, I verified that the onboard audio had zero crosstalk between input and output.

Also enjoy the EAX "acceleration"* that doesn't require anything like ALchemy, at the expense of a process that force loads its own dsound.dll into every process in the system. foobar2000 actually employed a workaround to avoid loading DirectSound in a way that was hooked by that system, but they may have "fixed" that by now.

* I don't think any of the Xonar cards have a hardware DSP, just a multimedia interface and DAC/ADC chip, so it's probably all software processing.

Because Intel likes to exaggerate on minimum system requirements 😉

I was waiting for someone to do that 😁

How does it stack up to other things, such as a Samsung SSD? 😉

It's a "OK" NVMe drive (based on capacity difference).
With ~1GB/s sequential Reads and very slow (150MB/s) sequential Write speeds - it's not for everyone at this point (even SATA3 SSDs can be faster in some cases).
I'm using PCI-e 2.0 board, that's why reads are up to 500MB/s mark (this is "PCI-e x2" device).
Still, random reads and writes are nice (500-700MB/s for read, and 100-150MB/s for write).
All those values are for 16GB version (32GB has double* the Write speeds and 40%* higher reads).
*If I remeber correctly
Lowest latency I seen (ie. the selling point for this drive) was 0,011ms (so... 11us or 11000ns) and that was in HD Tune Pro 5.60 (I add a screenshot once I get back to home).

Biggest problem I have with it is capacity (Win 10 x64 is using 96% of the drive space, and that's with updates/GPU drivers and hibernation off).
I'm using 16GB version because 32GB isn't available yet in my country.

Other thoughts :
It's a solid Linux drive that doesn't need TRIM support (XPoint memory).
I was hoping to get Win XP running, but there are no drivers for NVMe (I hoped this thing supported AHCI mode, but it doesn't) 🙁
To boot from this drive, you need a EFI booting support on motherboard (can be done with 3-rd party software), GPT booting capable OS (only 64-bit at this point) and NVMe driver (generic one is included in Windows 7 SP1 x64 and newer ones [after some updates]).

The point of optane really is to be a cache for your drives. The way you are using it... it wasnt designed for. Maybe in a year or so, but not now.

luckybob wrote:

The point of optane really is to be a cache for your drives. The way you are using it... it wasnt designed for. Maybe in a year or so, but not now.

To be blunt, Optane is a money grab on new memory technology (RnD ain't cheap, and not selling anything is not profitable for anyone).
Someone at Intel simply decided to sell it as HDD cache.
I say it's stupid idea, here's why :
1) Who uses HDDs for OS in 2017 ?
2) For the same price as hdd/optane combo, SSDs are faster and don't need learing stuff to be fast (in case of NVMe PCIe x4, they are a lot faster). To me SSDs are simply better perf*capacity/$$ deal than Optane.
3) If someone wanted a big cached hdd, it bought SSHD already (it's 2017 guys, not 2007)

Don't get me wrong, I know what Intel sells.
But I think they should have sell it as USB 3.1/Thunderbolt "pendrive", or a small SSD (with HDD caching function as a option of it's use).
That NVMe requirement sucks tho 🙁 (can't be used in M.2 "B-key" or in AHCI mode).

agent_x007 wrote:

To be blunt, Optane is a money grab on new memory technology (RnD ain't cheap, and not selling anything is not profitable for an […]
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To be blunt, Optane is a money grab on new memory technology (RnD ain't cheap, and not selling anything is not profitable for anyone).
Someone at Intel simply decided to sell it as HDD cache.
I say it's stupid idea, here's why :
1) Who uses HDDs for OS in 2017 ?
2) For the same price as hdd/optane combo, SSDs are faster and don't need learing stuff to be fast (in case of NVMe PCIe x4, they are a lot faster). To me SSDs are simply better perf*capacity/$$ deal than Optane.
3) If someone wanted a big cached hdd, it bought SSHD already (it's 2017 guys, not 2007)

Don't get me wrong, I know what Intel sells.
But I think they should have sell it as USB 3.1/Thunderbolt "pendrive", or a small SSD (with HDD caching function as a option of it's use).
That NVMe requirement sucks tho 🙁 (can't be used in M.2 "B-key" or in AHCI mode).

Just so ya know, almost every laptop for $600 or less today comes with a mechanical hard drive for OS as standard still, but usually have an m.2 slot as well. So with optane.. making it cheap and just slap it in and it's actually shown to increase general OS usage by as much as +260% or more... it's actually a pretty awesome little device for it's intended purpose.

kithylin wrote:

Just so ya know, almost every laptop for $600 or less today comes with a mechanical hard drive for OS as standard still, but usually have an m.2 slot as well. So with optane.. making it cheap and just slap it in and it's actually shown to increase general OS usage by as much as +260% or more... it's actually a pretty awesome little device for it's intended purpose.

OK.
So... if there are M.2 slots, and (I guess) it can only have one 2,5" drive...
Why someone would buy 16GB Optane for 40$ (LINK), when 128GB M.2 NVMe SSD is for 65$ : LINK ?
Adding 25$ is a no brainer (at least to me), because for that you get actual space/capacity you can use for anything you want.
+ That same HDD will work faster as well, just because OS isn't on it.

agent_x007 wrote:

OK. So... if there are M.2 slots, and (I guess) it can only have one 2,5" drive... Why someone would buy 16GB Optane for 40$ ( […]
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kithylin wrote:

Just so ya know, almost every laptop for $600 or less today comes with a mechanical hard drive for OS as standard still, but usually have an m.2 slot as well. So with optane.. making it cheap and just slap it in and it's actually shown to increase general OS usage by as much as +260% or more... it's actually a pretty awesome little device for it's intended purpose.

OK.
So... if there are M.2 slots, and (I guess) it can only have one 2,5" drive...
Why someone would buy 16GB Optane for 40$ (LINK), when 128GB M.2 NVMe SSD is for 65$ : LINK ?
Adding 25$ is a no brainer (at least to me), because for that you get actual space/capacity you can use for anything you want.
+ That same HDD will work faster as well, just because OS isn't on it.

Because in order to use that or even put the OS on the other drive you'd have to deal with cloning, or re-installing the OS all together.. and most new laptops today store the system restore as a partition on the main mechanical drive.. and you'd have to hope your cloning software can clone all the partitions over including that.. and if you do a full software re-install, you'd probably wipe the restore partition in the process.. etc, gets messy. Where as with optane you just stick it in and it boosts your drive and you're off to the races.

kithylin wrote:

Because in order to use that or even put the OS on the other drive you'd have to deal with cloning, or re-installing the OS all together.. and most new laptops today store the system restore as a partition on the main mechanical drive.. and you'd have to hope your cloning software can clone all the partitions over including that.. and if you do a full software re-install, you'd probably wipe the restore partition in the process.. etc, gets messy. Where as with optane you just stick it in and it boosts your drive and you're off to the races.

Installing a clean Windows on a laptop may actually be a good idea : LINK.
I'm pretty sure, that recovery partition has all the bloatware pre-installed 🙁

Because of this, Windows installed by OEM company is good for one thing (to me that is)...
Getting that Windows OEM key for new installation 😀

But I'm good with computers, and I understand that there are people that can't be bothered with this.

agent_x007 wrote:

Installing a clean Windows on a laptop may actually be a good idea : LINK. I'm pretty sure, that recovery partition has all the […]
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kithylin wrote:

Because in order to use that or even put the OS on the other drive you'd have to deal with cloning, or re-installing the OS all together.. and most new laptops today store the system restore as a partition on the main mechanical drive.. and you'd have to hope your cloning software can clone all the partitions over including that.. and if you do a full software re-install, you'd probably wipe the restore partition in the process.. etc, gets messy. Where as with optane you just stick it in and it boosts your drive and you're off to the races.

Installing a clean Windows on a laptop may actually be a good idea : LINK.
I'm pretty sure, that recovery partition has all the bloatware pre-installed 🙁

Because of this, Windows installed by OEM company is good for one thing (to me that is)...
Getting that Windows OEM key for new installation 😀

But I'm good with computers, and I understand that there are people that can't be bothered with this.

I am too. And normally I'm right there with you.. formatting it is the very first thing I'd do on a new machine and install my own windows license/OS. But.. Some companies (Lenovo) will actually void your warranty if you send in a laptop for service and it's missing the recovery partition because we formatted. Usually it's pretty important to keep that intact, at least until your warranty period expires.

Recently I bought two AverMedia capture cards, a Game Broadcaster HD for HDMI & VGA capture and a AverTV Hybrid NanoExpress to watch DVB-T and capture composite & Svideo.

The GBHD was bought on eBay, I've tested that it works and little more, supposedly it has very low input latency and you can use it to play on the capture PC monitor and record at the same time.

The AverTV is an ExpressCard card so you can watch digital TV (also analogic, but in my contry there are no more analogic channels, at least legal ones 🤣) and it also lets you record "legacy" analogic video in a laptop, something very uncommon USB dongles apart. One of its advantages is that it really has low latency in the video capture, so you can play a fullscreen PS2 game in the laptop monitor and record it at the same time; also the latest AverTV version works very well.

2x Opteron 6238 ES (12C Interlagos, up to 2.9 GHz). They should have unlocked multiplier, can't wait to try some OC. 😈

havli wrote:

2x Opteron 6238 ES (12C Interlagos, up to 2.9 GHz). They should have unlocked multiplier, can't wait to try some OC. 😈

<snip>

Legitimate question.... does the motherboard you intend to use them in support overclocking in it's bios? I've never seen one that does before and I've tried a few dual-socket opteron boards in the day. Which motherboard are you using with these? I found an ASUS KGPE-D16 Dual-G34, curious myself.. there's no option in bios to change the cpu multiplier, even if the cpu did support it.. and there's a few Dual-G34 motherboards from SuperMicro.. and I know for a fact no supermicro boards ever support overclocking at all.

No, I don't think any board supports it. However it is possible to set voltage and multiplier using TurionPowerControl from windows or linux OS... on some boards at least, KGPE-D16 is one of them. It works even for regular retail CPUs (locked)... I could undervolt my Opteron 6272 and force it to use proper all-core turbo at 2.4 GHz. Otherwise it was running only at base clock. Of course locked Opterons ignore multiplier higher that all-core turbo, only ES can be set higher.

havli wrote:

No, I don't think any board supports it. However it is possible to set voltage and multiplier using TurionPowerControl from windows or linux OS... on some boards at least, KGPE-D16 is one of them. It works even for regular retail CPUs (locked)... I could undervolt my Opteron 6272 and force it to use proper all-core turbo at 2.4 GHz. Otherwise it was running only at base clock. Of course locked Opterons ignore multiplier higher that all-core turbo, only ES can be set higher.

Ah! Thanks for answering. I've never had any luck with software in-windows overclocking personally. ALl the computers I've played with it in, usually crashes/bluescreens instantly. But some people have been successful with it, I guess it just boils down to luck.. good luck with your system.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of these utilities either. But sometimes it works fine - like this case, or nForce2/3/4 ClockGen. SetFSB P4C800 edition is also very good and works for P4P800, P4C800 series and even Asus PC-DL / PCH-DL Xeon boards. 😀

havli wrote:

Yeah, I'm not a fan of these utilities either. But sometimes it works fine - like this case, or nForce2/3/4 ClockGen. SetFSB P4C800 edition is also very good and works for P4P800, P4C800 series and even Asus PC-DL / PCH-DL Xeon boards. 😀

This is really lucky as the supposedly new Asus PC-DL I bought on Ebay from a Polish Ebay store is somewhat defect. It will not POST at 133MHz (auto/default) with any CPU although I have tested 3 different officially supported native 133 MHz FSB Xeon models. It won't even POST when forced to 133 MHz using the undocumented jumper setting (same as on the NCCH-DL).

The motherboard does however work perfectly when forced (using the jumpers) to the 100 MHz strap with only the 3:4 memory divider availible and then set to 133 MHz using SetFSB in Windows. Finding memory that would tolerate this boards ultra low memory voltage (I measured ~2.4V) at memory speeds over 150 MHz was not trival though but in the end I found a couple of 1GB sticks that handled 200 MHz using 2.5-3-3-7 timings so I could use 150 MHz FSB. I guess the memory sub timings are really tight when the 100 MHz strap is used as most memory modules that can handle running at 200+ MHz with tight timings on other motherboard using only 2.5 - 2-6V crapped out at ~150 MHz on this motherboard even with relaxed primary timings.

I tried contacting the store that sold the motherboard without luck (perhaps they don't speak English...) so my options were to open a case and return the motherboard or making the best out of the situation. I opted for using two Gallatin MP 4M overclocked to 23*150 = 3450 MHz with the memory running at a nice and even 200 MHz. I would think the system is on avarage just as fast as it would have been with two Gallatin DP 1M 3.2 (24*133) running at 18*200 = 3600 MHz (POSTing at 133 MHz with the 18x multiplier set in the BIOS and the memory at 1:1 then using SetFSB in Windows). The two things that bothers me the most (except for the stupid Polish seller) are that the Gallatin 4M is a CPU from early 2004 and this was supposed to be a year 2003 system and that the low FSB really hurts the performance in Doom 3 compared to my P4 EE Gallatin 2M running on a P4C800 motherboard.

I have been using the system for gaming the last week and it's really solid. The adjustable multipliers makes these systems really sweet. It's a shame CPUs always POST at the default multiplier on the Asus i875P Xeon boards before the BIOS kicks in and lowers it to the multiplier set as this makes it's impossible to POST at any other FSB strap than 100 MHz with the Gallatin MP 4M or any FSB strap higher than 133 MHz using the Gallatin DP 1M or 2M even using a fully working motherboard (I also own a fully working Asus NCCH-DL but I have only used it for testing as I do not have any heat sink mounting kits that fit). I think Iwills i875P Xeon motherboard always POST at 100 MHz FSB using the 100 MHz strap, requests the CPUs lowest multiplier then rePOST using the default or requested strap and then finally adjusts the multiplier and FSB to the values set in the BIOS thus avoiding this issue. I think the Iwill board needed a small hardware mod to be able to set other straps than the CPU default one though?

This is the first system I cased in a really long time, I will probably make a thread about it.

Edit.

I should not have written that the system was really solid, I totally jinxed it! 😁

The Asus PC-DL system just suffered a catastrophic HDD crash. First (from one moment to the next) the bearings totally gave up resulting in really REALLY nasty noise and while I tried rescuing some data it seemed a platter actually stating getting loose resulting in a head crash that made enough noise to wake a baby next door...

I have always thought Maxtor makes relaiable HDDs but this MaxLine Plus II 250GB broke all my previous records for violent HDD crashes! The Maxtor drive was a dumpster find so it's not a big loss but the XP install was finally fully updated... I hope the "new" Samsung HD252HJ 250GB drive (also a dumpster find) will last longer than the two weeks the Maxtor drive survived.

/Edit

Skyscraper wrote:

...

I have always thought Maxtor makes relaiable HDDs ...

Maxtor? Reliable disks? 😕 They were always the worst garbage of all well established brands; when I work in IT support for each Segate failed disk we have three Maxtors, and the installed base was more or less the same. By the way, Seagate quality went down the drain just after they bought Maxtor. Coincidence? I doubt it.

What's of note here is I bought these SODIMM <-> DIMM adapters for $8 each and using 2 x 8GB out of my laptop in my mini-ITX system, where it needs it a lot more than my laptop does. Interesting little things, works right off natively.