[opensuse] Upgraded Hardware - Foreseeable Problems?
I am currently running SuSE v9.3 on an old, slow 32bit CPU and am contemplating several upgrades in sequence. I would appreciate some advise as I am definitely not a hardware person and primarily run other folks scientific software (I have a research program in computational chemistry) rather than write my own. The CPU I'm looking at is the AMD Athlon 64 3500+. The motherboard is a MSI K9N Neo-F, MS-7260 Ver 1.0 K9N nForce 550 (I don't know anything about hardware, but I can copy a label). The motherboard only has one PCI slot for a master and a slave. My current linux box has 3 HD's, but I'm prepared to give one up (keep it as a spare for my Win XP machine). There are 4 SATA connections, but I know nothing about them. I presume that any hard drive connected to one of those must be a SATA HD, or is there some sort of adapter? Also, what about DC/DVD drive how would that be connected? I have an old CD drive on the linux box now, but am willing to upgrade it to a DVD. Sorry to have asked so many low level questions, but, as I said, I'm not a hardware person. Thanks in advance. -- Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. Life is a fuzzy set Foundation for Chemistry Stochastic and multivariant http://www.geocities.com/FoundationForChemistry -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sunday 04 February 2007 13:34, Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. wrote:
I am currently running SuSE v9.3 on an old, slow 32bit CPU and am contemplating several upgrades in sequence. I would appreciate some advise as I am definitely not a hardware person and primarily run other folks scientific software (I have a research program in computational chemistry) rather than write my own.
The CPU I'm looking at is the AMD Athlon 64 3500+. The motherboard is a MSI K9N Neo-F, MS-7260 Ver 1.0 K9N nForce 550 (I don't know anything about hardware, but I can copy a label).
The motherboard only has one PCI slot for a master and a slave.
I guess you mean IDE here
My current linux box has 3 HD's, but I'm prepared to give one up (keep it as a spare for my Win XP machine). There are 4 SATA connections, but I know nothing about them. I presume that any hard drive connected to one of those must be a SATA HD, or is there some sort of adapter? Also, what about DC/DVD drive how would that be connected?
Normally on the IDE cable, the same connection as for the hard drives
I have an old CD drive on the linux box now, but am willing to upgrade it to a DVD.
Sorry to have asked so many low level questions, but, as I said, I'm not a hardware person.
Well, I didn't actually see a question anywhere. The hardware looks decent enough. If you want to keep using your IDE drives, there are IDE controllers you can buy, that connect to a PCI slot. This way you could use all your old drives, plus a DVD, even when the motherboard doesn't have room for them. It is a good idea to go SATA though, if it's in your budget I would throw in one or two SATA drives into the package if I were you -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Many thanks for your encouraging reply. Yes, I did mean IDE. On Sunday February 04, 2007 7:53:17 am Anders Johansson wrote:
On Sunday 04 February 2007 13:34, Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. wrote:
I am currently running SuSE v9.3 on an old, slow 32bit CPU and am contemplating several upgrades in sequence. I would appreciate some advise as I am definitely not a hardware person and primarily run other folks scientific software (I have a research program in computational chemistry) rather than write my own.
The CPU I'm looking at is the AMD Athlon 64 3500+. The motherboard is a MSI K9N Neo-F, MS-7260 Ver 1.0 K9N nForce 550 (I don't know anything about hardware, but I can copy a label).
The motherboard only has one PCI slot for a master and a slave.
I guess you mean IDE here
My current linux box has 3 HD's, but I'm prepared to give one up (keep it as a spare for my Win XP machine). There are 4 SATA connections, but I know nothing about them. I presume that any hard drive connected to one of those must be a SATA HD, or is there some sort of adapter? Also, what about DC/DVD drive how would that be connected?
Normally on the IDE cable, the same connection as for the hard drives
I have an old CD drive on the linux box now, but am willing to upgrade it to a DVD.
Sorry to have asked so many low level questions, but, as I said, I'm not a hardware person.
Well, I didn't actually see a question anywhere. The hardware looks decent enough. If you want to keep using your IDE drives, there are IDE controllers you can buy, that connect to a PCI slot. This way you could use all your old drives, plus a DVD, even when the motherboard doesn't have room for them.
It is a good idea to go SATA though, if it's in your budget I would throw in one or two SATA drives into the package if I were you
-- Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. Life is a fuzzy set Foundation for Chemistry Stochastic and multivariant http://www.geocities.com/FoundationForChemistry -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sunday 04 February 2007 07:34, Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. wrote:
Many thanks for your encouraging reply. Yes, I did mean IDE.
Hi Stephen, Motherboard change can require a lot more investment than price of motherboard, like: - bigger power supply as todays processors are using more electricity, - new faster RAM modules to gain something from increased CPU speed, or even to be able to run as older 32 bit machine can have PC 100 RAM that can't be reused for the board in question, - new SATA hard drives, as on single IDE connector you can have 2 devices, and giving up on the optical drive will make impossible to install proprietary software. Using external USB DVD drive is possible, but it cost more than internal one, - external network card as search for linux on Vitesse web page returns nothing, Google query"Vitesse VSC8601" returns questions without answer, at least few that I checked. Taking all it can come out that is cheaper to by new computer, computer without OS or some barebone system, like those advertised on Tiger Direct, than to start upgrade. References: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=... http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_amd64_1.0-9746.html http://www.vitesse.com/products/product.php?number=VSC8601 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=332 -- Regards, Rajko. http://en.opensuse.org/Portal -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 13:53:17 +0100, Anders Johansson <andjoh@rydsbo.net> took time to say the following: (^_^)On Sunday 04 February 2007 13:34, Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. wrote: (^_^)> I am currently running SuSE v9.3 on an old, slow 32bit CPU and am (^_^)> contemplating several upgrades in sequence. I would appreciate some advise (^_^)> as I am definitely not a hardware person and primarily run other folks (^_^)> scientific software (I have a research program in computational chemistry) (^_^)> rather than write my own. (^_^)> (^_^)> The CPU I'm looking at is the AMD Athlon 64 3500+. The motherboard is a (^_^)> MSI K9N Neo-F, MS-7260 Ver 1.0 K9N nForce 550 (I don't know anything about (^_^)> hardware, but I can copy a label). (^_^)> (^_^)> The motherboard only has one PCI slot for a master and a slave. (^_^) (^_^)I guess you mean IDE here I don't know every board out there, but never heard of a board with only one IDE controller/slot. (not to say they don't exist). (^_^)> My current (^_^)> linux box has 3 HD's, but I'm prepared to give one up (keep it as a spare (^_^)> for my Win XP machine). There are 4 SATA connections, but I know nothing (^_^)> about them. I presume that any hard drive connected to one of those must (^_^)> be a SATA HD, or is there some sort of adapter? Also, what about DC/DVD (^_^)> drive how would that be connected? (^_^) (^_^)Normally on the IDE cable, the same connection as for the hard drives This is where you start to lose some performance if you have to have to connect an optical drive and hd to the same controller/slot. (^_^)> I have an old CD drive on the linux box (^_^)> now, but am willing to upgrade it to a DVD. (^_^)> (^_^)> Sorry to have asked so many low level questions, but, as I said, I'm not a (^_^)> hardware person. (^_^) (^_^)Well, I didn't actually see a question anywhere. The hardware looks decent (^_^)enough. If you want to keep using your IDE drives, there are IDE controllers (^_^)you can buy, that connect to a PCI slot. This way you could use all your old (^_^)drives, plus a DVD, even when the motherboard doesn't have room for them. (^_^) (^_^)It is a good idea to go SATA though, if it's in your budget I would throw in (^_^)one or two SATA drives into the package if I were you That is an option (ide controller) especially if he wishes to continue using the ide drives, but even if he gives up one, he's still SOL because you can't put three ide devices on one controller. I would suggest looking at either getting another motherboard with two ide controllers. That way he can keep all his ide hd's PLUS the new DVD he will (should) get. Since a lot of installations are now coming out on DVD. SATA drive prices are still falling so maybe he can get one (or two) that could replace the ide drives he has now, and plus the performance will be greatly enhanced if he got rid of the ide drives all together. The two 320GB sata drives I have only cost $99 each, One other thing as well, I would suggest if he's going to use the same case with the new haedware, I would purchase a bigger/better power supply as well. Just one of those "just in case" type things. :-) Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. -Will Rogers -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sunday 04 February 2007 17:41, Charles R. Buchanan wrote:
I don't know every board out there, but never heard of a board with only one IDE controller/slot. (not to say they don't exist).
The trend is towards SATA-only. It won't be long before motherboards don't have any IDE slots at all, just like ISA cards eventually disappeared in favour of PCI.
That is an option (ide controller) especially if he wishes to continue using the ide drives, but even if he gives up one, he's still SOL because you can't put three ide devices on one controller.
Depends on what you mean by controller. PCI IDE controllers usually let you have at least four devices, and often more than that. These controller cards have more than one cable, and the IDE limit is two per cable, not two per controller card -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 18:44:49 +0100, Anders Johansson <andjoh@rydsbo.net> took time to say the following: (^_^)On Sunday 04 February 2007 17:41, Charles R. Buchanan wrote: (^_^)> I don't know every board out there, but never heard of a board with only (^_^)> one IDE controller/slot. (not to say they don't exist). (^_^) (^_^)The trend is towards SATA-only. It won't be long before motherboards don't (^_^)have any IDE slots at all, just like ISA cards eventually disappeared in (^_^)favour of PCI. That's true. My motherboard has two ide slots and four sata connections. They all were used at one time. (CD-Burner, DVD Burner, two IDE Drives) Had a PCI IDE Controller Card for the DVD-ROM. (^_^)> That is an option (ide controller) especially if he wishes to continue (^_^)> using the ide drives, but even if he gives up one, he's still SOL (^_^)> because you can't put three ide devices on one controller. (^_^) (^_^)Depends on what you mean by controller. PCI IDE controllers usually let you (^_^)have at least four devices, and often more than that. These controller cards (^_^)have more than one cable, and the IDE limit is two per cable, not two per (^_^)controller card Mixed things up a little, when I was referring to the IDE controller, I was referring to the onboard controller. If you have two slots, you also have two controllers. :-) The bad thing about those controller cards is, if your installation (OS) disc doesn't have the drivers and you don't have a floppy drive, it makes things very interesting. :-O Learned that the hard way of course! :-) Too many people spend money they haven't earned to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like. -Will Rogers -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sunday 04 February 2007 06:34:56 am Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. wrote:
I am currently running SuSE v9.3 on an old, slow 32bit CPU and am contemplating several upgrades in sequence. I would appreciate some advise as I am definitely not a hardware person and primarily run other folks scientific software (I have a research program in computational chemistry) rather than write my own.
Are you keeping this older system intact? Are you adding an additional system? Why bother upgrading an old case if you have to swap out the power supply, mainboard, cpu, memory, SATA for IDE drives, DVD burner for CD, etc? May as well add a system and keep this old one as online backup space, music server, etc. The old memory won't do the new CPU justice and may cause nasty headaches because its too slow, aren't matched pairs, etc. Budget for new monitor? If not, get a 2-port KVM switch to run both systems.
The CPU I'm looking at is the AMD Athlon 64 3500+. The motherboard is a MSI K9N Neo-F, MS-7260 Ver 1.0 K9N nForce 550 (I don't know anything about hardware, but I can copy a label).
Check at NewEgg.com for customer reviews on any of the new products you are considering. Should give you something to go on as far as possible issues you may run into, problems or successes others have had, etc.
The motherboard only has one PCI slot for a master and a slave. My current linux box has 3 HD's, but I'm prepared to give one up (keep it as a spare for my Win XP machine). There are 4 SATA connections, but I know nothing about them. I presume that any hard drive connected to one of those must be a SATA HD, or is there some sort of adapter? Also, what about DC/DVD drive how would that be connected? I have an old CD drive on the linux box now, but am willing to upgrade it to a DVD.
May as well get a case and power supply for all this. As others mention go SATA for HDDs. A single IDE mainboard connector is good enough for optical devices such as a DVD burner. Lightscribe capable if that is of any interest.
Sorry to have asked so many low level questions, but, as I said, I'm not a hardware person.
No problem. You answer any newbie questions I have about computational chemistry and we'll call it even.
Thanks in advance. Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D.
Stan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Sunday 04 February 2007 23:00, S Glasoe wrote:
On Sunday 04 February 2007 06:34:56 am Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D. wrote:
I am currently running SuSE v9.3 on an old, slow 32bit CPU and am contemplating several upgrades in sequence. I would appreciate some advise as I am definitely not a hardware person and primarily run other folks scientific software (I have a research program in computational chemistry) rather than write my own.
/snip/ This is my own feeling, but I am running 9.3 and am very happy with most of it. It seems to be a very stable and reliable system. I expect to upgrade to 10.3 after I see what the list says about it. I have not been encouraged by what I have seen so far regarding 10.2, and I had serious problems with 10.0, so I "downgraded." There is nothing wrong with getting better hardware, but you might consider just installing another 9.3 until you see what comes along. I, also, am not a maven. Maybe I was, once, but the hardware and software have overtaken me. And Linux/UNIX is a far different world from the CPM/DOS that I started with! The old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," seems to me to apply here. --doug -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Monday 05 February 2007 19:34, Doug McGarrett wrote:
The old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," seems to me to apply here. Amen...
... actually there are only five rules... 1) If you open something, close it. 2) If you make a mess, clean it up. 3) If you break something, fix it. 4) If you can't fix it, call somebody who can. 5) If it ain't broke, don't fix it. -- Kind regards, M Harris <>< -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (7)
-
Anders Johansson -
Charles R. Buchanan -
Doug McGarrett -
M Harris -
Rajko M. -
S Glasoe -
Stephen P. Molnar, Ph.D.