A7N8X DL and IDE Ben can you take a look at this, anyone else, please take a stab at this!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bitsbucket
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Bitsbucket

Hi fellow ASUS users!

I have posted about this prob. before and now have some benchmarks. I am
running XP Pro (with all current updates including SPacs) with the newest
IDE drivers from ASUS, and as for the promise card I'm running the drivers
that came with it. Details below.......
Any ideas?
TIA
Bitsbucket

Machine config.......this is accurate except I have eliminated the 52X
CD-Reader, as suggested by some one here, This is based on the fact that
some people say the drives will only run as fast as the lowest speed drive
in the chain, (so the opticals are on a channel by them selves) however I
thought this had been eliminated years ago. But I'll try anything.
When opening windows explorer, the machine seems to have to "think" about it
before displaying the directories or files in a dir....this was not a
problem with my old Gigabyte board, and a 2100+ T-bred core It had a Raid
controller I was using as a standard ATA-133 IDE controller, it was a great
board but did not support the barton cores. (and of course I just HAD to
have a faster proc) This machine was stable as a rock and I'm beginning to
regret the change. HOWEVER I am now running at 3200+ speeds and it is
stable, is the hard drive access is a bottleneck now? Am I just expecting
too much? Is the machine now so fast that the Hard drive speeds are really
beginning to show as a bottleneck? Heck I don't know?!?
Hard drive tach reports:

Read speed on HD0 (Maxtor) (boot).....max 50.9 mb/s min 1.4 mb/s average
36.1 mb/s cpu utilization 8.3% xfer mode is Ultra DMA mode 6

Read speed on HD1 (WD) slave to above drive, max 57.2 mb/s min 7.3 mb/s
average 45.8mbs cpu utilization 29.5% xfer mode is Ultra DMA mode 5


Read speed on HD2 (WD) on promise controller max 57.2 mb/s min 7.3 mbs
average 45.8mb/s cpu utilization 26.6%
This is the only drive on this controller. I have no idea what mode this
drive is in because device manager just reports the controller as a SCSI
device, and gives me no more info. I can get it at bootup but I would have
to reboot to see it, and include it in this post, if it is needed, to help
troubleshoot, let me know and I will post it as an addition to this post. I
do know it is ultra DMA....just not sure what number.

As you can see my boot drive is the slowest of the bunch, and that SUX.
Am I missing something?
--
Machine Configuration:
A7N8X Deluxe, 2500+ Barton running 200 MHz FSB = 3200+

ATI Radeon AIW 7500

Extra Promise ATA-133 Controller

Lite-On 52X Burner (this drive and the one below are on 2nd channel of
onboard controller, burner is master, DVD slave)
Pioneer Slot type DVD drive

52X CD-Rom drive (currently not in use)

Maxtor 80 Gig w/8meg cache (boot) (running on the onboard controller as HD0)

WD 120 Gig w/8meg cache (running on the onboard controller as HD1)

WD 80 Gig w/8meg cache (running on the promise)

1 Gig of Komusa PC-3500 memory w/
Copper heatsinks (512 X 2)

Solid Copper CPU heatsink w/7K rpm fan
(can you say LOUD?)

2 exhaust fans in the back of the case, 1
intake fan in front of case

Allied True Power 450 Watt power supply
(AMD Approved list pwr supply)

Antec Aluminum Case

If you need any other info, post it and I will provide it.
Thanks again,
Bitsbucket
 
Two things that might effect your scores are which format you are using on
the drives and the fragmentation level.
As for the system pausing when you look at the directories, I had seen this
on my sons machine, it drove me nuts. It turned out to be caused by an
uzip util that he was using, I think it might have been Stuff it but dont
remember for sure.
When opening directories it was slow and when trying to get the drive
properties box open there was a several second delay.
 
Sounds like the classic "shell enhancement" feature, only thing they
don't tell you is your "shell" is gonna run slower with the
enhancement. And to weed out such features, you are forced to edit an
overbloated database file called a "registry" and tinker with 25 digit
CLSID numbers that are totally greek even to informed users. Isn't
windows great, lol.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| Two things that might effect your scores are which format you are
using on
| the drives and the fragmentation level.
| As for the system pausing when you look at the directories, I had
seen this
| on my sons machine, it drove me nuts. It turned out to be caused
by an
| uzip util that he was using, I think it might have been Stuff it
but dont
| remember for sure.
| When opening directories it was slow and when trying to get the
drive
| properties box open there was a several second delay.
|
|
| | > Hi fellow ASUS users!
| >
| > I have posted about this prob. before and now have some
benchmarks. I am
| > running XP Pro (with all current updates including SPacs) with the
newest
| > IDE drivers from ASUS, and as for the promise card I'm running the
drivers
| > that came with it. Details below.......
| > Any ideas?
| > TIA
| > Bitsbucket
| >
| > Machine config.......this is accurate except I have eliminated the
52X
| > CD-Reader, as suggested by some one here, This is based on the
fact that
| > some people say the drives will only run as fast as the lowest
speed drive
| > in the chain, (so the opticals are on a channel by them selves)
however I
| > thought this had been eliminated years ago. But I'll try anything.
| > When opening windows explorer, the machine seems to have to
"think" about
| it
| > before displaying the directories or files in a dir....this was
not a
| > problem with my old Gigabyte board, and a 2100+ T-bred core It had
a Raid
| > controller I was using as a standard ATA-133 IDE controller, it
was a
| great
| > board but did not support the barton cores. (and of course I just
HAD to
| > have a faster proc) This machine was stable as a rock and I'm
beginning to
| > regret the change. HOWEVER I am now running at 3200+ speeds and it
is
| > stable, is the hard drive access is a bottleneck now? Am I just
expecting
| > too much? Is the machine now so fast that the Hard drive speeds
are really
| > beginning to show as a bottleneck? Heck I don't know?!?
| > Hard drive tach reports:
| >
| > Read speed on HD0 (Maxtor) (boot).....max 50.9 mb/s min 1.4 mb/s
average
| > 36.1 mb/s cpu utilization 8.3% xfer mode is Ultra DMA mode 6
| >
| > Read speed on HD1 (WD) slave to above drive, max 57.2 mb/s min 7.3
mb/s
| > average 45.8mbs cpu utilization 29.5% xfer mode is Ultra DMA mode
5
| >
| >
| > Read speed on HD2 (WD) on promise controller max 57.2 mb/s min 7.3
mbs
| > average 45.8mb/s cpu utilization 26.6%
| > This is the only drive on this controller. I have no idea what
mode this
| > drive is in because device manager just reports the controller as
a SCSI
| > device, and gives me no more info. I can get it at bootup but I
would have
| > to reboot to see it, and include it in this post, if it is needed,
to help
| > troubleshoot, let me know and I will post it as an addition to
this post.
| I
| > do know it is ultra DMA....just not sure what number.
| >
| > As you can see my boot drive is the slowest of the bunch, and that
SUX.
| > Am I missing something?
| > --
| > Machine Configuration:
| > A7N8X Deluxe, 2500+ Barton running 200 MHz FSB = 3200+
| >
| > ATI Radeon AIW 7500
| >
| > Extra Promise ATA-133 Controller
| >
| > Lite-On 52X Burner (this drive and the one below are on 2nd
channel of
| > onboard controller, burner is master, DVD slave)
| > Pioneer Slot type DVD drive
| >
| > 52X CD-Rom drive (currently not in use)
| >
| > Maxtor 80 Gig w/8meg cache (boot) (running on the onboard
controller as
| HD0)
| >
| > WD 120 Gig w/8meg cache (running on the onboard controller as HD1)
| >
| > WD 80 Gig w/8meg cache (running on the promise)
| >
| > 1 Gig of Komusa PC-3500 memory w/
| > Copper heatsinks (512 X 2)
| >
| > Solid Copper CPU heatsink w/7K rpm fan
| > (can you say LOUD?)
| >
| > 2 exhaust fans in the back of the case, 1
| > intake fan in front of case
| >
| > Allied True Power 450 Watt power supply
| > (AMD Approved list pwr supply)
| >
| > Antec Aluminum Case
| >
| > If you need any other info, post it and I will provide it.
| > Thanks again,
| > Bitsbucket
| >
| >
| > ---
| > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
| > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
| > Version: 6.0.543 / Virus Database: 337 - Release Date: 11/21/2003
| >
| >
|
|
 
Hi, sorry didn't get the original post...

Hard drives have always been a bottleneck and continue to be so. A pause
when opening "my computer" is usually caused by an optical drive waking up,
spinning up the disc and then reading the directory.

If you're getting significant pauses when viewing directories on hard drives
then you either have directory caching turned off (unlikely) or as
previously mentioned... shell enhancements that don't behave too well. I
found that the one for Windows Media Player that shows a preview of the clip
onthe left is a right pain - made winamp skip when playing MP3s.

All your minimum speeds look really low... I know when benching you can get
a momentary dropout but it still seems quite low. Average read speeds are
ok though, so I can only presume that any low read speed is only encountered
rarely.

Thats close enough.

Well... do you have any specific reason to think the Maxtor should be faster
than the WDs?

Ben
 
What are "shell enhancements" and how can I edit them, turn them off, or
just generally screw with them?
Is there some prog. I can use? Tweak UI maybe?
Thanks
Bitsbucket
 
What are "shell enhancements" and how can I edit them, turn them off, or
just generally screw with them?
Is there some prog. I can use? Tweak UI maybe?
Thanks
Bitsbucket
Click to expand...

I wonder what your http://www.pcpitstop.com scores would be? I have
two boxes running that board to post results for comparison. They also
point out simple ways to improve a setup.
 
Thanks AJ I will run it later today, I am defregmenting right now to see if
that improves things, I will be posting results, under the name I use here,
Bitsbucket.
Thanks
Bitsbucket.
 
Hi Jim,
These are EXACTLY the symptoms I am experiencing.
I hope I can find the culprit, it's driving ME nuts too (not a long trip at
this point either!)
Thanks
Bitsbucket
 
Bitsbucket said:
What are "shell enhancements" and how can I edit them, turn them off, or
just generally screw with them?
Click to expand...

Well things like winzip/winace/winrar all do it - they automatically detect
if a file (.exe or whatever) is an archive and then gives you the options to
extract, however, in my experience those particular ones are quite quick.
I'm not sure of any programs that give you centralised control over the
enhancements.

Ben
 
Well,
Boy do I feel like a dumbass! I defragged all my drives and BOOM! everything
is working as expected. I have never seen a fragmented drive cause this type
of behavior. All my drives are NTFS, is that format more susceptible to
displaying this type of behavior when fragmented? I have in the past, mostly
used FAT32. (just for the convenience of being able to boot from a floppy
and access files)
Thanks for all the suggestions!
They are all greatly appreciated.
Bitsbucket
 
Oh HELL!
Now that I rebooted, it's back to the same as it was!
I guess I am on the right track tho......
L8r
Bitsbucket
 
Shell enhancements are those "extra" menu items added to your context
sensitive "right click" menus when a GUI object is right-clicked in an
"explorer" window (fyi, your desktop is merely a "special" version of
an explorer window). For example, Winzip can add such features so
that you can right click a "zip" file and see "open with winzip" or
"extract to" and so forth. The only proper way to remove shell
enhancements is to uninstall the program that installed the
enhancements. I am fairly adept at programming windows, yet I'd not
attempt to remove a shell enhancement by editing the registry.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| What are "shell enhancements" and how can I edit them, turn them
off, or
| just generally screw with them?
| Is there some prog. I can use? Tweak UI maybe?
| Thanks
| Bitsbucket
|
| | > >> | > >>> Hi fellow ASUS users!
| >
| > Hi, sorry didn't get the original post...
| >
| > >>> I have posted about this prob. before and now have some
benchmarks. I
| > >>> am running XP Pro (with all current updates including SPacs)
with the
| > >>> newest IDE drivers from ASUS, and as for the promise card I'm
running
| > >>> the drivers that came with it. Details below.......
| > >>> Any ideas?
| > >>> TIA
| > >>> Bitsbucket
| > >>>
| > >>> Machine config.......this is accurate except I have eliminated
the 52X
| > >>> CD-Reader, as suggested by some one here, This is based on the
fact
| that
| > >>> some people say the drives will only run as fast as the lowest
speed
| > >>> drive in the chain, (so the opticals are on a channel by them
selves)
| > >>> however I thought this had been eliminated years ago. But I'll
try
| > >>> anything. When opening windows explorer, the machine seems to
have to
| > >>> "think" about it before displaying the directories or files in
a
| > >>> dir....this was not a problem with my old Gigabyte board, and
a 2100+
| > >>> T-bred core It had a Raid controller I was using as a standard
ATA-133
| > >>> IDE controller, it was a great board but did not support the
barton
| > >>> cores. (and of course I just HAD to have a faster proc) This
machine
| > >>> was stable as a rock and I'm beginning to regret the change.
HOWEVER I
| > >>> am now running at 3200+ speeds and it is stable, is the hard
drive
| > >>> access is a bottleneck now? Am I just expecting too much? Is
the
| > >>> machine now so fast that the Hard drive speeds are really
beginning to
| > >>> show as a bottleneck? Heck I don't know?!?
| > >>> Hard drive tach reports:
| >
| > Hard drives have always been a bottleneck and continue to be so.
A pause
| > when opening "my computer" is usually caused by an optical drive
waking
| up,
| > spinning up the disc and then reading the directory.
| >
| > If you're getting significant pauses when viewing directories on
hard
| drives
| > then you either have directory caching turned off (unlikely) or as
| > previously mentioned... shell enhancements that don't behave too
well. I
| > found that the one for Windows Media Player that shows a preview
of the
| clip
| > onthe left is a right pain - made winamp skip when playing MP3s.
| >
| > >>> Read speed on HD0 (Maxtor) (boot).....max 50.9 mb/s min 1.4
mb/s
| average
| > >>> 36.1 mb/s cpu utilization 8.3% xfer mode is Ultra DMA mode 6
| > >>>
| > >>> Read speed on HD1 (WD) slave to above drive, max 57.2 mb/s min
7.3
| mb/s
| > >>> average 45.8mbs cpu utilization 29.5% xfer mode is Ultra DMA
mode 5
| > >>>
| > >>>
| > >>> Read speed on HD2 (WD) on promise controller max 57.2 mb/s min
7.3 mbs
| > >>> average 45.8mb/s cpu utilization 26.6%
| >
| > All your minimum speeds look really low... I know when benching
you can
| get
| > a momentary dropout but it still seems quite low. Average read
speeds are
| > ok though, so I can only presume that any low read speed is only
| encountered
| > rarely.
| >
| > >>> This is the only drive on this controller. I have no idea what
mode
| this
| > >>> drive is in because device manager just reports the controller
as a
| SCSI
| > >>> device, and gives me no more info. I can get it at bootup but
I would
| > >>> have to reboot to see it, and include it in this post, if it
is
| needed,
| > >>> to help troubleshoot, let me know and I will post it as an
addition to
| > >>> this post. I do know it is ultra DMA....just not sure what
number.
| >
| > Thats close enough.
| >
| > >>> As you can see my boot drive is the slowest of the bunch, and
that
| SUX.
| > >>> Am I missing something?
| >
| > Well... do you have any specific reason to think the Maxtor should
be
| faster
| > than the WDs?
| >
| > Ben
| > --
| > A7N8X FAQ: www.ben.pope.name/a7n8x_faq.html
| > Questions by email will likely be ignored, please use the
newsgroups.
| > I'm not just a number. To many, I'm known as a String...
| >
| >
|
|
| ---
| Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
| Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
| Version: 6.0.543 / Virus Database: 337 - Release Date: 11/21/2003
|
|
 
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