64-bit PC's

U.S.Amateurfilmaker · Wed Sep 03, 2003 10:02 pm

HAs anyone considered waiting for the new 64-bit PC's? I've been wanting a new computer for a while now, but now with the 64 bit thing I think I'm gonna wait for them to hit the shelves before I buy. I know you need a new OS to operate them, like win XP 64 bit edition, but will it still run my software, or do I have to buy 64 bit versions of those too?

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Wed Sep 03, 2003 10:26 pm

Yes afraid so all the programs you have will need to be 64bit versions too work properly. At the moment 64 bit processors are being mainly used for servers and alike.

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Fri Sep 05, 2003 6:27 pm

I'm waiting until nearer the end of the year until I start upgrading my main computer.

In the mean time, I'm just setting up a RAID system, using a couple of 120GB 7200RPM (8MB Cache) drives!

The drives cost Ã‚Â£89 each, and the RAID card (My motherboad doesn't have it) is only Ã‚Â£15.00, so for just Ã‚Â£195, I've got the equivilent of a super-fast 240GB drive!

It's all very well upgrading PCs with the latest prcessors, but don't forget, a lot of what you all do continually caches to and from the hard drive, which runs way way way slower than the memory, so if you max out your hard drive performance, you'll have a much faster PC!

foxwood · Post by **foxwood** » Sat Sep 06, 2003 2:54 am

I say just do both, new everything. Besides who wants an old slow drive.

ju88a · Post by **ju88a** » Sun Sep 14, 2003 10:09 pm

Camclub if you use raid I'm afriad it will only give you 120gig not 240gig. It works by copying the same data to each drive making it easier to recover software if one drive goes down.

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 4:56 am

Originally posted by ju88a
Camclub if you use raid I'm afriad it will only give you 120gig not 240gig. It works by copying the same data to each drive making it easier to recover software if one drive goes down.

REaid level 1 will mirror the drives, and yes 2 120 GB drives will be 120GB with an exact duplicat. Raid Level 0 will give you 240 GB of data but there is no redundancy, it stripes data to the two drives in 64 KB blocks. Depending on the raid controller you are using you may or may not see a great speed inprovement. There sill always be some increase. Raid level 5 requires 3 or morwe drive, and is a strip set with parity. It will give usable space equal to the sum of the drives capacity minus the capacity of one drive. This writes data in 64KB stripes, but also write a parity block that allows the raid set to rebuild the data for any one drive that fails, based on the parity information stored on the other drives in the set..

U.S.Amateurfilmaker · Post by **U.S.Amateurfilmaker** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 5:21 am

Originally posted by Raptor
REaid level 1 will mirror the drives, and yes 2 120 GB drives will be 120GB with an exact duplicat. Raid Level 0 will give you 240 GB of data but there is no redundancy, it stripes data to the two drives in 64 KB blocks. Depending on the raid controller you are using you may or may not see a great speed inprovement. There sill always be some increase. Raid level 5 requires 3 or morwe drive, and is a strip set with parity. It will give usable space equal to the sum of the drives capacity minus the capacity of one drive. This writes data in 64KB stripes, but also write a parity block that allows the raid set to rebuild the data for any one drive that fails, based on the parity information stored on the other drives in the set..

cr**, that went over my head, but then again I'm not to familiar with RAID systems. I have two HD's, but I'm content with just using them seperately, so thingfs don't get confusing.

Adam · Post by **Adam** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 8:21 am

If you have a raid 5 array make sure that you know which order the drives are connected. If you ever remove them that is

film fanatic · Post by **film fanatic** » Sat Oct 11, 2003 1:52 am

what is the point in getting a 64bit PC? just get a really good 32bit PC!

mark_essex_87 · Post by **mark_essex_87** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 9:38 pm

according to COMPUTER SHOPPER (nov 03) athlon has already got a 64bit chip (athlon64 out 23rd sep) which can also use 32bit apps + newer 64bit ones

xander · Post by **xander** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 10:55 pm

camclub, where did you get your raid setup so cheap?

And since I have never actually used a RAID array, does it appear in windows as one drive?

if this is the case, if one drive gets corrupted or is unuseable, the data on the other drive will be useless as it is only half the required data?

are you worried about backups and losing your data?

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 11:12 pm

Originally posted by Adam
Yes afraid so all the programs you have will need to be 64bit versions too work properly. At the moment 64 bit processors are being mainly used for servers and alike.

Not quite right, the AMD 64 maintains backward compatibility with the x86 32 bit instruction set. Itanium may need 64 bit versions, not sure, but the AMD chip will run 32 bit apps quite well....

[Edited on 30-10-2003 by Raptor]

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 11:38 am

Originally posted by xander
1. camclub, where did you get your raid setup so cheap?

2. And since I have never actually used a RAID array, does it appear in windows as one drive?

3. if this is the case, if one drive gets corrupted or is unuseable, the data on the other drive will be useless as it is only half the required data?

4. are you worried about backups and losing your data?

1. I got my equipment from a company called Digital Promotion on the internet. They had an offer on some drives with pretty good specs. This company bulk buys equipment so they can sell it off cheaper.

2. The RAID drive controller card sorts out the configuration and makes the system appear as 1 drive. All you have to do is go into the controller card's BIOS and select the type of configuration you want. You only ever have to do this once when you first set up the drives (before formatting).

3. Yes, if one drive fails, then you got problems. But the smaller drives are more reliable than an equivilent single drive, I also have a 9" fan blowing straight across them, with the computer case off. Aren't you concerned about only having 1 drive that has to do double the amount of work that could go wrong?

4. All my work is regularly backed up onto CD. However if I had a bit of spare cash, I'd get another set of drives and use them for mirroring the existing set. This way if 1 drive fails, the PC tells me (but still carries on working), so I can replace the defective drive. It'll then copy the "backup" data over, and be back to normal.

You can also set up a raid system that has a permanent spare drive that doesn't do anything, but suddenly kicks into action automatically if one of the other drives fails.

Twabi2 · Post by **Twabi2** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:44 pm

The 64-bit architexture can easily run 32bit software
you can just upgrade your motherboard, and leave everything else
there's no operating system yet (i think) that can handle 64Bit
But you can run WinXP or similar easy!
In winXP 64 you have 2 "program files"
1 for 32 bit and 1 for 64 bit, so everything will keep on working

El Brenty · Post by **El Brenty** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 3:31 pm

Yeah, but by the time you get 64 bit software, you'll be looking at your next processor! It's just wasteful if you won't use it - Spend the money on something else!

U.S.Amateurfilmaker · Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:10 am

I heard from the grapevine that the Pentium 5 may not be far off, although it may bear a different name.