OT: PCI vs. PCI-X for added serial ports

Hi, I'm looking at getting a new workstation with an Asus P5K motherboard. There appears to be a single COM port header on the motherboard, but no rear bracket to connect to it. In the event I have to add ports on a card (to support various embedded programming stuff,

I'd like at least two working serial ports, so the same computer can talk to a target system as well as one tool) should I get a PCI card or one of the newer (and generally quite expensive) PCI-X cards? Since it won't get used that much on average, I'd be unhappy if it slowed down the system. I'll be using WinXP Pro, if that matters.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany
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Wouldn't you want to save your PCI-X slots for something sexy like a raid card?

You can always go the usb to serial route. I used to be very particular about these devices since early in the game only Keyspan had a converter that would work with my scanner radios and gps. But lately even the cheap Airlink 101 converters drive my serial devices.

If you really wanted to be bullet proof, I'd get the plain PCI card. If for some reason you wanted to set up a DOS partition (don't laugh), PCI would be more likely to work since PCI-X came out after they stopped updating DOS. [There are programs that run under DOS to get around the huge latency of a serial port under windows.]

Reply to
miso

12 USB ports, and one COM port that you have to buy a cable & filler plate to use? They don't list the pinout in the manual, at least where the other pinouts are shown, with the connector locations. The external SATA connector might come in handy.

It requires a 24 pin ATX 400 W power supply, or a 500 to 600 W supply if you use the PCI-X slots.

formatting link
(2.56 MB) 150 pages.

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Michael A. Terrell

On a sunny day (Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:14:39 -0500) it happened Spehro Pefhany wrote in :

Until you drop it. Unless your data is worth zero.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

I can use 8-9 to start with. 1-2 printers, modem, mouse, keyboard, ICD, Spaceball, scanner, and a card reader.

Yes, eSATA or whatever they're calling it. Good for backup- just plug in a ~$100 500G drive in an inexpensive enclosure. That's cheaper than recordable Blu-ray disks even if you never erase the HDD!

I've got a 620W Corsair/Seasonic on order to handle the relatively modest 65W video card and a small RAID setup.

*Oopsie. I notice I've confused the name PCIe (PCI-Express) with the older PCI-X (PCI-eXtended). It's the former.*

I was astonished to see some of the insanity of the high end "gamers" SLI- using *two* (or *gasp* more) video cards that could cost thousands each and use hundreds of watts each to operate a single monitor. Oh well, if it drives better and cheaper CAD-capable cards then it's a good thing.

Thanks for the link.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany

On a sunny day (Mon, 06 Aug 2007 09:19:00 -0500) it happened Spehro Pefhany wrote in :

Yes, that would work, you'd always need 2 in circulation perhaps. I dropped a HD and lost all data on it (I did not go so far as to have the data rescued from it by some company). I dropped a map with about 400 DVDs and nothing happened except the boink noise. It sure is faster to copy to some HD then write say 30 Blu-Ray disks.

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Jan Panteltje

Use a new drive every month. Keep the old ones.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany

All my systems still have the PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports, and I have printers scattered all over the network, (Including some real oldies, like the IBM 4019 laser printers) so so far I have only needed one, four port hub to keep from using the front panel USB ports on the old Windows ME computer I use to stream WSM online. It started out as an Emachines

733 E-Tower, which was the last new computer I bought, while i was working. It is on its second used motherboard, from the pile of un-repairable computers I rebuild.

That should do it.

No biggie, unless you order the wrong boards. :)

I think the amount they spend on a gaming computer is a direct reciprocal of their remaining brain cells.

You're welcome. A lot of the time its quicker to find the MB manual at Tiger Direct, rather than the OEM sites. BTW, I have archived a lot of MB manuals, because they have a short online life.

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Michael A. Terrell

I think that's a very good idea.. a couple of times I've run into problems where a PS/2 keyboard has gotten me out of. Not sure what would have happened if the motherboard had no PS/2 port. You can work around having no mouse, but not a missing keyboard. Asus seems to agree- this one has a keyboard PS/2 but not a mouse.

I've got an old Gateway like that. Only the case and power supply is original. Built like iron. It still works fine browsing the web or whatever.

Yes, I keep whatever I can get on disk for products I own. A couple of times my IT consultant neighbor has given me a left overcomputer and I've usually been able to find manuals online, but it's not guaranteed.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany

Modern boards have PCI-Express X 16 and PCI-Express X 1, plus the older PCI 2.3

Reply to
miso

On a sunny day (Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:29:26 -0700) it happened snipped-for-privacy@sushi.com wrote in :

Modern motherboars have also high quality HDTV H264 capable graphic chipsets on board.

formatting link
This obne with Geforce 6150 and nVidia nForce 430, does. So that saves power on graphics cards, now all you need is a PCI HD sat TV card. Unless you are completely into HD games, but then perhaps Sony PS3 is better. Realtime 720 progressive raytrace with 3 PS3 on 1Gb LAN:
formatting link

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

While Blu-ray disks will probably drop your data for you within a couple of years..

Reply to
nospam

On a sunny day (Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:17:16 +0100) it happened nospam wrote in :

That remains to be seen, I have normal DVDs now for about 7 years I burned, and still zero errors. As technology moves on you will need to copy to a new medium anyways say every 10 years... Digital makes that possible without losses. Do you really think your serial ATA will connect ot _anything_ in one hundred years? Or that you can find a Blu-Ray or DVD burner then? It is a non issue, and you have no arguments to support your remark.

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Jan Panteltje

On a sunny day (Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:39:32 -0500) it happened Spehro Pefhany wrote in :

Well, you really must have done something wrong then or now.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

On a sunny day (Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:04:09 -0500) it happened Spehro Pefhany wrote in :

formatting link

card.

The mobo or the PS3? What sort of CAD do you use it for? Seems enough for PCB layout to me :-)

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Jan Panteltje

On a sunny day (Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:13:00 -0500) it happened Spehro Pefhany wrote in :

Sorry to hear that. I have always looked for high quality disks myself, and even had some bad surprises there (manufacturers change layer material etc). I use Verbatim exclusively now, they are more expensive, but no coasters. That is no guarantee for the future, but their reputation is really good.

Also not all DVDs work on all burners (not even theirs), they have a big compatibility list on their website, soem burners need special disks.

Then there is the issue of the burning program.... I do it all in Linux. I think I only burned one or 2 DVD ever in MS windows..... And verify _every_ disk after burning.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

The answer is incremental remote backup via internet.

I have a server here, another at our office and another that I administer at another company. Every night they back each other up so that there are always two full off-site copies. I use an incremental backup so the amount of data transferred is minimal. The system maintains full daily, weekly, monthly and yearly snapshots, so I can recover files I have lost, even several months after the event. Recovering the data is a simple copy command. (Lookup "dirvish" if interested).

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John Devereux

Probably. None of the first (quite expensive) spindle of DVD-Rs I bought is still readable.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany

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Sure if you don't mind 1/10 of the performance in CAD benchmarks.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany

Yes, buying them in the first place. They smelled really, really bad from the get go as well. I just threw out the remainder last week, they would't write in any of the four or so DVD writers we have around.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Spehro Pefhany

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