ZIP ATAPI, ISA, CNR, AMR and Overclocking

[iansl]

1.What's an ATAPI connection? Is it compatible with standard IDE?

2. I'm asking this because i'm thinking about getting an internal ZIP drive. Should I go ZIP, and if yes, internal or external (I only have USB 1.1 and PCMCISA on my desktop and laptop).

3. What are ISA slots? How fast are they? What about CNR and AMR? What are they used for?

4. How do you overclock?

P.S. It would probably be easier to just put the number of the question you are answering before your answer when you reply. I thought about using different topics for each question, but I decided against it.

[iansl]

Oh, and I have two more.

5. What do you think about different chipsets and motherboards?
 is onboard video any good?

6. What do you think about via processors? C#s and their notebook processors, if they have any. Also, does the same via make the processors and the chipsets and motherboards?

Sorry for compressing this. I'll seperate them if you want me to, Scuzzy. Also, thanks for blacking out the cursor.

[iansl]

7. What do you think about SiS video cards?

[query]

6.  VIA processors are very low cost, and you trade off performance for the low cost.  Yes, it's the same VIA that makes chipsets, motherboards (as FIC), and other things (VIA and FIC are both units of Formosa Plastics, one of the largest chemical companies in the world, as are Nanya (a memory manufacturer), Everex (a systems manufacturer, and a host of other companies).

5.  You choose a chipset by the processor you want - VIA is the largest supplier for chipsets supporting AMD processors, and Intel and SiS  have most of the market for P4 processors.  VIA and SiS tend to be less expensive than Intel chipsets, and often have the newest features sooner, sometimes at the cost of stability.  Integrated video is fine for office use, less so for gaming and intensive graphics work.

Motherboard manufacturers fall into tiers - first tier (MSI, ASUS, Intel), second-tier (Gigabyte, ABit, etc.) and third-tier (Elitegroup, Biostar, Jetway, etc.).  There are also some "fourth tier" board makers you want to stay away from (PCChips, Amptron, Houston, Hsing Tech -- all the PCChips junk boards).

Intel no longer makes many mainboards at all - they're contract built by the suppliers to the large PC vendors (Solectron, Celestica, SCI, Jabil, Foxconn) or by many first-tier Taiwanese board makers (MSI, ASUS).  

4.  You don't, if you care about your hardware longevity and data integrity.  If you don't care about those, the most common way is to increase the bus speed or physically modify the processor to change its multiplier.

3.  ISA slots are the original PC expansion slots - 8-bit and 16-bit, 8 MHz.  They're all but gone now - none of the Intel 8xx and newer chipsets even support them.

CNR and AMR are slots for cheap daughtercards that support networking and modem features built into the chipset on the board.  They're generally sold to OEMs only - it's not a common retail purchase.

2.  Unless you have a reason to buy a ZIP drive (such as interoperability with others you know) it's effectively a dead-end technology.  A CD writer makes more sense for most applications.  Yes, there's a 750 MB ZIP drive - but check the cost of the media - it's a lot higher than a CD-R or -RW disc.

1.  ATAPI is the general specification for AT attachment peripheral interface.  It is a superset of IDE/EIDE that allows for more than just hard drives (such as CD-ROM, -RW, DVD-ROM, -RW, tape, etc., drives.  Yes, it is compatible with IDE.

[query]

7.  SiS video cards are equivalent to onboard video - they're cheap, but little else.

[iansl]

So even the phantom XP 8200 128MB one ($100) isn't any good?  :'(

Smiley on subject didn't work.  >:(

[query]

Here's a review of the chipset used (Xabre 400).

http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2002q3/sis-xabre/index.x?pg=1

For $100, I'd say a Radeon 8500 or 9000 Pro card is a better deal all-around.  

[iansl]

So...9000 or 8500 Pro...is that much better than the regular 8500 or 9000. I'd also like to know how the ATI video cards compare to the nVidias. If you need to, just say the brand is PNY.

[query]

The 8500 and 9000 are roughly comparable, mid-range chipsets.  nVidia has plenty of equivalent choice in the same price range.

You'll find the nVidia cards faster at 3D relative the ATI, until you get to the 9700 Pro, which will blow away anything nVidia sells now.  

On the other hand, multimedia performance (such as DVD decoding) is superior with ATI's Radeon.

Choose based on what you plan to do with the system.

[iansl]

What about decoder boards? Are they old-fashioned? Also, I'm wondering if the Pro versions are that much better than the regulars. (I know the 9700 is, but what else?)

[query]

You don't need a decoder card with any system these days - CPUs are fully capable of decoding with no problem.  ATI chipsets do hardware assist decoding.

The Pro chipsets run faster than the non-Pro ones, and have a few tweaks to the silicon vs. the non-Pro ones.
There are now ATI cards built by ATI and those built by others - and remember, that most OEM cards, whether ATI or not, run slower RAMDACs than the retail counterparts.

[iansl]

Whassa RAMDAC?

[query]

Random Access Memory Digital to Analog Converter - converts the digital signals from a PC to analog signal that can be output to a monitor.

[iansl]

Well, what about DVI? Is it faster? Also, are we talking about the same thing (Phantom XP 8200 and Xabre 400)

[query]

DVI is digital video interface.  Faster than what?  

DVI is used for flat panels exclusively - though there are analog models as well, and some dual-capable.  CRTs are analog devices.

The interface has nothing to do with the speed of the video card - and while DVI, properly implemented, provides a sharper image than analog, LCD flat panels have a slower response time than CRT monitors do.  The gap has narrowed significantly, but the lag is there even in the best of the LCD panels.