• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Please help me...building new comp w/SCSI

S

SupaDupaCheez

Platinum Member
This is my first time posting so please be gentle 😱

I am in the process of building a new computer and have only a couple items left to buy. Here is what I have so far...

Antec SX1030 case w/athlon approved 300w PS
Duron 600 (not interested in OC'ing ...yet)
Epox 8KTA+ Mobo
TNT 8mb video (not interested in gaming at all)
Guilemot Fortissimo Sound card w/toslink optical output
Linksys 10/100 ethernet card
(2) 20GB Maxtor 7200rpm ATA/66 HD's
Connor 1GB SCSI HD (not sure of specs)
Yamaha 6/4/16 SCSI CDRW (SCSI2)
Plextor 8/4/32 ATAPI CDRW
Plextor 32x SCSI CDRom (UltraSCSI)
Zip 100MB IDE
TEAC Floppy
HP 842C Deskjet
Astra 610S Scanner (SCSI)

What I need to know is what is my best bet for a SCSI Host Adapter? I am not interested in gaming at all but I do want to keep my options open for possible OC'ing in the future. I will be using this computer to do basic internet browsing and personal applications (MSWorks type programs) and Burning music/data. I purchased the Fortissimo because of the Toslink Digital Optical output so I can record straight to my Sony MDS-JE440 home MD player/recorder. I do this so I can 'audition' the quality of MP3's in my car instead of possibly wasting a CDR on a crappy sounding MP3.

Oh yeah, I don't want to spend over $100 NEW or $60 used for this adapter. I have been looking at the Adaptec 2940 series but not sure of which one to get and whether it will work with all of my SCSI equipment or not (SCSI2/USCSI).

Any help or personal experiences would be extremely helpful.

Thank's in advance
SupaDupaCheez
 
I'd say, don't even bother with SCSI. You don't have any need for it, and with the budget you are talking about, you're not really going to get anything worthwhile.
 
I'm not sure what you mean. I have four items that are SCSI: scanner, CDRW, CDRom, and a HD. I'm pretty sure I need some sort of SCSI card to run these right?
 
Why 3 CD devices? Why bother with a 1GB SCSI drive? Those are alot fo devices for a 300W power supply.

If you do go SCSI, the Adaptec 2940 is a fine card. Go for a 2930 if you don't plan on booting for less $$$.

Windogg
 
What's the purpose of 2 cdr drives? Just sell the SCSI one. I wouldn't bother with that SCSI hard drive. Conner got bought our years ago, that drive is considerably slower than the Maxtors. Might as well keep the cdrom drive and scanner. All you would need for those 2 would be a cheap Tekram card, like a DC-390 series.
 
I am currently using the Yamaha SCSI CDRW/Connor SCSI HD in my old (considerably slower) system so I figured I would put everything together and decide which CDRW I like the best and sell the other. As I said, I'm not too knowledgeable on the performance of SCSI and whether SCSI and IDE devices work together well enough to avoid Buffer Underuns and the like (plextor CDRom SCSI/Plextor CDRW Atapi). I will also be using Clone CD (hopefully) to burn backups of PSX games.
 
Sell one of the burners (I'd keep the Plextor) and your 1GB hard drive (what difference does it make?, you already have 40GB of storage, faster too) and get a cheap SCSI card from someone in the forsale/trade forum to run your CD-rom and scanner.
 
Thanks for the help but I think what I am really asking is:

Will mixing Atapi(burner) with SCSI(CDRom) (instead of SCSI to SCSI) hurt my overall burning performance? Will I still be able to do other things (like browse the internet or use another application) while burning? Right now I have a 150mghz processor in a crappy PacBell and can only burn while doing nothing else at all! I've never used a faster computer so I'm not sure how things will act.

One more thing, in my setup...will it matter if I get a SCSI adapter that does 10mb throughput or 20mb throughput?

Thanks
SupaDupaCheez
 
I'd be willing to bet that you won't get buffer underruns. Especially if you take advantage of the SCSI drive. You may want to set your burning software to copy the CD image to the CD before burning. That way when the actual burning takes place, it will be SCSI to SCSI, and should thus have lowest CPU utilization, and it will not be subject to the limitations of IDE (only one device on a channel may be "talking" at one time) if your system happens to hit your other IDE drives.
The only potential problem I see is that you will still have the higher CPU utilization of IDE if your system hits your IDE HDs hard. This most likely won't cause a buffer underrun, but you probably can't defrag your HD while you burn. Not that you would want to anyway, but you could do that on an all SCSI system.

Even if you don't use your SCSI drive as a placeholder, you'll probably be fine for light computer use while burning.
 
Thanks for the help Sir Fredrick! Initially I think I'll install both CDRW and do some testing. I originally wanted a SCSI Plextor CDR and CDRW but I got a great package deal on one of the Maxtors and the IDE Plextor CDRW that I couldn't pass it up. I'll try my luck.

Thanks all!
 
Also consider using the trading forum, if you like the SCSI setup but want to stick with plextor (since they do kick ass), you could always sell those two drives and pick up a SCSI plextor drive.
 
Even if you aren't into gaming, I would suggest upgrading your video card. Go with one of the Matrox G400 cards, their 2D image quality is unmatched. Any TNT's you can buy nowadays are designed with nothing in mind other than saving cost. As a result, quality suffers. Plus, if you ever do decide to play any games, the Matrox card will suit you better. Certainly not as good as the top of the line nowadays, but better than the TNT. It will be more expensive, though; probably just above $100.

Marty
 
Supa, We have a lot of "practical" people in our forum, so thats mostly where the concern comes from

I Would not push that powersupply. Athough I shouldnt talk...if you read my sig...but I think thats what everyone getting at 🙂
 
I'm still using a TNT card, and none of the games I like are unplayable yet. The image quality isn't bad either. Matrox cards do kick ass though.

A 300W power supply should be fine, IMO.
I have the following system all on a 300W PS, which I just recently upgraded from a 250W (wasn't having any problems, I just thought I'd better be safe than sorry):

PIII450
(2) 128MB PC133 SDRAM
Quantum Atlas 10K
IBM 18ES
Quantum Viking II
ASUS P2B-DS
old ISA sound card
Realtek PCI NIC
Linksys PCI NIC
Plextor Ultraplex 40MAX CDROM
Plextor Plexwriter 820 CDR
3 80MM case fans.

no problems 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top