Mike Londarenko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 17, 1999 at 01:51:54AM +0200, Evgeny Stambulchik wrote:
>
> > As far as performance is considered, it's not RPM that usually matters
> (inspite
> > of a big hype), but the amount of cache on disk. Until recently (1-2
> years), the
> > maximum cache on IDE disks was 128KB, while about each SCSI disk had
> > 0.5MB.
>
> This is not exactly the truth ...
> [a lot of speculations skipped]
Please read the whole thread (to the end); you're replying to a message in
the middle.
Let me repeat here again (uff...): the role of cache is NOT only in
prefetching data; a more import one, especially in the
multitasking/heavy-load enviroments is BUFFERING of data, allowing OS to
communicate with inherintly slow devices at high speeds, in bursts, hence
letting it (OS) do other tasks in periods between the bursts. This is why
new UARTs (16550A and up) use larger cache (and let you use _115200_ baud
rate to communicate with a _33600_ modem - and, BTW, think why with DOS/Win
you can do it sometimes even with a 16450 UART (1k buffer), and never under
Linux), and this is why new smart bus-mastering NICs use larger buffers. Or
do you believe your modem can "read ahead" from N^HBezeq, or NIC - from
Internet? :)
> > Well, it's an chicken and egg problem: to manufacture something with a
> higher
> > quality, one does need to invest more, even if the underlying
> technology is the
> > same.
>
> What does make adifference in IDE drives for your opinion ?
What it has to do with the current thread? Eli said the only difference
between IDE and SCSI is the manufacturing quality and so the price tag is
not backed up by any real factor, and I argued that even maintaing a higher
quality itself (let alone other differences) does involve $$. So what's your
point?
> And I know
> what - the engine . Look at Quantum Fireball CX drive and which engine
> it uses and at Quantum Fireeball CR - and feel the difference .
> There are also some differences in mechanics but they're minor .
What is "engine", by your definition?
> []
> Here I agree with you. MOST of Israeli importers are *lying* to their
> customers in 70% of cases or trying to make money from nothing .
I wonder if anyone maintains a "black list" of Israeli companies
specializing in hardware. Though, I'm afraid, it would soon become an
identical copy of the official Company Register (or whatever it's called)
:^)
Regards,
Evgeny
PS. Slightly off-topic: 73.4GB, 10000RPM, 40 MB/s _sustained_, 8MB cache,
Ultra160 (of course, SCSI :)), to appear in 2000 Q2, $1300 retail. Not
bad...
http://www.quantum.com/quantum/pc/pr/pr99121501.htm
--
____________________________________________________________
/ Evgeny Stambulchik <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> \
/ Plasma Laboratory, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel \ \
| Phone : (972)8-934-3610 == | == FAX : (972)8-934-3491 | |
| URL : http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/~fnevgeny/ | |
| Finger for PGP key >=====================================+ |
|______________________________________________________________|
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