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Author Topic: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)  (Read 1141 times)

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ader

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Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« on: January 09, 2014, 02:03:46 AM »
Making a thread for these sorts of questions so I don't have to derail the DAC one anymore...

In a blog post I'm having trouble finding now, Paul Pang (PPA Studio) claims that a high quality SATA cable (like his own) will actually decrease your boot time and make your OS run more smoothly due to fewer error corrections being made.  How feasible does this sound to you guys?  I've seen articles on computer sites showing very marginal to no differences between regular SATA cables and 6Gb/s ones, but none of regular cables vs. audiophile ones. 

I think I'd be more willing to try one of PPA's Red Slim cables if it reduced my boot time by, like, a second or something, as impractical as that sounds.
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zerodeefex

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Re: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« Reply #1 on: January 09, 2014, 03:47:49 AM »
If a SATA cable is built to spec for SATA 3, it will handle enough bandwidth for any currently available SSD or mechanical SATA drive out there. There is no "additional speed" you're going to get from an audiophile cable. Any testimonials about improved boot speed are due to user error. I'd seriously consider what I was buying if those are the claims being made.
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Re: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« Reply #2 on: January 09, 2014, 08:01:17 AM »
I have to agree with zerodeefex. I seriously doubt you'll notice a difference, if any at all. Plus there are so many factors that can affect boot times. Such as your motherboard's SATA's bandwidth capability (is it true 6GB/s?), speed of your OS drive, (what speed is your SSD/HDD rated at?)

Easiest and simplest thing to do to increase boot time is to disable startup programs and processes that aren't necessary.

Click Start - select Run. In the box type "msconfig" (without quotations) then click Ok.  Select the Startup tab. You can see what programs are starting at boot. Uncheck programs that are unnecessary to be started with Windows. A lot of programs you install like to be started at Windows Startup, a good example (if you use it) is iTunes and all of it's bundled crapware. You don't need that to be starting with Windows. That is just one example out of thousands. The less programs/processes you have starting with windows will increase your boot time the easiest. Just make sure you do not uncheck anything that is necessary. If in doubt, google it.

If using an SSD make sure your BIOS has it set to AHCI, you will notice speed improvement on SSD's.

There are a lot of things you can do to speed up your windows boot time, like zero mentioned, I doubt a cable is going to make much, if any, difference.
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Re: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2014, 09:10:42 AM »
Seems very unlikely to me. If you want the fastest boot times, use a SSD with very high IOPS and a good controller (Samsung, Marvell, or LAMD) and then as has already been said, streamline your start up processes. Start up times can be variable anyway. My Samsung S9 laptop has an mSATA SSD - there is no SATA cable, and it boots to the desktop in anywhere from 5 to 7 or 8 seconds, just depends.

Paul is a bit of a nutcase and is a guy who is firmly in the everything matters camp, pretty much the polar opposite of the objectivist chart worshipers. You'll find very few people out there soldering in their own clocks on to their motherboards, or using compact flash cards as hard drives.

His cables are very effective and have an excellent price/performance ratio - for audio. Even if it does work to reduce boot times though, is a second really worth $99?
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Re: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2014, 10:41:45 AM »
Quote from: ader on January 09, 2014, 02:03:46 AM
In a blog post I'm having trouble finding now, Paul Pang (PPA Studio) claims that a high quality SATA cable (like his own) will actually decrease your boot time and make your OS run more smoothly due to fewer error corrections being made.  How feasible does this sound to you guys?

Hahahahahahahahahaha. Maybe in comparison to broken cables.

That is all.

(When you get into this realm, you better damn well have benchmarks to back your claims up.)
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Re: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« Reply #5 on: January 09, 2014, 02:03:22 PM »
Quote from: DaveBSC on January 09, 2014, 09:10:42 AM
Even if it does work to reduce boot times though, is a second really worth $99?


I'm starting to develop a fetish for things I can think of as quality in any sense, so... to me, almost!

Also, thanks to everyone who replied!  I'm already well aware of the legit means by which I can increase boot times and have does so already (with exception of the controller).  I merely wanted a platform to run crazy things by people since, hey, why not?  I don't use thee term "whacko" lightly.
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DaveBSC

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Re: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2014, 02:14:48 PM »
Quote from: ader on January 09, 2014, 02:03:22 PM
Quote from: DaveBSC on January 09, 2014, 09:10:42 AM
Even if it does work to reduce boot times though, is a second really worth $99?


I'm starting to develop a fetish for things I can think of as quality in any sense, so... to me, almost!

Also, thanks to everyone who replied!  I'm already well aware of the legit means by which I can increase boot times and have does so already (with exception of the controller).  I merely wanted a platform to run crazy things by people since, hey, why not?  I don't use thee term "whacko" lightly.

What's likely to be significantly more effective is using two drives in RAID 0 (though I'm not sure if you still lose TRIM support with that) or use a PCIe based SSD which bypasses the SATA bottleneck altogether. I'm pretty sure that modern UEFI BIOSes can boot from PCIe hard drives.
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Re: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2014, 03:49:32 PM »
intel 7 series and newer boards with the newest Intel RST drivers in win 7 and 8 support TRIM for RAID-0 arrays (assuming your SSDs support TRIM). RAID-10 arrays are not supported.
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Re: Whacko Computer Thread (Perpetually Paging Dave)
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2014, 03:50:26 PM »
Even an old IDE HDD is enough to play audio files. There are multiple buffers between your HDD and DAC for a reason.

Expensive SATA/Ethernet/... cables are the latest audiophile scam.
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