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Upgrades That Work, Upgrades That Don't - PART 2

by Joe Kashi

March 2006

In January, 2006, I discussed some of the 2005 hardware and software upgrades that I found worthwhile. Here is the remainder of my recent technology upgrades, some of which I found to be very cost-effective while others were marginal at best. Although I did not buy any ready-made brand name computer systems, I did assemble several systems from components because I could match components that gave the best performance and reliability at a particular price point. I bought most of the component listed here from reliable, low-cost Internet vendor www.newegg.com.

In many cases, the overall usefulness of a system can be spoiled by one or two mismatched or poorly performing subsystems, typically a slow hard disk or CD/DVD burner. In that case, upgrading only one or two relatively inexpensive components may be a good cost-effective mid-life rebuild. I found the following components to be very fast, reliable and cost-effective in a business computing environment:

Video: You can spend $600 on a super-fast video card that will make a difference only at the highest levels of gaming or real-time scientific modeling. On the other hand, there is no conceivable use for that level of video performance in “real time” law practice. I have found generic video cards based upon ATI SE300X chipset to be very compatible with all current hardware and more than fast enough. They seem to work first time, every time, right out of the box. A decent video card that includes 128 MB or 256 MB video memory should not cost more than $60 - $75. Video cards based upon this chipset will only work in modern systems that include a 16X PCI-Express slot and are highly recommended given their low cost and reliability.

CD/DVD Burners: I’ve tried many different CD/DVD burners, many of which produced “indifferent” results at best. Sony’s DVD burners models, in contrast, have proven uniformly excellent, fast and reliable. I am replacing all of my DVD burner units with Sony models. I found that the $39 DW-Q30A has proven more than adequate for all of my needs at an excellent price. Highly worthwhile and recommended.

Hard Disks: The fastest possible processors will poke along unless matched to a comparably fast hard disk. Western Digital’s WD740GD 10,000 rpm 74 GB Raptor is still the fastest hard disk on the market even though introduced nearly three years ago. Although its storage capacity is rather low by contemporary standards, it still tops all charts in speed and compatibility. I have also found that the WD740GD works better with overclocked CPUs than any other hard disk. Even though the best available price for these drives hovers around $155, it is highly worthwhile and highly recommended. Western Digital recently introduced a 150 Gigabyte version of the same drive at $299. Although I have yet had the chance to examine one of these drives directly, early published reports suggest that the new 150 GB Raptor drive performs even better because of its greater data density. I have tried some of the Seagate Barracuda drives in overclocked test systems. The Barracuda 7200.7 hard disk would not even boot unless the processor was running at boring stock speeds. Overall performance wasn’t bad but I was nervous about its tight tolerances.

Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Combinations: I have become a real believer in cordless keyboards and mice. These are convenient and often of better quality than hard-wired keyboards and mice, so long as you use them within close range of their associated receivers. Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse combinations are among the nicest, with good quality models in the $30 to $70 price range. Worthwhile and recommended. Except for flat panel monitors, these were the computer upgrade most requested by my secretaries and one of the least expensive. However, wireless keyboards do have the annoying tendency to not be recognized when a computer is started up after several days shut down. This is particularly common when their batteries run low. In the first instance, replace the batteries and re-establish connection to the wireless receiver for both the keyboard and the mouse. If that still doesn’t work, try to move the receiver closer to the keyboard. Finally, you can unplug the wireless keyboard, restart the computer using a regular hard-wired keyboard, shut down the computer and then restart a second time with the wireless keyboard’s receiver plugged in. This last is a hassle but has never failed me. Luckily, these problems do not occur very often with up to date systems.

A Complete FAST Dual-core Opteron Computer System: Since I wrote Upgrades that Work Part 1 two months ago, I had the opportunity to build an AMD Opteron 165 dual core processor. The Opterons are dual core 64 bit CPUs similar to AMD’s Athlon64 x2 dual core processors but Opterons are designed for more demanding file server and technical workstation computers. As such they include larger internal caches and better internal data flow and consequently are somewhat more efficient and faster for the same internal processor frequency. The retail versions of the dual core Opterons include higher capacity cooling devices which further increase reliability by decreasing internal processor temperatures. The new Opteron 165, whose default frequency is 1.8 GHz, can be easily overclocked to 2.4 GHz although it’s probably capable of running even faster. These processors fit standard Socket 939 Athlon64 system boards and overclock to very high performance without any hassle at all using regular stock components except for high speed DDR550 memory. AMD has hit a home run with its newest dual core Opterons, the least expensive of which retail around $313 for the Opteron 165.

What I find most interesting about AMD’s introduction of these new retail Opterons is that they cost even less than comparable Athlon64 x2 processors while running somewhat faster. These processors are so good for the money that there are persistent rumors that AMD may discontinue the retail versions of the dual core Opterons in order to avoid cannablizing their bread and butter Athlon64 lines. The other evening, I built an Opteron 165 system that assembled faster, with less hassle, than any of the hundreds of computers that I have built in the past. Once I had the Windows XP operating system installed, I simply went into the BIOS setup, increased the base front side bus (FSB) frequency to 270 Mhz from the default 200 MHz, set DDR memory frequency to 200 MHz, and decreased the LDT/FSB ratio to 3X, and thus obtained the fastest computer that I have ever built, noticeably faster than even an Athlon64 x2 3800+, all without any hassle, unreliability or even experimentation to find a stable high speed setting.

I used the following components:

  1. Good quality case with extra cooling fans and 400 Watt + power supply ($65)
  2. AMD Opteron 165 dual core CPU, retail package with heavy duty cooling system ($313)
  3. Western Digital 74 GB 10,000 rpm Raptor WD740GD hard disk and generic floppy disk drive ($155)
  4. Windows XP Service Pack 2 ($140)
  5. Sony DVD burner ($39)
  6. Jetway PCI Express video card with ATI SE300X video chipset and 128 MB memory ($52)
  7. Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse ($35)
  8. DFI LanParty UT NF4 SLI-DR system board ( $179 ), which is one of the best and most stable system boards for overclocking AMD processors.
  9. Mushkin DDR550 1 GB memory kit ($162) (2 x 512 MB modules)

These settings worked without any hassle and turned out to be a nearly optimum blend of reliability, ease of set up and performance:

The above settings will result in a CPU speed of 2.4 Gigahertz and a memory speed of 540 MHz. All other settings will be within standard limits. These components and settings have been extremely stable and reliable for me while giving a useful performance boost, resulting in a very high performance dual processor system at a very low purchase cost. If you do not have experience building and adjusting your own computer systems, then have this work done by an experienced technician. Remember: AMD will not honor the warranty on any processor that runs faster than the artificial speed limit built into any individual CPU, although given the great price disparity between the low and high ends of each AMD processor line and the substantial performance reserve that AMD builds into its lower end CPUs, I consider the lack of warranty to be of little consequence, especially because I have never had an AMD processor fail yet.

Flat Panel Monitors

Old bulky, hot CRT monitors are passé when high quality 17" flat screen LCD monitors cost as little as $200. Now that prices have dropped, it’s worthwhile to replace any remaining old CRT monitors. Flat screen LCD monitors typically are much easier on the eyes and preferred by everyone, reducing eye strain and avoiding diminished productivity, not to mention substantially increasing available desktop working space. We tried the following LCD flat panel monitors last year and found all of them to be generally quite usable and in some cases very good. Remember: If you intend to use any LCD monitor to view and print photographs, you will need to calibrate the color, contrast and brightness of your monitor to match your scanner and printer.

1. Envision EN-7220 17" LCD monitor - This is model appears to be a derivative of the AOC LM-729 monitor and is one of the few LCD monitors to have a complete tilt and swivel base, a feature which initially attracted me. Envision’s customer service is excellent as well. Unfortunately, I found the new EN-7220 monitor’s base to be less durably constructed than its predecessor and the interpixel lines to be substantially more obvious, which interfered with my ability to comfortably use this screen. Staff, however, liked this monitor a lot and we can recommend it so long as the base connector is not over-stressed.

2. Polyview 17" LCD monitor - This was one of the first $200 17" monitors that I saw advertised and I bought one for staff. Although I was skeptical of this product when I first installed it, it has turned out to be reliable. Staff initially found this monitor hard to read because it was so bright ( although there are the usual brightness, contrast and other controls) and because the fonts seemed thin. In time, though, we have found that these problems seem common to most of the newer LCD monitors and staff now find the Polyview monitor easy to use, perhaps because they have adjusted it and have become used to it.

3. Viewsonic 17” Optiquest Q7 LCD monitor - Viewsonic has always been one of the top monitor brands and Optiquest is their budget line. There is nothing “budget” about the $204 Optiquest Q7. Although the sturdy plastic base is not very adjustable and not very ergonomic, the overall image quality is excellent, vivid, and generally easy to read. Highly worthwhile and recommended. Viewsonic’s Q190 monitor has been reviewed as one of the least expensive but best 19" LCD monitors.

4. Xerox 19" LCD monitor: Xerox’s 19” model has the large size and bright and vivid image quality that makes it excellent for viewing photographs and other images material. It also includes a protective glass front plate which, although useful in preventing LCD image damage, did produce a great deal of glare when overhead lights or windows are positioned at the wrong angle. Overall, though, this $350 monitor provides excellent image quality and seems very durably constructed. Worthwhile and recommended but check out Viewsonic’s sub-$300 19" LCD models before you buy.

Patriot 1 Gb Flash Drive - The first sub-$100 USB 1 Gigabyte flash drive that I’ve seen. It works. It’s fast enough, large enough to hold one or two medium-sized imaged case files, and reasonably priced. Not much else to say. With these advantages, the cheap-looking white plastic case isn’t a concern.

Printers: Because I have transitioned to an office based upon Adobe Acrobat and have, as a result, become much more visual in how I prepare and present cases, I purchased several color printers. My biggest need was for a color laser printer that could work with lengthy Acrobat documents that included inset color photographs, annotations and document highlights. Standard monochrome laser printers and color inkjet printers either could not produce the necessary color images or were too slow. Collating the output of color inkjet and monochrome printers was much too slow, particularly when documents were lengthy and included attachments or when several service copies were needed. The only sensible solution was a fast, good quality color laser printer.

Of the color laser printers that I researched, the Lexmark c510 printed decent monochrome and color pages are an acceptable speed. Its street price of about $360 for the networked version was also quite good. Other color laser printers were either too slow, too expensive or had poor quality output. However, even though better than most color laser printers, the Lexmark C510's photographic output could not match the quality of inkjet printers, particularly when high grade photo paper was used. The Lexmark does seem to occasionally have some paper feed problems but, despite those, it is still a good bargain and worthwhile and recommended.

Canon’s i9900 made spectacularly good photographs and enlarged exhibits when using Canon premium grade glossy photo paper but was among the slower color printer that we tested. The i9900 can produce professional quality images up to 13” x 19” on premium photo paper and is quite adequate for producing mid-sized blowups of exhibits and photographs. The print driver software includes features that can automatically optimize photographs rather well. I heartily recommend the Canon i9900 (about $420) as a nearly ideal means of economically producing medium-sized exhibits in your own office and as an excellent complement to a good digital camera and color laser printer. Be sure to use Canon paper, though. The i9900 chokes on other brands. This printer is becoming a standard for high quality color photographic printing up to 13" x 19" and is highly recommended,

Going beyond 13”x19” printers was very expensive until HP introduced its DesignJet 130. The $1,295 DJ130 can print any sign up to 24" x 36" and is an excellent means of producing those really big exhibits from annotated Acrobat documents ( contracts with highlighted terms, photos with arrows and explanatory boxes, etc.) or high resolution digital photographs. If you are planning to make big exhibits and photos, this printer is highly worthwhile and recommended. It is substantially less expensive than smaller 17" x 22" printers by other vendors and seems to be more reliable and trouble-free.

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About the Author

Joe Kashi is an attorney and litigator living in Soldotna, Alaska, who is active in the Law Practice Management Section and a technology editor for Law Practice Today. He has written regularly on legal technology for the Law Practice Management Section, Law Office Computing magazine and other publications since 1990. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from MIT in 1973 and his J.D. from Georgetown University in 1976, and is admitted to practice in Alaska, Pennsylvania, the Ninth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.