What hardware are you using?

Discussion of hardware related issues
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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wove
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by wove »

On the Pinebook Pro the nvme is about 5 times faster than the emmc and about 10 times faster than the SD card. On the ideacentre the nvme is just shy of twice as fast as the ssd. It is very impressive the boost a system gets from having very fast storage. All I have used for benchmarking is the benchmarking built into Gnome Disk Utility. I only run it when some device either strikes me as "very fast" or "painfully slow." It is very easy to get hooked on fast storage.
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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I've used the gnome disk utility before, I switched to KDiskMark simply because it looks and acts just like CrystalDiskMark, so gives anyone familiar with that an interface (and results) they're familiar with.

It is easy to get hooked on fast storage, although once you get to a certain speed you realize you can't feel the improvements anymore. IE - I have a Sandisk ULTRA NVMe in my desktop. This is nothing more than a restcikered WD Blue SN550. Thus, it's limited to ~2000 Mbps reads, 1700 Mbps writes. I have drives (in fact the one going into that desktop as a PCIe drive) that are rated over 3000 Mbps reads. Yet...when comparing the FEEL of the drives when both are the OS drive, there's no difference. Sure, benchmarks say the other NVMe drives are way faster, but using them it doesn't FEEL different. In some ways I'm glad, because it's definitely easier to add storage with "good enough NVMe" instead of being forced to buy "best of the best".
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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Im hooked but in normal use I cant feel the difference between ssds of various types.
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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Just came from my Ryzen system using a sata ssd onto my 7270 with a NVMe drive and you do get some of the feel of the better performance.
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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Ended up keeping my older laptops. Donation sites now dont accept systems beyond a certain age and these laptops were 2nd to 4th generation laptops.
Ill have to see if another non-profit will take them, otherwise I can keep them for parts.
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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I can see donation sites not wanting to pay to dispose of old garbage, but if it's young enough to run win10, I don't see any reason to not allow donations of that age...
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crosscourt
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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My Dell latitude 4310 is 12 years old and can run Win10 yet many donation sites wont accept them. Not wanting the 3340s, that surprised me as well as the 6430. I use to work for a non-profit and they accept anything up to 10 years old. The issue will come when Win10 dies and Win11 takes over.
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wove
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Re: What hardware are you using?

Post by wove »

The donations sites around here will take almost nothing unless you also include a donation to pay for the machines recycling. Minnesota does not allow electronic tech to be disposed of in the trash and that includes even things like keyboards. Costs about $30 to dispose of laptop, desktop is $40, printer is $25, cell phone is $20. Keyboard is $10, that is odd since if you bought it on Amazon that is about all you paid for it.

If you tear it down completely on you own, you can usually dispose of it for free. Motherboards and chips are generally ground up and used as aggerate in concrete or asphalt. If a place sells batteries, they have to take them for recylcing. Wiring is easy to recycle. Some plastics can be recycled some just tossed out.

It kind of dates me thinking of computers as valuable, interesting things to have. I think they are seen as just commodity items now.
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tlmiller
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Re: What hardware are you using?

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I'm lucky enough that there's multiple places around that will recycle MOST computer equipment for free, it's just a hassle to stop by when they're open.
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