Dragon NaturallySpeaking

[Bryan Crow]

Thanks, JB. EasyTune is exactly what I have, but thanks to your warning, I won't use it. I'll make all adjustments in BIOS.

[onewecallgod]

ahhh too much to read in 1 long post!!

usually, there are designated slots for dual channel, slots 0 and 1 (first 2 slots) are the first channel and slot 2 is the 2nd channel. in order to have dual work properly, both channels must have the same amount of ram and identical ram is recommended

if you want to go RAID 0 (striped) with SATA, the fastest you can get is dual 10k 74gb WD raptors. striped means that 2 HDs are combined as 1 large HD and when writing to the drive, it sends the data to both drives simultaneously, thus theoretically doubling hard drive bandwith, but at the expense of data reliability because if one drive dies, the data on the drive is useless, so RAID 0 thus reduces reliability by half. mirroring, if anything will lower bandwith because the same data is being copied and sent to 2 identical drives; its for data reliability at the expense of performance and space

if you got the money, SCSI drives are also fast, however, they are about 2 to 5 times the cost of an ATA/SATA drive. you also need to have a SCSI controller (PCI add-on card)

[davidhammock200]

By simple & inexpensive OC'ing we can increase the computational speed, OC'ing the CPU & RAM.

DNS is very memory intensive, I recommend 2GB of RAM, in 2X 1GB modules.

If your mobo supported SATA II with NCQ ,

we could use SATA II HDD's in a RAID 0 array & we might actually see some improvenment.

Raptors or any other non-SCSI or non SATA II HDD's used in a RAID 0 array will only increase through-put &

this only helps with very large (50MB+) files.

A SCSI RAID 0 array will speed things up, however I doubt the the results would justify the cost.

Raptors are 10,000 RPM SATA HDD's which your mobo does support & using a Raptor for your Data Disk would help.

as would using a seperate Raptor as your system & software disk.

The OS & all software would go on one Raptor and

the page/swap/temp files as well as all data files would go on the other Raptor.

Food for thought,
Dave

[Bryan Crow]

I'm just now getting around to thanking some people for their suggestions. You guys have been hitting me with so much good stuff that I've had trouble absorbing it all and reading everything you've recommended. I'll get back to you as soon as I finish reading and digesting, but I want to let you know how much I appreciate your help before too much time passes.

Gh3tt0PC, I wrote thanks to you yesterday, but I must not have posted it properly. I never saw it in the forum. Anyway, thanks. I don't know how there could be a better defrag program than Diskeeper Pro 9.0. Maybe there is, but it's working so well for me that I think I'll just keep on keeping on.

I just ran PestPatrol, eneuman, and it got rid of spyware from a company, which will go unnamed, but whose initials are Kodak. Their software turns out to be pretty sorry anyway. I uninstalled it to keep it from sneaking spies back into my system.

Amilian, I just installed SuperCache, and it works. I still don't get an almost-instantaneous display of what I'm saying—that's what I got when I was still running Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7—but SuperCache has chopped the latency noticeably. Since I upgraded to the more accurate Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8, you'll remember, response times have gotten a lot longer. It became possible for dictation to outrun recognition. Sometimes the margin piled up into long delays. It could take minutes for the display to catch up, or it could break down altogether. That only happened when I had my thoughts together well enough to speak in a long, continuous stream—or when I was reading.

I just put SuperCache to the reading test. I can no longer read fast enough to get far ahead of the display. My last words now hit the screen no more than a few seconds after I utter them. But the lag is still large enough to make it awkward to proof as I go. Version 7 wasn't nearly as accurate as Version 8 is, but you could read what you were saying soon enough to check it as you dictated.

Next, I'm going to actually try overclocking. I want to read more about it before I plunge in.

If the combination of SuperCache and overclocking brings the latency down to anything close to Version 7, I probably won't fool with SATA or SCSI hard drives and RAID 0, much less the expensive 4000+ CPU.

I am definitely going to add another gigabyte of RAM to the 1.5 GB I have in this machine, however, because so many of my applications are (according to my total memory indicator) draining it to an alarmingly small reserve. I'll put the current 512 MB sticks in the other computer I mentioned, because it only has 512 MB of RAM and is also starving for memory at times.

Maybe the boost in RAM, added to overclocking and SuperCache will make those words pop up like gangbusters.

But here's a question for you, amilian: Would it be pointless to pay SuperSpeed for SuperCache once I install the extra gigabyte of RAM? With that much RAM, will SuperCache still provide an advantage?

I want to especially thank onewecallgod and David for their most recent suggestions. I have a bunch of questions for you two, but let me read some more and try to pare them down. I don't want to take too much advantage of generous people. In fact, maybe after doing my homework, I'll be able to frame whatever questions I have left in some way that will allow you to just point me to further reading. I wouldn't ask you to write long, drawnout explanations.

All told, I'm pleased and surprised at how much help I've gotten here. Thanks again, everybody.

[davidhammock200]

Put in 2 of these.

$229.87

Patriot Extreme Performance 184-Pin 1GB DDR PC-3200, Model PEP1G3200LL - Retail
Model# PEP1G3200LL Item # N82E16820220045
Specifications:
Manufacturer: PDP SYSTEMS
Speed: DDR-400(PC-3200)
Type: 184-Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2-3-2-5
Support Voltage: 2.5V
Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s
Organization: 128M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...220-045&depa=1

[Bryan Crow]

Thanks, Davis. What do you think of these DIMMs from Magic Micro? $192 each.

1GB PC 3200 DDR400
Higher performance over mainstream PC 2100 or PC 2700 memory. Up to 3.1 GB/sec of peak bandwidth using PC3200 DIMMs (with DDR400 memory chips).
Memory type: Double Data Rate (DDR)
• 167 MHz Clock, 400 MHz data rate
• VDD = +2.5V ±0.2V, VDDQ = +2.5V ±0.2V
• Bidirectional data strobe (DQS) transmitted/ received with data, i.e., source-synchronous data capture (x16 has two - one per byte)
• Internal, pipelined double-data-rate (DDR) architecture; two data accesses per clock cycle
• Differential clock inputs (CK and CK#)
• Commands entered on each positive CK edge
• DQS edge-aligned with data for READs; center-aligned with data for WRITEs
• DLL to align DQ and DQS transitions with CK
• Four internal banks for concurrent operation
• Data mask (DM) for masking write data (x16 has two - one per byte)
• Programmable burst lengths: 2, 4, or 8
• Concurrent Auto Precharge option supported
• Auto Refresh and Self Refresh Modes
• FBGA package available
• 2.5V I/O (SSTL_2 compatible)
• tRAS lockout ( tRAP = tRCD)
• Backwards compatible with DDR200 and DDR333

[Bryan Crow]

I meant DaviD! I see the DIMMs you suggest have a little more bandwidth.

[davidhammock200]

167 MHz Clock, 400 MHz data rate

WTF?

No go with the Patroit, tight timings are very important for A64's.

Dave

[Bryan Crow]

Even after this short "e-acquaintanceship," David, I trust your judgment enough to pay the extra bucks. I just ordered the two sticks you recommend.

Can I "dual-channel" these DIMMs and still get some advantage out of the third (512 MB) DIMM?

[davidhammock200]

Originally Posted by Bryan Crow

Even after this short "e-acquaintanceship," David, I trust your judgment enough to pay the extra bucks. I just ordered the two sticks you recommend.

Can I "dual-channel" these DIMMs and still get some advantage out of the third (512 MB) DIMM?

What third stick?

That could cause a problem,

no that WILL cause a real problem as the A64's default to DDR333 with more than 2-sticks of RAM &

at best they can be pushed into DDR400@2T, so forget using more than those 2 Patroit sticks.

Sorry,
Dave

[Bryan Crow]

No, that's cool, David. Not only will that take me from 1536 MB of RAM to 2048 MB, but if taking advantage of the dual-channel feature of this mobo works the way I think, it'll put me well ahead. To tell you the truth, I don't understand how dual channel memory works--why it's better.

Maybe I can sell the leftover 512 stick on eBay.

[davidhammock200]

Originally Posted by Bryan Crow

No, that's cool, David. Not only will I go from 1536 MB of RAM, but if taking advantage of the dual-channel feature of this mobo works like I think, it'll put me well ahead. To tell you the truth, I don't understand how dual channel memory works--why it's better.

Maybe I can sell the leftover 512 stick on eBay.

The AMD Memory section should have an explination,

but basically you are doubling your path from 64-bits to 128-bits & thus doubling your memory bandwidth.

You can probably sell it here in our For Sale (FS) section.

Good Luck,
Dave

[bmxfelon420]

he cant access that section yet, but pm me with exactly what type it is, and how much you are willing to sell it for, and i may be interested.

[Bryan Crow]

Check your email, bmxfelon420.

David, I'm trying to use one hard drive for OS and programs now--while using a second one for data. It's proving harder to keep certain data on the second drive than I expected. Lots of it can't seem to be kept anywhere except in their respective program folders.

And, David, you wrote: "A SCSI RAID 0 array will speed things up, however I doubt the the results would justify the cost." But did you mean to go on from there and say Raptors are good in their own right simply because of their speed? I guess that's a dumb question, but I'm wondering if they'd be worth the expense.

One more question for anybody: I assume most of DNS's "speech engine is held in RAM while the program is transcribing. I think I see how striped twinned drives would take the data the engine converts from your utterances faster than a single hard drive. But how about reading from them? If I understand correctly, both drives have to search themselves to come up with the pieces. If writing to memory is the harder job, I could see there might be an advantage to striping. But if the program gets slowed down just as much because it has to read from hard drives, I see less advantage.

BC

[onewecallgod]

Originally Posted by Bryan Crow

No, that's cool, David. Not only will that take me from 1536 MB of RAM to 2048 MB, but if taking advantage of the dual-channel feature of this mobo works the way I think, it'll put me well ahead. To tell you the truth, I don't understand how dual channel memory works--why it's better.

Maybe I can sell the leftover 512 stick on eBay.

dual channel works by accessing 2 channels of ram simultaniously, kind of like how RAID 0 works, so instead of sending data to 1 channel (i wont say stick because 1 channel can have more than 1 stick) at a time, it sends to both channels at the same time, theoretically doubling bandwith, although in practice, the bandwith isnt doubled

And, David, you wrote: "A SCSI RAID 0 array will speed things up, however I doubt the the results would justify the cost." But did you mean to go on from there and say Raptors are good in their own right simply because of their speed? I guess that's a dumb question, but I'm wondering if they'd be worth the expense.

SCSI RAID 0 is **** expensive, probably about 2 times the cost of SATA raptor RAID 0, but not at 2 times the performance. the good thing about SCSI (which may or may not justify the cost) is that they are far more reliable drives

[Bryan Crow]

You make it easy to understand, David.

[davidhammock200]

I can't find it!

What mobo do you have?

[onewecallgod]

Originally Posted by davidhammock200

I can't find it!

What mobo do you have?

some sort of gigabyte G8N 939 nforce 3 (the whole G8N 939 series are almost identical)

[bmxfelon420]

well at least that board leaves him wide open with upgrade options, should he choose to upgrade. Ill bet that dns will get more and more cpu intensive with each incarnation. I may be able to get a copy from one of my freinds, an organization i belong to gets all kinds of liscenses for that stuff.

[davidhammock200]

Originally Posted by onewecallgod

some sort of gigabyte G8N 939 nforce 3 (the whole G8N 939 series are almost identical)

Thanks.

So no SATA II with NCQ, too bad.

Originally Posted by bmxfelon420

well at least that board leaves him wide open with upgrade options, should he choose to upgrade. Ill bet that dns will get more and more cpu intensive with each incarnation. I may be able to get a copy from one of my freinds, and organization i belong to gets all kinds of liscenses for that stuff.

Cool, I'd love a legit copy!