Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[bd139]

my project today, open, clean, test, and calibrate this beauty.

Dammit those are really nice. Been trying to get one for about two years. Very neat implementation. I built a mostly working semi modern transistor version of one last year. 

Got me that unicorn I previously mentioned. And for only £26  .  One Racal 9915 UHF counter. What’s so special? Well it looks like it has the 9442 OCXO module in it 

[beanflying]

Damn, I am following the thread like I am keeping the 419A...man-o-man...what am i thinking

  You will likely run across a Mercury cells in other HP gear so not bad info to cram in the dark recesses of the Brain for later recall.

[mnementh]

   That V200 is a damn nice case for only $65...
Thermaltake V200 Case $64.99 at Amazon

...and now it's on its way to me... 

Brain Picking Time:

Okay... who here would buy this to pair with another one they already have on the shelf?  https://www.ebay.com/itm/202486160086

mnem
I am doomed.

[Inverted18650]

Well shes up and running, 1st test on a 100uH inductor and it was nearly bang on. Good news for the IND STD and the Tek. Very promising.

(pics coming after my daughter gets done watching her YT show on my phone.)

[bd139]

Nice one 

[Mr. Scram]

...and now it's on its way to me... 

Brain Picking Time:

Okay... who here would buy this to pair with another one they already have on the shelf?  https://www.ebay.com/itm/202486160086

mnem
I am doomed.

Pair how? RAID 1?

[mnementh]

Naahhh... RAID 0. Looking to get maybe half as fast as a modern SSD. 

Looking for opinions on whether it's worth the gamble vs new at ~$20 more. I figure these are either new pulls or customer returns. I haven't done any business with Best Buy in forever; I don't know if their "refurbished" means any more than pulling it out and dropping it in a baggie.

mnem
Xoom!

[Mr. Scram]

Naahhh... RAID 0. Looking to get maybe half as fast as a modern SSD. 

mnem
Xoom!

RAID 0 SATA SSDs look great on paper, but don't offer much practical gain. Other than being twice as unreliable. That being said, I've thought about it more than once just to get it out of my system.

[bd139]

New ones don’t cost much more ($59). I wouldn’t bother.

Don’t raid them. It’s not the disk reliability you’re up against but windows’ inability to handle TRIM properly if you’re using software RAID. Also the interface is a bottleneck.

[mnementh]

Well, compared to modern systems with 6Gbps, yeah. My old machine is 3Gbps. And I have 3 channels/6ports, so can still spare a couple for mass storage.

More looking for opinions on whether it's worth the gamble vs new at ~$20 more. I figure these are either new pulls or customer returns. I haven't done any business with Best Buy in forever; I don't know if their "refurbished" means anything more than pulling it out and dropping it in a baggie.

mnem
 

[Mr. Scram]

New ones don’t cost much more ($59). I wouldn’t bother.

It's often a case of not having an NVME motherboard. New SATA SSDs still have limited bandwidth.

[bd139]

It’s probably not a problem though for most use cases. SATA is still fine for perhaps 95% of compute workloads even on the server.

[Mr. Scram]

It’s probably not a problem though for most use cases. SATA is still fine for perhaps 95% of compute workloads even on the server.

Correct. That's why I said RAID 0 doesn't offer much practical gain. Looks good on paper, but makes little difference.

[beanflying]

Most of the Video rendering boxes I have been looking at specs for seem to run a good chunk of SSD for speed but Raid doesn't get a mention for the bulk storage in a lot of cases.

[mnementh]

Errgh...

I just realized that if I do that, I'll have to swap between RAID and single boot disk in BIOS every time I want to swap a drive. Eff that noize. 

Gonna save the money towards a NVMe drive when I do build something new. Problem solved.

mnem
*Common-sense time*

[mnementh]

It’s probably not a problem though for most use cases. SATA is still fine for perhaps 95% of compute workloads even on the server.

Correct. That's why I said RAID 0 doesn't offer much practical gain. Looks good on paper, but makes little difference.

Again... this is so with modern SATA 6Gbps MBs. Mine is a dinosaur with SATA 3Gbps. MIGHT make a noticeable difference.

But again... assache factor with having to switch boot modes in BIOS all the time. 

mnem
Hmmm.... I could put a enable switch on the SSD's power lines... 

[bd139]

I would just like to say two works here: fuck this.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352579078832

[Mr. Scram]

Again... this is so with modern SATA 6Gbps MBs. Mine is a dinosaur with SATA 3Gbps. MIGHT make a noticeable difference.

But again... assache factor with having to switch boot modes in BIOS all the time. 

mnem
Hmmm.... I could put a enable switch on the SSD's power lines... 

SATA 2 or SATA 3 shouldn't make a huge difference either. The key to SSD performance is its random read performance. That's what makes all the difference in the world when running an OS or a database. Raw sustained throughput is nice, but rarely the limiting factor. If it is, it's typically for very short periods of time. There are workloads in which it does make a difference like the aforementioned video editing and rendering, but even then it's not necessarily going to set the world on fire. It becomes relevant when you do it often regularly.

But yes, the issue with RAID is that it is much more finicky than just buying a larger or faster disk. Rebuilding or more frequent failures, unsupported scenarios and all that good stuff. It's fun to tinker with, but can be a PITA when it craps out on you at the wrong time.

[beanflying]

I would just like to say two works here: fuck this.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352579078832

I reckon the $5 Plasma ball is a nice touch   

[nixiefreqq]

I would just like to say two works here: fuck this.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352579078832

that is an abomination.

[neo]

I would just like to say two works here: fuck this.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F352579078832

that is an abomination.

I second that, a horrific abomination.

[xrunner]

Not getting any answers in another thread, so I'm asking you guys - I need the name or description of the SMA connector shown in the pic - I want to buy some without any termination component installed for a project.

The one shown is a 50 ohm load. What is the name of the SMA part if it has NO load or component installed? You can see the 50 ohm load is soldered in. Can they be bought "empty"? 

Thanks!

[tautech]

Not getting any answers in another thread, so I'm asking you guys - I need the name or description of the SMA connector shown in the pic - I want to buy some without any termination component installed for a project.

The one shown is a 50 ohm load. What is the name of the SMA part if it has NO load or component installed? You can see the 50 ohm load is soldered in. Can they be bought "empty"? 

Thanks!

For VNA usage they're called an Open.
You'd have 3 types, 50 ohm, Open and Short and the quality ones have cal certs to their accuracy spec.

[mnementh]

Again... this is so with modern SATA 6Gbps MBs. Mine is a dinosaur with SATA 3Gbps. MIGHT make a noticeable difference.

But again... assache factor with having to switch boot modes in BIOS all the time. 

mnem
Hmmm.... I could put a enable switch on the SSD's power lines... 

SATA 2 or SATA 3 shouldn't make a huge difference either. The key to SSD performance is its random read performance. That's what makes all the difference in the world when running an OS or a database. Raw sustained throughput is nice, but rarely the limiting factor. If it is, it's typically for very short periods of time. There are workloads in which it does make a difference like the aforementioned video editing and rendering, but even then it's not necessarily going to set the world on fire. It becomes relevant when you do it often regularly.

But yes, the issue with RAID is that it is much more finicky than just buying a larger or faster disk. Rebuilding or more frequent failures, unsupported scenarios and all that good stuff. It's fun to tinker with, but can be a PITA when it craps out on you at the wrong time.

Again... swapping OS drives for different purposes. This build would be ONLY for gaming, where the sustained burst performance is a bonus. Besides; I know from experience that RAID 0 is pretty resilient. I've run it on different sized drives from different manufacturers, no problem.

I may do it with the 120GB inland SSD and the Samsung, just to satisfy my curiosity. Not like it'll cost me a thing.

mnem
*PokeBuilding*

[Mr. Scram]

Again... swapping OS drives for different purposes. This build would be ONLY for gaming, where the sustained burst performance is a bonus. Besides; I know from experience that RAID 0 is pretty resilient. I've run it on different sized drives from different manufacturers, no problem.

I may do it with the 120GB inland SSD and the Samsung, just to satisfy my curiosity. Not like it'll cost me a thing.

mnem
*PokeBuilding*

Games hardly or don't benefit from increased sustained throughput. You'd be most likely to notice any gains during initial loading and even with the massive bandwidth difference between SATA and NVMe benchmarks show that loading times are essentially exactly the same. SATA 2 won't change that in meaningful ways. I've had about three occasions where RAID 0 would have been broken. That's too much of a hassle in my book, and I see these probabilities mirrored in other people's RAID sets. But you obviously don't need to convince me. If you fancy a second disk and want to tinker a bit, why not? Especially considering it's a non-essential system. If it shits the bed, you simply reinstall or restore from backup.