New M6500 Discussion Thread

that cell phone has more power than your laptop you'll forget about the m6500 in no time

 

rlabbe,

I have this setup. The online configuration I had requested was RAID 0 3 drives.

The way the M6500 was shipped to me had the OS installed on the SSD RAID 0. And the mini ssd card was a second drive. I didn't orginally want this and rebuilt the machine and put my OS on the SSD mini Card. Then had all my VMWare images on the SSD RAID array as a data drive.

The setup worked nice. I posted early figures on the benchmarks of each. The Intel driver supports TRIM on the mini card.. but not on the SSD RAID.

Unfortunately, 2 weeks ago.. the covet actually died on me mid presentation. Whole thing fried. Now waiting for a complete replacement. I'm not sure I'm going to install my OS on the SSD mini card again though with the replacement. I didn't think it was as speedy as a normal samsung SSD, much less a RAID 0 SSD setup. So I might just make my whole system the SSD RAID 0 on the new system and use the mini card as a spare drive. I'm not that sold on the TRIM vs no TRIM SSD RAID 0 argument for my purposes. I rebuild/replace the drives in my machine (or upgrade to a new machine) at around once a year. I think the performance benefits of SSD's in a RAID 0 are significant.

Intel X25-V in RAID-0: Faster than X25-M G2 for $250? - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

I did try to set the drives to ACHI with no RAID for all 3 SSD's and couldn't get it to work. Not sure it could be fixed with a new bios/drivers..

I'm also going to test just pulling out the ssd mini card and then running both SSD's in ACHI mode as two drives.

 

TheZoid and Ybcold,

Thanks for the suggestions. Will check them out. Im assuming the Cisco - WRVS4400N Wireless-N Gigabit Security Router is the model...
Cisco WRVS4400N-Wireless-N-Gigabit-Security-Router

While at Newegg I noticed this unit which is similar and compelling peer reviews and price...
NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAS IEEE 802.11n Draft 2.0 Rangemax Simultaneous Dual Band Wireless Gigabit Router - Premium Edition

John

 

Hi all, I'm thinking of getting an M6500. Some of my likely use would be while sitting in a car or a plane, and I would like to be able to power and recharge it using an auto/air AC adapter.

Has anyone actually used the Dell auto/air AC adapters for the M6500? On Dell Canada's website it shows that there are adapters for "selected" Precision models, but doesn't mention the M6500 explicitly.

Or has anyone used any sort of auto/air AC adapter with their M6500?

thx.

 

That's not the one...I'll find it for you now.....

this is it: http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WRT610N-Simultaneous-Dual-N-Wireless/dp/B001AZ01EO

In the past I've generally used Netgear routers....but I can vouch this is an awesome router You have two SSID's show up....one at 5 ghz, one at 2.4 ghz....I named them "ScorchedEarth" and "ScorchedEarth N" where the latter is the 5 ghz.....connect to whichever one you want....a guest with a laptop can be on one, and you can be on the other at the same time. I read an Amazon review just now where the user really didn't know what he was talking about The one's who did gave it 5 stars.

Getting ready to fire up Battlefield: Bad Company 2....connecting to the 5 ghz band....

 

I was looking at that initially. The E3000 is supposed to be the latest version/replacement and selling for$149.

John

 

really? I'll look at it....don't need it, but I've had the one I linked for a few months so I guess it's time

 

pj11m,

I appreciate the detailed and informative reply. I just ordered the system today and prior to ordering I received confirmation from Dell via e-mail I could disable RAID and thus use all 3 drives independently. I’m interested in storage space as usually I run out of either memory or drive space on lab systems using VMware which will be the purpose of this system.

I’m sorry to hear about the system going out during a presentation of all times. Ouch! You got this dream of a system and then it fails you. I’ve been sweating during presentations when we had to perform live demonstrations on systems in front of a group. Does Dell send you a loaner system while you receive a replacement? I ask because we purchased the ProSupport for IT and CompleteCare Accidental Damage Protection so it will be interesting to see how/if this process works as advertised.

I’m not too familiar with ACHI but it ‘seems’ as though one should install the latest drivers supporting ACHI prior to enabling in the BIOS. Thoughts?

Question:

In order to take advantage of Windows 7 TRIM when using (3) SSDs then one should enable ACHI?

Is this also done when operating the disks individually and not part of RAID?

I’ll be doing some Google searches but thought I’d ask here as well.

Thanks

 

That's not simultaneous dual band....different router....that wouldn't work for me because I have netbooks in my house that can't connect at 5 ghz and I'd kick them off using the E3000 in 5 ghz mode....I'd still get the one I have.

 

I just ordered one. I'm on an old Linksys G so this will be a step up.

John