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ISSUE 219 NOV 2008
PERFORMANCE GEAR & GAMING
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ISSUE IS SS SU UE 2 21 219 19 IT 19 IT’S T’’S SAF FORMIDABLE OR O RM MIID DA ABL BLE SCENT
OVERCLOCK YOUR RIG Tech guide! Everything you need
to get more from your hardware
IT’S A FORMIDABLE SCENT
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN SOLID STATE HARD DRIVE Get out your hacksaw! p62
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Issue 219 Nov 2008 £4.99 Outside UK & ROI £6.49
SPORE: MASSIVE TACTICAL GUIDE
PCF219.cover Sec1:3
WOW: WIN AT EYE OF THE STORM! 5/9/08 16:46:21
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Make a solid state drive
Make this!
No, seriously! Get a CF card, adaptor and some sticky-backed tape to make your very own… ost of the conversations that take place in the PC Format Sofa Fort don’t yield much more insight than the number of marshmallows Dave James can cram up his right nostril, but occasionally the odd nugget of brain goop does ooze forth and form a seriously useful idea. One such cranial fart erupted from a conversation about running a RAID 5 arrays over USB flash drives; something that is actually possible, but thus far, only with Linux. The offshoot was the discovery of some damn handy SATA- and PATA-toCompact Flash adaptors, from this came the realisation that this made it easy to create your very own solid state drive. With current SSDs still costing hundreds of pounds, in comparison a top of the range 8GB CF card costs under £70 and the adaptors can be snapped up from eBay for a mere £5. That means you can put together your own SSD for less than £80; or if you opt for a slower model or a 4GB option, just £40. If you happen to have a 4GB card hanging around, it’d cost you next to nothing to do. This project isn’t as pointless as it sounds either, the adaptors can fit standard laptop drive caddies, as they measure a mere 90mm long with the CF card in place, so it’s perfectly possible to consider this as an option! ¤ Neil Mohr
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What you will need ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤
Suitable CF card SATA or PATA CF adaptor Cables Spare backplate 3mm bolts Workmate Hacksaw Pliers
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“The high-speed Kingston 266x card purrs along at 43MB/s – hugely fast”
How to make a solid state drive 10
(1) You’ll want a workmate for this project as it involves cutting that backplate with a hacksaw; as we’re not total peasants, we want our card mounted securely inside the PC. (2) The adaptor has several handy 3mm mounting holes. With the CF card installed inside a PC, it needs to sit above the mobo by around 10mm to avoid components and expansion slots. This means the bottom of the CF card needs to be around 30mm from the bottom of the backplate. Line everything up and mark off the hole positions. (3) Once you’ve marked the positions, cut two 3mm wide slits through which the bolts can go to keep the adaptor in place. (4) Leave a few mm each side of these slits and cut into the centre of the backplate. This enables you to bend the newly created support arms out. Be careful here, as the backplate metal will flex a lot. (5) Before mounting everything, don’t forget to insert the CF card! (6) It’s now time to screw the adaptor to the freshly constructed backplate. (7) Screw the whole assembly securely into your PC and attach the cables. (8) Power up and check that the BIOS spots the new drive; you’re now free to install Windows. (9) If benchmark numbers gives you thrills, feel free to test out just how fast your new SSD is. This high-speed Kingston 266x card purrs along at 43MB/s, which is hugely fast for a CF card. (10) As you can see, the adaptor plus CF card is easily small enough to fit most common laptop HDD caddies, meaning you could drop in your own laptop SSD with even less hassle. November 2008
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