My Latest 8-core Project

[Uranium-235]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

vista had suck ballish overhead. I've seen 7 run beautifully on quad core systems with 4gb that xp ran slower

I've seen higher processing power taken up because of XP's 2d rendering, which is barely directdraw. explorer is pretty much cpu based rendering. I've seen scrolling web pages have problems when a flash app is up in a browser on XP, but not on 7. Why? cause 7's video is pretty much hardware accelerated. True there is no performance difference between dx9/10/11 with windows gui cause it used dx9 no matter what, but it used some nice d3d rendering to make windows look awesome, but be video accelerated, taking tasks off the cpu

when was the last time you tried 7? have you?

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

again I run into people saying this. Chances are with a system, win7 will run better then XP. Its better with multiple threads, and can take more advantage of that hardware than xp can (even 64 bit). teamed up with a good dx9/10/11 video card, even better. I notice you have an evga card (can tell from the cards bottom sticker in one of your pics)

Nothing I run will take advantage of dx10....hell, I really dont know of anything out there that touches DX11 yet. Any thread gains from 7 will be destroyed by its suck balls-ish overhead, so it will actually harm, not help. I'm not doing this to be different, I have tried it... If 7 were worth a shit for things I do, I'd use it....but its just not there yet.... I also like XP. I'd still be using win2k if there were a 64 bit x86 version.... There's a 64 bit itanium version, but that doesn't help me. The point being, 7 aint the greatest, sorry. If it weren't for XP, I'd be running Linux or OSX over 7. I'm sure there will come a time when I have to say goodbye to trusty XP, but that won't come for a looong time!! The corporate world will keep it alive for another decade atleast. Hell, many corporations still use win2k. The video card is one of those 7600GT's. I'm looking into a few others, that is just temporary. probably a quaddro...yes sucky gaming cards, but great for everything else....

...and for your little parrot (shovenose), I'll stack my measly used little XP system against anything you've got... Up for it?

[shovenose]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Chances are with a system, win7 will run better then XP. Its better with multiple threads, and can take more advantage of that hardware than xp can (even 64 bit).

this

[Uranium-235]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I want the power used for applications, not all that power just to run bloatware that won't do anything more than X64 will do. Try again.

again I run into people saying this. Chances are with a system, win7 will run better then XP. Its better with multiple threads, and can take more advantage of that hardware than xp can (even 64 bit). teamed up with a good dx9/10/11 video card, even better. I notice you have an evga card (can tell from the cards bottom sticker in one of your pics)

I can get ratty used ones by the hundreds here too...these were NEW....now find me some of those of this model...

I would occasionally run into new ones. just like mentioned above, companies sometimes have surpluses of such things and throw (in my case donate) them away believing they serve no real use

[momaka]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Just for the XP haters, its XP Pro x64!

I think it's funny you're not taking the full advantage of such an awesome computer...
I think you know why, you even hinted at it yourself.
*cough* XP *cough*

you want more of those clicky keyboards? find a goodwill computer works. we had THOUSANDS

My old work has 2 huge cabinets full of them. I/we were supposed to sort through them when we were organizing last winter, but fortunately no one had time for that, so we left them alone (I just pulled the newer good ones and put them on a separate pile). I hope no one has thrown them out yet. Too bad I don't work there anymore cause now I just don't feel comfortable asking my boss if I can take a few. But perhaps I should anyways??

All of them are used, but some are almost untouched. We had quite a few Dell QuietKeys (LoudKeys? lol). Those and some of the older HP/Compaq ones have some serious weight to them. Metal back covers. One of them is easily heavier than 3 newer cheap USB ones.

[ratdude747]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I want the power used for applications, not all that power just to run bloatware that won't do anything more than X64 will do. Try again.

And for those who do not happen to have a copy of XP x64, we use linux (I use mageia 2 w/ gnome 3)...

Its very quiet. No louder than any off the shelf system. If I turn off the fan controller, then all the fans run at full speed, some of them at 8500RPM....so yea, that's quite noisy and very windy!

That's my only beef with my supermicro rig... it is pretty noisy (no fan controller). Even swapping the CPU fans only made it semi-tolerable... the system before it was very quiet, a sharp contrast.

That said, I still like it... as long as I have music on the noise isn't an issue...

I can get ratty used ones by the hundreds here too...these were NEW....now find me some of those of this model...

I have a bunch similar that I may need to re-home... in good condition too. Various brands, some at, some ps/2, some clicker than others... I have a rather noisy ZEOS AT keyboard in the bunch...

I use a bunch of newer clicksters with media buttons... so the old "plain" ones are of little use... Heck, even my 3 laptops have semi-clicky keyboards... plenty of key travel. none of the current crap. Probably because they are "pro" models (2 Magnesium Latitudes and a Gateway solo).

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I think it's funny you're not taking the full advantage of such an awesome computer...
I think you know why, you even hinted at it yourself.
*cough* XP *cough*

Anyway, is it noisy? Or quiet?

I want the power used for applications, not all that power just to run bloatware that won't do anything more than X64 will do. Try again.

Its very quiet. No louder than any off the shelf system. If I turn off the fan controller, then all the fans run at full speed, some of them at 8500RPM....so yea, that's quite noisy and very windy!

you want more of those clicky keyboards? find a goodwill computer works. we had THOUSANDS

I can get ratty used ones by the hundreds here too...these were NEW....now find me some of those of this model...

[lti]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I think it's funny you're not taking the full advantage of such an awesome computer...
I think you know why, you even hinted at it yourself.
*cough* XP *cough*

He is using 64-bit XP. I don't know of any reason why any other version of Windows would run better on that computer.

[Uranium-235]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

you want more of those clicky keyboards? find a goodwill computer works. we had THOUSANDS

[shovenose]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I think it's funny you're not taking the full advantage of such an awesome computer...
I think you know why, you even hinted at it yourself.
*cough* XP *cough*

Anyway, is it noisy? Or quiet?

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

^
Yes, that is an old clicky keyboard. A place was clearing those out abotu 11 years ago, and I bought 5 of them, brand new in box. I'm glad I did, they're impossible to find today!!

It's alive! Encountered no problems putting it together. I do love supermicro boards in their intended supermicro cases....the front panel header and LED's are a standard ribbon, just plugs into the board....no guessing if you have the polarity backward for the LED's, and then of course the mess of those little annoying wires... I also stuck a pair of 160GB velociraptors in, set as a raid1 for the boot array.... It had a pair of WD blues. To their credit, the blues performed better than I expected on the 3ware controller, and were 100% reliable. They ran for 24/7 for about 2 years. Never had any problems with them being in a RAID or any other strange problems...

The Tyan S2895 removed from the case:


Empty case in need of a blowjob from the air compressor




All blown out and the new board installed:


No build is complete without atleast one ziptie mod....here's mine... The airflow over the RAM was lacking, and this FB memory gets miserably hot unless the onboard fan controller is disabled and the fans run full speed (insanely serverish loud)....so in comes a 120mm 4 pin fan I scavenged out of an old HP media center PC to the rescue. Being 4-pin, it plays nice with the onboard fan controller. I can keep the fan controller in quiet mode, and the memory stays nice and cool. The fan is zip tied to the metal mesh, nice and firm with a couple strips of felt between the fan and the case, so it won't vibrate or rattle. Fan looks like it was born there!!


The four 80mm front fans. All the fan headers on the motherboard are in use. Another thing I love about supermicro, they put plenty of fan headers on their boards, and are very controllable in the BIOS.


...Houston, we have ignition!




Just for the XP haters, its XP Pro x64!




all 8 cores and 16gb of PC6400!! hello FrankenMama!!

[momaka]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Looks quite professional. Getting rid of the SLI isn't such a bad idea, though. Should also save you a few watts (and few $$) that way, too.
I like the keyboard the best, though. Probably one of those nice and clicky ones (just the way I like them) . I can't stand the cheap flat plastic USB crap they sell nowadays. Goes nicely with that dot-matrix printer.

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Old Trusty 'Frankenserver' has been decommissioned today, its duties offloaded to a temporary shit system pending the commissioning of Frankenserver's replacement, FrankenMama.......

The heatsinks arrived, and I did a final round of tests, all A-OK.

Of course some pics:







Frankenserver shut down for the last time....




Patiently waiting....



A few more of the retiree...






...and since I'll be losing my SLI abilities (Seaburg chipset supports it, but the board doesn't have the required nvidia SLI bridge chip to make it active), I'm going to go with a dual monitor setup instead. I'm not a gamer, so this will be far more beneficial to me, as I'm more in the 'power user' class, not the gamer class. Its not uncommon for me to have 10 windows open, so a pair of 24" 16:10 monitors will be very nice (the monitors shown below are 22"). I've been testing this on my hotrod Dell Precision 470.





I will commission this system as my office machine as well, relegating the Asus All in one to the workbench (where you see the iMac in the pics). The duties the Frankenserver performed were a complete waste of power, so on top of those duties, this machine will also be a daily use system in the office as well. She's well on her way though.

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

^
Probably put it in the office and use it. The board is a high-end workstation board (no onboard video), so its not really intended to be a server....although it would make a fine one. Since I can't SLI it (has the ports, and the Seaburg chipset supports it, but it doesn't have the nvidia bridge controllers, which is required), I'll run a single card and 2 monitors.....

[Uranium-235]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

so whatchya gonna do with it? new bc web server? I've never exp. any slow down with the current one though. hmm, pr0n serv?

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I just finished scraping all that gray crud off the NB, SB, and the GLAN controller and buttering it up with some nice fresh arctic silver... Heatsinks should be here tues....

[ratdude747]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I have a couple of choices for permanent ones...but for testing purposes, I just use the bench coolers.

New thing I learned, FB DDR2 is keyed different than ECC DDR2.... I have some ECC DDR2 667MHz that I figured would be ok to test the board...nope. Won't even fit the slot. Fully buffered DDR2 uses a slot of its own apparently.....I never knew that. I did fire it with no RAM in it...and it beeped memory codes at me.....obviously...but it is a good sign. That tells me the board is alive...

Let me guess, the RAM you need is pricey?

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I have a couple of choices for permanent ones...but for testing purposes, I just use the bench coolers.

New thing I learned, FB DDR2 is keyed different than ECC DDR2.... I have some ECC DDR2 667MHz that I figured would be ok to test the board...nope. Won't even fit the slot. Fully buffered DDR2 uses a slot of its own apparently.....I never knew that. I did fire it with no RAM in it...and it beeped memory codes at me.....obviously...but it is a good sign. That tells me the board is alive...

[ratdude747]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

What about the coolers?

didn't you have a bunch of gx280 coolers that you could zip tie fans to? or are those screwy?

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Just a few teasers while I wait for the RAM to get here....

yea, thats a big board!!


The money shot!!


Other crap...