My Latest 8-core Project

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Same type of failure on the HDD?? (bad bearing and HDD making excessive bearing noise??)

Curious what fails on these server-grade HDDs.

This one just went dead. No spin-up, no communication with the interface (can't even read SMART data). At first, I thought the SAS port went until I tried the drive on a different port with the same result.

With the desktop models... particularly 7200.10, 11, 12, and anything onwards, it seems to be a combination of bad surface, head wear, and bearing wear. As stated previously, seems that desktop Seagate HDDs don't like high power-on hours. Power-cycle them daily when PC is not in use, and they tend to last a lot longer in terms of years (but not POH.)

I didn't check their POH hours when pulling them....but it's been 8yrs running 24/7/365 the first 6 years. About 2yrs ago I started shutting it off at night, so it runs ~10hrs/day now.

Nice!
I like Hitachi HDDs. They seem to be pretty reliable for the most part. Only the older 500G 2.5" laptop models weren't so great. But apart from those, I have seen many Hitachi with 100k POH.

I'm happy with them so far. I got them for $11.00/drive, that's one nice thing about SAS...not many things support them....not a lot of demand. I run them in a RAID10, that's 600gb. Plenty of storage. I keep large storage on the NAS, so massive storage isn't needed on workstations.

[momaka]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

This happened again this morning, another Cheetah HDD checked out, that's the second of the original 4.

Same type of failure on the HDD?? (bad bearing and HDD making excessive bearing noise??)

Curious what fails on these server-grade HDDs.

With the desktop models... particularly 7200.10, 11, 12, and anything onwards, it seems to be a combination of bad surface, head wear, and bearing wear. As stated previously, seems that desktop Seagate HDDs don't like high power-on hours. Power-cycle them daily when PC is not in use, and they tend to last a lot longer in terms of years (but not POH.)

I did have 4x 300GB 15k 128mb cache 2.5" SAS new-in-baggie (hitachi IIRC). Mounted on WD icetrays, they slip right into the SM 3.5" caddies, and away I go. Used clonezilla (saw the RAID arrays)...cloned, and done. The old clumsy 8yr old drives are phased out. the 2.5" are also faster and silent. Win! Anything to keep this system limping along a little longer....since I'm still getting Win7 updates for another year.

Nice!
I like Hitachi HDDs. They seem to be pretty reliable for the most part. Only the older 500G 2.5" laptop models weren't so great. But apart from those, I have seen many Hitachi with 100k POH.

I actually have a replacement for this system simmering on the back burner.....if anyone remembers that M6000 incident....

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I got to my office this morning, fired this system up as usual....POST roll halted @ SAS init, saying a drive was missing from the 600gb RAID10 (4x 300gb Cheetah 15k RPM SAS).....sure enough, one had died. It boots just fine on the degraded array, I didn't have another HDD on hand to swap it out....so I'm runnin' on 3 at the moment....got another on the way....but redundancy saves the day!!

This happened again this morning, another Cheetah HDD checked out, that's the second of the original 4. The first one I replaced with a used one (the one that failed this time was not the same one)...but I didn't have another to replace it, and you can't find these new anymore anyway..... I did have 4x 300GB 15k 128mb cache 2.5" SAS new-in-baggie (hitachi IIRC). Mounted on WD icetrays, they slip right into the SM 3.5" caddies, and away I go. Used clonezilla (saw the RAID arrays)...cloned, and done. The old clumsy 8yr old drives are phased out. the 2.5" are also faster and silent. Win! Anything to keep this system limping along a little longer....since I'm still getting Win7 updates for another year. I actually have a replacement for this system simmering on the back burner.....if anyone remembers that M6000 incident....

[Dan81]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

IIRC some of the 7200.11 Seagates can be brought back from the dead with a USB serial adapter. I myself have made one from a Nokia USB cable (DKU-5) and have saved several Seagates.

[momaka]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

WD is bad about this.

Yup, anything made after the RoHS era is like that.
Seagate is not any better either, though.

+1 for the pencil eraser trick. I do that to clean the contacts first.

How the feck can I stop that corrosion? I saw that the corrosion is particularly bad, at least on Western Digital HDDs since circa-2010!

Either what TC suggested with the contact grease.
-OR-
If you are a solder monkey - coat the pads with leaded (Pb) solder. That's what I do all the time now. Just don't apply too much solder. It only needs a thin coating on there. Afterwards, clean with IPA to get rid of solder flux, as that can make the contacts non-conductive - obviously not what you'd want to happen.

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

How the feck can I stop that corrosion? I saw that the corrosion is particularly bad, at least on Western Digital HDDs since circa-2010!

Then I looked at one of my Seagate Barracuda HDDs from roughly the same time and it looks like they hardly corrode, if at all!

I typically put a dab of non-conductive dielectric grease on them, it stops the corrosion dead. Do this for the motor & head interface on the underside of the PCB (it has to be removed from the drive).

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Low quality contact pads..... Remove the interface boards from the drives and take an eraser to the contact pads if they're corroding. Your HDD will thank you for it. WD is bad about this.

How the feck can I stop that corrosion? I saw that the corrosion is particularly bad, at least on Western Digital HDDs since circa-2010!

Then I looked at one of my Seagate Barracuda HDDs from roughly the same time and it looks like they hardly corrode, if at all!

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Speaking about HDDs, on Western Digital HDDs, I'm noticing what looks like a lot of corrosion!

Looks like corrosion, even on Blacks, too!

Low quality contact pads..... Remove the interface boards from the drives and take an eraser to the contact pads if they're corroding. Your HDD will thank you for it. WD is bad about this.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Speaking about HDDs, on Western Digital HDDs, I'm noticing what looks like a lot of corrosion!

Looks like corrosion, even on Blacks, too!

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

It's a 15k.5. It was making some weird whining noises, like it was only partially spun up to speed (maybe a bearing failed). It was not clicking. Controller showed it, but as 'failed'. I didn't even bother looking at the SMART data.

[momaka]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Curious to read more about the dead 300 GB Cheetah HDD. Is it clicking? Or just not recognized? I wonder if the Seagate server HDDs have the same problem with their head amp contacts oxidizing like the desktop lines do, and if there is a slim chance that might restore yours. I just cleaned and tinned the boards on 4 different Seagate models, ranging as old as the 7200.10 era and as new as the SV35 series. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have helped any of them, though. Half of those have bad sectors and click very unpleasantly once in a while, while the other two appear and read/write OK, but can't pass a thorough surface test. All high-hour count HDDs with low power cycle count. In my experience, Seagate HDDs like it the other way around: high power cycle count and low hours - at least the desktop models anyways. Seems after 20-40k POH, they start to act up.

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I got to my office this morning, fired this system up as usual....POST roll halted @ SAS init, saying a drive was missing from the 600gb RAID10 (4x 300gb Cheetah 15k RPM SAS).....sure enough, one had died. It boots just fine on the degraded array, I didn't have another HDD on hand to swap it out....so I'm runnin' on 3 at the moment....got another on the way....but redundancy saves the day!!

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

one of my 27" monitors shit the bed.... The panel went bad (common for the Dell 2709W), so no fix

So they're cheap like those Sharp 70-inch'ers! You said "common", so I think it's safe to say bad like Sharp, not too long before Hisense bought their TV division, IIRC.

It makes me sick to get word about that happening with a Dell computer monitor! I'm used to getting word at badcaps.net, about failures with TVs, OTOH. (the ones with a tuner) Or Core 2-era LCD monitors with bad caps.

Except for bad CCFLs or the like, of course, for earlier LCDs.

[momaka]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Be careful - you might get some serious computer tan now!

The monitor on the left looks barely on the edge of the desk, though.
Next up: bigger desk upgrade?

BTW, often there are quite a few really nice solid wood "executive office" desks for dirt cheap (sometimes even free) on my local CL, as there are a lot of gvmnt/admin offices in the area. If only you were closer.

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Well, it happened this morning....one of my 27" monitors shit the bed.... The panel went bad (common for the Dell 2709W), so no fix....it's been deteriorating for some time now. I saw this coming, and had a backup plan.....



Say hello to 3x Dell u3011's, 2560x1600 16:10 monitors. I bargain hunted for a long time....I've got less than $400 in all these, screens are flawless. I was worried these would be too overwhelming for the desk....but after setting them up & tweaking, I should have done this long ago!

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Nice upgrade!

Indeed the Quadro M4000 isn't that power hungry (only 120 Watts TDP, which these days is considered as "pocket change" in terms of power use), but still considerably more than the Quadro NVS510's measly 35W TDP.

Of course, since you aren't doing any gaming or serious rendering, I imagine that M4000 will be idlying most of them time... which means around 30-50W power use maybe. Whereas the NVS510 was probably running to at least 50% load due to those IP cameras, if not more... and very likely using 25-30W. Thus, the difference in power consumption likely won't be that much, indeed. But on the positive side, now you have a card with much more "headroom" than before (should you ever want to run, say, 2-3x more cameras than now. ) Either way, whatever you do, it's probably not a good idea to push that M4000 card to high loads. 120W TDP for a single-slot cooler solution... yeah, it's gonna run quite hot. Probably 80-90C at full tilt, and loud too. But for desktop use, it should be more than alright.

Anyways, PC specs still look great. Has it really already been 7 years since you've built this? Gee, time flies! Well, here's to another 7 then:

For what it's worth, the NVS510 didn't go to waste....my DVR needed a GPU, and this one is perfect. It doesn't strain a bit with all the IP camera feeds when only driving one monitor.

[momaka]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

and this system went from a Quadro NVS510 2gb to a Quadro M4000 8gb. The only reason I did it, the m4000 was a junk pile freebie, and its not known to be a mass power hog.....and it'll spin circles around the NVS510....that said, the NVS510 has been a wonderful GPU for this productivity system (My main system, the holy grail of my office). The only thing that made it strain a little was a 4th monitor with the live feed from 9 IP cameras....it could do it, but its little fan would spin a bit faster!

Nice upgrade!

Indeed the Quadro M4000 isn't that power hungry (only 120 Watts TDP, which these days is considered as "pocket change" in terms of power use), but still considerably more than the Quadro NVS510's measly 35W TDP.

Of course, since you aren't doing any gaming or serious rendering, I imagine that M4000 will be idlying most of them time... which means around 30-50W power use maybe. Whereas the NVS510 was probably running to at least 50% load due to those IP cameras, if not more... and very likely using 25-30W. Thus, the difference in power consumption likely won't be that much, indeed. But on the positive side, now you have a card with much more "headroom" than before (should you ever want to run, say, 2-3x more cameras than now. ) Either way, whatever you do, it's probably not a good idea to push that M4000 card to high loads. 120W TDP for a single-slot cooler solution... yeah, it's gonna run quite hot. Probably 80-90C at full tilt, and loud too. But for desktop use, it should be more than alright.

Anyways, PC specs still look great. Has it really already been 7 years since you've built this? Gee, time flies! Well, here's to another 7 then:

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Been a long time since I updated this thread or this system..... It's been a good week for GPU upgrades. My home system went from a GTX460 to a GTX970, and this system went from a Quadro NVS510 2gb to a Quadro M4000 8gb. The only reason I did it, the m4000 was a junk pile freebie, and its not known to be a mass power hog.....and it'll spin circles around the NVS510....that said, the NVS510 has been a wonderful GPU for this productivity system (My main system, the holy grail of my office). The only thing that made it strain a little was a 4th monitor with the live feed from 9 IP cameras....it could do it, but its little fan would spin a bit faster! This system has been one of the longest-used systems I've ever had, and I have zero plans of ever replacing it until something catastrophic happens to it.

Just to rerun this system's specs, because I'm not sure if I posted about trivial upgrades along the way....

Supermicro X7DWA-N
2x Xeon X5492 Quad-core @ 3.4Ghz
64gb FB PC2-6400
Quadro M4000 8gb GPU
AOC/Adaptec uSAS S8iR SAS RAID Controller
4x 300gb 15k RPM SAS HDD's in a 600gb RAID10

Sorry, I didn't think to take any pics while I had it open to install the new GPU...I also blew the dust out of it too.....but 7 years of constant use, this freight train is still chuggin'!!

[dmill89]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

You should just sell those FX4800's. Let the eBay horde fight for them . Last I checked a few months back, a pair of FX4800 with a SLI bridge sold for a decent amount of cash.

Yep, why they still pull big bucks makes no sense, as a quadro 4000 (~$120), or K620 (~$150) is more powerful than a pair of FX4800s and much more efficient (the K620 doesn't even need a PCI-E 6pin connector) for a similar price or cheaper, but hey if people are willing to pay crazy money for old gpus might as well take advantage of it.

[momaka]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I went back to my NVS510. Different driver cured the choppy issue I was having. Teh pair of 4800's really didn't perform any better for what this machine does....and the temp in the case increased by 40*F.... The system is much happier with the 510.

Yup, that's also a big side-effect of using powerful GPUs.

If I am not building a gaming PC, it gets a low-power GPU (though preferably something with hardware H.264 acceleration, like a GeForce 8400 GS minimum... especially on an older PC with not much processing power.)

You should just sell those FX4800's. Let the eBay horde fight for them . Last I checked a few months back, a pair of FX4800 with a SLI bridge sold for a decent amount of cash.

They make these SLI-able

No, I think they make these... so that they last past the warranty. That is all.
NO-Vidia and A(r)TI(facts) will also tell you that it's okay for the GPU core to run at 80-90C. Then you wonder why so many of them show up dead after a few years.