Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Yeah, it must be borked as every "xp x64" driver for the adi/realtek chip either BSODs during the install or causes a hard reboot during bootup after the required restart.

WAY TO F**KING GO TYAN AND AMD! YOU MADE AN x64 BOARD THAT WON'T WORK WITH ANY x64 OS! F**K YOU!

Sounds like a faulty CPU or faulty board. Not normal for an AMD.
That's more what I expect on an eVGA motherboard with FZs.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Sounds like a faulty CPU or faulty board. Not normal for an AMD.
That's more what I expect on an eVGA motherboard with FZs.

Nah, its the quirky amd 8111 ac'97 bridge and the fact xp x64 sp2 had the driver preloaded. I do have a spare board but a driver quirk seems more plausible, dsending volume commands to the wrong chip.

Bought a xonar dg for $30 at frys today. For $20 more I could have gotten a ds, but it seeemed like a waste... it says xp x64 is supported on both. Will try when I'm home tomorrow.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Installed the card; it took a while since a HDD blew a SATA jack; I was able to fix it with super glue... Looks like I should look to redoing my cable array... I wish they made 90 degree cables with a longer than normal plug... that way I wouldn't need to fish the cables under the HDD caddy handles (why I used straight plugs).

Anyway, the card works great... No issues at all.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Got it moved to the final location and setup (minus LCDs, I have a pair of 17" dell 175's awaiting recap).

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Strike the Tuner card from the "it works" list. Found my channels but whenever I go to watch tv, both nextpvr and wintv chuck unhandled exception errors.

####!

PS- the 3ware boot screen says my BBU status is "fault". Is it just a bad battery or the whole BBU module toast (or has a bad connection)?

[Uranium-235]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

you get what you barely pay for :P

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

unhandled exception errors.

Seems to also occur a lot with stuff of today.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

you get what you barely pay for :P

I may see if I can score a K8WE or the like...

Found this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-TYAN-THU...item3f252c4e20

Made an offer, I may just BIN it and be done. IIRC they have an nvidia chipset... so better w7 compat.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Went ahead and bought it... IMHO $50 shipped is a steal, esp. if it's NOS with all the goodies (including the SLI bridge).

IIRC Topcat's frankenserver was based off one of these.

Looks like my PWM CPU fans (Mounting them to my spare coolers now) and matched Quadro cards will see use. I'm also going to remove the sound card (too quiet actually) and USB card, as this board has all the USB 2.0 I need (2 full front headers, I only needed 1.5).

The only AMD chip it has is the PCI-X tunnel, which I had no issues with. All else (minus firewire and if it has the option, SCSI) is on the nforce pro 2200 chips, including the SATA II, which means I can and will go to at least one SATA optical (May eventually put a BD drive for the 2nd drive).

Since it's a new board model, It will be either Main rig 3.5 or main rig 4.

Comments?

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Uhm ... what exactly did you buy?

ebay listing says TYAN THUNDER K8WE S2881 but that's not right.

K8WE is S2895 as it says on the CD in the picture: http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=151

S2881 is K8SR: http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=115

If you got K8WE, you scored big time, that's really a nicely featured board (for an old server board).

[Pentium4]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Wow, that is a nice board. Quite a good deal if that's what it is, if not you can probably return it, the seller has good feedback

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Uhm ... what exactly did you buy?

ebay listing says TYAN THUNDER K8WE S2881 but that's not right.

K8WE is S2895 as it says on the CD in the picture: http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=151

S2881 is K8SR: http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=115

If you got K8WE, you scored big time, that's really a nicely featured board (for an old server board).

Look at the first pic in the listing CAREFULLY. The cover of the manual clearly states it is a S2895. I also see what appears to be an SLI bridge in the pile of goodies. At first I was doubtful too for the same reason, but I checked the pic, and yup, a true thunder K8WE.

edit- the board kinda looks like the k8SR.. FML. Sending the seller a prompt question...

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Yeah, it looks like a K8SR baord with the box and accessories of a K8WE. I hope I can get this straightened... If not, back to the current piece of tyan trash I have...

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Yeah, i really hope it is 2895 like I said.

If that fails, I see another one but it's bundled with a cpu+heatsink at $99.95:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TYAN-THUNDER...item4172a3cb04

Guy looks like he sells a lot of stuff so maybe he's flexible about pricing, throw him a $70 for the board without cpu and heatsink and see what happens.

edit: was writing this as you posted previous message...

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Yeah, i really hope it is 2895 like I said.

If that fails, I see another one but it's bundled with a cpu+heatsink at $99.95:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TYAN-THUNDER...item4172a3cb04

Guy looks like he sells a lot of stuff so maybe he's flexible about pricing, throw him a $70 for the board without cpu and heatsink and see what happens.

edit: was writing this as you posted previous message...

I can't... it's buy it now, no best offer. Maybe ask the seller directly?

(I'd also need an SLI bridge... the board is half junk without it).

[brethin]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Never go by pictures over what the listing says without asking first that the seller confirm as sellers often use pictures that are not of the exact item or make mistakes and post the wrong pictures. My guess is if its not what you want the seller will most likelly let you return it.

I am still at a loss as to why you are tossing all the $ you are at a dual cpu server system that you seem to want to use as a home / media pc. Server boards are for servers not TV watching, gaming, HiFi music playback, etc. For what you have spent at this point (including your time if you even value that where you could have been working a job) you could have a really nice desktop that would do everything you want and be much faster than what you are going to have.

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Yeah, go with ask a question, that's what I meant. But there's no rush, it's still listed for 27 days. Clarify first with the previous guy.

brethin: everybody needs a hobby or something that brings him/her joy... some people collect stamps, others coins, others have various fetishes... i guess rat likes server hardware... no need to judge him that much.

[Pentium4]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

He's mentioned why before, he wants something that is unique, not a run of the mill system you could find in any store

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Never go by pictures over what the listing says without asking first that the seller confirm as sellers often use pictures that are not of the exact item or make mistakes and post the wrong pictures. My guess is if its not what you want the seller will most likelly let you return it.

I am still at a loss as to why you are tossing all the $ you are at a dual cpu server system that you seem to want to use as a home / media pc. Server boards are for servers not TV watching, gaming, HiFi music playback, etc. For what you have spent at this point (including your time if you even value that where you could have been working a job) you could have a really nice desktop that would do everything you want and be much faster than what you are going to have.

It's a workstation board, not a server board. Server boards don't allow for any GPU expansion, being designed to be headless (or semi-headless). Workstation boards do allow for it, and if anything support it more.

With my computer usage, I figured that A system with plenty of CPU power, fast HDDs, and a decent GPU woudl suit me best. Which IMHO is a workstation.

I'm not the only person around here that builds rigs like this... Look at Topcat. His last rig was based off a K8WE!

I build rigs like this for the same reason he does... power and reliability. He's like me, not wanting to suck the snake with some run of the mill celeron based piece of trash.

I'm sorry (or not), but I can't see a knowledgeable geek/tech like me calling some consumer grade POS a main rig.

Look, if the community wants me to quit posting these builds, then say so. Bye. All you'll see of me is moving crap out of the FAQ and banning spammers. If the community wants me inactive, then I'm out. See a new thread in Off topic.

[brethin]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Im fine with that but I guess where I get confused about is how he wants to use it and no Server board is ever really going to give you what a desktop board will when you want to use it as a desktop. If he were trying to build a data server or IP host server or some type of server then yes I would say hes on the right path but he isnt for what he wants it to do.