Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I stand corrected, the 1610 passmarks ~2600

E8400 passmarks ~2100

no. it can't. It really can't. Maybe OC'd to 3.8 or 4ghz. But no. You're three generations behind (nahlem, sdb, ivb). They can do so much more with so much less on these chips

Intel restricted that model so much that a Zambezi probably beats it.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

My E8400 likely can kick its ass!

I stand corrected, the 1610 passmarks ~2600

E8400 passmarks ~2100

no. it can't. It really can't. Maybe OC'd to 3.8 or 4ghz. But no. You're three generations behind (nahlem, sdb, ivb). They can do so much more with so much less on these chips

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

While a good Ivy Bridge would indeed beat them no problem, I suspect this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116889

Might struggle a bit. It is also the cheapest Ivy Bridge, but costs $50, where as both his processors were had for $15.
.

My E8400 likely can kick its ass!

[Uranium-235]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

you don't need ECC. You're not running a server with a massive database system

You're fn like 19, by the time you have children that fucker won't be able to run windows NT 15 (or whatever the hell they choose to call it then). Remember technological breakthroughs double every few months in the computing world

'Run of the mill POS'. Bs. There are some good board offerings out there. And you can get some good quality DDR3 (which is actually QDR) for much less than you can get for a fraction of the price for the size of you can with your current rig. ECC is unnecessary for your application. You can wisely get GOOD 8GB DDR3-1600, and save yourself a lot of money. Another point is upgradability. Your board has a serious limit. You can get a G1610 (thank you for pointing that out 370, i've known about the 1610 ivb for some time and so far has used it in one of my customers computers, fucker passmarks ~2300+). But its still LGA 1155 which has a good upgrade path cause they JUST started moving IVB to 1155

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

why do you always gotta run workstation-type shit. Xeons and Opterons. Get a cheap Ivy-bridge that will beat the piss out of those Opteron X2's

Because I don't want some run of the mill consumer-grade throwaway halfass job.

Even if some cheapass ivy bridge POS was a wee but faster, the build quality wouldn't be there. Nore would it be unique. It would also be too easy and thus less fun to build.

Hell, until somewhat recently topcat pushed a slightly newer tyan rig... yeah, it had PCI-E and SLI, but it was otherwise pretty much identical (DDR, sockets, EATX, etc.). And he never came close to 16gb RAM IIRC. You think he would have traded that rig for some ivy bridge POS? I don't think so.

As for the regaular atx arguement, I'd still have to buy a case if I went with a new rig; V2's case/PSU has been more or less customized to fit V2's board. Yeah, more case selection... but again, run of the mill.

Not to mention RAM costs... Not even for DDR3 you can get good quality 16gb for $50... plus mine has ECC.

I've always wanted an EATX workstation rig... with enterprise-grade components. something I could expect to last long enough to show my children even after it's obsolete, if it's obsolete. Something that is 100% my design and style. 100% ratdude's main rig.

So please, no more "toss that shit and buy a new POS" posts. Please.

[370forlife]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

While a good Ivy Bridge would indeed beat them no problem, I suspect this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116889

Might struggle a bit. It is also the cheapest Ivy Bridge, but costs $50, where as both his processors were had for $15.

I built my 12 core dual socket 1207 for about $200. It's even SLI capable and fits in a standard ATX case.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

why do you always gotta run workstation-type shit. Xeons and Opterons. Get a cheap Ivy-bridge that will beat the piss out of those Opteron X2's

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

forgot to add:

I contacted supermicro's tech support about the breakout cable being wired backwards... in the mean time I tried to fix my exinsting cable... but I seem to have lost my touch, as I broke the tang on the first pin socket I tried to undo . I used to be good at this... Heck, undoing those is how I braid all my 3 wire cables...

In the best case supermicro sends me a fixed cable; in the worst, I order a fresh header cable shell from digikey/newark/mouser.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Shovenose got a free PSU, so I'm outright buying his board/shield and selling the supermicro PSU (see for sale/trade). It's a good PSU but for this setup I'm not feeling it. Just doesn't seem the be the right PSU for this rig.

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Card reader/floppy came today. It was very dusty but 5 mins later and I had it de-bunnied. I then took my USB header cable I made and used it to interface to my laptop to reflash the firmware... and it reads SDHC! The firmware trick works indeed!

On a side note, it seems that this drive has a 1-2" longer USB cable... which is quite helpful given the cable routing distances. With the floppy mounted so high in the case and the usb card being so far back (remember, EATX), the old rev 00 reader i used to mock-up with barely fit.

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ordered a fresh DB-9 header, this one is 16". I'm hoping that's long enough... if not, I'm gonna have to buy some ribbon cable ($$$ ) and re-cable one DIY.

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After lloking around, the only 80 wire IDE and floppy cables that will fit the rig right are the cables found in the dell optiplex gx240 (and the like, with orange tags (IDE) and black tags (floppy)). I found a pair and got them for under $10 shipped... I've always been a bit fond of dell cables of that era; the plug layout and length for a rig like this is just perfect; with the IDE cable at least, no other cables I saw were as good (too short slave to mainboard, too long master to slave).

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I'm not sure what to do about fans. It came with a single PWM san-ace that even when run at full blast (board has no PWM), was pretty quiet. However, I'd like to have a pair of matched 120mm fans and another one of those is pretty $$$ ($36 on ebay).

I couldn't find much in the way of quietish fans from good brands... arctic coling makes 120mm fans but they're PWM and I hear they are noisy full blast.

I don't need PWM but the tach output is semi-required.

Any suggestions?

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I'll take a few quick pics and attach them in a little bit.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I still don't like the idea of running tails without external load. Seems wasteful (besides, I'm trading ut anyway).

[370forlife]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

It will work just fine. They are 95W TDP processors. Assuming 80% efficiency at the VRM's thats 228W maximum draw if you have all 4 cores running balls out. That is 19A, and the OCP trip point on a multirail unit is typically 4-5A higher than the label. I wouldn't worry about it.

Edit:

I run my two Istanbul 2419's with my Hipro 700W (https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...ighlight=hipro). They are 115W TDP and the Hipro's 4 rails all max out at 16A (18A for a short period of time,) and have never had any problems even running all multitudes of benchmarking to max out all 12 cores.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Forgot to add: I ordered the 2.6GHZ x2 CPUs the other night.

Still looking for a PSU... Finding a well built 500W+ unit using a single 12V rail isn't super easy (I may have a lead on one though).

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Not feeling good about the PSU... it's a 4 12V rail unit. Given that my system isn't PCI-E based, I bet half the rails aren't really usable in this case... That's why I almost prefer single rail units, you can load up the 12V any way you want and still have full access to the PSU's potential output.

Case and PSU came tonight.

I built it up using the dead board as I haven't gotten the other one fully negotiated yet. Here's a few observances:

1. THe PSU is indeed a 4 rail unit, and based from the 12V color stripes, 2 of the rails are not in use (one goes to PCI-E, the other is a secondary 12V 8 pin). It looks like I need another PSU after all, and preferably one with one 12V rail (since anything of that wattage multi-rail has half the power PCI-E only). I do have a possible source for a PSU...

2. Supermicro got the LED wires on the front panel breakout adapter backwards... Weird! For now I just flipped how it's pluggged to the board/3ware card, but I may fully fix it later.

3. I had to remove the secondary card bracket to install the board... since I'm not using any full length cards, I chose to not re-install it.

4. Otherwise it seemed to build up well... I should have gotten pics... oh well, that will keep things a surprise.

5. I'm pretty impressed with the case. Overall it's a good value for the money.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Not feeling good about the PSU... it's a 4 12V rail unit. Given that my system isn't PCI-E based, I bet half the rails aren't really usable in this case... That's why I almost prefer single rail units, you can load up the 12V any way you want and still have full access to the PSU's potential output.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Running it w/o bracket made no difference. I kept the backplate on since it was adhered pretty tightly (it's thick metal too).

VRM wise, The good CPU's has 1.425V, and the Bad one's had 1.427V, so I doubt that's the issue.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

Please tell me you're not using those stupid online PSU calculators. They are quite shit IMO (no offense).

Ok, so I was. I was at least using one of the better ones.

As for the dead board - what kind of heat sink retention brackets are used on the CPU? I suggest to try the CPUs with the heat sinks on but without the retention brackets installed.

I may try that real quick.

Also check the voltages from the VRMs going to both CPUs.

Perhaps...

As a last resort, maybe try a reflow on the problematic socket.

I doubt that's it... Given that I'm 0 for 2 when it comes to successful reflows, I'm not going there.

[momaka]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

I made a few errors in the calculations (wrong amount of RAM, forgot the floppy/card reader)... And now we are at 484W minimum, 534W recommended. Technically, the PSU will work... but I don't feel the greatest about it.

Please tell me you're not using those stupid online PSU calculators. They are quite shit IMO (no offense).

As for the dead board - what kind of heat sink retention brackets are used on the CPU? I suggest to try the CPUs with the heat sinks on but without the retention brackets installed. Also check the voltages from the VRMs going to both CPUs.
As a last resort, maybe try a reflow on the problematic socket.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

By the way, here's an ebay auction for 2 opteron 285 for 50$ , it expires in 37 minutes:

edit : screw that, got excited and didn't search exactly for opteron 285... there's sales starting from 15$ for 2 cpus, like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-2-AMD...item565457a58b

Yeah, $15 a pair for the 285 was posted by 370forlife back on page 1. edit- it's the same listing.

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I made a few errors in the calculations (wrong amount of RAM, forgot the floppy/card reader)... And now we are at 484W minimum, 534W recommended. Technically, the PSU will work... but I don't feel the greatest about it.

---

RAM came in when I got home today. I used the working half of the board to test all 8 modules... all are good! It's kingston too, barely looks used, almost looked new (the marks on the contacts gave it away). I also used some junk sitting around to simulate some card layouts... so far so good.

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

By the way, here's an ebay auction for 2 opteron 285 for 50$ , it expires in 37 minutes:

edit : screw that, got excited and didn't search exactly for opteron 285... there's sales starting from 15$ for 2 cpus, like this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-2-AMD...item565457a58b

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V3, maybe

http://techreport.com/review/8295/am...-processors/15

Tyan S2895 with 2 opterons and power management disabled and 4 dimms ... I see a maximum of 300 watts



by the way, make sure the cpus are supported:

http://www.tyan.com/support_download...spx?socketid=9

1MB L2 Cache / AMD Single Core Opteron™: 240, 240EE, 242, 244, 246, 246HE, 248, 248HE, 250, 252, 254, 256

2MB L2 Cache / AMD Dual Core Opteron™ : 265*, 270*, 275*, 280*, 285* (1.8 - 2.6 GHz)

* CPU support for E Stepping CPU requires PCB Revision 04MOAb. See more information here.

The 4760 needs up to about 30-50 watts, the tuner about 10 watts, each dimm maybe about 5-8 watts, the burner about 15 watts when burning
The hard drives will add maybe 15-20w each , the controller is light at around 10 watts.

Basically, you're not gonna reach 100 watts over the values measured there, so at best you're gonna do 400w overall, and the psu has 500w in total.