Server board help needed

[washu]

Re: Server board help needed

Are you hard set on Naslite? You've already got a good setup. You could save a bunch of money by just using an OS that supports multi-core on 32 bit. Any decent Linux distro should, as does FreeNAS/FreeBSD. Windows server would support it as well, but that would of course cost money if you want to stay legal.

Also, unless you are talking uncompressed HD video, your raid controllers should be fine. Even a direct Blu-ray rip is 54 Mbit/sec (6.75 Mbyte/sec) max. A single HD can handle that without breaking a sweat.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Server board help needed

Are you hard set on Naslite? You've already got a good setup. You could save a bunch of money by just using an OS that supports multi-core on 32 bit. Any decent Linux distro should, as does FreeNAS/FreeBSD. Windows server would support it as well, but that would of course cost money if you want to stay legal.

Also, unless you are talking uncompressed HD video, your raid controllers should be fine. Even a direct Blu-ray rip is 54 Mbit/sec (6.75 Mbyte/sec) max. A single HD can handle that without breaking a sweat.

I wanted to hang onto NASLite, since it's already paid for. Been using it for years and I love it. Just wanted to utilize some newer hardware that uses less power, and is faster and more future proof (eg. 2GB LAN or whatever comes next). I just wish good server boards weren't so expensive.

Why did Intel have to make the newer Socket 775 chips incompatible with older boards? With the AMD's, you can at least put an AM3 chip in an old AM2 board and use it at a lower speed...

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Server board help needed

My current NAS has two 3Ware 7506-8 RAID cards

I know those cards. Have some.

64-bit CPU is needed by the OS for multi-core support.

Where did you get this idea?

And why do you need dual core for a NAS?
More CPU doesn't help bandwidth through a NAS at all.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Server board help needed

You want
2x PCI-X
x64
Dual Core
Low Power
Low $$$
- Gonna need to compromise something

By what I read at NASlite's site Dual Core doesn't have anything to do with anything.
Just needs to be x64 to runs the 64-bit version.

http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-Entry-Serv...item3ca898119e

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Server board help needed

You want
2x PCI-X
x64
Dual Core
Low Power
Low $$$
- Gonna need to compromise something

By what I read at NASlite's site Dual Core doesn't have anything to do with anything.
Just needs to be x64 to runs the 64-bit version.

http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-Entry-Serv...item3ca898119e

That board looks like it would be perfect. I'll keep an eye on it.

The 32 bit version of NASLite doesn't support Multi-core, but 64 bit does.

Since my current 32 bit Xeon based board was only using 1 of the 4 cores, I figured I would upgrade to the 64 bit version of NASLite, only to find out that my Xeons are 32 bit. So basically I have an extra NASLite x64 disc and some newer hardware, and I figured I would put it all together. That's how this all started.

Since I don't know a lot about Intel, is there a way to know which LGA775 chips are 64 bit without looking up the part number every time? Intel has Pentium 4, Pentium Dual Core, Pentium D, Core 2 Duo, Celeron D, etc. all on the same socket, and they apparently aren't always compatible with certain boards, nor are they all 64 bit. That's how I got tangled up trying to find a server board for my SLA8Z chip.

I would have stuck to AMD stuff, had this server chassis not had the Xeon board in it when I got it

[ratdude747]

Re: Server board help needed

intel p4 prescott 5xx and 6xx. all cedar mill. all other cpus that use lga775.

example: my linux gaming boxes uses a p4 prescott 630, which is 64 bit enabled.

[washu]

Re: Server board help needed

Sorry RD, but there are 5xx Prescotts which don't support 64 bit. Also there are LGA775 Celerons which don't support it either.

[370forlife]

Re: Server board help needed

Are there any c2d's that aren't 64bit?

[ratdude747]

Re: Server board help needed

oops, my bad there.

[washu]

Re: Server board help needed

Are there any c2d's that aren't 64bit?

As far as I'm aware every c2d and variants like core 2 Celerons are 64 bit. There are a few mobile chips called "Pentium Dual-Core" that are not 64 bit, but they are Pentium M derived and not core 2s. The rest of the Pentium Dual-Core chips are core 2 derived and support 64 bit.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Server board help needed

You still aren't getting it.

There is no advantage at all [none] to using 64-bit or dual cores for an OS that runs fine on a 500 MHz CPU & 512Mb RAM [or less].

The only reason for NASlite to support 64-bit at all is because in the future there won't be any 32-bit CPU's to use it with.
- It's not about performance, it's about future compatibility with future hardware.

-

You are setting you hardware requirements way too high.

All that does is cost more money in exchange for no improvement. [none]

.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Server board help needed

You still aren't getting it.

There is no advantage at all [none] to using 64-bit or dual cores for an OS that runs fine on a 500 MHz CPU & 512Mb RAM [or less].

The only reason for NASlite to support 64-bit at all is because in the future there won't be any 32-bit CPU's to use it with.
- It's not about performance, it's about future compatibility with future hardware.

-

You are setting you hardware requirements way too high.

All that does is cost more money in exchange for no improvement. [none]

.

Ya, it's overkill for NASLite, but not if I decide to start using the server for more than just a NAS in the future. But that's another matter.

Probably what I'll do is just bid on that board you linked me to, and sell all the other stuff I have laying around if I win it.

[washu]

Re: Server board help needed

If you are pretty sure you are going to use the server for more than a NAS later then you may as well put a "full" OS on now and be done with it. You could even keep your current hardware, a quad 2.4 Xeon is still plenty fast. The Pentium Dual Core would save you a bunch on your power bill, but that would probably take years to break even on the cost of the new hardware.

Personally, for future proofing a NAS I would put money into a SATA setup before swapping that MB. As nice as the 7506 cards are, they are PATA so a NAS would more likely run into capacity issues before running out of CPU power.

NASLite seems to have some pretty stupid artificial limitations. There's no reason a 32 bit Linux variant could not support multiple cores unless NASLite specifically took that ability out.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Server board help needed

If you are pretty sure you are going to use the server for more than a NAS later then you may as well put a "full" OS on now and be done with it. You could even keep your current hardware, a quad 2.4 Xeon is still plenty fast. The Pentium Dual Core would save you a bunch on your power bill, but that would probably take years to break even on the cost of the new hardware.

Personally, for future proofing a NAS I would put money into a SATA setup before swapping that MB. As nice as the 7506 cards are, they are PATA so a NAS would more likely run into capacity issues before running out of CPU power.

NASLite seems to have some pretty stupid artificial limitations. There's no reason a 32 bit Linux variant could not support multiple cores unless NASLite specifically took that ability out.

I would love to have SATA, but that would cost a fortune. I currently have 16 PATA drives, and the chassis has hot swap PATA bays. I would need to basically buy a whole new server. I have quite a few spare PATA drives, so I haven't bothered replacing it yet.

Cost wise, the only reason I was going to try upgrading it, is that I only needed a motherboard to make a complete new system.

[washu]

Re: Server board help needed

I would love to have SATA, but that would cost a fortune. I currently have 16 PATA drives, and the chassis has hot swap PATA bays. I would need to basically buy a whole new server. I have quite a few spare PATA drives, so I haven't bothered replacing it yet.

I see what you are getting at, but how big are your drives? I had a friend with a similar setup to you, but only one 7506-8 card. Had 8 X 80GB in a RAID 5 and needed more space but PATA drives are expensive now. I pointed out that he could get 2 X 1 TB SATA drives in RAID-1 which is almost double the space for under $200. Running on the MB's built in fakeraid controller was faster than the 7506 too.

Hotswap is really nice, but a home NAS can stand to be down for a couple mins while a drive is swapped.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Server board help needed

I see what you are getting at, but how big are your drives? I had a friend with a similar setup to you, but only one 7506-8 card. Had 8 X 80GB in a RAID 5 and needed more space but PATA drives are expensive now. I pointed out that he could get 2 X 1 TB SATA drives in RAID-1 which is almost double the space for under $200. Running on the MB's built in fakeraid controller was faster than the 7506 too.

Hotswap is really nice, but a home NAS can stand to be down for a couple mins while a drive is swapped.

My drives are 8x 320GB, 5x 160GB and 3x 250GB. Also have a 2+1 redundant hot swap power supply system that would be expensive to replace, since it was designed for this chassis.

My NAS before this one wasn't hot swap, and I hope I never have to use it again

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Server board help needed

For NAS what I like to do is find one of those boards that takes a Laptop CPU and that has a PCI-X slot.
There are some similar boards with PCI-e slots instead but the RAID card will cost much more.
[Very low power consumption since the thing is on all the time.]
- PCI-X type is hard to find but exist. [Off the top of my head Itox and DFI make some.]
Then I use 3Ware 9500 or 9550 based RAID cards with 8 or 12 ports.
- You would have to switch to SATA drives though.
.

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Server board help needed

Well, I got that Arima MT110 board that I bought last week right before starting this thread.

It seems to be working fine, besides the fact that it won't POST with all 4 RAM slots filled. It will work fine with any combination of up to 3.

I'm using 4 brand new Kingston 1GB ECC modules, and have tested them in another board.

The board calls for DDR2 533, but I'm using DDR2 800. I didn't think it would hurt it any though.

Any idea what could cause that?

[ratdude747]

Re: Server board help needed

the speed. a lot of boards have slot limitations at higher speeds. for instance, a ddr1 462 of mine:

200- 3 slots

333- 2 slots

400- 1 slot

(asus a7v8x)

that might be your problem

some limit capacity as opposed to slots... see your manual.

-------

it all has to do with bios (or chipset) date:

bios before ram speed existed- possibly no post since higher speed is seen as error (like pc166 sdram)

bios after- seen as high speed, recognizes the ram, some limits due to bios quality and/or chipset limits may be present.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Server board help needed

There are a lot of P4 boards that suffer with a design flaw that goes back to a mistake in Intel's reference boards.
The voltage regulators for the RAM slots or Chipset [Memory Controller] can't handle the load of 4 sticks of RAM and keep the voltage stable.
[Not the regulators for power, I think it's for Vtt.]

What Rat is rattling on about is the cheesy fix Asus [and a few others] came up with to avoid having to fix Intel's mistake on their production boards.
- Except that it doesn't have a damned thing to do with the BIOS.
.