A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

[Topcat]

It's been a while since I've done one of these.... So many clues in this photo alone!!

[Uranium-235]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

SLI Quadro. Dual CPU.

I can tell you something that you do NOT have enough video cards

[mon2]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

i can tell you something that you do not have enough video cards

lmao.

[Topcat]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

SLI Quadro. Dual CPU.

I can tell you something that you do NOT have enough video cards

Thats all I could cram in it.

[shovenose]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

But can those dual quadros transcode 4k? :P if so, I'm jealous AF.

[Topcat]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

But can those dual quadros transcode 4k? :P if so, I'm jealous AF.

These I'm sure not, they're older; FX4800 & FX5800's (tested with a pair of each). They were just the testbed cards, as Quadro's in SLI were fickle about SLI support...it was a licensing thing from NVIDIA from what I understand. For example if you put these cards into a SLI supported gamer/consumer grade board, SLI will not work (grayed out in the settings). Quadros in a workstation board would work if supported. I tried these same two cards in an Asus x58 SLI board, and they indeed would not work in SLI, although the board supported it.....however a pair of 9800GT's ran fine in SLI in the same board. I then tested these same cards in this board (H8DA3-2), and sure enough, the quadro's would run in SLI....same OS, same driver.

Yes Uranium, I know that SLI is kind of a dead horse these days....and I don't disagree with that....but this is just another of my kooky & experimental builds.

[TechGeek]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

Could one mod the BIOS to allow workstation cards to run in SLI on a non-workstation board?

[Topcat]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

Could one mod the BIOS to allow workstation cards to run in SLI on a non-workstation board?

No. It has to do with the bridge chips.

[TechGeek]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

No. It has to do with the bridge chips.

So the cards probe to see what PCIe bridge chips they're attached to and use that to determine whether they're on a workstation board or not?

[ratdude747]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

Not to let the cat out the bag (Topcat's had me in the loop)... but I built a system with a similar board (H8DAE-2) with twin GTX 970's, SLI'd course (I have a build thread on it, which I apparently never posted the final build to). Different CPUs, but it games pretty well. For it's age, it holds its own quite well. CPU wise, my twin westmere-EP 24 thread monster smokes it, but GPU wise, benchmarks have generally indicated that the SLI is indeed doubling the graphical performance compared to a single 970.

[ratdude747]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

So the cards probe to see what PCIe bridge chips they're attached to and use that to determine whether they're on a workstation board or not?

Not familiar with the Quadro vs GeForce thing (all my builds have had GeForce, so it never came up), but I can speak for how the SLI system works in general.

My understanding is that is partially a BIOS issue... but not an easily fixed one. The chips have to be right, but the BIOS must also have SLI active (licensed). Technically the tylersburg chipset on my dual westmere-ep (SM X8DAH+-F) is SLI capable, but the SM bios doesn't have the magic code, so SLI will not activate. Funny enough, the later generation X9DA3 will SLI... and is quite rare as a result. SM makes a similar board without SLI (X9DAI, has two additional SATA ports and a bigger southbridge heatsink???); I've tinkered with the idea of getting one and seeing what it would take to flash it with the other BIOS (if possible) to enable SLI since supposedly it's purely a code difference. EDIT- did some quick reasearch... the X7DA7 (Same thing as the DAE only SLI not listed and has a SAS controller) uses literally the same BIOS file (the DAI's file is different); which means either (a) the X9DA7 might have unlisted SLI support, (b) the bios flash program is somehow checking for pre-existing SLI enablement before flashing, or (c) the ROM somehow doesn't contain the SLI code. Sounds like the start of a new thread .

[Topcat]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

Not to let the cat out the bag (Topcat's had me in the loop)... but I built a system with a similar board (H8DAE-2) with twin GTX 970's, SLI'd course (I have a build thread on it, which I apparently never posted the final build to). Different CPUs, but it games pretty well. For it's age, it holds its own quite well. CPU wise, my twin westmere-EP 24 thread monster smokes it, but GPU wise, benchmarks have generally indicated that the SLI is indeed doubling the graphical performance compared to a single 970.

My build was kind of inadvertent. The 'tree' gave me a H8DAI quite some time back (I haven't heard from them since CV19) and I recently bought the CPU's for it (Shanghai cores, see thread title)....and for the first time in ages I got a double-whammy; 1) a bad supermicro board, and 2) a bad one from 'the tree'....but after buying the CPU's, I was already committed to the build, and I also have a special case in mind for this one....so I stumbled upon the H8DA3-2 on ebay for $20 and grabbed it. The only difference between the DAI and the DA3 is the DA3 has an onboard LSI SAS controller, which I will be utilizing.....but yea, Ratdude's SLI build was the inspiration here.

I differed mine in the regard that Ratdude did the hex cores @ 2.8GHz. I opted for the quad cores @ 3.1GHz. For a build like this, I think the extra speed will be more beneficial than the extra cores for it's intent; 8 is plenty.... I'll do some benchmarking when it's done.....

[ratdude747]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

I differed mine in the regard that Ratdude did the hex cores @ 2.8GHz. I opted for the quad cores @ 3.1GHz. For a build like this, I think the extra speed will be more beneficial than the extra cores for it's intent; 8 is plenty.... I'll do some benchmarking when it's done.....

Wanna race???

You'll need to up the GPU game first... but you did mention the current ones are testing only... we shall see what you do.

[Topcat]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

Wanna race???

You'll need to up the GPU game first... but you did mention the current ones are testing only... we shall see what you do.

Absolutely!!

If I run a SLI quadro setup, odds are you'll beat me in the GPU department.....quadros don't score well against their equivalent gaming cards....but it'll still be a fun race!

[shovenose]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

These I'm sure not, they're older; FX4800 & FX5800's (tested with a pair of each). They were just the testbed cards, as Quadro's in SLI were fickle about SLI support...it was a licensing thing from NVIDIA from what I understand. For example if you put these cards into a SLI supported gamer/consumer grade board, SLI will not work (grayed out in the settings). Quadros in a workstation board would work if supported. I tried these same two cards in an Asus x58 SLI board, and they indeed would not work in SLI, although the board supported it.....however a pair of 9800GT's ran fine in SLI in the same board. I then tested these same cards in this board (H8DA3-2), and sure enough, the quadro's would run in SLI....same OS, same driver.

Yes Uranium, I know that SLI is kind of a dead horse these days....and I don't disagree with that....but this is just another of my kooky & experimental builds.

Aww bummer those are oooold I didn't look at the pic closely just saw big quadro and got big happy.

[Topcat]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

Aww bummer those are oooold I didn't look at the pic closely just saw big quadro and got big happy.

I do have a 24gb Quadro M6000 here though...I'd love to find another one and play around with SLI with those....but to buy one; ebay prices are $800+! It was in a goodie box I got from the university; they didn't have a clue! Infact, I don't think the card was ever used...there was zero dust in the fan and there were no screw abrasions on the rear bracket.

[shovenose]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

I do have a 24gb Quadro M6000 here though...I'd love to find another one and play around with SLI with those. It was in a goodie box I got from the university; they didn't have a clue! Infact, I don't think the card was ever used...there was zero dust in the fan and there were no screw abrasions on the rear bracket.

holy shit now that is a good find.

[Topcat]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

...and for that special case....if you looked at the pic in the first post, it was one of the clues... This was that $25 new-in-box score from the salvation army store back in March.

For now, I'm going to run the pair of SLI'd FX5800's; they're 4gb each. Their GPU is basically a GTX 285 with a shitload more RAM. I'm still looking for the 'right' GPU combo....but haven't decided yet. It's maxed @ 64gb RAM and has the fastest quad core Opterons available for this setup (Opteron 8393 SE) @ 3.1GHz.



I found part of the invoice in the box, I missed it before... $165 + shipping back in 2002.... Today, this style case is ~$400ish... Beige has been gone from SM's lineup since ~2008.



First things first. That FSP 300w PSU isn't going to cut it. I'll save it for something else....







Not terrible for its time....but I just don't think it up to the task for this power hungry build!



I've had this in my spare pile for ages....it's time it got used. Supermicro PWS-865-PQ (yea, keeping it all in the family)...this one will get the job done!





Yeah....



Fits like a glove.





This is the first of this style case I've worked with that didn't have the SAS backplane....HDD's are internally mounted.

The midplane is completely removable. This makes installation of the motherboard and HDD's easy. The HDD trays come out the front, but the midplane being out makes cabling a lot easier!





Now for the $20 motherboard. The seller claimed 'used' in the listing....but it really showed no signs of use....No dust in anything! It had first-release BIOS on it and the protection caps are still in place on the mini-SAS connectors.



Very beautiful fit!





This case is old enough that it didn't have Supermicro's front panel single connect interface for LED's and buttons.... The single connector & ribbon sure made cable management nicer....but I can still live with this. Nothing zip ties can't fix.





That's about as far as I got today....more later!!

[Uranium-235]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

I do have a 24gb Quadro M6000 here though...I'd love to find another one and play around with SLI with those....but to buy one; ebay prices are $800+! It was in a goodie box I got from the university; they didn't have a clue! Infact, I don't think the card was ever used...there was zero dust in the fan and there were no screw abrasions on the rear bracket.

damn man, sell it

some other stuff too

and buy me a 3080 ti

[Topcat]

Re: A Supermicro completely Shanghai'd!!

damn man, sell it

some other stuff too

and buy me a 3080 ti

Heck, I can't even wangle that V5500 out of you that you've never even used...