My Latest 8-core Project

[Topcat]

I have a source that contacts me usually once or twice a year and trades me a goodie box of various computer boards and hardware for some caps....well he calls and says there's a box headed my way. I asked what was in it, and he emailed me the list... Mostly a bunch of Dell GX745SFF boards in need of recap....but in every bunch from these guys, theres always a gem, and here it is:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/m...00/X7DWA-N.cfm

Its brand new, sealed in the retail package.....they couldn't test it as they don't have any processors for it...so they didn't even open it. AWW YEAHS!!! Looks like the Frankenserver's innards will be retired soon.

I got the goodie box including this board for about $50.00 worth of caps!!

[c_hegge]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

WOW. I wish I got scores like that more often.

[Uranium-235]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

right now the xeon 5150 771 seems to have dropped a few hundred bucks

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-1333MHz-.../dp/B000I1OFK2

[ratdude747]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Nice... its a supermicro too...

I have a suggestion for the old innards of the frankenserver: put them in that massive server case you recently cleared out (where my X5DAL came from) and make another system...

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

^
I actually thought about that. I'm not sure if that case can take an eATX board though...I'd have to see. The problem after that, I'd have no real use for it after that...

right now the xeon 5150 771 seems to have dropped a few hundred bucks

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-1333MHz-.../dp/B000I1OFK2

These are the CPU's I was looking at, seems like the best bang for the buck.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320842242142

$42 bucks a pop with a 12mb cache....cant beat that with a stick!! I still have to hunt some DDR2 ECC. I have like 4gb worth of it to test with, but I'd probably run it with 32gb....the board maxes at 64gb, but good God in heaven, what would I need 64gb of RAM for (or even 32 for that matter)...

[gg1978]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Nice board. Don't forget ya need FB-DIMM's for it though, i had to order some for the Dell Server at work once.

[ratdude747]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

^
I actually thought about that. I'm not sure if that case can take an eATX board though...I'd have to see. The problem after that, I'd have no real use for it after that...

True EATX cases are hard to find for cheap...

if you find an old roomy case with a non-centered floppy /hdd or an old white gateway case you can dremel it into a hacked EATX case... I'me doing that to my modded gateway so I have a proper home for my massive EATX dual PIII board. To do this I will have to trim more off the HDD cage (it will only hold 2 HDDs instead of 3).

The board's old case was a poorly modded old ATX case with the lower 3 cdrom bays cut out... there may be pics of it around here from a few years back.

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Scored a pair of these for it today.... $140 shipped for a pair....couldn't even find them that cheap on fleabay!

http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/SL/SLANR.html

I'm a big fan of the "E" series (low power consumption) Xeons....good overclockers, run cooler, less stressful on the motherboard and PSU....just a little pricier...

[shovenose]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

That's gonna be super fast!!

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Seems I've hit my first obstacle. Yes, this board does require fully buffered memory....I knew that already....but with the CPU's @ 1600MHz FSB, to run the memory full speed, I need FB/ECC PC6400 (800MHz) DDR2....good luck finding that!! It seems to be nearly non-existent...and when I do find it, bend over!! I can get DDR2 FB/ECC PC5300 (667MHz) for next to nothing (like 16gb of it for $100 bucks).... The CPU's will of course run at full speed...but the RAM won't unless I force it (BIOS actually has an option for that)....so this should be interesting.

[mariushm]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

http://cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

140$ [Dual CPU] Intel Xeon E5472 @ 3.00GHz 9561 Passmark points

250$ AMD FX-8150 Eight-Core 8243 Passmark points
320$ Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.40GHz 9092 Passmark points

Hmmm... even with the free motherboard, is it really worth anymore?

The 2 cpus and the fbdimm memory will eat loads of power - won't you get charged extra by the datacenter for it?

Something like a FX8150 + $60-80 mb + cheapo ddr3 seems more reasonable, and you'd get almost the same performance.

Well now since you already bought the cpus you're already committed i guess...

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

http://cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

140$ [Dual CPU] Intel Xeon E5472 @ 3.00GHz 9561 Passmark points

250$ AMD FX-8150 Eight-Core 8243 Passmark points
320$ Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.40GHz 9092 Passmark points

Hmmm... even with the free motherboard, is it really worth anymore?

The 2 cpus and the fbdimm memory will eat loads of power - won't you get charged extra by the datacenter for it?

Something like a FX8150 + $60-80 mb + cheapo ddr3 seems more reasonable, and you'd get almost the same performance.

Well now since you already bought the cpus you're already committed i guess...

Ohh absolutely. I already have the case and all the extras. At the end of teh day, I'll have less in it this entire system core (CPU's, motherboard, RAM) the price of the I7 CPU alone @ $320 in your above statement....and this thing outscores it according to your info source....That's a pretty nice deal to me.... By the time I bought a good motherboard and all the supporting hardware for the I7, I'll be out a hell of a lot more than $320! These are E series....they consume about the same as the I7....of course that's x2, since there's a pair, so combined, its 160W at full load.... I can't believe you even asked this... Supermicro (bulletproof motherboard) compared to some 80-dollar cheapo? Come on now!! In 5 years, this thing will still be cranking along and not quitting anytime soon! A cheapo board in 5yrs will probably be dead and gone....or in need of a recap...heh...I wonder if I know anyone who could do that!

If I were worried about paying my electric bill, I wouldn't be buying/building this kind of stuff...

[Uranium-235]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

yeah and completely different uses. server vs gaming desktop

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

^
Indeed. I dont game. I build high end workstations and servers.....I dont build gaming rigs.

FWIW, my main rig was built Feb 2009. To build the exact same rig today would cost me 500 bucks more than it cost me back then. The processors went up in price (e5520 nehalems), the HDD's went up, and the barebones went up... the only piece that dropped was the memory, and it wasn't by much.

[Uranium-235]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Even ECC RAM is not that special, as some AMD chipsets support it on regular motherboards.

its the am2/3 processors themselfs that support ECC, but only asus boards have the option to enable it

One of the main things that server boards i've seen that gives advantages over regular boards is the onboard management software. Turn one off/on flash bios and some will let you even kvm it remotely.

aside from that, I put the hardware quality up there for some of them with gigabyte, some, like supermicro are even better

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

woohoo....processors should be here tomorrow!

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

Just a few teasers while I wait for the RAM to get here....

yea, thats a big board!!


The money shot!!


Other crap...

[ratdude747]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

What about the coolers?

didn't you have a bunch of gx280 coolers that you could zip tie fans to? or are those screwy?

[Topcat]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I have a couple of choices for permanent ones...but for testing purposes, I just use the bench coolers.

New thing I learned, FB DDR2 is keyed different than ECC DDR2.... I have some ECC DDR2 667MHz that I figured would be ok to test the board...nope. Won't even fit the slot. Fully buffered DDR2 uses a slot of its own apparently.....I never knew that. I did fire it with no RAM in it...and it beeped memory codes at me.....obviously...but it is a good sign. That tells me the board is alive...

[ratdude747]

Re: My Latest 8-core Project

I have a couple of choices for permanent ones...but for testing purposes, I just use the bench coolers.

New thing I learned, FB DDR2 is keyed different than ECC DDR2.... I have some ECC DDR2 667MHz that I figured would be ok to test the board...nope. Won't even fit the slot. Fully buffered DDR2 uses a slot of its own apparently.....I never knew that. I did fire it with no RAM in it...and it beeped memory codes at me.....obviously...but it is a good sign. That tells me the board is alive...

Let me guess, the RAM you need is pricey?