My next motherboard
- Thread starter nitro
- Start date
uninstall windows me. install windows 98sp2 if u dont have enough ram for win xp (256MB absolute minimum)
Hi Seth,
Really I would do the obvious things like what was suggested above. If the reason you do not want to reinstall everything is because you need the information that is on the machine, boot from a CDROM that allows you to browse the HD or from a floppy that has DOS on it, and try to move the information off the HD. If you can get one of those little portable USB HDs and a driver for it that loads with "DOS", you have it made.
There are other ways to get data off the machine, each more complicated than the last - it all depends on how bad you need the info and is easier said than done. Otherwise, if you do not really care what is on the machine, just start all over and reinstall the OS and applications from scratch. If it is an older machine and you have trouble getting drivers, call the manufacturer and explain your situation and see whtat they say.
nitro
Got two of my four Opterons today from an auction I won on eBay. All told, I saved 60% on the four Opterons by getting the Opterons from eBay. Considering that the price of four of these Opterons is a total of $3,500 (street price,) that is no small coin.
I have only two CPUs in at this point because the other two are on their way from anothe auction I won. That actually is a good thing because it allows me to compare my dual Xeon machine against a comparable dual Opteron machine. The test won't be completely fair since my dual Xeon takes only PC2100 memory while the Opteron takes PC3100 memory, and the Xeons have 512K of cache while the Opterons have 1024, but it will be interesting nevertheless.
Setting up this barebones by oneself is a piece of cake. The LVD SCSI HDs go right in, the memory modules are easy to install, the CPU's go into zero force sockets, the heatsink/fans come greased (another nice touch from Tyan) and have two screws to tighten - all a piece of cake.
One more nice thing about the tyan package. It came with two types of power cords, the standard one that most of us are used to, and a power cord that is used on high end electrical systems - very very nice touch from Tyan.
Once I got the machine all ready and turned it on, I was shocked by how noisy this thing is!!!! This is by FAR the noisest machine I have, and that is saying something, and that is only with two of the four CPUs in!!! :eek: This thing is going to the colocation outfit ASAP or it will drive me crazy.
The machine immediately recognized the 1024 MB of RAM as I only have two of the sticks in until I get the other two CPUs. RAM on servers has been a source of trepidation for me in the past, as many server motherboards are extremely sensitive to the RAM maker. Maybe they have gotten better at it recently. One note about my RAM configuration. Since I am only using one stick per CPU, I will in effect be using half the bandwidth that the machine is capable of. I did not realize this when I bought just 2GB of RAM, so I will have to go back for another 2 GB to get 128 bits of interleaving.
The machine also detected the two Opterons, and the SCSI controllers went thru the HBAs and recognized the two IBM LVD SCSI HDs.
Now came another source of trepidation for me. I ordered the beta of Microsoft Windows 2003 Sever Enterprise 64-bit for extended x86 systems, but I was not sure that Windows would recognize all of the devices. Tyan had shipped the drivers on floppies, but the machine does not come with a floppy drive! It did come with a CD that probably also has the drivers, but I have encountered problem with this before. Fortunately, Windows reconized all the devices and had no problem installing everything.
Well, that is where I stand now, installing tons of software. This stuff takes hours from scratch so the interesting part of seeing what this machine can do probably won't begin till late tonight or tomorrow. Not so bad on a beautiful September evening while watching the Cubs
nitro
I have only two CPUs in at this point because the other two are on their way from anothe auction I won. That actually is a good thing because it allows me to compare my dual Xeon machine against a comparable dual Opteron machine. The test won't be completely fair since my dual Xeon takes only PC2100 memory while the Opteron takes PC3100 memory, and the Xeons have 512K of cache while the Opterons have 1024, but it will be interesting nevertheless.
Setting up this barebones by oneself is a piece of cake. The LVD SCSI HDs go right in, the memory modules are easy to install, the CPU's go into zero force sockets, the heatsink/fans come greased (another nice touch from Tyan) and have two screws to tighten - all a piece of cake.
One more nice thing about the tyan package. It came with two types of power cords, the standard one that most of us are used to, and a power cord that is used on high end electrical systems - very very nice touch from Tyan.
Once I got the machine all ready and turned it on, I was shocked by how noisy this thing is!!!! This is by FAR the noisest machine I have, and that is saying something, and that is only with two of the four CPUs in!!! :eek: This thing is going to the colocation outfit ASAP or it will drive me crazy.
The machine immediately recognized the 1024 MB of RAM as I only have two of the sticks in until I get the other two CPUs. RAM on servers has been a source of trepidation for me in the past, as many server motherboards are extremely sensitive to the RAM maker. Maybe they have gotten better at it recently. One note about my RAM configuration. Since I am only using one stick per CPU, I will in effect be using half the bandwidth that the machine is capable of. I did not realize this when I bought just 2GB of RAM, so I will have to go back for another 2 GB to get 128 bits of interleaving.
The machine also detected the two Opterons, and the SCSI controllers went thru the HBAs and recognized the two IBM LVD SCSI HDs.
Now came another source of trepidation for me. I ordered the beta of Microsoft Windows 2003 Sever Enterprise 64-bit for extended x86 systems, but I was not sure that Windows would recognize all of the devices. Tyan had shipped the drivers on floppies, but the machine does not come with a floppy drive! It did come with a CD that probably also has the drivers, but I have encountered problem with this before. Fortunately, Windows reconized all the devices and had no problem installing everything.
Well, that is where I stand now, installing tons of software. This stuff takes hours from scratch so the interesting part of seeing what this machine can do probably won't begin till late tonight or tomorrow. Not so bad on a beautiful September evening while watching the Cubs
nitro
Surprisingly this issue is rarely mentioned. Thatâs why I ordered 4 256MB modules when I would have otherwise used 2 512MB modules.
Answer #5 in the http://www.tyan.com/support/html/f_s2885.html FAQ describes what you are talking about. The ânode interleaveâ mode orders all of CPU 0âs memory first, then CPU 1 and so on. The second mode is called âbank interleaveâ or âpage interleaveâ which interleaves memory among CPUs per page, apparently to normalize latencies across all memory addresses, regardless of thread affinity and memory location. This also disallows NUMA. I have benchmarked both configurations with my backtesting software and donât see much of a difference so far. Let me know if you find a performance difference.
I had the same problem. In the BIOS there is an option to throttle CPU fan speed depending on temperature. It makes a huge difference. Otherwise the fans run at 100% RPM all the time and are quite noisy. Are you using the AMD retail heatsink/fans?
In other news⦠my dual system has been rock solid. Iâve had it number crunching nearly non stop for about 40 days, mostly with both CPUs fully utilized (two processes). There is no evidence of memory contention between processes. I once tried to overclock the CPU-CPU hypertransport from 800MHz to 1GHz resulting in a lock up after an hour of number crunching. The only other concern is that SiSoftware Sandra reports 6.2GB memory bandwidth when I should be seeing the 10GB reported by various reviews of this motherboard.
I am putting together my own computer and i was wondering if someone here could help me out with how to keep the inside cool enough. HEre is what i will be putting together
CASE: http://www.techsunny.com/.sc/ms/dd/1094415306203584/066227/nc/ee/1573
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Motherboard
CPU: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Prescott 3GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 478, 1MB Cache this comes with a heat sink
RAM MEMORY: Corsair 512MB PC3200 400MHz 64x64 DDR 184Pin
HARD DRIVE: West Digital WD600BB 60GB/7200rpm Hard Drive
MONITORS (3 in all): http://www.nextwarehouse.com/prod.cfm/82936/VIEWSONIC/E90-4
VIDEO CARD: Matrox G200 Multi Monitor Series card. Model G2+ QUADP-PL
Can someone please tell me whether the fans that come with the CASE are enough to cool my system sufficiently? Do i need to buy a fan for the motherboard? The CPU comes with a heat sink but do i need to buy a fan for it anyways? I am just worried about there not being enough cooling in my system. The case comes with a lot of fans and cooling devices and I am hoping that will be enough. Can someone with experience building computers PLEASE help me out. Thanks in advance for your reply
CASE: http://www.techsunny.com/.sc/ms/dd/1094415306203584/066227/nc/ee/1573
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Motherboard
CPU: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Prescott 3GHz, 800MHz FSB, Socket 478, 1MB Cache this comes with a heat sink
RAM MEMORY: Corsair 512MB PC3200 400MHz 64x64 DDR 184Pin
HARD DRIVE: West Digital WD600BB 60GB/7200rpm Hard Drive
MONITORS (3 in all): http://www.nextwarehouse.com/prod.cfm/82936/VIEWSONIC/E90-4
VIDEO CARD: Matrox G200 Multi Monitor Series card. Model G2+ QUADP-PL
Can someone please tell me whether the fans that come with the CASE are enough to cool my system sufficiently? Do i need to buy a fan for the motherboard? The CPU comes with a heat sink but do i need to buy a fan for it anyways? I am just worried about there not being enough cooling in my system. The case comes with a lot of fans and cooling devices and I am hoping that will be enough. Can someone with experience building computers PLEASE help me out. Thanks in advance for your reply
If I understood you correctly, the fan you are using is the one that comes from Intel? If so, the fans that come with it is good enough, but remember that you need a heatsink too. Usually, the fans and heat sinks come together in one package so you shouldn't have to worry.
Also remember to be careful to add grease to the Heatsinks if the heatsinks do not already have grease on them before installing them on the CPU(s).
nitro
Also remember to be careful to add grease to the Heatsinks if the heatsinks do not already have grease on them before installing them on the CPU(s).
nitro
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=35-186-106&DEPA=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=35-186-102&DEPA=0
i use those. works nice and quet. i did install few others (actually more expansive fans) for someone else, but they not that quiet. i would recommend it,specially last one. read reviews. best when used with Arctic Silver 5.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=35-186-102&DEPA=0
i use those. works nice and quet. i did install few others (actually more expansive fans) for someone else, but they not that quiet. i would recommend it,specially last one. read reviews. best when used with Arctic Silver 5.
That case you selected is part steel, part aluminum with an acrylic or lexan window. Those windows are a bad idea... purely for looks. They allow radio frequency interference (say from a nearby cell phone) and insulate the case interior, which is what you DONâT want in a case. Better to get a no-frills all-aluminum case with no window or a metal grill or screen in place of the window. Speaking of aluminum, everyone knows that aluminum is much lighter than steel and wonât rust. The other major advantage is thermal conductivity. You can feel the difference in case temperature between steel and aluminum cases. A steel case is cool to the touch because it insulates and traps heat. An aluminum case is much warmer to the touch, radiating more heat.
I put my dual Opteron in an all aluminum case, the Antec Lanboy (silly name) purchased without a power supply (I supplied a 550W) for $65. http://www.nexushardware.com/articles/index.php?id=11
I replaced the lexan window with a metal screen. The result is an extremely well ventilated and lightweight case. Don't worry that the review says this case is flimsy. While not as strong as a steel case, it's at least as strong as the strongest notebooks. Who needs a case that can be thrown around anyway?
Have you considered an Athlon or Opteron processor instead of a Pentium? Youâll definitely get more bang for your buck, and a much cooler and quieter system with an AMD chip.
I would get two identical hard drives and set them up in a RAID 0 mirroring configuration. I had a hard drive suddenly crash (grind loudly then die) last week. I tend to prefer Seagate drives for their reliability. I've never had one fail. The drive that crashed was a toshiba 2.5" notebook drive.
I'd suggest going to the "device" manufacturers and checking for more recent drivers. I've found that the MS provided drivers are often earlier versions and sometimes there is significant performance improvement with the newer drivers. On the other hand ...... Of course changing drivers is relatively painless.