Jump to content

New system, give me your thoughts.


Tony
 Share

Recommended Posts

Antec Performance Plus Case, Model:PLUS1080AMG, Retail.

Specification:

Case Type: SOHO File Server

Color: Antec Metalic Gray

Material: 1mm SECC Steel

Drive Bays: 4x5.25" & 6x3.5"

Expansion Slot: 7

Front Ports: 2xUSB & 1xIEEE1394

Power Supply: 430W

Cooling System: 5x80mm Fans

Mainboard Compatibility: ATX

Dimensions: 20.6"x8.1"x18.6" more info-> N82E16811129115 $112.00

 

 

TYAN "Tiger i7505" Motherboard for Dual Intel 603/604-pin Xeon Processors, Model "S2668AN" RETAIL

Specifications:

Supported CPU: Socket 603/604 Dual Intel Xeon Processors

Chipset: Intel E7505 + ICH4

FSB: 533/400MHz

RAM: 4x DIMM for DDR200/266(ECC/Non-ECC) Max 4GB

IDE: 2x UltraDMA 100/66 up to 4 Devices

Slots: 1x AGP 4X/8X 1.5V, 5x PCI 32-bit/33MHz

Ports: 2xPS2,1xLPT,2xCOM,4xUSB2.0,1xLAN,Audio Ports

Onboard Audio: Realtek ALC650 6-Channel Codec

Onboard LAN: Intel 82551QM 10/100M

Form Factor: ATX more info-> N82E16813151114 $239.00

 

Intel Xeon DP 2.8 GHz 533MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - Retail

Specification

Model: Intel Xeon 2.8C w/ Hyper Threading

Core: Northwood

Operating Frequency: 2.8GHz

FSB: 533MHz

Cache: L1/12K+8K; L2/512K

Voltage: 1.525V

Process: 0.13Micron

Socket: Socket 604

Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2

Warranty: 3-year MFG

Packaging: Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan) more info-> N82E16819117016 $339.00 $678.00

 

 

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM

Specification

Manufacturer: Corsair

Speed: DDR400(PC3200)

Type: 184 Pin DDR SDRAM

Error Checking: Non-ECC

Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered

Cas Latency: 2-3-3-6 1T

Support Voltage: 2.6V

Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s

Organization: 64M x 64 -Bit

Warranty: Lifetime more info-> N82E16820145416 $111.00 I allready have 1.5 gigs of this memory.

 

 

WESTERN DIGITAL SPECIAL EDITION 80GB 7200RPM IDE HARD DRIVE, Model WD800JB, OEM DRIVE ONLY

Specifications:

Capacity: 80GB

Average Seek Time: 8.9ms

Buffer: 8MB

Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM

Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA100

Features: High-performance with 8MB Buffer

Manufacturer Warranty: 1 year

Remark: OEM DRIVE ONLY more info-> N82E16822144122 $74.00

 

 

Subtotal » $1,214.00

 

I have everything else I need for the system.

 

I am concerned about the power supply, is 430 watts enough? This is one of the cases recommended by tyan.

 

Thanks for any advice, I need to order on Monday.

 

Tony

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Tony:

TYAN "Tiger i7505" Motherboard for Dual Intel 603/604-pin Xeon Processors, Model "S2668AN" RETAIL

Specifications:

...

RAM: 4x DIMM for DDR200/266(ECC/Non-ECC) Max 4GB

...

Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin

...

Speed: DDR400(PC3200)

Hi Tony,

 

I am also planning to upgrade to a similar setup, but I concluded from the specs for the motherboard that it could not use PC3200 ram. Am I missing something?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Few notes...

 

Fran's right. Your buying the wrong memory type for this system.

 

But it will work. It'll most definitely work...but its a total waste of money.

 

The E7505 chipset uses PC2100 DDR (266 megahertz). This particular board allows for UNBUFFERED PC2100 DDR to be used.

 

If you haven't noticed, PC2100 unbuffered ddr is HELLA CHEAP. You should easily be able to pick up a few gigs without harming the pocket book.

 

 

The memory you picked out is PC3200, or 400 megahertz DDR.

 

Though the memory is definitely faster, the system can't make use of that additional speed. It'll still run the ram at 266. So you'd be paying extra for 133 megahertz you can't even use.

 

Good memory manufacturer choice. I'd stick with Mushkin, Corsair, or Crucial.

 

Remember you must have a minimum of TWO dimms in this system. TWO MINIMUM.

 

PC2100 UNBUFFERED DDR.

 

As for the PSU you have two choices.

 

You can either get a EPS12V Power supply (430 watt) (which is the default recommendation) OR you can just use a high wattage ATX power supply (over 400 watts). I'd stick with at LEAST 430 watt to at least match what the EPS recommendation is.

 

ftp://ftp.tyan.com/manuals/m_s2668_100.pdf

 

Check page 20 for more info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Same here, I already have 1.5 gigs of the ddr400 and I don't want to mix it with 266. WOuld that create a problem? So I was thinking I could buy 1 stick of ddr400 and have 2 gigs of ram and get some use out of the ram I already own.

 

I checked at newegg and crucial 2100 is $67.00 for 512 meg stick. So I would still be better off using what I have rather than buying all new. Unless I could mix the two types.

 

I just hate the idea of that memory setting on the shelf and gathering dust. It cost to damn much. :)

 

Thanks for the help Greg.

 

Tony

 

[ December 13, 2003, 07:05 PM: Message edited by: Tony ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Guys,

 

PC3200 will work fine. It'll just be running the memory at lower speeds.

 

Aka it'll be the same speed as if you had PC2100 in the system.

 

On a secondary note, since the ram is rated at 400 megahertz, and is running at 266...you should be able to tweak some ram timings for some additional performance.

 

So ya, if you've got any DDR thats (UNBUFFERED) and PC2100 OR HIGHER, it should work in the new system.

 

Just thought you might have been purchasing totally new ram from the get go :) .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I may be wrong, but the new chipsets don't come out until sometime in Q1 of 04. Also my memory is not ecc registered so I may be limited because of that.

 

If you know of a board available now, please let me know, Fran is also interested in knowing.

 

Tony

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Fran:

Hi Itzik,

 

Can you recommend one?

Greg was faster...

Yup thats the one. I havent tried it either, but I did mentioned it to one of our forum members here (markf), and as far as I remember he did buy it. Here is that thread. You might want to get in touch with him and see what he thinks of it looking a few months back. He also might have other specific tips for it.

And, as Greg mentioned 2cpu.com forum is a great resource.

Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

 

This is my end of the year tax wise new toy, only 10 days old:

 

1 x MB Asus PC-DL deluxe dual Xeon,s

2 x Intel Xeon 2,8/533 Ghz 512 Cache S

2 x Cooler Master Sock 423-603 D

1 x HDD Seagate Barracuda 120GB Serial Ata

4 x Mem DDR 512/333

1 x VGA 128 Mb Nvidia GeForce FX5600 DVI

etc.

Win XP Pro SP1

 

I am upgrading from a Dual AMD MP 2000+ on Tyan Tiger MPX GF4 Ti4800 SE Win 2K SP4 also 2 Gigs of RAM (DDR 266 Reg) (to the render farm it goes)

 

I am very very happy with it; Rendering (VRay)it behaves somewhat as expected, what the MPs delayed 150, the Xeons do in only 100 (average)

 

What has really surprised me is the Viewport performance... it screams!, I thought the Xeons would behave better because of the higher bandwidth over the MPs, but not that much :). I don't think the GF FX5600 to be much better than a GF4 Ti 4800... It is already an obsolete video card and it's price was only 95 Euro!!! so I give the credid to the processors.

 

This makes me wonder how would an Opteron or Athlon 64, behave with even higher a bandwidth.... Well probably be next system will be 64 bited :OP

 

BTW, I love the 4 HT buckets chasing each other while rendering VRay,

 

Fran, bet you'll love them too if you perseverate with Mental Ray :)

 

Don't forget to enable 3Gb per process support at startup Recovery! (if you use XP Pro that is)

 

Cheers.

 

[ December 15, 2003, 05:05 AM: Message edited by: Fermi Bertran ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Fran:

Hi Itzik,

 

The PC-DL is the one I was already looking at, but only supports up to PC2700. I thought you might know of a dual xeon mb that supports PC3200.

Fran, if I'm not mistaken (reading from anandtech review) than it unofficially it supports the 800 HT and 3200. It really should cause it is based on the intel 875 chipset which does support all the above, and even if not - it should be a bios fix.

But check the 2cpu forum - I think they were talking about it - the more I think about it the more I remember it does 200mhz fsb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... Why the additional heatsinks? Did you go with OEM instead of boxed processors?
I have the box build by a shop next to my office (which happen to be hardware importers and fair enough in price) I asked them about what heatsinks and fans and they said they were nounting the coolermaster... I said ok no more questioning.

 

I had some trouble with the MPs, they came in boxed, and had to change them... but I understand Intel proc. do not have heat problems in general... and though the new system is not absolutely noiseless, i is really quiet compered with the Dual AMD... I have it (AMD) closed i a locked room now!

 

Fran, last time I upgraded hardware, you said you would too, but decided to invest in some growcery instead... priority wise you mentioned :rolleyes: it would seem it has changed now :p:D:p

 

New hardware is always exciting ;) Keep the old box and for a render slave!

 

cheers

 

[ December 15, 2003, 06:26 AM: Message edited by: Fermi Bertran ]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Fermi Bertran:

New hardware is always exciting ;) Keep the old box and for a render slave![/QB]

Hi Fermí,

 

This is going to have to be a "surgical" upgrade - new motherboard, processors, and an additional hard drive. I'm trying to keep it under $1000 USD. I built a new box a few months ago, with a single Athlon xp2400+ and have never been happy with it. The case I got for it is actually a server case that was made for a xeon board. It's the nicest case I've ever had to deal with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Fran:

This is going to have to be a "surgical" upgrade [/QB]

I see, well, with a Dual now, and provided you have enough RAM, you'll allways be able to process radiosity in one max session while working interactively on another one! :winkgrin:

 

With HT there should be 2 virtual thingys for each process! :p

 

I've been using AMD systems for the last 3 years, and I am happy with their behaviour... Now the Xeons seemed the best bet Price/performance... Just you should not compare a single XP 2400+ with a Dual Xeon 2,8 Ghz... it would not be fair for the poor XP thing... :ebiggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally posted by Fermi Bertran:

I've been using AMD systems for the last 3 years, and I am happy with their behaviour... Now the Xeons seemed the best bet Price/performance... Just you should not compare a single XP 2400+ with a Dual Xeon 2,8 Ghz... it would not be fair for the poor XP thing... :ebiggrin:

No, but I was disappointed with the whole system from the beginning, based on what performance I was told I should be getting at the time. I don't blame the processor - maybe the jack-leg IT who put it all together (er...me) redface2.gif . After a few weeks of checking memory, power supply, harddrive, cabling, OS optimizing, and BIOS tweaks (of which it has the latest), I gave up. It doesn't crash or anything critical like that, it's just disappointing. Especially when you consider the trivial computation required by my scenes on any given day. :p
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did some reading at 2cpu about the asus board and everyone seems to like it, except that it does not overclock that well, not a concern for me. It does require a bit more expensive power supply but thats not a serious problem.

 

Fran, according to asus, it does support 333 but not 400 memory.

 

I've decided to go with that board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone,

 

I recently purchased a system quite like the one you're discussing and I was wondering about the noise level: I find the noise to be almost unbearable compared to all the other (regular) PC's I've used.

 

My system was built by a local computer shop and has, all told five fans (one for each proc, one on the FX 1000 and one for introducing fresh air into the box and one for extracting it).

 

Are there any alternatives to all those noisy fans?

 

Thanks,

 

François Yenny

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...