For those that bit one the eBay Opty 8346HE's

sabregen

sabregen

Fully [H]
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
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I imagine the next few weeks for the few of us that bit will be filled with many delays in getting our parts, but I'd love to see what everyone ends up choosing for their builds. I can tell you right now mine's going in a Rocketfish full tower enclosure. Undecided on the board yet, as I may decide that I need PCI-E and PCI-X onboard. What are you guys planning? Undecided on the use for this build as well. I'm studying for the VCP, but after that's over (end of the month) I may just revert to Vista x64 on this machine, using the FC drives as SAN boot and encoding scratch space, throw a crapload of drives in the tower and run some VMs using VMWare Workstation. I know I'm going to make it transcode, just undecided on whether to do that in a VM, or just go with a Vista installation. Also, I've had (and am trying to fix...until this came along) a major disk space issue that was brought on by an HTPC project that involves the use of MyMovies, and it's become a beast that I cannot feed (data requirement) at the moment. I may consolidate all my storage drives inside the Rocketfish using 5 in 3 cages and just run Fibre all over my house (yes...fibre...fuck off ;)).
 
I too will be using RF case. I am somewhat undecided on the mobo. I think i will use xp pro for the OS. As for HDD's just some random Seagate 7200.10's I have laying around. Anybody want to recommand some RAM or some HSF's?
 
RAM (get two sets of these) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134312

HSF is a bit more difficult. If you go with a workstation or server board, you're going to need to check the mounting spacing. There's 3.5" and 4.1" for the Socket F coolers. Obviously, if you get the wrong one, they won't work. If you go with that Nforce 680a ASUS board, you can use any AM2 cooler on the market, which is a huge plus.
 
yes, although if you get one that isn't up to date on it's BIOS, you might have to find someone who has a 2xxx or 8xxx series dual core so that you can flash the bios.
 
Ha, I don't know anyone that does.

Which one is it though? ASUS lists two on their site. That would be cool to have a SLI board with this.
 
Yes I am curious what types of configurations everyone sets up as well. This is my first server build and I want to make this thing into a folding box.

Also another question. I know these are B2 stepping CPU's and that they are affected by the TLB bug. I was wondering:

Does XP Pro 64bit patch for the TLB bug and slow down the system?
What about Windows Server 64bit 2004/2007?
Or more generally which operating systems other then Vista patch the TLB bug and make your system very slow? I do not want my system patched.
 
I know of this fix. I have it running on my vista machine. My question is though if microsoft forced this TLB fix on any of their other operating systems or service packs.

Edit: Also that fix is only for 9600, it changes the microcode of the cpu I think. If you did that on another processor it would throw a fit and die.
 
osrk said:
I know of this fix. I have it running on my vista machine. My question is though if microsoft forced this TLB fix on any of their other operating systems or service packs.

Edit: Also that fix is only for 9600, it changes the microcode of the cpu I think. If you did that on another processor it would throw a fit and die.
Click to expand...

You may be right, that might only be for Phenoms. I have no idea of the other OS's from MS force this bit flip to enforce the TLB patch or not. I did read that XP SP3 forces it as well. I would assume the same would be true of 2k3 R2 and 2k8 editions. Probably was addressed in the Home Server 1st patch as well.

I may decide to go with ESXi as I currently have it on my dual opteron dual core setup right now, and eventually later go back to running a desktop OS, maybe goof with the PhysX support for Nvidia cards down the road, or go for 8 cores/16gb/and 4 GPUs...who knows. I have a larger issue with disk space/spindle count/total available size right now than I care to admit. Too many projects, and this isn't helping (this purchase, that is).
 
Does anyone know the basic requirements for having a gaming server? I've been thinking about making one at some point in time. Would these processors make a good one?
 
I'm doing the same thing Banzai, the only thing I am missing is a decent board that will support them. Preferably dual socket.

But yes, these should make excellent game server processors, especially with plenty of RAM. I plan on hosting many.
 
with a decent board, you could run ESXi, and just run your game servers as Linux VMs = no additional software cost. With 8 cores and 16GB, you could probably run 8x 16person server easily (depending on the game server requirements).
 
xBanzai89 said:
Ha, I don't know anyone that does.

Which one is it though? ASUS lists two on their site. That would be cool to have a SLI board with this.
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't see the second half of the post. The one that supports these CPUs is the WS/B (which was the second revision of the board).
 
Thanks for the answering the questions. I would love to host servers on this, but I don't know of any good internet providers in my area for it. I have verizon online dsl and comcast cable. Neither will pull it off I think. Does anyone have any suggestions? I saw someone mentioned co-hosting. What is that exactly?
 
talk to Ockie. He's a datacenter manager at a co-location facility. He'll put you up for $50/month with 100Mb full duplex link.
 
What's a good low cost motherboard? I'm new to the whole server idea, figured this was a good opportunity to experiment a little with my own file/folding/game box.... any information links would be good, I'm a Marine so I'd prefer some "barney style" information, hah.
 
ASUS L1N64-WS/B - Nvidia Nforce 680a SLI (which is two 590SLI chipsets on 1 board...quad SLI slots, 12x SATA 300Gb ports, 8x RAM slots). Requires registered RAM. Will not run ESX(i) without an add-in disk controller from the ESXi IO HCL list

KFN5-D SLI - Nforce professional chipset. Will run ESX(i), Quadro certified. one x16 slot and one x8 slot for SLI. Requires ECC registered RAM

MSI Speedster - Nforce professional. Same limitations and features as the board above.

That's pretty much it for boards under $200 that will function as desktop/workstation boards. For $300 you can go up to a decked out board with SATA and SAS onboard, PCI-X slots and dual PCI-E x16's.
 
The speedster will not work with quads unless you get a 8mb bios chip. The speedster2 accepts quads out of the box, but has not been released in the US.
 
After looking at everything I don't think I'll make much use of these quads. I'm in college right now, and I just don't have the budget to actually be running any sort of online server. What would be a fair price to sell these as a pair for.

Is there any practical reason to keep these? I don't know how much I can make use of a home server. I'm in my freshmen year of college for studying engineering. Does anyone think this would be a good workstation platform for me over the years? I don't know what would make use of it.
 
i understand that. at a minimum you'll want 8GB of RAM as to not starve the CPUs, and then you'll need the board and cooling (not to mention an EATX case, an eps 12v capable PSU, + disks and video). you're looking at about $1k minimum to build from scratch. if you can reuse some parts (case, disks, video, psu) you can probably get away with $600 total (including CPUs) to get this done.

Resale price? I'd say eBay, and shoot for double, starting the auction at $20 under what you paid for them. Or, find someone that missed out on here that wants them, and just get your $ back. Or, you could list them on another forum.
 
Grady[SA];1033124252 said:
The speedster will not work with quads unless you get a 8mb bios chip. The speedster2 accepts quads out of the box, but has not been released in the US.
Click to expand...


good to know. I wonder what the probability is of getting an 8MB BIOS chip, or calling MSI to buy one?
 
xBanzai89 said:
After looking at everything I don't think I'll make much use of these quads. I'm in college right now, and I just don't have the budget to actually be running any sort of online server. What would be a fair price to sell these as a pair for.

Is there any practical reason to keep these? I don't know how much I can make use of a home server. I'm in my freshmen year of college for studying engineering. Does anyone think this would be a good workstation platform for me over the years? I don't know what would make use of it.
Click to expand...

I'm in college also but a senior in engineering. I'm elated that I'll soon have 8 cores of awesomeness to play with. Perhaps you're not a true engineer?

Though you probably won't need any sort of serious power until you're senior when you start modeling some serious stuff. I'm making mine into a folding server/computation server.
 
osrk said:
I'm in college also but a senior in engineering. I'm elated that I'll soon have 8 cores of awesomeness to play with. Perhaps you're not a true engineer?
Click to expand...

/slam

osrk said:
Though you probably won't need any sort of serious power until you're senior when you start modeling some serious stuff. I'm making mine into a folding server/computation server.
Click to expand...

eight cores with SLI functionality and all those RAM slots + expansion options in an nforce 3600 series board will last for a long time to time. I would say at least until you a senior, maybe even past graduation. i know you grasp the fact that this is eight cores, but really...look how long most people have had dual cores and are just now going quad. for me to go from dual to quad took 3 years. I think most people are still riding the fence on dual/quad, i'd give dual cores another year before you start seeing your emachine buying neighbors with a quad. i think you'll be good for a while.

Plus, if you're in school and living on campus, just crank your AC, and leave the bastard on 24/7...i mean...between that and your network connection at school, isn't that what you're paying to be there for?
 
osrk said:
Perhaps you're not a true engineer?
Click to expand...

I'm in only one engineering class at the moment. It shows you "how" to be a engineer, its a intro course to it. It is required to take, before you can take more advance courses. I haven't even touched a computer yet (modeling wise) in the class. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I've learned anything in the class yet either :confused:.
 
Couldn't post in hot deals yet.

Yeah, I bit on this deal. So the limiting factor on the Asus 680a board, is the drive controller? Everything else should work? So if I drop 2 or 3 perc 5i's in there, ESXi should run fine right?
 
I *should* be okay with an EATX motherboard in a 1U rack case (it's a Tyan GT24), I just have to rearrange and get creative with the cooling mechanisms and the SATA/fan power rails. I think I can smoosh it all in there
 
Haven't found any info on overclocking these bad boys, what are your thoughts?
 
wardour said:
Couldn't post in hot deals yet.

Yeah, I bit on this deal. So the limiting factor on the Asus 680a board, is the drive controller? Everything else should work? So if I drop 2 or 3 perc 5i's in there, ESXi should run fine right?
Click to expand...

If you goal is to run ESXi, then yes, all you should need is a controller that's on the IO HCL and you'd be good to go. This board also has OC options, although I would imagine that the chips may not go too far. You'd probably be lucky to get them 20% OC'd, really.
 
I don't know, and the link to the board manual on ASUS's website isn't working for Global or for China. I would call ASUS and ask. It's best not to chance stuff like that. If you're shopping a true Socket F heatsink, and you get the wrong one, there's no way to make it fit. Best to save yourself the headache.
 
I've been emailing the guy who was selling those on ebay, I managed to snag a pair he had left at the same price. He says he can get some more but he needs some solid orders before he goes getting another batch. So if anyone out there is after a pair of these and feeling they missed the boat, shoot the seller a msg on ebay and let him know you want a pair, he'll get em ordered and list them again..
 
sabregen said:
I don't know, and the link to the board manual on ASUS's website isn't working for Global or for China. I would call ASUS and ask. It's best not to chance stuff like that. If you're shopping a true Socket F heatsink, and you get the wrong one, there's no way to make it fit. Best to save yourself the headache.
Click to expand...

Board manual says zilch about what kind of heatsink pitch. Guess I'll just have to measure it with a measuring tape when it arrives to be sure
 
have you already ordered the board, and have RAM? you're ahead of me!
 
how's everyone doing? I got a confirmation for delivery on Friday. Just waiting for my current parts to sell to pick up the rest of my build. Here's what I've ordered so far, and plan to use in my config:

ALREADY OWNED
Rocketfish Full Tower
Enlight 470-MP PSU
Plextor PX-116A DVD-ROM
Click to expand...

JUST BOUGHT
2x Opteron HE 8346 CPUs [f'in DUH]
2x iStarUSA BPU-230SATA Hot-Swappable SATA HDD Enclosure [picked up from Ockie]
Click to expand...

LEFT TO BUY
8x2GB PC2-5300 ECC Registered RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134652
ASUS KFN32-D SLI/SAS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131141R
8x73GB Fujitsu MAY2073RC 2.5" 73GB SAS HDDs http://193.128.183.41/home/v3__product.asp?pid=502&inf=fsp&wg=83
2x 4-in-1 5.25" SAS hotswap enclosures http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817998037
6x SATA drives (not sure on make/model/size just yet...this one will be budgetary) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218 or http://www.geeks.com/pix/2008/SEPHD2.html?cm_mmc=geekmail-_-daily_html-_-02oct08_SEPHD2-Viewasweb
2x Scythe Katana II or Andy Samurai's (not sure will be a better fit for the board) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185044 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185042
PCI-E video card (I gave my wife my old x1900XTX a while ago, and I run on my sager...so I don't have one)
Click to expand...
 
I'm still struggling as to my RCOA...
I had recently scored that supermicro 24 drive rack case from Ockie, and had picked up a xeon 3220 and mobo for that, so another server is the last thing I need right now..

I've been contemplating 2 possible routes..
1:- as a main gaming rig
2:- as an audio DAW slave (basically sit and run lots of VSTi's from -I do audio work)
or
3:- contemplate getting another couple and going quad quad core
 
Losfiendos said:
I'm still struggling as to my RCOA...
I had recently scored that supermicro 24 drive rack case from Ockie, and had picked up a xeon 3220 and mobo for that, so another server is the last thing I need right now..

I've been contemplating 2 possible routes..
1:- as a main gaming rig
2:- as an audio DAW slave (basically sit and run lots of VSTi's from -I do audio work)
or
3:- contemplate getting another couple and going quad quad core
Click to expand...

the most I do with audio is demux/remux my rips. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. :D
 
Does this motherboard support these processors? It is a Tyan one, it shows support for the 2000 series quad core opterons. I just forget if this means you can drop in a 8000 series one w/o a problem.
 
xBanzai89 said:
Does this motherboard support these processors? It is a Tyan one, it shows support for the 2000 series quad core opterons. I just forget if this means you can drop in a 8000 series one w/o a problem.
Click to expand...

For Tyan, the rule is that the board model # must have a "-E" on the end of the model # for it to support quads. Directly from Tyan:

"We created motherboards that were socket F that will never support quad cores with any BIOS revision upgrade or replacement BIOS chip."

This directly contradicts AMDs wishes in having a unified platform, all CPUs of a socket type will work in any board...that was wwhat they were after. Some manufacturers altered the spec though, and lower end voltage regulation and power delivery systems to save costs, as the extra features were not needed at the time (to support dual cores) and would only be called into function whenever AMD finally launched quad core Opterons. The loser was the consumer.
 
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