serious workstation build

[Digital Viper-X-]

a friend of mine needs to build a work station for solid works

he is lookin into a dual Quad Core Xeon machine, but which cpu is that? or do all 771 xeons do MP? also I heard that the new intel chipsets don't require FB Dims. which one is that also?

thx For any help!

 

[savantu]

a friend of mine needs to build a work station for solid works

he is lookin into a dual Quad Core Xeon machine, but which cpu is that? or do all 771 xeons do MP? also I heard that the new intel chipsets don't require FB Dims. which one is that also?

thx For any help!

You need a motherboard based on the 5100 San Clemente chipset like this one :

http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=566

Make sure it has a PCI-E 16x slot ; I doubt he will be satisfied with onboard graphics.Memory is registered DDR2.


As for the CPUs you need the Xeon 54xx series.Depending on budget , you have a lot of models to pick from.

Having said that , I think you should reconsider going with rDDR2 instead of FBDIMMs.The FBDIMM models will perform better and the price difference is small.
The 2 FSBs on the board have 21GBs combined BW ; DDR2 offers 10.6GBs while the FBDIMM boards have 25.6GBs of BW. ( dual channel vs. quad for FBDIMMs )

 

[jonw757]

If you need FBDIMMs I have 6 1GB sticks and a bunch of 512 sticks.

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

You need a motherboard based on the 5100 San Clemente chipset like this one :

http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=566

Make sure it has a PCI-E 16x slot ; I doubt he will be satisfied with onboard graphics.Memory is registered DDR2.


As for the CPUs you need the Xeon 54xx series.Depending on budget , you have a lot of models to pick from.

Having said that , I think you should reconsider going with rDDR2 instead of FBDIMMs.The FBDIMM models will perform better and the price difference is small.
The 2 FSBs on the board have 21GBs combined BW ; DDR2 offers 10.6GBs while the FBDIMM boards have 25.6GBs of BW. ( dual channel vs. quad for FBDIMMs )

really? well I guess quad channel make a diff there
are 4 of these ok?
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=017017&cid=RAM.346.314

or is it safer to go with 2 of these
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=24056&vpn=CT2KIT25672AF667&manufacture=CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGY

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

decided to go with a fbdimm setup, now for boards, I saw a few, but most have only 8x pci-e, i looked mostly at supermicro boards

 

[savantu]

really? well I guess quad channel make a diff there
are 4 of these ok?
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=017017&cid=RAM.346.314

Yes , they are fine.
You need a minimum of 4 sticks to have optimal performance since the board uses quad-channel memory.
FBDIMMs perform better as more sticks are added ( 4 , 8 , 16 , etc ).

As for a board , you need something like the Supermicro X7DWA-N ( if you prefer Supermicro ).You get 2 16x PCI-E version 2.0 slots , excellent if you consider SLI/Crossfire.

Here is the product page : http://supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon1333/5400/X7DWA-N.cfm

You can find it here :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SS-_-Server+Motherboards-_--_-N82E16813182130

Other options , all based on the new Intel 5400 chipset :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0200302+1071321504+1072134396&name=Intel+5400

 

[ND40oz]

Personally, I'm going with the Asus 5400, still has a usable 8x slot if you go with dual video cards and has support for 14 hard drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131250

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

so is it better to get 8 1gb or 4 2gb then?

on topic going with 2x5420

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

also how about a cooler master cosmos with the X7DWA-N

 

[savantu]

so is it better to get 8 1gb or 4 2gb then?

You need to take into account the heat ( 8 dimms produce more heat ) and cost difference.I'd say go for 4x2GB since a FBDIMM burns 5-7w/DIMM , that's an extra 25w for 8 FBDIMMs.

on topic going with 2x5420

...also how about a cooler master cosmos with the X7DWA-N

From what I see , the case can accommodate extended ATX boards , so it should work.

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

specs
SM X7DWA-N
2 x Xeon 5420 2.5 12m 1333fsb
8GB(8x1) DDR2 667 FB DIMM
2 500GB Seagate 7200.11 RAID 0
PNY Quadro 1500
LG 20X SATA DVD RW
Coolermaster Cosmos 1000
PCPC 1KW
Windows XP 64
This is being used for solid works, the vcard is probably the weakest link

 

[Digital Viper-X-]

btw the cpus idle around 30-35 deg c with the stock intel hs, which isn't very big at all. it's pretty small, no idea @ full load temps.! 1.2v is the VID as well! ^^

 

[savantu]

Nice , hope he is satisfied with it.