![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Ive purchased a 1U 500Mhz celeron "server" off of ebay. I was mainly after the case, though for $32.00 I have a real pile of crap computer in a 1U rackmount case and Im quite happy with it, currently running Pfsense, and it barely even stresses the celeron past 10% cpu load with heavy bit-torrenting.
My main gaming computer is pushing 5 years old, with its 1.8Ghz socket 939 winchester core AMD K8. Its still fine, but its a bit sappy for multitasking (or in other words, having multiple things open in autocad). Im looking at either a 3800+ or a 4200+ X2 for the 939 computer. This will leave me with a spare CPU, a cpu that doesnt seem to produce much for heat. Another $40-50 for a motherboard, and I figured I might as well upgrade my "server", rather than just having my old CPU go to use as a paperweight (its certainly worth about as much as one).
For reference :
Winchester core K8 -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlon_64#Winchester_.2890.C2.A0nm_SOI.29
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-90nm_5.html
Now to get to the point:
If I were able to put this cpu and a new motherboard into the 1U chassis, I would run vmware on it. Mostly because this CPU dedicated to only Pfsense is overkill... To be honest, its current 500Mhz celeron is overkill for cable internet. Alongside pfsense in a VM, might be an OpenVPN server or SSH server, acting as a proxy. Definatley nothing that will use the hard drive much. All of this presents a few problems and questions:
1. This server currently has a socket 370 Asus MEW board, with the first PCI slot in use for the riser. It seems that if I upgrade the motherboard at all, I will not be able to use this PCI riser because none of the new motherboards have a PCI slot, as the first slot. Either I can find a motherboard that has a PCI slot in the correct location, or I can spend a few days (and a 'few' dollars) with a plasma cutter and TIG welder relocating the power supply, floppy drive, and PCI riser bracket.
2. The 500Mhz celeron currently hits upwards of 65C during a heavy load, that is with two 35mm fans sucking/blowing cold outside air directly to the heatsink. Idle temps are mid 30's, though that is in an airconditioned apartment so cold that I almost need to wear a sweater and long pants. I do remember the older CPUs running hotter and not minding, especially the 800mhz celeron in my toshiba which regularly hit 75C. Its one thing for a celeron to hit near 70C, but Im not sure if a K8 will tolerate it.
3. Power consumption: I assume a socket 939 motherboard and K8 1.8Ghz CPU would use more power, and create more heat. Ive throttled my bus speed to 100Mhz and my multiplier to 4, and the Vcore to 0.875 (down from 1.4v), without issues... and even at 400mhz cpu core speed, its quite tolerable running Centos or DSL linux in vmware. The problem? How to have linux throttle back the cpus multiplier, voltage, and bus speed as needed. Dont get me wrong on this one... electricity where I live is cheap, slightly over 7 cents per kilowatt. The K8's ide power usage is 12 watts, and 39.9W full-load (with the current celeron cpu drawing ~30W load, or only 9.9W less).
-Are there motherboards (reasonably priced motherboards) which the first slot is PCI?
-Will a K8 CPU (and a reasonable 1U heatsink) work well with poor cooling, or is 50s-60s centigrade too high?
-How would I go about setting up linux to throttle back the CPU? AMD does not make software to do this in windows, and ive yet to see a motherboard that allows it from the bios. It can be done from software, such as crystalCPUid to set the multiplier, and Nvidia control panel to set the bus.
-And lastly, Some input on the idea of Pfsense + Vmware? This is for home use, so if something broke or crashed its not going to be much of a concern, aside from the strenous effort of unplugging a cat5 cable from the router, and plugging it directly to the PC.
Thanks in advance, for any help.
My main gaming computer is pushing 5 years old, with its 1.8Ghz socket 939 winchester core AMD K8. Its still fine, but its a bit sappy for multitasking (or in other words, having multiple things open in autocad). Im looking at either a 3800+ or a 4200+ X2 for the 939 computer. This will leave me with a spare CPU, a cpu that doesnt seem to produce much for heat. Another $40-50 for a motherboard, and I figured I might as well upgrade my "server", rather than just having my old CPU go to use as a paperweight (its certainly worth about as much as one).
For reference :
Winchester core K8 -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlon_64#Winchester_.2890.C2.A0nm_SOI.29
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-90nm_5.html
Now to get to the point:
If I were able to put this cpu and a new motherboard into the 1U chassis, I would run vmware on it. Mostly because this CPU dedicated to only Pfsense is overkill... To be honest, its current 500Mhz celeron is overkill for cable internet. Alongside pfsense in a VM, might be an OpenVPN server or SSH server, acting as a proxy. Definatley nothing that will use the hard drive much. All of this presents a few problems and questions:
1. This server currently has a socket 370 Asus MEW board, with the first PCI slot in use for the riser. It seems that if I upgrade the motherboard at all, I will not be able to use this PCI riser because none of the new motherboards have a PCI slot, as the first slot. Either I can find a motherboard that has a PCI slot in the correct location, or I can spend a few days (and a 'few' dollars) with a plasma cutter and TIG welder relocating the power supply, floppy drive, and PCI riser bracket.
2. The 500Mhz celeron currently hits upwards of 65C during a heavy load, that is with two 35mm fans sucking/blowing cold outside air directly to the heatsink. Idle temps are mid 30's, though that is in an airconditioned apartment so cold that I almost need to wear a sweater and long pants. I do remember the older CPUs running hotter and not minding, especially the 800mhz celeron in my toshiba which regularly hit 75C. Its one thing for a celeron to hit near 70C, but Im not sure if a K8 will tolerate it.
3. Power consumption: I assume a socket 939 motherboard and K8 1.8Ghz CPU would use more power, and create more heat. Ive throttled my bus speed to 100Mhz and my multiplier to 4, and the Vcore to 0.875 (down from 1.4v), without issues... and even at 400mhz cpu core speed, its quite tolerable running Centos or DSL linux in vmware. The problem? How to have linux throttle back the cpus multiplier, voltage, and bus speed as needed. Dont get me wrong on this one... electricity where I live is cheap, slightly over 7 cents per kilowatt. The K8's ide power usage is 12 watts, and 39.9W full-load (with the current celeron cpu drawing ~30W load, or only 9.9W less).
-Are there motherboards (reasonably priced motherboards) which the first slot is PCI?
-Will a K8 CPU (and a reasonable 1U heatsink) work well with poor cooling, or is 50s-60s centigrade too high?
-How would I go about setting up linux to throttle back the CPU? AMD does not make software to do this in windows, and ive yet to see a motherboard that allows it from the bios. It can be done from software, such as crystalCPUid to set the multiplier, and Nvidia control panel to set the bus.
-And lastly, Some input on the idea of Pfsense + Vmware? This is for home use, so if something broke or crashed its not going to be much of a concern, aside from the strenous effort of unplugging a cat5 cable from the router, and plugging it directly to the PC.
Thanks in advance, for any help.