questions about dualie farm

[emericanchaos]

have a few questions mostly to those who have farms up.

since i plan on a dualie farm i wanted good a good source of power. for now i've decided on antec true power 430's. mostly because of the beefy rails while still being somewhat cheap ($76).
i'm not sure if the board i plan on using runs the CPU's off the 5v or 12v. since there's 2 i'd assume they ran off the 12v. if that's the case then these particular true powers supply 20A of 12v. since i plan on running off of overclockix i'll only need a cdrom to power the whole thing. i'd have to talk to Arkaine about setting it up so i could run them all slaved off of a single CD.

MONEY!! with 4 chaintec SMP boards 4 256MB crucial ECC chips 8 XP1700's 8 speeze coolers and 4 true power 430's i'm up to $1711.96. what do you guys think of the price? this is all off of newegg. considering the price you have to remember it's a dualie farm. it's almost like 2 farms. plus i could goto fortron PSU's to cut the price down a few hundred.

i can prolly find the true powers for cheaper with pricewatch but i'm in class ATM so i don't have alot of time to goof off. even though it's my "intro to computer technology" or something. it's basically "this is what the start button is". i've demonstrated my knowledge by now (second class) that she doesn't expect me to pay attention. pretty sweet imo.

[nikhsub1]

I was going to do the EXACT same thing, 4 dually boards for farmage. Problem is, too expensive. If you go dually, get the MSI K7D Master - L, great board with onboard lan. My farm cost about $250/layer.

2400 Retail = $90
Fortron 300W = $27
DDR 2100 = $40
Biostar Mobo = $64
ebay HD's = $10
------------------------
$231 add in for shipping and around $250

If your cost is $1711 with tax and shipping for all that, good deal!
I run my dually on a 350W Sparkle with no issues at all.

[emericanchaos]

good deal with the fortron i'll have to switch!

i was going to go with the MSI board but it's about $100 more. considering the how much better it would be i don't think it would be worth it. maybe if i was going to use this for a personal machine then yeah. unless i can find a better price then $290 for the legend.

i don't know jury's still out. the money for this comes after christmas. we'll see what's available at that time. if i can afford it i may spring for the MSI. if cash is really tight i'll have to goto single CPU boards. honestly i don't care about the money and would rather build an SMP farm.

ok i changed my order.

1700XP $47 x8 $376
chaintech 7KDD $183 x4 $732
Fortron - P300XF $25 x4 $100
Crucial 256MB ECC $61 x4 $244
Speeze 5F263B1M3 $7 x8 $56
Total $1507.96
if anyone else has any tips on where i can take this price down i'd appreciate it. i don't know what shipping will be. i'm sure it will cost because that's alot of gear.

[Fast420A]

Grab the Chaintech that's in the NewEgg refurbs for $129 today and get a few more as they show up. That will save some $$$.

[nikhsub1]

YOu can pick up the MSI K7D Master-L for under $200.. I saw it for about $190 on pricewatch.

[Maxvla]

do you have to run ECC ram in that motherboard you have listed in your prices? cause if you can get away with non ecc it will save you a bunch of money.

[emericanchaos]

Originally posted by Maxvla
do you have to run ECC ram in that motherboard you have listed in your prices? cause if you can get away with non ecc it will save you a bunch of money.

well it says up to 4GB registered. doesn't say anything like OR 3GB non ECC. so i'm guessing you do have to. gonna look it up right now though.

EDIT: chaintech's site only says registered. gonna look around for the K7D master.

[Maxvla]

i know some mobos will allow 2 sticks of non ecc but if you want to run all 4 slots all have to be ecc.

at least thats how my a7m266-D is.

[nikhsub1]

I know for a FACT that you can run non-ecc in the K7D's, I do. That should save you some dough over the chaintech. Just get some crucial 2100 or similar, non-ecc and you will be good to go. If you plan to OC the thing, make sure to get some 2700 or so as you can raise the FSB on the K7D to 150.

[Arkaine23]

Crucial PC2100 should handle 150FSB easily.

Definitely go with the MSI if you can because it will not only let you up the FSB, but the multi's as well. If you get a different board, then consider getting XP 2400's instead of 1700's. With a default multiplyer of 15x, 2400's are great OC'ers for chipsets that can't typically get to 166+ FSB. They're not that much more expensive than 1700+ B's.

Just don't forget to L5 mod your CPU's if you're going to use XP's instead of MP's.