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Large Opteron Build Questions

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x3lda

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2004
Location
Philadelphia
This is my third server build contract and I'm still not familiar with a wide variety of server hardware and I have to make decisive purchases since most orders are above 5K.

My dilemma,
I have following already
2xOpteron 280
Areca 1230
16x Seagate 7200.9 (6 Arrived Yesterday waiting on 10 more :D)

I plan to order three things by Nov 1st, they need at least 8GB of RAM so I am going with Crucial ECC 2GB Modules on newegg which are DDR 400. The motherboard thats fitting the build is Asus K8N-DRE but there is barely any information on it regarding memory configurations. Anyone know what speed I can run the memory at? and what configuration i would need? It's best they have 16GB but that is expensive (contract...less expensive = more for me) and 8GB might be faster (i dunno).

Also, I plan to get the Supermicro SC933T case with 15SATA cartriges but I'm not sure the power supply can handle 15 HD's and the motherboard and RAM. Anyone have a clue? How would i attach an auxilliary power supply?

About the Broadcom 5721 pcie controllers, the max aggregate bandwidth is 500MBps but they say it should transfer out about 300MBps max and accepting 200MBps (the figures they gave me) through up to 6 ports. I only have 1 133MHz PCI 32bit slot on the mobo and I wonder if that's enough for handling the traffic with an additional network adapter (suggest one?).

Any help or info appreciated. very important to me. Thanks.
 
That Supermicro triple-redundant 760W looks as if it should do the trick.

If your motherboard does not have PCI-E, I'd seriously consider using one that does, like those from Tyan. The PCI-E SATA cards should provide sufficient bandwidth, but the PCI Bus 133 MB/S bottleneck will kill your throughput.
 
If you are spending $5k on a server i would HIGHLY suggest a Tyan or SuperMicro Server board - Asus makes good boards but i would trust Tyan #1 over any and SuperMicro 2nd for solid excellent quality server boards.


What is this system being used for that you are using IDE 7200 RPM HD's ?
 
Mr.Guvernment said:
What is this system being used for that you are using IDE 7200 RPM HD's ?

File server for large multimedia stuff comes to mind...

Go with a Supermicro or Tyan. Tyan in particular has a highly-developed line of Opteron server boards, but Supermicro has good offerings too and is pretty much untouched when it comes to Intel-based server products. Also, if you go w/ one of these boards, why not go with 8x 1 GB DDR, which should be a lot cheaper? Unless, of course, you want open slots for expandability.
 
The 133MHz PCI-X slot is not a problem. That's 533MB/sec of bandwidth available, all of which is available to the slot (since it's the only device on that bus). Additionally, there's a much greater selection of PCI-X RAID controllers (and they're cheaper! :) ) compared to PCI-E controllers.
 
emboss said:
The 133MHz PCI-X slot is not a problem. That's 533MB/sec of bandwidth available, all of which is available to the slot (since it's the only device on that bus).

Actually, that's 1066 MB/s, so its even better :). Its more than adequate for even the highest-capacity network adapters.

Additionally, there's a much greater selection of PCI-X RAID controllers (and they're cheaper! :) ) compared to PCI-E controllers.

True, but a) he already has a PCIe controller b) storage adapters age a lot slower than motherboards. If you can, I'd pick up a PCIe controller to keep for future compatibility.
 
mateo said:
Actually, that's 1066 MB/s, so its even better :).

No it really is 533MB/sec since it's only a 32 bit slot, but it's all somewhat academic as ...
mateo said:
a) he already has a PCIe controller
Oops, good point ... For some reason I was thinking the ARC-1230 was a PCI-X card. So yeah, with that in mind it definately makes more sense to go for a PCI-E board like the K8SE unless there's chassis limitations that makes it not fit.
 
emboss said:
No it really is 533MB/sec since it's only a 32 bit slot, but it's all somewhat academic as ...

32 bit 133 MHz? I've never heard of that before...
 
mateo said:
32 bit 133 MHz? I've never heard of that before...

It's what it says on the ASUS site ... I've only seens it on a couple obscure boards before, usually standard ATX-sized or smaller server boards where they essentially run out of room for the longer slot. I guessing that's the case here as well as they controller chip they're using is 64-bit capable.
 
If you are spending $5k on a server i would HIGHLY suggest a Tyan or SuperMicro Server board - Asus makes good boards but i would trust Tyan #1 over any and SuperMicro 2nd for solid excellent quality server boards.
i've spent 11k for the parts already. it is nothing compared to the amount for liscenses for software (60-100k) for this server.

I hoped someone would have some information on Asus K8N DRE :-/

It is going to be a file server for archival of their databases so i'm building a big RAID6 array with those drives. I wanted this board because i wouldn't have to buy extra gigabit ethernet cards and these nics on the k8n-dre are pci-e 5721's and doesn't have to go through nvidia or amd pcix tunnel chip.

The areca 1230 is brand new and i want to buy a board to test it out since it's $800 bucks.

I'm also looking at the Tyan K8WE 2895 Mobo. Any opinions?
 
I have the K8WE (2895), and I am 50/50 on this board. It wasn't the most stable board until I RMA'd the board to Tyan, and got a new one. I had all kinds of problems with my other K8WE, but not now, so I guess there are a few bad ones out there.

Anyways, Tyan's Tech Support is the best. I called numerous times when I had the other board, and got in touch with a tech in like 2 minutes each time. No waiting at all.

If not the 2895, then anything from Tyan should suffice.

Have a great one.
 
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