Need some ideas for a dually

Hey guys, I'm probably going to be throwing together a dual AMD system in a cpl of weeks but I have a few questions. First off I'd like to use one of the AMD XP cpus I have already and just buy one more...say the 1600+. Is it worth investing a bit more and getting MP's or do XP's work just as well? Also, how "strong" of a PSU do you guys recommend? And finally......I'd like to get a mobo with raid and the ability to adjust the FSB, any suggestions?
Thanks for the help!

I have dual 1600xp's at 1728mhz in a K7D master. 144*12 1.85V
With this board, you can put non-registered non-ecc ram in the first two slots... provided you don't use any registed ram or more than the first two slots. The xp's can easily be mp unlocked by connecting the last L5 bridge... you don't even need to fill the pit. You do have to fill the pits on the L1 bridges, though, if you multiplier unlock.

ya me too. I have an MSI K7D with dual athalon 1600+ XP. They are MP unlocked, and multiplier unlocked (defogger paint). I have not changed the multipler, and with ECC ram, this board runs fine at 150 mhz at stock voltages.

I recomend the 1600+XP from newegg, $55 is just so much cheaper than an MP.

RUMOR I can not confirm, but the word is that the MPs are already multiplier unlocked, so that would make life easier .....

1) I don't know how powerful a PS you need. I ran mine fine on a cheap 300 watt before my antec 480 arrived.

2) I have NOT found any dual athalon board with ON BOARD RAID, and I have looked. General word is that those who get a dual usually get more powerful RAID cards, and don't use the on board raid ..... on board would have been fine for me .......

3) The two most talked about boards are the "tyan" stable but NO OC ability or the MSIk7D, best for OCing. I don't know anything about the other dual boards (e.g. gigabyte).

Even the Ocing friendly MSI, however, will only go to 150 FSB in bios. Dual boards just aren't designed for good OC, they are designed for STABLE. OFFICIALY, the dual amd boards only even support PC2100.

Good luck

The MSI K7D Master has my vote as well....and yes the MPs have unlocked multis so it saves you some time but cost a lil more....XPs do run just as well though....

And for RAM I say just put the extra money in and get ECC RAM for it....it will save you some popential problems in the end




Spec

First pre Welcome to the SMP word.

I have seen very few unhappy Dual AMD owners.The MSI according to those in this post sounds great.I happen to like the tyan boards.As for Power supply I can tell you that FMI has a 500 watter that rocks I use it exclusivly in every dual I build and it cost 79.99 ...Oh it is packaged in a Comp USA box so it is easy to get for most of us.

As far as processors I have never seen any XP's not work in dual setups...Connecting the L5 is very easy.

OK guys thanks for the info! I'll probably go with that MSI board and 1600's. One last question What do you suggest for a raid card in a SMP system, Don't need anything fancy, only using raid 0.
Ok I lied, I just thought of something else. Since I'll be using parts from one of my single CPU systems, my lan card and GF4 ect should all work fine with the MSI board right?? The bus speed info kinda threw me off.

Was this the board you guys were talking about
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...ory=1312&catalog=302&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1
It says must use Reg DDR....but if I only use the first 2 slots its fine right? Because I have a stick of 512 PC2100 just laying here that I would have liked to use, and its not Reg or ECC. I guess I'll just give that a shot and get ECC if I have alot of problems

Thanks again, hopefully will have a SMP up before the end of Oct.

none1 said:

ya me too. I have an MSI K7D with dual athalon 1600+ XP. They are MP unlocked, and multiplier unlocked (defogger paint). I have not changed the multipler, and with ECC ram, this board runs fine at 150 mhz at stock voltages.

I recomend the 1600+XP from newegg, $55 is just so much cheaper than an MP.

RUMOR I can not confirm, but the word is that the MPs are already multiplier unlocked, so that would make life easier .....

1) I don't know how powerful a PS you need. I ran mine fine on a cheap 300 watt before my antec 480 arrived.

2) I have NOT found any dual athalon board with ON BOARD RAID, and I have looked. General word is that those who get a dual usually get more powerful RAID cards, and don't use the on board raid ..... on board would have been fine for me .......

3) The two most talked about boards are the "tyan" stable but NO OC ability or the MSIk7D, best for OCing. I don't know anything about the other dual boards (e.g. gigabyte).

Even the Ocing friendly MSI, however, will only go to 150 FSB in bios. Dual boards just aren't designed for good OC, they are designed for STABLE. OFFICIALY, the dual amd boards only even support PC2100.

Good luck

Click to expand...

um..the two gigabyte boards have raid
7DPXDW
7DPXDW+

but the gigabyte can't adjust Vcore and you can get a simple RAID card for about 80 dollars or so...and yes that is the motherbaord....but the "L" version is sold out...the only difference is that it comes with onboard lan...and a very good maker(intel)...it saves you a PCI slot....I would wait but that just me...

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...=11&manufactory=1119&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

the PROMISE FASTTRAK100 TX4 RAID CONTROLLER CARD is the one that I have and I love it...but you wouldn't need 4 IDE ports so I would go for the PROMISE FASTTRAK TX2000 which has 2...PROMISE tech is a great company...never had a problem so far...I didn't even have to read the manuel to build my array....



Spec

Sounds good, I was looking at a promise controller as that is what my SP board has on it and it works great! And seeing that I've already got a NIC I don't want to pay another 30 just to have it integrated, probably will only be using 2 pci slots.
Thanks again for the help

I'll chime in with praises for the MSI K7D Master also. It is a great motherboard. I have two of them and I just love 'em. They are one of the only dual AMD motherboards that let you change the multiplier, FSB, and Vcore. I have used Highpoint RAID controllers on mine. A two channel HPT370A and a four channel HPT374 model. Both have worked wonderfully for me.

You will want to get a RAID card that operates at 66Mhz and/or 64 bit, if possible, since these motherboards come with 66MHz/64bit PCI slots. At the very least, you want a card that operates at 33 MHz, but is compatible with 66 MHz PCI slots, so you can use it on the 66MHz PCI bus.

ok I've been looking around at different raid controllers but none of them specify which bus they run at, I'm assuming at least 33MHz. Just out of curiousity, do you really see much benifit in a 66MHz controller? And if I did put in a 33Mhz would it automatically reduce the bus speed?

the 66Mhz support a lot more bandwith for harddrive...the link that I provided shows a 66Mhz card...it is the PROMISE FASTTRAK100 TX4 RAID CONTROLLER CARD...the one I got...as you can see it has 4 IDE ports...that is why it is 66Mhz....but if you only have like 2 HDDs then you do not need the 66Mhz...66Mhz is normally only for servers and what not....



Spec

o ok sorry missed the link, looks like the way to go, thx

It would reduce the bus speed.

Spec_Ops2087 said:

but the gigabyte can't adjust Vcore and you can get a simple RAID card for about 80 dollars or so...and yes that is the motherbaord....but the "L" version is sold out...the only difference is that it comes with onboard lan...and a very good maker(intel)...it saves you a PCI slot....I would wait but that just me...

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...=11&manufactory=1119&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

the PROMISE FASTTRAK100 TX4 RAID CONTROLLER CARD is the one that I have and I love it...but you wouldn't need 4 IDE ports so I would go for the PROMISE FASTTRAK TX2000 which has 2...PROMISE tech is a great company...never had a problem so far...I didn't even have to read the manuel to build my array....



Spec

Click to expand...

yea..i know i wasnt saying that they do..i was just saying tthat they have raid

i use a modded promise ultra66.. one resistor and a flashed bios is all that's needed, and they are cheap.. but only ata66. also, raid 0 is only good for large file reads, eg over 100 megs. i do alot of audio recording on my box, so i have a raid 0, and it loads those large wav's at breakneck speed. raid 1.. or 0+1 is best for overall performance

also, linux will automagically mod it for you via a simple check on the proper kernel option, no solder required.. but i guess you'll be running windows anyways...

You'll love a dual...

I'd get a 500w minimum PSU for a dual Athlon workstation-type system. They use loads of power and run lesser PSUs into the ground quickly.

The MSI K7D Master is the best dual Athlon overclocking motherboard around. It has multiplier, FSB and voltage adjustments, PLUS DRAM tweaks. One of my duals is a pair of 1.3 Morgans at 1470mhz on a K7D Master-L (onboard LAN).

Onboard RAID is something I advise against. Onboard RAID controllers tend to be cheap and use host CPU cycles to do their work. This means lower I/O performance when the CPUs are being used. Since you'll have 64bit/66mhz PCI slots available to you, this is a perfect chance to get a high performance "true hardware" RAID card. The type that come to mind is a 3Ware Escalade 7540. A 4-channel ATA100 hardware RAID card that uses a 64-bit PCI slot at 33mhz. You won't get better I/O performance from anything less than SCSI RAID. You don't need four drives for it either. Just two will work for RAID 0 or 1. It will be faster than onboard RAID any day, but admittedly at a cost.