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Server/AMD/SCSI Motherboard?

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IFMU

The Xtreme Senior Nobody
Joined
Jun 21, 2001
'ello to alls in here, my first post here and Im looking for a little help. Ok heres the run down. My brother works for a small firm and they are wanting to do a server overhaul upgrade. They have checked into buying all there server equipment from Dell, Gateway that kind of thing. Well he is wanting to try to underbid those companys, and get the deal ourselves. Im wondering if its possible he is overstepping out capabilities here but I figured what would it hurt to try? Well Im rambling, this is what we are in the need of. 4 servers, complete. He is wanting to try to do Dual AMD CPU's, SCSI drives (prefered raid 0 if possible +1) 4 gigs ram (dont know why that number but thats his number not mine) minimum 40gig hdd's (again raid 0 so overall 80 gigs space) Ive done some searching and I havent been able to locate anything that might be good or even useful on this search. Now I know that most will begin talking about money, well, The bid from the stores was $72,000. He wants to underbid it as I already said. so Money is a minor issue, Cuz I think we could for this much to play with. Any links, ideas, suggestions, anything would be killer thanks!!! and sorry for the length, just wanted you to understand...

And let me know if your in the need of anymore details...

IFMU
 
i really cant recommend anything but...

raid 0 is for speed only...--> two hard drives reading and writing together...and if you have 2 40gb drives you will only have 40gb as two drives work at the same time

if you want raid 0+1 then you will need 3 or 4 40gb drives(not sure on this one but its probably 4...) 2 for raid 0 and the other 2 for backup -raid 1
 
!-=sky=-! said:
i really cant recommend anything but...

raid 0 is for speed only...--> two hard drives reading and writing together...and if you have 2 40gb drives you will only have 40gb as two drives work at the same time

Wrong!

Wth Raid Level-0, 2 X 40gig drives work as 1 really fast 80 gig drive..........


Doctor
 
Thanks Doctor thats the one that I had found, But by my understanding it doesnt have onboard scsi... Im new to that area so please forgive my ignorance... Either way that looks like the board I would have to go with. Now my next question is this. That board supports up to 3.5 gig of ram. Now where can I get 1 gig ram? I didnt think they made them that large and that board only has 4 slots. So in turn common sense would tell you that maxs out at 2.5gig ram? Now the largest Ive been able to find so far is Mushkin 512 PC2100 ECC, which is great, but Still gives me that limit.... any suggestins? Or what am I missing?

Again, thanks for the help!
 
Kewl, thanks Warlord, I had never been able to find one, wasnt sure how to look on pricewatch.. omg for PC2100 482 BUCKS!! wow... very kewl however... thanks for the help folk!!!
 
ifmu said:
Thanks Doctor thats the one that I had found, But by my understanding it doesnt have onboard scsi...

Sure it does. On this page, it says:

Integrated SCSI: Adaptec AIC-7899W controller
Dual-channel Ultra160 SCSI support
160 Mbps maximum data throughput
Supports up to 15 LVD SCSI devices per channel
Channels A & B: 68-pin connector each

I think it's exactly what your looking for.......

Also, make sure that if you fill it with ram, you buy registered ram.....

:)


Doctor
 
Registered is basiclly ECC right? And If so yea that I DO know!! :p
 
No, ECC is error correcting memory, commonly used in servers. From my limited understanding of this, it uses one of the clock cycles to check itself. It also makes it slower. That's why OC'ers don't use it. Registered memory is also a bit slower, but works in better harmony with more memory sticks.

I'm no expert on this subject, but that's the jist of it.

You will find some of that memory, specifically designed for that mobo here, and this is the part your looking for.

I hope this helps you out,

Doctor
 
Oh ok kewl, I knew thats what ECC was but wasnt sure about registered, but kewl and thanks for all the help man!~!
 
Hey ifmu... have not talked to you in a while. Anyways. I have a tyan thunder k7 motherboard. First i do not recomend it for a firm. Its a monster motherboard that is loaded with every goodie you can think of but its comes with a price...Maintance. Make sure to get a revsion 2 motherboard and buy from somewhere that offers great support and return service. The release of the boards were aweful and you were to lucky to get one working. You can tell which version it is by the chipset. If it has no heatsink on it its the first ones so stay away. Secondly some users have been reporting successs with non MP athlons. The thunderbirds are out of the question even though they work because they are not designed for SMP. They get aweful benchs and poor performance. The xp's have worked for some as well but i have heard of numerous version conflicts and no boots. If you realy want to have this monster then i recomedn you go with the MP cpu's even though they cost more it is worth it as your being gauranteed my tyan and amd that they are compatible. Next... the ram you need registered memory and as far as i know you cannot find 1gb chips of registered memory which seems stupid considering the board supports 4gb's of ram. You can use non registered memory but only on slots 1 and 4 but once again i recomend you get the proper memory. Next you will need good cooling to keep this stable. If you have nothing active in your case to keep the motherboard cool then you will have stability problems. The chipset and athlons produce something like 200+ watts of heat alone. You will need a nmb 460 watt approved power supply to power the thunder. Not only that but i have seen reports of them blowing out and ruining systems so i recomend you run a an extra power supply to take care of your drives and fans. thats what i do. You will need a very large case as the mothboard is 12' by 13' being the first motherboard to be wider than its height. Full tower is a minimum. To make things simple if this computer needs be astable machine that requires little hassle i recomnd you go with a dual pentium 3 setup.. the maintance will be a lot less this coming from a user a who has a tyan dual athlon setup. For more help and other users info goto www.amdmb.com as they specialize in amd motheboards.
 
Ok kewl thanks for the info, Some I am aware of, some I wasnt. But am now! Gotta love these forums!!! But anywho... Ill check that out, but I want to stay away from intel if I can help it, costs are a concern when it comes to them... But Ill look, cant hurt... Thanks again man... And to alls!!!~!!!
 
There is an actual update to this, I however am presently unaware as to what it is. My brother explained that the boss wants PIII dual xeon systems. 9gig scsi, and 4gig ram. Once I get all the details Ill post it up...
 
Yea I am aware about OS costs, however that pricing we have no control over. That would be the same to them as to us, so that portion will be up to his workplace. Cant do anything illegal here...

Update otherwise...

2 9gig scsi 10k drives 4 if raid 0+1
dual intel zeon board with chips
raid controller
4 gigs of ram
rackmount case

Now most of this I get, all explainable. But the Xeon confuses me, what is xeon? I thought it was a CPU, but Im thinking I am way off... any suggestions?
 
Actually, OS costs could very well be higher for you than what Dell or another OEM would pay.

Typically, the OEMs get special deals from MS because they move so many units, with an MS OS. The copies of Windows they preload on their desktop machines are only costing the OEM like $20 or $30.

I'm sure that deal extends to Win2k Server, which I assume is what you are buying.

Oh, and the Xeon is the server version of Intel's cpus. They stick more cache and/or better cache on the chip, market it as a Xeon, and call it a day.
 
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