For anyone needing a lot of PCIe slots, check out this sneak peek of the Gygabyte X58A-UD9 motherboard! No mention if all those slots actually run at 16x.
Gigabyte X58A-UD9 sneak peek
- Thread starter Handruin
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ddrueding
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Awesome. Three PCIe-based SSDs and a beastly GPU 
udaman
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:bow:
lmao @article title
EVGA launches e-peen exploding Classified SR-2 motherboard
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22960
lmao @article title
EVGA launches e-peen exploding Classified SR-2 motherboard
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22960
ddrueding
Fixture
Way sweet, but Xeons get seriously pricey. Besides, with 6 cores on a single CPU, you need to have a very specific task to saturate even more cores.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
But 2x 4 core is cheaper than 1x 6 core.
ddrueding
Fixture
Hadn't thought of that, an excellent point.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
And Asus counters with the P6T7 WS. http://www.asus.com.au/ProductGroup3.aspx?PG_ID=xrOlpXWE87x7bSBN
The P6T7 WS PCIe layout is:
3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x16 or x8 )
3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x8 )
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ x16)
Noting that it has 2x NF200 PCIe bridges for 3x nVidia SLI to get the extra PCIe Lanes.
(The X58 chipset only has 36 PCIe lanes for external IO, and extra available on the board would be due to mux'ing on the NF200 chip, eg the NF200 gets 16 lanes in from the X58 chip, but makes 32 PCIe lanes available for add-in cards).
Also the Asus P6T6 WS has been out for quite a while now, but it only has 6x 16xPCIe slots, not 7 like the X58A-UD9 and P6T7 WS.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
If I was going to build a dual CPU workstation again, I would only trust Intel, Supermicro and Tyan to get something rock solid. While Asus and Gigabyte have done dual socket boards for a while now, they have never held the communities trust in their implementations. How would EVGA break into the dual socket community and gain it's trust that they (EVGA) can provide a rock solid workstation board?
ddrueding
Fixture
This looks to be a good start. If you start with the geeks' workstations, and provide flawless performance and service, then they might give you a shot in the server rack.
BingBangBop
Storage is cool
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What is the point, when it uses a non-standard mount that will require modifying a server case (larger than ATX) to make it fit? Just get a dual processor workstation board that fits a standard server case.
ddrueding
Fixture
Just mount the board on the wall; screw the case. If you have that big an e-peen, you may as well flaunt it. It will make routing all the watercooling for the Fermi cards easier as well (you were planning on folding, no?)
BingBangBop
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I had to look up folding. Do you mean folding@home? no!
My point is that it really isn't something so special that it is worth having to hand-modify a case. Theoretically, you don't need a case or can hand make/modify a case but the number of people that do that are very small. Then there is the fact that there are alternatives using standardized cases and the MB at $599. isn't any cheaper than those alternatives. So where's the market for such a motherboard? Requiring a customized case it just looks dumb to me. It's not as if EVGA is big enough to create a new case standard (HPTX) that they can push on people.
My point is that it really isn't something so special that it is worth having to hand-modify a case. Theoretically, you don't need a case or can hand make/modify a case but the number of people that do that are very small. Then there is the fact that there are alternatives using standardized cases and the MB at $599. isn't any cheaper than those alternatives. So where's the market for such a motherboard? Requiring a customized case it just looks dumb to me. It's not as if EVGA is big enough to create a new case standard (HPTX) that they can push on people.
BingBangBop
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Just to make sure we are all on the same page, I am complaining about the EVGA classified SR-2 motherboard and not the Asus or Gigabyte motherboards that were mentioned above.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
The EVGA is a bit strange, as Supermicro can fit more on a normal EEB size boards. Case in point: http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/QPI/5500/X8DAH_-F.cfm
It also features 9x DIMM slots per CPU (for a total of 18x DIMM slots), 7 PCIe slots (and they are the same size as their lane allocation, none of this 16x slot (1x lane) crap), and has IPMI. The X8DAH-F is $499 from newegg, while the EVGA is being listed $599.
I don't want to see and hear a computer on the walls. What kind of walls do you have? Do you screw on the hard drives, too? It's rather crazy.
sechs
Storage? I am Storage!
Agreed. Other than a bit of flash, I'm not even sure what the EVGA board would get for you.
ddrueding
Fixture
A noisy northbridge fan? Dual CPU and 7 16x (mechanical) PCIe slots?
BingBangBop
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Or it might not. I don't know what makes an HPTX and there are things like where the mounting holes are matter. The fact is that it is not using any of the standard mounts such as EATX, SSI-CEB, SSI-EEB, or SSI-MEB because those are not mentioned. All that needs to be said is XXX compatible. It can always be slightly smaller, but the mounting holes and the location of any external holes such as the slots locations and the I/O connector need to be the same.
ddrueding
Fixture
My soon-to-be workstation will likely be the Gigabyte in the OP, a PCIe-based SSD, a watercooled 5970 E6, and a power supply. With the PSU and watercooling radiator/pump/reservoir elsewhere, there won't be any noise to hear. The only thing mounted is the Mobo with the parts hanging off it.
udaman
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LOL, no way I'm going to go and C&P all the specs, links to other sites/pages, details for you to read...if ya too lazy to do it yourself, I ain't going to spoon feed ya.> do your own search, and *read* up on it.
There's more than dd is casually brushing (off) over...trust me
HardOCP has a sneak peak of this board if anyone is interested.
ddrueding
Fixture
Some good info, but Kyle really annoys me. If he were to actually write down a script, and do the voice over separately, he would do much better videos.
BingBangBop
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Competition for the Ga-X58a-ud9 -- EVGA - Classified SR2
Dual Xeon 1366 sockets
12 RAM slots
SATA III (6.0 GB)
Dual Xeon 1366 sockets
12 RAM slots
SATA III (6.0 GB)
ddrueding
Fixture
That is an impressive board, but I don't know if I trust EVGA enough to pull it off well. That fan on the northbridge would have to go as well.
Gilbo
Storage is cool
Does anyone know if the Xeons support 3 DIMMs on a channel with standard, unbuffered, non-ECC RAM?
Or do you need special DIMMs to fill all the slots on that board?
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
With Xeon 5500 series, triple channel will work with any module (Reg ECC / non-ECC does not matter). It will however drop a speed level if you install 6 or 9 DIMMS per CPU. For 9 DIMM installations, Reg RAM is required, but not for 3 or 6 DIMM installations.
eg - 3 DIMMS - 1333, 6 DIMMS - 1066, 9 DIMMS - 800.
http://www.intel.com/technology/memory/ddr/valid/ddr3_UDIMM_RDIMM_results.htm
(The first table).
Gilbo
Storage is cool
Thanks Chewy, I figured the 9 DIMM configs would require registered RAM. Speed drops all the way to DDR3 800 eh?
If I was ever going to cram a bunch of RAM in a PC, it would be for photo processing, and a lot of those operations are memory bandwidth constrained. Having to make the tradeoff would be a little disappointing.
If I was ever going to cram a bunch of RAM in a PC, it would be for photo processing, and a lot of those operations are memory bandwidth constrained. Having to make the tradeoff would be a little disappointing.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
Well, I would happy to take a speed drop, if it meant my entire working dataset could live in RAM vs being paged out to disk in a swap file... It's just one of those tradeoffs, with getting more DIMM slots.
Assuming 8GB RegECC DIMM (dual rank) x 18 DIMMS = 144GB of RAM in a single box...
( Kingston 8GB DDR3-1333 RegECC - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139140 ) = $~$490 x 18 = $8,820 just in RAM.
Assuming 8GB RegECC DIMM (dual rank) x 18 DIMMS = 144GB of RAM in a single box...
( Kingston 8GB DDR3-1333 RegECC - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139140 ) = $~$490 x 18 = $8,820 just in RAM.
:reindeer: Yeah. I forsee dirt clogs and failures after a few years or less.