Rollcall: who is running what?

Handruin

Administrator
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
13,926
Location
USA
I built a sempron 2800+ 64-bit for my folks a few weeks ago. Worked great in that gigabyte K8VM800M you recommended once I loaded the latest BIOS.
 

paugie

Storage is cool
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Messages
702
Location
Bulacan, Philippines
64-bit semprons

here at home, many techies in our forum (tipidpc.com) are agog over the overclockability of these new 64-bit Semprons, specifically the 2500+, 2600+ and the 2800+. they get them running at 320 FSB x 7 or 8 using NF3 or NF4 chipset mobos. That is mind-boggling for me.

Do those Soltek and Gigabyte Via mobos have PCI/AGP locks? I am on the verge of dumping this Celeron-D which won't go over 2.79Ghz.
 

Gilbo

Storage is cool
Joined
Aug 19, 2004
Messages
742
Location
Ottawa, ON
Those 64-bit Semprons are definitely great deals, even if you don't consider overclocking.

On the other hand, as far as I've seen the Semprons aren't particularly better overclockers than the other low multiplier A64 chips out there. I think it's just their price that has people even more excited than they were about the latest steppings of A64s.
 

paugie

Storage is cool
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Messages
702
Location
Bulacan, Philippines
Gilbo, yes they are great deals. We can buy the A64 Sempron 2500+ for less money than the old Socket A 2400+ Sempron. Of course the Socket 754 mobos cost more...

My upgrade dilemma is whether to buy a P4 2.4 which I can still afford (the 2.8 is not) or to switch platforms again. Overclocking is part of the picture. Seems like my current Epox mobo won't overclock well.

That is why I am asking whether the VIA mobos Mercutio is recommending have AGP/PCI locks.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
22,275
Location
I am omnipresent
I do not think they do. I am not an overclocker. Next time I reboot one I shall look.

I think the OCing crowd for A64s is big on Nforce3 boards.
 

CityK

Storage Freak Apprentice
Joined
Sep 2, 2002
Messages
1,719
paugie, I'm pretty sure they would ... my K8T800Pro based Soltek board has a lock ... you could always browse through the manuals of the boards of interest to check too
 

paugie

Storage is cool
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Messages
702
Location
Bulacan, Philippines
made the switch,

:D
A project came along which enabled me to make my desired switchover to AMD. I'm happy

Sempron-64 2600+ (default 1,600Mhz but running now @ 2,443Mhz, which is a 53% overclock - NEW
Gigabyte K8NS, NForce3-250 mobo - NEW
2x512Mb TwinMos DDR400 4 months old
Samsung SP0802N 80Gb 7200RPM 1 year old
Maxtor 6Y080L0 80Gb 7200RPM, 3 years old
NEC 3540 DVD-RW 3 months old
Turtle Beach Sta. Cruz 1-1/2 year with me, purchased 2nd hand
Promise Ultra-66 IDE controller very old, purchased 2nd hand
TASK 350watt Power Supply Unit - NEW
Pinnacle Video Capture card (borrowed)

The processor is running @ default voltage but my mems are on a 1.5 divider. I've heard of people running the same processor at 2,700Mhz albeit at higher V-Core. I plan to find the highest stable speed for this processor (Prime95 and OCCT stability tests) and keep it at that.

One thing disturbs me, though. The system is stable. i.e. no errors, blue screens. 12V and 3.3V rock solid per software monitoring. BUT, the 5V values are all over the place. It ranges from 2.6 to 5.2V. Any comments? I've emailed TASK but no reply, as yet.

2005-11-30-03h13-Volt5.gif


Speedfan5Vmonitoring01.gif
 

CougTek

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
8,729
Location
Québec, Québec
These voltage graphs are horrible. I'm gonna make nightmares tonight.

So horrible that I think the monitoring software must be defective. A system should crash with that kind of regulation (or lack of).

Where are JTR and Mark when you need them for a detailed reply?
 

paugie

Storage is cool
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
Messages
702
Location
Bulacan, Philippines
These voltage graphs are horrible

That's a very graphic word to use, I like it. Horrible.
I suspected faulty voltage tracking software, too. It's hard to believe such fluctuations wouldn't cause errors. I do hope you're right.

What does the mobo do with the 5 volts it is fed? I was thinking control electronics and the 12V was for motors. Of course that is just conjecture.
 

CougTek

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
8,729
Location
Québec, Québec
According to the latest ATX specification, ...

TrustedReviews said:
There are also voltage requirements that all power supplies are required to operate within, as if one of the power rails delivers too much or not enough power, the computer won’t work properly and can cause irreversible damage to your components. As such, the 12V rail is the one to keep an eye on. The 12V rail(s) have to operate in between 11.40V to 12.60V, the 5V rail between 4.75V and 5.25V and the 3.3V between 3.14V and 3.47V.

And here's a good read if you want to know more about the ATX PSU official specifications.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
22,275
Location
I am omnipresent
Just to update a little. 'Cause Coug reminded me to do it.

I said:
Game Machine: Athlon64X2/4400. 3GB RAM. Soltek motherboard. PCIe X850. X-Mystique. 2x7k400s, 2 7k250s (SATA), 300GB Maxline, 2 SP1614Ns, 7k400 (all PATA). LiteOn DVD Burner. LiteOn 32x CD Burner (both on "SCSI Buddies" connected to an Adaptec 2940UW) - and yes, every drive bay in that P180 is full. 600W Enermax PSU, Onkyo TX-NR801. 21" Dell CRT, 19" Scepter LCD. Antec P180 case. "The Loft" - the coolest piece of computer furniture EVAR. This machine presently dual boots Windows Server 2003 Web Edition and SuSE 10.

HTServer: Athlon64/3500. 3GB RAM. Soltek motherboard. PCIe X800AIW . X-Mystique. 3Ware 7506-12. 10xPATA SP1614s, 2x7k250s. LiteOn DVD Burner. 5U case. Thermaltake 680W PSU. Machine runs 2000 Server. Integra DTR-8.2 Receiver. Comcast "On Demand" HD cable box. Samsung 60" DLP monitor.

Also, "Pokey" now has a GA-7S748L instead of an Asus A7N8X-Deluxe.

I have another x2/4200 sitting here. I'm trying to decide if I want to order some kind of nforce4, since I no longer have an nforce2 (for maintaining disk images), or if I'd rather put it on another happy Soltek board.

Why the non-optimal x2? 'Cause every time I've wanted to order a 3800, they've been out of stock.

And then there's also Laptop #2:
Gateway MX7515: Athlon64/4000, 1GB RAM, 100GB slow-ass hard disk, DVD burner, 256MB X600 Pro graphics. I switch between an XP install and 2003 Web edition. Too damned heavy to carry around. I've been using it as a comic/ebook reader.
 

ddrueding

Fixture
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
19,728
Location
Horsens, Denmark
My latest build:

AMD64 X2 3800+
3GB PC3200
Gigabyte nForece4 SLI MB
PCIe X800 fanless
X-Mystique
74GB Raptor
BenQ DVD-Burner
Antec Phantom 350W
P180
Scythe Ninja
Samsung 19" LCD
Klipsch 2.1

These are getting really expensive now that I buld them 2 at a time (one for me, one for the GF). Of course, she gets an nVidia 6200TC ;)
 

CougTek

Hairy Aussie
Joined
Jan 21, 2002
Messages
8,729
Location
Québec, Québec
I see that you put Hitachi SATA drives in your servers. While they are great drives for workstations, they don't offer very optimised performances for server access patterns, at least according to SR's benchmarks. The two fastest 7.2Krpm, SATA drives for servers are the Western Digital (which I won't suggest) and the Maxtor MaxLine series. And this store list the new 500GB MaxLine Pro at 338$ each. This other place sells the 500GB Maxtor DiamondMax 11 at 335$ too.

And just in case you would like to get rid of a few servers, there is this 3U chassis with a triple redundant 760W PSU that is on sale for 841$ (free shipping). Add a Supermicro H8DCE (348$), which have 8 SATA 3Gbps ports integrated, plus two of the 3Ware 8506-4LP that you already have and...you could end up with newly found closet space :D. Just wait a month before buying dual-core s940 Opteron. The 270 for instance, which currently cost 845$, will drop to around 480$ after the announced mid-February price cut. And the 4 3500rpm 92mm fans into the Supermicro are probably too noisy. Nothing forbids you to replace them with 92mm Panaflo fans. The drives won't produce that much heat anyway. As for reliability of the entire system, the PSU is triple redundant and all the parts are industrial-grade, so the whole thing is probably safer than what you currently have. And you would make savings on your electrical bill.

Of course, filling up the 15 bays with 500GB drives, plus the chassis/CPU/2GB RAM will cost you slightly more than 7000$, but hey, that's your part to figure out.
 

mubs

Storage? I am Storage!
Joined
Nov 22, 2002
Messages
4,908
Location
Somewhere in time.
Merc & David: With 3GB, is the memory running at DDR400 or DDR333?

Merc: By "sub-optimal X2", you mean sub-optimal for the purpose (maintaining disk images)?
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
22,275
Location
I am omnipresent
DDR400 in the game machine. I'm not sure about the HTserver. I haven't rebooted it since I put it in.

The x2s are sub-optimal because neither model I own is really in the "best bang for the buck" category. I wasn't really planning to spend as much as I did to get a 4400, but I wanted an x2 so...
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
Joined
Jan 17, 2002
Messages
22,275
Location
I am omnipresent
CougTek said:
I see that you put Hitachi SATA drives in your servers. While they are great drives for workstations, they don't offer very optimised performances for server access patterns, at least according to SR's benchmarks.

Coug, I completely, utterly don't care how fast those drives are. They're fast enough. If I wanted fast, I'd buy x15s. I don't. I want capacity from a brand I trust. I don't trust WD. I don't trust Maxtor. I don't trust Seagate. I only access those drives through a network connection anyway. The network is the bottleneck, not the drives.


CougTek said:
And just in case you would like to get rid of a few servers [snip]

The stuff I have is fine. The 8 year old Supermicro full towers I'm using work just fine, and I'll probably use them until I can't put anything else in them.

CougTek said:
you could end up with newly found closet space :D. And you would make savings on your electrical bill.

My electrical bill is really fairly reasonable. About $150 a month. The joy of being in an apartment. And I don't really have anything else to put in the closets. :p
 
Top