Author Topic: Building a Xeon server (Read 1755 times)

Skuzzy · « **Reply #15 on:** February 14, 2005, 01:57:21 PM »

Sorry for the delay MD. Most of the dual Xeon motherboards I have dealt with had two additional molex connectors, or 1 additional molex and 1 4 pin P4 connector for the power.

I know there is going to have to be additional power plugs for the Xeon's as there is no way to get the power needed through the standard ATX power plug.

I have never seen a motherboard requiring some unique power plug, but if this board does, I would like to know about it.

EDIT: Oh wait, I think I misunderstood. You are talking about power supplies that meet the EPS12V spec. Not many of those around for cheap. Antec has a Tru550 model that meets EPS12V. You can get it at Newegg for $122.00 (U.S.).

Mini D · « **Reply #16 on:** February 14, 2005, 03:52:14 PM »

I did a bit of research and purchased the Antec power supply at lunch ($118). The connectors are actually different. The main connector is a 24 pin (instead of a 20 pin). The antec is also supposed to be quiet, but I think that might be a matter of perspective.

I also purchased a case with 5" fans on it. I figure I'm going to want to be pumping some air through the box and bigger fans generate less noise.

All that's left now is the HD(s). I'm planning on getting two 160Gig SATA drives. I don't think I'll need anything faster than 7200 RPM. It seems my choices are Maxtor, WD and Seagate. The last I'd heard about Seagate was that they were having problems, but that was 4 years ago. I know very little about the reliability of the various manufacturers these days. Any recomendations there?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #17 on:** February 14, 2005, 04:03:22 PM »

Llama swears by the Seagates. I have had no luck at all with any of the IDE/SATA drives the last two or three years.

I think it is a crapshoot. I would put WD as a last resort though.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #18 on:** February 14, 2005, 04:06:55 PM »

I have never had to buy a power supply for any server I built as I always have used rack-mount cases (Antec) and they always had a good supply in them. Damn plug might have been different and I never took note of it.

Now you got me curious.

LePaul · « **Reply #19 on:** February 14, 2005, 11:50:31 PM »

Id go Maxtor for drives. I've had great luck with those in my servers.

IBM, Seagate and Western Digitals have all fried up on me. Both WD's I've tried recently performed poorly. Avoid Samsung or Fujitsu

How many fans can your case support? I'd plan on a few. CheckSix.Net's newer machine is a Dell thingy...as much as I'd like to pick on them, they do have excellent cooling.

Does your MB have onboard SATA Raid? Tom's Hardware had a few interesting reviews on SATA RAID cards, if you are intending to do a Mirror.

Mini D · « **Reply #20 on:** February 15, 2005, 11:21:56 PM »

I'm putting it all together. At first, I was impressed with the documentation provided and the compatability/standardization between the motherboard and case. Things have gone downhill from there.

I'm not sure how to hook up these SATA drives. I want them in parralel raid configuration (raid 1), but there isn't really anything about how to configure the RAID in the manual. The drives didn't come with any instructions on how to hook up the power either. I think I've got it with the "SATA" power connections, but they still aren't recognized.

The slightly larger problem is tha the processors operate at about 7 billion degrees. I'm going with a different cooling solution.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #21 on:** February 16, 2005, 06:25:45 AM »

Yes, those CPU's are going to run hot. Very hot. Usually Intel's HSF for the Xeon's have been up to the task, but I have not used a Nocona yet. Was curious to hear if the default HSF would do the job.

If you are configuring the SATA's for RAID, you will need to load the third party driver during the Windows installation for the raid controller.

Kev367th · « **Reply #22 on:** February 16, 2005, 06:44:13 AM »

Put one drive onto each of the RAID channels.
During POST press the appropriate key to get into your SATA RAID BIOS.
Configure your RAID 1 there.

Some drives need adaptors to hook the power cable up.

Mini D · « **Reply #23 on:** February 16, 2005, 10:31:59 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Yes, those CPU's are going to run hot. Very hot. Usually Intel's HSF for the Xeon's have been up to the task, but I have not used a Nocona yet. Was curious to hear if the default HSF would do the job.

If you are configuring the SATA's for RAID, you will need to load the third party driver during the Windows installation for the raid controller.

The chips came with the 1U copper heat sincs (no fan). It seems they rely on a high flowthrough to cool the processor. That was obviously insufficient for my needs. I've ordered a couple of copper sincs with fans. I'm still concerned that my case doesn't have sufficient flow through, but the fans will definately let me test things with a bit more confidence.

I've plugged the SATA drives into the Raid1 and Raid2 sockets. I haven't figured out how to get into the raid configuration menu yet since I was a bit more concerned about the heat problem. The only thing that was ambiguous was the drive had a mylar 4 pin connector as well as an apparent power connection next to the SATA connector. The MATROX web site mentions that you shouldn't connect power to A and B at the same time, but fails to mention what A and B are. The whole RAID/SATA thing is lost between the HD manual and the Motherboard manual. It's the only disappointing aspect of the documentation I've encountered so far.

I was actually impressed with the heat sinc mounting kit that came with the ASUS. When I read the manual prior to the MBs arrival, I thought it looked hokey. It turned out to be a pretty neet system and I was impressed with the ease of aligning the template and the results.

Vipermann · « **Reply #24 on:** February 16, 2005, 10:54:55 AM »

as far as the sata power use either/or but not both.

the non molex power connector will be to the extreme left of the drive when you are facing the connectors, with the 4-pin molex connector being to the extreme right. The actual sata cable is next to the sata power and is smaller than the sata power.

As for the raid menu, watch during boot-up, you'll see an area where it looks for drives on the raid array and it will tell you what combination of keys will get you in. Usually it's CTRL+D

Mini D · « **Reply #25 on:** February 19, 2005, 12:57:34 PM »

The system is up (kinda) and running. I still need to figure out how to install my sound drivers, but everything else seems OK.

The only problem I'm having is with the WinXP x64 beta and the OBDC drivers. For some reason, they aren't working and if I try to remove them I get an error saying they're not installed. If I try to view them I get the same error.

Kev367th · « **Reply #26 on:** February 19, 2005, 11:38:19 PM »

If you agreed to let Microsoft contact you when you got XP64 you "MAY" be invited to download XP64 RC1. This is just about what will finally be released and probably has ODBC.
I believe RC1 even has Windows update working also.
You will need 64 bit sound drivers, they install exactly the same way as regular XP ones.

Mini D · « **Reply #27 on:** February 21, 2005, 11:42:48 PM »

RC1 is pretty much available to anyone that registers for it. It is the version I have. RC2 is only available to those on MSDN subscripions. That one is supposed to have some of these issues resolved. Unfortunately, I don't have access to it. I decided to load XP Pro 32bit instead. Rumor has it that MS is going to offer a free upgrade to x64 for exising XP-Pro users that request it.

Kev367th · « **Reply #28 on:** February 22, 2005, 01:02:33 AM »

Apparently RC2 is now available generally, if you give Microsoft a valid email address.

-----Rumor has it that MS is going to offer a free upgrade to x64 for exising XP-Pro users that request it.-----

Thats what I heard also.