Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 12:55:36 -0400 From: "Toll, Eric" <etoll@vipstructures.com> To: <freebsd-amd64@FreeBSD.org> Cc: David O'Brien <obrien@FreeBSD.org> Subject: RE: Hello 64 World - My proposed 3Ware system Message-ID: <9BC86C67C3AF7646B9C5382020457A944E4D20@VIP10-WIN2K>
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=20 > >=20 > > Anyone else have a Gigabyte board with (GA-7A8DW AMD 8111/8131)=20 > > Chipset running AMD-64? >=20 > It is hard to find information about this motherboard at=20 > Gigabyte's USA > site (since you're mentioning $$). Where have you found to buy it? It's listed under the server/workstation boards: http://www.giga-byte.com/Server/Products/Products_ServerBoard_GA-7A8DW.ht= m# > This motherboard has a 4+0 DIMM configuration, which means=20 > you are (1) limited to 4 DIMM's, (2) only get 1/2 the=20 > possible memory bandwidth. I'm not saying this is an=20 > absolutely terrible thing, but be aware of it. Thanks for pointing that out. Can you offer a replacement model? What = MB/RAM setup do you have? {and how much $ was it?} I'd like it to be able to run Dual Opteron 242's (as they're cheep) and = have a 66MHZ 64BIT PCI slot, and (1) AGP slot. What do you or anyone else = recommend?? I couldn't find much else that had these features that was on the 3Ware = tested list. Am I crazy for going to this length? :) As it is the memory must be ECC Registered, and I opted for the Kingston = which is: .. a kit of two 64M x 72-bit (512MB) DDR400 CL2.5 SDRAM Synchronous = DRAM) registered ECC memory modules. Total kit capacity is 1GB. The components = on each module include eighteen 32M x 8-bit (8M x 8-bit x 4 Bank) DDR400 SDRAM = in TSOP packages. Each 184-pin DIMM uses gold contact fingers and requires +2.6V Bleading edge technology costs so much. I have only $2,000.00 USD to = spend. I thought what I came up with wasn't that bad price wise, I already own = the Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti4200. (Gainward GS) 3Ware recommended the WD SATA = drives (RAID Edition) and the mainboard as it's on their certified list, which = was updated March of this year. 8006-2LP KIT ESCALADE 8006-2LP 1 141.47 = 141.47 WD2500SD WD CAVIAR 250GB RAID SATA-3 2 149.98 = 299.96 GA-7A8DW SERVER BOARDAMD 81118131+81 1 340.86 = 340.86 TITAN 550 TITAN SERIES 550 1 209.87 = 209.87 OSA242AUBOX OPTERON DP SERVER 242 PIB-R 2 217.77 = 435.54 KRX3200AK2/1G 1GB KIT(2X512)DDR400 REG HY 1 415.80 = 415.80 BTW these items all come from Insight.com, and all are in stock (I get better than Web price) > I fear this board won't get good BIOS support - looking at=20 > the list of downloadable BIOS updates, I cannot tell what any=20 > of them fix. Worse is no confidence Gigabyte will support=20 > the new Opteron revision E (90nm) processors, including=20 > dual-core ones. That's OK I guess, I will have this system for the next 6 years. The = dual Opteron 242's I want to get are 1.6Ghz each and at least are based on = the "new" 64bit technology from AMD. I would never pull out those (2) 242's and = replace them with something better, I'd build a whole new system again. >=20 > I'm not sure why you are looking at an AGP based motherboard=20 > for a server. To me X Windows is sooo sexy. I *love* the GL screensaveers, I also = like to watch my logs in realtime. (e.g. tail -F /var/log/maillog ...)I'll be = running 1280x1024x32 color with the Nvidia accelerated driver via a 19' NEC CRT. = Even now the OpenGL screen savers only use 3%-10% of my CPU. Have you ever = seen "Endgame" run at 45fps? In best GL mode. I love X11 (or is it X.org = now) DNS & WWW logs I like watch on screen realtime. So to me having a server = motherboard with an AGP port is very important. Will I be able to do this [the above] with AMD-64 FreeBSD? Nothings been purchased yet, so I appreciate any steering you may be = able to provide. Kind Regards, Eric
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