Highend system... Will it fly? Any issues?

N

Noozer

Building a rather expensive system based on a dual Opteron mainboard and
want to know if there are any issues I should expect...

Mainboard - Tyan Thunder K8W S2885
CPUs - (2) Opteron 242 retail
Memory - (4) 256meg DDR400 OCZ Registered ECC
Video - ATI Radeon 9800 All-in-Wonder PRO 128meg 8xAGP TVOut DVI
RAID card - Highpoint 1820A PCI-X 64bit 8port SATA RAID card
HDD - (1) 34gig WD Raptor 10,000 RPM SATA drive (for OS)
HDD - (9) 250gig Maxtor 7Y250M0 Sata drives (RAID 5 for data)
DVDRW - BenQ DW822A DVDRW
Floppy - 3.5" floppy
Case - Lian-Li V2000
PSU - Antec 550watt 24pin EATX power supply
Fans - 2x80mm 2x120mm

....any issues the the above configuration?

....also, does this mainboard REQUIRE Registered ECC memory? I've had
conflicting information about this.

Any comments are welcome.
 
C

Cuzman

" HDD - (1) 34gig WD Raptor 10,000 RPM SATA drive (for OS)
HDD - (9) 250gig Maxtor 7Y250M0 Sata drives (RAID 5 for data) "


What are you using this system for, that you need 2.284 Terabytes of
storage? Are you set for a '25-to-life' stretch, and wish to record your
favourite soap...?
 
S

Si

If you're going all out, you might want to re-think your graphics card
choice. Otherwise everything looks awesome. How do you fit 10 hard drive
into a case though? Take their hats off!! Sorry, wrong joke!

Cheers.

Si
 
N

Noozer

Si said:
If you're going all out, you might want to re-think your graphics card
choice. Otherwise everything looks awesome. How do you fit 10 hard drive
into a case though? Take their hats off!! Sorry, wrong joke!
Click to expand...

The V2000 chassis has seven 5.25 bays and 12 3.5" bays.

http://www.lian-li.com/products/pcv2000.htm


....But it looks like a 256meg 9600XT is going to go in instead of a 128meg
9800 AIWPro ...

Anyone got any Doom3 benchmarks for the 256meg 9600XT and 128meg 9800AIWPro
I can compare?
 
S

Si

Again I have to question your choice of graphics card. It seems to me that
you're shooting for the moon with this new system so why not go for one of
the new Georce 6800's or the Radeon X800's? I appreciate that finances may
be an issue here but if that is the case, I would be inclined to lose a few
hard drives for one of the above graphics cards. If, however, you're dead
set on keeping all the hard drives, then at least go for a GeForce 5900XT or
a 256MB 9800 Pro.

Cheers.

Si
 
S

Si

Again I have to question your choice of graphics card. It seems to me that
you're shooting for the moon with this new system so why not go for one of
the new Georce 6800's or the Radeon X800's? I appreciate that finances may
be an issue here but if that is the case, I would be inclined to lose a few
hard drives for one of the above graphics cards. If, however, you're dead
set on keeping all the hard drives, then at least go for a GeForce 5900XT or
a 256MB 9800 Pro.

Cheers.

Si
 
D

DevilsPGD

In message <[email protected]> "Si"
Again I have to question your choice of graphics card. It seems to me that
you're shooting for the moon with this new system so why not go for one of
the new Georce 6800's or the Radeon X800's? I appreciate that finances may
be an issue here but if that is the case, I would be inclined to lose a few
hard drives for one of the above graphics cards. If, however, you're dead
set on keeping all the hard drives, then at least go for a GeForce 5900XT or
a 256MB 9800 Pro.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you're doing -- If you don't play games then the card
as described is probably more then sufficient for your average user.
 
N

Noozer

Si said:
Again I have to question your choice of graphics card. It seems to me that
you're shooting for the moon with this new system so why not go for one of
the new Georce 6800's or the Radeon X800's? I appreciate that finances may
be an issue here but if that is the case, I would be inclined to lose a few
hard drives for one of the above graphics cards. If, however, you're dead
set on keeping all the hard drives, then at least go for a GeForce 5900XT or
a 256MB 9800 Pro.
Click to expand...

We're already over budget... Finally convinced him for at least a 256meg
9800 Pro.

There will be games, but that's not why the machine is being built.

I'm just hoping not to have problems running dual CPUs..
 
M

~misfit~

Noozer said:
The V2000 chassis has seven 5.25 bays and 12 3.5" bays.

http://www.lian-li.com/products/pcv2000.htm
Click to expand...

But how do you run them all? You said an 8-port SATA card. You gonna run the
other 250GB off the mobo, not as part of the RAID array?

The power supply could be a bit light, when the SATA card kicks in you're
going to have eight HDDs all spinning up at once. Have you checked the specs
to see what they pull on start-up?
 
N

Noozer

~misfit~ said:
But how do you run them all? You said an 8-port SATA card. You gonna run the
other 250GB off the mobo, not as part of the RAID array?

The power supply could be a bit light, when the SATA card kicks in you're
going to have eight HDDs all spinning up at once. Have you checked the specs
to see what they pull on start-up?
Click to expand...
 
N

Noozer

The V2000 chassis has seven 5.25 bays and 12 3.5" bays.
But how do you run them all? You said an 8-port SATA card. You gonna run the
other 250GB off the mobo, not as part of the RAID array?
Click to expand...

Oops... Only 8 in service. #9 is the shelf spare.
 
N

Noozer

~misfit~ said:
But how do you run them all? You said an 8-port SATA card. You gonna run the
other 250GB off the mobo, not as part of the RAID array?

The power supply could be a bit light, when the SATA card kicks in you're
going to have eight HDDs all spinning up at once. Have you checked the specs
to see what they pull on start-up?
Click to expand...

Actually, no... but that SATA card supports delayed spinup, so it can spin
each drive up on it's own.

If it turns out that the PSU isn't up to the task I'm going to add a second
one dedicated to just the HDD.
 
M

~misfit~

Noozer said:
Actually, no... but that SATA card supports delayed spinup, so it can
spin each drive up on it's own.
Click to expand...

Ok, I wondered if it did that. Be sure to enter the card's BIOS and set that
up straight away. I have no experience with SATA cards but have seen the
feature on other HDD controllers. Maxtor are a bit coy about giving out the
spin-up power draw specs for that model. (I wonder why?) The .pdf data-sheet
only gives seek and idle requirements. (Idle 0.45A 12v, 0.7A 5v. Seek 0.7A
12v, 0.9A 5v). In my experience you can *at least* quadruple that for start
up figures. Sometimes it's considerably more than quadruple. Multiply that
by eight and it's good that the SATA card has the delayed spinup settings.

The three-year warranty is good.
If it turns out that the PSU isn't up to the task I'm going to add a
second one dedicated to just the HDD.
Click to expand...

Ok, I didn't see anywhere in the Lian-Li case you linked to for a second
PSU, strange considering the amount of drives it gives you room for.
(Although there is room above the normal PSU position for one, where the
fans can be mounted, maybe a bit of modifying would allow it) The Antec is a
good PSU, do they make a more powerful model? I haven't looked but 550 watts
seems to be about the highest rating I've seen for a respectable
manufacturer in a standard ATX PSU.

Your proposed build looks good (fantastic in fact). My only concern is the
power draw (and cooling although that looks manageable in that case),
especially since you have elected to go with a higher-powered graphics card.

Good luck with the build.
 
M

~misfit~

Noozer said:
Oops... Only 8 in service. #9 is the shelf spare.
Click to expand...

Thats a good idea, although those drives have a low failure rate they
haven't been in service long enough to be sure. I see Maxtor quote a 1
million-hour MTTF figure (whatever that means, I'm familiar with MTBF but
MTTF?) but then qualify that with the rider "in low I/O secondary-storage
applications". Hard to quantify what "low I/O secondary-storage
applications" actually are though.

Cheers,
 
N

Noozer

Ok, I didn't see anywhere in the Lian-Li case you linked to for a second
PSU, strange considering the amount of drives it gives you room for.
(Although there is room above the normal PSU position for one, where the
fans can be mounted, maybe a bit of modifying would allow it) The Antec is a
good PSU, do they make a more powerful model? I haven't looked but 550 watts
seems to be about the highest rating I've seen for a respectable
manufacturer in a standard ATX PSU.

Your proposed build looks good (fantastic in fact). My only concern is the
power draw (and cooling although that looks manageable in that case),
especially since you have elected to go with a higher-powered graphics card.

Good luck with the build.
Click to expand...


Thanks! I'll post my results once it's done...

My biggest problem is going to suppliers who claim to have the parts "in
stock".
 
C

CBFalconer

~misfit~ said:
Thats a good idea, although those drives have a low failure rate
they haven't been in service long enough to be sure. I see Maxtor
quote a 1 million-hour MTTF figure (whatever that means, I'm
familiar with MTBF but MTTF?) but then qualify that with the
rider "in low I/O secondary-storage applications". Hard to
quantify what "low I/O secondary-storage applications" actually
are though.
Click to expand...

Mean time to/between failure. When did you last repair a failed
disk drive? When they're gone, they're gone!
 
M

~misfit~

CBFalconer said:
Mean time to/between failure. When did you last repair a failed
disk drive? When they're gone, they're gone!
Click to expand...

I thought it may be 'Mean Time *To* Failure', as I said, I know what MTBF
means.

I last repaired a failed HDD a few months back, by swapping
controller-boards/PCB's with a similar drive, just until I got the data off
it.

I am fully aware that mechanical failure of a drive is irrepairable.
(Without the proper equipment, and even then only for data recovery).

Thanks.
 

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