<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000"> Bryan J. Smith wrote: <blockquote cite="mid20050816233818.12964.qmail@web34106.mail.mud.yahoo.com" type="cite"> <pre wrap="">Monarch Computer is AMD's #1 Tier-2/Whitebox OEM. They get stuff before other people, and they know how to build boxen well -- at least for what is available in retail mainboards. </pre> </blockquote> Actually AMD is quite fair with all of their "rollout partners" and provide very good support on products and availability. <blockquote cite="mid20050816233818.12964.qmail@web34106.mail.mud.yahoo.com" type="cite"> <pre wrap=""> For servers, I/O is the key. You have to be careful with many mainboards because vendors cut I/O for cost in traces, etc... E.g., <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.samag.com/documents/sam0411b/0411b_f6.htm">http://www.samag.com/documents/sam0411b/0411b_f6.htm</a> [ Full article with 7 diagrams of PC design, including Opteron: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.samag.com/documents/sam0411b/">http://www.samag.com/documents/sam0411b/</a> ] The nForce4 chipset, like in the new crop of Socket-939 solutions, are clearly desktop/workstation. The nForce Pro 2200 and, optional, 2050 (2200+2050) are more workstation/server designed, and found in even the single Socket-940 Foxconn mainboard I posted. But even then, all versions of the nForce series lacks PCI-X, which is a problem for servers right now. </pre> </blockquote> I disagree. For some examples: Tyan S2891, S2892, and S2895 boards, all dual socket 940, nVidia chipset. <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tyan.com/products/html/opteron.html">http://www.tyan.com/products/html/opteron.html</a> Asus K8N-DL, and K8N-DRE <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://usa.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=K8N-DL&langs=09">http://usa.asus.com/prog/spec.asp?m=K8N-DL&langs=09</a> K8N-DRE is not yet on ASUS website, but is shipping to builders next week. Arima SW-300 and SW-310 <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amdboard.com/arima_sw310.html">http://www.amdboard.com/arima_sw310.html</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.amdboard.com/arima_sw300.html">http://www.amdboard.com/arima_sw300.html</a> SuperMicro A+Opteron motherbpoard series include an nForce solution, called H8DCE <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/">http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/</a> <blockquote cite="mid20050816233818.12964.qmail@web34106.mail.mud.yahoo.com" type="cite"> <pre wrap="">Because if you want server I/O, you want PCI-X right now. There are very few (if any?) mainboards with a single Socket-940 that has a AMD8131/8132 IC for dual-channel PCI-X 1.0/2.0. And even some dual-Socket-940 mainboards lack one. </pre> </blockquote> While this is the case for some types of cards, PCI Express will easily beat it, given availability of boards. That is why the newest Myrinet, and Infiniband cards are all PCI-Express. <blockquote cite="mid20050816233818.12964.qmail@web34106.mail.mud.yahoo.com" type="cite"> <pre wrap="">I was hopeful the new Broadcom/ServerWorks HT1000 chipset would take off. It's a low-cost, single IC chipset with a single PCI-X channel -- ideal for delivering a single Socket-940 with decent server I/O for <$200. Unfortunately, I've only seen it implemented with the HT2000 (HT2000+HT1000), which is its optional bigger brother with PCIe channels on dual Socket-940 for $500+. I might as well go with a nForce Pro 2200+2050 + AMD8131 like the Tyan S2895 instead for the same price. </pre> </blockquote> The Serverworks boards are just launching now. More detail is not possible at this time due to non-disclosure agreement constraints. Wait a couple of weeks and look again at Arima and Supermicro/A+ <blockquote cite="mid20050816233818.12964.qmail@web34106.mail.mud.yahoo.com" type="cite"> <pre wrap="">Although PCIe is definitely good for storage and other I/O as well as video, the only "intelligent" RAID storage controller I know of for PCIe is the LSI Logic MegaRaid 320-2E (2-channel U320, PCIe x8 card). It's actually using the IOP332 which is a "hack" of the IOP331 with a PCI-X to PCIe bridge (not ideal). Now there are some PCIe cards "in the works." A new series of RAID cards should show up using the Broadcom BCM8603 soon. It's an 8-channel SAS (8m, 300MBps Serial Attached SCSI, also naturally capable of 1m, 300MBps SATA-IO**) hardware RAID controller that can arbitrate _directly_ to either PCI-X or PCIe x8 (and can even bridge between the two for more embedded solutions) and up to 768MB of DRAM. It's not like Broadcom's current "software" driver RAIDCore PCI-X cards, it's a true, intelligent IC for $60 in quantity (meaning boards should be ~$300+). And it's universal SAS/SATA and PCI-X/PCIe support makes it an "universal solution" for all to use. ... Which means that PCI-X is probably your best bet for servers. The good news is that Monarch Computer _does_ have some older dual Socket-940 Tyan mainboards with the AMD8131 for as little as $300. But whether they support the new x2 processors, I don't know, and they probably don't. So you're going to spend a bit more for them -- at least until someone releases a good, low-cost, single Socket-940 with the Broadcom HT1000 (if ever). </pre> </blockquote> You work for Monarch or something? Lots of vendors have p[roper soilutions. However, as was earlier mentioned, if you want more than 4GB RAM, one should consider Socket 940 boards. As for PCI-X, yes, that is useful, and so is PCI-Express, so buy a Tyan or SuperMicro or ASUS, or Arima board, and get both! -- With our best regards, Maurice W. Hilarius Telephone: 01-780-456-9771 Hard Data Ltd. FAX: 01-780-456-9772 11060 - 166 Avenue <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:email:maurice@harddata.com">email:maurice@harddata.com</a> Edmonton, AB, Canada <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.harddata.com/">http://www.harddata.com/</a> T5X 1Y3 </body> </html>