Speederlander
Xtreme Mentor

Hey, I hope you decide to come back to XSF, we miss you!

Thanks for all that you have done to try to make this happen, its appreciated. This XSF thing is looking like it might be good.

Yes, it's unfortunate.

Man this SF thing has me really disappointed. I feel let down.

PM'd you.

I've been trying to put together a new server and stumbled across your signature that has nearly identical hardware to what I'm planning on using. I hope you don't mind if I ask you a few questions since you've already figure it out. Sorry there are so many questions but with such an expensive build I want to be sure I've got it right. Your help is extremely appreciated!

First, how do you like the Supermicro MBD-X7DWA-N motherboard? I'd be running Windows Server 2008 (64-Bit Preferably) and am concerned about there being working drivers for the onboard RAID. I noticed you are using a PCIe raid controller and am wondering if not having Vista/2K8 support for onboard RAID was a factor in purchasing the expensive addin card? Is the onboard RAID really that poor?

Next I see you are using the HR-01 with the Xeon bracket... I was going to use the same thing but I noticed Thermalright has the HR-01 X which is supposed to work with Socket 771 out of the box. Are you using the HR-01 X or the HR-01? I noticed you said it was a pain in the ass to install these with the bracket, what problems did you run into? Does the center support bar running through the middle of the PC-P80 interfere with these? Did you mount them horizontally or vertically? Are you using any fans with these and if so, how many and how do you mount them to the heatsink? (I couldn't find any brackets or mounting hardware anywhere)... What cpu temps are you getting?

Where did you get the Lian-Li drive bays with 80mm fans you mentioned that cool each bank of the raptors? Does the case come with these already or are there special drive bay modules you can purchase that has the additional cooling?

Lastly, now that it's all said and done and you have your build, is there anything you would of done different or any parts you wish you would of gotten instead? I'm seriously looking at building nearly the same exact thing as you and just want to make sure I'm making the right decisions. Once again your help is greatly appreciated! I'll be happy to provide pics once I have it all up and running

Thanks again and take care,

Doug

if you some interesting reads
debate.watchersonline.com

an old eq/ffxi guild and a board we made for discussing some issues. no membership neccessary to read the threads, and if SF becomes closed (which might be the case) might be somewhere for you to kill some spare time.

Lately? None, for random reasons. Occasionally post a technical question to HardForum or 2CPU. I used to post a LOT on various political forums, up until about 2005/2006. Posted on various other forums but not consistently. Post some on C programming forums.

What other boards do you frequent?