Building a Sossaman rig?

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Originally Posted by hedge

Here is an link for those who are lazy and don't want to order all the parts separately and then figure what to do for a case (not that you need a case).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Supermicro-2x-Du...item45f2ed699d

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Bought two of these in the last two weeks 1 week apart. Run good on Ubuntu 10.04. Running about 150 watts on the Kill-A-Watt. Run very cool. They have a single blower so are a little noisy, whiney and no CD drive but will boot with a netbootin USB stick if you take out the network boot references in the BIOS. One came with a 90 degree board and a rom board which I removed, one came without. Seller will accept a slightly lower offer. Units are very clean and in good condition and include a power cord. Says he has about 30 units.

How loud is that blower fan?

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Originally Posted by hedge

How loud is that blower fan?

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You can definately hear it even when the room is cool although I have very old PC's that are about the same loudness, just not as high pitched. You would recognize it if you have been in a server room. It may be the PS fan on the 260W PS that is getting louder with a higher ambient temp, I haven't checked that out. When the room gets hot -100F+ (I have 15 old P4 Dells in there, that I run when Movieman demands :)) it speeds up even louder. There are a lot of extra fan connectors on the board, it could no doubt be modded with some of the really small regular fans I have seen discussed on here without a whole lot of trouble, but it is a 1U size so there is not a lot of vertical room. Normal running the metal case is cool to the touch. I just made an offer on a third unit and then will move on to some newer Intel/AMD builds as I get rid of some of the very old crunchers that are eating me out of house and home improving the utility company's bottom line!

I was able to find some chips they are the SL98Q XEON LV 1.66/2M/667 for $25 a chip the seller has 60 available.
**I also asked if they were matched pairs or individual pulls and combined shipping as well as a discount for Large purchases, you know just in case.**
Would anyone like any (If needed I would make the purchase after I had received payment from you via PayPal non-cc as this should save on shipping)?

Also to Dave or others with the experience would the Intel SE7520BB2 still work for these.

oh almost forgot to add the link to the listing.

Let me know what you think,
John

Yep, the SE7520BB2 is the board a lot of us have.

You probably don't want the 1.6ghz cpus.

Sammy is The Awesome end of story-now get 1 :shocked::shocked:Nowwwwwwwwwwwwwww:shocked:

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Originally Posted by CaptMorgan

Sammy is The Awesome end of story-now get 1 :shocked::shocked:Nowwwwwwwwwwwwwww:shocked:

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So ... you think they don't completely suck then? :rolleyes:

got a case for sammy today.. only $5 :D
get PSU & some fans next week..
its coming together! :yepp: :up:

oh where oh where did the sossi cpus go.. oh where oh where could they be..

i think right here: http://cgi.ebay.com/2-x-Intel-Xeon-D...item2a078ab4c7

and here: http://cgi.ebay.com/1-67GHZ-INTEL-XE...item19bc3f2ce3

i think those are sossamans..

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Originally Posted by shoota

i think right here: http://cgi.ebay.com/2-x-Intel-Xeon-D...item2a078ab4c7

and here: http://cgi.ebay.com/1-67GHZ-INTEL-XE...item19bc3f2ce3

i think those are sossamans..

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overpriced, don't buy them.

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Originally Posted by Bail_w

overpriced, don't buy them.

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exactly i can find em 80$+ each.. that is not acceptable lol.. the whole point of me building a sossi is that i could do it "cheaply" :shrug:

So-o-o tell me about the pin mod for these referenced early in the thread, what would the expected increase in ppd be? Would it be worth the effort? I have the 2.0 chips.

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Originally Posted by w0en

So-o-o tell me about the pin mod for these referenced early in the thread, what would the expected increase in ppd be? Would it be worth the effort? I have the 2.0 chips.

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Nil

Zip

Nada

Bupkiss

...

NOTHING.

It doesn't work, so no it's not worth the effort. Just set it running and let it go.

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Originally Posted by D_A

Nil

Zip

Nada

Bupkiss

...

NOTHING.

It doesn't work, so no it's not worth the effort. Just set it running and let it go.

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OK Thanks, this thread is so long I have trouble finding anything twice! I saw the pin pics but didn't ever come up with whether it made any improvement or not.

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Originally Posted by w0en

OK Thanks, this thread is so long I have trouble finding anything twice! I saw the pin pics but didn't ever come up with whether it made any improvement or not.

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Nope, I tried it, nothing, even asked Peter Tan(Shamino) for a hard wire mod and that didn't work.
Intel has this board locked up tighter than a virgin's thighs!:rofl:

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Originally Posted by Movieman

Intel has this board locked up tighter than a virgin's thighs!:rofl:

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i know this trick you have to have a nice dinner with it with a bottle of wine. it will open right up :yepp:

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Originally Posted by NKrader

i know this trick you have to have a nice dinner with it with a bottle of wine. it will open right up :yepp:

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If you start talking about your B Cup again I'm banning you from the WCG section!:rofl:

Meh to virgins, they just lay there. Now a Sossaman, different story!

ok I'm setting up sammy... why isnt my dvd recognised - I need to boot from it :(
I had turned it on on tuesday last week & it came up with no error msgs.. now it comes up saying my CPUs are too hot :rolleyes: - & thats *after placing a 120mm fan on top of the HS's :shrug:

nvm.. sammy is up & running.. i'll take pics when I get up, I'm going to bed now! :wave:

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Originally Posted by gongo

Another Sossaman joins the ranks! :up:

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I installed from a USB HDD - my dvd drive still isnt being recognised tho :( :down:

Odd ... I had no trouble. Not something silly like the master/slave jumper not matching the position on the cable is it? (yes I've been caught before, no I wasn't happy about it)

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Originally Posted by D_A

Odd ... I had no trouble. Not something silly like the master/slave jumper not matching the position on the cable is it? (yes I've been caught before, no I wasn't happy about it)

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i'll check.. tho its not like me - but i've been caught before too :D

specs for my sammy so far:

intel sammy mobo
2x 2ghz cpus
2x1GB ram
ATi 4350 (passive heatsink)
X-Fi XtremeMusic - yes it works
PC P&C 750W (over-kill, I know :p: )
2x RaptorX @ RAID0 (SI3124)
$5 case :cool: :p:
4x 120mm fans :lol: (all @ 7V ;) )
windows 7 ultimate (x86)

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Originally Posted by tiro_uspsss

I installed from a USB HDD - my dvd drive still isnt being recognised tho :( :down:

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Try a IDE DVDRW and JUST that on the cable with the DVDRW set to master

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Originally Posted by Movieman

Try a IDE DVDRW and JUST that on the cable with the DVDRW set to master

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the dvdrw is IDE.. I ended up installing from a USB HDD as a solution to the IDE dvdrw not being seen :shrug:

i'm going to check jumper... if that fails I may have damaged the cable during installation - i admittedly was rough with the cable to route it thru a hole I wanted it to go :yawn:

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Originally Posted by tiro_uspsss

the dvdrw is IDE.. I ended up installing from a USB HDD as a solution to the IDE dvdrw not being seen :shrug:

i'm going to check jumper... if that fails I may have damaged the cable during installation - i admittedly was rough with the cable to route it thru a hole I wanted it to go :yawn:

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and what bios are you using?
I think it was P04 that was the latest..I think..

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Originally Posted by Movieman

and what bios are you using?
I think it was P04 that was the latest..I think..

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is there a way to check that in windows?
or do I have to reboot?

I think its P04 :)

sorry for image size :(

yup, thats the right one..just checked, same as mine.

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Originally Posted by D_A

Odd ... I had no trouble. Not something silly like the master/slave jumper not matching the position on the cable is it? (yes I've been caught before, no I wasn't happy about it)

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oh me oh my :yawn:

worse still - the problem?: the cable wasnt plugged in properly @ mobo :D :D :D

:nuts:

ok I 'll crawl back under my rock now, if anyone needs me, u know where to find me! :p: :D

:nuts:
:sofa:

:rofl: you get days like that.

the other problem I have is: one cpu is ~42C, the other 70C :eek: :shrug:

is this normal? is that an error in the reading? or have I not mounted the HSs properly? :(

I'm using CPUID Hardware Monitor 1.16.0

I'd check that heat sink mount, pronto. Make sure you remembered to a - screw it down, b - put some TIM in there and c - turned the little locking doo-dat in the CPU socket all the way to the "lock" position.

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Originally Posted by D_A

I'd check that heat sink mount, pronto. Make sure you remembered to a - screw it down, b - put some TIM in there and c - turned the little locking doo-dat in the CPU socket all the way to the "lock" position.

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I admittedly didnt use TIM - thought bare Cu directly on die would be sufficient :yawn:

I just dont understand why one is fine & the other not :shrug:

No matter how fine the surface looks, there are always pits scratches bumps and hollows. I'd guess that the hot one is more so than the other, but the difference could be only microns or it could be a tiny burr that's become the only point of contact. Regardless, you need TIM for a reliable thermal interface.

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Originally Posted by D_A

No matter how fine the surface looks, there are always pits scratches bumps and hollows. I'd guess that the hot one is more so than the other, but the difference could be only microns or it could be a tiny burr that's become the only point of contact. Regardless, you need TIM for a reliable thermal interface.

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well the temp read 100C about 5 mins ago.. I think the temp software is off..

Did you remount the HS with some decent TIM?

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Originally Posted by D_A

Did you remount the HS with some decent TIM?

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nope.. I have some AS5 somewhere.. busy installing programs.. if it really did hit 100C, wouldnt it have melted down, shut down or something?

Maybe. The thermal shutdown relies on logic reading the internal registers, not a calibrated temperature switch and even then there's no way of knowing how good the protection actually is. Some chips can fry themselves before the protection can react.

Just stop installing programs and shut it off and get some TIM on there. Even some Arctic 5 will work too! You're going to fry it. What a waste.

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Originally Posted by retro77

Just stop installing programs and shut it off and get some TIM on there. Even some Arctic 5 will work too! You're going to fry it. What a waste.

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Agreed it would be a waste if you kill a hard to find CPU.

:sofa:

ok.. I did it.. temps: CPU1: ~40C, CPU2: ~32C

:D :D :D *runs & hides*

Nice work Tiro. I burnt up a CPU and a mobo like that before.

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Originally Posted by tiro_uspsss

oh me oh my :yawn:

worse still - the problem?: the cable wasnt plugged in properly @ mobo :D :D :D

:nuts:

ok I 'll crawl back under my rock now, if anyone needs me, u know where to find me! :p: :D

:nuts:
:sofa:

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A little trick I learned the hard way years ago.
Whenever I build a new system when I'm done but before firing up I get up, walk away,grab a coke,coffee,etc take a few mins away from the system and then come back and physically touch and check every connection.
Visually inspect everything.. Takes maybe an additional 3 minutes but you'd be surprised at how often you find something thats loose and generally loose from after you'd connected it but loosened it with a hand that was working on another connector.
Just makes for a good final check and has saved my butt many times.

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Originally Posted by Movieman

A little trick I learned the hard way years ago.
Whenever I build a new system when I'm done but before firing up I get up, walk away,grab a coke,coffee,etc take a few mins away from the system and then come back and physically touch and check every connection.
Visually inspect everything.. Takes maybe an additional 3 minutes but you'd be surprised at how often you find something thats loose and generally loose from after you'd connected it but loosened it with a hand that was working on another connector.
Just makes for a good final check and has saved my butt many times.

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hahhahaha i had 2 sticks of ram that werent "clicked" on the bottom for like 4 months lol. on my main rig... :shakes:

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Originally Posted by Movieman

A little trick I learned the hard way years ago.
Whenever I build a new system when I'm done but before firing up I get up, walk away,grab a coke,coffee,etc take a few mins away from the system and then come back and physically touch and check every connection.
Visually inspect everything.. Takes maybe an additional 3 minutes but you'd be surprised at how often you find something thats loose and generally loose from after you'd connected it but loosened it with a hand that was working on another connector.
Just makes for a good final check and has saved my butt many times.

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well said.. sometimes I need some rounds of that routine you described to see what is causing the issue :D

:sofa:

*shy voice*: permission to come aboard captain?

;) ;) :yepp:

Got it running now, have we? ;)

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Originally Posted by D_A

Got it running now, have we? ;)

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yes.. dunno if I'm working on the correct projects.. wouldnt mind someone double-checking that I've joined the correct team too.. & is there WCG for ATi cards?


:)

Nope. WCG doesn't use graphics processors at all right now.

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Originally Posted by D_A

Nope. WCG doesn't use graphics processors at all right now.

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:( poop

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Originally Posted by tiro_uspsss

yes.. dunno if I'm working on the correct projects.. wouldnt mind someone double-checking that I've joined the correct team too.. & is there WCG for ATi cards?


:)

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Open boinc manager,go to projects tab and if under where it says "team" you see "XtremeSystems" then your golden.
As to WCG for video cards no but GPU grid does work and compatable with WCG..
Now I'll give you some time to recheck those connections again..:rofl:

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Originally Posted by tiro_uspsss

:( poop

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If it ran on that I'd be golden! :shakes:

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Originally Posted by Movieman

Open boinc manager,go to projects tab and if under where it says "team" you see "XtremeSystems" then your golden.
As to WCG for video cards no but GPU grid does work and compatable with WCG..
Now I'll give you some time to recheck those connections again..:rofl:

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it doesnt say anything under team :(
dang it, what have I done wrong now!? :(

EDIT: nvm! clicked 'update' & now it says I'm part of XS! :D :wave:

Welcome aboard mate!

http://fyez6q.bay.livefilestore.com/...062010561b.jpg

http://fyez6q.bay.livefilestore.com/...062010562b.jpg

Nice! :up:

Here's mine :ROTF:

http://www.bitbenderforums.com/~dark...man-scaled.jpg

:eek: a sossaman without bling?! :eek: :p: :lol: :up:

I don't even run the three "case" fans in the picture! :rofl: They're too dang LOUD! Mind you, when if I close the box with them powered up there's considerable air-flow out those back ports. I've been meaning to put a varistor in the circuit so I can run them slower but haven't got around to it just yet.

NICE cable management there D A!!!

Wha? Where???

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Originally Posted by retro77

NICE cable management there D A!!!

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Originally Posted by D_A

Wha? Where???

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:ROTF::rofl:

Thief. You stole my cardboard box ideas.

I KNEW I should have patented that.

Anyone have that eBay link to the seller that was selling assembled Sossaman servers for $199?

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Originally Posted by retro77

Anyone have that eBay link to the seller that was selling assembled Sossaman servers for $199?

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http://cgi.ebay.com/Supermicro-2x-Du...item45f2ed699d

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Originally Posted by kjeldoran

http://cgi.ebay.com/Supermicro-2x-Du...item45f2ed699d

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Make him an offer - he'll take a little less.

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Originally Posted by gongo

+1... :rofl:


LOL. Put in the Guiness Book of World Records... first one to build a Sossaman system in a card board box. :D

@D_A: Looks good in a box! :yepp:

@tiro: Orange is cool, me likes! :up:

Thanks for building those Sammys, I'm moving this week and would have had to throw them out... :shakes: Everything has to fit in my sedan as I'm moving 2200 miles across the country and I don't have enough stuff to bother with a U-Haul. Unfortunately, I won't be taking Sammy1 with me either... I've installed Windows 2008 on it and it's running SharePoint Server 2007 as part of a family intranet project, so at least it'll see good use.

It's been hard to let go of my Sossamans and it'll be sad to leave my original Sammy behind, but oh well, at least it's been fun and I've learned TONS of stuff about servers, networks, baseboard management controllers, and 32-bit memory addressing. Good stuff! :up:

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I have another set of processors in the hands of the postal service, or customs, which I hope will turn up eventually so I can start building another one. As for the box ... eATx case are a little hard to come by where I am, or just plain expensive, and the cardboard box was in the right place at the right price so :rolleyes:
As for "cable management" ... the PSU doesn't fit in the box :p:

and thankyou :up:

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Originally Posted by D_A

As for "cable management" ... the PSU doesn't fit in the box :p:

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Eh, you just need a box that's more like this one...

http://www.petrastech.com/blogimg/CB...htNoLights.jpg

I love it! :ROTF:

heh i wana make case outa the 1/2in cardboard from my work :D

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Originally Posted by kjeldoran

http://cgi.ebay.com/Supermicro-2x-Du...item45f2ed699d

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Originally Posted by w0en

Make him an offer - he'll take a little less.

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Awesome, thanks guys :up:

I must say, I like my sammy.. & I like crunching :D

He came down to $180. Seems like a good deal.

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Originally Posted by retro77

He came down to $180. Seems like a good deal.

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That's what he did for me too. I bought three - each a week apart. All running good and generating 6-8K WCG ppd. Great surfer too. He started with 36 a listing back - last I looked he was at 32 so he sold one other besides the ones I bought. He's a quick UPS shipper and very well packed in custom fitting foam. Only glitch I had was one of the ethernet ports on one machine wouldn't always hook up on boot - always would if I would then unplug it and stick it back in so I went to the second port and no problems, probably a flakey connector on the MB. Good luck, there's no CD drive, I used a netbootin Ubuntu stick, it sees it as a HD in BIOS and takes off. I turn off the network bootup options and pull the ROM expansion board out, two of the three had them in it, one did not. Good luck:up:

Sossaman-01 6/8/10 0:100:10:25:21 178,450 628
Sossaman-03 6/8/10 0:039:16:35:45 79,158 260
Sossaman-02 6/8/10 0:068:05:33:21 124,856 537

Thanks w0en for the info. I'll hit you up on that ROM expansion board later for a pic...

It will boot with it in there after you reorder boot devices in the bios - I just took it out later as extra figuring it must use some power. I'm not an IT pro or familiar with servers and how they act, but it must have something to do with addressing, it has a number taped on the back. It's on a vertical riser card, hardest thing is how to get the plastic locking device in back loose so you can yank the riser card out. I don't think the machine will boot until you take out the network boot references, either reorder to the bottom in BIOS bootlist or disable them, sounds harder than it it. Others have referenced the Soussaboards long blank screen pause before bootup starts too, this is no different so wait a minute before you get nervous that it's TU. I think later there is a tweak that you can turn down a delay timer in the bios that will make it boot a little sooner. Escape gets you into BIOS there is some other GRUBlike software that comes up first and then complains and quits. Going into it offers no changable options, you need to get into the BIOS and make the USB stick/HDD the first boot device (there isn't a USB boot option)or install a CD and use it (which I haven't tried, YMMV).

I Googled the card after I got home tonight - it is a Cavium Networks Nitrox XL NHB Security Acceleration Module. I don't think we need it for crunching WCG....

http://www.caviumnetworks.com/pdfFil...HB-PB-1.04.pdf

Oh that helps accelerate the encryption and decryption of VPN tunnels.

general question that i was wondering is if im running QX6700@3.52 i get about 1800ppd. why does sossi get 7-8k @2ghz with 2 dual cores???

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Originally Posted by NKrader

general question that i was wondering is if im running QX6700@3.52 i get about 1800ppd. why does sossi get 7-8k @2ghz with 2 dual cores???

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Comparing equal point types?

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Originally Posted by NKrader

general question that i was wondering is if im running QX6700@3.52 i get about 1800ppd. why does sossi get 7-8k @2ghz with 2 dual cores???

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There are WCG points and BOINC points. 1 BOINC point is roughly equal to 7 WCG points.

Part of the WCG/BOINC credit confusion stems from the fact that we tend to refer to them all as "points", probably because everyone is so conditioned to sports teams comparisons. I believe credit in BOINC is more correctly measured in "Cobblestones"
Stolen from WIKIpedia:

Cobblestones
The basis for the BOINC credit system is the cobblestone named after Jeff Cobb of SETI@home. The basis of the system is the concept that 100 cobblestones would be claimed for one day of work on a computer with the following specifications:

1,000 double-precision MIPS based on the Whetstone benchmark.
1,000 VAX MIPS based on the Dhrystone benchmark.
The actual computational difficulty needed to run a given work unit is the basis for the number of credits that it should be granted. The BOINC system allows for work of any length to be processed and have a user claim identical amounts of credit.

To achieve this BOINC uses benchmarks to measure the speed of a system and in combination with the amount of time it required for a work unit to process can “guess” at the amount of credit it should receive. Since systems have many variables including the amount of RAM, the processor speed, and specific architectures of different motherboards and CPUs, there can be wide discrepancies in the number of credits that different computers believe that each work unit requires to process.

I'll make it easy..
Here on Xs we tend to talk WCG points soa Sammy gets 7500-8500 points a day at 2000mhz and app 6700PPD with the 1667's..
Easy..:D

oh makes sense :p:

and one more question heh

can sammy run off 1 stick of ram? what would be least amount of ram that you should put in it for dedicated cruncher.

Not sure on the 1 stick part. But 1GB works.

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Originally Posted by that auction site

1GB (2X512MB) PC2-3200R DDR2 400MHz ECC Registered Memory Modules

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correct Ram?

Yep sounds like it to me :)

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Originally Posted by Sparky

Yep sounds like it to me :)

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sweet now all i need is heatsinks and cpus :rolleyes:

Heatsinks:
http://oemxs.us/shopping/index.php?t...l=EN&currency=

score just got 2 cpus for 68$ total.. what eva only 34$ per CPU.. after stupid shipping.


EDIT:
and heatsinks, now to sit and wait for it all to come in the post...............

also have to find a psu..

what is the exact model of the intel board?
in all of the pictures i cant see a name like on regular boards.

Intel SE7520BB2

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Originally Posted by stangracin3

what is the exact model of the intel board?
in all of the pictures i cant see a name like on regular boards.

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trying to find a better price? :rofl:

and its a busness board doesnt have some trendy name made by their marketing dept.. as companies dont care lol

As posted earlier by someone else:
Intel SE7520BB2 $9.99

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Originally Posted by retro77

As posted earlier by someone else:
Intel SE7520BB2 $9.99

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thanks i had been googling different combinations of server 479 and intel dual socket for an hour lol

No prob. I started bookmarking these tidbits.

also how do you guys find such good prices on the cpus?