Quad Opteron Rev. F3 2218's + Asus L1N64-SLI = ?

Since everyone's been playing around with the quad FX's lately, I've decided to change things up a bit by tossing a pair of revision F3 Opterons onto the "Quadfather" motherboard. Time to see if we'll be able to take AMD's best silicon (Opterons) and pair it with UN-REGISTERED DDR2. I'll try to get everything up and running ASAP but I've got a couple of other things I have to take care of this weekend so please be patient.....

Here's the cpu's which will be running (hopefully) on this board - These are two of the first Rev. F3 Opties in the wild:

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/8...nbsmallpr4.jpg

Here's a pic of my new toys :D (BTW, I'd like to thank Petra's Tech Shop for their efforts in getting me the Tuniq Towers on such short notice. Quoc and Alex went beyond the call of duty on this one. Thanks guys :toast: ):

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/562/newtoysdp5.jpg

More to come........;)

Looking forward to this:D
are these the 'special' chips?
Ed.

Better hurry! Dave Graham on 2cpu.com is doing exactly the same thing this weekend...(unless you are Dave Graham???)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eddieate

Looking forward to this:D
are these the 'special' chips?
Ed.

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Every cpu is special in its own way :p: While these are special (how often do you see a cpu numbered "0001"), I'm waiting for a few "specialer" cpu's in the near future.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomb18

Better hurry! Dave Graham on 2cpu.com is doing exactly the same thing this weekend...(unless you are Dave Graham???)

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Haha....Dave Graham is a member here ;) Look a few posts down. He can run whatever he likes, I don't consider this a "race" to see who can boot first. I've had these cpu's for a good couple of months and just recently decided to run them....:)

s7e9h3n dude i'm so pleased to see you back with that kind of threads with those special previews of yours :woot:

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Originally Posted by LowRun

s7e9h3n dude i'm so pleased to see you back with that kind of threads with those special previews of yours :woot:

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I appreciate the kind words....:toast: OK...I guess it's time to get rig-building....

Simply :woot: !

When you set this rig up please give us some more info about it (memory, GFX, PSU, etc.)!

PS. s7e9h3n is that true Barcelona ES will be in wild within 2 months time?

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Simply :woot: !

When you set this rig up please give us some more info about it (memory, GFX, PSU, etc.)!

PS. s7e9h3n is that true Barcelona ES will be in wild within 2 months time?

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Memory = 2 x 1gb "Company to be named later" ES DDR2 (wait till you see how these sticks scale ;) ). I know, I need to get 2 more GB though......

GFX = FX5200 128mb PCI :p:. I can try my 7950GTKO later and hopefully an R600 in the coming months....

PSU = PCP&C 1Kw

I've "heard" that Barcelona should be sampling soon, if not already. Looks as if these cpu's are on schedule.....why do you think I picked up this board? :D

geez, i've been waiting for ages to see a post from you s7e9h3n. good to hear from you again. 2007 is starting to look very exciting and interesting for amd and the loyal fans. i'm trying to stay clear from asus, but i guess i'll end up using one later on. i hope dfi will make a good rd600 board to compliment barcelona. wow ES ddr2 with incredible scaling power, can't wait to see how far the sticks go. i'm hoping to build something like this later on this year:

barcelona(quad core, of course)
r600
am2+ mobo
4GB of ddr2(fat bandwidth and low latencies, drool).
creative x-fi(the new chip to optimize for vista)
all these will be housed in a stacker 830 :).

keep the posts coming s7e9h3n :).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

Memory = 2 x 1gb "Company to be named later" ES DDR2 (wait till you see how these sticks scale ;) ). I know, I need to get 2 more GB though......

GFX = FX5200 128mb PCI :p:. I can try my 7950GTKO later and hopefully an R600 in the coming months....

PSU = PCP&C 1Kw

I've "heard" that Barcelona should be sampling soon, if not already. Looks as if these cpu's are on schedule.....why do you think I picked up this board? :D

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That is why I asked ... ;)
Now I know what I wanted :D ...

Oh... I would forget, which OS you gonna use? (XP64/Vista or Linux preferred)

So, what defines the Buffered Memory Modules requeriment? Do your Opterons works finely with Unbuffered Memory Modules in that Motherboard? What about A64 FX-7x in regular Server Motherboards? It would be useful to track down WHERE the requeriment is based on. Maybe it is all decided by the BIOS and a simple mod could disable the Buffered requeriment for Socket F Motherboards.

Woot! Subscribed.

s7e9h3n good indeed to see you messing around again. Hope things go well...


Ply

Nice to see s7e9h3n back with some nice amd news!
Looking forward for "postcards" from Barcelona :D

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Originally Posted by zir_blazer

So, what defines the Buffered Memory Modules requeriment? Do your Opterons works finely with Unbuffered Memory Modules in that Motherboard? What about A64 FX-7x in regular Server Motherboards? It would be useful to track down WHERE the requeriment is based on. Maybe it is all decided by the BIOS and a simple mod could disable the Buffered requeriment for Socket F Motherboards.

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Typically, the motherboard manufacturer dictates the necessity for Registered or Non-Registered memory. Up until now, all multiple socket Opteron boards required the use of Registered DDR since most of them are used in server applications. Although it was possible to create Opteron boards that could utilize standard, Non-Regged memory, motherboard makers chose the "safer" route.
We're about to find out if my Opties will run in this board. AndreYang was able to run a pair of ES Opterons in his L1N64, so it's a very good possibility. A FX-7x more than likely won't be able to run in current server motherboards because they won't be recognized by any bios....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Oh... I would forget, which OS you gonna use? (XP64/Vista or Linux preferred)

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I'll more than likely be using 32bit XP for now, but if I happen to get another 2gb+ of memory, I'll install 64bit Vista or XP.....

Thanks for the warm welcome back guys....Just gotta install windows and then we'll be up and running [fingers crossed] Here's a few more pics:

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/929/dsc00054lk0.jpg

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/1356/dsc00069wk2.jpg

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4961/dsc00061vh9.jpg

SHEESH!!! Those coolers are huge man...


Ply

oh god this got me all excited.. more more

Lol...I originally was going to try 2 x Big Typhoons since I already own one, but quickly figured out that there would be absolutely no chance in hell a pair would have fit on this board :p:

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Originally Posted by nn_step

oh god this got me all excited.. more more

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Hmmm......just got an idea......How well does XSOS handle multiple cores?;)

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

Lol...I originally was going to try 2 x Big Typhoons since I already own one, but quickly figured out that there would be absolutely no chance in hell a pair would have fit on this board :p:


Hmmm......just got an idea......How well does XSOS handle multiple cores?;)

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XSOS v3 will support 64cores with ease :D

Sampsa is back...now you're back and posting up some sweet setups....2007 is definitely looking up. Can't wait to see this pan out.

That is a hateful location of the 24pin connector... :S

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Originally Posted by Plywood99

SHEESH!!! Those coolers are huge man...


Ply

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actually tuniq isnt that large .. I have one and it looks puny next to my scythe infinity LOL

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Originally Posted by eva2000

actually tuniq isnt that large .. I have one and it looks puny next to my scythe infinity LOL

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Lol, it must be the size of a SFF system then...:eek:


Ply

wow, pretty :). i hope you secure those cpus onto the sockets. i would hate to see anything happen to them :). wow a tuniq tower is puny next to a scythe infinity. i have the infinity, but i'm thinking of getting the tuniq tower.

wow S7 i don't think i've ever seen 0001 CPU before..........hopefully the silicone theory is true and those chips end up being beastly :D:D:D:D

Keep up the good work
Subscribed

nice thread!
Good to see you're back :)
subscribed:banana:

Wow.....You'vr even got me all worked up and I don't even like ASUS boards:toast:

I got lost on my way to the Intel section but had to stop and see this!:D
Give 'em hell pal!;)

mmm... this is looking rather exiting i thing i'll be lurking around this thread.

Good thing you finally got a board for those babies.
Happy overclocking Steve! :toast:

Well, finally got the rig up and running about 15minutes ago. I actually had everything working last night, but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to get the ram to run in dual channel. Turns out the manual actually makes it more difficult to understand which slots need to be populated. Anyway, by the time I figured it out, I was too pooped to even post. In fact, I'll probably go back to sleep after this post. Just thought I'd give you guys an update....Looks as if the Opterons have no problem running on this board. All I did was jump into the bios this morning and punched in a few settings. First attempt wouldn't boot since my DDR2 timings were too tight. It seems as if this board doesn't like tight timings on the ram unless you pour the volts into your sticks. So I just dropped TRCD from 4 -> 3, booted with no probs and here's where I stand. I haven't run any stability benchmarks yet, just a single threaded Spi1m :p: . The cpus are all @ default Vcore and my DDR2 is @ 2.30 (Just to give you guys an idea why I'm not happy with this board's chipset, my stix are able to do 600Mhz (DDR2 1200) 4-3-3 @ 2.45 on a 680i chipset) Also nudged the HTT voltage to 1.25 since I couldn't find the setting for the HTT Multi. One thing which is quite odd though.....all voltages are VERY near default if not @ default but this Asus board is HOTTTT....I mean it feels almost like a heater with the amount of warm air coming from it. I guess I've got to figure out a way to more efficiently cool these mosfets......oh, well...more later

http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/2...rstbootbl7.jpg

Nice. Noticed a 10c difference between the cpu's. Is one heatsink blowing into the other? Maybe setting the fans up so they both blow towards the middle section would help...


Ply

Quote:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

We're about to find out if my Opties will run in this board. AndreYang was able to run a pair of ES Opterons in his L1N64, so it's a very good possibility. A FX-7x more than likely won't be able to run in current server motherboards because they won't be recognized by any bios....

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I think that if a Server Motherboard supports the JH-F3 Opterons (The ones with CX surfix), then it should surely support the A64 FX-7x, as the Integrated Memory Controller and Pin functionality seems to be completely the same.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

Typically, the motherboard manufacturer dictates the necessity for Registered or Non-Registered memory. Up until now, all multiple socket Opteron boards required the use of Registered DDR since most of them are used in server applications. Although it was possible to create Opteron boards that could utilize standard, Non-Regged memory, motherboard makers chose the "safer" route.

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Wasn't it a platform requeriment imposed by AMD for Socket 940 and 1207? Old conspirational theories dictates that AMD decided to use a separate Socket and impose Buffered Memory Modules requeriment as a must (Even though they can run finely with regular Memory Modules) because in old times, AMD was regarded as a more than second quality manufacturer and unpopular in the Server markets because usually system builders decided to equip AMD systems with the cheapest components (Bad quality PC Chips Motherboards and such) that obiously caused stability problems that aren't tolerated in the Server market. Else, is hard to believe that no one ever did voluntarily a Socket 940/1207 Motherboard that could use anyways Unbuffered Memory Modules for meeting enthusiast market requeriments like AMD did now with the 4x4 platform.

Great news!! Opteron on QuadFX mobo with un-reg memory :woot: !

Special thanks to you s7e9h3n for being first with retail chips to prove what we was suspecting from a long time! :toast:

@zir_blazer I asked Dave_Graham if FX-70 are working in server mobos. Here is his response:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...5&postcount=13

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t's a bios lock problem. Tyan specifically stated that based on their obligations to AMD, they cannot unlock their bios' for FX parts.

they would also need to re-certify the memory interfaces for DDR2-800 and that's not something they want to do.

dave

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now what would be really interesting is if someone took some server boards and tested to see if you could run with them an 4x4 FX :D

Thank you for the initial results, have some rest before you come back for the full blow :cool:

just noticed ARE THESE OPTYS RUNNNING AT STOCK VOLTS? :slobber:

seems like F3 pwns, the first cpu runs at 28°C with ihs ON and clocked to 3 ghz!

looks like amd will have some high clocking barcelonas if they add sige to their 65nm process (just saw a 65nm 3600+ @ 3.14 ghz at 1.46 volts in another forum!)

time to drop a couple orf barcenlona cpu's in there :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by generics_user

just noticed ARE THESE OPTYS RUNNNING AT STOCK VOLTS? :slobber:

seems like F3 pwns, the first cpu runs at 28°C with ihs ON and clocked to 3 ghz!

looks like amd will have some high clocking barcelonas if they add sige to their 65nm process (just saw a 65nm 3600+ @ 3.14 ghz at 1.46 volts in another forum!)

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yep these new amd chips are starting to look very promising.
28c and clocked to 3ghz with air is pretty dang good. imagine how these babies whould do with water. :eek:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Special thanks to you s7e9h3n for being first with retail chips to prove what we was suspecting from a long time! :toast:

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You're welcome, but these cpu's aren't quite retail ;) They're production [OEM] samples which - in most cases - are functionally the same as upcoming retail/OEM cpu's.

Yep, these cpu's are very nice indeed. What else would one expect from AMD's best silicon?

@ Plywood: Yes, the fans on the towers are blowing in the same direction. I can't imagine it being a better solution to point them facing or opposing each other, reason being: A) They'll BOTH be blowing hot air into each other and B) When opposing fans are blowing against one another, it almost defeats the purpose of having a fan @ all; where's the air going to go :p: ? The only reason why temps even appear somewhat high with these cpu's is from the heat generated by the mosfets on this motherboard. Like I said before, this mobo is a real cooker. The heatsinks on the board stay hot for a good while even AFTER you turn it off. Maybe I just got a bad one, or maybe I'm just not used to boards that run this hot. Regardless, it's nice to be able to run an Opty on unregistered memory....:woot:

Since the cpu revisions don't identify on CPU-Z, here's a shot from Bios:

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/6859/f3kg3.jpg

is it possible can mount these asus blowers together with the tuniq?

is not just grab some old fans and point them towards the mosfet, if you already did that asus made something wrong :stick:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by generics_user

is it possible can mount these asus blowers together with the tuniq?

is not just grab some old fans and point them towards the mosfet, if you already did that asus made something wrong :stick:

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Nope, the Asus blowers don't fit...I can MAKE them fit, but the end result is the heatsink being shifted off its intended target. I haven't yet pointed any fans DIRECTLY at the sinks, but there is a little bit of air moving over them. Like I said earlier, it may be just me though....server/ws boards are intended to be able to be run in high temp environments and therefore it may not be fair in comparing the temps they generate to ones which we use on our desks......

Decided to run a few quick benches. Everything done @ default (Auto setting) Vcore, 2.4VDDR, and 1.25VHTT. All other voltages @ default...

Tried Spi, but that took forever to set up the windows and then affinity so I gave up after 1m :rolleyes:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1064/q1mmidsrg0.jpg

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/3912/q1mdonesky5.jpg

The results are wierd...I'll run it again to see.

I then tried wPrime since it's a self-proclaimed "multi-threaded benchmark." Nice little program, but I don't know if my result is any good:

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/8...mid1024mv6.jpg

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/2...one1024xh6.jpg

I have a feeling that the CoreTemp program isn't giving the correct values for CPU temps. Instead, I think it's reading off of the motherboard probes located near the mosfets. Cpu temps in bios read ~20C cooler than CoreTemp. I'll see if I can squeeze a couple more benchmarks in tonight - these cpu's are quite amazing @ default vcore.....

Really nice results S7. Great to see you posting again. Any chance we could get that folding?

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Originally Posted by moddolicous

Really nice results S7. Great to see you posting again. Any chance we could get that folding?

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Maybe, but if I ran this thing 24/7, the room temp would probably rise +5C....lemme finish messing with it first, then I'll think about it :toast:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

Maybe, but if I ran this thing 24/7, the room temp would probably rise +5C....lemme finish messing with it first, then I'll think about it :toast:

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ROFL yeah it would be equivalent to having two benching rigs in there for sure

when you settle down with air testing on these suckers it will be interesting at what point they cold bug :D

oh man 0001 Opterons can't get better silicone if you wanted to :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

I then tried wPrime since it's a self-proclaimed "multi-threaded benchmark." Nice little program, but I don't know if my result is any good:

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Pretty solid, about equal to a Kentsfield at same clocks, a hair faster actually. Anyways, stock vcore is boring. :p: Strong clocks so far though. :toast:

Nice results so far, but I also doubt that those temps are right.
I have 48C with a Sempron at 1.5V.
So temps of CPU0 could be kinda right. But 10C less with the second, I doubt it. If its not a bad mount, I dont think 20% better temps with the same CPU with the same cooling are reasonable.
Did you install Asus Probe? Would be fun to see what it reports. Not for the sake of exact temps, as we know it will be way off, but maybe it reports more equal temps on both CPUs.

some strange spi1m results.. 7sec difference between the cpus..
how bout some cold bug tests?

Rotating one of the heatsinks 180 degrees would help temps a bit. There is plenty of space between them for air to be sucked in to blown into easily with minimal detriment to the cpu temps.

Would be fun to see both cpu's phase cooled :D

You need a hwbot.org account to put some points into steve!!

yeah let's see some dual head action!! :D

again, great to have you back S7 :toast:

I had a few issues with the mobo last night. It seemingly is crapping out on me. I haven't changed a single setting, but windows is periodically bsoding now. I have a feeling it has something to do with the voltage being supplied to the RAM as it's the messages are relating to memory errors. Gonna see if I can RMA it today.

Of course I've thought about throwing this setup under the autocascade. I first want to get familiar with the HW and then consider it. I have a feeling that these cpu's won't have much of an issue running in the cold. If you guys recall, the stepping info which I derived from the AMD cpu's would lead one to believe that these Opties are non-bugged....for reference:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=87182

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=87232

Now check the first post of this thread.....yep, these cpu's are BB's :cool:

@Stevil: I already have an HWBOT account. I'm just gonna sit on the fence for a bit ;)

Hmm too bad the board aint working right :/

In case you RMA the board, which means you have to take the CPUs out again, please measure the IHS for me in case you forgot :)

Maybe a stupid question to ask, but have you tried different sticks of ram or different slots? You said you are using ES ram, so the board might not like it?

hmm, the s939 CCBBE opterons are heavily coldbugged... :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by \Karting_freak

some strange spi1m results.. 7sec difference between the cpus..
how bout some cold bug tests?

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No, the problem is that some data is stored in the wrong NUMA bank.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fr3ak

Hmm too bad the board aint working right :/

In case you RMA the board, which means you have to take the CPUs out again, please measure the IHS for me in case you forgot :)

Maybe a stupid question to ask, but have you tried different sticks of ram or different slots? You said you are using ES ram, so the board might not like it?

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I will ;) Tried everything...getting a new board today :D

@Biohead: Are they really? I guess I've been away longer than I thought...haven't kept up to speed on current cpu's :p:

@Uopt: So I guess the only solution would be to either get another 2gb of memory or enable node interleaving?

@s7e9h3n
Best way is to go with another 2GB of RAM and NUMA aware OS (not XP x32).

Node interleaving will help with slower scores but worsen better ones.
My another suggestion is to put one memory stick for each CPU making it Single Channel per processor. This should be fastest solution if you don't want to invest in extra RAM ;) (still XP x64/Linux/Vista recommended due to proper NUMA support).

Have fun with testing and get your Vapo on these babes :D !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

@s7e9h3n
Best way is to go with another 2GB of RAM and NUMA aware OS (not XP x32).

Node interleaving will help with slower scores but worsen better ones.
My another suggestion is to put one memory stick for each CPU making it Single Channel per processor. This should be fastest solution if you don't want to invest in extra RAM ;) (still XP x64/Linux/Vista recommended due to proper NUMA support).

Have fun with testing and get your Vapo on these babes :D !

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Fellas, what is this NUMA stuff? Heard it mentioned a couple time but have no clue what it is. Time for some googling i guess...


Edit: Found some interesting stuff on NUMA:
"NUMA platforms must be supported both by OS (at least the operating system and applications should be able to "see" memory of all processors as a whole memory block) and by applications. The latest versions of Windows XP (SP2) and Windows Server 2003 fully support NUMA systems (Physical Address Extension must be enabled in 32bit versions (/PAE in boot.ini), which is fortunately enabled by default in AMD64 platforms, as it's required by Data Execution Prevention). What concerns applications, it first of all means that a program shouldn't deploy its data in the memory of one processor and then access it from the other processor. The effect of sticking to this recommendation or failing to comply with it will be reviewed now."

So does XP32 support NUMA???


Ply

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Plywood99

Fellas, what is this NUMA stuff? Heard it mentioned a couple time but have no clue what it is. Time for some googling i guess...


Ply

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NUMA - Non Unified Memory Architecture ;)

In short NUMA is when each CPU can access it's own local memory and also 'remote' memory of other CPUs connected witch each other. You can extend this to clusters but idea is same.
With UMA every CPU is connected with ONE memory pool in way similar to star topology.

Basically go to Wiki or other knowledge mine for much more.

Found a very nice read on NUMA hear:

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/cpu/rmma-numa.html


Sorry for o.t. S7. But this opty server stuff is interesting...


Ply

hey S7, got the NORMAL F2 rev. 2218s working (given that the board is not HT 3.x compliant, why the hell bother? :) )

i linked the pics in my thread but they can also be found here

dave

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Plywood99

Fellas, what is this NUMA stuff? Heard it mentioned a couple time but have no clue what it is. Time for some googling i guess...


Edit: Found some interesting stuff on NUMA:
"NUMA platforms must be supported both by OS (at least the operating system and applications should be able to "see" memory of all processors as a whole memory block) and by applications. The latest versions of Windows XP (SP2) and Windows Server 2003 fully support NUMA systems (Physical Address Extension must be enabled in 32bit versions (/PAE in boot.ini), which is fortunately enabled by default in AMD64 platforms, as it's required by Data Execution Prevention). What concerns applications, it first of all means that a program shouldn't deploy its data in the memory of one processor and then access it from the other processor. The effect of sticking to this recommendation or failing to comply with it will be reviewed now."

So does XP32 support NUMA???


Ply

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Yes, but quality of this implementation is poor... You will get much better results from XP x64 or Vista (Linux is the KING)

i would never suggest running it under Win32 anything....keep it to x64 and above

dave

s7 get yourself rd790es board :) it should rock with these babies

The important thing to remember about NUMA is that even if the OS is "aware" of NUMA, then it is still very, very hard to make good use of it.

I have permanently requested but never received links to benchmark showing a good speedup from NUMA in any other situation than a single-application machine with an application that manages everything by hand such as a big SQL server.

Expecting SuperPi to shine is hopeless unless you go as far as using Linux and directly manipulate page placement. Their new crazy page migration (actually moving memory from one bank to another when the process had switched processors) might have a few tuning knobs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by uOpt

The important thing to remember about NUMA is that even if the OS is "aware" of NUMA, then it is still very, very hard to make good use of it.

I have permanently requested but never received links to benchmark showing a good speedup from NUMA in any other situation than a single-application machine with an application that manages everything by hand such as a big SQL server.

Expecting SuperPi to shine is hopeless unless you go as far as using Linux and directly manipulate page placement. Their new crazy page migration (actually moving memory from one bank to another when the process had switched processors) might have a few tuning knobs.

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Sorry...I'm a noob in SMP benching :( . How about this...Could you possibly make a list of things you'd like to see benchmarked along with which OS. I'll do my best to accomodate as I'm curious to know how a system such as this one stacks up against "real" servers. Thanks :toast:

@ Karting Freak: I'll see what I can dig up...ATM I only have access to the RD690's..

OK...I guess I'll switch over to 64bit XP and run some tests...any suggestions. I'm going to try to land another 2gb pair of DDR2, but what if I was to run my 2x512MB set along with my current 2gb set? So basically, I'd be running with 1.5GB per channel?

should work. Its not "optimal" but its probably faster than just 2x1gb

Quote:

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Originally Posted by STEvil

should work. Its not "optimal" but its probably faster than just 2x1gb

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OK.....I'll try that tomorrow but in two days time, I'll have another 2gb set here...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

Sorry...I'm a noob in SMP benching :( . How about this...Could you possibly make a list of things you'd like to see benchmarked along with which OS. I'll do my best to accomodate as I'm curious to know how a system such as this one stacks up against "real" servers. Thanks :toast:

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My benchmarks are in my signature.

There's NUMA and non-NUMA socket 940 Opterons in there.

I am not sure what you mean by "such as this one against real servers". The only difference is registered memory, which according to my benchmarks has about NIL real-world slowdown, and the fact that you can overclock non-registered memory better, which has a small speedup for some real-world applications.

OK, got a new board yesterday and temps seem somewhat better on this one. I also got the second 2gb set but can't boot with them installed as the spd on them is programmed @ 600mhz (PC2 9600), 4-3-3-x....that's a BIT too tight for this board :wth: . Gotta reprogram them and then I'll load WinXP x64...

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/122/newtempsrg7.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

OK, got a new board yesterday and temps seem somewhat better on this one. I also got the second 2gb set but can't boot with them installed as the spd on them is programmed @ 600mhz (PC2 9600), 4-3-3-x....that's a BIT too tight for this board :wth: . Gotta reprogram them and then I'll load WinXP x64...

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/122/newtempsrg7.jpg

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Great! I'm waiting for some real clocking this time :toast: .

cant you set the timmings and volt with the existing ram and put in the new ram a boot?? also be mindful of bios updates that might lock out your optys i would hotflash another bios chip just in case they try something
slick

OK...got 4gb x1gb running now DDR2 1000, 4-4-3-6 @ 2.2V, but it seems to require a bit extra vcore to the cpus. I'd like to take this moment to say that Windows XP Pro x64 has got to be the most wretched creation to come out of MS in quite awhile. I've spent to good part of the last two days trying to get the OS to work properly with this setup. Driver support absolutely sux for this "so-called" OS. Time to scrap the idea of XP 64-bit and try either x64 2003 or possibly Vista (but I'm not too keen on the outrageous amount of resources it requires to simply run). Hopefully I'll be back with a more pleasant update next time....

CPU temps 12-13C :confused: you got the window open or is it reporting temps funny heh

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Originally Posted by dinos22

CPU temps 12-13C :confused: you got the window open or is it reporting temps funny heh

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Nope, not a single window open nor even a door. That pic was from the initial boot-up on the new mobo, so maybe everything needed some time to "set-in". Temps now hover around the low to mid 20's idle, but this mobo still is putting out enormous amounts of heat. I imagine that if this setup was inside a closed case, I'd be seeing temps on the cpu ~10 - 15C higher. I'm currently entertaining the thought of watercooling everything including the mosfets.....

Steve: go with win2K3 server..trouble free..:D
(Oh Jeez! I'm in the AMD section! I'll get lynched!:rofl:)

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Originally Posted by Movieman

Steve: go with win2K3 server..trouble free..:D
(Oh Jeez! I'm in the AMD section! I'll get lynched!:rofl:)

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I forgot my password ;) ....e-mail me with the pertinent info, please? :toast:

I'm certainly no expert, but from my experience, the resources that Vista uses is very beneficial. Instead of that ram sitting empty and not being used, Vista loads it up and uses SuperFetch to really increase the performance. I find it much much snappier than XP, almost like the OS is running off of ram. One review i read shows that Vista really benefits from lots of ram. I think Vista would be an ideal candidate for your tests. :)

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Originally Posted by flippin_waffles

I'm certainly no expert, but from my experience, the resources that Vista uses is very beneficial. Instead of that ram sitting empty and not being used, Vista loads it up and uses SuperFetch to really increase the performance. I find it much much snappier than XP, almost like the OS is running off of ram. One review i read shows that Vista really benefits from lots of ram. I think Vista would be an ideal candidate for your tests. :)

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I understand what you're saying, but it's my understanding that Vista allocates its resources for a more "pleasurable" multi-media/user friendly experience. Now I'm all for that on my daily rig, but if I want to test true performance of a particular setup, I don't want the results to be skewed in any way due to any extra influences such as the OS. For example, I had Vista up and running on one of my rigs and I was shocked to see how much memory was being used by the OS while I was just sitting idle on my desktop. IIRC, it was something in the neighborhood of ~350-400MB :eek:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

I understand what you're saying, but it's my understanding that Vista allocates its resources for a more "pleasurable" multi-media/user friendly experience. Now I'm all for that on my daily rig, but if I want to test true performance of a particular setup, I don't want the results to be skewed in any way due to any extra influences such as the OS. For example, I had Vista up and running on one of my rigs and I was shocked to see how much memory was being used by the OS while I was just sitting idle on my desktop. IIRC, it was something in the neighborhood of ~350-400MB :eek:

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at the same time it isn't like you were going to use that ram for anything else :stick: and it is usually released once something more important is needs that space.

what ever happenned to an OS that did just what you wanted and not what it wanted? OOPS, that was win2000 SP4...or better: nn_steps XSOS:D

Yeah, plus, the one (and i think only) review i've seen using vista on a quadfx platform (i think it was an italian website, hardware.it maybe), shows a big increase in performance on vista. :) either way, i'm looking forward to your results whatever you decide. :)

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Originally Posted by nn_step

at the same time it isn't like you were going to use that ram for anything else :stick: and it is usually released once something more important is needs that space.

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How do you know that I wasn't going to need that ram :p: ? And yes, I know that it would release the space for a more prioritized process, but doing that in itself requires [some] processing power. I want to be able to compare my results from this platform to ones I have data for already and none of those priors ran on Vista......

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Originally Posted by Movieman

what ever happenned to an OS that did just what you wanted and not what it wanted? OOPS, that was win2000 SP4...or better: nn_steps XSOS:D

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thank you for the support :toast:

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Originally Posted by nn_step

thank you for the support :toast:

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You know that I already tried ;) .....

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

You know that I already tried ;) .....

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yep and we are looking into that bug :toast:

it works fine under Vista Business 32 bit.

i've got 4 sticks of DDR2-800 ECC/unregistered memory running there right now.

dave

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Originally Posted by dave_graham

it works fine under Vista Business 32 bit.

i've got 4 sticks of DDR2-800 ECC/unregistered memory running there right now.

dave

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Yep, Vista's capable of seeing the correct amount of memory installed without enabling the memory hole option, but how is it in terms of stability/speed compared to, say, 32bit 2k3?

1.) never would run 32 bit 2003 R2. only 64bit.
2.) 2003 is more "mature" and you can fix some of the minor annoyances in the registry, etc. with greater affect.

i've not even started perf testing yet...got my F3's, got the F2's currently loaded and plugging away (meaningless core stuff).... had too many other client ended things to do...

gotta get this all completed this week, however, since AMD wants the report back. :)

dave

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Originally Posted by dave_graham

1.) never would run 32 bit 2003 R2. only 64bit.
2.) 2003 is more "mature" and you can fix some of the minor annoyances in the registry, etc. with greater affect.

i've not even started perf testing yet...got my F3's, got the F2's currently loaded and plugging away (meaningless core stuff).... had too many other client ended things to do...

gotta get this all completed this week, however, since AMD wants the report back. :)

dave

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32-bit 2k3 wasn't all that bad as a workstation platform, but 64-bit definitely should be the way to go....
I guess my adventure in x64 land has been a little more bumpy than I expected - this 64-bit OS stuff better be worth it :p:

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

32-bit 2k3 wasn't all that bad as a workstation platform, but 64-bit definitely should be the way to go....
I guess my adventure in x64 land has been a little more bumpy than I expected - this 64-bit OS stuff better be worth it :p:

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what isn't support for 128GB of Ram exciting enough? :p:

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Originally Posted by nn_step

what isn't support for 128GB of Ram exciting enough? :p:

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Listen my friend: The reality is who the hell could afford even 1/2 that amount of ram? One of the guys in the DC teams has 16 gig and that surprised me.
I have 4 gig on 2 machines here and that was close to $1400.00 just for the ram.
Imagine getting the bill for 128 gig!:eek:

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Originally Posted by nn_step

what isn't support for 128GB of Ram exciting enough? :p:

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Well, it is for now....as long as I stay with my 32gb sticks...:p:

So was 3ghz the max? Did you get it up and rolling with the new board yet?

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Originally Posted by Movieman

Listen my friend: The reality is who the hell could afford even 1/2 that amount of ram? One of the guys in the DC teams has 16 gig and that surprised me.
I have 4 gig on 2 machines here and that was close to $1400.00 just for the ram.
Imagine getting the bill for 128 gig!:eek:

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same thing could have been said about 1GB just 10 years ago ;)

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Originally Posted by Rickster_64

So was 3ghz the max? Did you get it up and rolling with the new board yet?

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I'm sure 3g is absolutely NOT the max ;) ....I haven't really been able to run the system properly for the past few days since I'm having problems with the OS. Should be all sorted within the next couple of days though.....

I figured 0001 could do better ;-). Keep us updated.

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Originally Posted by s7e9h3n

32-bit 2k3 wasn't all that bad as a workstation platform, but 64-bit definitely should be the way to go....
I guess my adventure in x64 land has been a little more bumpy than I expected - this 64-bit OS stuff better be worth it :p:

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depends on what you're doing with it. if all you're doing is benchmarking, have fun. if you want to actually do production, etc. on it, then it is one of the better things out there.

dave

hey s7e9h3n are you able to do 300x10 with the ram at 600mhz?

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Originally Posted by msimax

hey s7e9h3n are you able to do 300x10 with the ram at 600mhz?

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Haven't yet tried...I've been trying to figure out 64-bit 2k3. But here's an interesting synthetic from Sandra's BW test. NUMA rocks :D :

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/8...ndra500py7.jpg