SkullTrail anyone???

[NapalmV5]

We'll wait patiently...Ok, some of us will.
This is worth waiting for!

uhh nope not worth waiting for.. lol im getting dual-harp now!

im sick and tired of mediocre desk mobos and waiting..

[AdmiralThrawn]

why bother if you're only going to use a single cpu?

Valid Question!

The answer is SLI. Plain and simple.

I do not want to use an nForce Chipset ever again (I did once on an Intel+SLI setup). So, i do not want to use ATi cards with Crossfire and i do not want to use an nVidia Chipset (which doesn't support ASPI for instance, something i need).

I want to use an INTEL chipset with an nVidia SLI setup! And Skulltrail delivers just that. I guess there won't be any drivers needed for the nVidia bridge chips there, just as it is with PCI-2-PCI bridge chips too. I could live with those chips, as long as i can use pure Intel chipset drivers.

One Quadcore is enough for me i suppose. Besides gaming i also do a lot of DivX compression and Video Post-Processing. SSE4 should help a lot on the DivX front. Don't think I'll need eight cores. But if the right socket is the primary one, i wouldn't be able to use that board at all, cause my harddisks would be in the way (Don't really wanna change the case either).

[Blauhung]

Valid Question!

The answer is SLI. Plain and simple.

I do not want to use an nForce Chipset ever again (I did once on an Intel+SLI setup). So, i do not want to use ATi cards with Crossfire and i do not want to use an nVidia Chipset (which doesn't support ASPI for instance, something i need).

I want to use an INTEL chipset with an nVidia SLI setup! And Skulltrail delivers just that. I guess there won't be any drivers needed for the nVidia bridge chips there, just as it is with PCI-2-PCI bridge chips too. I could live with those chips, as long as i can use pure Intel chipset drivers.

One Quadcore is enough for me i suppose. Besides gaming i also do a lot of DivX compression and Video Post-Processing. SSE4 should help a lot on the DivX front. Don't think I'll need eight cores. But if the right socket is the primary one, i wouldn't be able to use that board at all, cause my harddisks would be in the way (Don't really wanna change the case either).

Aside from the fact that I'm not sure that the board will even work with only 1 socket filled, prepare to be underwhelmed. Most likely the overall FSB headroom is going to be lower then just about any of the single socket boards available and you will also be limited by buffered memory.

This board will use more power then most any comparable single socket board and also ad to that the power needs of buffered memory.

So if you don't plan on overclocking and are prepared for higher electricity bills. Then right now this is the only Intel chipset that will run SLI

[AdmiralThrawn]

Aside from the fact that I'm not sure that the board will even work with only 1 socket filled, prepare to be underwhelmed. Most likely the overall FSB headroom is going to be lower then just about any of the single socket boards available and you will also be limited by buffered memory.

This board will use more power then most any comparable single socket board and also ad to that the power needs of buffered memory.

So if you don't plan on overclocking and are prepared for higher electricity bills. Then right now this is the only Intel chipset that will run SLI

I'm pretty much used to extreme power consumption rates. Running a Quad PentiumPRO 1MB system as a home server right now ([IBM PC Server 704]).

I'm also running a system consisting of two quad cores and 16GB of FB-FIMM at work, plus a single-CPU quad core with another 2GB of FB-DIMM as a file server with 8 x 500GB RAID-6 and a 8 x 1TB RAID-6 at home. Plus, I'm running a Voodoo5 6000 @ i840 system, so I'm also used to rather exotic system configurations..

I would like to OC the Skulltrail system, but only by around 400-800MHz of core clock rate, that should be possible i guess... I'm not planning any phase change cooling here...

What I need to know is, which of the two sockets on the SkullTrail board is the primary CPU socket, and yep, I would need to know if the thing works with only one CPU...

[Cronos]

One CPU will have only 1/2 of total memory bandwidth available, that will be almost 3 times less than it is possible to have on desktop chipsets.

[Movieman]

I'm pretty much used to extreme power consumption rates. Running a Quad PentiumPRO 1MB system as a home server right now ([IBM PC Server 704]).

I'm also running a system consisting of two quad cores and 16GB of FB-FIMM at work, plus a single-CPU quad core with another 2GB of FB-DIMM as a file server with 8 x 500GB RAID-6 and a 8 x 1TB RAID-6 at home. Plus, I'm running a Voodoo5 6000 @ i840 system, so I'm also used to rather exotic system configurations..

I would like to OC the Skulltrail system, but only by around 400-800MHz of core clock rate, that should be possible i guess... I'm not planning any phase change cooling here...

What I need to know is, which of the two sockets on the SkullTrail board is the primary CPU socket, and yep, I would need to know if the thing works with only one CPU...

You really don't want to buy this board if your going to just use one cpu in it.
As cronos said above nicely, it is a waste of money to do that as a top single socket will kick it's butt sideways, backwards and upside down..
Now about those other machines you have, we can give you something VERY worthwhile of their abilities to work on:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...play.php?f=207

[AdmiralThrawn]

Hmm. What's the maximum theoretical bandwidth i can expect when only using one CPU when using FB-DIMM DDR-II/800?

I would sacrifice a LOT just to finally get SLI on an Intel chipset. Really, i want that A LOT!

Mostly, the second CPU wouldn't be used anyway, cause i do not have that many applications/games that even could utilize 8 cores! Possible to do some massive multitasking, but still.. Most of the time only 2-4 cores would be working anyway.

I do SETI@Home, but that's surely not a top reason to buy a second $1500 CPU.

[Torphoto]

why buy 1 $1500 cpu when you can buy two for $1500? I'm sure skullrail will oc well with a pair of 2.66 or 2.8 xeons and make it worthwhile getting 2 cpus vs 1.

1 cpu in skulltrail basically defeats the purpose of it.

[STEvil]

Can get other boards for SLI.

[LaMpiR]

IS there any chance of running SLI on X38/X48?

[Torphoto]

right now for sli your stuck with nvidia chipsets

on the power supply question, this board seems to have 2x 8pin cpu connectors not the 8 and 4 pin connectors most other dual cpu boards have

short list I have found for power supplies with 2 8 pin cpu ( +12v eps in either 4+4 pin or 8 pin type ) connectors are

Enermax Galaxy DXX 1000w PSU
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250w Power Supply
ABS/tagan ITZ1300 1300w Power Supply ( prolly junk )
Ultra X3 Power Supplies ( the units under 1000w seem to only have 1x 4+4 pin )
Silverstone OP 1000w and 1200w
PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 1KW-SR
OCZ GameXStream 1010w
OCZ ProXStream 1000w
Thermaltake ToughPower 1200W

feel free to add more units.

[zanzabar]

IS there any chance of running SLI on X38/X48?

if u get a quatro


but if nv gave intel the use of sli on the x38/48 then no1 would buy a 680/780/790i, but in not licensing they will be put out of high end systems

[AdmiralThrawn]

Will there be any 45nm Dual-Core Xeons? I don't have the whole Roadmap memorized, and it's getting pretty late here (brain beginning to shut down).

That way i might just get 2 x Dual Core and split the workload over four cores while still getting the full mem bandwith and without having to sell my car, flat and body for this.

Edit: Wait, noooo... Money wasn't the first reason for using only 1 CPU, it was that the thing won't fit into my case with 2 CPUs.. unless i go liquid cooling..

[GAR]

if you look at it from nvidia's side it would be the dumbest thing for them to give up SLi, the nvidia chipsets have their bad sides but the same can be said for the x38 as well, with my quad highest stable clock i have gotten is 450-465 anything above crashes while priming, its not held back by cpu either, my 680i did 450fsb stable no problems, i would give up 10mhz fsb for SLi, wouldnt you?

[Torphoto]

There are 45nm quad xeons

2.83 for $750 E5440
2.66 for $550 E5430
2.56 for $350 E5420

better go with dual quads in anycase

[Cronos]

Why not just build two desktop machines, one on 680i /SLI for gaming and another on P35/X38/X48 for CPU-intensive multitasking? This will cost less and will be more effective overall.

Paying 1500$ for 1 CPU is completely insane, if you ask me.
I paid 900$/each for Opterons 265 3 years ago and 900$ /each for Xeons E5320 an year ago, and i would never do this again unless i will be absolutely pressed to do so.
This super-expensive stuff just do not justify the cost. Unless you are Bill Gates, lots of frustration is imminent. Soon you realize you could get 300-400$ CPU which, overclocked, could perform almost just as good.
Then again, at the moment, Intel's dual platform is severely crippled by memory subsystem, while AMD... they just don't have CPUs at all

[zanzabar]

the 680i isnt good for gaming since it sucks for cpu, and teh physics is based on cpu power

[Movieman]

Why not just build two desktop machines, one on 680i /SLI for gaming and another on P35/X38/X48 for CPU-intensive multitasking? This will cost less and will be more effective overall.

Paying 1500$ for 1 CPU is completely insane, if you ask me.
I paid 900$/each for Opterons 265 3 years ago and 900$ /each for Xeons E5320 an year ago, and i would never do this again unless i will be absolutely pressed to do so.
This super-expensive stuff just do not justify the cost. Unless you are Bill Gates, lots of frustration is imminent. Soon you realize you could get 300-400$ CPU which, overclocked, could perform almost just as good.
Then again, at the moment, Intel's dual platform is severely crippled by memory subsystem, while AMD... they just don't have CPUs at all

There's 2 answers to this:
1) Your dead right 10000%
Two independant systems is the ideal way and lost cheaper.
2) There are those of us who are pigheaded idiots who just love the duals and will overlook some of the drawbacks of their design.
I have 4 machines running here.
2-8 core clovertowns at over 3000mhz
1-Q6600 at 3600
1 old FX51 on an Asus SK8N MB

The Q6600 is by far the fastest system any way you look at it and for the money involved a steal IMO
The Clovers are my "babies"..Had them before clovers were released and stable as all hell.
They have run at 100% load essentially for the last year and I'd bet the uptime barring an electrical outage is over 99%.
That old FX51 is a new one here. Interesting machine to me as I haven't had an AMD since the Slot A's
That little single core at 2423mhz is a beast in it's own right and out works a dual xeon 2400/512/533 machine I had..

For what you want. Build 2 machines, one with a Q6600 and one with as expensive a Yorkfield as you can afford.

[generalpetres]

i was just wondering on the tyan mobo will it be capable of running two Qx9775 or are thoes cpus based only for the skulltrail. i will either be building a skulltrail comp or a tyan based server to run maya, cad, and some games here and there. what are your likes and dislikes for the board and if some one had the money would you tell them to get it or not. thanks

[AdmiralThrawn]

For me, building two machines isn't an alternative. I would need more space for that, and i don't really WANT two machines. I want one single workstation, that can handle prettly much everything i can throw at it, be it video post-processing or gaming. For me personally, nForce is out of the question. I don't even remotely consider that an option. I'd rather give up SLI and have choppy game performance than buying an nForce again.

So much for nVidia chipset marketing strategies, from me they would get more money if they would just sell the SLI license to Intel, cause I either buy an Intel Chipset and ONE NV card or an Intel Chipset and TWO NV cards, their choice...

Even the Daemon Tools driver supports ASPI, but nVidia can't do it for their chipset drivers obviously, which i find extremely weak. As i said above, I'm using ASPI and not thinking about giving that up in favor of SPTI or anything else..

Can you maybe explain to me, how the Skulltrails memory subsystem works, and how/why the bandwidth is split up between the two sockets (hardwired)? Thank you!

Edit: Seaburg is the i5400, right? I hope, i've read the correct [Whitepaper] then. It says there, that the chipset uses two front side busses and four memory channels organized into two branches. But it says nowhere, that a single FSB couldn't talk to both branches (all four channels)? I can't find that information.

Even if so, imagine a single-threaded application, let's say an older game, whatever. Let's say, I'll start that app on my Skulltrail platform, it runs on CPU #0, Core #0. Now, as long as that app is limited to one Core on one CPU, plugging in a second CPU won't do anything for bandwidth, as long as the App doesn't use BOTH CPUs, right? So if i understand this correctly, i can only take advantage of the full bandwith, while using both CPUs? So, for a single threaded app it would make no difference in bandwidth if i was using one or two CPUs?

It would be very kind of you, if you could point out the information regarding that bandwidth split-up in the Intel documentation for me, as i just can't locate it. There is a [Spec Update] too.. Didn't read that yet.

[generalpetres]

any new updates?

[Movieman]

any new updates?

I think he's waiting for some parts..
And barricading his doors and windows so that some old fart from New Hampshire doesn't break in and steal it....

[Pudi]

Iso that some old fart from New Hampshire doesn't break in and steal it....

ahah quality

[generalpetres]

yeah i talked to him the other day said the board was dead so he was waiting for the new one to come just checking to see if he got it or not.

[Movieman]

yeah i talked to him the other day said the board was dead so he was waiting for the new one to come just checking to see if he got it or not.

Your right..I've been hiding in the bushes outside his house for the last 4 days and no deliveries..
Hey, someone drop my off a coffee and a pizza..
Getting cold and hungry out here..