How to: Arima AMD Opteron Quad Core Socket F 3000 series

[Jacka]

If you buy, modify and fit a K8 retention bracket, sure.

[shoota]

Yep. Like jacka says you need the retention bracket so the cooler has something to clip on to. Like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Socket-939-C...item2a0cdb5530

Once you get them installed you may want to leave it on air. Watercooling these is pretty overkill but awesome of course.

[eni]

thanks a lot for your help

[shoota]

So what all are you getting?

[eni]

I just got this board few days ago. (is shipped from US and needs some time to come in my country. Albania)
I already bought 4 Opteron 8356.
4GB Samsung pc2-5300f ECC.
I orderet 4 CPU Retention Retainer Bracket Holder and 4 asus heatsinks.
Already have one old BFG 7900 GTC OC 512mb and another old geforce 7300. (After i try i will let you know if this this cards work on this motherboard)
1 sata hard drive
PSU High Power
I think I have all parts i need to set up

[Jacka]

Make sure you spread the load out over the four 12v rails otherwise internal protection might kick in.

[eni]

Any chance to make Windows work on this board?
Will be possible???????

I building this to use it as render farm for 3D graphics

[AXm77]

Any chance to make Windows work on this board?
Will be possible???????

I building this to use it as render farm for 3D graphics

It is not, unless yo run Windows as VM in a linux.
To make you life simpler, I share my expirence with this board.

• First - memory you got: is it registered? (ECC do not mean it's registered).

• 4GB - what size stick you got ? 4x 1GB, 2x 2GB? My board do not boot unless
  I filled all 4 memory slots on CPU, so you will need at least 4 sticks.

• Heatsinks: I saw your heatsinks have 80mm fans. On back pair CPU's it will be very close together
  (probably touch each other), maybe you'll have to do a little bit of grinding.

• Video cards: I don't think 7900 will work (my Dell 7800 GTX do not work), but even if it will
  you'll have to address copule more problems with: if card is longer than 7" it will block both SATA ports
  wich you must to use for boot drive and if card have double width cooling, it interfere with reset switch
  and probably with your CPU1 cooler.

God luck with you new system.

[eni]

Thanks AXm77

• First - memory you got: is it registered? (ECC do not mean it's registered).

• 4GB - what size stick you got ? 4x 1GB, 2x 2GB? My board do not boot unless
  I filled all 4 memory slots on CPU, so you will need at least 4 sticks.

I have 8 SAMSUNG 512MB DDR2 667 PC2-5300R ECC REG M395T6553CZ4-CE60. This sticks are pull out from a hp server.

• Heatsinks: I saw your heatsinks have 80mm fans. On back pair CPU's it will be very close together
  (probably touch each other), maybe you'll have to do a little bit of grinding.

You right about that. I will see how to modify when fans arrive.

• Video cards: I don't think 7900 will work (my Dell 7800 GTX do not work), but even if it will
  you'll have to address copule more problems with: if card is longer than 7" it will block both SATA ports
  wich you must to use for boot drive and if card have double width cooling, it interfere with reset switch
  and probably with your CPU1 cooler.

Hmm. I will see if i can find an used x550 as suggested in previews posts.

[Jacka]

The absolute maximum width of heat sinks is 82mm for this board.

On a separate note, I have found a pair of PCI Rage XLs, but now I have to decide whether to buy a single card and use it to set up the machines, then remotely manage them, or buy both and have the ability to plug in a monitor any time I need to see how things are going.
They are getting hard to find, so it may be wise to purchase them both just incase I want them in the future.

Terramir, is there anything in the BIOS files that might explain why these boards are so picky with graphics cards, or is it unrelated? Also, have you heard anything back from rintamarotta regarding the BIOS from his green board?

[karbonkid]

I just got this board few days ago. (is shipped from US and needs some time to come in my country. Albania)
I already bought 4 Opteron 8356.
4GB Samsung pc2-5300f ECC.
I orderet 4 CPU Retention Retainer Bracket Holder and 4 asus heatsinks.
Already have one old BFG 7900 GTC OC 512mb and another old geforce 7300. (After i try i will let you know if this this cards work on this motherboard)
1 sata hard drive
PSU High Power
I think I have all parts i need to set up

If you have pc2-5300F (fully-buffered) then it will not work - you need pc2-5300R. Fully-buffered memory only works on certain intel platforms.

[AXm77]

@ eni: Google shows your memory as FB-DIMM's, so you got wrong memory.

[Duh]

Jacka : I hate you man .. that terrible picture is awesome

how many cms would be good as a minimum between mobos with a 1U HS ?

[Jacka]

1U is 44.45mm, but I don't see much reason to have them as close as possible unless space is extremely limited.

[Duh]

yep Jacka, I am trying to see if I can have a bundle of these into a 4 U case ( non standard, might be custom).

[Jacka]

Only thing that I can think of that might be a problem is the backplates, but I guess the manufacturers of 1U heat sinks take them into account, so it should be fine.

[AXm77]

..... whether to buy a single card and use it to set up the machines, then remotely manage them, or buy both and have the ability to plug in a monitor any time I need to see how things are going. ...

Unless I missed some settings, my board didn't boot without video card.

[Origin_Unknown]

Terrible image:

[Sparky]

I have 4x 1GB PC2-4200 ECC sticks if anyone wants them. Now, they are ECC only, not registered, so I'm not sure how that affects things. Do these require ECC registered, or just ECC?

[shoota]

try it and tell us

[Jacka]

Unless I missed some settings, my board didn't boot without video card.

Thank you.

What do you guys think of a price of 16GBP (25.5USD) for two ATI Rage XL PCI?

Here's a picture of them, too. Hopefully it's the same as the card Shoota/Sparky/someone else with a name beginning with S () got working.

[AmiJIm]

I have done excesive tests with many vgas.My board shipped originaly with bios 0.9.x and could post with every vga i have put it.From permedia2 pci and radeon 7500 pci to ati x700 pcie to nvidia 9800gt and ati 4850x2.
but the board would hang at the entering the bios when asked to get it.After upgrading to mr shootas bios 1.0.7 i could only get 9800gt pcie and ati 4850x2 pcie to work.All others prior tested and found working by me,could no longer work.
So it is not the board that is picky but the bios revision.
Any luck on the green mobo edition bios image?

[shoota]

Jack are you sure that's a pci card? It looks like an agp to me.

[retro77]

Jack are you sure that's a pci card? It looks like an agp to me.

AGP would have the double row of pins and the "ear" off the back for the retention.

[karbonkid]

I have 4x 1GB PC2-4200 ECC sticks if anyone wants them. Now, they are ECC only, not registered, so I'm not sure how that affects things. Do these require ECC registered, or just ECC?

Quads require registered unfortunately...

EDIT: That means quad-core, not quad-socket