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

[Jacka]

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?

Do we think the cards will work then?

[shoota]

My ATI Rage XL 8mb is working like a charm..

[Jacka]

Thank you very much, sir.

[shoota]

You're welcome. What else do you need to get those two boards running?

[Jacka]

Well, I've got a drawing for the brackets to screw to the bottom of the TX3s so I can screw them to the backplates, so I just need to send them to a friend that will be able to cut them for me. Unfortunately one of the backplates has a stripped thread, so it'll probably be easier to find another backplate than repair the thread. I might send Kryja a PM to see if he'd be willing to send me one of his from the faulty board.

Then I've got to wire up the PSUs! I've got 16 and 18 pin connectors and heaps of crimp terminals. I've still got all of the stock cables on one of the PSUs, so I might get some adaptors for that so I can get it running until I have more time to do the wiring.

[shoota]

yeah i'd do the adapters since it'll be much quicker. Have you even been able to test that everything works?

[Jacka]

Nope. I've been doing everything far too gradually, really. Fingers crossed though, eh?

[shoota]

yeah no kidding. i'd check them before spending more money personally

[terramir]

got a question can anyone confirm that once you put all the settings in you can run these headless? cause I really don't need to be running two of these with a video card
terramir

[retro77]

got a question can anyone confirm that once you put all the settings in you can run these headless? cause I really don't need to be running two of these with a video card
terramir

I haven't been brave enough to pull my card out of a running machine. I got a passively cooled card so at least there isn't a fan running 24/7/365.

[Sparky]

I could pull my card. Except then I'd have no clue whether the thing was working or not

[retro77]

SSH to it...run BOINC from terminal. I use putty as an SSH client, its free. As far as the commands to check on BOINC...I don't know.

[terramir]

I could pull my card. Except then I'd have no clue whether the thing was working or not

you never pull the card while it's running, in the bios/efi you need to ensure that it doesn't halt on errors and then when you turn it on it theoretically should boot without a video card but some mb's are picky about that
, and yes you can take over by the way of somesort of remote desktop thingy
terramir

[Sparky]

Oh I know to never pull stuff when the system is running, no worries there If it was windows I'd RDP or set up realVNC but with linux heck I have no clue lol.

[shoota]

i think i remember trying to boot it without a video card and not having any luck. but i can't remember exactly what happened..

[Jacka]

Well, I've got a drawing for the brackets to screw to the bottom of the TX3s so I can screw them to the backplates, so I just need to send them to a friend that will be able to cut them for me. Unfortunately one of the backplates has a stripped thread, so it'll probably be easier to find another backplate than repair the thread. I might send Kryja a PM to see if he'd be willing to send me one of his from the faulty board.

Then I've got to wire up the PSUs! I've got 16 and 18 pin connectors and heaps of crimp terminals. I've still got all of the stock cables on one of the PSUs, so I might get some adaptors for that so I can get it running until I have more time to do the wiring.

Sent the above drawing to my friend that is going to laser my brackets. Should be here some time next week hopefully.
Also got the two PCI Rage XLs for $22 delivered.
I might quickly make some connectors for the PSU I didn't butcher up and try that some time soon.

Everyone keep their fingers crossed for the next couple of weeks if it isn't too much of an inconvenince.

[AXm77]

i think i remember trying to boot it without a video card and not having any luck. but i can't remember exactly what happened..

Nothing happened, I tested myself - no luck.

[shoota]

Sent the above drawing to my friend that is going to laser my brackets. Should be here some time next week hopefully.
Also got the two PCI Rage XLs for $22 delivered.
I might quickly make some connectors for the PSU I didn't butcher up and try that some time soon.

Everyone keep their fingers crossed for the next couple of weeks if it isn't too much of an inconvenince.

*crossed*

Nothing happened, I tested myself - no luck.

yeah kinda figured.. that's why i went with a super low power, fanless pci card

[Jacka]

*crossed*

yeah kinda figured.. that's why i went with a super low power, fanless pci card

I read someone that the Rage XL has a power usage of ~1W.

[Duh]

@ jacka, whats the purpose/use of brackets?

thanks

[Jacka]

@ jacka, whats the purpose/use of brackets?

thanks

Screw to the bottom of the TX3 and attached using some screws I made.

Folllowing pictures should explain.





There's a full resolution image here for anybody that might not have xtreme vision.

[Duh]

gotcha. I now get it . I would kill to have 4 of those into a 4 U case.

[Jacka]

gotcha. I now get it . I would kill to have 4 of those into a 4 U case.

I'll give you both of these if you can organise the assassinating the person that set this control theory coursework.

[shoota]

my question is why are you going through all this trouble to mount the tx3's without just using some plastic retention brackets??

[Jacka]

my question is why are going through all this trouble to mount the tx3's without just using some plastic retention brackets??

I keep asking myself that question, too...

You wouldn't think it from the fact that I bought these systems, but I avoid opening my wallet wherever possible. Considering the time and effort put into the mounting system, £16 for eight retention brackets would have been a much better option in hindsight.