xjas wrote:What do you guys think of this dual-771 Xeon monster? I like the idea of it but it's a real beast - I worry about the board fitting in my "short" 4U rack case and making enough noise to wake the dead. Also only one 5V PCI slot would be annoying. Also it's about $40 more than I wanted to spend.
Kind of half joking but that seems like a lot of horsepower for cheap(ish.)
That is a good board if it will fit your case.
Server/Workstation boards have always been a way to get horsepower cheap if you shop smart.
When the server farms start upgrading, 100s of 1000s of server boards (& CPUs & RAM) get dumped on the market at the same time.
That makes them cheap. - Timing is everything though.
The prices don't always -stay- down and the farms don't all upgrade at the same time.
You basically have to check every few days to see if anything interesting has showed up.
By doing that I picked up several of these for $25 each w/both heatsinks included.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboar … 5400/X7DWN_.cfm
As to it fitting your case the specs are here.
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboar … 5000X/X7DAE.cfm
Shows it's the EATX form factor with dimensions (12" x 13.05")(30.5cm x 33.2cm)
There are also dual skt 771 boards in the ATX from factor but you have to pay attention to the CPU location.
Despite being ATX dimensions they don't fit well in many ATX cases due to the CPU location blocking bays.
Also need a CPU backplate to mount the coolers.
Also most don't have sound and there may not be a dedicated video card slot.
With socket 771 the CPU coolers can cost more than the CPUs so you have keep looking and time that right too.
CPUs and RAM are usually cheap (compared to equivalent skt 775) if you shop.
Those two included CPU coolers would probably cost you $50-$70 if bought separately.
Here is that board's block diagram.
- PCI-X slots 2 and 3 can be used for 3.3v PCI-conventional cards without slowing anything else down.
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