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I need help from some PCI-X gurus

I

Ilmater

Diamond Member
I need a board with at least one 64 bit, 66MHz slot in it. After that, I'm looking strictly from a cost basis, the cheapest board I can get. I would prefer only one proc, and DDR RAM, as that is cheaper than RDRAM, but I'm open to suggestions. Give me any suggestions you have!
 
I believe PCI-X is 133MHz, 64-bit. Either way, there are no uniprocessor mainboards with 64-bit, 66MHz PCI slots. However, there's no reason you can't run just one processor in a biprocessor mainboard. The cheapest mainboard I know of (that's modern) with 64-bit, 66MHz PCI slots is the Tyan Tiger MP (not MPX). It has two 64-bit, 66MHz PCI slots operating on the same bus. If you put a 32-bit card in one of these slots, the whole bus will revert to 32-bit, 33MHz PCI operation. Fortunately, it has three other 32-bit PCI slots (the 64-bit slots are right next to the AGP slot). This board does not support USB, however. If you need USB, the next step up would be an AMD 760MPX based board (the Tiger MP is 760MP based). Affordable 760MPX boards include the Asus A7M266-D, the MSI K7D Master, and the Tyan Tiger MPX. EPoX and iWill make 760MPX boards as well. For one of these "prosumer" 760MPX boards, expect to pay ~$200. For the Tiger MP, expect ~$150. Be warned that the 760MP and 760MPX chipsets have lackluster I/O subsystems. If you require a ultra high-performance I/O subsystem, you'll indeed to look into mainboards based on the ServerWorks GC-LE chipset or the Intel E7500 chipset--both are for dual Xeon use. GC-LE and iE7500 based boards, however, will run well over $400 (and Xeons aren't cheap). These boards offer many PCI-X slots on seperate buses, however.
 
Thanks for the quick response, as I have to make this purchase soon. I have a few questions:

Do I have to run an Athlon MP in those 760MP and MPX boards or are they compatible with XP's?
What exactly do you mean by ultra high-performance I/O subsystem? What will this get me? I'm using a SCSI card only. No RAID.
 
You can run a normal Athlon XP in the board (you can even run two XPs, though that isn't "officially" supported).

As for my comments on the I/O subsystem, I was referring to the fact that the 760MP and 760MPX are nothing special. They use the PCI bridge to connect to the south bridge and have no surplus memory bandwidth for DMA. The GC-LE and iE7500 are both dual-channel (memory) boards with multiple PCI buses and a high-speed bus between the north and south bridges.
 
Last question:

The Tyan Tiger MP (S2460) seems to be the one I want. However, you said that it had two 64-bit slots, while this shows it as having 4. Can I use the bottom two as regular PCI slots while running the top two as 64-bit slots or will running a 32-bit card in any of these slots revert them all to 32-bit operations?
 
"I believe PCI-X is 133MHz, 64-bit."

Either 100MHz of 133MHz.

"The cheapest mainboard I know of (that's modern) with 64-bit, 66MHz PCI slots is the Tyan Tiger MP (not MPX)."

The Tiger MP slots are 64bit 33MHz, not 66MHz. This is an important distinction since 64bit 33MHz are backwards compatible with basically all standard PCI cards, while very few standard 32bit 33MHz cards will work in a 66MHz 64bit slot like the ones on the MPX boards.

"If you put a 32-bit card in one of these slots, the whole bus will revert to 32-bit, 33MHz PCI operation."

No it does not. Putting a 32bit card in a 64bit slot will not revert the entire bus to 32bit. A 33MHz card will drop a 66MHz bus though.

"This board does not support USB, however. If you need USB, the next step up would be an AMD 760MPX based board (the Tiger MP is 760MP based)."

There is no problems with USB on MP boards, never was. The first generation MPX boards have the USB problem, which was supposedly fixed in the second revision, but there are still some issues there.

"Can I use the bottom two as regular PCI slots while running the top two as 64-bit slots or will running a 32-bit card in any of these slots revert them all to 32-bit operations?"

You can run any card in any slot on a Tiger MP without crippling the other slots.
 
Pariah, I don't believe you can purchase a 32-bit, 66MHz card. So the bus will at least revert to 33MHz operation, which is unfortunate.
 
PCI-X will be phased out (quick isnt it?) very soon anyways.

On a side note, I cant think of any consumer level, let alone enthusiast level expansion card that uses a 100 or 133Mhz PCI-X bus.
 
On a side note, I cant think of any consumer level, let alone enthusiast level expansion card that uses a 100 or 133Mhz PCI-X bus.
Click to expand...

There are several SCSI HBA's that fit in that category. There's also quite a bit of enthusiasts with interest in enterprise class storage too! 🙂

Too bad you cannot purchase a single cpu board with pci 64 at least. People will find when they purchase a dual board that they will need to buy another cpu and more memory! It's a never ending cycle, addictive as heroin! :Q

Cheers!
 
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