Hi all,
I am currently running an eVGA i680 MB with an Intel QX6800 (quad core extreme, 1066Mhz FSB) + 4GB Patriot DDR2-800 + Vista 32b + Seasonic 600W PSU. I am having continual problems with video card driver errors (vista reports that the driver has a fatal error and had to restart). After rebooting, I get a P1 error code on the board and the machine will not post bios. After some research, it seems like the issue was caused because I was using 4 DIMMs on the board. I have tried newer Nvidia and ATI video cards and both exhibit the same failure pattern. After going to 2 DIMMs (2GB total), the PC was stable for another week or so and now I am seeing the same pattern of errors occurring. The PC was stable for almost a year before the initial errors started cropping up. At this point I'm thinking it's a MB issue. Any other thoughts?
If the i680 is dead, I want to take the good parts (quad core, 4GB memory, nvidia video card) and build a machine to run windows home server. Would a server motherboard be my best option (and will the DDR2-800 memory work on it)? This is my 2nd consumer MB in a row that has fried itself (high end Gigabyte due to caps, now the eVGA)... I think manufacturers are not concerned about durability and instead want to cram on a few more features. Perhaps the server boards will offer more stability for my uses (I typically keep my systems on 24/7)? What parts does everyone recommend for this application? Quality dual Gig-E ports (linkable) would be a nice feature to have for this application.
In addition to the windows home server, I want to build up another machine for general use. My 'general use' is heavy encoding (TV, DVD and CD rips) + photoshop + the occasional game (maybe 1 semi-graphically intensive game per year). As a benchmark, the last game I played on the PC (over a year ago) was Portal. On the video side, I have an ATI 4850 for this system. However, I am wondering whether to get an i7 (consumer MB again) or go with a dual socket Xeon workstation (optimal for encoding & photoshop tasks). Do server MB's support 16x graphics? If I go with a workstation, should I go with the cheaper boards (standard DDR3) or more expensive options that use FBDIMMs?
I know this was a lot of questions... thanks for helping me out!
I am currently running an eVGA i680 MB with an Intel QX6800 (quad core extreme, 1066Mhz FSB) + 4GB Patriot DDR2-800 + Vista 32b + Seasonic 600W PSU. I am having continual problems with video card driver errors (vista reports that the driver has a fatal error and had to restart). After rebooting, I get a P1 error code on the board and the machine will not post bios. After some research, it seems like the issue was caused because I was using 4 DIMMs on the board. I have tried newer Nvidia and ATI video cards and both exhibit the same failure pattern. After going to 2 DIMMs (2GB total), the PC was stable for another week or so and now I am seeing the same pattern of errors occurring. The PC was stable for almost a year before the initial errors started cropping up. At this point I'm thinking it's a MB issue. Any other thoughts?
If the i680 is dead, I want to take the good parts (quad core, 4GB memory, nvidia video card) and build a machine to run windows home server. Would a server motherboard be my best option (and will the DDR2-800 memory work on it)? This is my 2nd consumer MB in a row that has fried itself (high end Gigabyte due to caps, now the eVGA)... I think manufacturers are not concerned about durability and instead want to cram on a few more features. Perhaps the server boards will offer more stability for my uses (I typically keep my systems on 24/7)? What parts does everyone recommend for this application? Quality dual Gig-E ports (linkable) would be a nice feature to have for this application.
In addition to the windows home server, I want to build up another machine for general use. My 'general use' is heavy encoding (TV, DVD and CD rips) + photoshop + the occasional game (maybe 1 semi-graphically intensive game per year). As a benchmark, the last game I played on the PC (over a year ago) was Portal. On the video side, I have an ATI 4850 for this system. However, I am wondering whether to get an i7 (consumer MB again) or go with a dual socket Xeon workstation (optimal for encoding & photoshop tasks). Do server MB's support 16x graphics? If I go with a workstation, should I go with the cheaper boards (standard DDR3) or more expensive options that use FBDIMMs?
I know this was a lot of questions... thanks for helping me out!
