K8WE or K8W for Linux

[jose]

Hi everyone I'm getting ready to build a Linux server w/ either the K8W or the K8WE.

I will be running RH 4.0 ES . My main concern is are there any "issues" w/ running Linux on the newer K8WE .. The K8w is an older tech mobo and probably has had time to get any bugs worked out.

But the K8WE is based on newer "bleeding edge tech". The K8WE will probably be supported better/longer than the K8W mobo.

I'm not sure which board to use right now.. Going w/ the newer K8WE will make it easier to replace the mobo in the future.
(just because it will be easier to find, say 1-2yrs from now)

here are some of the specs :

Video: 6600GT pci-e or agp version
CPU : 2 -248's
memory: 4 x 1gig Cosair reg. ecc
hd: 8 - 36g Maxtor 15k2 in raid 5
cntrl: LSI 320-2X (64bit/133mhz) scsi controller
psu: 700w zippy.
case: CM Stacker w/ hotswap hd's

What do you guys think ? go w/ the older mature K8W or the
newer K8WE ?

Regards,
Jose

 

[uOpt]

Most dual opterons we have in the office are K8W (AGP) based.

ASLABs ships their own kernel for some obscure claimed driver issues but I just use stock kernels with no problems.

Note that these are based on the AMD chipset, not the NVidia chipset. I am getting suspicious of NVidia chipsets these days...

 

[jose]

Thanks,

Due to lack of response's from this and other forums, I'm going to stick w/ the K8W (agp) mobo.

Going w/ the agp version will let me spend money elsewhere. This will be a nice little Linux Box :

2 - 248's
4 - 1 gig cosair reg. ecc
Tyan Thunder K8W
2940u2w (currentl have ) for 2 Tape drives
2 - dds4 20/40 tape drives
LSI Megaraid 320-2x 64bit/133mhz controller
10 - Fujistu MAS 15k 36g hd's raid 5
CM Stacker w/ crossflow fan
2 - supermicro 5 bay hot swap cages
NEC 3520a cd/dvd
NEC 1.44
Asus 5200 agp video card.
Zippy 700w psu


All this for only ~$6K, this is super cheap imo..

Regards,
Jose

 

[imported_Kensai]

6K....

 

[The Pentium Guy]

6K... "super cheap." Linux doesn't even NEED that much to get i running, unless you're running a server (Which, I presume, you are )

 

[Peter]

I don't see why you're using a workstation board for this server purpose. I'd have gone for e.g. a K8SD-pro w/ onboard SCSI and onboard simple graphics.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

what about this one? havent seen any reviews
K8T MASTER2-FAR MS-9130, http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product....C-Sm4rterDe4ls&ATT=Motherboards+Server

 

[The Pentium Guy]

I heard that board was plagued with incompatibilities with hardware - Try the ASUS K8N-DL

 

[jose]

This is for a server.. I really don't care for any onboard scsi . The LSI 2 channel raid controller is better than any onboard scsi.

As for as the agp k8w, you never know what the mobo will be recycled for ..

$6K is cheap, I priced a simliar but lesser performance Dell poweredge server. The Dell cost over $11,589 , I could buy 2 Opteron systems for the same price as the Dell.
Plus I wanted a true 64bit cpu, and not some Prescott based Xeon cores..

This box will replace a PowerEdge dual 700 p3 system w/ 6 - 18g 10k raid 5 w/ 2gigs of ram. It should be quite an improvement.

I'm more concerned w/ the I/0 subsystem than the cpu system because it will be running a large enterprise database w/ millions of records .. This is why I selected a mobo that has
a 64bit/133mhz pci-x slot and the LSI raid controller and 10 - 15k Fujistu hd's.

Of course I will load winXP just to test the components out before I load Linux. I'll see what kind of thru put 10 - 15k scsi drives in raid0 can sustain..
I'd run D3, but the video card sucks, but I could temporarilly pull my 6800GT from my pc to run some benches... Then we could see what 4gigs of ram & scsi raid0 will do..

Regards,
Jose

 

[uOpt]

OK, some updates.

The FreeBSD folks slam Tyan quite a big, apparently they have a tendency to screw up their BIOSes and PCI timings.

The Broadcom BCM5704C is under quite a bit of fire, too. It is unclear whether the FreeBSD driver is screwing things up, but generally FreeBSD drivers are very solid and the server types are not the ones to blame hardware when they screwed it up themself.

It seems that the AMD chipset only supports DDR333

The FreeBSD folks seem to like Iwill best. If I decide to go Opteron I am considering this board:
Iwill DK8X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813129132

Looks nice and the AGP port is arranged so that it will block a slow PCI slot, not a PCI-X slot if you have a two-slot card.

BTW, here you can get 1 GB ECC registered for cheap:
newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820208124

 

[Peter]

"chipset only supports DDR333". Hello? The RAM controller is in the CPU not the chipset. Same as everyone else's!

I would have taken the onboard SCSI as a replacement for the ancient Adaptec, not instead of the Megaraid.

 

[jose]

I'll be using pc3200 Cosair reg. ecc . $165ea. It's listed on tyans mem supported page. Under the bios you can select ddr400..

Yeah the onboard scsi is better than the 2940u2w , but we have some 50pin and 68pin tape drives..

Do you know of any 64bit scsi hba's that have 50pin support & 68pin support. The only one's I found run at 33mhz anyway. (Adaptec 39160 & LSI 21040)

I'd have to get another raid controller (Adaptec 29320A-R 64bit/133mh) just for the tape drives. I'm not sure that having 2 raid controllers would work well in Linux..

BTW I'll be running RedHat 4.0 ES Linux.. and a Accell/Unify RDBMS...

Thanks everyone for the input..

Regards,
Jose

 

[Peter]

The LSI21040 has a dedicated UW/U channel alongside a multimode LVD/SE channel. You can use one for your 50-pin stuff and the other for your 68-pin, whether the latter are LVD or SE. The 21040 btw is a 66-MHz 64-bit PCI device, and so is the Tekram 390U3W which uses the same dual-channel chip, channel setup and software.

 

[jose]

Thanks,

I'll get the LSI21040 to connect my tape drives, alot better than the 2940u2w ..

BTW, I have a LSIu160 card laying around, do you know what speed it is ? 33mhz or 66mhz ??

Maybe I can do w/out the 50pin tape drive..

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Jose

 

[Peter]

The LSI "U160" card is a budget effort, using an older revision 53C1010-33 chip on a stripped-down PCB design. It's 64-bit 33 MHz. Good card for users with "normal" mainboards or older server/workstation machines - not a good choice if you've got PCI-X.

 

[jose]

Thanks alot for your help.

I'll stick w/ the LSI21040 card..

Regards,
Jose

 

[Aenslead]

Try Windows Server 2003!

 

[jose]

Quote: Try Windows Server 2003!

Sorry but we're running a enterprise database not a gaming machine.

Regards,
Jose