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Looking for a good 2U server PSU

X

Xpage

Senior member
I'm considering building a server for my lovely game once it outgrows our current host.

I'm looking for a good 2U server PSU that will be able to handle about 350W maximum and needs to be redundent.

Here's the basic layout of the server
1x Opteron 175
1x MB to be determined
2x Kingston KVR400D8R3A/1G ECC Registered 2 GB total
4x 36 GB WD RAPTOR SATA
1x DVD-RW
1x Flroopy Drive
1x Cheapest PCIe video card I can find
1x SATA RAID Controller


I figrued that the CPU would take about 200W on a max draw, 30W for the mainboard 10W for the memoery, WD says the raptors use about 9W, I'll say 15W, 15W for the DVD-RW, 5W for the floppy and probably 40W for the video card. The SATA controller shouldn't take up to much watts either.

So that's a max load of about 370 Watts (which is probably an overestimate of about 40watts or so).


So ideally I'd like to get a 400-460W redundent PS that'll fit in a 2U case. Something that is quality but won't cost much more than $300. I haven't bought anything yet so if you find a case w/ PS that'd work too. Also anybopdy know of any good SATA Controllers for Raid 1+0 for about $150. I'd use onboard but that'll probably take about 10% CPU utilization, maybe more. Please correct me if you know otherwise on a Nforce4 board and use the onboard raid.

As usual any and all recommendations are welcome

 
I didn't know that Registered ECC works on A64 X2s....
Last time I checked, they didn't.

The 36GB Raptors are underperformers... Get the 74GB versions instead or Hitachi 7K250s.
 
blast!
Time for a new MB. I update dit sinc ei read somehting about 175 opterons being availabel in September sometime
 
Having Registered memory was never a Server requirement. Registered DIMM's just(lose 1 CAS) buffered out that electrical load put on the Bus when having banks in capacity that exceeds 4(per channel). You can't do this with Unbuffered memory unless the DIMM's are single sided. Servers usually use large capacity DIMM's with more than 2 sides(double) per slot. If a board has 4,6, & 8 slots, then it would make sense to use Registered memory. Unless, the memory controller can handle the load of 8+ banks without frequency reduction. AFAIK, Only RDRAM,XDR,FB-DIMM's can perform this without frequency reduction.

If you take a look @ the Socket 754 boards, you'll notice the majority of them use only 2 DIMM's. The memory controller can only handle 2 Dual side modules before the frequency drops to 333mhz. Some boards added 3 DIMM's with an external clock generator to control the 3rd DIMM @ full clock. But, it eventually didn't work and per request by AMD, BIOS updates went out to reduce the frequency for 3 DIMM's for stability purposes. Socket 754,being single channel can only handle 2 double sided unbuffered DIMM's @ full clock. Socket 939, 4 double sided unbuffered DIMM's @ full clock. (2 per channel).

So, you don't need Registered memory on the Socket 939.

Xpage, if I were you, I would check out the Tyan Tomcat K8E. It has better BIOS support and features than those other Taiwanese boards. Dual GigE Lan, Onboard video, RAID support. It's just flat out the board of choice for what you want to di with it.

So, you can drop that PCI-e Video card you planned on putting in there. I wouldn't worry generally about the speed differences between the 36GB and 73GB Raptors as the Game (battlefield or whatever) will more than likely reside in the capacity of the memory once it's been loaded from the drive or RAID array.

What 2U chassis do you have? Some chassis won't fit Redundant PSU's because of the length of hte PSU itself. 460watt EPS12v That's the best it can get for Retail.

But, I wouldn't ignore ebay either as there are some Rack companies registered there to sell their stuff at a fraction.

What heatsink are you going to use?

You'll need this memory here. Samsung 512MB Unbuffered ECC.

How do you plan to back up your data externally? Tape? Iomega Rev? Or just DVD+R on schedule?

 
Originally posted by: ReMeDy{WcS}
Having Registered memory was never a Server requirement. Registered DIMM's just(lose 1 CAS) buffered out that electrical load put on the Bus when having banks in capacity that exceeds 4(per channel). You can't do this with Unbuffered memory unless the DIMM's are single sided. Servers usually use large capacity DIMM's with more than 2 sides(double) per slot. If a board has 4,6, & 8 slots, then it would make sense to use Registered memory. Unless, the memory controller can handle the load of 8+ banks without frequency reduction. AFAIK, Only RDRAM,XDR,FB-DIMM's can perform this without frequency reduction.

If you take a look @ the Socket 754 boards, you'll notice the majority of them use only 2 DIMM's. The memory controller can only handle 2 Dual side modules before the frequency drops to 333mhz. Some boards added 3 DIMM's with an external clock generator to control the 3rd DIMM @ full clock. But, it eventually didn't work and per request by AMD, BIOS updates went out to reduce the frequency for 3 DIMM's for stability purposes. Socket 754,being single channel can only handle 2 double sided unbuffered DIMM's @ full clock. Socket 939, 4 double sided unbuffered DIMM's @ full clock. (2 per channel).

So, you don't need Registered memory on the Socket 939.

Xpage, if I were you, I would check out the Tyan Tomcat K8E. It has better BIOS support and features than those other Taiwanese boards. Dual GigE Lan, Onboard video, RAID support. It's just flat out the board of choice for what you want to di with it.

So, you can drop that PCI-e Video card you planned on putting in there. I wouldn't worry generally about the speed differences between the 36GB and 73GB Raptors as the Game (battlefield or whatever) will more than likely reside in the capacity of the memory once it's been loaded from the drive or RAID array.

What 2U chassis do you have? Some chassis won't fit Redundant PSU's because of the length of hte PSU itself. 460watt EPS12v That's the best it can get for Retail.

But, I wouldn't ignore ebay either as there are some Rack companies registered there to sell their stuff at a fraction.

What heatsink are you going to use?

You'll need this memory here. Samsung 512MB Unbuffered ECC.

How do you plan to back up your data externally? Tape? Iomega Rev? Or just DVD+R on schedule?
Click to expand...


Intresting..
The majority of performance S754 boards have 3 DIMMs... 😉
 
Originally posted by: Kensai
Originally posted by: ReMeDy{WcS}
Originally posted by: Kensai
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811152002
^ 2U case with redundant PSU above

The new Opterons will be S939 that use standard DDR400 memory instead expensive ECC Registered. 🙂
Click to expand...


The X2 is capable of supporting ECC as well.
Click to expand...

Forgot about that. Slightly useless though. You'll rarely need ECC.
Click to expand...


A small enclosure like a Rackmount Chassis? With All that EMI, and possibly Cosmic disruption as well? It's going to be one 24 hours a day. I don't think the clients connecting to the server for a game will appreciate the server stuttering or going down because someone thought ECC was slightly useless.

It's better to have the Option to enable or disabling rather than just not have it all.
 
Originally posted by: ReMeDy{WcS}
Originally posted by: Kensai
Originally posted by: ReMeDy{WcS}
Originally posted by: Kensai
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811152002
^ 2U case with redundant PSU above

The new Opterons will be S939 that use standard DDR400 memory instead expensive ECC Registered. 🙂
Click to expand...


The X2 is capable of supporting ECC as well.
Click to expand...

Forgot about that. Slightly useless though. You'll rarely need ECC.
Click to expand...


A small enclosure like a Rackmount Chassis? With All that EMI, and possibly Cosmic disruption as well? It's going to be one 24 hours a day. I don't think the clients connecting to the server for a game will appreciate the server stuttering or going down because someone thought ECC was slightly useless.

It's better to have the Option to enable or disabling rather than just not have it all.
Click to expand...

Hrm.. Noticing that all my racks don't use ECC nor do they support it.. None of them failed, crashed, stuttered so far.. Guess you just need to know what to do. 😉
 
WIth that logic. Because a person never caught a flat tire, they don't need to carry around a spare one in their trunk right?
 
Originally posted by: ReMeDy{WcS}
WIth that logic. Because a person never caught a flat tire, they don't need to carry around a spare one in their trunk right?
Click to expand...

Noticing that all my racks don't use ECC nor do they support it.
Click to expand...

Yay for poor reading skills! 😀

Either way, as EatSpam suggests, Zippy/EMacs PSUs are extremely powerful for server use.
I believe that Antec and Enermax have some server PSUs too. I don't know if they'll fit a 2U rackmount though.
 
Wow thanks for all the help and input.

I just caught an article on the new 939 opterons, I though they got cancelled, but it appears they should be available at the end of the month.

ReMeDy{WcS} - Yeah I also noticed that too in the AMD article so it looks like the board of choice instead of going with an x2 and a 939 MB, I'll go for that and the Tyan. Cost is a little bit cheaper so I can go splurge on something else.

Currently the only backups I have planned would be downloading the DB since it is less than 80MBf or about 1k players (We only have 200 atm). I'd probabyl go RAID 5 so I can use 3 HDD but I'd rather go 1+0 and get more performance instead of buying a controller. A few % of cpu utilization won't matter too much since the only time the system is really stressed is when our big query runs.

I guess if we get bigger I'll use a tape option but I don't see that happening for at least awhile. I'm being paranoid enough going for a RAID setup and redundent PS. But better safe than sorry.


BTW- anybody know of a good calculator to estimate power consumption from typical hardware in a PC
 
You can try this calculator.

instead of going with an x2 and a 939 MB
Click to expand...

Actually, the Tyan Tomecat Is a Socket 939 board and supports X2 and Opteron (939). But, in this case, I would rather pay for an X2 4800+ @ 2.4Ghz $800 rather than Opteron 165 @ 1.8Ghz for $800. More bang for the buck with the X2.

Tomcat K8E

Depending on your 2U rack, a Heatsink may be a bit of trick. Could take the passive approach and use a shroud over it.(connected to the exhaust)

Or, side blow method.

Or, regular basic blow down method as normal heatsinks use. An XP-90 won't fit in there. 3.7in (H), 2U is 3.5in (H).

I would probably be more inclined to use the Alpha 2U heatsink verse the others. I got a price quote on it for you from Kataoka @ Alpha Novatech, It's estimated to be $29 per unit for the 2U sink, per unit.

GL with your build.



 
thanks again.

I was thinking a 175 opteron when they get released in Early September should cost around $530, though I may try for the x2 4800.
 
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