Motherboards with the most slots - Intel Core 2 CPU

[imported_boe]

Hello,

I'm about to build a new system - would possibly be willing to wait for the new core 2 chips and bearlake. I need to build a backup server and want to put at least 4 scsi controllers on board - I don't care if they are PCI or PCI e. I would prefer they were all the same type though.

Any recommendations on what motherboards have the most slots would be appreciated. My current system has 5 PCI slots but it is 3 years old. I'm ready to upgrade it but am having a hard time finding a good motherboard.

Thanks

 

[AlucardX]

my only guess is to look for server motherboards. not the typical enthusiast's

 

[AlucardX]

my only guess is to look for server motherboards. not the typical enthusiast's

 

[tungtung]

Just a quick question ... why do u need 4 controllers ?
I mean nowadays there are SAS controllers with up to 24 ports on board. If you use 1TB drives ... that's like 24TB raw (well less with RAID 5 or 6), that's like a datacentre type of storage space there.

A few possibilities:
1. MSI X38 Diamond (4x PCI-e (x16), 2x regular PCI, 1x PCI-e (x1))
2. Supermicro PDSMA+ (1x PCI-e (x8), 1x 64-bit PCI, 5x regular PCI) - with integrated video
3. Tyan Tomcat i7230W / S5162 (1x PCI-e (x16), 3x 64-bit PCI, 2x regular PCI) - with integrated video
4. Tyan Tomcat i7230A / S5160 (2x PCI-e (x16), 4x regular PCI) - with integrated video

I don't know much about any other boards but those are the ones I could think of. But seriously rather than putting more cards with less connectors, better use less cards but more connectors (ie. rather than 4x 8-ports cards, why not use 2x 24-ports cards)

 

[imported_boe]

Thanks we are currently backing up to LTO3, we'll probably be backing up to LTO4 by the end of the year. Because of interaction, backing up to 4 tapes individually provides optimal performance for a nightly backup. I don't like incremental backups as tracking down tapes, making sure backups occurred etc is not my favorite thing in the event of an emergency particularly since I'm not there full time.

 

[lopri]

Doesn't Asus P5W64 board has 4 physical PCI-E x16 layout? They might be electrically different but should be able to be configured as x8/x8/x4/x4 or something like that.

 

[o1die]

I'd check Tyan or supermicro for a server grade board.

 

[renethx]

Look at:

Supermicro Core 2 Motherboards

Supermicro Xeon 3200/3000 Motherboards (supports also Core 2).

 

[imported_boe]

Thanks for all the replies! I can defintely get one with four PCI slots!

I'm tempted to wait to see if anyone will make a bearlake motherboard with 5 PCI E slots (one still needed for video unless it has on board video)

 

[Peter]

LTO streamers typically have U2W interfaces, no? That means you can put at least two of them on the same cable without bandwidth problems.

Use one, or if you want to keep everything separate, two dual-channel cards (LSI, Tekram, Adaptec) and you're sorted. For good bandwidth, you'll need 64-bit PCI or PCI-X slots. Controller chips for SCSI on PCI-E do not exist as far as I know.

 

[imported_boe]

The connectors on mine are 320, not sure what the LTO4s coming out this October will be. Adaptec makes PCI E controllers now.

You'll see a big difference in performance between the primary connector and the secondary on dual connector controllers.

 

[imported_boe]

I appreciate the help I've gotten here.

Time for me to bite the bullet this week. I held out as long as I could.

Anything being released immediately with lots of PCI express slots? (they need to be at least 8x)


Thanks

 

[Peter]

I recommend you look at Tyan's catalogue of server/workstation boards. Due to chipset and CPU topology, it's typically easier for an AMD board to have lots of PCIE - mainly because the HyperTransport approach lets you have as many PCIE bridge chips as you please.

Like,
http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=163

It even comes with a SAS RAID controller right there onboard, so you can save your precious slots for the legacy SCSI controllers you need for the LTOs.

From there, I suggest you use twin dual-channel SCSI boards for your four channels, like LSI's 22320 for PCI-X. That'll get you the four channels you want, and leave all the nice PCIE slots for the future

(Besides, given the actual transfer rates of the LTO streamers, I do think that having two of them on the same SCSI channel won't harm their performance at all.)

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: boe
The connectors on mine are 320, not sure what the LTO4s coming out this October will be. Adaptec makes PCI E controllers now.

You'll see a big difference in performance between the primary connector and the secondary on dual connector controllers.

That is true for the fake dual channel controllers that actually use just one channel. True dual channel ones, like Adaptec's 3xxxx series or LSI's 21320 or 22320, have separate, identical SCSI engines for each channel.

 

[imported_boe]

Peter, thanks for the feedback. You are correct about the AMD - dang it, I really wanted to go Intel.

 

[Peter]

You're welcome. I checked a bit more later, and found two more things:

For one, even Intel's latest server chipset, the 5000 series, has a total of 24 PCIE lanes only. Eight of those go to the southbridge, and come back out as 3x4 - whereas NVidia's AMD server chipset combination has 56 lanes right out of its twin northbridges, and doesn't even need to use some of those for ethernet because it has twin GbE channels integrated too.

Secondly, Tyan are offering a dual-U320 SCSI module for the board I mentioned in their own special form factor, meaning you don't even need to use a regular slot for it.

http://www.tyan.com/product_accessories_spec.aspx?pid=3