Recommend a real good Dual CPU board w/ SCSI? (for 3DSMAX)

[Rexxenexx]

Right now I'm using a P42.4 on an Intel mobo. I need something that can render lightyears faster than what I got now. I was thinking about a Xeon mobo but its way too much, unless you all know one thats priced good? What do you recommend?

 

[Peter]

Whatever you do, keep the SCSI controller separate. You'll want to keep it next time you change mainboards.

 

[Rexxenexx]

SEAGATE SCSI 18GB 10,000RPM, MODEL# ST318406LW OEM, DRIVE ONLY @ $138
TEKRAM ULTRA 160 SCSI ADAPTER CARD DC390U3W RETAIL BOX @ $135

These good choices? Tekram ok?

 

[Peter]

That Tekram uses LSI's excellent 53C1010 SCSI engine, along with LSI's own reference SCSI BIOS and drivers. Very good choice, solid track record in software quality, and a speedy, CPU-offloading SCSI engine.
This is a dual channel adapter btw, with one U160 channel and another legacy UW/U channel for other misc SCSI peripherals. Tekram also include all the cabling and termination you'll need.

Just make sure you don't get an old, 66-MHz-PCI-incapable board revision. The SCSI chip should read "53C1010-66", and the card should be 64-bit 66 MHz 3.3V/5V PCI.

But if you're in the US and need not attach other SCSI stuff, order from www.hypermicro.com and visit www.storagereview.com beforehand. There's a special deal that gets you an "LSI U160" single channel SCSI adapter (bulk) for free with an order from a certain range of SCSI HDDs. You'll need to order a U160 cable w/ termination then. (Note: This budget U160 card also uses the 53C1010, but the older -33 version. It's a 64-bit 33 MHz card.)

 

[render]

dual xeon all the way. I used to have dual 2.4ghz xeon, which rendered almost 2 times faster than single processor machine.

edit:
Dual Xeon 2.4Ghz (step code SL6EP-1.5V) with 80mm fan modded cooling - 2 months old
Tyan i7505 Tiger- S2668AN - 2 months old
Gainward Ti4600 Dual DVI link (one dvi-vga adapter)
Crucial 1024MB(1GB) Memory (512mb x 2)
Western Digial SE 8mb 120GB and 100GB (total 220GB)
Fortron 550W EPS12V (retail)
Lan & Sound onboard

I sold these for $1150 shipped

 

[Aenslead]

If you cannot wait/afford getting a Dual Opteron machine, with a Tyan or MSI motherboard, then dual Xeon are the way to go. Prices have been droping constantly.

Here are some suggestions for both options:

Xeon: http://www.asus.com/products/server/srv-mb/pc-dl/overview.htm
Xeon (2): http://www.tyan.com/products/html/tigeri7505.html

Opteron: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/server/svr/pro_svr_detail.php?UID=484

... and I'll try to find anotherone.

 

[Peter]

Tyan's Opteron boards are just 'round the corner as well.

 

[Aenslead]

I saw a pic of the Tyan opteron board somewhere... with AGP and all... cant find it now, though.

Gigabyte is reading a board, too.

 

[jose]

goto newegg's site and checkout the server based Xeon mobo's you can get a E7505 "Placer" for about $380 & a 2.8 Xeon for about $345 (533fsb)

Should be pretty fast w/ 2 gigs of memory

You could also try to get an Asus PC-DL mobo(875p). It supports Hyper threading. This way I guess you'd have a Quad Proc mobo
Just checked pricewatch Atacom list this mobo for $$288 , but can't find it on their web site. Maybe comming soon.

Regards,
Jose

 

[sector51]

hehe i would get dual p4's with 800mhz fsb or an amd opteron since they both have high cache and fsb.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: sector51
hehe i would get dual p4's with 800mhz fsb or an amd opteron since they both have high cache and fsb.

You can't do Dual P4's. BUT you can do Dual Opteron's

 

[jose]

Do any of the Xeons support Hyperthreading ?

Regards,
Jose

 

[jose]

Rexxenexx:

What os are you using ? I heard XP has a performance penality w/ scsi. You're probably better off
w/ the E7505 based mobo & dual 2.8 xeons.

Regards,
Jose

 

[Aenslead]

Xeons actually had the first version of HT enabled, so yeah, new versions is obviously available.

 

[Peter]

XP used to have a performance problem with some SCSI controllers thanks to some registry screwuppage. This has long been figured out, and should be gone by now.

 

[Rexxenexx]

THX all!

My rig:
P4 2.4GHz
Intel D850MV mobo
512MB RDRAM
20GB HDD (Win2Kpro)
60GB HDD (Apps etc)

I have other comps I use as render slaves, like a old quad PPro and a dual PIII 800. I used to have a Dual PII w/ UltraSCSI drives that was real fast at opening apps and playing back videos, not to mention starting up windows. Compared to the Dual PIII800 it blew it out of the water, and it was noticably faster at starting up 3dsMAX. Still the Quad PPro has a REAL old SCSI drive and it starts 3dsMAX -really any app- fast!
Yea I'll look into those boards you guys said. Ultimatly the SCSI has to go through the PCI bus, should I be concerned that way? Thats why I was thinking of an onboard SCSI, or does the onboard go through the same bus anyway?

I think basically what I want ( thx to your guys help ) is something like this:
P2.8GHz or 3.0GHz Xeon (533Mhz or 800 if its out)
2GB DDR Ram
20-40GB SCSI (160 because price is better)
60-80GB SCSI (for Apps)
120GB ata (for video etc)

I think I'll keep my Gforce4 Ti4600 until the Quadro/ FireGL prices come down.

 

[Peter]

Onboard SCSI can only hook up to busses that are there - and there's no other choice than whatever PCI busses the chipset offers. So in general, there's no performance difference between onboard and on-card SCSI. (On complicated server chipsets with multiple, variable-speed PCI busses, there might be stupid combinations of devices on certain busses that do hamper performance, but that's an entirely different story.)