[geeks] Dual Xeons - the Saga continues

Thu Feb 8 02:53:50 CST 2018

On Tue, Feb 06, 2018 at 11:46:48PM +0000, Mark Benson wrote:
>The IDA CD (OS independent bootable CD) crashes when I try to do anything 
>(config the board, update the firmware, get updates from Intel etc.)

With a board of that age I'd assume the tools are primarily DOS-based - can 
you not try and boot FreeDOS and update the BIOS that way?

>I only have Windows XP on hand and a lot of Intel's utilities don't seem 
>to work there. I can install Windows 7 Home 64-bit but only as NagWare, 
>and it may require Win7 Pro. Linux-wise it's RHEL or SLED or go home, 
>pretty-much.

Most BIOS updaters for Linux that I've used are statically compiled so they 
should work with any distribution.

>Depends which manual you're reading. My board is a S5000XVNSAS 
>Workstation/Server board. The board was revised to the S5000XVNSAS*R* 
>later in it's life and Intel seem to have obliterated all support material 
>for the old revision of the board, so the manual is a bit of a 
>pinch-of-salt job in places as it refers to the newer board which is very 
>similar  but critically *not* 100% the same.

Is [1] the manual for your board? That manual doesn't look as comprehensive 
as the one I found earlier (no mention of fan speed control, etc).

Intel has a brief set of pointers[2] that may help.

>>BTW, is there any specific reason why you're setting up an LGA771 system? 
>>They're typically loud, slow and power hungry.
>
>They're very cheap... or so I thought.
>
>I'm not after CPU grunt so I can safely stick to 80W TDP CPUs, the 
>E5320s I got cost ??3 each. RAM is also very cheap (for a reason, it's 
>hot and slow!).

Assuming you're going to run the system more than just occasionally, the 
power savings from an LGA 1366 system will more than offset its slightly 
higher cost quite quickly. Many LGA 1366 CPUs are also pretty cheap - eg, 
the E5640, which has a respectable passmark score of 5311.

>I also have a Mac Pro (that develped a crashing problem) to scow parts 
>from (I ended up using the CPU heat-sinks because they're awesome and 
>they were the best cost of FREE).

>That would have originally been outside my budget. Hindsight's a wonderful 
>thing as I sit next to a system that's cost almost ??200 to build, but 
>that I only know now, *AFTER* I've done it.

I know the feeling. I've bought many a bargain basement "deal" only to have 
cost spiral out of control when I start upgrading CPUs, RAM, storage, etc.

>Maybe when I come to my senses later I'll just grab a used T610 or 
>something and have done with it :P

:) Dell Rx10 systems are probably the most bang-for-buck at the moment (the 
Tx10 are a bit pricier due to their tower form factor). For rackmount 
systems they're very quiet (even the 1U systems are near silent under 
regular load).

[1] https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/motherboards/server/s5000xvn/sb/d36222004_s5000xvn_user_guide.pdf 
[2] https://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/support/articles/000005890/server-products.html

Cheers, MJ
-- 
Michael-John Turner * mj at mjturner.net * http://mjturner.net/ 