[rescue] U20 motherboard upgrade ?- WAS: Wanted: Old Sun Hardware

[Lionel Peterson]

On Oct 15, 2009, at 12:00 PM, Jerry K <sun.mail.list47 at oryx.cc> wrote:

> please see in line comments.
>
> Peter Corlett wrote:
>> On 14 Oct 2009, at 20:04, Jerry K wrote:
>> [...]
>>> As these are x86 systems, I am curious if anyone has performed a  
>>> motherboard/CPU upgrade on an Ultra 20?  Are there any oddities or  
>>> particular strange parts in an Ultra 20, vs any other generic x86  
>>> based system that would preclude an upgrade?
>> I've not dismantled it fully, but it appears to be about as  
>> standard as any other x86 box in an ATX case.
>> Note that it's *Opteron* not Athlon,
>
> According to the order form, from when I purchased the system, it is  
> the AMD Opteron Model 1218 (Dual Core).
>
> and you need PC3200 DDR ECC RAM to
>> max out the memory. This is not economic if you were aiming for the  
>> full 8GB. So just treat the motherboard, CPU and RAM as a single  
>> assembly for the purpose of upgrading.
>
> Thank you for this part.  That is/was my ultimate plan was to  
> replace the motherboard/CPU/memory.  Per Sun, this MB has a max ram  
> of 8 Gb, and I wanted to go to 16 Gb, and also move to an intel  
> processor.  I really just liked the case and didn't want to part  
> with it.

I can't imagine an economical way to get to 16 Gigs without 8 SIMM  
sockets, and that many SIMM sockets would eliminate dual CPU boards in  
ATX form AFAIK. You may have to up the PS as well, making it an  
expensive upgrade, on a par with the price of a new system... I  
understand wanting to keep the case, but that and the DVD drive may be  
all you keep.

An i920 or i750 board with lots of DDR3 RAM and bigger PS would make a  
GREAT upgrade, but at $600-750US it is close to the price of a similar  
'store bought' system. Of course, I'd fill the two SATA bays with 1 TB  
WD Black drives at $100 ea.

That's how we roll here at Chez Peterson...

Lionel