I went to Linux World

[wbierman]

I went with a friend today down to San Jose for Linux World. Came home with a bag of Penguin stuff. What I found most interesting besides all the Linux stuff was how many of the vendors on the show floor were running the new AMD Dual Thunderbird Servers. Thay were everywhere! The only Intel boxes I saw were in the Intel booth. Amazing!

[Bruce]

I'm thinking seriously of building a dual AMD machine. I think there was a thread somewhere recommending components. What mobo? etc.

[wbierman]

You need a Tyan Thunder K7. That board requires a special AMD approved Power Supply rated @ 460 watts. You will also need "registered RAM" no generic stuff please.

If you want to use this board as it was designed then you will need a 1U rack mount case. Why a rack mount case? The RAM slots are angled so tall memory modules can squezze in the 1 3/4" high 1U case. There are 2 3COM Lan connectors built in. They go (1U case) for $300+, and the special 1U 460 watt PS goes for another $250+. Then the K7 itself goes for $225+ now. A month ago it was over $500+.

It is an expensive proposition either way. The only good thing is that the K7 will run any of the current T-bird CPUs on the market.

[Jodie]

Shopping around on pricewatch, I was able to build the whole system with a dual MP1.2 for $650. YMMV - had to shop the loss-leaders. There's enough of them out there, though, in the limit-2 range that I figure I could build 20 of them for less than $700each.

[viperdog]

Is that smoke rolling off your credit card jodie???

I'll just bet you didn't shop without having to buy just a couple???

:D :D :D :D :D

[Jodie]

actually, I only bought one... I want to see if they run cool and stable before going wild with them... So THERE.:rolleyes: :D

[Rick_Deadly]

If anything else Jodie... you're the epitome of self control......... Not, hehe

In all seriousness, once you find out how the dual Athlons work, please post your findings in the hardware section. Several of us are from a.ch.o and a.c.h.o.a newsgroups and would love to know the results.

Then of course we'll try to get you to overclock them. Maybe cut a whole in the top of the 1U case and put a Swiftech MC462A on the CPU :) A little plexiglass ramjet setup would look cool :cool:

That would be a blast :D

[Rick_Deadly]

Something like this...

http://members.home.net/rsavoie1/Extreme_Dual_Athlon_1U.gif :D

[Jodie]

Actually, I'm thinking water-block would be the way to go... How's the Tyan board for OCing though? I haven't had a chance to even unpack it, I've been sooo busy.

[wbierman]

I'm not sure there is much with the Tyan Thunder K7. Maybe 20% to 25%.... I'll have to check the manual.

[phil]

Originally posted by Jodie
How's the Tyan board for OCing though? I haven't had a chance to even unpack it, I've been sooo busy.



I don't think that you have any fsb selections (apart from 100 and 133) but you can still adjust the multiplier and Vcore. I don't know if this is selectable from the board itself, but the T-Bird has conveniently place bridges that control default multiplier and voltages. I know it is a mess about to do it the old fasioned way, but it can be done.

[Rick_Deadly]

Your right Phil, almost no standard OCing features on a K7 Thinder. They're just made for straight server use and stability.

Sorry Jodie, but the only option you'd have is manually altering the bridges directly on the CPU.

[Jodie]

no problem! That's actually rather easy anyway... Thanks all! Running late for a meeting, so short messages. ;)

[MechCD]

Watercooling = good...

whatsa matter with you people anmd yer fop38s and other high rpm fans.......

[Rick_Deadly]

Originally posted by MechCD
Watercooling = good...

whatsa matter with you people anmd yer fop38s and other high rpm fans.......

My FOP-38 only cost me $49.00Can and the cheapest water cooling setup I've seen is about $350.00Can. I'm a relatively poor, "married with children" kind of guy.

So now you know :)