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Couple of comments below:<br>
<br>
David Mathog <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:mathog@mendel.bio.caltech.edu"><mathog@mendel.bio.caltech.edu></a> wrote:<br>
<br>
<pre wrap="">
1. We were hoping the price of the MP chips would fall dramatically,
allowing us to fill out the servers. What happened instead is that
it leveled out at around $150/chip and then they disappeared. (The
same trick had worked once before for us, with
some Intel Pentium II 400s and ASUS motherboards, the second CPUs
were dirt cheap when we bought them a few years after the initial
system purchase and they extended the life of those workstations.)
Currently AthlonMP 2600+ with 512K cache can still be bout new, in 3 year warranty boxed version with heatsink and fan for around $160
2. We needed ECC - these nodes run continuously. ECC for
Athlons was very hard to find at the time we purchased
these machines.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>I believe the socket 754 and 939 Athlon 64s do not support ECC, while
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>the socket 940 Athlon 64 and Opteron do.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->It's hard to tell what the 754 boards support since many say they
will <span class="moz-txt-underscore"><span class="moz-txt-tag">_</span>accept<span
class="moz-txt-tag">_</span></span> ECC memory but they don't say that they can actually
<span class="moz-txt-underscore"><span class="moz-txt-tag">_</span>use<span
class="moz-txt-tag">_</span></span> it.
If you want ECC in Opterons, you need socket 940
Socket 939 supports 128 bit memory path, no ECC
Socket 754 supports 64 bit memory path, no ECC
Some may accept it, but will NOT be able to use it.
</pre>
<br>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
I was thinking of a 754 option primarily - 70 for motherboard + 130
for Athlon 64 2800 CPU (more or less.)
I would look at Socket939
128 bit memory path
And HT bus is at 2000 on the current VIA chipset.
It is still only at 1600 on the socket 940 boards.
Also, the new nVidia nForce4 chipsets supports 940, with 2000HT bus.
Also has PCI Express 16X, and there are already dual Opteron Socket 940 with this chipset.
Look, for example at the Tyan S2895 which just came out.
There is really nothing wrong with the S2466N-4M.
I would be more inclined to distrust power, cooling or RAM.
Have you installed lm_sensors on these?
BTW, for a good load/burning try running the distributed.net keygen. One can easily use all RAM and CPU on that.
memtest86 is only a memory tester, and even then does not work it hard enough to create significant heating.
Also, if using factory heatsink fans you might want to check them.
AMD had a bum bunch of AthlonMP fans in the time frame of April to December 2002. If asked they will replace them.
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>A cheaper option would be to keep the Athlon MP and simply replace the <span
class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>motherboard. The Athlon MP will work just fine in any motherboard <span
class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>taking the Athlon XP, but finding a non-dual motherboard that supports <span
class="moz-txt-citetags"></span>ECC might be tricky.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->Doubtful you will find ANY AthlonMP boards any more. This stuff is now end of life.
</pre>
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