CentOS - Jun 2006 - SuperMicro X7DBE with CentOS4?

I am planning to build a server based on the SuperMicro X7DBE+-O
motherboard.  This server will have two dual-core Xeon processors and
a 3ware 9550SX raid card.

Has anyone built a server based on this motherboard?  Are there any
issues with the smp/dual-core support in CentOS4 that might cause
problems?

I appreciate any input.  I'm just looking to find out about any
possible problems before I spend the money for the MB, CPU, and
amazingly expensive RAM.

Thanks,

-- 
Bowie

On Tue, 20 Jun 2006 at 5:26pm, Bowie Bailey wrote
> I am planning to build a server based on the SuperMicro X7DBE+-O
> motherboard.  This server will have two dual-core Xeon processors and
> a 3ware 9550SX raid card.
>
> Has anyone built a server based on this motherboard?  Are there any
> issues with the smp/dual-core support in CentOS4 that might cause
> problems?
CentOS4 has no issues with SMP/dual core.
> I appreciate any input.  I'm just looking to find out about any
> possible problems before I spend the money for the MB, CPU, and
> amazingly expensive RAM.
Is there any reason you're locked into Xeon/FB-DIMM?  SuperMicro makes 
many rather nice Opteron boards, with good ol' DDR SDRAM.  And there 
aren't many areas where Xeon outperforms Opteron these days, if any.

-- 
Joshua Baker-LePain
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Duke University

Joshua Baker-LePain wrote:
> 
> Is there any reason you're locked into Xeon/FB-DIMM?  SuperMicro makes
> many rather nice Opteron boards, with good ol' DDR SDRAM.  And there
> aren't many areas where Xeon outperforms Opteron these days, if any.
Not really, can you recommend a comparable Opteron MB?  I need PCI-X
133 for the raid card, capability of at least 32MB RAM, and preferably
onboard video and LAN.

-- 
Bowie

Joshua Baker-LePain wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Jun 2006 at 5:53pm, Bowie Bailey wrote
> 
> > Joshua Baker-LePain wrote:
> > > 
> > > Is there any reason you're locked into Xeon/FB-DIMM? 
SuperMicro
> > > makes many rather nice Opteron boards, with good ol' DDR
SDRAM.
> > > And there aren't many areas where Xeon outperforms Opteron
these
> > > days, if any. 
> > 
> > Not really, can you recommend a comparable Opteron MB?  I need PCI-X
> > 133 for the raid card, capability of at least 32MB RAM, and
> > preferably onboard video and LAN.
> 
> I'll assume you meant 32GB RAM.  ;)  In that case, your options
> become a bit more limited.  SM doesn't have any 2 socket Opteron
> boards with 16 DIMM slots -- they have at most 4 slots/socket.  So,
> to stick with SM, you'd have to either go with 4GB sticks (which,
I'm
> guessing, may well be as pricy as FB-DIMM per GB) or go to a 4 socket
> board.  Either way, you may not get much cost savings, but you'll
> still likely get a performance boost.
Yea, 32GB... :)  I can't actually find any 4GB modules at the moment,
but I'm sure you're right.  The 2GB PC2700 ECC-Reg modules are cheaper
than the DDR2 ECC-FB modules, but 16GB memory still accounts for
almost half of the total cost of the server.

I'm only populating it with 16GB to start with, but I want to leave
myself some headroom to increase it if needed.
> The other option is to go with Tyan.  They have the S3892, a dual
> socket board with 16 DIMM slots.
That looks like a good board.  It seems to have everything I need.

The only source I could find for it is memorylabs.com.  Anyone know
anything about them?

Going with the dual Opteron 270 (2.0GHz) rather than the dual Xeon
5060 (3.2GHz) and the slightly cheaper RAM saves me about $320.
> As an aside, 3ware now has a PCIe version (the 9590SE) in addition to
> the PCI-X 9550.
Any advantage to PCIe over PCI-X?  I don't really know much about
either other than that they are both faster than standard PCI.

-- 
Bowie