8 core dell barebones $729

that doesn't seem like a very good reason...

i run nvidia graphics cards in systems with onboard ATi all of the time... AND vice versa
 
goodcooper said:
that doesn't seem like a very good reason...

i run nvidia graphics cards in systems with onboard ATi all of the time... AND vice versa
Click to expand...

agreed, I am just lurking overthere trying to make an excuse to not get this box and it is getting really difficult to not checkout mycart :p
 
DonDon said:
I'm not into cutting edge graphics right now, but just how much is the PCIx setup going to affect performance?

The specs say 2 X4 with X8 connectors.

First, how are these different interfaces forward and/or backward compatible with each other.

Second, how much will plugging an X8 card into an X4 slot affect performance. Has anyone seen any benchmarking to show the affect.

Third, isn't XP pro limited to 4 cores total? Can't remember about Vista, but I'm sure there are limits there too.

Looks like a fun setup for the mine is bigger and better than yours crowd.

Thanks

Don
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I have used xp with 8 cores (dempsyes + ht) since aug 2006
 
Yea, I just got done doing some research. XP Pro will work with two Sockets. They do not care how many cores are on those 2 sockets.

XP Home will only work with 1 socket.

Didn't look into Vista, but I'm sure they use some kind of similar scheme.

I also found a good article at Tom's Hardware about the PCIX bandwidth for the different types of slots.

Tom's Hardware Article

Basically they say that anything less than 16X for a single card gives up performance.

This is not a good system for any kind of graphics work or gaming with only 4X PCIX available.

Don
 
Most modern video cards begin to lose performance slightly at 8x, and a good amount at 4x PCI-E speeds... still not so much that it's atrocious, however. This is a ridiculously hot deal for those who can make use of an 8-core machine!
 
DonDon said:
I'm not into cutting edge graphics right now, but just how much is the PCIx setup going to affect performance?

The specs say 2 X4 with X8 connectors.

First, how are these different interfaces forward and/or backward compatible with each other.

Second, how much will plugging an X8 card into an X4 slot affect performance. Has anyone seen any benchmarking to show the affect.

Third, isn't XP pro limited to 4 cores total? Can't remember about Vista, but I'm sure there are limits there too.

Looks like a fun setup for the mine is bigger and better than yours crowd.

Thanks

Don
Click to expand...

Some PCI-Express benchmarks. http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/03/27/pci_express_scaling_analysis/page8.html

Edit: Oops looks like DonDon already posted that link.
 
This seems like a good deal to get for my web/cs source server but I'd need more then 1 gig of ram. Where did you see the 1 gig Kingston sticks for cheap?
 
Those benchmarks are slightly misleading. They're running a 320MB GTS at 1600x1200 so of course the speed of the connection is going to be important because it can't possible hold everything in memory.

This system would rock with one of those 1GB 2900Pro cards.
 
2 X E5320; Pad Mod to 2.33GHz, 1333Mhz FSB (add $150)
Dump the memory and hard drive on eBay (subtract $100)
2 X A-DATA 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM (add $200)
500GB 7200.10 (add $120)
SATA DVD Burner (add $30)
1GB Radeon HD 2900PRO (add $350)

$1479 (It might be worth going up to 8Gigs of Ram)
 
i wonder how fast this machine could rip through a 1760WU :D

i want to get one! run a CS server with my new 20/5 Fios connection :eek:
 
hey can you buy something from small business with a regular preferred account?
 
The 1/4/8/16 PCIe benchmark article is ok, however it neglects to mention a very important point that they are comparing 320 MB vs 512MB card at a high resolution where amount of on board memory is forcing Nvidia card to use PCIe bus to shuffle data to system memory... Since AMD card has no such problems, it shows little performance hit going from 16 -> 4. Thus, any card with 512MB+ will rock on this Dell.
 
thejulex said:
The 1/4/8/16 PCIe benchmark article is ok, however it neglects to mention a very important point that they are comparing 320 MB vs 512MB card at a high resolution where amount of on board memory is forcing Nvidia card to use PCIe bus to shuffle data to system memory... Since AMD card has no such problems, it shows little performance hit going from 16 -> 4. Thus, any card with 512MB+ will rock on this Dell.
Click to expand...

Thank you, But for the price pf the 1GB 2900PRO if you can find one you'd do well for the investment. There are higher end products if you want to spend more but I was giving my personal opinion on bang/buck.
 
How many hard drives can one fit in one of these cases?
 
sc0tty8 said:
How many hard drives can one fit in one of these cases?
Click to expand...

looks like 4 with designed holders. I do not believe the adapter for the 4th one is included unless you buy four drives from Dell with it. I am sure it will be available on the net for purchase after the fact.
 
Just got an email from Dell SB with a mystery 20/25/30% off code. Mine is 25% off the original price, making this server ~$20-40 less, still a little higher than the original $729 price before they jacked it up.
 
sc0tty8 said:
How many hard drives can one fit in one of these cases?
Click to expand...

DMarti said:
looks like 4 with designed holders. I do not believe the adapter for the 4th one is included unless you buy four drives from Dell with it. I am sure it will be available on the net for purchase after the fact.
Click to expand...
That's the killer for me. I'm already up to 8 hard drives in my file server.
 
I know this might sound like a strange question but how loud is a machine like this? Do server machines that use the tower form factor have speed throttling on the fans and such like regular consumer pc's do? I have not purchased a new machine in years and I am not much of a gamer so this pc looks like it could last me for a good long time as long as it was quiet when not under heavy load. Thanks for any info you have on this.
 
It sounds like a fighter jet when starting up and all the fans run at full throttle but after boot and during normal use it's actually very quiet....
 
Robstar said:
I know what you mean. I'm at 12, with 3 bays left :(
Click to expand...
I played around with the idea of buying this, and moving it to a new chassis, but then I thought I might as well just wait and find/build something I really want.

/shocking really, that I used that much reason when considering a PC purchase.
 
This deal smokes.

Grab this with 2x1.86's and 4x2GB ram modules: $2006 configured this way.

We've had one at work since march with the 1.6s. Runs very nicely.

If you're a linux developer this thing rips through builds and runs threads like butter.
 
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