[Pc_Support] Re: Awesome deal on Tyan mobo... -- Tyan mainboard guide, why PCI-X, DL145

[Bryan J. Smith]

Carter Manucy <carter at carter.cc> wrote:
> Ah, you mean more along the lines of the Tyan S2895?
> I was trying to decide between that one and the S2882.

HyperTransport Tunnels/Bridges:  
  nForce Pro 2200:  20 PCIe, 2xGbE, 4xSATA, PCI/LPC
  nForce Pro 2050:  20 PCIe, 2xGbE, 4xSATA
nForce4 Ultra/SLI:  20 PCIe, 2xGbE, 4xSATA, PCI/LPC
          AMD8151:  AGP 3.0
          AMD8131:  (2) PCI-X 1.0
          AMD8111:  2xATA, PCI/LPC

Tyan Product Configurations -- 4-way:  
  S4881:  nFPro2200 (CPU#0) + AMD8131 (CPU#2)
S4880/2:  AMD8131 + AMD111 (CPU#0)
Tyan Product Configurations -- 2-way:  
  S2895:  nFPro2200 + AMD8131 (CPU#0) + nFPro2050 (CPU#1)
S2891/2:  nFPro2200 + AMD8131 (CPU#0)
  S2885:  AMD8151 + AMD8131 + AMD8111 (CPU#0)
S2881/2:  AMD8131 + AMD8111 (CPU#0)
  S2875:  AMD8151 + AMD8111 (CPU#0) -- *NO* AMD8131

HP/Sun Product Configurations -- 4-way
  DL585:  AMD8131 + AMD8111 (CPU#0) + AMD8131 (CPU#2)
 SFV40z:  (2) AMD8131 + AMD8111 (CPU#0) + AMD8131 (CPU#1)

> Only about $30 difference on Newegg... but seems like a 
> world of difference in the options there. 

For a desktop, the S2882 doesn't even have AGP.
You'd want at least the S2885 for AGP.
Or the S2895 for PCIe.

On a server, then you'd probably like the S2882/S2892.
Or the S2881/S2892 which fits in 1U.
Depends if you want PCIe slots for I/O (the 289x models).

I've seen some of the S288x models for under $400.

> This box doesn't have a lot of need for PCI-X stuff,

Huh?  What storage are you going to use?
You said this was a server, correct?

BTW, do _not_ confuse PCI-X with PCIe (PCI-Express).
PCI-X is the legacy, 64-bit (at 66-266MHz) slot.
PCIe doesn't have much in the way of I/O cards yet.
So you definitely want PCI-X on a server!

> tho - just going to be a 1U box, but I want to buy it to
> last for a while.

Unless you are going to do software RAID (not recommended
IMHO), you want PCI-X.  The PCIe cards are now just coming
out, and there's not much selection (let alone only 1 of them
is under $400).

> I realized after I sent that e-mail that it was RDRAM on
> that riser... 
> oof!  Nevermind on that deal!  Thanks for the heads-up on
> the other issues, tho.

No problem.

> We just bought 3 DL145's - I really like them, although I'm
> pissed that the Gen-2 box doesn't have working drivers for
> Windows 2000... spent 3 days with tech support going over
> that and finally just said forget it and installed W2K3 on
> it.

Yep.  Microsoft and Tier-1 OEMs, as well as "superstore"
vendors, are all in bed with each other.

Upgrade every 2-3 years.  That's how they get you.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                | Sent from Yahoo Mail
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