My New Super Computer (almost)

[theLman]

I got ahold of a couple xeon 3.2Ghz/2MB/800FSB Quad core processers. I would love to build my dream machine around these chips. My first question is, is this a worth while endever. I know i will need a server board, case ect. and it will not be cheap but i've made my peace with that. Im more than happy with the speed of the chips but im not so sher about the 2mb cashe and 800MHz front side bus. I know the standard now is 4MB and 1333 FSB. This will be mainly a gaming computer and also run a home network eg. virtual machines around my home. If the interlacing is not good enough for newer games coming out than this is probebly not worth it. In my opinion these chips are unreal and i cant wait to get them fired up but I have never worked with multi core systems so I have to ask the questions.

My bigest problem is trying to find a good mainboard to run the chips. They are hard to find as the chip footprint is not used anymore. I want to put 4 Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA II w/ 32MB Cache Running a RAID 10 format. I would also like to run the OS off a 10000 RPM SCSI drive that I am currently using, but I have no problem cutting this out if I have to.

I really Really hope I dont need registered RAM. If there is no other option I may submitt but the last thing I want to do is purchice 4 more Gigs of expencive RAM that runs slower than standard RAM.

For now i'm not going to stress about the vidio card. I have an old PCIE nVidia quatro fx which I know is no good for games, but it will get me going. Still i'd be happy for any sugestions on vidio cards as I dont realy know what to look for.

If you guys could find me a motherboard and clear any douts about these kick a*s chips that would rock my world.

 

[theLman]

I got ahold of a couple xeon 3.2Ghz/2MB/800FSB Quad core processers. I would love to build my dream machine around these chips. My first question is, is this a worth while endever. I know i will need a server board, case ect. and it will not be cheap but i've made my peace with that. Im more than happy with the speed of the chips but im not so sher about the 2mb cashe and 800MHz front side bus. I know the standard now is 4MB and 1333 FSB. This will be mainly a gaming computer and also run a home network eg. virtual machines around my home. If the interlacing is not good enough for newer games coming out than this is probebly not worth it. In my opinion these chips are unreal and i cant wait to get them fired up but I have never worked with multi core systems so I have to ask the questions.

My bigest problem is trying to find a good mainboard to run the chips. They are hard to find as the chip footprint is not used anymore. I want to put 4 Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA II w/ 32MB Cache Running a RAID 10 format. I would also like to run the OS off a 10000 RPM SCSI drive that I am currently using, but I have no problem cutting this out if I have to.

I really Really hope I dont need registered RAM. If there is no other option I may submitt but the last thing I want to do is purchice 4 more Gigs of expencive RAM that runs slower than standard RAM.

For now i'm not going to stress about the vidio card. I have an old PCIE nVidia quatro fx which I know is no good for games, but it will get me going. Still i'd be happy for any sugestions on vidio cards as I dont realy know what to look for.

oh ya. I was hoping to be able to overclock. Again not key but down the road Id like to have the option but it may not be worth the extra cost, and risk for that matter.

If you guys could find me a motherboard and clear any douts about these kick a*s chips that would rock my world.

 

[xthekidx]

Is your "dream machine" a workstation or a gaming station? Those Xenon processors will not do well in games, you will have 6 extra cores, since most games will not use more than 1 or 2 cores at the moment. For a workstation, those CPU's would be excellent, for a gaming computer, you want something else.

 

[Transmaniacon]

I would say sell them and build an i7 or Core 2 gaming system.

 

[luckyusaf]

I agree with transmaniacon! The current issue of Maximum PC or CPU has a motherboard blowout and recommends 3 great boards for use with dual xeons, should you choose to stick with it!

 

[theLman]

I figured even with only 2 cores dedicated to games at a time the 3.2 Ghz speed would compensate for the being a workstation. And I know newer games will start to utalize multi core systems more and more.

 

[Outlander_04]

xeons that old , are going to be spanked by any core cpu .

is your dream computer slow and hot? If it is they will be perfect

 

[theLman]

ha. thats swift slap in the face. So the xeons definetly out compaired to any new Core chip?

 

[xthekidx]

I don't think those CPU's will do what you want them to. Sell them and start over, unless you are big into CAD and stuff like that.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

Yup, you'd be better off selling them and building a computer based off of a current CPU like transmaniacon and xthekidx said. Clock speed doesn't really mean much when you're comparing older CPU's to current CPU's since the current CPU's are so much faster clock for clock.

 

[Outlander_04]

with an 800 MHz fsb and speeds of 3.2 GHz they will be similar architecture to the old P4 [ I assume]

Pentium 4's get spanked by AMD athlon so hard intel had to invent the C2D .

Technology changes so quickly it isnt worth using a 3-4 year old cpu

 

[xthekidx]

Yeah I'm pretty sure that Chip you have there is based on the 90nm manufacturing processes. They will be slow and hot. Good news is though that you can sell those for a good chunk of money since they are xeons, still probably worth $200 or so a peice, maybe more.

 

[theLman]

Say I still wanted to make a server out of these. Where is a good place to find obsoleate motherboards.

 

[theLman]

I still think i want to build this computer. I figure with VM-Ware I could dedicate a couple cores to running a server while having 6 cores remaining for virtual computers around the house, various TV rooms, Network Hard drives and anything elce I can think up.

 

[ShadowFlash]

I still think i want to build this computer. I figure with VM-Ware I could dedicate a couple cores to running a server while having 6 cores remaining for virtual computers around the house, various TV rooms, Network Hard drives and anything elce I can think up.

That might be a worthwhile endeavor, but the 800fsb are turds compared to newer ones. I've got a couple of VMware tricks up my sleeve if you are interested. If you can build it for cheap, why not. E-bay is usually your friend with builds like these. It's usually not a matter of which board should I get, but more like what board can I steal for $9.99 plus shipping out of an auction no one's watching...