dual xeon build

[cineon_lut]

Good to know. I guess Dell just didn't bother updating their compatibility list, or they didn't want to associate their server with "common" GPUs to appear more professional.

Attachment 1894

I'm not the biggest Dell fan either, but the rigs are built pretty tough. Those are haunted forest's weapon of choice


Vic (mobile)

[Al]

I just bought one also. Should be here on the 11th, just in time for the FB New Year.

[MindCrime]

Good to know. I guess Dell just didn't bother updating their compatibility list, or they didn't want to associate their server with "common" GPUs to appear more professional.

Attachment 1894

Maybe that 150w is 75w(pci power only)x2 ? You know how they like to be vague and omit reasons and if/this/then/that stuff.


I imagine these workstations and other socket 1366 server gear is hitting their EOL or end of contract (leases?) and thats why 1000$ msrp cpus are now ~75$? I wonder why the ram hasn't dropped as fast as the other hardware. For those people still upgrading ram before they make the next platform upgrade?

Well I'm ready to pull the trigger I just want to make sure I can get all my other christmas shopping done and still buy this present for me. The question is do i buy now and put off shopping until payday, friday, or go shopping now and buy this on friday...oh the decisions.

I'd like to learn and get some experience with VMs with this rig and I'll probably end up with the 2gbs of ram per thread but I think in the mean time I'll get one with 4/6/8 and add whatever i need to 24gbs...ECC registered, pretty much right away. And as I learn and get things setup and going I'll see about maxing out the ram.

I read these x5600s OC very well. But on a dell mobo, and for crunching with that many threads, its just not really needed and probably not easily done or worth it?

[FourOh]

The T5500 was available with 2 graphics cards of up to 150 Watts each, so for instance a Quadro 4800 is rated at 150W and has only one 6-pin (75W) PCI-e connector. Notionally, it gets the other 75 Watts from the slot. Since my box only has one hard drive, I have a few leftover 15-pin SATA power connectors - so I use a dual SATA power to 8-pin PCI-e to get additional power to GPUs as needed. I've had an OC'd 7950 and OC'd 7790 installed together - together they exceeded 300 Watts but I never had any issues.

You're right - I don't believe you can OC on a Dell workstation/server mobo. What you give up in tweakability you gain in stability. To me, having the most "up" time is most important for a crunching rig like this.

Good luck!

[pinhodecarlos]

Anyone living in the UK? If so please check this site: https://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/

[Bryan]

What you give up in tweakability you gain in stability. To me, having the most "up" time is most important for a crunching rig like this.

Since you so highly recommended the T5500 I decided I needed one Actually it was Al's fault!

Adding 24 threads

[MindCrime]

Can anyone confirm if the dual socket t5500s come with the memory riser card or if its an option? I was just looking through the manual (memory stuff is conveniently at the beginning) and found the DIMM population to be a bit in depth. Oops, looks like the 2nd cpu is on the riser along with the memory.

ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/Common/pr...uide_en-us.pdf

Also worth noting is the following:

Your computer uses 1066 MHz and 1333Mhz DDR3 unbuffered or registered ECC SDRAM memory. DDR3 SDRAM, or double-data-rate
three synchronous dynamic random access memory, is a random access memory technology. It is a part of the SDRAM family of technologies, which is one of many DRAM
(dynamic random access memory) implementations, and is an evolutionary improvement over its predecessor, DDR2 SDRAM.

Does the part in bold confuse anyone else? Is that unbuffered NON ecc ram and registered ecc ram? Or is that unbuffered ecc ram and registered ecc ram? I found some listings for some unregistered memory for t5500s but it was ddr3 1066 but if you search ebay or anywhere for that matter for "dell t5500 memory" you pretty much get ECC registered only. Everyone runs ecc/reg memory in these, right?

[Bryan]

Does the part in bold confuse anyone else? Is that unbuffered NON ecc ram and registered ecc ram? Or is that unbuffered ecc ram and registered ecc ram? I found some listings for some unregistered memory for t5500s but it was ddr3 1066 but if you search ebay or anywhere for that matter for "dell t5500 memory" you pretty much get ECC registered only. Everyone runs ecc/reg memory in these, right?

Both the unbuffered and registered are ECC memory. The ECC stands for Error Correcting Code and it has the ability of correcting single bit errors that may come from a memory location. It is like parity but better.

In buffered/registered RAM there is a buffer (active circuit) between the memory stick and the memory controller. That reduces the load on the memory controller's IO lines when you have boat loads of memory modules.

I don't know of a single server that doesn't use ECC memory modules since the RAM is error correcting - at least to a point!

I would guess that the riser is part of a 2nd processor kit. If you look on Ebay you will find a number of the kits for sale ... not cheap either. I assume they have the riser, heat sink, and fan. I doubt any of that comes with a single processor unit.

The above is shaking cobwebs since I haven't been involved with this stuff for over 10 years

[Bryan]

..

[MindCrime]

Thanks for the confirmation on the ram, I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row so I can order it too and get them both around the same time. Can anyone share if they used a particular ebay/amazon/.. vendor for their t5500 ram?