I've had it with i815... [Archive]

mcmanus69

05-06-2002, 04:54 AM

Alrighty, I have had it with my i815 board... it has cannibalized my GF2 MX, and is on the verge of destroying GF4 Ti4600, so I am getting ready to buy a new comp (since tax return's here and all, as well :) ). I have decided on an AMD MP system (dual 1900+ 's), but as for the mobo I don't know whether to get the AsusTek A7M266-D, or the Tyan Tiger MPX. The Tyan I've heard is rock solid, but costs TWICE the price of the Asus board. So I was wondering if anyone has used either board and what their experiences with it are. Thanx! :)

(biggest reason for the decision is that linux no longer works for longer than about 30 secs before the system reboots [go fig...], and I have given up. The mobo has sucked for the last time!)

mdwatts

05-06-2002, 05:21 AM

Just finished building my new box with the Asus A7M266-D a week ago. Very nice though I certainly haven't completed installing all I want yet. I only have one (test) install of Caldera so far.

I'm planning on Gentoo, Sorcerer, WinXP (for Flight Simulator), OpenLinux and OpenUnix.

The onboard sound was detected and works right off. I also have the Promise ATA-Raid Controller (Fastrack TX2) with 2 40GB drives that I still have to setup. My main drive is a 80GB.

You'll need a good case/power supply. I'm using a Enermax case and Enermax 365W power supply. I also have 3 case fans (included) and added another case fan in front of the 2 40GB drives and a HD cooler for the 80GB. My dual 1800 MP's are cooled with the Thermaltake Volcano 7's.

I have 2 512MB ECC/Registered PC2100's.

I'm quite pleased right now though I still have a lot of work to do setting up the rest of the hardware and distros.

I also was looking at the Tyan, but that was a little too expensive and also hard to find.

With dual 1900's and the Ti4600, it will fly. I got the Geforce3 Ti200 since I'm not really into games and just needed it for Flight Simulator (Windows) and FlightGear (Linux).

All in all with 3 HD's, 1 GB, the Asus, dual 1800's, Promise ATA-Raid, 32x10x40 CDRW, 16x DVD, Geforce3, Enermax Case/Power etc., it cost me around $3,000. Cdn. Should last at least a couple of years though.

Lorithar

05-06-2002, 05:03 PM

Lookout Watts... I coming to get that baby!

*grin* (Hey .. I live just up the 401 from ya)

LittleGreenGecko

05-06-2002, 05:31 PM

do you think you could have packed more into a system????

*geeeze*

:eek:

mdwatts

05-07-2002, 05:54 AM

Originally posted by Lorithar:
Lookout Watts... I coming to get that baby!

*grin* (Hey .. I live just up the 401 from ya)

That's it... I'm moving today. That or I'll have to hire fulltime security. Should I worry about my Toshiba 16:9 widescreen TV?

Actually Lorithar, I was thinking of posting in STB about a LNO north get together sometime this spring/summer. If I do, I certainly hope you would be able to make it.

mdwatts

05-07-2002, 05:59 AM

Originally posted by LittleGreenGecko:
do you think you could have packed more into a system????

*geeeze*

:eek:

I rewired the power cables for all the fans a few days ago. Rerouted them through the other side of the case behind the motherboard back plate. Before that it just looked like a mess of red and black spaghetti.

Damn it's heavy. I need a forklift to pick it up now. :eek:

mcmanus69

05-07-2002, 08:41 PM

THX for the tip Watts... however, I've decided on the Tyan Tiger MPX. I know it's a bit more expensive, but my friend who works @ AMD hardware-debug dept. says a LOT of good things about Tyan's quality. Maybe we can do a sorta comparison between the two boards sometime. (keep in mind u got the better deal ;))

mdwatts

05-08-2002, 05:50 AM

Originally posted by mcmanus69:
THX for the tip Watts... however, I've decided on the Tyan Tiger MPX. I know it's a bit more expensive, but my friend who works @ AMD hardware-debug dept. says a LOT of good things about Tyan's quality. Maybe we can do a sorta comparison between the two boards sometime. (keep in mind u got the better deal ;))

Glad to help.

I actually would have preferred the Tyan, but the problem is the store I ordered all the parts from could not get the Tyan for some reason and they also recommended the Asus over the Tyan. Of course that's probably just sales talk.

I'm still happy with the Asus though. Not one problem so far. Rock solid.

Keep me posted on how you do with the dually.

mcmanus69

05-11-2002, 02:12 PM

Oh yeah... what kind of PS do I need? I know I need a minimum ATX 2.01 400 watt PS, so I'm assuming it uses the standard ATX power connectors (like the Pentium III's)? And what about all those new P4-capable PS's? Will they still have the standard P3 style connectors? (I'm assuming yes, but I wanna be safe)

mdwatts

05-11-2002, 02:26 PM

I got a Enermax case with a 365w Enermax power supply.

There's actually 3 power connectors to the motherboard.

I asked the saleman about this since I had never seen 3 before and he replied they were for P4 motherboards and I could just leave the extra 2 disconnected.

Then why does my Asus A7M266-D (for AMD processors) have the 3 connectors on the motherboard?

I hate it when saleman just guess at the answer when in fact they don't know at all.

I've connected all three and it works just fine.

mcmanus69

05-13-2002, 01:34 AM

Originally posted by WattsMD:
I got a Enermax case with a 365w Enermax power supply.

There's actually 3 power connectors to the motherboard.

I asked the saleman about this since I had never seen 3 before and he replied they were for P4 motherboards and I could just leave the extra 2 disconnected.

Then why does my Asus A7M266-D (for AMD processors) have the 3 connectors on the motherboard?

I hate it when saleman just guess at the answer when in fact they don't know at all.

I've connected all three and it works just fine.

Heh, but of course. It is their job to BS into a sale (I worked @ Circuit ****ty, that practically is their policy, I **** u not).

but yeah, I guess I feel more comfortable buying the case now. I am getting this (http://www.supermicro.com/PRODUCT/Chassis/SC760.htm) case (the middle one...) with a 400 watt PSU. Gonna cost me $200, ack...

mcmanus69

05-13-2002, 01:37 AM

btw, congrats, Toronto beat out Ottawa tonight. Great game.

mdwatts

05-13-2002, 05:41 AM

Originally posted by mcmanus69:
btw, congrats, Toronto beat out Ottawa tonight. Great game.

Thanks... I heard it on the news last night.

I've gone off al pro sports the last few years. The salary greed turns me off the game. I never watch the games anymore.

But that's a whole other topic.

mcmanus69

05-25-2002, 02:08 AM

w00t! Hallelujah! ALL the parts are finally in, and she's humming like a charm... :)

It seems stable thus far, and I'm going to get the Gentoo install started tonight... let's see how well/stable linux is, and how fast I can compile my kernel. Outta curiosity, is there (good?) SMP support for compilation? (for things like kernel, Gentoo, etc...)

mdwatts

05-25-2002, 09:05 AM

Plenty of kernel support for smp. My stock kernel enables smp by default though I plan to compile the latest kernel whenever I get the chance.

I've only installed my test Linux installation and OpenUnix so far on mine. Still have to install Gentoo, Sorcerer, another Caldera and also setup my Fastrak100 Raid Controller.

Strange thing as just an hour ago I was wondering if you had gotten your dual yet and lo and behold, you have.

Congrats on finally getting all the parts and here's hoping yours runs as smooth and stable as mine.

What are your cpu temperatures like? Mine run at around 39-41c.

mcmanus69

05-27-2002, 05:23 AM

uhh... mine are reading in the 50s... from like 50 - 59...!!! It doesn't seem that hot, tho, I dunno. Either the readout is wrong, or I need some better fans... I am just using the stock retail ones. using MBM5, what do u think?

mdwatts

05-27-2002, 09:11 AM

I've heard the temps can go quite a bit higher than 60c without any problems.

It's up to you if you want to replace the stock heatsink/fans or not. I bought oem MP's so I could get the Volcano 7's.

Those plus all the case fans do make a difference. I also used Artic Silver compound.

mdwatts

05-27-2002, 10:04 AM

Forgot to ask... How do you like yours so far?

I compiled my first kernel (on this box) last night. Went to make a coffee (3 minutes) and when I came back, it had already completed. make bzImage to make modules_install.

My PIII-733/512mb would take around 10 minutes. Next time I'll have to time it.

I would suggest you compile a new kernel specific to your new hardware. My stock kernel was 'SMP', but the processor type was set to PIII. Only select what you need during the kernel config and you should find your box will run faster and more efficient.

I was surprised the onboard C-Media PCI audio of my Asus was detected and configured during installation of my distro. Actually everything was detected and works.

mcmanus69

05-27-2002, 01:26 PM

Overall I'm very happy with it. Sure, there are a lot of programs that cause instability (bad/no SMP support?), but it's a very nice, fast, and stable system. There is one thing that beefs me, tho, and it's that it takes a whole minute to post, and that's doing the FAST boot sequence :eek: .

There is one issue/bug, tho. After I choose linux (this is happened with RH73, Gentoo, and Slack8) in LILO and after it loads the kernel (the '.......'s finish going across the screen), the screen will go into the framebuffer mode (vga=791) and there's a 50% chance nothing else will happen, nothing will go on the screen and it will just freeze. And the other 50% I get into linux, everything is perfectly stable. really really weird. I'm thinking (BIG guess) that it's a kernel issue, and I'm still going thru different options enabling/disabling things that I think might be the problem. Have u had this problem at all?

(btw, I did hafta compile my kernel specific to my system for Gentoo and change it to proper CPU, etc.)

mcmanus69

05-27-2002, 01:50 PM

LoL.... I set MotherBoard Monitor's high temp alarm @ 66 celsius, and it went off in the middle of a game!! I set it higher for now, but I have decided to get some better cooling. Where did you order your VOlcano's and silver paste? All I know about HSFs is that back in the day, Alpha was the best thing you could get for your Pentium 3 Katmai :)

mdwatts

05-27-2002, 06:01 PM

I just got the Volcano's from the store I ordered all my components from. Most computers stores should stock them. At least they do in Toronto.

The Artic Silver I bought last year when I built a couple of other pc's for myself. Again a tube of Artic Silver should be fairly easy to find.

mcmanus69

05-28-2002, 03:29 AM

k, I just ordered some Volcano 7's off of www.heatsinkfactory.com, (http://www.heatsinkfactory.com,) as well as Arctic Silver III thermal compound and some rounded cables (really needed). Cost me another small fortune, heh. BTW, Motherboard Monitor crashed my computer HARD (had to turn off power supply to get computer to post again). oh well...

I am going to do some reconfiguring when I get my cables, and hopefully things will work well, then. (no more weird linux issues, I hope)

mdwatts

05-28-2002, 05:44 AM

I could certainly use some of those rounded cables.

Read the instructions at the Artic Silver website if you have never used their product before. Too much compound will actually cause the the reverse effect.

Hope those V7's work for you as well as they do for me.

mcmanus69

06-07-2002, 01:58 AM

yay!!! I'm finally back in business!!!

A week ago, while I was trying to take off my old HSF, I ... BROKE OFF THE SOCKET CLIPS on one of the sockets!!! *cry* I then found out that that immediately voids all warranty (damn), so I am getting that motherboard repaired, and in the meantime, I ordered another mobo, and I finally got it today.

So after a one week hiatus, my dream machine is back up and running. The Volcanos are nice, and my CPU temp. has been lowered about 20 Celsius, and I even put a fan on the heatsink covering the northbridge (it is highly recommended by many people).

Moral of the story? BECAREFUL WITH THOSE DAMN SOCKET CLIPS!!!

mcmanus69

06-07-2002, 01:58 AM

oh yeah, and... superglue is NOT strong enough :)

mdwatts

06-07-2002, 06:58 AM

Originally posted by mcmanus69:
yay!!! I'm finally back in business!!!

A week ago, while I was trying to take off my old HSF, I ... BROKE OFF THE SOCKET CLIPS on one of the sockets!!! *cry* I then found out that that immediately voids all warranty (damn), so I am getting that motherboard repaired, and in the meantime, I ordered another mobo, and I finally got it today.

So after a one week hiatus, my dream machine is back up and running. The Volcanos are nice, and my CPU temp. has been lowered about 20 Celsius, and I even put a fan on the heatsink covering the northbridge (it is highly recommended by many people).

Moral of the story? BECAREFUL WITH THOSE DAMN SOCKET CLIPS!!!

Sorry to hear that. Damn. :(

Yes be very careful with those clips or anything else on the motherboard.

I was actually wondering what happened since the last time you posted in this thread.

You are getting the original mobo repaired plus you ordered another of the same? Bewolf Clusters? :eek:

Glad you're pleased with my recommendation to try the Volcano's. That's quite a big drop in temperature isn't it?

I can't remember if my northbridge has a heatsink/fan on it or not. If it doesn't, then maybe I'll pick one up one of these days.

BTW... I had a really hard time with my other home pc (Abit KT7A/TBird 1.3) getting the heatsink/fan on that one last year.

They must have made the clips extra strong on the KT7A as I struggled for a hour or so trying to get the HS on. Had to use pliers to keep bending the metal clip on the HS to get it to reach the mobo plastic clip. What a time that was. :eek:

Enjoy your new box and keep me posted (when you have time) to how it's running.

mcmanus69

06-07-2002, 09:55 AM

Originally posted by The original mdwatts:
Sorry to hear that. Damn. :(

Yes be very careful with those clips or anything else on the motherboard.

I was actually wondering what happened since the last time you posted in this thread.

You are getting the original mobo repaired plus you ordered another of the same? Bewolf Clusters? :eek:

Glad you're pleased with my recommendation to try the Volcano's. That's quite a big drop in temperature isn't it?

I can't remember if my northbridge has a heatsink/fan on it or not. If it doesn't, then maybe I'll pick one up one of these days.

BTW... I had a really hard time with my other home pc (Abit KT7A/TBird 1.3) getting the heatsink/fan on that one last year.

They must have made the clips extra strong on the KT7A as I struggled for a hour or so trying to get the HS on. Had to use pliers to keep bending the metal clip on the HS to get it to reach the mobo plastic clip. What a time that was. :eek:

Enjoy your new box and keep me posted (when you have time) to how it's running.

Wow, that's crazy (with the KT7A) :eek:

Heh, I'm planning on selling the refurbished motherboard when I get it back. But if I can't get it for a decent price, I will just end up upgrading the i815 1GHz system (..getting back on topic, I guess, heh) :)

Funny thing is... the new motherboard seems to work better and is more stable than the old/original one (same BIOS and all). Go fig. Either way, I'm happy now (finally) :D

I'll keep you posted the next time I nuke/break/melt something. ;)

(now let's see if I can figure out this framebuffer issue ...)

mdwatts

06-07-2002, 11:07 AM

Originally posted by mcmanus69:

I'll keep you posted the next time I nuke/break/melt something. ;)


I'll check back in an hour. ;) :D

I'm planning to take a week of vacation within the next few weeks and hope to start setting up my Promise Fastrak Raid Controller and install all my distros and *cough* XP just for MS Flight Simulator 2002.

mcmanus69

06-07-2002, 05:28 PM

Originally posted by The original mdwatts:
I'll check back in an hour. ;) :D

HA!


I'm planning to take a week of vacation within the next few weeks and hope to start setting up my Promise Fastrak Raid Controller and install all my distros and *cough* XP just for MS Flight Simulator 2002.

hrm... be careful with it. I ran RAID striping mode 0 once on the FastTrak66 once, and later on I installed some old NIC card and its drivers totally fsck'd up my RAID array, and I lost EVERYTHING. :( so keep that tape-drive/cd-burner handy ;)

I could use a vacation myself, not from work, but from summer school! It's not too bad just working, but add 2 hours of class right after work, and I feel like I'm gonna die by around 8 PM.

Edit: Of course, my RAID incident happened in WINDOWS, which is the problem right there. So I guess you won't be having aaaannnnnyyyyy problems with it, now, will you?? ;)

[ 07 June 2002: Message edited by: mcmanus69 ]

mdwatts

06-07-2002, 05:55 PM

Originally posted by mcmanus69:
Of course, my RAID incident happened in WINDOWS, which is the problem right there. So I guess you won't be having aaaannnnnyyyyy problems with it, now, will you?? ;)


Thanks for the warning. I do have cdrw's in all my pc's and also a couple of scsi DAT drives.

I'll be using the kernel modules for the Fastrak and not the ones provided by Promise. May even look into setting up and using LVM.

I didn't really need Raid for my home pc, but I felt like having a few more toys to play around with. Either that or start burning all my extra money. :D

mcmanus69

06-08-2002, 01:23 AM

Originally posted by The original mdwatts:
Thanks for the warning. I do have cdrw's in all my pc's and also a couple of scsi DAT drives.

I'll be using the kernel modules for the Fastrak and not the ones provided by Promise. May even look into setting up and using LVM.

I didn't really need Raid for my home pc, but I felt like having a few more toys to play around with. Either that or start burning all my extra money. :D

heh.... want something to burn it on?
HERE. (http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid=905)

It's the new Toshiba e370 400 MHz PDA. First XScale processor based PDA to come out, and it's the Toshiba thin one. Get it with bluetooth, and a 1 GB MicroDrive, and a wireless bluetooth headset, and you're good to go ;)

mdwatts

06-08-2002, 07:42 AM

Originally posted by mcmanus69:
heh.... want something to burn it on?
HERE. (http://www.pdalive.com/showarticle.php?threadid=905)

It's the new Toshiba e370 400 MHz PDA. First XScale processor based PDA to come out, and it's the Toshiba thin one. Get it with bluetooth, and a 1 GB MicroDrive, and a wireless bluetooth headset, and you're good to go ;)

Would you also like one? ;)

Or maybe you have one you can spare.

Looks nice though. Wonder how much that would cost up here in Toronto if fully loaded.

mcmanus69

06-09-2002, 10:39 PM

Heh. /me is poor..!!

Actually, I just returned my Sharp Zaurus when I heard that that was coming out. I think I'll get it, and if I don't like it, I'm sure everything else has dropped in price. :)

mdwatts

06-10-2002, 05:49 AM

I would think both of us are poor now after spending all the $$$ on our duals.

Sorry to hear you are having problems with crc errors. I did post a suggestion in your other topic.

Not sure if it will help. I will try to think of other possible solutions.

Is the Tyan on your distros supported lists or have you read/heard of others successfully installing Linux on your particular motherboard?

nuvan

06-10-2002, 08:00 PM

how much did your systems cost?

mdwatts

06-11-2002, 05:18 AM

Originally posted by nuvan:
how much did your systems cost?

Which one of ours?

My Asus A7M266D/1800 MP's cost around $3,000. Cdn with tax (no monitor).

mcmanus69

06-11-2002, 03:29 PM

Originally posted by nuvan:
how much did your systems cost?

Like MDWatts', about $3000. Only difference is, I am buying everything in America (cheaper, I heard? my Canadian friend sez shipping to Canada is ridiculously expensive) and that's INCLUDING a monitor :)

Edit: didn't see the CDN. :D What is the conversion rate anyhow?

[ 11 June 2002: Message edited by: mcmanus69 ]

mdwatts

06-11-2002, 04:36 PM

Originally posted by mcmanus69:
 What is the conversion rate anyhow?



Around 40% I believe.

I also got a fairly good discount from the store I ordered the parts from.

The best price I could find for each of the 2 512MB PC2100 - ECC/Registered memory I got was $294. I got them for $233. each.

The Promise Fastrak controller I've seen for around $150 while I got it for $100.

I saved around $500 for everything.

mcmanus69

06-12-2002, 04:10 PM

Originally posted by The original mdwatts:
Around 40% I believe.

I also got a fairly good discount from the store I ordered the parts from.

The best price I could find for each of the 2 512MB PC2100 - ECC/Registered memory I got was $294. I got them for $233. each.

The Promise Fastrak controller I've seen for around $150 while I got it for $100.

I saved around $500 for everything.

Yipes. Must suck trying to important American goods. However, my family just got back from Quebec with all this imported European stuph for really cheap, so I guess it's a trade-off.