EATX benefits of? (Opteron 1210 HE CPU, Lian Li case)

[dh003i]

Hi all,

I'm planning on building a home-server using Gentoo Linux. The uses of it will be as a file-server to store my data on, but I'll also login remotely and use it store & run Linux programs on, logging in via intranet by my laptop (I plan to use X-forwarding). I may also use it for streaming, and at some point for a website.

Thus, one of my main concerns is upgradability. I want to be able to upgrade the system immensely, both in terms of HD space and CPU, RAM, GPU, etc. Thus, I've chosen the Lian Li 2000A PLUS II case (which is avail online for $215), and has room for 19 hard-drives total!

For my CPU, I'm thinking of starting with the Opteron 1210 HE (65W version), which is the 2nd-generation 1.8GHz dual-core version. It is upgradeable to quad-core (that is, you can replace it with the upcoming quad-core). At just over $103, it's pretty affordable.

So, I'm looking for motherboards compatible with this setup so-far. Lian Li says their chasis is "Cross-fire certified", but unfortunately, the motherboard that I've found so-far that work with the Opteron 1210 HE aren't for cross-fire. Lian also says that chasis takes EATX (13x12 max), and presumably it also takes ATX. What is the benefit of EATX over ATX? Can you use it with more stuff, as it's a larger mb?

The only motherboard I've found that ATI recommends for the Opteron 1210 is the SuperMicro H8SMi-2, which seems like it has room for 6 SATA's, but only 2 IDE. (am I right here?). How do I find more motherboards? Anyone know of any Opteron m/b's that are Crossfire ready?

[widan]

Lian also says that chasis takes EATX (13x12 max), and presumably it also takes ATX. What is the benefit of EATX over ATX? Can you use it with more stuff, as it's a larger mb?

A regular ATX board will fit in an EATX case. EATX is somewhat larger than ATX, it's mainly used for dual CPU boards where things are usually too tight to fit in the ATX form factor.

[dh003i]

Thanks. I've been looking at various motherboards compatible with the 2nd gen opterons, and one thing I've noticed is that the ATX boards for the 1000 series (no SMP) don't support as much RAM as the boards for the 2000 or 8000 series (SMP). Single CPU boards only support up to 8GB of RAM, whereas dual CPU boards seem to support up to 32GB of RAM.

Unfortunately, the boards I've looked at only support up to 6 SATA drives, and 2 IDE drives, 8 drives total; while the tower has slots for 19 hard drives. How can I find m/b's that support more HD's?

[der.gecko]

you could use some raid controllers... that way you can use ... i don't know 42 hdds or even more

what interests me personally... which case are you using? 19x 3,5'' i have never seen.

[John R. Graham]

I think that series of Lian-Li case is just drop-dead gorgeous. I bought one for a SuperMicro dual Xeon (extended ATX) motherboard. My only complaint is that, with all those sideways-facing internal drive bays down below the motherboard area, I think it's silly that Lian-Li doesn't offer some sort of SATA and/or SCSI backplane. (They don't. I've even written them about it.)

Overall, I'm very happy with the case. Everything fits extremely well and the hardware kit is generous.

- John

[widan]

... one thing I've noticed is that the ATX boards for the 1000 series (no SMP) don't support as much RAM as the boards for the 2000 or 8000 series (SMP). Single CPU boards only support up to 8GB of RAM, whereas dual CPU boards seem to support up to 32GB of RAM.

The dual AMD boards usually connect RAM to both CPUs, and also use registered RAM, which allows to connect more banks to the memory controllers than with regular unbuffered RAM.

Unfortunately, the boards I've looked at only support up to 6 SATA drives, and 2 IDE drives, 8 drives total; while the tower has slots for 19 hard drives.

Before you think about filling that tower, think about how you will supply power to all those drives. You will need a PSU that can handle the surge current as they all spin up, or a RAID controller that can do staggered spin-up to spread the initial peak load. Also think about cooling, 19 drives at about 7-10 watts each at idle add up to 130-190 watts of heat... more if the drives are actively used.

what interests me personally... which case are you using? 19x 3,5'' i have never seen.

You can put at least 16 drives in those cases (look at this image and others on this page - not exactly the same case, but the insides are pretty similar). By the way, that guy ended up needing two PSUs, as the original 850 watt PSU overloaded when all the HDDs spun up simultaneously at boot.

[dh003i]

Before you think about filling that tower, think about how you will supply power to all those drives. You will need a PSU that can handle the surge current as they all spin up, or a RAID controller that can do staggered spin-up to spread the initial peak load. Also think about cooling, 19 drives at about 7-10 watts each at idle add up to 130-190 watts of heat... more if the drives are actively used.

Thanks for the tip. I probably won't fill it up completely right away, but will just start out with a 1 gig hard-drive (mabe the Seagate Barracuda ES.2 1TB SATA 7200RPM 32MB Cache) and maybe a small 15K SAS drive (maybe Hitachi 36GB 15K SAS Hard Drive).

By the way, it looks like that case only has a slot for 1 installed power-supply. Can you get external ones that run in serial with the installed PSU?

[widan]

By the way, it looks like that case only has a slot for 1 installed power-supply. Can you get external ones that run in serial with the installed PSU?

I don't know about the external PSU, but the guy I mentioned that needed two PSUs did it that way, one on top of the other and a custom back plate with two PSU openings.