Another Try.

Post #140,264 by folkert 2/6/04 11:46:50 AM 2/7/04 8:33:33 PM Reply	Another Try. Changed things around for you so far. Still checking on the Video Card setup. We can spend More Money if you want... :) [link\|http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=80140\|Monarch Enterprise G64 Custom Opteron Workstation] Build Fee $65 [link\|http://www.lian-li.com/product.php?action=viewPD&prdid=374\|Lian-Li PC70 Aluminum Full Case] Monarch Part# 100613 with: $168 Drive bays 6x5.25", 3x3.5", 6x3.5" internal Fan: 4 x ball bearing fans included M/B type: dual CPU M/B (MAX SIZE: 12"x13") Front USB: 2 ports (support USB 2.0) Dimensions: 210mm X 595mm X 588mm [link\|http://www.enermax.com.tw/eg851ax-vh.htm\|EG851AX-VH(W)FM 660W Enermax Power Supply] Monarch Part# 100829 $259 [link\|http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thunderk8w.html\|Tyan Thunder K8W (S2885)] Monarch Part# 110819 with: $459 One 8X AGP / AGP 8X Pro110W slot Two independent 64-bit PCI-X buses Two 100/66/33MHz PCI-X slots (PCI-X A) Two 133/100/66/33MHz PCI-X slots (PCI-X B) One legacy 32-bit 33MHz (5-Volt) PCI slot [link\|http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8796_9240,00.html\|Opteron 248 - 2.2GHz w/ 1MB Cache] Monarch Part#s 120437, 122437 $950 ea (x2) [link\|http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/venus/rs/a1838.htm\|Thermaltake A1838 Quietcooler for K8] Monarch Part#s 130129, 132129 $26 ea (x2) [link\|http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/servers.html#rddr\|DDR400 PC3200 REG ECC - 1 GB (2 pcs 512MB ea) CORSAIR TwinX1024RE-3200LLPT] Monarch Part#s 140881, 142881 $332 ea (x2) [link\|http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=59\|Western Digital 250GB SATA 8 MB 7200 RPM] Monarch Part#s 150983, 152983, 153983, 154983, 155983, 156983 $212 ea (x6) [link\|http://www.3ware.com/products/serial_ata.asp\|3Ware 8506-8 SATA Raid Controller] (upto 8 drives) Monarch Part# 150030 $490 Raid Setup: RAID1 Monarch Part# 80012 $10 [link\|http://www.plextor.com/english/products/708A.html\|Plextor 708A DVD Writer] Monarch Part# 160552: $225 8X DVD+R write, 4X DVD-R write, 4X DVD+RW rewrite, 2X DVD-RW rewrite, 12X DVD-ROM read 40X CD-R write, 24X CD-RW rewrite, 40X CD-ROM read [link\|http://www.mitsumi.com/products/fa402amain.html\|Mitsumi Floppy and 7-in-1 USB Digital Memory Card Reader/Writer] Monarch Part# 170109 $46 [link\|http://www.pny.com/products/quadro/xgl/980Xgl.asp\|PNY Quadro 4 980 XGL 128 8X AGP] Monarch Part# 190781 $503 [link\|http://www.intel.com/network/connectivity/products/pro1000xt.htm?iid=ipp_srvr+srvradapters_pro1000xt&\|PCI-X 10/100/100 Intel Copper GB NIC] Monarch Part# 280607 $139 [link\|http://www.suse.com/us/business/products/\|SuSE v9.0 64-Bit Professional] Monarch Part# 210511 $159 24/7/365 3 year Warranty and onsite support Monarch Part# 800062 $199 Total without Options: $6610 +$58.60 Standard FedEx Ground Shipping. Options: [link\|http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=59\|Western Digital 250GB SATA 8 MB 7200 RPM] Monarch Part#s 157983, 158983, 159983 $212 ea Waiting on changes if needed. Will work more on the Video card. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* "Lately, The only thing keeping me from being a Serial Killer is my distaste for manual labor." -- Dilbert Calendar, January 4, 2004 Edited by folkert Feb. 6, 2004, 06:12:36 PM EST Edited by folkert Feb. 6, 2004, 10:07:32 PM EST Edited by folkert Feb. 6, 2004, 10:16:15 PM EST Edited by folkert Feb. 7, 2004, 09:27:30 AM EST Edited by folkert Feb. 7, 2004, 08:33:33 PM EST Expand All History
Post #140,294 by broomberg 2/6/04 1:54:28 PM Reply	No rush I just needed the baseline cost for the budget. I won't be ordering for a while.
Post #140,334 by Ashton 2/6/04 6:24:55 PM Reply	General PS question - How is "PC Power and Cooling" stacking up these days? Back when I paid any attention to the {ugh} cheesy PC electronics quality, generally -- they were an oasis in the wilderness. I gather from your obv informed selections, that PCPC has -at least- some competition for quality now. (I alwayd deemed too, that - the quality of fans had best be measured in CPU and other replacement costs ie a bit more than 50\ufffd/"fan".) I recall months ago, the link to a case mfg. place in China? - so I'm aware that you can obtain quality there too, if you do homework. Illuminating about the intricacy of a quality "mere case", I thought.) Ashton test eq. snob
Post #140,373 by folkert 2/6/04 10:28:28 PM Reply	Yessir... PCPC has a TON a great Power Supplies... very worth every penny. Enermax has been making serious inroads the past year or so. Not quite as "clean-cut" as PCPC, but getting there (wires are not as straight and wound as well, etc...) cost about 2/3rds the cost of PCPC. PowerMan is an up and comer, might be something to watch. Long way to go with the wiring and such... but Quality components are in the higher priced Power Supplies. About 2/3rds the price of Enermax. Just watch out for Tigerconn (I think that's name) Some power supplies are good, some terrible. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* "Lately, The only thing keeping me from being a Serial Killer is my distaste for manual labor." -- Dilbert Calendar, January 4, 2004
Post #140,393 by Ashton 2/7/04 4:09:32 AM Reply	Followup, Mr. President - - or Andrew? re mobo cap failures (new thread) Created as new thread #140392 titled [link\|/forums/render/content/show?contentid=140392\|Followup, Mr. President - - or Andrew? re mobo cap failures]
Post #140,438 by broomberg 2/7/04 3:32:12 PM Reply	Getting there The motherboard already has GB ethernet. Why would we add a card? I want 2GB of memory. I can put 6 drives in, right? So I could have 3 mirrored set for a total useable of 750GB? Or a single mirror at 250GB, and a 4 disk (750Gb) usable Raid 5 set for a total of 1TB? Add all 6 disks to the configuration, no external needed. Take the onsite warranty. Can I treat the dual output card as 2 cards? I currently use a Matrox dual out card at the office and 2 physical cards at home. I like the X windows Xinerama support better (@ home) than the Matrox dual head support at the office. Matrox driver funckys annoy me. Somthing tells me it will not play nicely with another card. Maybe I should try a 3-way? Do you have experience with this company? Ever buy any systems from them?
Post #140,449 by folkert 2/7/04 8:20:13 PM 2/7/04 8:22:58 PM Reply	Okay... Well, 2 - 1 GB Memory Kits ( each kit has 2 - 512MB Chips ) == 2GB The Mother Board can support upto 16GB This setup can support 8 Drives on the 3Ware card. The 3Ware card can have upto 8 arrays defined (1 drive per arrary) The Mother Board also supports SATA Drives. So theortically you could have 4 more SATA drives as well. But using 2 in RAID1 mode would be best... You could use the 72GB Drives for the "system" drives From what I know about this Video card, it acts a one display or as two. Will Check for sure. I personally have not purchased anything from them. This company comes higly reccomended and regarded, many many people from Linux and Linux related companies buy from them. They have consistently given great service, otherwise I would have read and/or read about it. The one thing they have up on buying all the pieces from say, newegg or CDW, they are building and making sure the machine runs before they ship it. There are options they have, that are not on the website. I'll get it right for you :) 3Ware has a 12 Channel Raid Controller too. 8506-12 about $200 more. Then you could do up to 14 drives, 2 from the Motherboard, 12 from the 3Ware card. 12 Drives == 1.5TB (6 RAID1 arrays). or 250GB RAID1, 2.25TB RAID5, or 250GB mirrored and 2TB RAID5 + Hotspare for the card. Of course 8 drive would give you similar: 8 Drives == 1TB RAID1 (4 arrays), or 250GB RAID1 and 1.25TB RAID5 or 250GB RAID1 and 1TB RAID5 + Hot Spare for the card. To address the Motherboard GB Enet issue, I prefer the Intel PCI-X XT 1GB Enet Server Adapter. We can Remove it, if need be. It is ONLY a $140 ish dollars. Checklist: Do you want me to find out if Monarch has the 8506-12? Do you want 6, 8, 10, 12 or 14 drives? The Case can support more drives mounted in the 5-1/4 drive bays. 6 and 8 without problem (in the 3.5" slots), 10+ with addtional mounting, would get tight with 14 drives. I will check on the Video Card for sure. Present (unchanged) Config has 2 GB of Memory. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* "Lately, The only thing keeping me from being a Serial Killer is my distaste for manual labor." -- Dilbert Calendar, January 4, 2004 Edited by folkert Feb. 7, 2004, 08:22:58 PM EST Expand All History
Post #140,492 by broomberg 2/7/04 11:11:15 PM Reply	I think we are done I didn't realize you had 2GB of memory, I had read it as one. A total of 6 drives, 250GB apiece should be fine. I'll probably set them up a 3 mirrors to balance out speed VS independent access, but something tells me I'll play for a while. I checked out a Viewsonic VX900 at Office Max today. Did not like it. If this is the best affordable LCD I can get, I'll stick with just my Sonys for now. So a simple dual monitor card should be fine. No more research required. My monitors already have dual inputs to I can painlessless switch between my current box and this one as needed. Leave the Ethernet card in. Good to test for multi-path issues. Thanks.
Post #140,567 by broomberg 2/8/04 12:19:58 PM Reply	Yup. Done I just submitted the specs to my CTO. He wanted to know if Penguin Computing could build an box like it since they are already an apporved vendor. Not even close. He said ok. He'll push it through our purchasing for Monarch, just take a little longer. Note: This box may be something to keep me happy since my boss was just fired. Very odd. I traded a boss that I really liked for a box. Not really a direct connection, supposedly, but the timing was odd. My boss used to tell me about making a deal with the devil at work. You will always be asked to support someone against someone else. In this case I liked both of them. No real devils. But I still got ripped in 1/2. Like the day my brother got fired, but at least I expected my brother to get canned. Could see it coming for a while. Not in this case, totally out of the blue.
Post #140,575 by folkert 2/8/04 1:37:58 PM 2/8/04 1:40:48 PM Reply	I went to Penguin Computing... before I suggested Monarch. I am stumped as to why they don't do things like that. You are right, not even close. Also, since I did research the Video Cards quite a bit, I discovered that the 980 is more than half the FX2000 card. Works with Xinerama or as Dual Head. Depends on how you want it setup. Plus that Video Card does far better at handling day to day stuff than the FX2000. FX2000 needs to use proprietary Drivers that cost $1K inorder to work properly for day to day let alone the High end stuff. -- [link\|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net\|greg], [link\|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry\|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] @ *i_wethey* "Lately, The only thing keeping me from being a Serial Killer is my distaste for manual labor." -- Dilbert Calendar, January 4, 2004 Edited by folkert Feb. 8, 2004, 01:40:48 PM EST Expand All History
Post #140,598 by Arkadiy 2/8/04 6:11:51 PM Reply	The one you liked working for? The one that called himself "your towel boy"? Not good. -- "...and pronounce all four E's in the word 'shit'"
Post #140,606 by broomberg 2/8/04 7:52:37 PM Reply	Yup, that one I hired him as a programmer. Shared and office with him for 3 years, as he was mentored by my brother. Helped him get promoted into management. Created systems for him, usually designed by him that were good for all of us, both the company and our careers. Followed him as he moved departments and was promoted the MIS director. And watched him self-destruct, battling with everyone, not taking advice. Me, the person who had to go to people school because I was universally despised, and was told that I was the only person to ever rebound worse, was giving him advice, telling him to be nicer. Very sad. He had very high expectations. Because he was pretty good programmer. And he worked with me, and I was better, so I guess he figured he could either get the same level of productivity from everyone else, or at least push them to be better. But he pushed poorly. That is why I never will be in management. The frustration I get out of dealing with semi-competent people pushes me over the edge. So I back-off before I hit that level, and try to automate them out of a job so I just don't have to deal with them.
Post #140,678 by Ashton 2/9/04 7:10:47 AM Reply	Re: Yup, that one Condolences on having to watch such a play in slo-mo :( I've learned some quite useful things from your always legible posts. You could probably be a better analyst of [doomed interactions? frequent stupid bizness behaviour?] than most of the overpaid Official peddlers of such nostrums. And whatever you charged - you'd be cheaper too, as you'd probably choke before ever uttering a Biz-speak TLA, in delivering your analysis. Right? (But, I bet you'd Hate that, too ;-) Pity.. that the fallout from and on! someone doing just-this (if I've gleaned anything from zillions of Rorschaks of zIWE bizness enviros, over the years) - is maybe why you would hate it. Few really want that much light shed upon the pet neuroses of the Power folk; never mind any idea of 'improving' such! Am I right, sir? ... Am I righ... (10 points for source)
Post #140,682 by broomberg 2/9/04 8:05:21 AM Reply	This one was a killer He is a decent programmer. Not phenominal, but on the upper bounds of good. He is very good at math, has a math degree, has good visual skills, good presentation, and wanted to be in management. He had good client interaction skills, decent at teasing out what they really wanted. Good at presenting the solution and getting an agreement of what to do next. He has 2 mode of operation, though. Micromanage where he lays out the code for you, step by step, or wide open bluesky, figure it out yourself. When he blueskied, people would get confused. If he didn't take into account certain limitations, or though he did and then didn't communicate well enough how to deal with it, programmers involved in that project would believe him to not understand the difficulties and then would stonewall. He typically DID understand. In my case, when he didn't, I'd corner him for a while, shake it into his head, and then we'd come up with a solution. Other people didn't, so their projects would be more difficult since they didn't have his input when needed. When he micromanaged, that was a little painful. No 2 coders will code the same way, so when he would layout the underlying data structures of a project, and they did not match how I was designing, none of his input had any value since it was shaped around the data structures. So I'd beat him up to the next level, and we'd work from there. He was great at working with various departments in the company, finding out how the whole organization would do better, and working in that direction. But internally, dealing with people who stonewalled or took 10 times to get something right, he could be harsh. Not insulting or abusive. Just short. He hated when people wasted time. Their's or his. He felt the clock ticking away. Deep down, felt it. But so do I. Time isn't just money. Time is life. If I spend 10 minutes writing this post, I have made a choice to SPEND a limited piece of my life doing it. It is a piece of my life that I will never get back. He felt the same way, that when other people were wasting his time, they were costing him a bit of his life that could be better spent doing something else. So we got along well. We didn't waste each other's time, we were productive, we got things done, we had fun. Gonna miss him.
Post #140,794 by Ashton 2/9/04 7:58:12 PM Reply	Thanks for that irretrievable ten minutes! (Really) er QED See, your description is clear enough for me to believe I've just seen a - probably as near we get to unbiased description, of some basic strengths/weaknesses - said in useable form. (And I'd probably miss a cohort of that description, too.. in fact - I do - there was this guy -) Point: IME, you have an unusual ability to analyze in this way, and also to describe that, sans blab words. I know that I have heard many attempts at 'characterizing' for similar aim: ~just to understand WTF 'is going on with this guy'.?. So I have these horrible examples, for comparison. If I ran a business, I would prize one with such a skill / talent hugely. Of course, you've shown that you like a different kind of problem, most probably would Not want to play in the human management game (?) But if you ever burn-out on TB/sec RAID via fibre optics... y'know? [no flattery intended: simply You're Good at this!] Ashton who heard a different Kind of virtuosity last night - wordless. Music!

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