Ratdude's main rig V5.0

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

You should get a crimping tool like Engineer PA-20 , some contacts ( male or female for the hdd connector) and some AWG18 or AWG20 cable and mod those power supply cables so that they won't block the airflow from the CPU.

For esthetics, you may want to turn the case fans by 90 or 180 degrees so that the wire would be hidden between the fan and the motherboard.

The crimping tool is always useful, and it's compatible with lots of series of connectors, you will use it for lots of other projects. I have the exact model here. There's also PA-09 which works with awg18 cables in power supplies but it's more "optimized" for smaller connectors and pins (has "holes" for smaller crimps)

A kind o McGuyver hack for the ram would be to buy some double sided adhesive tape and take some coke aluminum cans, strip them off their paint, cut strips the length of the ram and then make make fins on one end of the strip, fins that would be high enough to be in the airflow of that fan on the case.
Replace coke cans with copper foil or something more expensive if you want.

You could also put the case on thicker legs and cut a round hole in the bottom of the case somewhere in the area between the cpu coolers and the hdd cages, so that a fan would blow air from under the case and blow it towards the cpu heatsinks, and then the air would blow over the memory sticks.

Looking at a post way up in the thread, it seems you have some fan there mounted blowing air towards the raid controller but i don't see where it's getting air from and I doubt its usefullness. The card should stay cool on its own and with air coming from the vents in the back of the case.

[Bungz]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

FB dimms run hot as buggery.

I have a few Precision 490's and they are loud as hell due to the cooling fan for the memory, its sadly very much needed though as you have found.

My lot are limited to 2 x dual core chips tho which is a bit poo, need a later revision board for the quads.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

You should get a crimping tool like Engineer PA-20 , some contacts ( male or female for the hdd connector) and some AWG18 or AWG20 cable and mod those power supply cables so that they won't block the airflow from the CPU.

For esthetics, you may want to turn the case fans by 90 or 180 degrees so that the wire would be hidden between the fan and the motherboard.

The crimping tool is always useful, and it's compatible with lots of series of connectors, you will use it for lots of other projects. I have the exact model here. There's also PA-09 which works with awg18 cables in power supplies but it's more "optimized" for smaller connectors and pins (has "holes" for smaller crimps)

A kind o McGuyver hack for the ram would be to buy some double sided adhesive tape and take some coke aluminum cans, strip them off their paint, cut strips the length of the ram and then make make fins on one end of the strip, fins that would be high enough to be in the airflow of that fan on the case.
Replace coke cans with copper foil or something more expensive if you want.

You could also put the case on thicker legs and cut a round hole in the bottom of the case somewhere in the area between the cpu coolers and the hdd cages, so that a fan would blow air from under the case and blow it towards the cpu heatsinks, and then the air would blow over the memory sticks.

Looking at a post way up in the thread, it seems you have some fan there mounted blowing air towards the raid controller but i don't see where it's getting air from and I doubt its usefullness. The card should stay cool on its own and with air coming from the vents in the back of the case.

I did turn the fans the hide the wiring though!

And the cable doesn't block the CPU coolers that much. I zip tied them into a bundle for a reason.

PS- this isn't a windowed case... so ugly doesn't matter all that much.

[Topcat]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

Found the issue... Lack of cooling!

I warned you about that when you were here...

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

I warned you about that when you were here...

I know

[brethin]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

I understand it doesn't support SLI maybe it will support Crossfire? If your set on running more than one video card. Just a thought.

[shovenose]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

I understand it doesn't support SLI maybe it will support Crossfire? If your set on running more than one video card. Just a thought.

I've noticed that far more boards support CrossFire than SLI. I'm assuming that SLI either requires software or hardware that nVidia charges for or just is not cheap to implement.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

I understand it doesn't support SLI maybe it will support Crossfire? If your set on running more than one video card. Just a thought.

Yeah technically but I think one GPU is a better fit given my setup. If I had a 3rd PCIe slot for the the USB3 card, then I'd look that direction. However, the lack of such slot and the fact the board only has one USB header kinda locks it in. Sure, I could have gone with a USB 2.0 card and a single channel reader (which was my first idea) but I like the 3.0 setup a lot better.

edit- If I REALLY wanted it hell or high water, I could always do this:

https://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapt...Card~PCIX1PEX4

But no... Way too pricey.

Edit2- I do see PCI USB3 card but I've yet to see one that can do a header. If I do, I very well may do that. I'd have to make a wiring extension to reach but I have a molex crimper already...

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

If you're desperate there's this : http://www.dx.com/p/pci-32bits-to-pc...adapter-136017

Cheap, but naturally limited to 133 MB/s .... probably half of pci-e x1 maximum bandwidth.

usb3 is up to 5gbps, way more than what PCI can do .. no IC will get USB certification with a PCI interface., at best you'd get a board with an Asmedia 2 usb 3 ports pci-e x1 and a pci to pci-e bridge chip... expensive.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

If you're desperate there's this : http://www.dx.com/p/pci-32bits-to-pc...adapter-136017

Cheap, but naturally limited to 133 MB/s .... probably half of pci-e x1 maximum bandwidth.

usb3 is up to 5gbps, way more than what PCI can do .. no IC will get USB certification with a PCI interface., at best you'd get a board with an Asmedia 2 usb 3 ports pci-e x1 and a pci to pci-e bridge chip... expensive.

Yeah, I know. I meant to say PCI-X, which nobody makes USB 3.0 for (unless you use the more expensive adapter).

----

My thought is that since I (IIRC) have PCIe 2.0, I'm thinking of going for a higher end single GPU... I bet they're expensive but I do know Nvidia made twin GPU cards at one point (SLI inside the card).

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

My thought is that since I (IIRC) have PCIe 2.0, I'm thinking of going for a higher end single GPU... I bet they're expensive but I do know Nvidia made twin GPU cards at one point (SLI inside the card).

Looked around... damn GPUs cost a lot. I'll wait on it unless I see a deal (or somebody on the forum puts one up for sale at a quasi-reasonable price).

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

Another "cool but not worth the money" item:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HighPoint-Ro...gAAOSwv9hW2uwN

That would nuke any USB bandwith issues... not sure how they're not using a power connector though. 4X get extra power busses? Edit- must be, as they also make the normal 1X kind which does seem to use such a power connector. $100 is still a bit much...

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

The above card ^
It's on newegg where you can also see larger card pictures : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816115113

You have a PLX8609 that's a pci-express 8x switch - it accepts 4x or 8x pci-e lanes and creates up to 8 x1 lanes or combinations of x4 and x1 lanes. In this case, it acts like a switch, x4 in and 4 x1 out.
Then you have four Asmedia ASM1042 chips, each capable of driving 2 usb 3 connectors but are only capable of pci express x1, so 512 MB/s for one or two connectors.
So it's a kind of weird device, because they could have used only 2 asm1042 for the four ports but I think they use one IC for each port going to the outside, and one pair of data from each of those two IC to the 20pin internal header (I think).
The missing connector, I think the second pair of data from the bottom right usb chip is routed there but i can't be bothered to trace everything.

They could have gone with just 3 Asmedia and drive both internal ports from the bottom Asmedia chip , but it was probably too complicated to leave the IC unpopulated and have the PLX chip "unbalanced" , with only 3 x1 lanes used, or maybe they wanted top speed to each connector..
What's left... polyfuses and dc-dc converters for each Asmedia chip along with some protection chip by the connectors (probably current sensor), some linear regulator and a soic chip (maybe flash, eeprom for the plx or a dc-dc converter for the plx chip), tiny eeprom chips for each asmedia chip (those winbond ics)..



What gpu are you looking for?

I just bought a Radeon 4550 for about 3$ from a local company that sells refurbished computers. I'm rebuilding a Socket 775 computer for fun, and to replace a socketA workstation system i have laying around (which I'm going to donate or throw away).

See http://www.citgrup.ro/componente/cal...laciVideo.html

Conversion is basically 1$ = 4 Lei

This company has lots of cards super cheap because they're either low profile or they have only displayport or only DMS-59 (dense connector packing 2 dvi and vga in a single connector).
For the later you can find DMS59 to DVI+VGA or 2xDVI or 2xDVI+VGA adapter cables on eBay, cheaply. And low profile is not an issue, I can buy a higher end low profile card and a low end high profile card and the brackets are usually compatible (the dvi connectors are in the same location most of the time)

I doubt you're interested (you can find similar on eBay in US) but if you are, I'm willing to buy and mail some to you.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

The above card ^
It's on newegg where you can also see larger card pictures : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816115113

You have a PLX8609 that's a pci-express 8x switch - it accepts 4x or 8x pci-e lanes and creates up to 8 x1 lanes or combinations of x4 and x1 lanes. In this case, it acts like a switch, x4 in and 4 x1 out.
Then you have four Asmedia ASM1042 chips, each capable of driving 2 usb 3 connectors but are only capable of pci express x1, so 512 MB/s for one or two connectors.
So it's a kind of weird device, because they could have used only 2 asm1042 for the four ports but I think they use one IC for each port going to the outside, and one pair of data from each of those two IC to the 20pin internal header (I think).
The missing connector, I think the second pair of data from the bottom right usb chip is routed there but i can't be bothered to trace everything.

They could have gone with just 3 Asmedia and drive both internal ports from the bottom Asmedia chip , but it was probably too complicated to leave the IC unpopulated and have the PLX chip "unbalanced" , with only 3 x1 lanes used, or maybe they wanted top speed to each connector..
What's left... polyfuses and dc-dc converters for each Asmedia chip along with some protection chip by the connectors (probably current sensor), some linear regulator and a soic chip (maybe flash, eeprom for the plx or a dc-dc converter for the plx chip), tiny eeprom chips for each asmedia chip (those winbond ics)..



What gpu are you looking for?

I just bought a Radeon 4550 for about 3$ from a local company that sells refurbished computers. I'm rebuilding a Socket 775 computer for fun, and to replace a socketA workstation system i have laying around (which I'm going to donate or throw away).

See http://www.citgrup.ro/componente/cal...laciVideo.html

Conversion is basically 1$ = 4 Lei

This company has lots of cards super cheap because they're either low profile or they have only displayport or only DMS-59 (dense connector packing 2 dvi and vga in a single connector).
For the later you can find DMS59 to DVI+VGA or 2xDVI or 2xDVI+VGA adapter cables on eBay, cheaply. And low profile is not an issue, I can buy a higher end low profile card and a low end high profile card and the brackets are usually compatible (the dvi connectors are in the same location most of the time)

I doubt you're interested (you can find similar on eBay in US) but if you are, I'm willing to buy and mail some to you.

^ I was always under the impression that OEM cards with DMS-59 like those were junk and mid grade at best. As in not an upgrade unless it was really new (and still I wouldn't want a newer low-end card, just because). I'll look and PM you if there is anything that strikes my fancy. Edit- yeah, nothing that interests me (minus the quadro, but that's not a deal nor what I'm really looking for).

PS- I had to wonder about that USB card... I don't feel so bad about my current card then. I do know my chip (4 port renesas) was used by dell and the like on certian laptops made before intel 7 series chipsets were a thing (such as my Dell Precision at work) so they can't be that bad... I'm not using all ports at full speed all the time (or ever, presently), so it's more of a theoretical bottleneck than a practical one.

[dmill89]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

What gpu are you looking for?

I just bought a Radeon 4550 for about 3$ from a local company that sells refurbished computers. I'm rebuilding a Socket 775 computer for fun, and to replace a socketA workstation system i have laying around (which I'm going to donate or throw away).

See http://www.citgrup.ro/componente/cal...laciVideo.html

Conversion is basically 1$ = 4 Lei

I don't imagine RD would be interested in an HD4550 already having a GTS250 (which is about 3X as powerful as a 4550). At least in the US used video cards don't make much sense unless you get a really good deal on a high-end card from the last 3-4 years (unless you just want to upgrade integrated video or a really old entry-level card on an older system with a cheap older mid-level card) . Most 3+ year old high-end cards are only as powerful as the current gen mid-level cards ($100-200), use a ton more power, and often aren't much cheaper on eBay, etc. than a new mid-level card (for example a used Radeon HD 6970 will run you around $75 on eBay, while a new R7 360 can be had for around $100, offers similar performance, and uses less than half the power).

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

Going in a different direction, I decided to look at HDDs.

Velociraptors are expensive right now it seems (thanks to the damn 3.5" icepack adapters), so I decided to go another direction.

I put an offer on 4 of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seagate-Chee...torefresh=true

edit- Screw offers, I bought 4 of these for the same price I put for an offer: http://www.ebay.com/itm/172062697741

(TBH I might just buy them at face value... that's awful cheap)

To interface them I bought one of these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281862773886

I feel a bit dumb as I just gave away two 74GB 15K SAS drives, (topcat's now), but it seems like my 10K's aren't as fast as I'd have expected.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

Another "cool but not worth the money" item:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HighPoint-Ro...gAAOSwv9hW2uwN

That would nuke any USB bandwith issues... not sure how they're not using a power connector though. 4X get extra power busses? Edit- must be, as they also make the normal 1X kind which does seem to use such a power connector. $100 is still a bit much...

PCI Express provides 75w via the connector.
The only difference between an x1 and x16 slot is more signal pins on the latter (i.e. higher bandwidth)
Indeed you can connect a x16 graphic card if you have an open X1 slot (or Dremel the card or connector) and it will work just fine.

The standard only provides 12v and 3.3v though, and USB as you know requires 5v.
So what the cheap bastards do is put a molex connector on there instead of using a cheap fixed 12v > 5v regulator
The Highpoint card you linked uses this: AZ1117H-ADJTRE1
Costing all of 12 cents if you order 1000 of them:
http://www.digikey.com/product-detai...ICT-ND/5267013

Add to that two small caps and we are maybe up to 15c.
So it's pretty crazy that the cheap bastards go the route of an external molex connector, they aren't cheap after all and in many cases might be through hole so difficult to wave solder.
But I digress

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

It's 60w maximum on 12v and the rest on 3.3v. The LDO is probably connected to 3.3v and generates the voltages needed for PLX chip, like 1.1v or whatever that chip uses.

However, the card is not supposed to use up to 60w, if it's to respect the pci-e specs

quoting from wikipedia because i'm too lazy to type that much.

All sizes of x4 and x8 PCI Express cards are allowed a maximum power consumption of 25 W.
All x1 cards are initially 10 W; full-height cards may configure themselves as 'high-power' to reach 25 W, while half-height x1 cards are fixed at 10 W.
All sizes of x16 cards are initially 25 W; like x1 cards, half-height cards are limited to this number while full-height cards may increase their power after configuration. They can use up to 75 W (3.3 V x 3 A + 12 V x 5.5 A), though the specification demands that the higher-power configuration be used for graphics cards only, while cards of other purposes are to remain at 25 W.

So basically this controller shouldn't draw more than 25w from 12v, or about 2A.
It works, you have 4 usb 3 connectors, basically 5v @ 0.9A times 4 ... let's say 5v @ 4.4A or 22 watts accounting for inefficiency of using 4 separate dc-dc converters and the power required to power the converters themselves.

[ratdude747]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

in many cases might be through hole so difficult to wave solder.

Not really as they already are wave soldering the caps, header, and USB ports.

(edit- beat to the punch... but here goes anyway)

Power- good thing you brought that up. It's 25W for non-GPU rated slots. 75W is only for slots rated for a GPU (IIRC there's more power pins on the 16x side?). Still plenty of power though. But not enough for an LDO! At 1A per port (As per the 3.0 standard), with a 7V drop (12V to 5V), that's 28W right there! Not even including the chipset or anything else.

Yeah, sure nobody will be using all the power all the time (unless it's used to charge 4 smartphones/tablets/ecigs/etc.)... but that's still poor design practice. Unlike bandwidth, where you get bottlenecked in the worst case, in the case of this, you either brown out (best case) or you fry out (worst case) .

A switching regulator could be used to get around the power problem but that would be more expensive than a molex plug. Probably what the one card is doing... hence the inductors on the board.

[mariushm]

Re: Ratdude's main rig V5.0

The switching regulators are visible in the newegg pictures, right by the inductors.
They're LA8509 , Linear Artwork 380kHz synchronous step-down dc-dc convert ICs 0.925-12v output @ 3A max.



The whole dc-dc circuit for each connector is probably copied from the datasheet onto the pcb.