My Tri-Monitor Rackmount Computer Build!
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
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Thermal management
I'm configuring a similar setup and was wondering how you are managing the heat. I too have a 19" Rackmount. Are you ducting the exhaust outside? It's what I'm considering doing.
My room increases from 75 to 106 in about 30 minutes.
I love your setup btw.
Bob.
My room increases from 75 to 106 in about 30 minutes.
I love your setup btw.
Bob.
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Thanks all. There's no ducting - I've removed the back door of the cabinet for ventilation and cable access, and that's it. It doesn't run particularly hot.
I have the video cards connected in SLI, but I hardly ever use them in SLI. I don't play games much nowadays.
Ebay is good for old rackmount equipment. I've seen similar cabinets to mine go for virtually nothing (almost always collection only though).
I've actually just moved house and don't have the space for this setup. I nearly decided to get rid of it, but now I've designed a curved glass desk that the cabinet will fit underneath and use up less wall space. I'll post up some pics when it's done.
I have the video cards connected in SLI, but I hardly ever use them in SLI. I don't play games much nowadays.
Ebay is good for old rackmount equipment. I've seen similar cabinets to mine go for virtually nothing (almost always collection only though).
I've actually just moved house and don't have the space for this setup. I nearly decided to get rid of it, but now I've designed a curved glass desk that the cabinet will fit underneath and use up less wall space. I'll post up some pics when it's done.
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http://www.pixelblocks.comdemonheadx wrote:Can i ask where you got the 1up mushroom. that is freakin awesome!
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I'm using the same Via mobo as a NAS. It's not bad at all, low power and silent apart from the HDDs.
The NAS performance, even on gigabit, is a bit rubbish though. I'm running Windows XP from a 2.5" HDD, but I don't think Linux with SAMBA would be any better. I thin it's just down to the gigabit NIC on the mobo - even with iperf I can only get 60MB/sec max, and average a little over 20MB/sec with HDDs. From a Core 2 machine I can hit over 100MB/sec, and 60MB/sec file transfers in Windows (FTP would be even faster).
Of course I have jumbo frames and all offloading etc enabled... actually, maybe turning off CPU offload might help. I'll have to experiment. Also, I have not tried SATA drives in the NAS yet.
jamesg: What sort of speeds do you get?
The NAS performance, even on gigabit, is a bit rubbish though. I'm running Windows XP from a 2.5" HDD, but I don't think Linux with SAMBA would be any better. I thin it's just down to the gigabit NIC on the mobo - even with iperf I can only get 60MB/sec max, and average a little over 20MB/sec with HDDs. From a Core 2 machine I can hit over 100MB/sec, and 60MB/sec file transfers in Windows (FTP would be even faster).
Of course I have jumbo frames and all offloading etc enabled... actually, maybe turning off CPU offload might help. I'll have to experiment. Also, I have not tried SATA drives in the NAS yet.
jamesg: What sort of speeds do you get?
Mojo, I wasn't impressed with the VIA board at all. At first, it crashed constantly in X and I rebuilt the kernel about a million times with various patches trying to solve it. I have a friend who bought a Jetway board with the same chipset and that had the same problem.
I get 30MB/sec from it whereas I get 50-60MB/sec from my WinXP machine over the network. It's fast enough though.
Haz, it's XP Professional. Can't remember the theme, it's probably something in Window Blinds. The multi-monitor software is UltraMon which is very good.
I get 30MB/sec from it whereas I get 50-60MB/sec from my WinXP machine over the network. It's fast enough though.
Haz, it's XP Professional. Can't remember the theme, it's probably something in Window Blinds. The multi-monitor software is UltraMon which is very good.
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What are you trying to prove?
These days when the tendency in technology is to minimalistic and compact while still keeping processing power we still see shows like this.
In technology it is not a question of grandeur but a question of practicality and useful purpose. Many executives and programmers make a lot of money working from a simple MacBook Air.
In technology it is not a question of grandeur but a question of practicality and useful purpose. Many executives and programmers make a lot of money working from a simple MacBook Air.
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Look on google images to find a low-res image to copy.
I just uploaded to flickr an old photo i took of it on my phone...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesg990/2573281527/
I just uploaded to flickr an old photo i took of it on my phone...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesg990/2573281527/
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Great setup man.... One question though... Why did you use a CF card for your second machine??
You could have used a USB flash drive instead AND could have installed Windows if you wanted to (linux is better anyway). I'm not critical of this setup, just wanted to know.CF cards only have a limited number of writes per sector before the sector dies
Good point - I didn't consider a USB flash drive. I'm not sure whether it would be as fast though. I don't need Windows on that computer. The whole point of it is that it's available 24/7 and available remotely. I don't even have a keyboard, mouse or monitor connected to it.sunitmatya wrote:You could have used a USB flash drive instead AND could have installed Windows if you wanted to (linux is better anyway). I'm not critical of this setup, just wanted to know.
The large patch panel is for future expansion. I've moved house since writing the article and have a lot more connected to it now. In any case, I picked it up on ebay very cheap, so I don't really care if I'm not using several of the sockets!
Edited to say - actually I forgot the main point about using a CF card. You can often find the datasheet to determine whether the card supports "wear-levelling" to increase the lifetime of the device if writing to it often. You're unlikely to find this information for most USB flash drives.
I've never heard of pendrive that has wear leveling implemented. Windows shouldn't be installed one them as well!jamesg wrote:Good point - I didn't consider a USB flash drive. I'm not sure whether it would be as fast though. I don't need Windows on that computer. The whole point of it is that it's available 24/7 and available remotely. I don't even have a keyboard, mouse or monitor connected to it.sunitmatya wrote:You could have used a USB flash drive instead AND could have installed Windows if you wanted to (linux is better anyway). I'm not critical of this setup, just wanted to know.
The large patch panel is for future expansion. I've moved house since writing the article and have a lot more connected to it now. In any case, I picked it up on ebay very cheap, so I don't really care if I'm not using several of the sockets!
Edited to say - actually I forgot the main point about using a CF card. You can often find the datasheet to determine whether the card supports "wear-levelling" to increase the lifetime of the device if writing to it often. You're unlikely to find this information for most USB flash drives.
When I read your initial description, I thought that You were going to base your setup on a Thermaltake Mozart TX with its 7in LCD monitor.
Then I remembered, not everyone is crazy enough to try quietening a Thermaltake case.
All in all, i think that its an awesome build with a a very neat outcome.
Then I remembered, not everyone is crazy enough to try quietening a Thermaltake case.
All in all, i think that its an awesome build with a a very neat outcome.
Yes. However that will prevent dual-channel operation for boards which support it, which will slow things down greatly. At the price of RAM, you might as well just get 2x2GB..salvadori wrote:Can I place a 1GB ram with a 2GB ram simultanously on my Desktop to get 3Gb? Provided of course both stick share the same MHz speed and same DDR.