Hello all..... I would like to know if anyone here has had good experience with this Supermicro motherboard.....http://supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/E7221/P8SCT.cfm I am thinking about using it in an entry level mail and file server with a 3ware card and 200 GB SATA drives. Cost is a factor here otherwise I would go for an Opteron board instead.
JC
I bought a http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/GC-LE/P4DL6.cfm off Ebay for $55 and loaded CentOS 4 on it with no problems.
Mike
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Juan Carlos Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 10:47 PM To: CentOS mailing list Subject: [CentOS] What do you think about this motherboard?
Hello all..... I would like to know if anyone here has had good experience with this Supermicro motherboard.....http://supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/E7221/P8SCT.cf m I am thinking about using it in an entry level mail and file server with a 3ware card and 200 GB SATA drives. Cost is a factor here otherwise I would go for an Opteron board instead.
JC _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
On 6/27/05, Mike Kercher mike@camaross.net wrote:
I bought a http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/GC-LE/P4DL6.cfm off Ebay for $55 and loaded CentOS 4 on it with no problems.
Mike
I should have mention that at work we are only allowed to use RHEL3 and Centos3 for now due to our scripts and third party software we need. But back to being on topic regarding that motherboard.....I am really interested to see if people are already using that board in servers. What limitations have you seen? Performance is important to me but stability is the most important.
JC
Juan Carlos wrote:
I should have mention that at work we are only allowed to use RHEL3 and Centos3 for now due to our scripts and third party software we need. But back to being on topic regarding that motherboard.....I am really interested to see if people are already using that board in servers. What limitations have you seen? Performance is important to me but stability is the most important.
All I can do is reiterate my experience with a 3ware 9500 and a motherboard with a VIA chipset. The two don't play well together. I switched to a Supermicro with an entirely Intel chipset (earlier rendition of the one it looks like you're looking at), and have had no downtime since.
--Shawn
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
Juan Carlos wrote:
I should have mention that at work we are only allowed to use RHEL3 and Centos3 for now due to our scripts and third party software we need. But back to being on topic regarding that motherboard.....I am really interested to see if people are already using that board in servers. What limitations have you seen? Performance is important to me but stability is the most important.
Juan,
You can look at 3ware's list of compatible motherboards.
All I can do is reiterate my experience with a 3ware 9500 and a motherboard with a VIA chipset. The two don't play well together. I switched to a Supermicro with an entirely Intel chipset (earlier rendition of the one it looks like you're looking at), and have had no downtime since.
Shawn,
Can you please tell us which VIA chipset? I know some from the Apollo line were horrendous since they had PCI latency issues.
Thanks.
Feizhou wrote:
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
All I can do is reiterate my experience with a 3ware 9500 and a motherboard with a VIA chipset. The two don't play well together. I switched to a Supermicro with an entirely Intel chipset (earlier rendition of the one it looks like you're looking at), and have had no downtime since.
Shawn,
Can you please tell us which VIA chipset? I know some from the Apollo line were horrendous since they had PCI latency issues.
Feizhou,
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you guys. I've been at a mind-numbing government conference all week. I also had to unearth the old hardware to find the chipset.
The southbridge chipset on the motherboard is VT8233A. I believe the northbridge is the KT266A chipset, but can't tell because it's covered by a heatsink and fan. The motherboard is an A-Bit KR7A-133 (no RAID).
Hope this helps,
Shawn M. Jones
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
Feizhou wrote:
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
All I can do is reiterate my experience with a 3ware 9500 and a motherboard with a VIA chipset. The two don't play well together. I switched to a Supermicro with an entirely Intel chipset (earlier rendition of the one it looks like you're looking at), and have had no downtime since.
Shawn,
Can you please tell us which VIA chipset? I know some from the Apollo line were horrendous since they had PCI latency issues.
The southbridge chipset on the motherboard is VT8233A. I believe the northbridge is the KT266A chipset, but can't tell because it's covered by a heatsink and fan. The motherboard is an A-Bit KR7A-133 (no RAID).
Far be it to correct my own post, but the northbridge is the VT8366A chipset.
--Shawn
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
Feizhou wrote:
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
All I can do is reiterate my experience with a 3ware 9500 and a motherboard with a VIA chipset. The two don't play well together. I switched to a Supermicro with an entirely Intel chipset (earlier rendition of the one it looks like you're looking at), and have had no downtime since.
Shawn,
Can you please tell us which VIA chipset? I know some from the Apollo line were horrendous since they had PCI latency issues.
The southbridge chipset on the motherboard is VT8233A. I believe the northbridge is the KT266A chipset, but can't tell because it's covered by a heatsink and fan. The motherboard is an A-Bit KR7A-133 (no RAID).
Far be it to correct my own post, but the northbridge is the VT8366A chipset.
which is part of the KT266A :)
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/chipsets/legacy/kt266a/
lists a '552-pin BGA VT8366A North Bridge'
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
Feizhou wrote:
Shawn M. Jones wrote:
All I can do is reiterate my experience with a 3ware 9500 and a motherboard with a VIA chipset. The two don't play well together. I switched to a Supermicro with an entirely Intel chipset (earlier rendition of the one it looks like you're looking at), and have had no downtime since.
Shawn,
Can you please tell us which VIA chipset? I know some from the Apollo line were horrendous since they had PCI latency issues.
Feizhou,
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you guys. I've been at a mind-numbing government conference all week. I also had to unearth the old hardware to find the chipset.
Thanks for the trouble :)
The southbridge chipset on the motherboard is VT8233A. I believe the northbridge is the KT266A chipset, but can't tell because it's covered by a heatsink and fan. The motherboard is an A-Bit KR7A-133 (no RAID).
I have that for my AMD box...and I have problems with capture cards.
The problem servers I have use VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP] related northbridges.
On Tue, 2005-07-05 at 13:54 +0800, Feizhou wrote:
The problem servers I have use VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP] related northbridges.
In all fairness to ViA, the mVP3 is: 1) A really _old_ Socket-7 chipset, and 2) _Never_ designed for servers
There was a long history of numerous revs of the mVP3 chipsets with all sorts of issues. In reality, the smartest thing AMD ever did was get away from GTL and switch to EV6.
As far as the first generation of EV6 Via 694x (Pro/133[A]) chipsets, they were _never_ designed for servers either. But I successfully ran a 694x with a 4-channel 3Ware Escalade 6410 for a good 18 months with 0 data loss.
I still prefer AMD, nVidia and ServerWorks (Intel) chipsets for stable I2C and I2O chipsets for production workstations and servers over ViA and SiS, but using the old GTL mVP3 as a benchmark is well outta date. ;->
Bryan J. Smith wrote:
On Tue, 2005-07-05 at 13:54 +0800, Feizhou wrote:
The problem servers I have use VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP] related northbridges.
In all fairness to ViA, the mVP3 is:
- A really _old_ Socket-7 chipset, and
er...I have this on a PIII box? hardly socket 7.
/sbin/lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C693A/694x [Apollo PRO133x] (rev c4) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP] 00:06.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage XL (rev 27) 00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super South] (rev 40) 00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) 00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a) 00:07.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 1a) 00:07.4 Bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C686 [Apollo Super ACPI] (rev 40) 00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08) 00:0f.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08) 00:10.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] (rev 08)
cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 8 model name : Pentium III (Coppermine) stepping : 6 cpu MHz : 798.071 cache size : 256 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 2 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse bogomips : 1576.96
processor : 1 vendor_id : GenuineIntel cpu family : 6 model : 8 model name : Pentium III (Coppermine) stepping : 6 cpu MHz : 798.071 cache size : 256 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 2 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse bogomips : 1593.34
- _Never_ designed for servers
Please tell that to Tyan. It really affects their image as a server/workstation/highend motherboard manufacturer.
There was a long history of numerous revs of the mVP3 chipsets with all sorts of issues. In reality, the smartest thing AMD ever did was get away from GTL and switch to EV6.
How I wish my colleagues will drop the Intel is stable, AMD is burning hot rubbish and for once get an/some AMD box(es) without VIA motherboards.
On Tue, 2005-07-05 at 15:19 +0800, Feizhou wrote:
er...I have this on a PIII box? hardly socket 7.
I said the "mVP3" is Socket-7, _not_ the "694x." Please re-read ...
"In all fairness to ViA, the mVP3 is:" ^^^^ "1) A really _old_ Socket-7 chipset, and 2) _Never_ designed for servers"
Please tell that to Tyan. It really affects their image as a server/workstation/highend motherboard manufacturer.
Actually, their 694x was used in a Socket-370 mainboard that was sold by several tier-1 OEMs, including Micron, but _only_ for _desktops_. I know, we had several, and they were _clearly_ desktop boards, costing under $100.
But still, even in the case of the 694x we're talking a chipset that is _over_ 5 years old now. ;->
How I wish my colleagues will drop the Intel is stable, AMD is burning hot rubbish and for once get an/some AMD box(es) without VIA motherboards.
Agreed.
And truth be known, _all_ Intel 7200/7500 series products are ServerWorks licenses, not Intel designs. Intel ran into a lot of issues with their early ICH designs, including the ATA just like ViA.
I avoid SiS and ViA for servers.
On Sun, 2005-06-26 at 23:47 -0400, Juan Carlos wrote:
Hello all..... I would like to know if anyone here has had good experience with this Supermicro motherboard..... http://supermicro.com/products/motherboard/P4/E7221/P8SCT.cfm I am thinking about using it in an entry level mail and file server with a 3ware card and 200 GB SATA drives. Cost is a factor here otherwise I would go for an Opteron board instead.
Yeah, a major limitation with AMD is that they don't have an "entry- level" mainboard with PCI-X -- not even one really for single Opteron (at least I haven't seen one). You're out at least $300 for an AMD8131 +8111 mainboard with dual-Opteron if you want PCI-X -- although you do get dual-PCI-X 1.0 channels (which is nice -- one for NIC, one for storage).
The Intel 7200 and 7500 series of chipsets are basically licenses of newer generation ServerWorks ServerSet IV chipsets -- at least the all- important "northbridge"/MCH components. The 7200 is the "entry" series compared to the 7500 which is more "professional-level."
Page 12 (labeled 1-6) of the manual shows the block diagram: http://supermicro.com/manuals/motherboard/E7221/MNL-0776.pdf
The dual-GbE provided by a BroadCom BM5721 is connected to a PCIe x1 channel (250MBps). Not as ideal as one connected to a PCI-X channel (533-1066MBps, assuming it wasn't shared), but much better than being connected to the "shared" PCI bus (and sharing a measly 133MBps).
And I assume you're going to put the 3Ware Escalade in the PCI-X slot. It's its own slot on its own, dedicated 133MHz PCI-X bus. The slot will slow down to 66MHz for PCI 2.2 compatibility using a 3Ware Escalade 8506-4 (which I assume you are going to go with, or maybe the 9500S-4).
Overall, it's a solid option, assuming the cost of the mainboard is not extremely ($100?). You also don't have to use ECC DDR2 SDRAM, although I'd recommend it.
-
Bryan J. Smith -
Feizhou -
Juan Carlos -
Mike Kercher -
Shawn M. Jones