Motherboard Died

[Martyn]

Hi, my Supermicro Motherboard X6DAE-G2 has died.
My search for this now obselete board has been difficult with old stock only available in America, I live in Wales, UK.

I would rather update my system to further enhance the HDV editing I do and future proof for Edius 5 and ready for a file based system (Sony EX1).

Question 1
After reading through the forums & compatability page the Supermicro X7DWA-N looks like it will do what I need along with the relevant new CPU's and memory BUT I cannot work out what CPU heatsink/coolers to use.

Anyone know?


Question 2
Is the Supermicro X7DWA-N overkill/expensive for what I require.

Thanks for looking
Martyn

[shueardm]

Hi

Q1. Get the XEON 54xx series. The speed is up to you and your budget. The 1600FSB are very very expensive, I'm doing a build now with thsi board but couldn't justify the 1600FSB models. I ended up ordering 2 x E5420 which are 2.5 clock speed @1333FSB. See this chart for benchmarks If you have a Supermicro chassis with air shroud then you need passive heat sink model, otherwise, active cooling CPU model.

Q2. Not in my opinion.

My Q3. Do you have FBDIMM 667? If so, you can't get 1600FSB anyway. PS. You need more RAM as well.

[Martyn]

Motherboard died

Hi Shueardm, thanks for your help.

To answer your question 3, no I dont, my current list to purchase is:

Supermicro X7DWA-N Motherboard
2 x E5430 2.66Mhz 1333Mhz Quad Core (or E5420)
2 x 2Gig Ram DDR2 667Mhz FB ECC
2 x Heatsink/Coolers - not got a clue...

I have done the "Google It" process but still confused.

The case is a Supermicro 733TQ-645B so it should fit or maybe it wont depending on the size of the heatsink/CPU coolers.

Thanks
Martyn

[shueardm]

Hi Martyn

That case doesn't have an air shroud so you need active cooling CPU's. Do not get any after market cooling fans for the CPU's, use the provided Intel fan and heatsinks.

You should get 4Gb RAM 4 x 1GB DIMMS.

[Martyn]

Hi Shueardm.
Wow. Thanks for the advice, especially regarding the coolers.

Did not realise that 4 x 1Gig memory would be the better option, is their a technical reason for this?

Martyn

[shueardm]

Hi
There's 4 CPU dies, It's best practice to have at least one DIMM per die, maybe even one DIMM per core if possible (8 DIMM's may be overkill in this situation). Please don't ask me to explain that because i may look like a fool :)

[Martyn]

And I understand exactly what you mean...

Die Dimm, I'm sure he's a Welsh policeman.

Thanks for your advice on this, you have been a great source of information.

Martyn