Based on Phoronix review: Cosmos S chassis and DP server MB question - new server?

[JohnnySSH]

Hi,

I've recently stumbled across this review:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...cosmos_s&num=1

which used the Tyan Tempest i5400XT motherboard.

The part that I'm confused about is that on Cooler Master's site it says that a dual processor system board cannot be used due to the standoffs of the CPU's not having any holes to be screwed into??

Basically this:

Question



Is Cosmos S RC1100 compatible to some new Intel Xeon Quad Core processors like the LGA 771 Hapertown Quad Core. These processors require special stand-off on the case to support their heat sinks.My motherboard is a Tyan S5396A2NRF for dual LGA 771 Xeon pr

Answer

No, it's not support the 2 CPU because our COSMOS S has no CPU stand off hole on it.

So can the chassis take dual CPU based system boards or not?

The main reason I'm asking this, is that I would like to build a server for home and since I do a lot of UNIX/Linux devel work in my spare time I run multiple virtual machines so I need a dual processor setup to be able to handle the load; plus in addition the system will be used as a mainframe for myself too being a DNS, NTP, NFS, TFTP, and radio server with additional services being added on as time goes by.

That really leads me to the main question of what parts are suitable as I've never built a server from scratch before as usually I'm dealing with either ready made ones or Sun Microsystems SPARC systems.

I will probably be running FreeBSD 8.0 x64 on the system with Citrix Xen as hypervisor or alternatly OpenSolaris 'Stable' with Sun's xVM technology.

In terms of system board I thought about going for the Intel 5xxx line which support dual processors of socket type LGA1366 and dual Xeons and then using a CoolerMaster Real Power Pro 1000 as per the review.

Again I'm not that knowledgable on server hardware from scratch so if there is a better setup could someone advice me on how to go and what components they would recommend??

I am not sure if Xeons need special fans or if they can use the LED fans and water cooling kits made for more mainstream consumer products?

The hard disks; I'm set on the Western Digital RE4's with 2TB capacity as they're high storage (since I really need the space) and also enterprise grade too meaning ultra reliable! I plan to max the chassis out meaning either 16 or 24TB; however many 4 in 3 cradles will fit??

Even though I haven't even started on this yet but am also considering a similar spec backup machine using the XClio 1000 chassis with max 24TB storage. I can create a shell script for this making incremental backups of the mainframe system using dedicated 1Gbps NICs over a Cicso 8 port high through-put Gbps switch. (Reason for Cisco is that I can manage it, it has IOS and being a Cisco Engineer too is a pleasure to work with; also the fact that I can use VTP (VLAN Trunking Protocol) with my Cisco 877W router).

I know this is a bit of a delv into high-end data center stuff but if anyone has any advice or help that they can give me I'd be very grateful!! :-)

Many thanks

[JohnnySSH]

I think I just got spammed!! :-(

No viable replies so far at all which is quite disappointing but oh well such is life.

Perhaps someone can then tell me what the pullout LCD is here in this picture:

http://www.xoxidescripts.com.php5-3....=31000&id=3503

It looks like an in-car DVD player, and I was thinking it might be a screen for the system, however it's more likely to be a thermal monitoring and fan control solution....??

If anyone has any answers would be really good to hear them for either my idea above or the picture.

Thanks!!