SGI: hinv

This one arrived as a (nearly) empty chassis - added a system board (along with just about every screw in the chassis), processor node board, V10, and the extra cooling. This particular O350 belongs to another nekochan member who asked me to do the graphics conversion.

new rocker in your place? congrats dave :)

what is a SNOWBALL device? funky name...

fu wrote: new rocker in your place? congrats dave

Thanks - it was a good an opportunity to put together some parts that I had/just acquired. Since this would make my third O350 with graphics, I'm going to pass it one along to someone who'll give it more use.

fu wrote: what is a SNOWBALL device? funky name...

The DM3/xtdigvid digital video board. (tho I used to think the name was a play on my chances of actually finding one).

sweet!

reminds me of a graphics(?) board with hawaiian words i saw here some days ago.

gotta love the custom days, lots o' mojo + soul :)

Nice, Congrats.

Nice one.
I'm thinking of fitting a V10 to one of my O350s, but never got around doing it.
Since you have three of'em, did you follow the threads before regarding Vpro in O350 or did you come up with some new nifty solutions to make it just as close to a "factory" config as possible? I'm thinking cutting metal, replacing fans, etc...

ramq wrote: Nice one.

Thanks - they do make a very nice graphics workstation. Functionally the hardware is the same as the rack mount version of the Tezro or an Onyx (350) InfinitePerformance system. Once you add a graphics board the PROM splash with display either "Tezro" or "Welcome to Onyx InfinitePerformance" (your choice): viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16721235&

ramq wrote: Since you have three of'em, did you follow the threads before regarding Vpro in O350 or did you come up with some new nifty solutions to make it just as close to a "factory" config as possible? I'm thinking cutting metal, replacing fans, etc...

There are two basic methods. In either case the VPro board will overlap the processor cooling shroud (which causes the VPRo heatsink to foul the O350 processor shroud). The major difference in the two methods is how clearance for the VPro heatsink is acquired.

Neither method requires making any permanent changes to the O350 - any O350 parts that are removed are undamaged and easily replaced (with a bolt or screw) if you wish to return the system to its original server configuration.

The first method requires less metal cutting, but will work only with two-processor O350s. This method requires the removal of the processor cooling shroud (pull the node board and remove the attachment screws from the bottom - but avoid the screws for the RAM supports), and one of the (2) radial exhaust fans (the one blocking the XIO-2 slot on the PCI bulkhead). Removing the processor shroud makes room for the VPro heatsink. The only metal cutting is trimming the sheet metal bulkhead on the VPro (a five minute job with a pair of tin snips), and cutting a small piece of user-supplied angle stock as a fan support. The reason this only works with two-processor O350 is the placement of cooling fans in the space the third and fourth processors would occupy in a four-processor O350. bplaa-yai posted some explanatory photos of this type of conversion: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16719768&p=7303988&#p7303988

The second method will work with either two or four processor O350s, but requires trimming the rear of the VPro heatsink (because the O350 processor shroud is left in place) and installing a radial fan under the graphics board (in a similar fashion to how the factory versions are cooled). The VPro heatsink is easily removed from the PCB and is soft enough to be cut with hacksaw or powered metal saw. There's a write up with photos in this thread (scroll down past the hinv): viewtopic.php?f=14&t=16721099&

The graphics cooling fan(s) will attach to a previously unused three-pin fan header on the O350 system board, and SGI uses a non-standard connection for the fan wiring. Details are in this post: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16719768&p=7301078&#p7301078

Here's a few shots of completed fan installation. Installation of a VPro Graphics board requires removal of one of the two 90CFM radial exhaust fans (Pabst RER 101-36/12/12A) found in the headless server version of the Origin 350. With the loss of 90CFM of air flow the issue of primary concern when adding graphics to the relatively restrictive confines of the 2U-sized Origin 350 is cooling. The dual 90CFM fans flow enough air that a stock O350 will heat up if run with the case open, while an O350 with one of the exhaust fans removed (and a graphics board installed) will run cooler with the case open.

This Origin 350 graphics conversion used bplaa-yai's method of removing the processor shroud and installing three fans between the processor node and the VPro graphics board. This method only works with two-processor systems because the fans are positioned where the third and fourth processors would be in a four-processor system. If you have a four-processor Origin 350, or prefer not to remove the processor shroud from a two-processor system, an alternative method of adding VPro graphics is described here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=16721099 (which is similar in concept to SGI's method of cooling a factory built Onyx InfinitePerformance). Neither method requires making an non-reversible changes to the base Origin 350.

The fan support is a piece of heavy gauge sheet metal angle stock .5"x.5" wide by 10.25" long (the piece of sheet metal angle stock was selected because it closely matches the appearance of rest of the O350 chassis). It's supported on the PCI-side of the O350 by one of the threaded tabs used to secure the case lid, and by a fabricated tab on the power supply side (the tab was added so that the fan support would bisect the chassis at a right angle). The mounting tab on the power supply side is a simple 1" long x .5" wide section of heavy sheet stock with two drilled holes - one end is captured under the screw that closes the power supply cable clamp, the the other end extends outward to support the new fan bracket. The hole drilled hole in the other end of the tab was sized to fit a surplus fan push-pin mount (used to secure the newly added fan bracket to the tab), but a screw and nut would work equally well. To ensure that no contact occurred between the added fan bracket and the power supply cable bundle, the power supply was moved to the outside position (the O350 chassis has provisions for dual power supplies). O350's with a single power supply configuration normally have the power supply installed in the inside position (nearest the node board). In this instance the single power supply was moved to the outside position to ensure the added fan bracket wouldn't make contact with the power supply cable bundle. To prevent any issues with environmental checks done by the L1 controller, the power supply cable bundle was left attached to the same header on the system board (the power supply cable bundle attaches to the power supply with an edge-connector, so the cable bundle can be disconnected at the power supply end and moved there).

The two fans on the outside of the tree-fan array are two 60mm x 25mm Vantec TF6025 Thermoflow temperature controlled fans. These run at between 1900-4200 RPM, 9.9-24.2 CFM and 19-33.5 decibels, and were selected to provide reasonable cooling with minimal additional noise The center fan of the tree-fan array is a 60mm x20mm SuperRed CHA6012CS-A that's rated at 3900 RPM, 19.4 CFM and 29 decibels. The tach wire on the SuperRed is the only one of the three that's wired to the tach pin on the O350 fan connector. The SuperRed was selected because of its static 3900 RPM speed rating. The L1 in the O350 will trigger a (non-fatal) fan warning if the fan attached the the three-pin graphics fan header (located on the system board) drops below 1679 RPM. During a cold start the L1 environmental controller lowers the fan speeds by a percentage of the overall speed rather than to a specific RPM level. That percentage of the 1900 RPM start up speed of the Vantec fans isn't high enough to avoid triggering the warning, so the trick is to select fans that have a speed rating high enough to meet that they'll be above the L1 graphics fan warning level (1679 RPM). The the start up percentage of the fixed 3900 RPM speed of the SuperRed fan is around 1800 RPM (enough to avoid the 1679 RPM L1 fan warning), and even after hours of constant use hasn't exceeded 2200 RPM. At those RPM levels the SuperRed fan isn't noticeable over the original equipment power supply fan or radial exhaust fans, so as an alternative, three SuperRed CHA0612CS-A fans (or a similar fixed speed fan) could be used in all three positions with out adding to the O350's noise footprint.

Regardless of the fans (or cooling method) selected, particular attention should be paid to the fan connection pin-out. The fan header on the O350 system board uses a non-standard pin-out: Pin 1 - 12VDC; Pin 2 - Tach; Pin 3 - Ground (the location of pin 1 is screened on the system board). A 4-pin PWM fan may also be used; the O350 fan header and the PWM fan socket are keyed to allow connection of only the 3 necessary fan wires (although the 12VDC, tach and ground wires should be configured to match the O350 pin-out).

Because the Bedrock ASIC is usually shows up in an L1 'env' query as the hottest part of the system, a low-profile variable-speed thermally-controlled 70mm CPU cooler was added to the top of the Bedrock heat sink (70mm is a perfect fit). The cooler is secured by double-sided foam tape placed between the fan frame and hub and the heatsink. This lowered the Bedrock temperature an average of 8C, and the fan wasn't acoustically noticeable in the running O350.

There's been a few questions in the past concerning support for the VPro PCB. Fuel VPro boards come with a sheet metal support rail screwed to the edge of the board directly opposite of the XIO2 edge connectors. As it comes out of the Fuel that support rail is longer than the VPro PCB by several inches, and as a result would protrude into one of the added cooling fans. The one in the photo has been trimmed so that it was the same overall length as the VPro PCB (using a cut-off wheel, but a hacksaw or even tip-snips would do the job).

Your solution is definitely a lot cleaner than mine - to put it lightly. My V10 may or may not be secured to the top of my O350's chassis by a piece of cardboard from a box of dish detergent over the matching screw hole... and my fans are secured by gravity and crossed fingers.

Mysteriously I've never had a single issue, even when running my system for 48+ hours at decent load, so I guess the ghetto engineering gods smiled on me.

fu wrote: reminds me of a graphics(?) board with hawaiian words i saw here some days ago.

That's an XTown - used to connect LEGO (Origin/Onyx2xxx) to a G-Brick for IR graphics. They say "The Best Pictures in the World" on them in Hawiian, because they were used to connect to "KONA" (the codename for Infinite Reality).

I miss the days of exciting stencils on SGI boards - once they got to the O350 the fun seems to have gone away.