Hardware Wanted

Hi,

ajerimez wrote: I'll bet Overdrives would scream

Last time I checked the Overdrives had hardly any cache. I figured that my Dual PPro/1MB would still be better.

ajerimez wrote: The CPUs have 512Kb L2 cache, which is the maximum that the Intel PR440FX motherboard can handle. It's a decent board though, with integrated SCSI, 10/100 ethernet and audio.

The PR440FX can take the 1MB processors: it's just that they weren't available when the motherboard first came out. Do you have a pair of 1MB ones that you can try?

You have to be careful with the stepping tho'. It used to be the case that the PR440FX didn't like a pair of processors with a certain stepping but it was fixed in later BIOS revisions.
After a power cut my PR440FX refused to boot. It had been a little unstable for a week or so prior to that but had been running flawlessly for a few years.
On closer inspection it turned out that I had processors with the stepping that was quoted to cause problems in dual configs. Still, I was running the latest BIOS and that was supposed to be fixed. I stripped the system down and eventually got it to boot with a single processor but it was still pretty temperamental. The PR440FX has one VRM on board and another in an expansion slot for the second processor. I figured that the voltage regulation was no longer up to scratch and that I'd possibly have to replace a few capacitors. I run the system with a pair of low speed 80mm fans on the CPUs and whilst it doesn't run hot, it doesn't really run cold either.
Anyway, I had a pair of PR440FXs so I swapped them over and everything is good again.

I also have a couple of other AT form factor dual PPro boards but they take the 72pin EDO SIMMS. The PR440FX takes the 168pin ECC EDO DIMMS and I've got 1GB in each of the boards.
I've also got some of the single CPU versions of the 440.


Anyway, now that I don't have a spare board anymore I was looking around for a possible replacement and came across this:
http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11878

Now, whilst it's not considered a major performer in today's stakes I was wondering how it would fair against a Dual PPro/1MB. I guess I'm a bit snobbish and don't like the idea of only have 128KB of L2 cache. However, the PPro has 1MB running at 200MHz with 1GB of RAM on a 66MHz FSB.
The C7-D has next to no cache and 2GB RAM on a ~500MHz FSB so if it performs like a PPro with 2GB cache then I'll still be ahead. The C7-D also sports some encryption hardware, some MPEG hardware and it'll run even more quietly than the PPros.

I'm also snobbish about giving up my ECC memory. The PR440FX logs errors in the BIOS and I've seen at least one recovered error in the last 5 years.

Uh oh, just when I thought I was done spending money on this system...

The PR440FX can make use of 1mb cache processors? I've read conflicting reports on the newsgroups - either it won't boot with them, or it won't utilize more than 512kb of the cache, or that it works great. Could depend on the mobo and bios revisions. Unfortunately I don't have 1mb cache processors to test with, and I'm reluctant to spend $ on them if they might not work well.

Also, according to the manual the PR440FX can only take up to 512MB of memory in four 128MB ECC EDO dimms. You have 1Gb running in yours? Does it work well?

ajerimez wrote: The PR440FX can make use of 1mb cache processors? I've read conflicting reports on the newsgroups - either it won't boot with them, or it won't utilize more than 512kb of the cache, or that it works great. Could depend on the mobo and bios revisions. Unfortunately I don't have 1mb cache processors to test with, and I'm reluctant to spend $ on them if they might not work well.

Don't bother. The Overdrives work better. Maybe for a very few (server-type ?) applications the 1 meg cache will overpower the faster and better (some big improvements between the ppro and p-ii) Overdrives but in Real Life ... dually Overdrives kick ass.

Tried both. Ran the PPro's at everything from 180 to 266 (okay, they only ran at 240) and benchmarked them, too. Had 180's and 200's with 256, 512 and 1 meg cache.

About the "tiny" cache ... 512k at processor speed isn't that bad. Plus the L1 cache on the Overdrive is twice as big as the PPro ... remember when the Celerons came out with virtually no cache ? Except you could overclock the pee out of them ? Those suckers flew for many (desktop) applications.

Overdrives. Would still like to try four in a Netfinity ... hot to go racy performance there, boy !

ajerimez wrote: The PR440FX can make use of 1mb cache processors? I've read conflicting reports on the newsgroups - either it won't boot with them, or it won't utilize more than 512kb of the cache, or that it works great. Could depend on the mobo and bios revisions. Unfortunately I don't have 1mb cache processors to test with, and I'm reluctant to spend $ on them if they might not work well.

Well, cache is just the same as memory: it uses what it can find. The 1MB ones weren't available when the PR440FX came out which is why they're not mentioned in the original manual. I've got some addendums to my manual and they're not mentioned in there either. Having said that, the manual seems to be rather thick and rather uninfomative: I can never find the detail I need but it chatters for hours on irrelevancies.

Anyway, I've had both my PR440FXs running with dual 1MB PPros each with 4x256MB ECC EDO RAM and they worked fine.
As I said before, one of my boards does now seem to have died but I put that down to running it 24/7 for years with only just enough cooling.
My boards are both running the latest BIOS.
There was a bug where to PR440FX couldn't reliably run a pair of processors that had a certain stepping but this was supposed to be fixed in the latest BIOS and, indeed, a pair of the processors that I have are in fact of that stepping.

ajerimez wrote: Also, according to the manual the PR440FX can only take up to 512MB of memory in four 128MB ECC EDO dimms. You have 1Gb running in yours? Does it work well?

Yes. It's fine.
How much do you have in yours?

Hmm... Guess I'll keep on the lookout for a matched pair of 1mb 200MHz PPros on eBay.

I have 512MB (4x128) in the system now, though it would be much more interesting with a full GB.

if you really want to crank it up to 11, a gateway ALR took 6 socket 8 processors. you could try 6x ppro, or 6x overdrive.