My New Server - E6850 at 3.0GHz

[bialio]

Man is it fast.

If you've got $275 to spring on the processor, the Intel E6850 is one hell of a chip.

I decided to go with the fastest dual core available rather than the Q6600 (which is at roughly the same price point - 4 cores at 2.4GHz). I am guessing that SageTV isn't optimized to use two cores, much less 4, so speed is my friend in this case.

CPU usage is amazing - during normal viewing there is 0-1% load on the processor. It transcodes HD content to my MVP without any issue, and only uses about 30% of one core to do that. It also runs cool and fast - seems like it down revs to 2.0Ghz when it doesn't need full throttle also, which is nice for the heat savings.

I might overclock it one day - but for now it doesn't need it, so why bother?

btl.

[davephan]

I was going to replace my dead Athlon XP 2800 system with a Q6600 or the more expensive Q6700, until I read many E6850 reviews. I looks like the E6850 is a much better choice for SageTV than the quad core. The QX6850 quad core can also run at 3.0 gig, but it costs $1,000 more than the E6850, which is just too much money. Some people overclock the E6850 to over 4 gigs.

Do you have any driver problems with the Gigabyte NVidia 8400GS video card? I plan to continue to run with XP Professional. I don't have a HD television yet, but I would like a video card that will work with a HD television.

Dave

[bialio]

I have been very happy with the 8400GS - it did very well for me watching HD. I haven't done much viewing of HD on XP with it - just a little while I was setting up my server.

[davephan]

You also have a Gigabyte Nvidia Fanless 8500GT. The Gigabyte Nvidia Fanless 8500GT looks like it is a bit higher end. Several people on the New Egg reviews talk about that video card is very hot. Is the 8500GT quite a bit better than the 8500GS? What are your experiences with the heat from each video card?

Dave

[dagar]

I'm all for spending money on tech stuff but geez that's overkill for all but the top 1% of Sagers (tm). Good on-ya for having it just don't want people to think you need that much CPU

Will make for lightening quick transcoding though

[bialio]

I've never had heat problems from either of my NVIDIA cards. I think the 8500 has a smoother overall HD experience. Maybe a small glitch in the playback once every 10 minutes, while the 8400 is once every 6 or 7 minutes. I don't think you can go wrong with either of them.

[bialio]

Originally Posted by dagar

I'm all for spending money on tech stuff but geez that's overkill for all but the top 1% of Sagers (tm). Good on-ya for having it just don't want people to think you need that much CPU

Will make for lightening quick transcoding though

It does transcode like it is going out of style!

I mainly wanted a future proof server. When Sage 8.0 comes out I hope I can still run it on this machine.

[davephan]

Your Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L board says that it can only use up to DDR2 800 meg memory, but it can run the FSB at 1333 megs. Is your FSB running at 1333 megs with the DDR2 800 meg memory? I was thinking about buying an Asus Commando mobo, but the FSB can only go up to 1066 megs.

Did you do any research about using a mobo with DDR3 1333 memory? I did some research and from what I found so far is that there isn't much performance gain when going from DDR2 800 meg memory to DDR3 1333 meg memory. The DDR3 1333 meg memory is quite expensive, about $400 for two - 1 gig memory modules, compared to about $100 for two - 1 gig DDR2 800 meg memory modules.

I could buy a mobo that can run at 1333 megs instead of the Commando mobo that only runs up to 1066 megs, if that makes a noticeable improvement in performance. I think I will get two gigs of DDR2 800 meg memory, because the DDR3 1333 memory is four times the cost, and may have small performance gains.


Dave

[bialio]

The FSB is at 1333. Memory at 800. The box says it supports DDR2 up to 1066 - don't know if thats the case or not......

I honestly can't say how much better the FSB at 1333 is compared to 1066. I do like the fact that the chip and board are both running at their highest rated speed - I'm sure that contributes some to the success of the overall system.

[jmv]

bialo,

Don't let anyone ever tell you that Chip is overkill. You just point them back at me...I've got a dual socket with Xeon 5160's in it (same as your chip, but the server variant). This server powers my 16 disk Raid 5, serves my music, my movies, my 6 sage tuners (2xHDHR, 1xSaber 2020), my commercial detect, and my whole house audio. And it is zippy and 7x24 stable for months on end! I wouldn't trust my media addiction to anything less!

mv