Any real advantage to a "server" mobo?

[Jesse]

Hi,

After a few false starts I finally aquired a nice hardware raid card (3ware 9500S-12). This is a pci-x card, but 3ware claims that it will work just fine in a standard pci slot. In spite of their assurances I decided to research mobos with pci-x slots. I wanted something that would allow me to use my existing P4 3.0 and ram. What I found was this Tyan board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813151133

The board in my server is an Intel D865Perl. This board has been very stable and trouble free for a couple of years now. No complaints. What I am wondering is if the Tyan board will allow noticeably better performance from the raid card than the intel board will. Obviously reliability is a factor as well. I will be expecting this machine to run reliably 24/7 for the next few years. Are Tyan boards considered to be of high quality? Are server boards, in general, of higher quality than your standard "good quality" board?

I dont mind spending the $$$ if I will be getting something a fair bit better than what I have.

TIA

Jesse

[mattdcknsn]

I have a 3ware raid card and am running it in a PCI-x slot. I have run an older 3ware IDE controller in a PCI slot no problem.

The only reason to go with PCI-X is speed. PCI-x can handle more throughput than standard PCI. I could never push the limits enough to notice, but depending on what you are going to be running on this server it "could" be noticeable. I doubt it though for normal PVR use.

[GKusnick]

It's been a while since I looked at server boards, but as I recall they typically have other features beside PCI-X that distinguish them from consumer boards. These include error-correcting RAM, onboard SCSI, dual LAN interfaces, redundant power supply support, and so on. Some of these features may be available on high-end consumer boards as well, but they're all considered standard for server boards.

Server boards also tend to be big -- 12x13 is not uncommon, as compared to 12x9 for a standard ATX consumer board. So you need a long-footprint case to hold one. A standard ATX tower probably won't work.

[mattdcknsn]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

It's been a while since I looked at server boards, but as I recall they typically have other features beside PCI-X that distinguish them from consumer boards. These include error-correcting RAM, onboard SCSI, dual LAN interfaces, redundant power supply support, and so on. Some of these features may be available on high-end consumer boards as well, but they're all considered standard for server boards.

Forgot to mention that, ECC memory (Error correcting memory) costs more than standard memory. The mobo lists ECC memory supported, standard memory might work. Not sure though.

[jptaz]

I have my 9500S-12 running in a standard PCI and I have NOT seen any major performance issues. Most of the testing shows that the PCI bus is not the bottle neck.

John

[sunray]

I have the older 3Ware 7506-12 ATA RAID card and it works fine in a regular PCI slot with a ECS A7-848P motherboard. But I do remember reading something about incompatibility between Tyan motherboards and 3Ware RAID controllers when I was researching my 7506-12 board. I dont remember where I read it or if it only applies to the 7506 line of RAID cards. Best to send email to 3Ware asking about any problems with Tyan motherboards and the RAID cards. Also as someone upthread mentioned, a lot of server motherboards are designed using the Extended ATX form factor and wont fit into a case the doesnt support E-ATX. Even though my motherboard is just standard ATX I use a CoolerMaster Stacker 810 which support E-ATX motherboards. I use it because it supports a lot of hard drives and has great cooling and and is easy to work on because its roomy.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Hi,

After a few false starts I finally aquired a nice hardware raid card (3ware 9500S-12). This is a pci-x card, but 3ware claims that it will work just fine in a standard pci slot. In spite of their assurances I decided to research mobos with pci-x slots. I wanted something that would allow me to use my existing P4 3.0 and ram. What I found was this Tyan board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813151133

The board in my server is an Intel D865Perl. This board has been very stable and trouble free for a couple of years now. No complaints. What I am wondering is if the Tyan board will allow noticeably better performance from the raid card than the intel board will. Obviously reliability is a factor as well. I will be expecting this machine to run reliably 24/7 for the next few years. Are Tyan boards considered to be of high quality? Are server boards, in general, of higher quality than your standard "good quality" board?

I dont mind spending the $$$ if I will be getting something a fair bit better than what I have.

TIA

Jesse

That is exactly what I have in my SageTV server for the same reasons wanted PCI-X mobo. I actually have 3 of these boards and they all appear to work fine. The oldest is about 2 years old now - newest just about a year old. I've been happy with the Tyan boards I've had over the years. The Server boards are a better quality however. I'm still using a Dual PII 350Mhz Tyan Thunder 100 board in another Server. The only problems I have encountered with Tyan boards are with the non-Server variety. As to performance I can't say. I wanted the PCI-X because I tend to move my files around allot and I wanted the extra speed available for that without affecting my recordings - figured the faster the better.

BobP

Edit: Opps forgot to mention I could only get this mobo to work with 2 Hauppauge PVR-500's as the third PCI slot was not usable with a longer card. If I remember correctly some of the cabling (USB plugin I think) makes a longer card hard to impossible to use on the slot farthest away from the PCI-X slots. The other two range from totally acceptable with a longer card (closest slot to the PCI-X slots) to possible but tight with the middle of the three PCI slots.

[BobPhoenix]

Originally Posted by sunray

I have the older 3Ware 7506-12 ATA RAID card and it works fine in a regular PCI slot with a ECS A7-848P motherboard. But I do remember reading something about incompatibility between Tyan motherboards and 3Ware RAID controllers when I was researching my 7506-12 board. I dont remember where I read it or if it only applies to the 7506 line of RAID cards. Best to send email to 3Ware asking about any problems with Tyan motherboards and the RAID cards. Also as someone upthread mentioned, a lot of server motherboards are designed using the Extended ATX form factor and wont fit into a case the doesnt support E-ATX. Even though my motherboard is just standard ATX I use a CoolerMaster Stacker 810 which support E-ATX motherboards. I use it because it supports a lot of hard drives and has great cooling and and is easy to work on because its roomy.

I have a 7506-12 running with this Tyan motherboard with no problems and infact have had it for 2 years no problems. It also works with my 9500S-12 in another Server as well as in my Sage Server with a LSI MEGA raid 150-6. So it should be compatible now but I've read the same compatibility problems myself.

BobP.

[Jesse]

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for the help and advice.

I think I am going to stick with what I have. It does not sound like I am going to push it hard enough that the standard pci slot will be a problem. I am also feeling like this is one of those times where "If it aint broke dont fix it" just might apply.

Besides, I could use the money for more HDD's

Jesse