Re: 2 Gigabyte ddr2 memory modules for P5K WS

soinie@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:45:07 -0500, Paul <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

soinie@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I'm in the process of putting this board, P5K WS, together and want to
buy all 8 gigs for the board now. I'm checking Crucial and Mushkin,
any suggestions as to speed and brand? Crucial has a nice chart that
suggests the memory modules, and two speeds were listed, 5300 and
6400. How much faster will the 6400 be in terms of actually
perceiving the increase in speed? I'm also thinking of the Core 2 Duo
E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz 4M shared L2 Cache. Would that be a good choice?
I've done a little research but probably not enough to make a
thoroughly educated guess in picking the best processor. I picked the
P5K because it has a serial port and I need one for an old Wacom
tablet, and it appears to be pretty stable with 8 gigs of memory.
Thanks
8GB is a lot of memory. The more memory, the more chance for an
error to creep in. Is an error free memory extremely important,
or is this just a gaming machine, where a crash or other fault
just means a reboot ?

It is possible to get ECC protection for memory products, but
this requires chipset and motherboard support. It skews the whole
selection process for motherboards. So it is not something to be
taken lightly.

It is pretty hard to guess about the processor as well. There
are dual core and quad cores, at prices stretching from the
$280 level, to $1345. What level of performance do you really
need ? What kind of tasks do you carry out ? A popular processor
with gamers, is the Q6600, a quad at 2.4GHz that easily overclocks
to 3GHz (G0 stepping is best). The E6850 is about the same
price as the Q6600.

I guess I'm trying to figure out whether you really need a
"workstation" or "server" class motherboard, or whether
your application looks more like a desktop. Some Asus motherboards
don't have a serial port on the back, but they do have a 20 pin
header for connection of a serial port bracket. It is also possible
to get PCI cards with serial ports on them, so a solution can be
achieved that way as well.

A motherboard like the Maximus Formula, with X38 chipset and
support for DDR2 memory with ECC protection, is the basis of a
good computing solution. It doesn't have a PCI-X slot, but does
have two large PCI Express slots. There is no serial port. So
that would be an example of a board covering computing requirements -
you can even use a new 45nm processor if you want (this one is
a 3GHz quad, a lot more money than the Q6600, but doesn't require
overclocking to get to 3GHz):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115035

Asus has a CPU Support page, where you can look up what boards
can support a given processor:

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpu_support_right_master.aspx?type=0&;
name=Core%202%20Extreme%20QX9650%20(3.00GHz%2C1333FSB%2CL2%3A2X6MB%2Crev.C0%2C4%20cores)&SLanguage=en-us

Paul

This is being built for Photo and video editing, not a gaming machine,
and I need a lot of memory so I can do my thing quickly hence the 8
gigs. I'm working on a box with 4 gigs now and it just isn't quite
enough given the size of graphics files I'm working with. And because
of the limited number of PCI slots on the boards these days, I don't
know if I can have an add on serial port card. I know that I want one
slot for a scsi adapter and could easily find something else to fill
the other slot with like a firewire card. I've been thinking of the
x38 chipset, but am I really future proofing a computer, or will I
ultimately be buying a new board in 3 or 4 yrs because other
technology has changed so dramatically that a new board instead of a
new processor is going to make the difference performance wise? What
is your opinion of the P5E WS board? I believe that also has a serial
port and is X38? Thanks very much for the reply.

I can promise you, you'll be buying a new board in 3 or 4 years time.
Things like CSI and integrating the memory controller on the processor,
will help change the socket yet again. (And LGA775 has been around for
a while already, so is already an old socket.) It'll be interesting
to see, if CSI trickles down to the desktop or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehalem_%28microarchitecture%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_QuickPath_Interconnect

It is part of Intel's business plan to:

1) Crush all chipset maker opposition (VIA is already out of the picture,
as I haven't seen anything from them recently. Still waiting to see
how long Nvidia can stand the heat.)
2) Get people to buy a new motherboard every time, so Intel gets profit
from the processor, and profit from the chipset.

At the 8 GB level, I might consider four sticks with ECC. But this
is your choice - it might not be possible to find ECC in "enthusiast"
grade memory, so finding something faster than DDR2-667 might be
more of a challenge.

http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=3C36D7E0A5CA7304

The P5K WS uses a P35, which doesn't have ECC capability for the memory.
The X38 does have ECC capability, at least for DDR2 memory. Apparently,
X38 doesn't have ECC capability, if you find an X38 on a DDR3 motherboard
(verified on the Intel chipset comparison chart, as a missing feature).

Other options, would be to investigate server boards, ones with FBDIMMs.
AFAIK, the FBDIMM is fully protected (being intended for server boards),
but there would be a price premium for FBDIMM (fully buffered) memory.

If you don't want ECC, nobody is forcing you.

OK, try this one for size. P5E WS uses X38. By checking the actual
motherboard manual, it mentions ECC support. For some reason, the
web site doesn't mention ECC. (Note that ECC support has been flaky
in the past - there have been boards, where the hardware should have
supported ECC, but the feature didn't work for end users. Which is
why you need every bit of encouragement you can find in that regard.
I consider the Asus user manual, to be the contract between company
and customer, so if a feature is listed there, it had better work.)

P5E WS - X38, 8GB DDR2 ECC, serial port (COM header on motherboard, no rear connector)
PCI-X slot.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1899&l1=3&l2=11&l3=572&l4=0

Manual.
http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5E_WS_Professional/e3327_p5e_ws_professional.zip

$270 ASUS P5E WS Professional LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131236

Very little traffic in the forum yet, for that board. First posting Nov.16/07
http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=P5E+WS+Professional&SLanguage=en-us

You'll need a part like this, to use with the P5E WS, to get a
working serial port. PCcables part 07120 is AT-Everex and seems
to be the format used by a majority of modern Asus boards. You
can also buy a 07121 as well at the same time, just in case.
The 07121 is DTK wiring pattern, and is the alternate solution.
Some people try a DTK type instead, and the port doesn't work.
The AT-Everex should do the job. (If you're going to waste the
money on shipping, might as well get a few different products
for the parts bin.)

http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?action=Showitem&id=ID940742&partno=07120&search=DB9M&rsite=pccables.com&rcode=

Paul
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: 2 Gigabyte ddr2 memory modules for P5K WS
    ... x38 chipset, but am I really future proofing a computer, or will I ... Things like CSI and integrating the memory controller on the processor, ... Crush all chipset maker opposition (VIA is already out of the picture, ... I might consider four sticks with ECC. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: 2 Gigabyte ddr2 memory modules for P5K WS
    ... P5K because it has a serial port and I need one for an old Wacom ... and it appears to be pretty stable with 8 gigs of memory. ... this requires chipset and motherboard support. ... if there would be any real difference in speeds. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)
  • Re: ECC and DMA to/from disk controllers
    ... that a disk controller correctly reads data from disk and ... has correct data in the controller memory and buffers. ... ECC bits would be calculated in server memory based on incorrect data from ... One example is "bus mastering" DMA itself. ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: Any comparisons of Opteron F and Woodcrest yet?
    ... memory capacity. ... What do L, SMP and ECC mean? ... Socket F and AM2 are very similar, as are Conroe and Woodcrest. ... Each Woodcrest/Conroe and Socket F/AM2 processor contains 2 cores. ...
    (comp.arch)
  • Re: 2 Gigabyte ddr2 memory modules for P5K WS
    ... suggests the memory modules, and two speeds were listed, 5300 and ... P5K because it has a serial port and I need one for an old Wacom ... and it appears to be pretty stable with 8 gigs of memory. ... this requires chipset and motherboard support. ...
    (alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus)