Requesting input.

[CaptainHaplo]

Ok - I posted before about a server conversion (into a screamer game machine) I was working on. Ended up solving the question - but now I have another.

Here is my situation - I have 2 servers.

HP 350 G6 - single core, rack mount "standard" size server. (Thick enough to hold a full size video card).

HP 380 G6 - Dual core blade server.

Now, here is my struggle. When I am done - I must have both machines operational. However, part swaps are definitely possible.

Ideally, the 380 board and cpus would swap into the 350 chassis and vice versa. That however, may be problematic. The 350 has plastic air guides to assist with cooling, the heat sinks are different sizes between the 2, etc. It probably could be done, but I am not positive that I can justify the additional parts costs.

I REALLY want to have the dual cpu board - performance wise its a monster. However, if I leave it in the blade, I have to get 2 pcie x16 risers. That would allow me to put in a full size vid card, but it would have to be a single slot solution and would be hard pressed on airflow in the riser cage. I see serious temperature issues there as there is not a single card solution out there with enough power to do the job without generating some serious heat. Is there?

So - if you had the hardware - how would you propose moving forward? Questions welcome as well.

[longam]

Is this the 380 G6? Because I don't think its a blade server, just a 2U server with a bunch of PCI slots.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13234_na/13234_na.pdf

[CaptainHaplo]

Yes, I misspoke - I am used to calling it "blade" due to its lack of height - but its not a true blade server by any stretch. It has its own enclosure. My fault.

And yes - its the G6 you listed. Sorry bout that.

*edit - I can get the cables to provide secondary 75w gpu power - but am I wrong being concerned about the heat buildup inside that chassis?

[longam]

Yes, I misspoke - I am used to calling it "blade" due to its lack of height - but its not a true blade server by any stretch. It has its own enclosure. My fault.

And yes - its the G6 you listed. Sorry bout that.

*edit - I can get the cables to provide secondary 75w gpu power - but am I wrong being concerned about the heat buildup inside that chassis?

With HP rack servers there is a bank of cooling fans across the mid section (overview, item 5) which should have no problem cooling the case. These are setup to increase RPM with temperature rise.

I have two 1U HP's servers that sound like a 747 taking off when the AC trips out in the server closet at work.

[CaptainHaplo]

Well if I can get away with the heat - the next question 2 questions are:

Given that they will have to be in riser cages - what video card and audio card would you suggest?

[Arclight]

A stock GTX560 Ti soaks about 150W, which that PDF lists as the limit on the 2 PCI-E x16 risers. Not familiar with this hardware, but that's what I understand of that document.

Also says it's limited to single-slot designs; not many of those around nowadays, none that deliver good gaming performance anyway. :hmmm:

[longam]

A stock GTX560 Ti soaks about 150W, which that PDF lists as the limit on the 2 PCI-E x16 risers. Not familiar with this hardware, but that's what I understand of that document.

Also says it's limited to single-slot designs; not many of those around nowadays, none that deliver good gaming performance anyway. :hmmm:

True, if you Google 'pci-e x16 video card' you can see your options.

[CaptainHaplo]

A stock GTX560 Ti soaks about 150W, which that PDF lists as the limit on the 2 PCI-E x16 risers. Not familiar with this hardware, but that's what I understand of that document.

Also says it's limited to single-slot designs; not many of those around nowadays, none that deliver good gaming performance anyway. :hmmm:

Yes the single slot is my concern. I can go up to a 225 watt card (possibly 300) since the slot provide 75, and I will have 2 75 watt pci-e plugs. If the slot will provide 150 - thats great. I thought the spec on a x16 was 75 though.

I would be ok with a 150 watt card - performance is the real question.

*Note - the second PCI riser will be used for sound....

So - let me throw another monkey in the barrel. Would it be possible to swap the boards between the 350 and the 380? Since the chassis are totally different - I am not sure. But if so, I wouldnt need to fool with the risers. I simply might have to make some modifications for heat.

Yea, I know - this is a bit much - but this would be good because not only would I have the raid array, I would have space for a couple of standard sata drives (I have a 1 and 2 Tb that could be used as well) which would be simple storage.

Plus, I would have room for a dual slot size card (though it could only NEED one slot).

[CaptainHaplo]

Update - my parts came in. Everything is physically together.

Now I am using a sb Recon for sound on the PCI x8 slot, the 6850 on the PCI x16 slot.

I will raid 5 this across 6 disks, with one spare.

Due to disk space constraints - I will use an external hard drive for most of the storage.

So here lies the question that is before me.

Do I want to go with Windows 7 Pro, or Server 2008 R2?
I have licenses for both. Both support 2 physical processors, and I am using x64 so it will also support the 48G's of memory.

I am leaning heavily toward 7 - based on the issues of software compatibility, the out of the box gaming ability of 7 vs the tweaking of 2008 server.

Any reason I should go with Server 08?

[longam]

Seems to me your wanting a gaming rig not a server. Servers at home are not much more than a learning tool.

[CaptainHaplo]

Thats exactly what this is for the most part - a server conversion to a gaming rig. I put 7 on it for now (its not like I can't change my mind) and ran the index just to get an idea of the horsepower.

7.8 on the processor
7.9 on the memory
7.7 on both sets of graphix
6.7 was the low - thats the raid array. But with 64G's - most everything can load in that space so hopefully loads will be few and far between.

Now I don't put much stock in the WPI, so real world testing is coming soon!

[longam]

Better numbers than my rig, impressive.

Intel i5 3.2 quad core - 7.1
8 GB ram - 7.1
gforce 9800 GT - 6.9
Sata drives non raid - 5.9

Graphic card is getting old but this rig runs simulator games with no problem.

edit: with that much memory you might consider a ram drive or ram disk to load the program in.

[CaptainHaplo]

Man thats a great idea Longam!

A 16G ram drive would hold any game I currently have (ME3 is the largest coming in at 13+).

Now - to keep registry errors to a minimum, I could install directly to the ram drive, then manually copy the files to the HD for storage. Then create a batch to copy the back to the ram drive and execute from there.

I wonder if there is a way to have it execute while the copy continues?

Or am I missing something simple?