core 2 quad upgrade tags:  hardware

hecubus is feeling a little slow since i’ve added tv recording (and transcoding) and private web application serving to its list of things to do.  my usual server upgrade process is to upgrade my workstation and then pass that hardware down to the server.

my last workstation upgrade was because my motherboard died, which meant i didn’t have any working hardware to pass down to the server.  this time nothing’s broken yet, but since my current motherboard only supports 2 ide/pata devices (looks like everything’s moving toward sata) it won’t support my current 4 ide devices (3 hard drives and 1 dvd rom).

so here’s the plan:

tesla (my workstation) is currently running a pentium d.  the next processor family is core 2, which comes in dual- or quad-core, 65- or 45-nm, and also has an “extreme” variant.  i decided since my pentium d is a dual-core i could step up to a quad-core.  also i think my pentium d is a smithfield which means 90nm so either 65- or 45-nm is a step up, but i figure i may as well go all the way to the 45 (code-named yorkfield).  that also appears to bump it up to 1333-MHz FSB instead of 1066, and FSB is the important speed number in CPUs.  i found the Q9300 and that’s what i’d get if i was buying it all today.  it’s 2.5 GHz instead of my current 2.66 GHz.

my current motherboard says it doesn’t support the Q9300 (or any core 2 quad, for that matter), so that means a new motherboard.  i’m not very happy with my sound card (creative x-fi xtremegamer) due to it not being much of a step up from the onboard realtek sound, so i wanted another onboard realtek.  i’ve had many gigabyte boards and only a problem with one, so i’m sticking with them.  in boards under $100 i found options for 800-MHz or 1066-MHz ram, so i narrowed down to the 1066.  i found the ga-ep35-ds3l, which has the added bonus of digital audio output via either optical or coax as well as power-saving technology.

of course my current ram is 666-MHz, and i’d also like to run dual-channel ram which means i need two sticks instead of just one (i intended to buy another stick identical to my current one, but it’s a lot easier to buy both at the same time).  so the choice was to double to 2 sticks of 1 GB each or quadruple to 2 sticks of 2 GB each.  i read that video ram plus system can’t exceed 4 GB on 32-bit systems, and as 64-bit software support is still lacking i want to stick with 32-bit operating systems for now, so i decided on doubling.  people seem happy with g.skill brand, and there’s a pretty good deal on a 2-pack of 1-GB sticks.

the new board still supports 2 ide devices, so that covers my needs for getting my workstation upgraded.  i’m considering moving the hard drive to sata for better performance though — an 80-GB sata drive (wd800jd) isn’t that expensive, and i really don’t need more space than that since i have a file server.  this can of course be done later, but at less than 10% of my total cost i don’t see much reason to wait.

the server, as i mentioned before, will be going from 4 ide device support to 2, so i need to find something to do about that.  i want to stick with 4 drives — one for the linux install and home directories (temp storage), one for backups of files that matter to me (so i won’t lose my digital photos if a hard drive dies), and the big one for the main storage.  it makes the most sense to me that i keep the current 80- and 250-GB ide drives that are in there now, so the 80 will be the linux install and home directories and the 250-GB will become the backup drive (currently i’m doing limited backups on the linux install / home directories drive due to using two drives for main storage).

since sata is faster, i’ll get a new sata drive for the main storage.  i’m a little crowded right now between the 250 and the 80 (we seem to record tv faster than we watch it, and we only get the broadcast networks plus wgn), so a 400-GB drive should cover it with an extra 70 GB.  i found the wd4000aaks for less than i bought my first 20-gig drive for.

so now the problem is it needs a dvd drive in order to actually install fedora.  i can either borrow the sata burner i have in my workstation for long enough to install fedora and then put it back, or buy an sata dvd rom drive.  as dvd rom drives are pretty cheap, i’m leaning toward that.

also, the power supply in my current server doesn’t have any sata power connectors and may not have that extra 4-pin cpu power connector that got added with pentium 4.  i already picked up a raidmax modular power supply on a good sale a little while ago, so i’ll put that in my workstation and bump its power supply to the server.

going with all of that, it will run me around $585 (including shipping), with the cpu taking nearly half.  if i drop the 80-GB sata drive and the sata dvd rom (this is my minimum needs for an upgrade), it’s around $515.  either way that’s a good price for a new computer, and with the extra parts i have laying around i’ll be able to put the leftover pentium iii system into a different case and keep it running on its 60-GB drive.  i may even put ubuntu on it, give it a monitor and keyboard, and put it in my upcoming garage sale if i end up getting the new stuff up and running in time.

my mind is like a steel trap:  it only holds on to the big stuff

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i ordered it all, and somehow shipping worked out to less than expected!  i suspect it will arrive either friday or next monday, and i won’t have time to put the old pentium iii into a different case before the garage sale, but maybe during...

my mind is like a steel trap:  it only holds on to the big stuff

pm www

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so tesla is up and running on its new hardware, and it is awesome.  i went with the 64-bit version of ubuntu, and so far the only issue i’ve noticed is the lightning extension for thunderbird on addons.mozilla.org is only for 32-bit thunderbird, but they have a 64-bit version off the lightning site as a contributed build so no real problem.

the one real problem is that there’s no 64-bit sun java plugin for firefox, but it’s apparently expected soon, so maybe i can wait.  the rdp over web vpn i use for work runs as a java applet and doesn’t work with openjdk.  i’m also having problems with firebug, but i had that on 32-bit ubuntu as well.

my mind is like a steel trap:  it only holds on to the big stuff

pm www

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i shut down my computer overnight, and yesterday morning when i started it up it said it couldn’t contact the dhcp server (which would be my router).  my wife’s computer (which she rarely shuts down) is connected fine, and my laptop connects fine (it’s been shut down as well, but uses wireless).  i’ve restarted the router but that hasn’t helped either.  putting a pci network card into my computer hasn’t made any difference either.  i’m having trouble figuring out if it’s the router’s fault or my computer’s fault, but if the pci nic won’t work either then it’s probably not the motherboard at least...

my mind is like a steel trap:  it only holds on to the big stuff

pm www

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turns out the problem was that the port on my hub (switch, actually) that i had my computer connected to went dead somehow.  i moved it to a different port and everything’s fine again!  i had two extra ports before and only one now, but that’ll do.

my mind is like a steel trap:  it only holds on to the big stuff

pm www

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