Please suggest: Dual AM2 machine, 32 gigs, ibm/dell-like support

I need to purchase a workstation. Can anyone suggest a company that
makes a workstation with two AM2 sockets that can take 32 gigs and 2
Barcelonas later (I will buy the cheapest CPU configuration for now)?
This is for work and I usually buy Dell or IBM because we MUST have
worry-free, full, dependable support. Dell and IBM don't make such a
beast.

No chance a real Barcelona system will be out by late May I suppose.

Thanks.

On Sun, 06 May 2007 01:26:26 -0700, CharlesBlackstone wrote:

I need to purchase a workstation. Can anyone suggest a company that
makes a workstation with two AM2 sockets that can take 32 gigs and 2
Barcelonas later (I will buy the cheapest CPU configuration for now)?

I'm pretty sure you'll have to go to socket F (1207) for dual Barcelonas
and that much ram. Tyan, Serverworks, Asus, and Acme all make socket F
dual boards. Maybe others. They start at about $250.

No chance a real Barcelona system will be out by late May I suppose.

I don't think so.

--
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On 6 May 2007 01:26:26 -0700, CharlesBlackstone wrote:

I need to purchase a workstation. Can anyone suggest a company that
makes a workstation with two AM2 sockets that can take 32 gigs and 2
Barcelonas later (I will buy the cheapest CPU configuration for now)?
This is for work and I usually buy Dell or IBM because we MUST have
worry-free, full, dependable support. Dell and IBM don't make such a
beast.

No chance a real Barcelona system will be out by late May I suppose.

Since you want support you need to look at someone like Sun for a
system such as this.

http://www.sun.com/servers/index.jsp

--
Regards - Rodney Pont
The from address exists but is mostly dumped,
please send any emails to the address below
e-mail ngpsm4 (at) infohitsystems (dot) ltd (dot) uk

* CharlesBlackstone:

I need to purchase a workstation. Can anyone suggest a company that
makes a workstation with two AM2 sockets that can take 32 gigs and 2
Barcelonas later (I will buy the cheapest CPU configuration for now)?

No way! First, AM2 is single processor only (Athlons and AM2 Opterons
can't work in multi CPU config, the dual CPU Athlon FX are just
relabeled SocketF Opterons), and AM2 doesn't support registered memory
(so 8GB RAM per CPU max). You need to go SocketF (Opteron 2xxx) or
Socket940 (Opteron 2xx) instead.

This is for work and I usually buy Dell or IBM because we MUST have
worry-free, full, dependable support. Dell and IBM don't make such a
beast.

Dell doesn't have Opteron workstations (Opteron servers only), IBM does
have Opteron workstations (Intellistation M Pro) but these beasts are
loud. My recommendation would be HP, though. The xw9400 is probably what
you want and comes with 3yrs onsite as standard.

Until some month ago my main machine was a HP xw9300 dual Opteron 285
Dual-Core workstation with 32GB RAM which now has been replaced by a
xw8400 (the machine I'm typing this) with 3x XEON 5160 Dual-Core and
also with 32GB RAM (waiting for 64GB to become available). At work we
have ****loads of HP xw9300, xw9400, xw8200 and xw8400. The machines are
very solid, they are silent (for a workstation anyway), and the support
is just great. Besides that, you can get some very good deals for these
machines, especially if you buy HP RENEW.

No chance a real Barcelona system will be out by late May I suppose.

No way!

Benjamin

BTW: if someone wants to buy my HP xw9300 with 2x Opteron 285 Dual-Core
2.6GHz, 32GB RAM, 300GB 10k U320 SCSI disk, HP 16x DVD+-RW, HP ZIP250,
Windowsxp x64 and 1 1/4 year of remaining HP international onsite
warranty, this email address is valid. Location is South of Germany,
though ;-)

* CharlesBlackstone:

I need to purchase a workstation. Can anyone suggest a company that
makes a workstation with two AM2 sockets that can take 32 gigs and 2
Barcelonas later (I will buy the cheapest CPU configuration for now)?

No way! First, AM2 is single processor only (Athlons and AM2 Opterons
can't work in multi CPU config, the dual CPU Athlon FX are just
relabeled SocketF Opterons), and AM2 doesn't support registered memory
(so 8GB RAM per CPU max). You need to go SocketF (Opteron 2xxx) or
Socket940 (Opteron 2xx) instead.

This is for work and I usually buy Dell or IBM because we MUST have
worry-free, full, dependable support. Dell and IBM don't make such a
beast.

Dell doesn't have Opteron workstations (Opteron servers only), IBM does
have Opteron workstations (Intellistation M Pro) but these beasts are
loud. My recommendation would be HP, though. The xw9400 is probably what
you want and comes with 3yrs onsite as standard.

Until some month ago my main machine was a HP xw9300 dual Opteron 285
Dual-Core workstation with 32GB RAM which now has been replaced by a
xw8400 (the machine I'm typing this on) with 2x XEON 5160 Dual-Core and
also with 32GB RAM (waiting for 64GB to become available). At work we
have ****loads of HP xw9300, xw9400, xw8200 and xw8400. The machines are
very solid, they are silent (for a workstation anyway), and the support
is just great. Besides that, you can get some very good deals for these
machines, especially if you buy HP RENEW.

No chance a real Barcelona system will be out by late May I suppose.

No way!

Benjamin

BTW: if someone wants to buy my HP xw9300 with 2x Opteron 285 Dual-Core
2.6GHz, 32GB RAM, 300GB 10k U320 SCSI disk, HP 16x DVD+-RW, HP ZIP250,
Windowsxp x64 and 1 1/4 year of remaining HP international onsite
warranty, this email address is valid. Location is South of Germany,
though ;-)

On May 6, 7:58 am, Benjamin Gawert wrote:
* CharlesBlackstone:

I need to purchase a workstation. Can anyone suggest a company that
makes a workstation with two AM2 sockets that can take 32 gigs and 2
Barcelonas later (I will buy the cheapest CPU configuration for now)?

No way! First, AM2 is single processor only (Athlons and AM2 Opterons
can't work in multi CPU config, the dual CPU Athlon FX are just
relabeled SocketF Opterons), and AM2 doesn't support registered memory
(so 8GB RAM per CPU max). You need to go SocketF (Opteron 2xxx) or
Socket940 (Opteron 2xx) instead.

This is for work and I usually buy Dell or IBM because we MUST have
worry-free, full, dependable support. Dell and IBM don't make such a
beast.

Dell doesn't have Opteron workstations (Opteron servers only), IBM does
have Opteron workstations (Intellistation M Pro) but these beasts are
loud. My recommendation would be HP, though. The xw9400 is probably what
you want and comes with 3yrs onsite as standard.

Until some month ago my main machine was a HP xw9300 dual Opteron 285
Dual-Core workstation with 32GB RAM which now has been replaced by a
xw8400 (the machine I'm typing this) with 3x XEON 5160 Dual-Core and
also with 32GB RAM (waiting for 64GB to become available). At work we
have ****loads of HP xw9300, xw9400, xw8200 and xw8400. The machines are
very solid, they are silent (for a workstation anyway), and the support
is just great. Besides that, you can get some very good deals for these
machines, especially if you buy HP RENEW.

No chance a real Barcelona system will be out by late May I suppose.

No way!

Benjamin

BTW: if someone wants to buy my HP xw9300 with 2x Opteron 285 Dual-Core
2.6GHz, 32GB RAM, 300GB 10k U320 SCSI disk, HP 16x DVD+-RW, HP ZIP250,
Windowsxp x64 and 1 1/4 year of remaining HP international onsite
warranty, this email address is valid. Location is South of Germany,
though ;-)



Thanks, Benhamin. Do you think the xw9300 would take the Barcelonas?

* CharlesBlackstone:

Thanks, Benhamin. Do you think the xw9300 would take the Barcelonas?

No, the xw9300 is Socket940 and uses DDR-SDRAM while the newer Opteron
machines use SocketF and use DDR2-SDRAM. SocketF is more future proof
since it probably will take next AMD Opteron generation as well. On the
other side DDR2 has no performance advantage compared to DDR but comes
with increased latency times.

Benjamin

On May 7, 7:28 am, Benjamin Gawert wrote:
* CharlesBlackstone:

Thanks, Benhamin. Do you think the xw9300 would take the Barcelonas?

No, the xw9300 is Socket940 and uses DDR-SDRAM while the newer Opteron
machines use SocketF and use DDR2-SDRAM. SocketF is more future proof
since it probably will take next AMD Opteron generation as well. On the
other side DDR2 has no performance advantage compared to DDR but comes
with increased latency times.

Benjamin


FWIW, I had a long conversation with HP tech people today, and though
the Barcelona might fit the current 9300, HP won't support if because
of differences in power and heat requirements.

* CharlesBlackstone:

FWIW, I had a long conversation with HP tech people today, and though
the Barcelona might fit the current 9300, HP won't support if because
of differences in power and heat requirements.

No way, Barcelona can't fit in a Socket940-based sytem like the xw9300
because it will be SocketF only and needs DDR2 memory (Socket940 systems
are all DDR only). Of course HP won't support a CPU (AMD Barcelona) that
even doesn't exist really (at least not outside AMDs laboratories) in a
machine that is already out of production (xw9300) and replaced by a
successor (xw9400).

The xw9400 is SocketF, and if Barcelona will run in SocketF instead of
requiring again a new socket then HP very likey will support it in the
xw9400 as soon as the CPU is really available.

Benjamin

On May 7, 1:02 pm, Benjamin Gawert wrote:
* CharlesBlackstone:

FWIW, I had a long conversation with HP tech people today, and though
the Barcelona might fit the current 9300, HP won't support if because
of differences in power and heat requirements.

No way, Barcelona can't fit in a Socket940-based sytem like the xw9300
because it will be SocketF only and needs DDR2 memory (Socket940 systems
are all DDR only). Of course HP won't support a CPU (AMD Barcelona) that
even doesn't exist really (at least not outside AMDs laboratories) in a
machine that is already out of production (xw9300) and replaced by a
successor (xw9400).

The xw9400 is SocketF, and if Barcelona will run in SocketF instead of
requiring again a new socket then HP very likey will support it in the
xw9400 as soon as the CPU is really available.

Benjamin


Hi, well actually we may have been discussing the 9400, but the bottom
liine is there is a new workstation design slated for fall that will
be the barcelona machine, and they will not support any current
machine for the upgrade....so looks like Intel for me.