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Completed Project: Behemoth (Reborn)

CMetaphor

Quadfather
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
6,459
Location
Montreal, Canada
The Story:

Some people have been asking me why Behemoth never did very many benchmarks, or testing the multi-threaded applications. Here's the reason:

In June (yes June), Behemoth's motherboard started becoming intermittent. This was not and issue "in passing" or something simple to diagnose, and it just got worse and worse. The Board (H8QM3-2) was exchanged at the store where I ordered it because it occurred soon after I bought it. By my problems didn't end there.

I waited almost a month to receive my replacement. And when it arrived everything was happy once more. I was able to rebuild the system quietly (and without too much shame) and even post solid benching numbers (even the wPrime 1024m record which remains today). The system remained stable for several weeks this time, no issues. I used the system on a regular basis and couldn't be happier.

Then, it happened again - and in the same way as the first time. This time, however, the board was past its in-store exchange time and I had to deal directly with Supermicro for the RMA.

... Supermicro has awful support. For weeks I went back and forth via emails with one of their technicians for troubleshooting, but was asked every stupid question in the world: "Are you sure your processors are matched?" "Is your RAM on the QVL list?" etc etc. Finally, the last straw came: "Could you please send us pictures of your processors and RAM." What the :censored:! They wouldn't just give me a damn RMA, and I was fed up.

In turned to the store from which I purchased the board and thus got in contact with the actual supplier for it. THEY tried to deal with Supermicro to get an RMA (and I even gave them a picture of my parts too) but still nothing. So then, the supplier gave up! At least they're an upstanding company, and decided to allow me to exchange my oh-so-very defective board for a new one.... which arrived today. Let Behemoth arise again!

Side note: According to the supplier (and even partially confirmed by supermicro's own tech) the yields on their quad-socket boards are ridiculously bad. As in, 1 out of every 2 quad boards they make comes off the assembly line with some sort of defect. I'm told that "most" of these boards are quickly corrected before being finalized... I guess I just got unlucky... twice.

What's next?

The Rebuild:


New parts:
- Tyan S4995G3NR-SI Motherboard
- Supermicro P0024AP4 Heatsinks (x4)
- 2x 9800GX2s in Quad-SLI

The original Behemoth parts (for those of you that forgot)
- 4x AMD Opteron 8354s @ 2.2Ghz (16 cores total)
- 8Gb Kingston KVR ECC REG
- Coolermaster Stacker 810
- Silverstone Olympia 1200w PSU
- 4x Seagate 7200.12s in a short-stroked Raid 0.

:thumb:
 
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CMetaphor

Quadfather
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
6,459
Location
Montreal, Canada
Pictures!

The Tyan S4985G3NR-SI:

6034aaa41576fa6f.jpg


This board was an absolute pleasure to work with. It did not require the use of ANY custom mounts in my Stacker 810. Not one. It just fit. And then...

6034aaa41fa8336d.jpg


6034aaa41fa8478b.jpg


YES!!! It Freakin' Lives!!!
 
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CMetaphor

Quadfather
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
6,459
Location
Montreal, Canada
Breaking records...

.. or at least I'm getting closer :whistle:

First run 32M (seconds before I passed out for the night):
6034aaa41fa85dd4.jpg




Breaking the bank too:doh:. Finally, here's the full cost of the system IF I had paid full retail price for everything: (Using the least expensive prices possible through regular e-tailers)
Opteron 8354 = $1,514ea. @ NCIX x4 = $6056
Tyan s4985G3NR-SI = $999 @ Newegg.ca
Kingston DDR2-800 ECC REG 1gb = $35ea. @ Memorydepot x8 = $280
Silverstone Olympia 1200w PSU = $333 @ Compu2000
Coolermaster Stacker 810 = $250 direct from CM
eVGA 9800GX2 = n/a (discontinued) - bought from MarcusFox x2 = $400
Seagate 500gb 7200.12 = $52.50 @ NXSource x4 = $210
Supermicro HSFs = $35ea x4 = $140

Total price for a Behemoth: $8,668 Dollars. :shok:

Yeah, Im as shocked as you are. lol. Again, I did not pay this much, not even half this much... not even a quarter this much. hehe

Now you know!
 
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Arinoth

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 27, 2009
Messages
9,578
Location
Halifax
Hoping to see this beast chugging (seems like the wrong word but i can't think of a better one at the moment) and ripping apart fold proteins in no time!
 

omgwtf

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Messages
1,914
Location
Uzbekistan
..keeping your enthusiasm on getting this build up and running again after dealing with those pricks ..amazing :) you sure do have an unique passion for this ..
 

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