Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

All in one motherboards

0 views
Skip to first unread message

Barry Schnur

unread,
Nov 19, 2003, 2:16:30 AM11/19/03
to
Well, it depends on the NIC on the motherboard as much as anything.

Also, which SCSI chipset.

Consider that most of the 'real' servers these days have embedded
everything as well.


--
Barry Schnur
Novell Support Connection Volunteer Sysop

Dave Harry

unread,
Nov 19, 2003, 2:43:03 AM11/19/03
to
>Consider that most of the 'real' servers these days have embedded
everything as well.
Fair call. This *appears* to be a server (albeit windows oriented) MB,
whatever that means. :)

Adaptec Ultra320 SCSI, and Intel CSA interface Gigabit Ethernet Controller.
Adaptec U320 should go down as easy as custard. I don't know much about the
Intel gigabit, but I'm likely to disable it for my existing 2x100Mb anyway
(IPX load balanced), so I don't have to buy another switch.

Thanks for the word Barry, once again.

--
Dave Harry


Dave Lunn

unread,
Nov 19, 2003, 8:40:14 AM11/19/03
to
Dave

I have some Supermicro socket 370 MBs with embedded SCSI and NICs and I have
never had any trouble with any of them. The numbers are small, <10 though.
I find them to be extremely stable, Netware recognizes everything correctly,
and they are very fast

I have not used any of Supermicro's P4 as I don't have any clients who can
even begin to push the 1 gig P IIIs with U160 SCSI.

Like most now, the embedded NIC is an Intel pro 100.

Some I have bought at full retail ~350 for P3tDLE and ~$550 for the SCSI
boards, some I have bought on ebay for $25 and I really like them all.
--
Dave Lunn
NSF SysOp
http://support.novell.com


Barry Schnur

unread,
Nov 19, 2003, 11:42:02 AM11/19/03
to
Not a problem - -that 10/100/1000 NIC should work as well -- now you
need to find a 10/100/1000 switch <smile>.

Barry Schnur

unread,
Nov 19, 2003, 11:43:32 AM11/19/03
to
Right, I was thinking about the workstation all in ones to avoid --
those with the SIS or Realtek NIC, embedded video (ugh), embedded
sound, embedded modem, embedded flannel shirts...

geoffs....@otcnetworks.invalid.com

unread,
Nov 19, 2003, 3:10:40 PM11/19/03
to
Do yourself a favor and get a SuperMicro motherboard with an Intel or
ServerWorks chipset. You're used to the stability and compatibility of a
BX chipset, go with a company that specializes in server motherboards.

The Intel 1Gb NIC can be load balanced with your Intel 100Mb NIC or you
can configure it for fault tolerance. Switches with 1-2 Gb ports and 8-48
10/100 ports are pretty cheap and may make a significant difference in
performance (they do my environment, your results may vary), so I would
recommend you get one if you can squeeze a little more out of the bean
counters. In my application (DOS based database, latency sensitive),
replacing our 10/100 switches with ones that have Gb uplinks and putting a
Gb NIC in the server gave a 70%-80% performance increase for all users,
even though the users are still on 100Mb, and that was compared to load
balanced 100Mb NIC's in the server.

> A recent abend has helped my plight against the lack of ECC ram in my
> server, and I'm now one up against bean-counting; I've finally got the go
> ahead to upgrade some server hardware and put in ECC ram.
> Yay.
> But this poor old 440BX motherboard can't handle too much ram and since
ECC
> in SDRAM costs so much more than DDR around here, I've even got the go
ahead
> to put in a new MB and CPU with it.
> Double-Yay.
>
> So now I'm interested in your thought in all-in-one MB's. While I've
always
> tended towards discrete components myself, the Gigabyte GA-8KNXP Ultra is
> looking pretty good, with its 875P chipset and dual Ultra 320 (at this
> stage, I can only use one channel).
>
> --
> Dave Harry
>
>

Michael Golden

unread,
Nov 22, 2003, 8:55:18 AM11/22/03
to

"Dave Harry" <Dave...@please.keep.replies.in.the.newsgroup> wrote in
message news:ojDub.4355$I04...@prv-forum2.provo.novell.com...
> <snip>

> So now I'm interested in your thought in all-in-one MB's. While I've
always
> tended towards discrete components myself, the Gigabyte GA-8KNXP Ultra is
> looking pretty good, with its 875P chipset and dual Ultra 320 (at this
> stage, I can only use one channel).
>
> --
> Dave Harry

Nice looking motherboard. Not cheap though, right at $400 U.S.

I've been trying to get an MSI K7D Master to run NW 4.11 and have
experienced consistent data corruption.

Let us know how it turns out.

Michael Golden
Country Hearth Bakery
Lakeland, Florida


Barry Schnur

unread,
Nov 22, 2003, 10:42:59 AM11/22/03
to
Right -- at this point in time, the cost for embedded SCSI is more
than simply purchasing a solid motherboard without embedded SCSI and
mid-range SCSI cards via eBAY (2940U2W for example).

Michael Golden

unread,
Dec 3, 2003, 2:17:30 PM12/3/03
to

<geoffs....@otcnetworks.invalid.com> wrote in message
news:47Qub.5132$I04....@prv-forum2.provo.novell.com...

> Do yourself a favor and get a SuperMicro motherboard with an Intel or
> ServerWorks chipset. You're used to the stability and compatibility of a
> BX chipset, go with a company that specializes in server motherboards.

From SuperMicro sales department:

> Hello Michael,
>
> Unfortunately we no longer support Novell Netware 4.11. The earliest
> version we tested was 5.0 and only a few older boards such as PIII can
> support it. Newer P4 or Xeon boards may only work with Novell from
> version 5.1 + SP5.
>
> P. Pham

I'm impressed though. They gave me a prompt reply to my sales inquiry. Try
that with some other motherboard makers.

Michael Golden


Barry Schnur

unread,
Dec 3, 2003, 5:14:51 PM12/3/03
to
Notwithstanding what the SuperMicro folks indicated, NW 4.11 has no
problems with Pentium 4 processors.

The possible issues you'd run into include install sequence to get support
for embedded NIC and SCSI adapters.

Dave Lunn

unread,
Dec 3, 2003, 6:28:04 PM12/3/03
to
Supermicro is pretty easy to live with here Barry, strictly Intel pro NICs
embedded, and Adaptec Controllers on everything I have used.
--
Dave Lunn
NSC SysOp
http://support-forums.novell.com


Barry Schnur

unread,
Dec 3, 2003, 7:19:36 PM12/3/03
to
> Supermicro is pretty easy to live with here Barry, strictly Intel pro NICs
> embedded, and Adaptec Controllers on everything I have used.
>
That's what I thought -- the only issues would be a sequence thing for
getting the drivers installed (NWPA updates in place, that sort of thing).

Dave Harry

unread,
Dec 9, 2003, 10:36:15 PM12/9/03
to
"Michael Golden" <MGo...@BKBUSA.Com> wrote in message
news:aVJvb.7942$I04...@prv-forum2.provo.novell.com...

> Nice looking motherboard. Not cheap though, right at $400 U.S.

Which is why I ended up with something somewhat lesser...

Still 875P based, and still with an Intel Gigabit LAN, the Gigabyte GA-8I875
is what has been purchased. Pity about the U320.
http://tw.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-8I875.htm

Driven by a P4 @ 2.8Ghz FSB800 HT, packing DDR-400; when the new chassis for
it finally turns up so I can build it, I may possibly have Australia's most
ludicrously overkilled NetWare 4 server. <grin> Especially without that
giga-switch.

I'll post whether it goes smoothly. Should be good...

--
Dave Harry


Barry Schnur

unread,
Dec 10, 2003, 12:14:28 AM12/10/03
to
> Driven by a P4 @ 2.8Ghz FSB800 HT, packing DDR-400; when the new chassis for
> it finally turns up so I can build it, I may possibly have Australia's most
> ludicrously overkilled NetWare 4 server. <grin> Especially without that
> giga-switch.
>

Nah, overkill would have been a dual cpu HT configuration -- oops, now I've
done it, you will go out and buy it <g>

Dave Harry

unread,
Dec 18, 2003, 11:52:13 PM12/18/03
to
Just thought I'd report back...
I'm only running this as a test server for now, just to make sure the bits
all work like happy campers before it hits production after Christmas.
It was also good practise; installing an old OS on new hardware, in case I
ever need to again. Speed = 231,791 is quite a shock to the system.

The Intel 1000 doesn't work in native NW411 without a SP which made things a
little interesting, but its fine after SP9.

--
Dave Harry


Barry Schnur

unread,
Dec 19, 2003, 12:40:22 AM12/19/03
to
OK - -thanks for the report back -- good to know that it all works after
the SP9 is in place.
0 new messages