I just built a quad core AMD-based server that I plan to use as a storage host in my lab. The machine has the following configuration:
ASUS M2N-LR motherboard
AMD Opteron 1354 Budapest 2.2GHz Socket AM2 75W processor
8GD of 667MHZ DDR2 ECC memory
4 750GB Western Digital SATA II disk drives
SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe
Antec earthwatts [...]
I have been using the Ultime Boot Disk for the past few months to test x86 and X64 hardware. The disk contains numerous awesome utilities that can be used to test memory, disks and CPUs. The following packages come on the CD, and are four of my personal favorites:
- Memtest86+ to test memory
- Darik’s [...]
If you are curious what the various UltraDMA modes mean, and the speeds they operate at, you might be interested in the bugclub UltraDMA tutorial.
If you are interested in learning why the AMD Opteron processor is currently the top dog in the X64 server space, you might be interested in the following Anandtech article:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=1815&p=1
The article discusses the K8 architecture in depth, and explains why hyper transport rocks. I have been wanting to upgrade my Sun Ultra 10s to more [...]
This is a nifty write up on AMD Opteron frequency scaling and the issues associated with TSC drift:
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/11/4/173
While reading through some Fujitsu documentation I came across the following:
“Soft errors were formerly caused by alpha particles in the IC housing. This can now be precluded for the most part by an improved IC housing. Radioactive gamma radiation from solar eruptions is now the main cause of soft errors. In all probability, pure soft [...]
