Need info building a tyan workstation

darsunt · 07-14-2009, 02:30 PM

I am looking at building a workstation based on a tyan motherboard. I am looking at 144G of memory. It would be for physics students at a university.

Does anyone have experience with building anything like this, or knows where I can find resources for it? Understandably I'm having a difficult time finding info about it.

I'm wondering how difficult it would be to build, and what problems I would find with 8G memory sticks (are they reliable, hot?)

Also I'm wondering if it would be worth the cost. They are looking at single thread programs, which means it would be running just one core out of a quad core, connected to 72G of memory. They say they need that much memory, but it seems to me it would run relatively slow.

Thanks

Mark

**wrench97** · 07-14-2009, 03:20 PM

What Operating System are they planning to use?
Is the program commercial software on a in house program?
If it's single threaded 2 Quads would be a waste if it only uses 1 core of q of the quads and half the memory.

darsunt · 07-14-2009, 05:17 PM

Op system we will use whatever works. Right now I assume either Vista or some flavor of linux.

It would run a non-commercial physics research programs written in C, single threaded.

It does seem a waste of a quad core, but they say they need huge memory and only duo quad boards have this. They say they want to try to run it that way using one core in the quad and 72G memory. I suppose I would only install one core and one bank of memory, and leave the other half of the board empty for now.

**wrench97** · 07-14-2009, 05:57 PM

Vista has a process limit of 2gig per process so a single threaded program even with PAE and some other programing tricks will never get over about 4gig on a single threaded program.
Also I don't believe you can run more then one CPU on Vista so your looking at a Server OS like Server 2008.
I'm not sure about the limitations in Linux but there are some there also.
That being said the S7012GM4NR is one of the few choices you have with the X5550 CPU maybe the CPU speed will make up for the lack of threading.
Even with multi-person work stations I've never seen a system use 12Gig with an open data base and 6 terminals running multiple apps.

darsunt · 07-14-2009, 06:43 PM

Thanks for the tip about thread size limitation, I forgot about that. I will check into other op systems. Do you mean windows server 2008? Maybe they have an upper limit on thread size too, I better check it out. Maybe operating systems for parallel computers?

I do not know if this configuration will work out, its what they want. I am doing research on cpu bandwidth, etc trying to figure out what will happen when you run one core with all that memory. It would be easier, though, if someone else had tried something like this and could tell me about it.

The programs they run are monster calculations involving linear equations and stuff like that. I forgot how to do most of that math. It's for research on nuclear fusion. I'm told that they for sure can eat up every bit of memory I can afford.

darsunt · 07-14-2009, 07:20 PM

I mean process size.

**wrench97** · 07-15-2009, 01:27 AM

Yes windows server 2008, Windows server 2003 has limitations on ram installed> http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system...AE/PAEdrv.mspx

It would also be prudent to ask if they wrote the program in 32 or 64 bit.

07-14-2009, 02:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
darsunt Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 9 OS: vista sp1	Need info building a tyan workstation I am looking at building a workstation based on a tyan motherboard. I am looking at 144G of memory. It would be for physics students at a university. Does anyone have experience with building anything like this, or knows where I can find resources for it? Understandably I'm having a difficult time finding info about it. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to build, and what problems I would find with 8G memory sticks (are they reliable, hot?) Also I'm wondering if it would be worth the cost. They are looking at single thread programs, which means it would be running just one core out of a quad core, connected to 72G of memory. They say they need that much memory, but it seems to me it would run relatively slow. Thanks Mark

07-14-2009, 03:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,469 OS: Win7	Re: Need info building a tyan workstation What Operating System are they planning to use? Is the program commercial software on a in house program? If it's single threaded 2 Quads would be a waste if it only uses 1 core of q of the quads and half the memory. __________________ Power Supply and Selection

07-14-2009, 05:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
darsunt Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 9 OS: vista sp1	Re: Need info building a tyan workstation Op system we will use whatever works. Right now I assume either Vista or some flavor of linux. It would run a non-commercial physics research programs written in C, single threaded. It does seem a waste of a quad core, but they say they need huge memory and only duo quad boards have this. They say they want to try to run it that way using one core in the quad and 72G memory. I suppose I would only install one core and one bank of memory, and leave the other half of the board empty for now.

07-14-2009, 05:57 PM	#4 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,469 OS: Win7	Re: Need info building a tyan workstation Vista has a process limit of 2gig per process so a single threaded program even with PAE and some other programing tricks will never get over about 4gig on a single threaded program. Also I don't believe you can run more then one CPU on Vista so your looking at a Server OS like Server 2008. I'm not sure about the limitations in Linux but there are some there also. That being said the S7012GM4NR is one of the few choices you have with the X5550 CPU maybe the CPU speed will make up for the lack of threading. Even with multi-person work stations I've never seen a system use 12Gig with an open data base and 6 terminals running multiple apps. __________________ Power Supply and Selection

07-14-2009, 06:43 PM	#5 (permalink)
darsunt Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 9 OS: vista sp1	Re: Need info building a tyan workstation Thanks for the tip about thread size limitation, I forgot about that. I will check into other op systems. Do you mean windows server 2008? Maybe they have an upper limit on thread size too, I better check it out. Maybe operating systems for parallel computers? I do not know if this configuration will work out, its what they want. I am doing research on cpu bandwidth, etc trying to figure out what will happen when you run one core with all that memory. It would be easier, though, if someone else had tried something like this and could tell me about it. The programs they run are monster calculations involving linear equations and stuff like that. I forgot how to do most of that math. It's for research on nuclear fusion. I'm told that they for sure can eat up every bit of memory I can afford.

07-14-2009, 07:20 PM	#6 (permalink)
darsunt Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 9 OS: vista sp1	Re: Need info building a tyan workstation I mean process size.

07-15-2009, 01:27 AM	#7 (permalink)
wrench97 Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania Posts: 18,469 OS: Win7	Re: Need info building a tyan workstation Yes windows server 2008, Windows server 2003 has limitations on ram installed> http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system...AE/PAEdrv.mspx It would also be prudent to ask if they wrote the program in 32 or 64 bit. __________________ Power Supply and Selection