PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

I'm considering a portable computer based on the Intel D875PBZLK motherboard for my SCOPE board.

Anybody know if it's worth going Serial ATA with appropriate drives? Is the technology mature enough? Does it hog PCI bandwidth? Does the RAID 0 (striping) work for a non-boot drive?

On 2003-10-12 16:59, Sunshine wrote:
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I think if necessary, HT must be disabled, just to give those cards the right IRQs. hmmm

I think HT doesn't work at all with our SFP software (or was it the drivers of the CW cards?)
Check one of the other threads in this forum to be sure.
BTW, you should absolutely stay away from the promise ATA/SATA/Raid controller, as it shares its bandwidth with the PCI bus. Use the ATA/SATA on the ICH5 and disable the promise. Furthermore, the Gigabit lan is, from what I understood from de ICH5 datasheets (unreadable document ), as well sharing PCI bandwidth. Can someone confirm that last fact?
Cheers,
Rob

Hi TRMP8R,

The SATA controller on the Intel 875P MoBo works like a charm. Especially when connected to a Western Digital Raptor drive at 10,000 RPM. As I understand it, there is no PCI involvement with the Serial ATA connctor on the Intel 875 MoBos.

Thanks for the advice people.

Another Q: If I wanted something even smaller (avoiding laptops for the moment) does anybody know how the micro-ATX boards behave compared with their larger ATX counterparts?

Specifically, the Asus P4P800-VM (Intel 865G chipset). It has 3 PCI slots and AGP port and supports serial ATA.

Hi TRMP8R,

Those micro form factor PCs look tempting, but the reviews I've seen all mention power supply wattages that are downright puny. And Creamware cards sure do seem to like plenty of watts.

Show me a micro form factor that will house a couple of Scopes or Pulsar IIs + clock as well as a 400 or 500 watt power supply, and I will definitely consider buying one. Until then, for portability it's 19" rack-mounts and flight cases (and a strong back).

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: jabney on 2003-10-27 23:48 ]</font>

So INTEL D875PBZ motherboard it is then.

Looks like the Carillon ultra-quiet rack-mount audio PC's come fitted with these little beauties anyway, so that's another endorsement. And it seems my supplier also uses this MB as the demo board of choice for their SCOPE cards.

I've given up trying to find a small case that will actually fit a SCOPE board! Mini-tower or a 4U rack mount will have to do.

As I've never met any real problems with my Creamware setup maybe I should give a little feedback. I used to have a Asus "Black pearl" CUSL2 P3-800 1 gig RAM (no probs at all)


Then I went and bought an even better one. ASUS P4G8X Deluxe Intel E7205 chipset wich I'm soooo happy with.

But If I was to buy one today. I'd probably go for Intel SE7505VB2, Server Hovedkort Dual E7505, SATA, for Xeon P4 m/533FSB, GbLAN

It's maybe just me but when the AMD64 mobos comes with a decent chipset. Then I'll maybe buy a new system

just wanted to add more feedback that the Intel D875PBZLK has been rock solid, and speedy for me. I am using it with a WD 10000 RPM raptor for recording tracks, and it has been a beautiful change from my old rice crispy VIA board.

cheers,

-myth