Given a server - can I make it a full-on gaming rig?

D

DMH

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Heya

About to be given an HP DL385 server (3 yrs old) - helps to be slamming the IT honey at a big corporation :D
has 2 dual-core Opteron 280's (2.4Ghz), 16Gb of ECC DDR400 RAM, 1 Tb SCSI. Don't know the rest of the specs yet. Prob. cr@ppy onboard graphics. Not sure of m/b chipset.

Now i've been out of the game for years now (have an Athlon XP2000+ !!). So I'm sure this will be a massive step up from that - but just how does it compare to the monsters of today?

Know very lil about servers. And couldn't find too much on the net. Would appreciate any searing insights / tips/ suggestions..

Praying that it's got a PCI-e slot, an if so, what graphics card would match such a system?

I've heard that WinXP only uses max 4Gb RAM, this true? any reccos on OS to use?

Anyone have an idea how much this server costs? or wanna make me an offer.. :whistle:
 
Would be very noisy, if I compare to the server we have at my company. Lots of little fans.
 
DMH said:
Heya

About to be given an HP DL385 server (3 yrs old) - helps to be slamming the IT honey at a big corporation :D
has 2 dual-core Opteron 280's (2.4Ghz), 16Gb of ECC DDR400 RAM, 1 Tb SCSI. Don't know the rest of the specs yet. Prob. cr@ppy onboard graphics. Not sure of m/b chipset.

Now i've been out of the game for years now (have an Athlon XP2000+ !!). So I'm sure this will be a massive step up from that - but just how does it compare to the monsters of today?

Know very lil about servers. And couldn't find too much on the net. Would appreciate any searing insights / tips/ suggestions..

Praying that it's got a PCI-e slot, an if so, what graphics card would match such a system?

I've heard that WinXP only uses max 4Gb RAM, this true? any reccos on OS to use?

Anyone have an idea how much this server costs? or wanna make me an offer.. :whistle:
Click to expand...

You need a 64bit OS to use more than 3.5gig of ram.... As for gaming... not sure at all!!! Don't know jack about Servers!
 
Stop praying because it doesn't. It only has PCI-X slots.
 
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standard x86-64 architecture but probably without the 3DNow! and more advanced SSE extensions. Though what it lacks in efficiency it makes up in brute force for gaming. Run SuperPiMod on it when you get it and post screenshots :)
 
IRG said:
You need a 64bit OS to use more than 3.5gig of ram.... As for gaming... not sure at all!!! Don't know jack about Servers!
Click to expand...

Linux 32bit can see up to 64GB of ram

"It depends on the kernel configuration. Out of the box, the 32-bit version of Ubuntu can see about 3.3 GB of RAM. You can increase this to just under 64 GB of RAM by either recompiling the kernel with the PAE option enabled in the kernel config (Memory -> 64 GB) or by downloading the "bigmem" kernel (or whatever Ubuntu calls their PAE-enabled kernels) that has this already enabled."
 
ponder said:
EDIT: Gonna need the exact model# to verify this as it seems some models do have PCIe.
Click to expand...

All the processing power in the country is worth shyte without a graphics card... Check that first.

If it doesn't have one, sell this thing and buy yourself something else- sure it's worth something.
 
More specs on the server

Whoa - didnt expect so many replies, so soon, thanks!

Damnit saw that it had 2 PCI-X slots, which i thought was PCIe, so am I screwed when it comes to gaming?

its got an Integrated ATI Rage XL Video Controller with 8-MB SDRAM Video Memory - which sounds ancient.

One possible respite is that i hear PCI-X slots are backwards compatible with older PCI cards - oh wait but those will be even more ancient.

damnit..

its also only got USB 1.1 support which is strange.

An uses the AMD Opteron 8000 series chipset.

An dont really care how noisy it is, i'll just crank up the volume! :sick:
 
oh an its got all the AMD goodies - SSE, 3dNow, hypertxport... Opteron is just an Athlon 64 XP rebadged or so i hear
 
Doing a quick search for PCI-X.. Matrox apparently made a few - but would be hard to find..

found these in searches:

"d00d, Radeon 8500 based cards are available in PCI as well. The 9100 is an 8500LE (renamed, that's it) and was available in PCI.

That's a full generation newer than GeForce2 cards like the GeForce4 MX460, and a full step higher market range as well.

TabrisDarkPeace 03-10-2006 at 02:15:06 PM
True,

I used to run a Radeon 9000 Pro (AGP though) performed a full 40% better than the Radeon 9000 (non Pro) card..... while saving for a Hercules / Guillemot Radeon 9700 Pro.

It was a damn good card, but today it wouldn't even hold a candle performance wise to the Radeon X800 XL or GeForce 6800 GT/GS.
 
DMH said:
Whoa - didnt expect so many replies, so soon, thanks!

Damnit saw that it had 2 PCI-X slots, which i thought was PCIe, so am I screwed when it comes to gaming?

its got an Integrated ATI Rage XL Video Controller with 8-MB SDRAM Video Memory - which sounds ancient.

One possible respite is that i hear PCI-X slots are backwards compatible with older PCI cards - oh wait but those will be even more ancient.

damnit..

its also only got USB 1.1 support which is strange.

An uses the AMD Opteron 8000 series chipset.

An dont really care how noisy it is, i'll just crank up the volume! :sick:
Click to expand...

http://www.circotech.com/rc2-795-2-x-pci-x-1-x-pci-express-16x-2u-riser-card.html
Maybe something like this could work?
 
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Sounds like its going to be nothing more than a very noisy door stop.

Sell it and buy a gaming rig :p
 
Servers aren't made for gaming. Firstly is the lack of PCIE slots and secondly the ECC ram is not made for gaming machines, error checking and correction are there for serious data flow.

w1z4rd said:
Linux 32bit can see up to 64GB of ram
Click to expand...
Linux would probably work wonderful on this machine since it is also not for gaming.
 
Crowley said:
Servers aren't made for gaming. Firstly is the lack of PCIE slots and secondly the ECC ram is not made for gaming machines, error checking and correction are there for serious data flow.


Linux would probably work wonderful on this machine since it is also not for gaming.
Click to expand...

lol well said :p
 
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