What operating system for the OCTITRON?

I need help deciding what operating system I should buy for my new laptop.
The specs, are:
dual AMD Opteron quad core processors (8 cores)
4 x 2GB Pc6400 ECC memory (8GB)
ATi 3870X2 (1GB) and 8800GTS (320mb) for Avivo and CUDA/Gelato

I do not like Vista, and I obviously need a operating system which can make use of its power.
I was wondering what form of Windows I should get,
Server 2003, Server 2008, Windows XP X-64

Can Server 2003 recognize 8Gb of memory, and can Sever 2008 recognize 8GB of memory?

I will be running software like 3DSMAXX, Rhinocerous with V-RAY, AutoCAD, Photoshop CS3, World Community Grid, and maybe MAYA.

K-TRON

 

Given those choices, Server 2008.

 

is that a home made laptop??

 

Off Topic: Pics or it didn't happen.

 

If you don't like Vista, I'd recommend Windows Server 2003 Standard 64-bit of those. According to this MSDN site, it can support up to 16 GB of memory. Server 2008 Standard supports up to 32 GB; XP x64 can support up to 128 GB.

The reason I'd choose Server 2003 is that it is seen as far more stable and mature than XP x64, and unlike Server 2008, is not based on the Vista codebase.

 

I'd use Server 2008... going to give you the best support for all those cores and memory.
Agree with RAM also, need pics of this beast!

EDIT: Also, what's the deal with using a G80? Use a G92 8800GT 512MB - going to be about the same cost (within dollars), higher performance, and lower power consumption.

 

Sounds crazy K-Tron. Thats more powerful than the server i have here at the office (minus my RAID setup)

Different versions have different memory addressability.

Id go with Server 03 Datacenter edition

 

Yes, it is a homemade laptop
No pics yet, I am still building it. I am working on the cooling system right now. I am making 2d/3d files for the air vents/chambers which I am going to make. I need to make a duct system to keep the hot air away from the motherboard, yet actively cool everything. It isnt the easiest thing in the world, so its going to take another 2 weeks or so.

There will be a guide, and a detailed thread about my steps.
Plus I cant actually assemble it yet. I am at home, and I do not have my own laser cutter. When I go back to school, I will be using the laser cutter to cut the steel, aluminum, acrylic and plexiglas I will be using.
I am going to fire it up probably tomorrow (without a shell), but I only have Xp X32 on hand, so I will have to either buy server 2003 x64, server 08, or xp x-64.

I am going to have to research the software I use to see if it works with server 03/08 or not.
Also, does anyone know if graphics drivers are available for windows server operating system?

K-TRON

 

XP/2000 drivers usually work.

 

Server 2008 is going to cost a lot (so would Server 2003)... why not just suck it up and use Vista X64 and a streamlining guide?

 

It will just be a quadcore, kind of kills the uber Octicore idea

 

?
It will be 8 core
Two (2) Quad cores on a dual socket F board

Hmm, if server is too expensive I may just have to go with xp x-64.
I cant use vista cause rhino has known issues with Vista. The version I am licensed to is for Xp, it runs terrible on vista. I think Rhino 5 will work with vista properly, but version 4 runs terrible on vista.

K-TRON

 

Since the release of Vista X64, driver support for XP X64 has improved greatly, so XP X64 is not a bad choice. It's still the most ignored OS when it comes to updates and drivers, but not nearly as bad as when it was first released... still no SP3 though!
If your software will not run in Vista, it will probably not run in Server 2008 either. Pretty much the same software, just a desktop and server version of that software. Same deal with XP and Server 2003.
My only concern would be whether or not XP X64 has support for 8 cores (I think it does but do not know for a fact)
Which BTW is what flipfire meant, XP X86 will only support 2 cores

EDIT: looked it up, XP X64 only supports four. Looks like you're gonna have to do Vista if you want full support... that or Server 2003 X64 enterprise... which is going to cost a pretty penny.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888732

 

^ Yes, i only remember the XP hotfix to support quad cores.

I thought vista only supported single processors but it was only for my version (home premium)

Vista Business, Ultimate & enterprise can support 2 physical proccesors with as many cores.

 

After I get everything hooked up, I guess I will have to test my system with the 10day trial or whatever microsoft gives. I dont want to buy an operating system which cant make use of the hardware
I have to check to see if my library has a copy of server08, I know they have the tral discs for server 03, but I dont know if they are the 64 bit versions or not. Its been a while since I used them.

I am glad I didnt buy a 4 way board

K-TRON

 

If you are a student you may be able to get Server 03 or 08 for free from Microsoft Dreamspark. http://www.dreamspark.com

 

Yep - the Standard Edition, but it should work fine (hence why I specified Standard Edition). The download itself is the 32-bit ISO, but I've been told the key you receive works with the 64-bit install CD's, too - provided you don't try to use both at once of course. Haven't actually tried the 64-bit version myself since I don't have the 64-bit ISO/CD's.

 

why not get rhino 5 and vista? it's not as you don't have enough money to spend if you try out server os' right now, and build octo-core laptops.

why do you try so hard to avoid it and won't just instead fix the issues that may occur with it?

i really don't get the way you think, really not. if you get vista, you get full support by default for all actual apps. anything else needs additional fiddling. you won't even be able to install by default windows live messenger on a server environment. you sure can, but not with the default links.

why don't you fix what's broken (your old non-updated rhino) and use what works best.

i do sound harsh i know. i'm just very irritated by your anti-vista view. it's a very strange view as it's a great os.

 

oh.. just googled. if it's rhino 3d, the nurbs modelling program, then version 5 isn't out yet. is that thing really still buggy on vista? how sad to see software that don't yet work.

i could try it at home on vista to see if i can get it to work correctly.

edit: it should work according to the rhinopage.

 

K-TRON you never cease to amaze me

 

K-TRON, why you don't like Vista SP1 but can accept Server 2008?

Basically, they share the same core with different features and services enabled. You can pretty much make either one feel and look like each other. The only major advantage of Sever 2008 32-bit over Vista SP1 32-bit as a desktop OS that I can think of is the support of more than 4 GB of RAM. But interface wise, they're pretty much the same.

 

davepermen, i mentioned rhino 5, cause it is supposed to fix the incompatibilty with Vista. To get rhino 4 to work on vista you need to have a ton of hotfix's and service packs installed, and it just doesnt run right. I think version 5 is due within a year, so maybe than it would make sense to switch to vista.

The system was actually quite inexpensive, only about $1100 including the 24" screen. I found a lot of good deals.

Stewie, i didnt know server 08 and vista shared the same core. I thought 08 would be more like server 03. I guess I am wrong

So if I were to use Vista x64, can ultimate recognize 8 cores?

K-TRON

 

Yes.


Also XP and Server 2003 share the same core.

 

Hep! beat me to it.

Yep, Vista Business and Enterprise can as well.

 

i'll have to test that out.. still i'm shocked to see big software still not working right. not fun, not fun at all. still, ableton live only got it working completely with aero and uac about 1 or 2 months ago. and it's a music program. how hard can it be... (i'm a programmer.. i know how hard it can be.. still, vista is 3 years old including public betas.. terrible).

nice

you know google? vista sp1 and winserver 08 are identical. that's why server 08 is rock stable and very fast performing and much more secure than it's precessor by default. (runs very well even on low end hardware..)

again: google (if you want to go and pay for huge server licencees, you should reaaaally first check out with google what they actually do for you ).

i would actually have a win2008 around that i don't use. i've completely switched to windows home server (and vista on the clients, of course)...

 

might try building one myself after recuperating all of my money

 

As mentioned earlier.. Vista Business, Ultimate & Enterprise can support up to 2 physical processors with as many cores.

Home premium and basic can only support a single cpu.

 

What screen did you get? (specifically)

 

Wow, nice setup K-TRON.

I would go with Server 2008 or Vista Ultimate SP1 x64.

XP just can't take advantage of all that raw power.

 

I have the Dell E248WFP WUXGA 24" panel.
Its a big screen, and I have big plans for it

I managed to fireup the system today. The system board is recognizing both quad core processors properly. Each cpu is iling at 100F, so it is running very cool.
The 680a chipset is running a tad warm, around 105F, but hey it can do octalSLi
The only thing I know right now I have to change is the graphics card.
The 3870X2 is a really long card. So when it is installed on the motherboard, it covers 11 of the 12 SATA ports.
So I will have to either reposition the card in another slot, or use my 8800GTS instead, which is about 1.5" shorter in length.
Tomorrow I am going to start my search for the golden operating system, hopefully the library has what I am looking for.

K-TRON

 

How about waiting a week or two for the public release of Windows 7 Beta? Or will the extra wait kill you? lol (It would definitely kill me, to the point where I'd consider installing Windows Millennium).

 

I can wait, I have to build like 95 % of the chassis still.
Unfortunately my software barely works with vista, so there is no chance its working for windows 7 Maybe next year I can jump to 7. Its supposed to be good from what I hear.

I think tomorrow morning i will install Xp X32 just for some benchies and see what a 64 bit operating system versus a 32bit operating system really does for performance.

K-TRON

 

all win-os at their current state are good. but yes, rhino has to get their asses up really fast to get their stuff working on a 2 year old os.

besides rhino, there would be no problem with vista (technically, not psychologically ) for you, would there?

 

I just installed XP 32 bit.
It sees 2Gb of memory and all 8 processors.
I am going to run some benchies and see how it does.
Xp is awfully fast with 8 cores

K-TRON

 

Go XP, Go XP, Go XP- Go....

 

Actually XP sucks with this system. Core temp and rightmark are getting confused. It is probably because the main chipset, the 680a is comprised of two 570SLi chipsets.

Here are some screenshots:




Core temp only shows two temperatures, 77F for cpu 0, and 77F for cpu 1. No matter what it always shows the same temp for both processors.
I wish it could show the temps for all 8 cores, but it does not.

Rightmark is beyond confused, it shows nothing. The cpu info tab, just saya AMD ES, and N/A for everything.
CPU-Z is reading everything right, which is good

The major prob with core temp, is that it reads the core temp at 77F, when the bios reads ~95-102F at idle.

When I try to run Orthos, only 2 of the 8 cores are stressed, and after stressing two of the cores, the temperature of the cores does not change.
Also Xp only sees 2GB cause of the 32 bit native O.S.

So I guess its time to scrap XP, and go for a version of Server/Vista 64 bit.

K-TRON

 

only 2gb? :/ i wonder how big this homemade laptop is gonna be lol

 

I would upgrade to SP3 first before doing benchmarks.

 

Thats odd. XP (32-bit) should be able to see 3 GB. Try McGrady's suggestion to upgrade to SP3 and see if that fixes the problem.

 

its hardly likely to do with the service pack. support for xp has diminished some what... but ktron u may have to install some chipset drivers in xp if there are any available... but the mobo may require a server OS to function properly.

 

Sis Sandra only sees two cores, so there is definitely cpu reading issues with XP.

I will have server 03 installed hopefully by tomorrow.

K-TRON

 

Multicore hotfix didnt come in XP SP2, you need to download it or install sp3

 

I want a pic next to it

This is going to be cool.
I hope it turns out well

 

By the time you've built/saved up for it...
Win 7 anyone?

 

I would almost certainly go with Sever 2008 or Vista Ultimate SP1 x64.

 

It looks like Vista is next up on the plate.
Server 2003 is nice, but for some reason it only reads 2gb, when cpu-z reads 4Gb.



I have a 2 x2Gb memory kit installed now, and it reads 2Gb for the memory stick in slot 1 and in slot 3:


I know its weird, but which do I believe?
Does it see 2gb, or 4?
I was reading the server 2003 book which came with the trial cd, and it said that the 32 bit version of standard server 03 supports 4gb.

Also, I cant get SiSSandra to load on either XP, or server 2003, does anyone know why this is happening?
I just click the sandra icon, and nothing happens.
The same temperature reporting and rightmark read issues are still present in server 2003.
The big loss with server 2003, was solitare. That is my favorite game, and it wasnt included with the installation.

Also, I have seen people with core temp, show 4 different temps on their quad cores. But I have two quad cores, and only two temps are shown.
Do I need a special version of core temp to see all 8 temps?

Notice in my screenshot only two temperatures are read from core temp
The temperatures read show 73F, with the fans at full.
However when I boot the bios, it usually shows 102F. So the only thing I can think is:
1) the processor is at full speed in the bios, causing the higher temps,
or
2) core temp is reading the temperature wrong

Please note that when I put the fans to low, the temp rises to 82F after about 5 minutes

K-TRON

 

What does your BIOS read for the memory? If that reads the whole amount, then it could just be some software setting to get Windows to read it correctly. If the BIOS says it's 2 GB then something is very wrong.

 

The Bios reads 4Gb, just like CPU-Z.
Its just really odd that the windows server os, only sees 2GB.
I tried the max memory thing with MSCONFIG, and it still only sees 2Gb.

K-TRON

 

is that the 32bit version or the 64bit version? you know, as win2003 has a 64bit version, the max ram limit of the 32bit is unimportant (it doesn't matter if its at 2gb, 3gb, 3.5gb.. if you need more than 2gb, you may soon need more than 3.5 => you should switch to 64bit anyways. at least in a server environment where everything all the time just grows )

and yes, do the vista!!