VIDEO CARD:
Any AGP or PCI graphics card will be fine. You can decide on your own what you need. Personally I have only been using 9200 Radeon class cards or less. I am a farmer... not a gamer.
Addendum (March 11, 2005): XS.org forum member shmaa has had great luck buying basic video cards from DumpingGoods.com for ~$10 each. As of this writing, they have some great deals on $5 and $9 cards. :up:
Here is a word of caution by shmaa of XS.org:
HARD DRIVE:Jeff, It was brought to my attention that that Number 9 S3 card I posted about in the other thread is a 2X AGP... so it WILL NOT work in an Intel chipset systems... please add something about doing some research when buying from dumpinggoods as to what AGP spec the cheapo cards are... you need at least a 4X card for Intel systems. Those cards should be OK in an AMD system, however.
1.0Gb is the minimum needed for Windows 2000.
2.5Gb is the minimum needed for WinXP (no SP).
4.0Gb is adequate for WinXP SP2 and all D2OL programs.
But again, you know what you need here.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
Once you get everything needed. STOP!!! You have to do a few things to the motherboard to help it keep itself cool and to get the most out of your Xeons.
First thing you will want to do once you take your Asus PC-DL out of it's anti-static bag is remove the VRM heatsink and the chipset heatsink.
The VRM heatsink is silver in color and uses a thermal compound that honestly looks and feels like bubble gum. :down:
The chipset heatsink is black and, thank God, uses a little better thermal compound. The problem is on 4 out of my 5 motherboards it is not making adequate contact.
Addendum (January 29, 2005): Since first starting to write this guide I have received 3 more PC-DLs and all of these have had great chipset heatsink contact. I would now recommend NOT removing this heatsink since there probably will be no gains made in doing so. BUT, if you are having problems with unstability at higher FSB, you may want to consider it.
NOTE: Since the thermal compound used for the chipset heatsink can be difficult to clean, only experienced people should attempt this "re-paste". Unless you are going to run very high bus rates, the stock compound is probably good enough for most users.
Use Ceramique by Arctic Silver or your favorite paste on both after you thoroughly clean the original compounds off. MAKE SURE TO USE NON-CONDUCTIVE PASTE OR YOU COULD DAMAGE YOUR MOTHERBOARD AND/OR PROCESSORS!!! A small amount of Goo-Gone will be helpful when removing the old chipset compound. Very simple things to do and the pay off is big in the long run. (both VRM and chipset over-heating will cause instabilities when running 24/7 full-load)
Another recommended thing to do is to add a small heatsink to the voltage regulators(VR) inbetween the chipset and the AGP port.
The temperature of these VRs has been measure to ~90c when running a overclocked rig at full-load and no air flow. I can not stress how important air flow over this entire area is. You should have a fan blowing across the VRs, the chipset heatsink, and the VRM heatsink at all times. And you do not have to have a super high flow fan either, just use a fan that moves air.
Next on the list of things to do is a little Vcore boost. The easiest way to do this is called the "U-wire" method. Basically you take some extremely small gauge wire and u-wire pins of the CPU together. Doing this in the socket is very easy and what I'll describe here. (you can use one strand of twisted speaker wire or twisted electrical cord wire for u-wiring)
In order to increase these Xeons from their stock 1.3v Vcore to a more respectable and managable Vcore, we need to add a couple/three u-wires PER CPU.
WARNING: The following information is for LOW VOLTAGE(1.3v) Xeons Only!!! Do not follow these u-wire suggestions if you have a different processor.
For 1.5v(which will result ~1.45v on the PC-DL):
Pins B2-B3 need a u-wire.
Pins C2-C3 need a u-wire.
For 1.6v(which will result in 1.55v on the PC-DL):
Pins B2-B3 need a u-wire.
Pins C2-C3 need a u-wire.
Pins D2-D3 need a u-wire.
Again, this needs to be done on BOTH CPUs.
(notice in both pictures this is CPU1 and the orientation of the latch lever up top, use these for reference to make sure you are placing your u-wires in the correct locations)
I suggest placing the u-wires for CPU1 first, installing a Xeon in that socket, then moving on to CPU2. The Xeons will resist going into the socket a little but should still basically just go right in. If you have to press hard... the gauge of the wire is too big or you may have a stray slightly bent pin somewhere. STOP TRYING TO FORCE THE XEON IN THE SOCKET!!! Take a step back and examine your u-wire job and the pins on the Xeon. Correct whatever needs correcting and try again. PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME!!! I would really hate having someone break their Xeon or PC-DL.
Ok, once you have both Xeons in their sockets you need to install the Intel Wind Tunnels. The directions included with these heatsinks are very good and explain all the steps needed to successfully install them. If you have any questions or problems with this step just post a message on the forums and someone will give you a hand.
WARNING: So far two people have experienced problems when there is a Xeon in the CPU2 socket. Both incidents have been traced back to a shorted trace between the motherboard and the metal plate that holds the IWT to the motherboard. Nylon washers should be used on at least CPU2 because of this potential problem. No damage has occured so far because of this shorted trace... but I highly recommend NOT taking a chance here. For a little more information, please see the following thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?p=688827
One of the biggest downfalls to the Asus PC-DL is the lack of memory voltage(Vddr) control. The stock motherboard only provides 2.45v to 2.50v and while this may be decent enough for some memory at loose timings to run DDR400 speeds... it is not enough for most memory at default timings.
The Vddr modification should be considered optional. The PC-DL can run with memory dividers so even if you choose to run 200MHz FSB your memory can still run at 166MHz or 133MHz. The biggest reason I am calling this optional though is that it requires the soldering of wires. If you are not comfortable with soldering do NOT experiment with your $200 motherboard. Either live with running a divider or find a friend or relative who can solder for you. Do not kill your $200 motherboard!
This mod is about as easy as it comes for Vddr mods. You need to put a 10K Ohm variable resistor between pin 6 and ground of the control chip(sorry... I can not read the markings on this ).
You can choose whatever ground you like. I prefer to use either the ground of a fan header or a screw hole. The advantage to the fan header is that you can disable the mod by just removing this wire. But either place(or other places) will do.
Addendum (February 4, 2005): There is a little easier alternative to the Vddr mod. that uses the middle pad near the coil pictured below instead of Pin6 of the controller. These two points are electrically equivilent so feel free to use whichever is easier for you.
BTW, the other solder point shown above is a ground. You can use that or any other ground.
Before you solder the VR in place, make sure to set it to at least 5K Ohm. At 5K Ohm PC-DL motherboards will run between 2.8v and 3.0v to the memory. The lower you turn the resistance the higher the voltage will go. YOU NEED A DIGITAL MULTIMETER TO READ Vddr! In the above picture you will notice the place to measure Vddr. There is no software tool that can read this voltage. Use caution when measuring Vddr so you do not short another component. Doing so can and most likely will damage your motherboard/CPUs/memory/etc.
A word about Vddr... Here is my $0.02... or £0.0107 for those across the pond... 3.0v and up is fine to run with older BH-5, BH-6, CH-5, and the newer TwinMOS RAM. I have next to NO EXPERIENCE with other type ram so 3.0v may be a bit too much for them. Please use common sense with this voltage and start out with the VR at 10K Ohm and work your way down from there keeping an eye on Vddr. Personally, I do not see a problem wiring a 5K Ohm resistor(not a variable resistor) here and calling it good. The memory I mention above loves voltage and the PC-DL does not seem to have a problem supplying up to 3.5v(people over at 2cpu.com have run this high... personally I have never been over 3.2v on a PC-DL). Again, use common sense and try not to damage your $200 motherboard.
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