What would you do? Stay 1366 or go 2011/ddr3?

[unwind-protect]

I'd like to know where to get 8gb ddr3 ecc dimms for $10 a stick, 1600mhz if possible. Best price I've found is $15 which is 50% higher.

Thanks!

Joseph

I do last-minute snipes on auctions of sets of uneven numbers of DIMMs. Like 10 DIMMs. People don't like it since it doesn't fit either triple or quad channel.

I never do buy-it-now or offers (offers only if I have confirmation of what the seller accepts).

 

[Joseph Nunn]

I do last-minute snipes on auctions of sets of uneven numbers of DIMMs. Like 10 DIMMs. People don't like it since it doesn't fit either triple or quad channel.

I never do buy-it-now or offers (offers only if I have confirmation of what the seller accepts).

A clever idea!

But I do wonder why you never do offers, I have contemplated doing so in the past and would like to hear your rationale.

Joseph

 

[Sleyk]

I just wanna put me 2 pennies in here...

I currently use lga 1366 as my main server setup with 1156 being my backup server.
I do agree with all you guys who say we should go to 2011 or later, but making a case here, you can't deny the price. I am a cheap clown bastard. I wanna get as much as I can with my money as possible. 1366 allows me to do that. There are certainly many disadvantages to 1366, but if the choice is 1366 vs 2011, gotta nurse the wallet and go 1366. 2011v3 may be another issue. Cpu's for 1366 are remarkably cheap and DDR3 ECC kicks ass as the default cheap, abundant ram on eBay.

I think it's great if you can shell out for 2011 or later, but only if you can afford it, or see a deal where the price is marginally lower/better than 1366.

Funny thing is, I am teaching my brother to build computers right now, and I recommended 2011 to him. I only did that because he insists on having close to the latest gear, even if it cuts a hole through his wallet down to his ass and sodomizes him. See me, I can't spend more on tech when a previous generation will do me just fine.

I think the value of cheap ddr3 sticks on eBay makes 1366 still very decent to look at. Couple with it a good solid board like the x8dth-6f, and you got 7 pcie x8 slots at 2.0 speeds. Great bandwidth for most add on cards out there.

 

[Fritz]

Not all 1366 gear is cheap. I'd love to get my hands on a pair of X5690's but at current prices, it ain't gonna happen. Yep, I'm a cheap SOB too, I have other expenses besides my computer habit. I do have one 2011 system, it's my workstation tho. All the servers are 1366 except for one, it's a 771, it was 80 bucks and included everything but the OD. Even included 3 SAS HD's (which was the reason I bought it. But after firing it up I decided to keep it intact, it runs fast enough for my purposes.

 

[Sleyk]

Thats true on the x5690's. The sellers sure seem to not wanna budge on them. I settled on a couple of x5630's and x5640's for mines as I feel 2.5Ghz is ok for my needs now. Wish we could overclock em' though.

Heheh, I still have a couple 771 motherboards lying around in storage. i actually saw them the other day and wondered if I could get any money for them now.

You could try the x5667 though for 3Ghz. They are decently priced for 3Ghz, only thing I think it is Quad core, not Hexa.

Intel Xeon Processor x5667 SLBVA Quad-Core 3.06GHz 12MB LGA-1366

I bought a couple meself to upgrade abit later when I get some more time.

And you are certainly right. I would love to get the latest gear, but it pains me to pay more for equipment that I can always purchase cheaper in the future. Why pay more now? I know it is a personal preference though, but I'd rather spend more money on hard drives for storage than having the latest 2011v3 onboard just to say I got the latest and greatest. My wallet loves that about me too!

 

[Evan]

X5670 and L5640 seem pretty common and cheap.

They still have some life left in them as 144gb using 8gb of 192gb using 16gb is easily managed and cheap.

Power wise... Not great but also not terrible terrible, just depends on how much you pay for both the power and the hardware.

 

[Sleyk]

Yeah, I am in the middle of trying to compare and test my 1366 server to the 1156 server. I know the power would be less in the 1156, but I don't feel it is something earth-shattering.

Cost per kwh sure is a deciding factor indeed!

Any good sources on 8gb ddr3 sticks? I have been looking around eBay, price seems ok at $20 bucks a stick, but wanna go lower if I can. Also Unwind-protect, that is a great idea indeed on snagging ddr3 sticks, as i confess i too have overlooked auctions with uneven numbers of sticks not in multiples of 4 or 2. 10 is a multiple of 2, but it just doesn't work, unless you need that exact amount of sticks.

Bwahahaa! You told your secret to us though! Now you will never find an uneven ddr3 auction again! Bwahahaaa!!! Just kidding! You will always find plenty. Great tip though.

 

[unwind-protect]

A clever idea!

But I do wonder why you never do offers, I have contemplated doing so in the past and would like to hear your rationale.

Joseph

Offers tend to come back as counteroffers that are much closer to asking price than my offer, close enough to be insulting. Until that time, which can be 48 hours, you are on the hook to having to buy the item if it gets accepted so you are blocked from doing anything else. I wish I could mark my offer as non negotiable, a capability that the seller has, so why not me? I also dislike that for offers ebay doesn't disclose sellthrough price. I can see why they do that but it doesn't change the fact that you can see sellthrough price for everything else.

There's also the auto-reject functionality which doesn't disclose it price either which is a BS idea.

 

[unwind-protect]

I never had problems with mixed sets of DIMMs in quality boards. And I test very thoroughly. I just stuff in whatever. If it passes testing I forget about it until syslog complains about them. Back in my overclocking days I posted photos of freak RAM combos in my DFI's SLI-DR, which people made famous for being picky. No such thing, works fine. Of course you lose multi-channel if the module size doesn't match.

I would be interested in a 771 dual system with the non-FBDIMM modules, what was that chipset called? I would need a reasonable amount of RAM, though, I don't think you can get DDR2 modules reliably at reasonable prices.

 

[Evan]

The big vendors always source ram from more than one supplier and put the same part number on it, I Guess they match the sub timings close enough but I have hundred server at one stage running mixed Hynix & Samsung without an issue. HP shipped them that way.

 

[unwind-protect]

The big vendors always source ram from more than one supplier and put the same part number on it, I Guess they match the sub timings close enough but I have hundred server at one stage running mixed Hynix & Samsung without an issue. HP shipped them that way.

Not only that, it goes the other way round, too.

Very few modules marketed under a specific brand and product name actually specify anything useful such as chips or PCBs used. You can have significant variance in actual products that are all the same product as far as sales labeling is concerned. Conservative SPD programming patches it up.

 

[Sleyk]

Didn't know that about RAM. Always thought each manufacturer produced identical chips for mass production of said models. So the SPD programming is what makes it all work huh? That's very informative, and something I hadn't known! So even for the die-hard anal nutbags such as myself out there, there may really be no such thing as a true "identical set" of ddr2/3/4 sticks, when looking at it from a chipset manufacturer level? Is that right, or did I muck up your meaning?

 

[Evan]

Didn't know that about RAM. Always thought each manufacturer produced identical chips for mass production of said models. So the SPD programming is what makes it all work huh? That's very informative, and something I hadn't known! So even for the die-hard anal nutbags such as myself out there, there may really be no such thing as a true "identical set" of ddr2/3/4 sticks, when looking at it from a chipset manufacturer level? Is that right, or did I muck up your meaning?

Yes and no, if buying cheap retail memory then maybe it's best to buy together but if your buying something like memory for a server they match it enough with the same part number you should not generally worry.

 

[Sleyk]

Ah, ok I see. That makes sense too. They would try their best to match server memory for stability, while desktop ram can be a little bit more flexible. Thanks.