Supermicro H8DCE and UAD-1 Users ... a few ???

[Nightowl]

Hello,

I have just about had it with my current motherboard, the Tyan S2885 with the AMD 8000 chipset. I recently purchased a second Opteron 270 hoping the added cpu power would help decrease UAD munching. I have got my system to playback and render perfectly, but can't seem to avoid major cpu munching no matter what I do. My frustration was about to boil over into a purchase, but Newegg is out of H8DCE's at the moment. That's the board I have my eye on, but I have a few questions if you can spare a moment.

1. I use an OCZ PowerStream 520 watt on my current setup. Supermicro lists 630w as the minumum, but I won't be doing SLI or dual video cards. What power supply do you use? Will mine work?

2. Do you use a chassis to house multiple UAD cards connected to the H8DCE? If so, do you experience any munching in Sonar, or other apps?

3. How much tweaking have you had to perform with your MoBo in order to get it to work smoothly with the UAD-1, or was it fairly plug n play.

Thanks

 

[Mark Edmonds]

1. I've used both Seasonic S600 and the Supermicro 645W model. Both work fine. Main problem I think with a PSU for this board is getting the three power connectors and not many PSU have this (last time I looked anyway)! Be careful here.

2. Yes, I use a Magma, currently with 2 in it. I have had zero problems with this and the H8DCE. Also ran a single UAD on the mobo for tests and that did not glitch or cpu much or anything either. Completely stable. No munching.

3. The only real tweaking I had to do on the mobo was bios updates. Early bios weren't too stable on USB for some reason but this never affected the UADs. Basically, I have not done a single BIOS tweak that I can remember other than setting the initial values.

Nothing wrong with this board, just don't use self-adhesive mounting plates for the CPUs!

Mark

 

[Nightowl]

Mark,

Thank you very much for your insight. Which three power connectors do you refer to? I would guess the 24-pin, the 8-pin EPS 12-volt, and the PCI Express power connector?

Also, are you using single core, or dual core Opterons?

 

[Mark Edmonds]

I can't remember the exact connectors. If you download the manual from Supermicro's site, it will list them. I think they are a 20 + 8 + 4 and at the time I bought the mobo, the Seasonic S600 was the only one I could find with all three. Might be better now.

Used both single and dual cores in it, a pair of 246s and now a pair of 285s.

This is a safe mobo used by a lot of people.

Mark

 

[Nightowl]

Sweet man, sounds like my setup would work rather nicely then. My PSU has the right connectors, but I am a little worried about the lack of power. Better safe than sorry, so I think I'll buy a new PSU too.

What recording interface and software do you use?

Thanks again.

 

[Mark Edmonds]

LynxTwo, Nuendo/Cubase. The Lynx is on the mobo, not in the Magma.

Mark

 

[SHLambo]

Hi. I can't add much more, but I'm running a near identical set up to Mark. You definitely need a beefier PSU and try to get one with the four pin connector. I'm very pleased with my system. I've only encountered one problem recently with the POCO drivers and had to roll back to ver 1.96. Otherwise faultless from day one. I also run my Lynx in the MOBO and all DSP cards in 7 slot magma. Good luck.


___________________________________________________________
Supermicro H8DCE, Two Opteron 280 (2.4Ghz dual core), 2 Scythe Ninja Plus heatsinks, 4 gigs patriot 400Mhz ECC ram, XFX 7900 GT PCIe graphics card, Lynx 2 installed in motherboard PCI slot, 7 slot Magma with 3 UAD, 1 POCO PCI Mk2, 1 x 160 system drive, 1 x 150 gig WD Raptor SATA 10000rpm drive, 4 x 250 gig WD Samples drives, 1 x 700 Watt PSU, 1 x Plextor 755A DVD drive
Nuendo 3.xx latest update

 

[SHLambo]

4 pin connector H8DCE

Just in case you can't find a PSU with a four pin connector, this is what you are looking for:- http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripher ... ctId=23604

 

[Nightowl]

SHLambo, thanks for the heads up. I found an OCZ 700w PSU thats due at my door tommorrw ... last piece of the puzzle I think. If you guys don't mind me asking, how do you have your UAD's and other add on cards configured? Since the H8DCE has two busses, I plan on setting my system up like this ...

nVidia 2200
-4x HDD's on Master SATA ports (assuming the four master ports are connected to the 2200 chipset ... manual does not specify)
-Magma chassis housing 3x UAD-1's on PCI slot #2

nVidia 2050
-nVidia Video Card on PCIe slot #4
-Fireface800 on PCIe FW400 card on PCIe slot #1

 

[Nightowl]

Well, I got my H8DCE hooked up and there is still munching up the wazoo in Sonar. Is there a reccommended slot to attatch the chassis to?

Thanks