Dual CPU mobo for Real Video server(?)

[Riddek]

Hey Folks...

Can anyone out there give some advice as to which dual CPU mobo to use to build the mother of all Real Video servers? (I'll also be duplicating the same hardware setup to do desktop video capture, hence the posting in this forum)

I've heard good things about the Asus CUR-DLS, but would like to get some feedback on it.

Here's my proposed hardware setup so far:
Asus CUR-DLS mobo
2 x PIII 800 CPUs (maybe faster)
1 Gig of RAM
Promise FastTrak 100/64 bit version (when it's released... has anyone heard any news on this yet?)
4 x 30.73 Gig IBM Deskstar HDs (hot swappable)
High end gigabit/fiber optic network card (any suggestions?)
Redhat Linux 6.2 or 7.0 (Win2K or NT for the desktop video machine)
Vanilla G450 video card (or should I use the onboard video?)

I understand the CUR-DLS mobo has onboard SCSI. I have heard that Promise cards and SCSI don't mix. Can the onboard SCSI be disabled? Is there other onboard c**p that can/should be disabled? Should I be looking at another mobo altogether?

Any suggestions or referrals to other forums/web sites specializing in this would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
Riddek.

[Dr Mordrid]

Sounds like an animal to me....

Yup, I've heard of the new Fasttrak 100/64. Four ports, 64 bit PCI etc. Now THAT will be a fast RAID card.

You can use SCSI and the Fasttrak together, you just have to place the Fasttrak in a high priority PCI slot. The details are in the manual. Dunno if the CUR-DLS's SCSI can be disabled in hardware.

Dr. Mordrid


[This message has been edited by Dr Mordrid (edited 07 February 2001).]

[AlgoRhythm]

I don't know about that Asus board, but I've used EpoX's EP-D3VA in a couple of servers with dual P3 800's in them. They can handle up to 1GB of RAM as well. No on-board SCSI. But, there is an extra IDE controller (4 total connectors).

These boards have been extremely reliable, and I'm using Slackware Linux 7.1...

If you're interested in IDE RAID, you might want to look at <a href="http://www.3ware.com">3Ware</a>. [EDIT: Fixed the URL]

They have native support in Linux for RAID. I haven't tried one myself, but we're thinking about it for our server cluster.


AlgoRhythm

[This message has been edited by AlgoRhythm (edited 08 February 2001).]