NEWS: Intel Donation

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CMU's Parallel Data Lab would like to thank Intel for its recent generous donation of 20 multiprocessor mother boards and 35 Pentium III CPUs that we assembled into complete workstations. Following are the steps we took to build the workstations using the Intel motherboards.

The complete workstation, built using an Intel motherboard.

ADDITIONAL HARDWARE REQUIRED

Component	Supplier	Comments
Case ($119)	SX830 Workstation Case from Antec, Inc.	details and problems
Memory ($238)	2 128-MB PC100 memory
Hard Drive ($120)	13 GB Quantum Fireball hard drives
Floppy Drive ($14)	Mitsumi	details and problems

ASSEMBLY

Using the motherboard provided by Intel, along with the Antec case, Quantum hard drive, floppy drive, etc., our workstation was constructed as follows. First, a single 700 MHz Pentium III processor and two 128MB PC100 DIMMs were installed in each motherboard. Next, the hard drives were mounted in their cages and the floppy drives in their sleds. These components were then seated in the workstation case. Finally, the motherboard was installed in the case and the case was closed, completing the workstation build.

1. An exploded view of the case and components. On the table in front of the case is the motherboard (with processor and memory installed), the hard drive cage. Furthest to the right are the front panel, the floppy drive, the hard drive and the IDE and floppy cables. These cables were supplied with the motherboard.
2. The motherboard. A single 700 MHz Pentium III processor and two 128MB PC100 DIMMs have been installed.
3. The hard drive cage, floppy drive sled, and two drives. Note the lever-based locking mechanism that holds the hard drive cage in place and the thumb screws on the floppy sled.
4. The floppy drive, secured in the sled with front panel removed (the case has an integrated floppy panel).
5. The floppy drive, installed in the case. The sled is secured by thumbscrews, only the nearest of which is visible).
6. The cage and hard drive secured within the case. Note that the locking arm is in the forward position, nicely anchoring the cage in the case.
7. The motherboard mounted in the case. Note: There was no way to add a mounting post underneath the top right corner of the motherboard, just to the right of the top of the DIMM slots. Because of the lack of support, care had to be taken when attaching the ATX power plug to the receptacle immediately to the right of the DIMM slots.
8. The assembled machine, open.

COMMENTS



• We were unable to get other PCI video cards working with the motherboards, so these machines are relegated to be used as headless servers (which, fortunately, is their intended function).
• One fine, fine thing about these machines is their BIOS support for a serial console - we use serial consoles pretty heavily and this has repeatedly come in handy.
• In general, the machines run well and cool; we've had a few hardware crashes, and one of the boards is behaving a little strangely, but all in all it seems to have worked out well.

  The Cases

  For the case, we had the following requirements:

  • Ample power (at least a 300W power supply)
  • Ample cooling
  • Easy access
  • Able to fit our present physical infrastructure (a clearence of about 21" in height)

  The case we chose was ideal. The SX830 Workstation case, from Antec, Inc. was one of the few we could find with a 300 watt power supply, excellent cooling capabilities, and within our height limitation. Additionally, the case turned out to be a pleasure to work in: it was quite roomy and it was fairly obvious on sight how to do such things as remove the hard drive cage, etc. Additionally, much of the case can be disassembled with no tools at all.

  The Floppy Drives

  The floppy drives we purchased caused some problems. Approximately 75% of them did not work right from the outset.