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In today's installment,
we will discuss the remainder of the components we used in putting this
project together. Special emphasis was placed in reviewing the dual water
cooling subsystems, secondary cooling considerations, SCSI storage, and
power requirements.
Part 4
Who is keeping track of all this anyway?
We
now had our game faces on. Our mission had achieved clarity and it was
now time to make all the necessary design changes and to obtain all the
necessary components in order to make this project a reality.
Storage
Our
storage subsystems are SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface) based.
Despite the strides that have been made with IDE based technology, SCSI
systems still hold a marked edge over IDE for a variety of reasons;
primarily:
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Lower CPU utilization. SCSI controllers use their own chipset to manage
hard drives, whereas, IDE drives depend mostly on onboard controllers
that are CPU dependent.
-
Faster access times. The drives we are using have spindle rotation
speeds of 10K RPM and 15K RPM. IDE drives (at this time) have a maximum
rotation speed of 7200 RPM.
-
Flexibility. IDE channels each use an IRQ. If one were to use the 2
IDE channels offered by most motherboards, a maximum of 4 drives would
effectively use 2 IRQs. With SCSI configurations, 15 devices can be
managed by a single controller using only 1 PCI slot; occupying only 1
IRQ.
-
Overall speed. The latest SCSI bus accommodates theoretical data
transfer rates of 320 MB per second compared to 133 MB per second from
an IDE bus.
Our
Intel based system is going to be used for enhanced multimedia. Storage
space is a requirement here. Our choice for this system is the Fujitsu
MAN3735MP hard drive.
The
specs from the manufacturer’s site:
|
 |
|
FEATURES |
|
· |
High recording density adopting Advanced Giant Magneto-Resistive Head
(GMR) technology and 32/34 MEEPRML recording code |
|
· |
Large capacity 73.5GB with 3.5 inch and 25.4 mm height |
|
· |
High speed with 10,025 rpm, average seek time 4.5ms, data transfer
rate 160MB/s (Ultra 160)
|
|
· |
MTBF 1,200,000 hours more adopting high quality parts which is reduced
parts by integration of circuit parts and made by latest technology |
FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS
|
|
MAN3184MC/MP |
MAN3367MC/MP |
MAN3735MC/MP |
|
Storage Capacity (Formatted) |
18.4GB |
36.7GB |
73.5GB |
|
Disks |
1 |
2 |
4 |
|
Heads |
2 |
4 |
8 |
|
Cylinders |
29,884 to 30,032 |
|
Recording density |
19,094 bit/mm {485,000 bpi} |
|
Track density |
1,507 tracks/mm {38,300 tracks/in.} |
|
Rotational speed |
10,025 min-1 {10,025 rpm} |
|
Average seek time |
Read 4.5 ms (typ.) / Write 5.0 ms(typ.) |
|
Recording code |
32/34 MEEPRML |
|
Dimensions (W x D x H) |
101.6 mm x 146.0 mm x 25.4 mm |
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Weight |
0.75 kg |
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Power Consumption (Idle)*2 |
7.0W |
7.5W |
9.5W |
|
Energy Efficiency*3 |
0.28W/GB
(rank A) |
0.15W/GB
(rank B) |
0.10W/GB
(rank C) |
|
Interface |
U160 |
|
SCA-2(MC series) / 68-pin Wide(MP series) |
|
Data transfer rate |
To/from media |
52.0 to 84.1 MB/s |
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To/from host |
160 MB/s |
|
Buffer size |
8MB |
This drive is being
managed by the Adaptec 29160N controller card.
The specs from the
manufacturer’s site:
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Ultra160 SCSI performance for internal hard drives and external legacy
devices |
|
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Customer Needs |
|
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High performance, O/S flexibility, and easy connectivity |
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System Environment |
|
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Entry level servers and workstations |
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Key Differentiators |
|
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Connectivity to internal hard drives and narrow SCSI desktop devices |
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Data Transfer Rate
|
|
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Up
to 160 MB/sec |
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External Connectors |
|
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One
50-pin for Ultra SCSI |
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Internal Connectors |
|
|
One
68-pin for LVD SCSI
One 50-pin for Ultra SCSI |
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Bus Type |
|
|
32-bit PCI |
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System Requirements |
|
|
·
Intel PC or equivalent
·
Available PCI 2.1 compliant slot |
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Package Contains |
|
|
·
Adaptec SCSI Card 29160N
·
Adaptec EZ-SCSI software
·
Operating system drivers
·
5-position 68-pin LVD internal cable with terminator
·
3-position 50-pin internal cable
·
Complete user documentation
·
Warranty card |
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Warranty |
|
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5-year manufacturing and materials warranty |
Due
to the sheer processing power of our nForce2 based AMD system,
productivity applications will be run from this machine. To match it, a
robust storage subsystem was called for. In order to meet our
requirements, nothing short of Seagate’s new third generation 15K drive
(the 15k.3) would do. But then we decided; why have only one 15k.3, when
two in a raid0 configuration would be so much better?
The
specs from the manufacturer’s site:
|
Model Number:
ST318453LW
Capacity:
18 GB
Speed:15K
rpm
Seek time:3.6
ms avg.
Interface:Ultra320
SCSI
|
 |
|
|
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The Cheetah 15K.3 is
the lowest cost of ownership 15K drive, and the lowest cost-per-I/O
disc drive ever. It is fast, cool, and quiet, and has the highest
reliability rating in the industry. |
|
|
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Features |
Benefits |
|
|
|
3D Defense System
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The most
comprehensive drive protection system in the industry, consisting of
Drive Defense, Data Defense and Diagnostic Defense.
|
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SeaShell
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Seagate's
revolutionary packaging protects the drive from external shock.
|
|
SAMS
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Seagate's Advanced
Multidrive System optimizes the drive for maximum I/O performance in
Multidrive environments.
|
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JIT
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Just-In-Time
minimizes actuator impact on power, vibration and acoustics.
|
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Ultra320 SCSI
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Up to 320-Mbyte/sec
transfer rate; Includes Packetization and QAS. Backward compatible
with Ultra160. Cables 15 devices, up to 12 meters.
|
|
15K RPM spindle
speed
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Delivers more I/O's
per second than 10K, and faster sustained transfer rates, enabling the
same high performance to be met with fewer drives.
|
|
|
|
Distinctions |
-
Extremely low
power consumption allows easy integration for high performance.
-
1,200,000-hour
MTBF
|
The
controller we will use is an LSILogic Elite 1600 raid controller. We
upgraded this card to its 128MB of ram maximum.
The
features and specs from the manufacturer’s site:
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IA-64 ready
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Two Ultra160 SCSI channels
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64-bit, 66 MHz PCI
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PCI 2.2 compliant
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Up to 128 MB ECC SDRAM cache memory supported - ships with 32 MB or 64
MB ECC SDRAM cache memory
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Standard NT® clustering support
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Advanced management and configuration utilities
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40 logical drives per controller and 30 physical drives per logical
array
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Auto resume during array rebuild or reconstruction
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Background initialization for Quick RAID 5 set up
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FlexRAID®: Online capacity expansion and online RAID level migration
Cooling
The
next challenge we faced was in designing the cooling subsystems. We knew
that we wanted to experiment with TEC cooling. Intel based systems lend
themselves to work better in conjunction with TEC cooling than AMD based
systems, therefore the TEC cooling solution would be integrated into our
first circuit.
We
turned to the company that has the most experience in TEC assisted cooling
solutions for the PC enthusiast; Swiftech. Our water block/TEC combo of
choice is the MCW478-UHT model.
The
features and specs from the manufacturer’s site:
· Universal
compatibility with all Intel® Pentium®4, Xeon™, and
all AMD® socket A motherboards featuring the four installation
holes surrounding the processor socket.
· CNC
machined and anodized aluminum block, with heavy duty C110 copper base
plate, lapped to 8 Micro surface finish.
· Focus
jet cooling, with enhanced turbulent flow.
· 1/2"
ID tubing hose barb fittings for extreme flow rate, and minimum pressure
drop.
· High
internal chamber capacity: 4.22 in3 (69 cc)
· Focus
jet cooling: the inlet stream is located directly above, and close to the
heat source (processor, or thermoelectric module). This effectively
optimizes cooling where it is most needed: at the hottest spot of the
assembly.
· The
submersed side of the copper base plate features an irregular surface in
the area directly located under the inlet. This creates a turbulent flow,
and promotes heat exchange between the plate and the cooling fluid.
The
water block comes with a preinstalled 226Watt TEC. The TEC is clamped
between a cold plate and the water block itself.
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