Going Overboard

[Boxer_4]

The computer equivalent of starting off detailing and ending up stripping it down to the frame. Today’s plan was to throw a new SSD and better processor into the Supermicro in preparation for finally getting around to upgrading to Windows 10 (yes, I know). The Supermicro really needed a good cleaning though.

[NomDePlume]

I need to do basically this in order to finally fix a front panel USB3.1 input that was broke out of the box. Doing so means removing everything above the PSU/HDD shelf in order to unscrew and remove the panel.

That rear fan looks way too clean for years of use with a grill. Hopefully you used an ESD bracelet to do all of this. That plastic top table looks like a static collector.

[Rusty Vandura]

@boxer_4 Gonna put in the screamin' 3080 GPU?

Hey: would you do me a favor? Would you create fresh post that has for its topic, "Please Flag This Post?"

[Boxer_4]

@rusty-vandura I’ll be keeping the Quadro 4000 I have in it for now. I do need to redo the thermal paste on it. It runs just about hot enough to cook with (literally).

This is running x58 era Intel hardware - W5590, 24gb RAM, and the afore mentioned Quadro. I’m upgrading to a 6 core X5680 because it was cheap and because I can. This would have been a fantastic setup 8-10 years ago, and still does well with the CAD stuff I occasionally use it for.

Also, done.

[Boxer_4]

@nomdeplume This was after cleaning, but the rear fan wasn’t too bad. The front intake had a healthy layer of dust. This was the first major cleaning in 3 years or so. It gets used nearly every day.

This table isn’t a static generator thankfully.

[RallyDarkstrike]

I let my desktop run 24/7, as well as my Media Center PC! If you've not yet done an SSD upgrade, it can actually be better on your hard drive than turning them off or on or sleep/wake several times a day!

[NomDePlume]

@boxer_4 I have to ask, if your computer is old enough not to be running W10. Did you check if the mb can see an SSD or possibly needed a BIOS update to do so?

[Jb boin]

@nomdeplume there is no compatiblity consideration for SATA SSDs.

Worst case scenario if if it's plugged to a RAID card or non standard SATA controller that will not make it detected as a SSD by the system that might require some tinkering on the OS to avoid for example defragmentation running and you won't be able to have the OS pass TRIM commands to the SSD.

[NomDePlume]

@jb-boin Actually there are issues that can exist. Early XP era BIOS and hardware concerns persisted well into the W7 timeline on new parts. Nowadays the more common wall to hit regards NVMe or even SATA M.2 drives through USB or PCIe (very much a BIOS requirement).

More directly, the concern I was raising had to do with

a) Cheap offbrand SSD with finicky controller firmware

b) 1TB or larger exceeding legacy BIOS and/or firmware size limit

c) Above mentioned unique legacy hardware concerns that do pop up

More generally you are quite correct in what you stated. Things should work and probably will. This being Oppo I brought up a few concerns he might encounter on the off case they did crop up.

[Jb boin]

@nomdeplume this is a server motherboard and CPU/chipset architecture from 2009, there won't be any of those issues with it.

And most of those listed issues are not limited to SSDs but could also happen with modern hard drives.

[Rusty Vandura]

@boxer_4 I'm sure it's great. Unless there is a specific need, a solid computer can go a long time.

[Boxer_4]

@rallydarkstrike I've been running a 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO since I put it together a few years ago. The 500 GB Samsung 860 EVO that's now in it will be even nicer!

[Boxer_4]

@nomdeplume I've been running a Samsung 850 EVO up to this point without issue. I did update the BIOS, but that was for the purpose of moving to a hexcore processor.

[Boxer_4]

@rusty-vandura Good modern hardware can have a long useful live depending on the use case. I do appreciate the people who upgrade every few years though, as they keep the 2nd hand market flowing.

[Rusty Vandura]

@boxer_4 You betcha! I'll be looking for a deal on someone's GPU after Christmas so I can set up a second folding workstation.

[RallyDarkstrike]

@boxer_4 said in Going Overboard:

@rallydarkstrike I've been running a 250 GB Samsung 850 EVO since I put it together a few years ago. The 500 GB Samsung 860 EVO that's now in it will be even nicer!

A 250GB 850 EVO is what I have as the OS drive in my Win10 desktop, along with a 1TB Western Digital mechanical drive (WD is by far my preference for mechanical hard drives....I have an ancient 80GB WD drive somewhere with over 11 years of powered-on time and not one error....they make good stuff!)

My Linux Mint 20 MATE laptop has a 500GB Seagate mechanical drive atm, but I have a 500GB Crucial MX500 SSD sitting to my right to install when I get around to it!

Any suggestions for a super cheap (...like $15-20) Nvidia video card with HDMI I could throw into my Linux HTPC? It's got a 1GB Radeon HD3850 in it, but older Radeon cards don't play well with Linux sometimes as AMD's Linux support for them was crap...I don't need gaming quality, it's strictly for watching TV and surfing the net on when I'm sitting on the couch in the living room!