# Dual CPU motherboard query

## trossachs

I'm looking to build a new server to host virtual desktops. I'm looking at possibly a Tyan board. Can anyone come back to me with any experiences of either this manufacturer or another dual CPU board that they have had a good, or not so good, experience with?

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## John R. Graham

My experience with dual socket motherboards is limited to SuperMicro. I've been extremely pleased with my Xeon systems based around that manufacturer's motherboards.

- John

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## trossachs

hey John. What board do you have and what do you use it for?

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## Jaglover

IMHO, you cannot go wrong with Tyan.

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## trossachs

Yeh thought as much and have been looking at their site. The problem is I don't know what should go for as I'm not so much into architecture. I don't want to buy the wrong board, nor do I want to spend over the odds on an 'all singing, all dancing' bit of kit that I don't need.

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## jmartos

I have an Asus Z8NA-D6 ATX motherboard that I have been using for about a year now and it has worked perfectly for all that time. I have two 5530 processors and 24GB of memory on the board and it is my home desktop. I got to reuse a lot of my spare hardware since it is ATX form factor, so that was a plus. The system is is set up with the following

2x E5530 processors

24GB of DDR3 registered ECC memory

HP P400 array controller

3x 1TB SAS hard drives set up in RAID5

NVidia 9600 video card

2x 23 inch LCD monitors

PCI sound card

64bit Gentoo for the OS

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## trossachs

Big box! If that's what you are using for a desktop, I wonder what spec I should consider for a terminal server. Does anyone have any experience with remote-based terminal servers as this is what I am currently looking at to build?

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## jmartos

I use this box to host several virtual desktops and servers. A total of 5 desktops and two servers. The desktops can be remotely displayed and of course the servers are networked. I dont use the remote desktop access very often, but it does work very nicely.

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## trossachs

OK. I'm assuming that this all sits together on a LAN. Mine is a WAN project, but it's in the early stages. I'm trying to work out how many connections I could accommodate comfortably on my DSL connection (16mb DL/10mb UL) without hang-ups or freezes.

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## jmartos

Yes, everything sits on a private home network. However, I can access the virtual desktops and servers through VPN tunnels on my firewall. I don't dare put my computers out on the internet without a good hardware firewall to protect them. Are you saying that your server would be out on the public internet or just with a public IP, but still behind a good firewall.

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## trossachs

I have a good hardware firewall and the connection would sit behind a VPN; I have a public address. 

But also the recipient connection would also sit behind a hardware firewall. this is not going to be some 'public' service for all and sundry. There will be certain 'requirements' before a connection would be granted. A public ip and hardware firewall at either end.

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## jmartos

I think your limiting factor is going to be the network connection. You might want to start by looking at the specs for the terminal server you are going to use. You should be able to calculate how much network bandwidth each client will require and then work backwards to spec your server. I don't think you will need much in terms of processing power to saturate your 16Mb/10Mb network, but you never know. If you don't know how much bandwidth each client will use then you may want to perform some experiments and measure one client's network usage while on a private network. This will give you a starting point.

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## trossachs

Yes I think you are right. What's the maximum number of concurrent connections you've had on your box? How many people have you had logging in and working?

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## jmartos

My setup is for personal use, so I've never had more than two remote desktops through two VPNs running at a time. Not because the system could not handle it, but because that is all I've needed. Sorry, I'm not much help there. keep me posted on your final decision and outcome.

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## trossachs

Yes I will do and thanks for this info jmartos. A question for you Jaglover; I've been looking at Tyan boards for a long time, but because I'm not a 'hardware/architecture' man as such, I am unsure what I am looking at. 

Could you give me some advice on and what experience/knowledge do you have using Tyan boards?

As stated in previous posts I am looking to build a dual CPU box to run virtual desktops on.

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## Jaglover

Just pick what you like, you can post your choice here for discussion if in doubt. It's not an easy task to tell someone what they need, I usually refrain from doing that, sorry.

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## trossachs

No worries mate, I'll come up with something and see what replies I get here to the spec.

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