Search for a suitable place to rent an AMD Opteron 6180 SES processor.
Search for a suitable place to rent an AMD Opteron 6180 SES processor.
I recently gathered a bunch of old chip chips from a couple of dusty servers I kept around. That’s why I now own (4) twelve core Magny-Cours 6180 SEs. I lean toward this silicone because it’s the larger sibling to my Phenom II X6, one of my top picks ever. Even though it runs slower and supports DDR3 at 1333MHz compared to 1600MHz, it offers twelve cores and lets me stack up to four together. With their combined power, I might be able to assemble a functional setup and add an SSD and decent GPU. That said, I’m considering using at least two of these in a workstation or modified server. I’m curious if anyone built a dual or quad socket G34 workstation back then that could fit these chips. Just to be clear, this build is purely for nostalgia. These chips originally came from a 2U Dell server with four 6180 SEs per slot—basically an early blade setup. I don’t want to repeat that setup. It’s noisy and power-hungry. I know Cray makes a rig for this processor, but they likely still sell it for a high price. I’m trying to keep costs low. Other chips I’ve collected include some BullDozer Opterons from the 6200-6300 series.
ASUS developed the KGPE-D16 dual socket board compatible with 6300/6200/6100 chips. Micro-Star likely produced a similar model, though I'm not entirely certain. It's unlikely you'll locate one easily unless you explore the used market, where a few EBay listings might appear.
You can get dual and quad G34 motherboards, though they're usually paired with processors priced between $100 and $150. It's not a good deal because of high power usage, but it might work if you require many RAM slots for caching or similar purposes. For gaming, the single-core performance is too weak.
The power usage will be significant. With memory servers, the chips typically have around 115 watts of thermal design power in most cases, but they can spike to about 140 watts, which means they’ll get warm unless I manage the load carefully. At the same time, I don’t want the noise levels from running a server close to me because the setup will be in close proximity. I’d really like having one of these devices.