Today sees an exclusive peek of the new MSI’s new MS-9185 server board based upon Serverwork’s HT2000 and HT1000 chipset. Many of the biggest problems encountered in the professional arena is finding a good sound cost effective server based platform acting as an node to complete out a big render. Hopefully today once you have seen the figures presented below this board may just give you the reader an idea on what to use next. Normally the primary focus here is upon Professional Graphic cards and 3D Graphic workstations but we have had numerous requests to pop up the odd review showing this sort of working platform.

Onwards then to the basics of what this new server based platform board has to offer.

• Supports Dual AMD Opteron in the 1207-pin lidded ceramic micro PGA, from 1.8~2.8 GHz support
• Supports HyperTransport technology and meets thermal requirements
• Core Chipset is base upon - Northbridge: Broadcom ServerWorks HT-2000 and the Southbridge: Broadcom
  ServerWorks HT-1000
• Memory
  • Memory controller is integrated into AMD Opteron processor
  • Supports 1-DIMM 4GB ECC Register memory
  • 16 DDRII slots (total 64 GB memory)
  • Supports ECC Registered DDRII 400/533/667 Dimms
• On-Board IDE/SATA
  • 4 SATAII ports by Adaptec AIC-8130 (with RAID 0, 1, 0+1)
  • 4 SATA ports by Broadcom ServerWorks HT-1000
• PCI Slots
  • 1 32-bit/33MHz PCI slot
  • 1 133MHz PCI-X slot
  • 2 PCI-Express x8 slots
  • 1 HTX slot for Infini-band card (with riser card, optional)
• LAN Controllers. 2 LAN controllers bundled into Broadcom ServerWorks HT-2000
• Back Panel I/O Ports
  • 1 PS/2 mouse port
  • 1 PS/2 keyboard port
  • 1 X serial port
  • 1 X VGA port based upon ATI Radeon 7000M
  • 2 X USB 2.0 ports stacked with 1 RJ-45 Gigabit LAN jack (optional for OPMA)
  • 2 X individual RJ-45 Gigabit LAN port
• Form Factor SSI 13 X 12 inch

With this complete lets look at a few of the pictures from the system that was sent here.

The test system was fully supplied complete to us by MSI for the review. Utilising the system build below and the results speak volumes for themselves in the screenshots shown later on in pages 3 and 4 of this review.

1 X MSI K9SD Master Mainboard
4 X 512MB (2GB Total) Buffalo PC4200 (533FSB) ECC Reg Memory – 1GB per CPU in 128 Bit Mode
2 X AMD 2.4 GHz Dual Core Opteron (8216) with Coolermaster HSF
2 X Western Digital 80GB SATA II 7200rpm with 8MB Buffer Configured to Raid 1.
1 X Pedestal Chassis
1 X 600W PSU

Hardware Suppliers for the Review

The bulk of the system Chassis, PSU, Mainboard CPU’s etc were supplied by MSI UK. Really without their support this review could not have been undertaken. finally but by no means least; Western Digital for the Supply of the 80GB SATA II Discs. Our thanks to all involved in making this an interesting but exciting review

Systems Integrators, OEM’s and VAR’s should contact all companies directly for pricing and availability of all components. Members of the public should contact their respective suppliers requesting the parts.

Diskeeper can be purchased from most leading Distributors and software retail outlets. Or those of you wishing a try before buy, a 30 day trial version maybe downloaded direct from www.diskeeper.com

This review was severely hampered by very tight time constraints as this equipment is in extremely high demand. However, we have managed to squeeze in what has been  requested from the system showing off as the relevant tests and benchmarks. This though will give the reader an indication at what to actually expect.

Page 1 - Introduction
Page 2 - Software Used
Page 3 - Sandra 2007 SP1
Page 4 - 3D Studio Max 8 Renders and Conclusions