[geeks] Cheap Octocore

[N. Miller]

On Oct 23, 2007, at 2:00 PM, Lionel Peterson wrote:

>
> My motivation? Well, I've got a 3Ware PCI Express x4 RAID card on  
> the shelf in search of a system to run in, and this is the first  
> machine I've seen in a while that lists x4 slots (and, you know, 8  
> cores, etc...). I was going to build a beater box with a $50 MB and  
> Core 2 Duo CPU to test/use the RAID card, but this is a much better  
> use IMHO. I may make the card available if anyone is interested, it  
> is an 8 port 3Ware 9590SE x4 PCI Express card - overkill in a 4  
> drive chassis to be sure...

Look for a backing plate with eSATA connectors that run back to the  
card, and allow you to connect external drives to the connectors on  
the backing plate.  Something like this:

<http://www.atechfabrication.com/images/htpc/products/8%20port%20SATA% 
20adapter.gif>

Or a multi-lane connector going to an external drive box.  Biggest  
problem would be finding a source for such beasts.

=Nadine=