From WikiFAQDell PowerEdge 400SCRelated Topics
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Unofficial Dell PowerEdge 400SC FAQs. Originally posted at aaltonen.us
Documentation
Where can I find online documentation for the 400SC?FYI, the PE400SC is the same system as the Precision Workstation 360 PWS360 in a "server" case. If you need Dell approved XP drivers just go to the PWS360 downloads. The front panel ports of the PWS360 are there under the grill if you care to cut a front access hole to them. That's also why there is an "undocumented" but fully functional 8x AGP slot. If your BIOS is real old you need to update to A10 to get USB 2.0 active on you USB ports. CaseIs the 400SC loud?Definitely not. With a little ambient noise in the room, I can't even tell if the computer's on or off without looking at the power LED. If the room were completely quiet, you might be able to hear it... if you put your ear right next to it! The loudest part of the computer is the hard drives(which are still very quiet). This system is very very quiet! Are there any front panel connectors?There are 2 USB 2.0 ports and a stereo headphone jack hidden behind the bezel. From inside the case you can see the USB cable attaches to the PCB that controls this unit. After removing the front bezel, you can access and use the 2 USB 2.0 ports. Unfortunately, there is no audio cable from the motherboard's connector to the front panel connector, so I do not believe the headphone jack will work until that's connected. pbox has put together a few pages detailing the layout of the front panel and control panel. I noticed some lights on the back of the 400SC with the letters A, B, C, D... what do they mean?These are diagnostic lights. Their function is explained here. Is the 400SC's power supply proprietary?For once, it looks like Dell has gone the right route and changed it's evil ways. The power supply is fully ATX compatible. Compare the Dell's wiring to the ATX spec wiring. Here are some pictures I took of the connector itself, connected to the motherboard and the power supply label. If you so choose, you may replace the Dell OEM power supply with an ATX power supply of your own. The only problem would be physically mounting the power supply, as Dell's case layout is a little unconventional. Will the 400SC's puny 250W power supply handle my added components?Most probably. It's a very high quality power supply, and many have loaded up their 400SCs with graphics cards and drives a plenty with no problems. Just be careful with big graphics cards. G-force cards use a huge amount of power. What type of cooling does the 400SC have?Single, temperature controlled 92mm fan. It's an NMB 3612KL-04W-B66. Specifications are here. (Pictured here and here) Additionally, the 3.2C model has been reported to use a JMC/Datech DS9238-12HBTL-A. And a big bitch too! MotherBoardWill the motherboard support the Prescott CPU?Yes, the 400SC's motherboard supports Prescott processors with the A05 BIOS update. Is there a better diagram of the motherboard in the 400SC available?Maybe. As far as I can tell, this motherboard is strikingly similar to those used in all of its other 875P systems (Dimension XPS, 8300, Precision 360). The Precision 360 has a nice explanation of the motherboard layout here. Does the 400SC support HyperThreading?Indubitably. (Yes.) If your processor is an 800MHz FSB, Intel Pentium 4C, then your OS should show 2 logical processors when HyperThreading is switched on in the BIOS. Proof from Dell's specification sheet: Quote: In addition to healthy processing power, the PowerEdge 400SC configured with the Pentium 4 processor supports Hyper-Threading technology that is designed to improve performance and make the best use of your processor’s capabilities. To make sure, I tried a 2.4C in mine, and it does work. Is there any way to check the 400SC's temperature?Yes. Download and install Motherboard Monitor. The closest compatible motherboard in the MBM list of motherboards is the Intel D875PBZ. Can I boot off a USB device? (Pen drive, USB hard drive, etc.)Absolutely! Just press F12 while booting, then select which device you want to boot from. How do I remove the 400SC's heatsink?Please read Dell's Processor Installation Guide.. What's the difference between the C1, C5 and C6 motherboard options when I go to buy a 400SC?They're the same. The difference is to tell the people assembling it what configuration it'll be. What kind of motherboard does the 400SC use?The motherboard is made by Intel (which has been confirmed), but there isn't an Intel part number. The motherboard is an OEM for Dell board, and won't be able to be found in the normal retail/online channels. It closely resembles the D875PBZ. http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/bz/index.htm I've heard rumors that the 400SC equipped with a Celeron will have a different motherboard. Is this true?Nope. As I've long suspected, it's been confirmed that the 400SC has the same motherboard, no matter what processor is chosen. Seeing that the lowest model Celeron offered is a 400MHz CPU, it will work in this motherboard. Older Celerons and Pentium 4's running a 400MHz bus have also been reported as working. nope What type of CPU cooling system does the 400SC use?Dell opted for a simple, quiet and effective cooling solution. The 400SC uses a single, temperature controlled 92mm fan at the rear of the case, right under the power supply, with a plastic duct that sucks the hot air off the top of the heatsink and out the rear of the case. This is also effective in lowering the overall ambient temperature of the case because it's forcing cooler outside air in the front vents due to the pressure differential. The majority of the 400SC family ship with a standard aluminum heatsink, but the 3.2GHz model ships with a heatpipe heatsink and a louder, more powerful fan. A Prescott 3.4 EE - the "fastest" 478 available - can be installed, though the cooling system will need a small amount of modification. The OEM heatpipe heatsink, part number 9Y212, is required, as is a fan with at least 42CFM in a 92mm x 25mm form factor to replace the stock case fan. This will keep the processor, which dissapates 102W typical, at about 61-62C under full load (64C maximum per intel specs), and under 40C at idle. Removing the cowl and adding an 80mm fan at 30cfm on top of the heat sink, blowing into the fins, will keep the processor in the low 50s under full load, mid 30s at idle. A custom mounting solution is necessary to keep the extra 80mm fan on the heatsink in place. The new 92mm fan can be installed using the rubber mounting pins from the OEM fan. Can I overclock my 400SC?There are no options in the BIOS to overclock. Any overclocking will have to be done on the hardware level (ie: messing with the motherboard and CPU wiring). Using a 3rd party system detail program like smithmicro.com's CheckIt Diagnostics, you will find that some of the default CPUs that come in the PowerEdge 400SC are running below their maximum rating. The default Intel Pentium 4 3.2Ghz CPU (family: 15, Model: 2, Math Type: 3) can be ran at speeds of 3.6Ghz. One way to dramatically expand the performance for a very modest cost is to do some selective replacement. As seen below, the default Dell motherboard has no support for overclocking in the bios and doesn't fit in a standard ATX format. For about $50 each, you can upgrade the motherboard and case to support overclocking. As most motherboard developers are going to the new PCI-Express format, the AGP motherboards are being sold off at dramatic discount prices. For example, you can get a Prescott ready, Socket-478 motherboard from Albatron that you can overclock the 800Mhz front side bus to 1200Mhz which is on par competitive with the AMD hypertransport 2000mhz buses. Other manufacturers like ASUS make boards that support an 800mhz bus, but will support dual-channel DDR2 with speeds of 557mhz, 600mhz, or 800mhz RAM. Some motherboards even let you overclock the RAM to 1000mhz. 1GB will run you close to $400 at the high end, otherwise, just plug in your existing RAM. The 400SC has a case mounted fan sucking air over an enlarged copper heat sink on the processor. Switching cases will require you to buy an on-processor active cooling system, where the fan is mounted directly on the processor for about an additional $50. Liquid cooling solutions go for about $70 to $300, but are worth it if you want to overclock to 3.8Ghz or 4Ghz. Depending on the batch of the processor that you have in your machine, you can get lucky sometimes and get 4.2Ghz speeds with the right high-end cooling system. The bottom line is, if you are a serious gamer or performance freak, for about $100 to $500 you can double or triple the performance of your system. Will the motherboard fit in an ATX case?No. It doesn't fit under the ATX specification. It is held to the motherboard tray with plastic standoffs and 4 screws, none of which are in the locations specified by the ATX standard.
Does the motherboard support USB 2.0 on all ports?Yes. While the device manager in Windows cryptically lists only a single USB2 controller, all of the USB ports on the 400SC are USB 2.0. The official word is:
The PowerEdge 400 SC has 6 accessible USB ports (+2 inaccessible in front of system). All 6 ports offer low speed (1.5Mbps), full speed (12Mbps), and high speed (480Mbps) USB transfer rates. The PowerEdge 400 SC's ICH5 chipset has 4 USB 1.1 controllers. Each controller is mapped to a physical connector containing 2 USB ports. The full speed 12Mbps bandwidth is shared between the 2 ports connected to the UHCI USB 1.1 controller. To support USB 2.0, the ICH5 also has an EHCI 2.0 controller, which connects to all ports. The high-speed bandwidth of 480Mbps is shared between all 6 ports. When a USB device is plugged in, the ICH5 will detect its maximum speed and automatically route the appropriate port to either the EHCI 2.0 controller or one of the UHCI 1.1 controllers. High-speed devices will route to the EHCI controller, while full-speed and low-speed devices will route to one of the UHCI controllers. The PowerEdge 400 SC implements a unique combination of cable and I/O panel that supports all speeds, whether they be USB 1.1 or 2.0. Video
What video card does the 400SC come with?An ATI Rage XL 8MB PCI card, shown here. Does the 400SC have an AGP slot?Of course! (The AGP slot is, however, not supported by Dell.) Picture here and diagram here. The AGP socket is keyed for universal 0.8v AGP cards that comply with the AGP 3.0 specification or 1.5v AGP cards that comply with the AGP 2.0 specification. The AGP connector supports 8x, 4x AGP 3.0 add-in cards operating at 0.8v, or AGP 2.0 add-in cards operating at 1.5V. There is no support for AGP 2x operation or legacy 3.3V AGP cards. Does the 400SC support 8x AGP cards?Yes. I've personally tested 2 8x AGP cards in the 400SC. The Intel 875P (Canterwood) chipset specifically touts 8x AGP as a feature. There have also been numerous other reports that it works. MemoryWill non-ECC RAM work?The Difference between ECC and Non-ECC RAM is the pysical layout of the chip and the ECC logic chip. the Physical layout of the chip is what makes non-ECC RAM not fit in ECC slots. Some ECC will fit in Non-ECC slots, and vice versa. Please let me know what modules you've had success with and I'll update the FAQ. Will buffered (registered) ECC RAM work?NO Does the 400SC support "Dual Channel" DDR?Indeed. To enable this, you'll need to use a pair in slots 1 & 2 (white tab) and/or 3 & 4 (black tab) as shown in this diagram. (1 & 3 are the vertical slots, 2 & 4 are the diagonal slots.) What brands and types of memory does the 400SC support?It seems that the only problematic RAM is low-latency, ultra-performance PC3200 RAM, which is set to run at too high a speed for Dell's conservative BIOS, which in turn clocks the RAM down to PC2700 speeds. Also, some high-performance, overclocker-marketed RAM has been known to be programmed with incorrect SPD information, which can also cause the RAM to run at lower-than-advertised speeds. As always, make sure the RAM you buy has a good warranty in the case it doesn't perform as desired. The following RAM is listed here only because it's been reported to me as working. This list is by no means complete. There are likely many more unlisted types of RAM that work fine. The following has been tested:
How do I test my RAM to see at what speed it's operating?Use any one of the following tools to see the RAM speed and a myriad of other information about your system:
Why is my PC3200 RAM running at 333MHz/PC2700 speed?For maximum compatability, Dell's BIOS reads the module's SPD information and sets the timings accordingly. If you have "fake" PC3200, which is in reality overclocked PC2700, the SPD data tells the BIOS it's PC2700. On a motherboard with manual RAM settings, you can set this yourself. Alas, the 400SC's BIOS doesn't allow this. The 400SC's BIOS seems to allow maximum memory timings of 2.5, 3, 3, 6. Save yourself money: do not buy RAM intended for ultra-high performance overclocking, as that's not possible with the 400SC. Why can't I run CAS 2 RAM in the 400SC?From a moderator on the Dell forums: Quote: Dell only tests, validates and support CL2.5 for 333MHz DIMMs, and CL3 for 400MHz DIMMs. CL (CAS Latency) of 2 is not possible at 400MHz for this chipset (Intel imposes that limitation on this chipset). It will marginally work at 333MHz with no guaranty. Recommendations: Use CL3 DIMMs for 400MHz FSB processors Use CL2.5 DIMMs for 333MHz FSB processors Don't use CL2 DIMMs
Should I buy ECC or non-ECC RAM?ubiquityman wrote: TO ECC OR NOT TO ECC, THAT IS THE QUESTION It was published in 1998 (EE Times) that a approximately 1 bit error occurs in 256MB of ram every month. RAM has increased in speed significantly since then, but manufacturing processes have also improved. It's hard to say what the current error rate is but let's assume that it's about the same. So for those with 1G of memory, that's approximately 1 bit error every week. It doesn't matter if you reboot every hour, as long as you run your computer 24h/day, the rate at which a bit error will occur is approximately once a week (if you have 1G of RAM). (If you run your computer less frequently, then obviously, the rate at which bit errors occurs will also be less.) Also, the nature of memory is that although bit errors occur randomly to some extent, there is a higher probabilty that errors will reoccur at the same location, in weaker bits. We consider a memory bit as digital, but the actual silicon landscape is such that not all bits are created identical or equal. Some are "more susceptible" to soft errors. So, if you have a "weak bit" in a frequently used place, you just have bad luck. Your machine might crash unexpectidly more often than others. Any programmer can tell you that an incorrect bit is unpredictable. It could be benign, but it cause also be catastrophic in terms of data. Now, if you do reboot frequently, that reduces the probability that the bit error will cause a negative effect because the bit error lives in your system for less time. It also reduces the compounding of errors which again would have increasing potential to cause data loss. Like I've said before. If you play games and that's all you do. I probably would not pay the 12%-25% premium for ECC. However, if you leave your machine on most of the time, overclock, stress your machine in other ways, or use it for something "serious" other than gaming, I would recommend ECC memory. For approximately the cost of eating out one night, I can have the peace of mind of ECC. I put ECC in all my home machines except for my laptop and PDA. At today's prices, ECC is a bargain. The luckier you feel, the less you need ECC. In the words of Dirty Harry "Do you feel, Lucky!?" ECC PERFORMANCE I checked the Intel website and they do say that there is some performance loss with ECC enabled. I've also read elsewhere that unless a memory error is detected, there is no performance loss with modern chipsets. (I would suggest that the intel information is the correct one.) However, I personally have ran benchmarks on my PII-450 w/ i440BX chipset to test the performance of ECC memory. My benchmarks show that my machine benchmarks faster in memory with ECC enabled. StorageWhat type of hard drive comes with the 400SC?I can't speak for every configuration, but mine came with a 40GB IBM/Hitachi Deskstar 180GXP. (Picture of the label here.) Does the 400SC have onboard serial ATA (SATA)?Yes. There are two onboard SATA connectors, visible here. Can I use an SATA drive as my boot drive and an IDE drive as a secondary drive?Absolutely, I have this exact setup running flawlessly. Does the 400SC support SATA RAID?No Sadly. Officially, the word from Dell is "no", and further investigation reveals that the 400SC uses the ICH5 (82801EB) southbridge, as shown in this picture. The Intel data sheet confirms that RAID support is only available on the ICH5R (82801ER) chipsets. Additionally, the BIOS only shows the option to enable/disable SATA, no RAID configuration. Also, Intel's Application Accelerator is not supported by the 400SC's chipset. It has become a RAID only utility. On another note, you can upgrade the bios to A09 and add in a $15 S-ATA PCI card. The PCI S-ATA card helps overcome the disk size limitation, and I was able to get a pair of WD2500JD drives to configure in a Raid-0. There are three downsides. 1) Two drives and a new card generate a lot more heat--which the 400SC is very sensitive to, 2) I had to upgrade the power supply to a 650w one with extra power cables--this provides the correct power connector for the drives, but clutters the interior restricting airflow, and 3) the new drive isn't ghostable, so you will need to build a Windows installation from scratch--I ended up unplugging my IDE disk to build the Windows install and putting it back afterwards as a slave. Why doesn't my >120GB hard drive (160GB, 200GB, 250GB, etc.) only show as ~120GB?You will need Windows XP SP1 or later to use large drives off the bat (see this for more information). A workaround that enables 48-bit LBA access is located here. Many hard drive manufacturers also have utilities to help fix this problem. Alternatively, you can add a PCI ATA133 card to access the full drive. The simplest solution is to split the hard drive into partitions smaller than 120GB. (Which is a smart idea, anyway.) How many drives can I put in my 400SC?The 400SC has 2 5.25" bays and 2 3.5" bays. By default, 1 5.25" bay is being used by the optical drive (CD-ROM in my case), and 1 of the 3.5" bays is in use by the hard drive, leaving space for 1 5.25" drive and 1 3.5" drives (without using kits). And yes, Dell did include spare rails to install an extra 5.25" and 3.5" drive. You can order more rails from Dell Parts at 1-800-372-3355, Dell P/N 21TUG. There is a space available underneath the floppy drive which appears to be a 3.5" hard drive bay, but hard drive rails will not fit, only floppy rails (P/N 26PNP). (I've tried.) Update (1/30/2007): Just got off the phone with Dell Parts and they told me they have a new policy and won't sell drive rails without a hard drive. New policy put in place as of 8 months ago. eBay seems like the best option now to source these rails. What comes with the SCSI system?If you ordered a 400SC with SCSI, it'll come with an LSI 21320-IS dual channel U320 PCI-X card. The card is 64bit/133MHz and backward compatible with the 32bit/33MHz PCI slots found in the 400SC, although it'll only run at U160 speeds on the slower PCI bus. It has an internal connector and an external connector. The card also has integrated striping (RAID 0) support. The card enables you to add up to six SCSI drives per stripe set. The default SCSI drive that for the 400SC is a Seagate ST336607LW (U320, 10000 RPM) that is both fast and quiet. Are there any firmware updates available for the Lite-ON 48x CD-ROM drive?Yes. Download and install the A04 firmware from Dell if you so desire. There is now a A05 firmware from Dell for this CD-ROM. Release date was 10/04/2004. SoftwareWill the 400SC work with Windows XP?While, not officially supported by Dell, the 400SC works fine with Windows XP Pro (and forseeably XP Home as well). You will need no drivers for the install, but after installation download and install the following:
What operating systems will work with the 400SC?While, due to time constraints, I've only personally tested Windows XP Professional, the 400SC will run:
Where can I find other drivers?Try Dell's Download page or the Intel driver page.
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