Use a PCI graphics card on Poweredge T620

May i ask what graphics card you used for the 8x PCIe slot???

I have a 2900 poweredge and was wondering if it was any better than mine??

Regards

2.41 ioDrive Duo is $25,373.07USD from USA site, and H810 (for external storage) is $563.16USD ... roughly 30% cheaper in the US (looks like the USD and AD are pretty close to 1:1 right now).

I am using a Geoforce 7800 GTX, works great but i removed all the pins past x8.

I have just purchased a HD5450 PCI 2 gig DDR3 video card for my PCI-X slot , i choose this card as it claimed compatible with PCI-X and as it was PCI and not PCI-E. Maybe you can help, you seem to know your stuff.

Ok i Have:-

Dell Poweredge 2900 2 x Quad core 1.6 Ghz Zeon Intel processors.

Windows 7 ultimate on Sata Raid 5 array. Onboard graphics.

Ok i plugged in the card, worked without change of bios and onboard video disabled itself.

Loaded windows had output on all three outputs HDMI, VGA and DVI, when it got to windows login it switched to just the VGA output, windows run no problem and card was clearly working ok and could change display to 1860 dpi, all looked great, went to install drivers but did not see card at all.

In windows device driver, no graphics cards are displayed and i now have an issue with Standard PCI-to-PCI bridge cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12), looks like the driver is not working?? cant seem to find a driver for this.

i feel sure if i fix the PCI issue the card will magically apear.

And yet its clearly working.

Thanks in advance for at least looking.

Sorry but i have never had to deal with PCI-X cards so don't know about this interface. If you check wikipedia they usually have some useful information and maybe you can work out if there is some compatibility issue between your version of the PCI-X slot on the server and the version used by your graphics card that may be causing conflicts. Maybe there is also some BIOS setting to disable some features which will free some resources for PCI-X, don't know.

I am assuming you removed the GF7800 and not trying some odd SLI configuration as that should not work :emotion-1:

IIRC, PCI has similar bandwidth to a 1 lane PCIe slot.

PCI-X i think has twice bandwidth of PCI slot.

My 8x PCIe card has 8x bandwidth of a PCI card and 4x the bandwidth of a PCI-X card.

Not 100% sure though.

But it seems you would still be better off getting and modding a more powerful 8x PCIe graphics card...

joe.s i was updating my Nvidia Quadro graphics driver to version 311.15 today and noted the release notes had a rather interesting section on Tesla C2075 'modes' which i a shall repeat here:

C2075 TCC mode

Prior to version 275.89 of the graphics driver, the C2075 companion processor booted into standard (WDDM) graphics mode on 64 bit windows 7 systems. Starting with version 275.89, on 64 bit windows 7 systems the C2075 boots by default into TCC mode, not WDDM graphics mode. In TCC mode the C2075 behaves strictly as a computing GPU and does not drive or render to a graphics display.

It is possible to toggle between TCC and WDDM modes using the Nvidia smi utility:

nvidia-smi -g (GPU ID) -dm (0 for WDDM, 1 for TCC)

Finally, in mixed Nvidia Quadro + Tesla C2075 configurations, if a display is connected to it, the Nvidia Quadro boots into standard graphics mode and drives the display while the Tesla C2075 defaults to TCC mode.

Tesla Systems: nView not installed

This is expected behavior. For windows 7 and windows vista, nView installs only on Nvidia Quadro and Nvidia NVS systems, not Tesla systems.

So, if you want to use the Tesla card for graphics output, you need to use Quadro driver version lower than 275.89, or if using the latest drivers you need to set the Tesla boot mode to WDDM using the Nvidia smi utility as indicated above.

Also note that you can not use the hardware mix you have chosen. A GeForce card using a Quadro driver will not work, and likewise, a Tesla card using a GeForce driver will not work. Use the Quadro driver with any Tesla card or mixed Tesla and Quadro card setup.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

Here is a suggested video for the Dell T420: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlvIXorxTm4

Hi there,

May I ask you something real quick?! I am trying to put a computer together for video editing and came across the T620. I understand that this machine is not really made for video-editing, but I really like the looks of it, ha ha. I should probably not buy a computer because of it looks, but the T620 is also a serious computer. Having said all that, could I just install Windows 7 on this computer and not have any more issues with drivers and such?! I always thought that drivers are OS specific, which would mean, that once the OS is installed, I can install anything on it, as long Windows 7 drivers exist?! Right?!

thanks!

Georgios

You again, ha ha. Thanks for the fast and detailed reply! I am really learning something here! I had no idea that it works the way you described it! It all makes a bit more sense now! Basically, what I am trying to do is, install Windows 7 on the T620, so I can run Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and other video editing software on it. I would like to also install a GTX Titan graphics card in it. The reason I would like to do all that with a T620 is simple; I dig the T620! I believe it looks pretty slick, must be reliable and weights over 90 pounds, ha ha. What is not to like about this machine?! Let me ask you this: If it really is the "case/tower" I like, wouldn't it make the most sense to just get that that and install a "regular" mother board in it?! I mean, isn't it the motherboard that makes this whole Windows 7 thing "impossible"?! I really do not know that much about PC, but it certainly makes sense to me, that besides having to do some modifications, to the "regular" MB, one could install in it what one feels like, right?!

thanks!

I always thought that drivers are OS specific, which would mean, that once the OS is installed, I can install anything on it, as long Windows 7 drivers exist?! Right?!

That depends.  Some hardware and software need specific features of driver packages, so if that feature is not fully supported by the installed driver package (either because it is not fully compatible or because it was designed for different hardware), then it may not work properly or reliably.  What are you wanting to install on it?

The compatibility of video cards in servers is not just a matter of drivers ... it is also a matter of hardware resources and the system's ability to properly recognize and allocate those resources when hardware is introduced that was not tested/designed.

"If it really is the "case/tower" I like, wouldn't it make the most sense to just get that that and install a "regular" mother board in it?"

Sure, but you need to know that not all parts in a T620 case are standard - you would need to ensure the power supply, backplane, controllers, control panel and other parts and connectors both fit and are compatible (which some of them likely will not and are not).  For example, the T620 uses a backplane to connect the hot-swap drives to power and to the RAID controller.  The backplane connects via cable to the motherboard as part of the power distribution of the system.  You would have to find a motherboard that had the proper connector AND was programmed to work with the electrical specifications of the backplane ... pretty unlikely.  The motherboard, because it is designed specifically for THIS system, may not even conform to standard motherboard specifications (holes, size, etc.).

"I mean, isn't it the motherboard that makes this whole Windows 7 thing "impossible"?"

Nobody is saying it is impossible - in fact, I would say it is probable that you could install Windows 7 on it.  The motherboard is made using a chipset and BIOS designed to run server-grade processors, memory, and hardware (like RAID controllers and high-end NIC's, etc.).  Neither Intel nor Dell designed these parts to work together outside of this configuration.  It might work, but it might not.

"besides having to do some modifications, to the "regular" MB, one could install in it what one feels like, right?"

Dell designs, sells, and supports complete hardware solutions - they are not in the business of making and selling parts to be used at will in any system or configuration that you please.  They do not design it specifically not to work, but they design it ONLY with their objectives and needs, often resulting in very reliable and powerful systems, but at the expense of extreme versatility and flexibility found in third party systems and parts.

As long as you go in understanding that this is not a custom-built PC using standard, retail parts, then experiment away.  I personally don't think it would be worth the trouble of changing parts, but installing an "unsupported" OS, as likely to install with little to no issues as Windows 7, is a different story ... go for it.  Just let us know how it goes.  We'll help where we can.

Sure, but you need to know that not all parts in a T620 case are standard - you would need to ensure the power supply, backplane, controllers, control panel and other parts and connectors both fit and are compatible (which some of them likely will not and are not).  For example, the T620 uses a backplane to connect the hot-swap drives to power and to the RAID controller.  The backplane connects via cable to the motherboard as part of the power distribution of the system.  You would have to find a motherboard that had the proper connector AND was programmed to work with the electrical specifications of the backplane ... pretty unlikely.  The motherboard, because it is designed specifically for THIS system, may not even conform to standard motherboard specifications (holes, size, etc.).

Interesting! I expected the motherboard to not fit right in, but that would have been an easy fix. Definitely sounds like it is not worth trying to install a "regular" motherboard in it, I agree. On the other hand, I research a bit more and it seems not that big of a deal to install windows on a T620. You just need to know what you are getting yourself in to, ha ha. 

"I mean, isn't it the motherboard that makes this whole Windows 7 thing "impossible"?"

Nobody is saying it is impossible - in fact, I would say it is probable that you could install Windows 7 on it.  The motherboard is made using a chipset and BIOS designed to run server-grade processors, memory, and hardware (like RAID controllers and high-end NIC's, etc.).  Neither Intel nor Dell designed these parts to work together outside of this configuration.  It might work, but it might not.

Like I said above, it is quite possible and apparently not that hard to do. However, the word hard is relative, LOL.

"besides having to do some modifications, to the "regular" MB, one could install in it what one feels like, right?"

Dell designs, sells, and supports complete hardware solutions - they are not in the business of making and selling parts to be used at will in any system or configuration that you please.  They do not design it specifically not to work, but they design it ONLY with their objectives and needs, often resulting in very reliable and powerful systems, but at the expense of extreme versatility and flexibility found in third party systems and parts.

That is why I want a Dell! Reliable and powerful...

As long as you go in understanding that this is not a custom-built PC using standard, retail parts, then experiment away.  I personally don't think it would be worth the trouble of changing parts, but installing an "unsupported" OS, as likely to install with little to no issues as Windows 7, is a different story ... go for it.  Just let us know how it goes.  We'll help where we can.

We are definitely on the same page here! Installing different hardware sounds pretty stupid, ha ha. But like you said, installing Windows 7 is a different story! As of right now I am leaning really hard towards a T7600. I believe, I cannot go wrong with picking one of those! The guy that puts it together for me, and sells them, is willing to "experiment" a little with installing Windows 7 on a T620!!! I let you know that goes!

thanks again for all the help and information!!!

G

p.s. I wonder how much resources it costs, to install VMWare and run Windows 7 from there?! According to their website, that is what a lot of people do... Install VMWare Workstation 10 on Windows Server 2008 and then run Windows 7?! Sure not the perfect scenario, but worth trying.

I am new to this thread and just recived a bunch of brand new T620 and was able to install windows 7 very easily.  I still however am unable to used the k2000 Nvidia graphics card that came with the system. 

Any resoloutions to this has anyone been able to get a graphics card to work in a t620.

Hey,

take a look at this thread:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/956/p/19538828/20502918.aspx#20502918

I had a "hard" time getting my EVGA GTX780Ti to work in my T620... Actually calling it hard is a joke, ha ha. All I had to do was disable to onboard video adapter and it worked right away...

G

I just thought of one more thing... I am not sure if you already know this, but you also have to enable the card in the software you are using. I had to go and manually add my card to a file called "cuda_supported_cards.txt"... hope this helps?!

thanks,

G