Tyan Thunder K8W S2885ANRF Motherboard

The Tyan Thunder S2885ANRF is quite a unique motherboard designed with a workstation/server application in mind. With a price tag of $400 currently available online, this motherboard is but for a serious application. It features a dual 940-pin socket CPUs and only supports AMD Opteron-based processors. It can be configured to operate in single or dual CPU mode. Based on an AMD-8131 chipset for its high-speed PCI-X tunnel and AMD-8151 for its AGP tunnel, including an AMD-8111 I/O Hyper-Transport hub, the Thunder S2885 is a well equipped motherboard to be reckoned with.

The Tyan Thunder K8W S2885ANRF

Operating System Support:
As a symmetric multi-processor (SMP) motherboard, the Thunder K8W supports a number of operating system that includes Windows 2000/XP Pro (32/64-bit), Server 2003, Linux, Solaris.

Support of Processor and RAM:
AMD Opteron 2xx and 8xx CPUs, both dual or single-core, are currently supported by the motherboard. The selection of a CPU will dictate the type of 184-pin RAM (PC3200, PC2700, PC2100). Furthermore, only registered and ECC (Error Checking and Correcting) RAM can be used. The PC3200 is required for Opteron 246 or above. The motherboard can be configured to support memory controller in two modes: 64-bit or 128-bit. The population of the RAM sticks will determine each operation. Since there are a total of eight (8) DIMM slots (four for each CPU), the Thunder S2885ANRF can support a total RAM of up to 16GB (8GB per CPU). However, the second set of DIMM RAM slots for CPU2 can be accessed (or installed) only if the second CPU is installed, which makes perfect sense.

For this system, I use two Opteron 246HE CPUs (2.0GHz each) and 2 pairs of 512MB PC3200 DDR400 Reg/ECC RAM sticks to take full advantage of the Thunder's 128-bit high bandwidth in dual channel; that is, 1GB per CPU.

Layout and Design:
Due to its rich and advanced features, the board requires a large footprint 12x13-inch Extended ATX form factor and requires an EPS type power supply with at least 400-Watt. Obviously, the load of the system will dictate the amount of wattage required in a power supply unit. I use an Enermax 460-watt power supply which features a full support of EPS power. Based on this large footprint, the Tyan Thunder K8W obviously requires a large system case (e.g., Antec Titan550, Ci Design, Supermicro, Lian Li's YY-W2, etc.).

The layout on the Thunder K8W is very well thought out. All the power and connecting ports are placed around the edge of the board. The 24-pin main power, 8-pin CPU power and SSI (6-pin) power are placed next to each other and are located at the top moving toward upper-right corner. This in turn will allow good air flow and avoid wiring complications in the mainboard area. The front panel port is also located next to these power ports. For the system case that I use (Antec Titan550), the location of this front panel port presents the perfect solution.

At the lower right corner (bottom right), there are IDE/floppy/SATA ports, along with two FAN connectors. The internal USB1.1 and IEEE-1394 ports are also placed in the same area, along the edge of the board, above the IDE ports. The two IDE ports are lined up vertically on the edge. This also makes cable connection very easy, and I can tuck the IDE cable out of the way, again, for excellent air flow and good clearance in the mainboard area. The placement of the two 3-pin FAN connectors is perfect for my system setup. I use them for two 92mm fans placed in front of the system case to cool the six hard drives.

The Bad News...
An immediate drawback on the Thunder K8W's feature is the support of USB1.1 and too few of them. For me, it's a puzzle why Tyan did not use the fast USB2.0. There are a total of five (5) USB1.1, three in the rear I/O panel and two (2) onboard for the front panel. Also, there is one RJ-45 (LAN) high-speed Ethernet and one IEEE-1394 port at the rear. There are one serial and one parallel ports.

The Thunder K8W also comes with a good sound system (AC97 AD1981b Audio Codec) with digital Coaxial output for theatre sound. Frankly, I don't like it (more on this later) and revert to using the good old PCI sound card, Audigy2, partly for my required application and sound experience.

The GOOD News...Best Features of the Thunder K8W
Actually, the bad news listed above represents a small speck of the Thunder K8W's mighty capabilities, especially when contrasted with the competitors. As mentioned above, the Thunder K8W S2885 comes with dual-core ready. It supports both single-core and dual-core Opteron processors currently available from AMD. Each CPU is supplied with separate RAM for a super-fast information and communication via its hyper-transport tunnel.

The Thunder K8W is equipped with an AGP socket that supports both standard AGP and AGP-PRO 110W for dual simultaneous display. While the current trend of the PCI-E display device is gaining popularity, it is often overlooked that many new AGP graphics with ever larger RAM (256MB or 512MB) are currently available on the market at a much affordable price and with performance that many mid-range PCI-E devices have yet to beat. For a specific AGP application, the Thunder K8W offers the best solution.

I think the best feature of the Tyan Thunder K8W lies in its PCI expandable capabilities. Two separate buses (A & B) are used to manage high-speed PCI-X applications. This is to ensure uninterrupted high-speed data communication and processing. One bus (Bus B) supports two (2) 64-bit PCI-X (3.3v) operating up to 133MHz (but if two PCI-X cards are used, only one can operate at 133MHz). The second bus (Bus A) supports two more PCI-X (3.3v) 64-bit slots operating at frequency up to 100MHz. Then, there is the standard legacy PCI 32-bit 33MHz (5.0v) slot.

Now, the advantage of two separate buses, often overlooked, are that the two PCI-X slots (3 & 4) controlled by Bus A can be reconfigured to support the standard PCI cards (32-bit/33MHz). The very good news now is that instead of one legacy PCI slot, the Thunder K8W offers a total of three standard PCI expansion slots. For me, this is a great plus, since I need at least two PCI slots: one for USB2.0 and one for a sound card. In addition to converting the PCI-X (3&4) to operate at legacy PCI speed, they can be reconfigured to operate at 64-bit/66MHz to support those PCI-X cards that do not operate at a maximum 100MHz. In other words, the Thunder's PCI-X slots 3 & 4 are quite versatile. As far as I know, no motherboards by other manufacturers offer such unique flexibility.

While the onboard SATA ports (by Silicon Image Sil3114) are based on SATA I, it's good that there are four of them available both as IDE and RAID configuration. It is of course forward-compatible with the new SATA II devices (350MB/s rate). Or should I say that the SATA II hard drives will work on the Thunder K8W's SATA I port.

Installation

The Thunder K8W comes with all the required accessories for a standard system installation that includes I/O shield, IDE/SATA/floppy cables, 2 SATA Y-splitter power adapters (to support 4 SATA devices), installation manual, CD-ROM driver M2.0, CPU retention frames, SATA IDE/RAID driver diskettes, etc. The CPU retention frames must be assembled onto the motherboard before the CPU can be installed. The manual contains excellent and accurate information for hardware/software installation.

The Thunder K8W has three power connectors: 24-pin EPS12V, 8-pin EPS12V and 6-pin SSI. The 6-pin SSI power connector is required only if an AGP PRO 110W graphics card is used. For me, I only need to connect the 24-pin and 8-pin EPS cables.

I use PCI-X slot#2 for a SCSI controller card to manage my five hard drives. I use the 4th for Audigy2 sound card and USB2.0 in the legacy PCI slot. To "force" the 4th PCI-X (64bit/100MHz) to operate at standard PCI, I needed to configure the jumper pin near the base of the PCI-X slot.

Installation of other components on the motherboard was quite straight-forward. Due to the cleverly well thought-out design, the Thunder K8W provided an easy installation. For the CPU heatsink, I use Thermaltake Silent Boost A1838 cooling system both for lower operation noise and good cooling.

Software: BIOS

The Thunder K8W s BIOS setup utility based on AMI BIOS 8.0 on 4Mbit LPC flash ROM ACPI 1.0 & 2.0 is very robust. With it, the motherboard offers a wide range of selection on how the system can run, either in single or dual processor mode. I am particularly drawn to the Advanced, Boot and Chipset utility features and options.

Advanced settings
In the Advanced settings mode, IDE and floppy devices can be configured. Super I/O, hardware health, ACPI, Event Log, Hyper-transport link, Device & PCI slots, Remote access and USB can be controlled based on the user s specifications.

In the Hyper Transport (HT) configuration sub-menu, the two CPUs can be configured to talk to each other and to the AGP. In this sub-menu, there are six options:

1) CPU1:CPU2 HT Link Speed (Auto, 200MHz, 400MHz, 800MHz, 1000MHz)
2) CPU1:CPU2 HT Link Width (Auto, 2, 4, 8, 16bit)
3) CPU1:PCI-X Link Speed (Auto, 200MHz, 400MHz, 600MHz, 800MHz)
4) CPU1:PCI-X Link Width (Auto, 2, 4, 8, 16bit)
5) CPU1:AGP HT Link Speed (Auto, 200MHz, 400MHz, 600MHz, 600MHz)
6) CPU1:AGP HT Link Width. (Auto, 2, 4, 8, 16bit)

The choice of each operating frequency depends on the installed CPUs. In my case, the Opteron 246 HE has an HT bus of 800MHz; so I set it accordingly. The CPU communication speed with the AGP depends on how fast the installed AGP card is. In my case, with the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro, the HT bus associated with the AMD-8131 AGP tunnel is 2x597MHz. Similarly, in auto mode, the HT bus between the two CPUs is 796MHz, which makes an HT bus operating at roughly 1600MHz (2x796MHz).

Boot
In the Boot sub-menu, I can control how the system boots. I use SCSI hard drives. Here, the system allows me to select a SCSI device to boot. After scanning all the SCSI devices, the Thunder K8W can boot from the selected device, without having to go into the SCSI controller's BIOS to alter the disk ID order. For a system that may require a separate boot device (in a multiple platform), this option is quite advantageous.

Chipset
In the Chipset settings sub-menu, I can customize how the South and North AMD chipsets behave, including AGP and PCI-X. The NorthBridge controls the RAM and its ECC, while the South handles the system bus.

In Auto mode, the system seems to correctly configure and detect the RAM cards, including their CAS latency and frequency. The most important part for me, especially with ECC Reg. RAM cards, is that I need to correctly set the memory support and enable the Burst Length (to 8 beats) for 128-bit memory support. In manual selection, memory clock can be controlled in 100MHz, 133MHz, 166MHz or 200MHz.

System/Software Installation

During the first boot instance, the system went smoothly, even thereafter. With the correct BIOS setup completed, I began installing Windows XP Pro on the first SCSI hard drive (MAS3367NP) with roughly 20GB of disk space. I reserved the rest for my Linux system. I set up two 36GB SCSI disks in RAID 0 (total 73GB) for Photoshop CS scratch disk as well as for a temporary work space for my DVD video editing project. With five SCSI devices, the system started up impressively quick, spinning up the five hard disks in less than 30 seconds. This is considered very fast compared to my other system with three SCSI disks that takes a bit over one minute for detecting the SCSI devices. Perhaps, this quick startup had to do with the LSI Logic LSI22320 PCI-X 64bit/133MHz SCSI controller card.

To activate all onboard devices--sound, Ethernet, SATA, etc--requires the installation of the CD-ROM driver. All components were activated properly after the driver installation. I need to activate SATA controller port for my sixth hard drive used solely for data storage.

Performance

Except a few new SCSI devices and an ultra-fast SCSI controller (LSI Logic LSI22320 Ultra320 PCI-X 64bit/133MHz), this workstation is based entirely on old components (CPUs, RAMs, AGP, PSU, etc) that I originally used on an ATX dual-CPU motherboard by Tyan Tiger S2875ANRF over a year ago. In other words, I basically move all components from the Tiger S2875 over to the Thunder S2885. As usual, after hardware and software installation, I perform a system test and benchmark to set a bar for comparison.

It is unbelievable that a separate RAM designated for each CPU could have improved the system performance phenomenally. The advantage of this is clear based on the benchmark results reported below. While the CPU score from both the Tiger S2875 and Thunder S2885 is more or less the same, the RAM score as well as the HT bus configuration truly set the two motherboards apart. And by far, the Thunder is in every respect faster than the Tiger at almost twice the speed. The results also made me realize the right choice of RAM sticks I have used; of course, it's the motherboard--Tyan Thunder S2885--that should be given credit to.

Benchmark Results: Sandra2005 on Windows XP Pro SP-2 (32-bit)

Arithmetic
- Dhrystone ALU: 18437 MIPS
- Whetstone FPU: 6288 MFLOPS
- Whetstone iSSE2: 8328 MFLOPS

Multimedia
- Integer x4 aEMMx/aSSE: 38639 it/s
- Float x4 iSSE2: 41703 it/s

Hyper-Transport Bus: AGP Chipset: 2x597MHz
Hyper-Transport Bus: CPU-to-CPU Chipset: 2x796MHz

Memory Bandwidth
- RAM Bandwidth Integer Buffered: 10081 MB/s (Tyan Tiger S2875 gave 5400 MB/s)
- RAM Bandwidth Float Buffered: 10043 MB/s (Tyan Tiger S2875 gave 5400 MB/s)

I repeated the test a number of times and the result fluctuated between 9993 MB/s and 10098 MB/s.

Cache & Mem
- Combined Index: 12043 MB/s
- Speed Factor: 6.3

In real-world usage and experience, the system is fast and stable, both under Windows and Linux. I regularly use the system to author DVD video and edit photo images. My work flow has improved tremendously--with less time spent and much more work done! It's phenomenal!

The motherboard sound system is decent for my taste; it's no doubt a good sound system. But I prefer my favorite Sound Blaster Audigy2 sound card that offers better sound quality. This sound card is installed in the 4th PCI-X slot that is operating at the legacy standard PCI device. This also proves that the Thunder K8W's flexibility in its PCI-X configuration offers an excellent versatility. The Adaptec USB2.0 PCI also works and a great replacement for the USB1.1 supported by the motherboard. The motherboard's RJ-45 Ethernet port is extremely fast and operational. I have yet to test the serial and parallel ports.

Couple of speculated issues
The PS/2 keyboard port sometimes has problem detecting the device and is also quite picky, especially when I connect a KVM switch board between the motherboard and the mouse/keyboard devices. Two of my old keyboards cannot be used on the Thunder (don't understand why; they work fine with my other motherboards, including the Tiger S2875). For convenience, I now use a USB-to-PS/2 converter.

Perhaps, it is the BIOS problem, but thermal readings on the two CPUs were unusual. The two CPUs are a matched type and identical. Yet, the Thunder K8W's thermal sensor indicates that one operates at about 7 degrees higher than the other. For instance, at bootup, CPU1 reads 31 degrees Celsius, while CPU2 reads 24 degrees Celsius. I switched the CPUs and the result stayed the same. If left running, CPU1 rose to 38 degrees and CPU2 to 31 degrees. Both CPU heatsink fans spin at roughly 1250RPM. However, the temperature did not rise much and stayed at around 38/39 degrees for CPU1. Strange to this was that both CPUs operated at roughly the same temperature when they were installed on Tyan Tiger S2875 motherboard. Thus far no issues encountered, but the offset in temperature bothers me a bit.

Untested...for a Gaming System
I built this system solely for DVD video authoring, photo editing and programming as well as 3D graphics applications (3D CAD). What's left to be tested is how the system responds under a gaming environment.

Overclock

The Tyan Thunder's BIOS allows the CPU HT link speed up to 1000MHz. In terms of overclock features, the board does not allow much room. I did, however, attempt to increase the clocking speed as well as HT link speed (and its link width) only to discover a system failure -- unable to boot. I reset the CMOS to convert everything back to the default mode and reconfigured to my original setting.

It's important to note that this kind of motherboard is not designed to operate overclocked; one reason is the assurance of stability. Therefore, to achieve optimum performance a good selection of best components should be the ultimate choice.

32/64-bit Support, Single-core and Dual-core

The dual CPUs installed on the motherboard are single-core and capable of 32/64bit computation. However, I only use Windows XP Pro (32bit) on this system. But under UNIX/Linux, I have installed Red Hat Linux AS 4.0 (64-bit) which yielded a phenomenal result with superb performance both stability and fast operation. I have also tested the system under Windows Server 2003 and obtained the same result both for its full compatibility and responsiveness.

The Thunder K8W is dual-core ready and can thus provide an excellent route for a system upgrade. It seems that I am still quite satisfied with the AGP performance; and therefore when dual-core CPUs become more affordable, the Thunder K8W would make an excellent system upgrade.

Conclusion & Discussion

For a workstation system, the Tyan Thunder K8W is arguably the most formidable motherboard. Under Windows XP Pro and Red Hat Linux AS 4.0, the system sets the standard for a solid performance both in terms of stability and hardware/software compatibility. Based on my numerous tests and everyday usage, the Tyan Thunder S2885 makes an excellent motherboard for a high performance workstation. Its lack of built-in USB2.0 can be easily compensated by the use of a PCI card. The board offers more high-speed PCI-X slots (on separate high-speed buses) than any motherboards in its class offered from ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte or SuperMicro.

The only competition is a motherboard by IWill, the DK8X, which shares similar features and specifications. In fact, both motherboards have strikingly similar onboard components that they are considered an identical offering from a different company. The only difference is that IWill DK8X has two legacy PCI slots and built-in USB2.0. The down side is it has fewer PCI-X and at lower frequency compared to the Thunder K8W.

In fact, Tyan Thunder S2885 and IWill DK8X were the two motherboards that I originally considered. IWill DK8X was a bit more expensive than Thunder S2885 based on the fact that it is available only through its vendor. I almost bought it from newegg.com as an OEM board (refurbished?), but was afraid that I could not find its I/O rear panel and its downloadable software driver was not enough. But, when I found an excellent deal on the Tyan Thunder K8W S2885 much more cheaper than IWill DK8X, I went for it; and I'm quite happy ever since.

If you require a dual-processor workstation with the use of AGP graphics card, the Tyan Thunder K8W S2885 is no doubt the best motherboard available, and affordable compared to the current trend of PCI-E SLI boards. Its current availability proves that the board is still in high demand, despite the fact that its PCI-E based member (Thunder K8WE S2895/S2895U w/ PCI-E SLI) has recently been introduced. Moreover, I recently had a quick opportunity to sample the Thunder K8WE S2895 that was shipped to me by mistake under my order of the Tyan Thunder S2895U. It made me realize that the Tyan Thunder K8W S2885 is at the moment the best choice for my need, even though I had to give up PCI-E options and accept a slight decrease in performance. Its three-year warranty adds confidence to its reliability. My past experience with Tyan boards indicated that they are quite dependable.
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My workstation system

Motherboard: Tyan Thunder S2885ANRF
CPU: AMD Opteron 246 HE 2.0GHz, dual-processor configuration
RAM: 2GB (4x512MB) PC3200 DDR400 Reg/ECC RAM
Video: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
CD/DVD: Sony DDU1612, LiteOn SHM-165H6S
Legacy: Floppy drive
Hard Drive (SCSI):
- Fujitsu MAS3367NP (36GB) 15K RPM (Operating Systems)
- 2xMAP3367NP 36GB 10K RPM (RAID 0)
- MAW3735NP (73GB)
- MAP3735NC (73GB)
all are connected via LSI22320 PCI-X 64bit/133MHz SCSI controller card
Hard Drive (SATA): Seagate 250GB SATA I
PCI: SoundBlaster Audigy2 sound card, Adaptec USB2.0/IEEE-1394 card