The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

Maw: A second LAN port for SLI? Eh?
Omega: It's far better to setup a proper network than to use an extra network port. The extra port is just handy for emergencies. Has come in handy several times on my X48-DS4, but only because I haven't bothered with proper network infrastructure.

 

setting up a network in my current situation is a joke. Trust me!

 

Indeed, this is how I do it. Windows file shares allow any PC in the house to stream content off my server. Fortunately for me, the HTPC happens to be the same PC as the fileserver.

 

The router isn't mine Still in the box too LOL! Perhaps you're right though. Far less tedious then the 7zip split and flash drive transfer. Of course!

 

You make it sound so easy LOL! The last time I networked two PC's, it took a little more than your explanation. It's been quite some time since I did it. I imagine Windows 7 makes it even easier though. I wonder what XP - 7 would be like. Won't know for a while. Though it is tempting to run my older quad via XP, and have my newer gaming system run Windows 7. Oh, I suppose for gaming, windows 7 is darn near necessary LOL! Certainly since I have the future inclination to run at least Dual Crossfire

What do people do with their old CRT monitors? Goodwill, Computer shops? Etc...

 

In cupboard for emergency uses

As for networking, it really isn't hard if you do it properly. Just obviously be advised the one fundamental flaw with Vista/Win7 is its networking. It's not uncommon for either OS to one day decide no more network access, and that's an end of it, reformat time. Fortunately it seems to take quite a while to occur.

 

Sounds like a bit of a nightmare LOL! Yah, I imagine it's pretty straightforward. I just need to begin it. I will, when I get my secondary, and primary hooked up together. Will it be possible to allow the Non host internet access, through the LAN, while the two PC's are connected? I never could get that setup right. Perhaps it was some flaw with the XP setup. Cause I'm certain that I specified to it, that the secondary pc would be connecting to the internet through the Host Pc.

I have 3 CRT's. Take up too much space

 

If you use a proper network, all PCs get internet access, no problems at all.
If you're using crossover networking, you will have to enable network connection sharing or setup the connections as a bridge.

 

Treat me like a complete Newb LOL! Define "Proper Network"
Much obliged TIA

 

LOL! I think that was a loaded question. There are different types of networks. Mine would be a basic Home network. Which would involve the use of a router, to be proper eh? I think I'm gonna have to just dive right in like I always do. Sometimes no amount of explaining can help me. I'm a kind of hands on kind of guy

 

I mean a network, with clients and a hub (or better, a switch). Two PCs connected with a crossover cable isn't strictly a network IMO.

 

That's what I was thinking too, it's the only "reasonably" priced 1366 MB with those features out there lol.

Not for SLI, just apart from having two lan ports the only other difference between those two boards I could find was support for 3-way sli. Granted I also read that flashing the UD3R with the bios for the UD5 would enable that feature so that puts the difference back to 1 vs. 2 lan ports.

Not sure if this is the "proper" way to do it but hardware wise I just plug the internet connection into the WAN/Internet labeled port of the router and the computers into the other ports (usually labeled 1-x). I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't need configure the router before everything "worked" but I would never not manually configure the router (btw don't waste your time with the "setup" cd's that come with router's these days).

 

Ok, here's an interesting question to me.
Two computers, have an internet connection through a switch, the switch is connected to the DSL/Cable modem. No router is used, and the two computers cannot communicate with one another. Is this a network by any standard? Or would a router be needed(As well as intercommunication) to be considered a network.

 

Maw: Ah, your post was worded rather confusingly, that explains it. I am unsure of the licensing requirements for triple SLI if there are any beyond the standard license fee. However, triple SLI may require that the bandwidth of the third slot be 8x electrical, rather than 4x as is common, which would make sense from a performance perspective. Be aware that flashing the BIOS of a board without the specification may mean that you're running a card at 4x electrical (or in some cases, 1x) which may well have an impact on performance. It's not likely to be much of an issue at 4x this generation, but Fermi cards may cause issues with such little bandwidth.
With regard to WAN ports and routers, you only need a router if your modem has no routing functionality at all (or it's a terrible router and you want to use a better standalone - more common). If your modem does a decent job of routing, even if it only has a single ethernet port on it, it can be plugged straight into a switch. The benefits here are that you can buy Gigabit switches. Routers containing Gigabit switches are rare and you will be networking your PCs at 100Mbps (11MB/s maximum throughput)

 

I don't believe my Modem has any routing capabilities to speak of. Just a cheapy DSL modem. All I needed at the time.

 

THIS SITE seems to think that it has Router capabilities though. Interesting.

 

Simple? I see 5 boxes... We use 4 and one of them is almost completely redundant, used only for wireless.



Modem ->>> Router ->>> Switch ->>> PCs/Printer/Xbox etc