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Win2k with 8GB of RAM

Unknown_K

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I recently won a SuperMicro H8DA8 dual Operton 250 motherboard. Assuming it fits in my old server case (Compaq ML330 Single P3) I want to run Win2k advanced server. Win2k is the last version of windows that natively supports classic mac file serving. Anyway the motherboard has 8GB of RAM and I wanted to know if anybody here has much experience with Win2k AS and PAE extensions to use more then 4GB of RAM.
 
I've never tried Windows 2000 Server versions with PAE before, however I can vouch that Server 2003 (R1) runs with 6 gigs ram, no problem with PAE automatically configured at install. Windows 2000 Server should be pretty much the same, they're close enough together kernel wise, and a good amount of servers needed more than 4 gigs of ram at the time anyways.

Worst case it only uses around 4, however, I'm not too sure what you would be doing today that runs on Windows 2000 that would eat up more than 4.
 
OT: That Sibelius page represents the current state of the Sibelius program under the leadership of Avid. Updated to include Sibelius 7 and 7.1, which didn't come out until last year, but not going any farther than Vista. How sad.
 
The board has 8 RAM slots, and comes with 8x1GB so I just want to make sure it all shows up. Pretty sure you can do 2 or 4GB DIMMS for 32GB max.
 
I recently won a SuperMicro H8DA8 dual Operton 250 motherboard. Assuming it fits in my old server case (Compaq ML330 Single P3) I want to run Win2k advanced server. Win2k is the last version of windows that natively supports classic mac file serving.

Why not just run a modern 64-bit windows on any hardware and OS you like, and then run Win2K advanced server inside it as a guest OS with something like VMWare or VirtualBox?
 
Why not just run a modern 64-bit windows on any hardware and OS you like, and then run Win2K advanced server inside it as a guest OS with something like VMWare or VirtualBox?
Well you need 64 bit drivers for a 64 bit OS and some might not exist. I don't like running EMU/Virtual machines. Win2k is stable and runs fast as hell on the hardware I want to use.
 
Well you need 64 bit drivers for a 64 bit OS and some might not exist. I don't like running EMU/Virtual machines. Win2k is stable and runs fast as hell on the hardware I want to use.

Really? I find that Windows boots faster under VirtualBox and I can attach and remove hardware without actually handling the physical hardware. I think it's pretty cool.
 
Well you need 64 bit drivers for a 64 bit OS and some might not exist. I don't like running EMU/Virtual machines. Win2k is stable and runs fast as hell on the hardware I want to use.

If you are running on modern hardware, you will have 64-bit drivers. The guest 32-bit OS will use its older 32-bit drivers inside the virtual machine, since it can't/won't know any better.

Because the hardware is virtualized, you will find it actually boots and runs faster than on whatever old machine you can find to run it on natively.

I think you haven't tried virtuallization in the last 5 years. It has advanced quite significantly.
 
I recently won a SuperMicro H8DA8 dual Operton 250 motherboard. Assuming it fits in my old server case (Compaq ML330 Single P3) I want to run Win2k advanced server. Win2k is the last version of windows that natively supports classic mac file serving. Anyway the motherboard has 8GB of RAM and I wanted to know if anybody here has much experience with Win2k AS and PAE extensions to use more then 4GB of RAM.

My old file server was a dual pentium 3 loaded with 6gb of ram. I had windows 2000 server on it and it ran without any issues. In fact, I didn't need to do anything to enable PAE. Your H8DA8 does NOT use PAE. its true 64 bit. A 32 bit OS will be limited to 3.5gb.
 
Well the board is here so I will find out how it goes sooner or later once I get it installed in something. I was planning on installing Athlon 64 heatsink/fans on the unit (came with passive heatsinks) but the mounting plate is a 2 hole variety with screws while the normal mountings are the 4 hole variety.
 
If the concern is AppleTalk support, just get PCMacLan 9. It works fine under virtual machines as well. Microsoft's built in support was "eh" at best.
 
If the mounting is two hole, it's a Socket 940 mounting system, used for the AMD FX 64 and processors like that around 2004. Shouldn't be too hard to find a plain 940 heatsink, I know a couple I've seen were liquid setups, so heatsinks have to be out there somewhere.
 
Some motherboards that have more than 4gb of ram allow you to install a driver that presents the ram beyond 4gb as a large ramdisk when using a 32-bit OS. I had a relatively new asrock board (last year) that supported that in 32-bit XP. Not sure if anyone make win2k drivers for that. It also had the option to run swap out of the ramdisk, so you would have 4gb of ram, and 4gb of ramdisk swap, which is basically slightly slower ram. Magnitudes faster than disk. I thought that was a clever little hack. Of course, I went and install 64 bit ubuntu on it so I never actually used the feature!
 
If the mounting is two hole, it's a Socket 940 mounting system, used for the AMD FX 64 and processors like that around 2004. Shouldn't be too hard to find a plain 940 heatsink, I know a couple I've seen were liquid setups, so heatsinks have to be out there somewhere.

I just ordered 2 of them from china, should be here in a couple weeks (only $5ish shipped for both).
 
Your H8DA8 does NOT use PAE. its true 64 bit. A 32 bit OS will be limited to 3.5gb.
False, PAE mode in x86-64 processors can address the same number of physical address bits as long mode. Yes, this even include more than 36-bit (64GB) addressing provide that the processor supports it.
 
False, PAE mode in x86-64 processors can address the same number of physical address bits as long mode. Yes, this even include more than 36-bit (64GB) addressing provide that the processor supports it.

tumblr_mmcw8mofwG1r5xzspo1_400.jpg

learn something every day....
 
As a point of interest, the file cache on Windows 2000 is limited to 960MB. Netatalk might be worth a look.

Interesting use case for Win2k though :)
 
Well new heatsinks and mounting hardware arrived along with a 4 pin ATX to 8 pin ATX adapter (won't work with just the 4 pins like my dual Athlon MP board). Installed dual core Operton 275's instead of the single core 250's it came with (why not only $9 shipped for a matching set) and the board works! Did a quick install of Win2k AS and only 3.5GB of RAM showed up (got a message about one service not running on boot), didn't have time to see what was up. Not sure is PAE needs installed after the fact or what.

Also found out there is no way this board will fit in my old ML330 server case, and all my Inwin Q500 full towers have other boards installed (love those cases). Going to be a pain to find a case for this rig.
 
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