Building a Graphics Workstation: Assembly and Testing
July 2, 2008
Initial Testing
After checking the setting in BIOS you need to verify that these settings are correct and stable. Instability due to timings or faulty RAM modules are not that uncommon and will result in various errors later when installing software. While there are utilities that will conveniently test memory from within OS, that approach involves too many variables when troubleshooting and generally it is simpler to test memory without the interference of the operating system. One of these utilities that allow you to test the RAM before OS is installed is MemTest86+ or MemTest86. You will need to create bootable floppy disk, CD-ROM or USB Drive (on a different computer) with MemTest on it, change the booting sequence in BIOS, and run MemTest for few hours. MemTest will repeatedly read and write to entire RAM and report if it encounters any errors. Possibly the RAM modules will get quite hot as a result, so be sure that the fans are working properly or or you might decide to leave your computer case opened during this initial testing phase (also to allow a visual inspection of fans). You might need to adjust the memory timings or voltage until you have verified that your system is stable and RAM modules (and CPU) are working correctly.
Other computer components are more conveniently tested from within the OS. So the next step would be connecting and setting up hard disk and installing the operating system. (Preferably one should test and set up hard disk on a different computer before installation in order to simplify troubleshooting when installing OS.) For information how to set up SATA controllers on Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R motherboard, see the section about Seagate hard drive.
Next steps are installation of Windows XP Pro and drivers, backing up the initial OS installation, tweaking of the initial OS installation and more back ups.
It is useful to do many backups of OS during this initial phase. One should also verify the back up process at this stage.That will allow restoration of the system to the previous stage if an error is discovered.
Hardware Testing and Optimization
Once the basic OS and drivers are installed, it is a good opportunity to test different configurations, their stability and the effects on performance. This is the time when overclocking can be attempted, memory settings can be made more aggressive, hard drive can be tested for errors and performance etc. There are several utilities that can be of help here:
- Prime95 - one of the programs suitable to test your CPU stability. It stresses all CPU cores to 100% and can be run for several hours. If your system is stable running 'torture' Prime95 test for several hours, it is very likely that your settings are stable.
- CPU-Z - allows monitoring of CPU and FSB frequencies, clock multiplier, voltages and memory frequency and timings.
- SpeedFan - allows monitoring of CPU temperatures and voltages during initial 'torture' testing. Also allows access to SMART data and temperature monitoring of hard drives.
- HD Tune - allows testing of the hard drives. Depending on one's dedication hard drives can be tested in different configurations (IDE, SATA, AHCI, RAID) and the optimal hardware configuration can be achieved.
After hardware optimal settings are found one can then decide to restore the system to the state prior to the installation of the above mentioned testing software. Now the hardware should be optimally configured, OS should be tweaked for the optimal performance and one can proceed with the installation of graphics applications.