Thursday 12 January 2012

XW8200 some observations

XW8200 - Some Observations

The XW8200 is a rather large desktop computer with loads of room in side for extra hardrives, 6 drives ifact as appose to the normal 2. It has more in common with a server than a desktop computer but that said ebay and the like are awash with cheap parts for this system so you can build a very quick PC for under £200 (2011).



XW8200 - Fastest Processor

The fastest processor available for the XW8200 is the 3.8GHZ xeon SL8P2 with a 800FSB it will take two of these, both with hyperhtreading you will see 4 processors in windows.

There are 3.6, 3.4 and 3.2 models available, but I have seen on bench marks that the 3.2 outperforms the 3.4 and 3.6 varients with the 3.8 only a little faster, why? Idon't know.



XW8200 - Cooling (processor)

The cpu cooler takes a 70mm fan which is not overly noisey, the cooler is interchangle with that of the xw8400, and the cooler from a XW8000 will fit, although its not pretty. The cooler from an XW8400 is rather broader than the XW8200 cooler at 80mm.

Fan control on the mother board is good with noise low unless temperature of the xons go over 60 degrees celcius.

XW8200 - Cooling (case)

The only compulsary upgrade you will need is to replace the 120mm rear case fan, which is damn noisey, swap it out for an arctic cooling F12 and save you ears, this only really applies if you are using the XW8200 in a quiet environment.


XW 82000 - Storage

The world is your oyster with this machine when it come to choosing a harddrive, it will take IDE/ATA, SATA or SCSI (68 pin). I have tried SCSI drives and would recomend a solid sate SATA over them for speed and quietness.


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6 comments:

  1. Hello there - You mention the CPU cooler is interchangeable with the xw8400 but then go on to say they are different widths - I am currently in the market for a new 2nd heatsink for my xw8400 and noticed that the heatsink for the xw8200 is around half the price. Can you confirm they are interchangable. Thanks, Robby

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  2. Dear Robby

    I am afraid that although the XW8200 heat sink has the same "foot print" and fits nicley in to the holes on the XW8400 mother board, the "feet" are too long, meaning the heat sink does not come in to contact with the processor. I did toy with the idea of shortening the legs by grinding them down, but then we are trying to build a PC not a tractor, so I forked out £50 for a proper heat sink. It is a shame they cost so much.

    If you are running a dual core processor in your XW8400, the smaller heat sink from theh XW8200 would certainly keep the CPU cool enough, they run at around 27 degress C, so plenty of head room. Its just making the damn thing fit.

    The cooler from an XW8400 will there fore fit a XW8200 but not the other way round.

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  3. Have you had 6 disks running?
    My SCSI disks hold the OS, but when I add IDE or SATA, these are seen first at boot, and windows fails to load. I have looked in BIOS but can see no option for hard disk boot sequence. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
    Pinki

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  4. I am sorry pinki, I only ever ran a single SATA on my XW8200. What about the boot menu? Sorry fairly lame suggestion.

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  5. do you know if a xw8400 motherboard can be used within a xw8200 case? (psu and case)

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  6. I would say yes. They are very very similar in apperance, although I can not vouch for the MOBO mounting points etc in the XW8200 case having never carried out the operation you describe.

    I own both an XW8200 and a XW8400 and having has a quick look inside both I can see no conflicts.

    How much are you paing for you XW8400 MOBO, as you can buy a whole XW8400 on ebay for £120??

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