Another update. Got the new

[RehabMan]

Another update.  Got the new i3-2100t through provantage.com RMA process (they were great folks to deal with, BTW… highly recommended).

The new chip solved all the problems and my system is back up and running.  Fast enough (ie. definitely slightly faster than the core i3-530 it replaced) and running very quiet.

I’ve also rec’d the two G620T and have built mini-ITX systems for a couple of satellite locations (guest house, and garage).  Nice little chip — no speed demon like the i3-2100 but very nice with the power usage and does everything I need it to do in these locations.  Passmark CPU score is in the 1800-1900 range, so it beats the AMD 5800+, and really blows away the AMD 4200+ the new systems replace.

Now I’ve just got my new WHS 2011 server to build.  Which will be a necessary thing, as the Vista-32 drivers you need to use for WHSv1 for the DH67CF boards don’t work with the WHSv1 client restore disk.  I had intended on using a WHS restore process to simply clone the guesthouse to garage system as they are almost identical.  No joy — instead had to setup both systems from scratch even though they would be almost the same.  Could not get the network to work during client restore.  Hopefully WHS 2011 is better in its driver support.  Does no good to do backups if you can’t use them when they are needed.  Having WHSv1 using Vista as its client restore foundation definitely is not a good thing.

One other note: It sure is nice to deal with the Intel motherboards.  Very nice Intel NICs… even the driver configuration section is nice — it even has help for the various settings.  Very nice BIOS upgrade process.  Also no crazy fan at full blast during boot or wake from sleep.  And it was really nice to deal with the “software for adults” that Intel has in the Intel Desktop Utilities (my only previous experience was with the ASUS stuff, where the UI looks like it is designed for teenagers).