Video card

[Alfred Melvin]

So now that I'm well on my way with FreeNAS, Do I leave the video card in place or do I remove it?
Any opinions and/or suggestions?

 

[joeschmuck]

My opinion is: If you are running 8.3.0 and have your system running fine, you can remove it and then test it for stability. Not all systems are created equal and some will not like having the video card removed. I'd leave it installed if it isn't a hungry beast and/or has a fan on it. I use a fan free video card (use to be a gaming card so it does pull some power) but have pulled mine as well and tested it for months before calling it good. I retained the video card because if I have to reload things and I need a console connection, I can make that happen easily.

 

[Alfred Melvin]

My main reasoning was that the card would use some of the base ram. With an 850w Thermaltake Power supply I don't feel concerned about power draw as much as Ram. All my reading says that FreeNAS is ram hungry.

 

[toddos]

My main reasoning was that the card would use some of the base ram. With an 850w Thermaltake Power supply I don't feel concerned about power draw as much as Ram. All my reading says that FreeNAS is ram hungry.

If it's a card you can physically pull (i.e., not an integrated graphics device), it should not use any of your real RAM.

 

[joeschmuck]

Typically a plug-in video card does not use base RAM and has it's own internal RAM unless you have some odd duck which is possible, I've seen those type cards decades ago. It does have an addressing scheme but if you are using 64 bit version of FreeNAS that shouldn't be an issue.

EDIT: Addressing scheme meaning in a 32 bit system the video card must be addressed within the RAM allowable area, that it true in a 64 bit system too but you have a larger area and you wouldn't overlap address area unless you had a fully populated 64 bit RAM (tons or RAM). In the 32 bit system you have 4M of space, that is why you can populate a system with 4MB of RAM but only have just over 3MB available, because of mapping out system resources. It's a bit deep to get into and I'm willing if needed.

 

[Alfred Melvin]

Thanks Guys, Card stays put!

How's the internet service on that side of the moon?

 

[joeschmuck]

Thanks Guys, Card stays put!

How's the internet service on that side of the moon?

I have a obscured line of sight with the internet satellite so speed is pretty good. I did have a touch of trouble a few weeks ago when that meteor shower occurred, with not having an atmosphere to protect me I had to hide under my umbrella until it was gone. Damn rocks almost knocked me out when it started.

 

[ramius]

A dedicated graphic card usually doesn't use up any portion of ram, but a integrated graphic card needs fron 1Mb to 512Mb of ram memory, aside from the addressing scheme in a 32Bit system. The main reason to remove a PCI-E 16x graphics could be to have more PCI-E Lanes free for the storage and network controller. As I recall, a standard desktop cpu only provides 20 PCI-E lanes. If you use a PCI-E graphic card or the integrated graphic card 16 of the 20 lanes are used (or wasted) to show only a few letters in text mode. My old system was build with a PCI-E 16X graphic card, but I had a lot of trouble when I plugged in a second raid controller. After switching the graphic card for an old PCI S3 Virge card, all the problems I had with the controller disappeared.
If you look at the block diagram of my current motherboard, like most server motherboards, the graphic card is a PCI Matrox G200 graphic card with 16Mb Ram.

 

[Alfred Melvin]

How can I get my set up to show at the bottom as this will help when receiving advise?

 

[ramius]

How can I get my set up to show at the bottom as this will help when receiving advise?

I think what you mean is the signature. You can edit your signature in the settings page of your profile.