Intel 82579V on RM CC4

[mp4-dave]

I am currently evaluation machines from a number of different companies with a view to making a purchase this summer. I currently have a CC3 network which the machines build on to perfectly after adding the driver to the build disk.

The school will be upgrading to CC4 in the coming year and I would like to make sure, as best I can, that these machines will be okay on the new system.

Does anyone have machines with the Intel DH61CR motherboard (on-board Intel 82579V network card) and do these build easily? Did you need to add drivers to the system? Could someone familiar with the CC4 build process comment on how easy/hard/possible it is to add drivers to the build area?

Thanks in advance

David

[Oaktech]

I was given to understand that pretty much any intel chipset based MB will build with RM networks...

[mp4-dave]

I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but would like to hear from someone who has actually done it before buying a large quantity. The school has always bought from RM in the past to ensure compatibility but paid a premium for this. The saving of buying from another company won't look as good if we end up with rooms of machines that don't work! :-)

[kai91]

I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work, but would like to hear from someone who has actually done it before buying a large quantity. The school has always bought from RM in the past to ensure compatibility but paid a premium for this. The saving of buying from another company won't look as good if we end up with rooms of machines that don't work! :-)

We have never failed to get hardware to install on CC4 some times it can take a little time to get the drivers imported but as soon as thats done everything will build fine

[SYNACK]

We have never failed to get hardware to install on CC4 some times it can take a little time to get the drivers imported but as soon as thats done everything will build fine

It is probably a Windows intel driver problem rather than an RM problem, some of the intel network drivers are shocking in that their defaults are rubish and some of their drivers won't work under WindowsPE (the version of Windows used for install). Some of this stems from their hardware sometimes using different hardware IDs, an issue which they seem to fix in the Windows versions but not always the ones that will work under PE.

[bossman]

@mp4-dave:

The drivers for this particular chipset don't work as they are provided by a third party manafacturer and when trying to import the drivers ini via the RMMC it is refused due to their not being a properly signed file.

I had to change from using the onboard Nic to the intel pro 1000 desktop which works perfect.

I will of course be looking at what can be done for the future as the pro 1000 nic will not always be available.

I have never used RM hardware although supposedly very good it was massively over-priced, I do know that they are now trying to become competetive in the drive to attain more market share so it might be feesable to ask them first for a quote before purchasing from an unkown quantity.

I have been using Gigabyte boards for the past 4 years with no problem whatsoever as they always came with good onboard realtek Nic drivers which we could always import into the drivers build section.

@SYNACK you are right in your evaluation of Intel and their default drivers being rubbish.

[mp4-dave]

Thanks to everyone for your input.
@bossman: Thanks for your answer, you've saved me from a massive mistake there. As RM sell machines with the 82579LM network card in and Intel only have one driver for the 82579V and 82579LM network cards I had convinced myself it would work. If I've read your post correctly you're saying it definitely doesn't.

The RM AIO is pretty good, but not cheap. We have got quotes from them and three other companies (Viglen, Stone and NS Optimum), the others are cheaper, but wouldn't be if we had to add an additional network card to every machine.

We had a evaluation machine with a realtek on-board network card, RTL8111E I think, it wouldn't build on to our CC3 system even with the latest hardware support pack installed and the driver added to the build stick.

[SYNACK]

How many are you buying, get a good account manager at one of the suppliers (look at the sponcers here maybe) and check out what the machines from larger manufacturers will cost. I'd trust an HP elite over a custom build intel machine any day of the week, even a wednesday. We have gone with the hp Elite 8200 units here but the 6200 series are decent if you don't want vPro. Lenovo and Dell also make machines that many seem to find acceptable. The long term driver support is also much better from HP.

[bossman]

@mp4-dave:

Having just remoted in to our servers it seems that I do have the driver for the 82579LM and it does support all windows versions including the PE which you will require to build on to the CC4 network.

It definately doesn't support the other type though.

As @SYNACK has mentioned it might be in your favour to get a quote from another major player and ask them specifically for the nic which you know will work and a price to match.

[mp4-dave]

@bossman Thanks very much for doing that.
@SYNACK we're looking at buying 114. The network manager got the quotes for the PCs but has now gone on holiday for 2 weeks! I'll have to get on to the companies and see if they can all quote for boards with the 82579LM version of the network card. Another delay the business manager will love