$90 Xeon E5-2670 2.6Ghz (8cores / 16threads)

[PhantomII]

I'm getting dangerously close to putting down some $$ and starting to buy a new rig based around these babies..

 

Trouble is I haven't got anywhere that I could put a rack, or a rackmounted case - any other suggestions for decent cases that I should look at?  I thinking of the Asrock motherboard with a pair of these Xeon's.  I'll be migrating my current 7 drives into it and would like room for a few more (certainly unlikely to need the 14 odd that the motherboard supports).

 

Oh and I'm looking to keep these cheap(ish) on the case front

 

Thanks

Chris

 

I settled on the Cooler Master Cosmos II case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119252 as it fits 13 3.5" drives or 18 with a  5 in 3 cage. Plus I went with the ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 mainboard and the CM case holds the SSI EEB format without any modification.

 

However, this thing is HUGE!! It makes my HAF-X look tiny in comparison, and not exactly cheap, but well worth it IMO.

[stourwalk]

I'm getting dangerously close to putting down some $$ and starting to buy a new rig based around these babies..

 

Trouble is I haven't got anywhere that I could put a rack, or a rackmounted case - any other suggestions for decent cases that I should look at?  I thinking of the Asrock motherboard with a pair of these Xeon's.  I'll be migrating my current 7 drives into it and would like room for a few more (certainly unlikely to need the 14 odd that the motherboard supports).

 

Oh and I'm looking to keep these cheap(ish) on the case front

 

Thanks

Chris

 

I settled on the Cooler Master Cosmos II case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119252 as it fits 13 3.5" drives or 17 with a  5 in 3 cage. Plus I went with the ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 mainboard and the CM case holds the SSI EEB format without any modification.

 

However, this thing is HUGE!! It makes my HAF-X look tiny in comparison, and not exactly cheap, but well worth it IMO.

 

I'd wondered about this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854004) one, and I'm well aware these will all be huge compared to what I'm used to (the rather svelte HP N36L!)

[PhantomII]

 

I'd wondered about this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854004) one, and I'm well aware these will all be huge compared to what I'm used to (the rather svelte HP N36L!)

 

In that same vein there's the ATX Mid-Tower case http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=114&cp_id=11401&cs_id=1140106&p_id=10578&seq=1&format=2 at Monoprice for $68 which holds 8 x 3.5" drives internally, has 3 external 5.25" bays and is actually a pretty decent case, but it doesn't support Extended ATX or SSI EEB, so if you're getting one of the larger server boards, it's probably not for you.

 

But if you use an ATX board, it might be worth considering.

 

I actually have one of these and my UnRAID box was living in it until I went nuts for the Dual Xeon setup.

[Mercantides]

I may toss a couple of video cards in my dual E5-2670 server to run some virtualized gaming machines so I've been looking for a cheap quiet tower. My short list right now is:

Phanteks Enthoo Pro - $169

Fractal Design Define XL R2 - $203

Fractal Design Define R4 - $141

 

That's Canadian pricing and includes shipping and taxes. Everything else I can find is either over $200, too loud, or too hot.

 

I found conflicting reports on the R4 actually working with full size SSI EEB but it looks like these guys fit a full size board in:

 

[outsider]

An update on my power consumption numbers that I posted earlier:

 

Managed to get the GPU (gtx480 modded to quadro 6000) passed through in ESXi to a guest OS, and ran another test.

All CPUs pegged at 100% as well as the GPU running at full capacity: 450W

 

That number includes 10 WD Green drives and a couple of SSDs.

 

So for sizing a PSU, you should not need more then a 500-550W if you plan on running a GPU, and probably about 300-350W PSU with no GPU.

[JonathanM]

So for sizing a PSU, you should not need more then a 500-550W if you plan on running a GPU, and probably about 300-350W PSU with no GPU.

Running a PSU so close to the margin is counterproductive. Better to oversize the available power and get a higher efficiency class. A subcompact car may be capable of moving a camper trailer, but a truck will last much longer towing the same load.

 

A PSU is the LAST place you want to skimp on a build, if it goes out, it can take out everything when it goes.

[TUMS]

I may toss a couple of video cards in my dual E5-2670 server to run some virtualized gaming machines so I've been looking for a cheap quiet tower. My short list right now is:

Phanteks Enthoo Pro - $169

Fractal Design Define XL R2 - $203

Fractal Design Define R4 - $141

 

That's Canadian pricing and includes shipping and taxes. Everything else I can find is either over $200, too loud, or too hot.

 

I found conflicting reports on the R4 actually working with full size SSI EEB but it looks like these guys fit a full size board in:

 

Get the XL R2 if you must use a tower.

[Shamalamadindong]

If you want to go cheaper look for a used Thermaltake Armor case.

[c3]

So for sizing a PSU, you should not need more then a 500-550W if you plan on running a GPU, and probably about 300-350W PSU with no GPU.

Running a PSU so close to the margin is counterproductive. Better to oversize the available power and get a higher efficiency class. A subcompact car may be capable of moving a camper trailer, but a truck will last much longer towing the same load.

 

A PSU is the LAST place you want to skimp on a build, if it goes out, it can take out everything when it goes.

 

power supply needs to be properly sized, so getting real numbers is very useful. Thanks for providing those.

 

Two things about power supplies. Efficiency is low when utilization is very low. power supplies lose headroom as they age. That means you don't want to size too many watts or too few.

This chart and discussion covers the benefit of not running a power supply too close to rated. ripple on the 12v shows up about 50% of rated.

 

It's pretty hard to find a current name brand power supply with low efficiency, but the link above shows that efficiency does fall off with low utilization (<20%). But if you were to run this monster in a low power system (<200W), you would never get the 90% it has to offer.

 

If you can, size for 50% of rated at normal usage. So, thanks again to those who took the time to measure and post.

[outsider]

So for sizing a PSU, you should not need more then a 500-550W if you plan on running a GPU, and probably about 300-350W PSU with no GPU.

Running a PSU so close to the margin is counterproductive. Better to oversize the available power and get a higher efficiency class. A subcompact car may be capable of moving a camper trailer, but a truck will last much longer towing the same load.

 

A PSU is the LAST place you want to skimp on a build, if it goes out, it can take out everything when it goes.

Just to clarify a few things:

 

The numbers I posted are readings at the wall, while the PSU rating is for power delivered to the components innside the computer (not at the wall). Given that the PSU I am using is a 80PLUS Bronze, assume an 80% efficiency which means divide the numbers I quoted by 1.25 (or multiply by 0. to know how to appropriately size the PSU.

 

I measured a max of 355W at the wall with only the CPU running full tilt and GPU idle.

355W * 0.8 = 284W used by the computer components.

 

If you don't run a GPU, you can probably take out 50W (which is likely what my GPU was using being idle) so that drops the number to 300W

300W * 0.8 = 240W used by the computer components.

 

I measured a max of 450W at the wall with CPU running full and GPU running.

450W*0.8 = 360W used by the computer components.

 

Size your PSU according to these numbers.

 

.... If you can, size for 50% of rated at normal usage. So, thanks again to those who took the time to measure and post.

You are very welcome.

 

And yes, most PSUs have the highest efficiency near the 50% mark, so size accordingly.

[outsider]

Looking a little closer at the numbers I posted earlier, they seem a little low.

The 355W measured at the wall which is roughly 285W in the computer.

 

What I know from other sources on the net.

Both CPUs are 115W units, so that's 225W.

10HDs at 6-7W each is another 60-70W which brings the total to 285-295W.

And that doesn't account for mobo, fans, and GPU being idle...

 

I'll see if I can investigate this further...

[garycase]

...Both CPUs are 115W units, so that's 225W.

 

... last time I checked, 2 x 115 was 230 

 

 

Both CPUs are 115W units, so that's 225W.

10HDs at 6-7W each is another 60-70W which brings the total to 285-295W.

And that doesn't account for mobo, fans, and GPU being idle...

 

Note that the CPU's normally draw MUCH less than their thermal design power rating => that's the max amount of power they'll draw ... i.e. at 100% utilization.

 

But in addition to the CPU's and hard drives, you also have the chipset, the GPU, any USB devices you may have, controller cards you may be using, and other motherboard components, as well as the fans in the system.    You need to be sure your PSU is adequate for a "worst case" load ... and it's best to include a fair amount of "headroom" (extra power capability) when you size it.    As already noted, the best efficiency tends to be in the 50-60% utilization range, so factor that in to what size you buy as well.

 

As has also been noted several times in this thread, the PSU is NOT a component you should skimp on ... buy a high quality unit with ample reserve power, active PFC, and a good 80+ rating.

 

[StevenD]

I have had this board/proc/ram on my test bench for about a week, and I finally had some time to install it in my primary unRAID server.

 

SuperMicro X9DR3-F

2 x Intel Xeon E5-2670

2 x Supermicro Fan SNK-P0048AP4 2U Active DP CPU Heatsink X9 Gen

16 x 8GB 1333MHz 2Rx4 ECC Reg Memory Hynix HMT31GR7AFR4C-H9 (128GB Total)

 

All in for less than $900!  Pretty sweet upgrade.

 

Like my previous unRAID setup, I run ESXi 6.0 natively on this server, and run unRAID as a guest. 

 

I know some folks have asked about power draw, so here are a few measurements I took:

Idle / No Drives / 2 Power Supplies - 140w

Running unRAID VM (relatively idle) / 14 Drives / 2 Power Supplies - 350w

Running unRAID VM (with three HEVC transcodes running) / 14 Drives / 2 Power Supplies - spikes up to 430w

Running Windows VM (with PassMark BurnIn Test running) / no Drives / 2 Power Supplies - 430w

 

[StevenD]

2 x Supermicro Fan SNK-P0048AP4 2U Active DP CPU Heatsink X9 Gen

 

I know some folks have asked about power draw, so here are a few measurements I took:

Idle / No Drives / 2 Power Supplies - 140w

Running unRAID VM (relatively idle) / 14 Drives / 2 Power Supplies - 350w

Running unRAID VM (with three HEVC transcodes running) / 14 Drives / 2 Power Supplies - spikes up to 430w

Running Windows VM (with PassMark BurnIn Test running) / no Drives / 2 Power Supplies - 430w

 

How's the fans on the heatsinks during these various tests? Is the fan mostly controlled via BIOS or is there some fan policy that ESXI can control?

 

The fans can be real screamers with a rated speed of 8400 RPM at 52 dB(A). However, I don't expect them to ever be running at full force since they're PWM controlled.

 

They arent too bad...most of the time. They are controlled by impi. Nothng in esxi to control them.  The only time they were annoying was when i was pegging all the cores, but the fans kept the cpus below 65 degrees.

 

Of course, there are 6 other fans in this box that contribute to tne noise...plus 4 other rack mounted servers, each full of fans.

 

[Shamalamadindong]

FYI people, i think we are coming up on the end of the supply, several of the Ebay dealers have stopped relisting them.

 

Which is understandable considering that deepdiscountservers and stalliontek have together sold about 3000-4000 of them.

[StevenD]

FYI people, i think we are coming up on the end of the supply, several of the Ebay dealers have stopped relisting them.

 

Which is understandable considering that deepdiscountservers and stalliontek have together sold about 3000-4000 of them.

 

Yeah...i noticed that yesterday.  I already picked up two more.

[BigWorm]

FYI people, i think we are coming up on the end of the supply, several of the Ebay dealers have stopped relisting them.

 

Which is understandable considering that deepdiscountservers and stalliontek have together sold about 3000-4000 of them.

The price is also slowly going up on them. 

[Bigdady92]

Price hit $63 as of yesterday, now going up to $73 today. I have a few ebay offers in waiting to hear from them.

 

[DoeBoye]

So I woke up this morning to an unpleasant surprise. I have the ipmi plugin installed that can send email alerts for system issues, and it emailed me at 3am (while the system was completely idle), that the cpu was at 103 degress Celcius and had been there all morning.

 

I sprinted downstairs to see what was going on, opened up my Norco, and found the cpu heatsinks/heatpipes etc to be cool to the touch... Machine was completely idle with 3% usage...

 

I rebooted and cpu temp reading returned to its normal idle temp of 39-43 Celcius...

 

Anyone seen this before? Is this a motherboard issue? A cpu issue? a fluke?

 

One thing I noticed was if you convert 103 F into Celcius, you get 39.444 .... Could this be a conversion issue?

 

Also, I'm wondering if the mods should move this thread (or parts of it), to the cpu forum. I'm not sure if our discussions are still relevant for good deals...

 

[EDIT] It happend again, though this time, it seems to have reset itself immediately (time stamp was the same second)...

 

Hey folks,

 

Here's the link to the updated BMC firmware 0.13.9 and BIOS P1.89E that I received from ASRock support to fix my incorrect cpu temperature display. It hasn't happened again since I flashed the BMC and BIOS, but no guarantees.

 

This is for the ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16. The one with the 16 ram slots.

 

As this is not even hosted on their site, but in Dropbox, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Obviously this is beta software and not officially recommended by ASRock. If it was me, I wouldn't flash my $500 motherboard with some random firmware/bios unless I was having the same issue.

 

Again, to reiterate: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

[peter_sm]

 

Go for it , I ordered single CPU MB but 2 CPUs, now I wish I did order this instead, but I think I can live with one CPU and 64GB ram for some months or so but I'm still waiting for my parts to be delivered ......hopefully  end of next week.

Finally all parts have been delivered my new H310 card I'd flashed and the big upgrade will be in the weekend . Hopefully LT will release 6.2 as well this weekend

[01111000]

 

Finally all parts have been delivered my new H310 card I'd flashed and the big upgrade will be in the weekend . Hopefully LT will release 6.2 as well this weekend

 

Any indicator that 6.2 is coming on the weekend? 

[peter_sm]

[ichbinpete]

dang you guys!  So i ordered the CPUs today.  STill undecided on Mobo/Case for it.  Does anyone have a good suggestion for a non rack mountable case that supports SSI EEB?  I was thinking about going with the ASRock board or the Gigabyte GA-7PESH2.  What should I do?

[stinger3031]

dang you guys!  So i ordered the CPUs today.  STill undecided on Mobo/Case for it.  Does anyone have a good suggestion for a non rack mountable case that supports SSI EEB?  I was thinking about going with the ASRock board or the Gigabyte GA-7PESH2.  What should I do?

I'll be using the Define XL R2 with the ASRock MB.

My current setup is in the XL R2. It's a great case and should fit the ASRock with minimal standoff modification.

 

[ichbinpete]

dang you guys!  So i ordered the CPUs today.  STill undecided on Mobo/Case for it.  Does anyone have a good suggestion for a non rack mountable case that supports SSI EEB?  I was thinking about going with the ASRock board or the Gigabyte GA-7PESH2.  What should I do?

I'll be using the Define XL R2 with the ASRock MB.

My current setup is in the XL R2. It's a great case and should fit the ASRock with minimal standoff modification.

 

was actually just looking at this one.  i was also looking at the thermaltake x9 or x5 cases.  I like that cube style case for some reason.