especific questions for a self-made dual Xeon

[pablo scapi]

Hello:

 

I´m willing to build a double Xeon for render purposes, to send from my actual workstation.

 

I never before build a dual procesor machine, so when looking for the hardware, some doubts jumped to me.

 

I will post some especific models of the main componentes, so you can advise me or warn me if i´m wrong, if you are so kind.

 

1.-MB:

 

INTEL S5000 VSASATA;

I can only get intels from my distibutor, so i went for this one, is the chapest but i think has all what i need if we think will be only a render machine. and never think to reach the 16gb limit.

The doubt here is that this board has this format: SSI EEB 3.6 ????

the S5000PSVSATA is ATX extended, so my question is,

WILL I BE ABLE TO MOUN THE FIRST BOARD IN A NORMAL CASE (BIG BUT NORMAL)?

 

2.- PROC:

 

2 XEON 5345 or 5355;

I have yet to decline for one or other, but my question here is about the options for ventilation they ship. i have to choose between this 2: 2U PASSIVE or ACTIVE/1U? i think the pasive is just a difusor and the active has a fan, is it wright? if i had to choose i will say the active, but not sure if that is an option or depends on the case it will be mounted, my case will be a normal vertical case big enoughth (chieftec meshseries)

 

3.- RAM:

 

 

I have yet to decice 4 o 8 Gb (always XP 64bit), but my question here is about all these models, the diferences beteewn single rank, dual rank, fully bufered, etc are almost the double in price, and i don´t even know what those terms mean

 

4.- HDD:

 

I´m aiming for SATA boards because i think in the render proces the cpu power is the main thing, and not to go for a quik an expensite SAS drive, i am wrong?

 

then about Power supply, i´m thinking in order to 650W SEASONIC, is that too much?

 

If you raech this point, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENT, and i will apreciate your advise.

 

Cheers.

[Macer]

Sorry I can't help you with much, but I though that you might want to know that there are new xeons being released in just over a month:

 

http://www.dailytech.com/Intel+Sets+Official+Penryn+Launch+Date/article8928.htm

 

The pricing is very competitve with the existing quad core xeon cpu's too. These might run faster with a motherboard using the newer chipset too (X38) - but I'm not sure about the details of when this is being released on work station / server motherboards???

 

I would use active cooling on the cpu and go for SATA II (300) hard drives..... sorry I can't offer more advice, I'm sure someone else will be able to clarify the other details.

[pablo scapi]

C´mon please, give me a hand here.

 

Thank you Macer for that, didn´t had any idea, but it´s a pitty because i can´t wait to mid november (here in spain i guess it would be even later). The thing is that i´m moving from my house to a separate office, so i need the power to render and work all in office time, no more renders trough the night.

 

I will apreciate any answer to my questions, Mobo, CPU, RAM, etc.

 

Thank you

[shaneis]

One thing to consider before you dedicate thousands of euros to an over-priced Xeon workstation, is that for the same amount of money you could build at least two Intel Q6600 based renderers. On the same note, they are easier to build, and should one break-down, you can keep rendering on the other or render two seperate projects at once, etc, etc, etc.

 

Just my opinion.

 

To answer some of your other questions... RAM always performs better with more DIMMS, so you'd want to split say 4GB over 4 x 1GB rather than 2 x 2GB. Also, don't waste your money on super-fast low-latency RAM, just buy a mid-range performance RAM from a good name manufacturer - GIEL, Corsair etc. If you go with the non-Xeon option, you ca use 800MHz (PC6400) ram - faster than the 667MHz.

 

Get yourself the fastest mobo you can afford that is compatible with the cpu - then you can upgrade easier in the future.

 

Get a really good quality HSF (high-speed fan) for your CPU as the Quad-cores run quite hot.

 

Stay on the idea about SATA II for your HDD, you don't need performance HDD's for rendering...just a super-quick CPU, plenty of RAM and a motherboard that will allow them to run as fast as possible.

 

Also make sure your case has a couple of large fans to keep the air flowing.

 

Done.

[pablo scapi]

Shaneis: Thank you for the reply, the two PC with Q6600 was my first option, but then i started to read here, found some benchmarks, etc, and finally decide to go with the double xeons, because it´s a simplier way to get even more power (as seen in a benchmarck posted here and in Vray forums).

It´s easier, and cheaper; easier because it´s only one machine a have to conect with my actual workstation, and altough it´s about the same expensive to build, it demands less electricity, espace in the office, noise, heat, etc.

 

For me is the way to go, and really don´t know why you think is so overpriced, to biuld this node with 4gb and two xeons 5355 it´s about 1950€ (2.745 U$) and 1520€ (2140 U$) if i go with the dual 5345. more or less the same as 2 separate core duo machines.

 

As for the rest, just a question about Ram, is Kingston no longer consider a "Good" brand? i´ve seen lots of articles reviewing the brands you said, and they sure look good, but i can´t get them from my distributor.

 

Cheers

[shaneis]

To be honest, I'd never reall considered other overheads such as power usage, time and office space - I stand corrected. I suppose that availability is also a strong governing factor.

 

As for Kingston RAM, it is still considered a quality brand. Sorry, but I forgot to mention that one.

[pablo scapi]

So guys, i don´t have idea what to look for in a power suply apart from the watts, so do you think this one is good enought?

 

tha brand is ANTEC PHANTOM 500-PEC (silent)

 

in my actual Workstation i have a 450W SEASONIC that works pretty well, but i can´t get the same brand from this seller.

 

Thank you

[pablo scapi]

I finally build it !!!

 

I´m so happy, still waiting for windows 64 bit to finally start using it. but meanwhile it seems everything works fine, can enter the bios, and it recognized the procesor, memory, hdd, etc.

 

Finally went for a cheapper version of what i first thought because the up coming proccesors from intel made me think it wasn´t a good idea to spend so much money in a processor that would be almost obsolet in a couple of months.

 

The final specs:

 

MB:

INTEL S5000 VSASATA

 

CPU:

2 x Xeon 5345 (cuad cores)

 

RAM:

4 gb 667mhz

 

HDD:

1 x 80 gb

1 x 400 gb

 

POWER SUPPLY:

ANTEC true power trio 650 w

 

Case:

Chieftec (to match my workstation, love that case)

 

and a 1500 watt UPS from APC.

 

all cost me less than 2.000€, it´s true that i can get the pieces from a distributor at his cost, but it isn´t a lot of diference.

 

The problem that i had was with the Video card, i order a PCI EXPRESS card with the motherboard, but then realise (when tring to plug it) that did´n match, it is beacause the slot is x4, so what kind of card do i need? because the card just says PCI express, not x4 or x16.

[isagreg]

You picked up a server board based on 5000V chipset. They don't come with PCI-Express x16 (video card slot)

You need a workstation board based on 5000X chipset. That's the only Xeon chipset with PCI-Express x16.

 

One of these for example:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200302+1071522019+1072122098&name=Intel+5000X

[pablo scapi]

isagreg:

Thank you, but obiusly i´m not going to change the MB, what i need is a new graphic card that is PCI express X4, if had knew this before, maybe i had pick another MB.

But after all the meaning of the machine is to render, so i just want a video card able to perform well in the visualization of the images and with DVI output, because the video integrated in the board does not, nothing powerfull.

 

Can anyone recomend me a especific model?

 

Thank you

[isagreg]

They don't make PCI-Express X4 video cards.

If you can't get another motherboard then your options are either PCI-Express X1 or regular PCI.

 

PCI-Express X1 cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069620108&name=PCI+Express+x1

 

PCI cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069609642+1305520548&name=NVIDIA

[pablo scapi]

Thank you:

 

I had reached the same conclusion than you because i couldn´t find any card, now you have confirmed what i suspected.

 

i´m going to buy a PCI card, something cheap just enought just to do the job.

By

[leonmagnavox]

Im having a pretty confused situation about the memory(RAM) part. so far from what Ive understood, ecc ram doesnt go further than 667mhz. compared to the non-ecc which only works for non-xeon workstation could go almost double than that. corsair dominator series for instance; they are overclockable as well. So, since ram is one of the most vital element in overall visualisation, im wondering if any of you guys knows better about which specific part of ram (whether ecc is really big part) is a priority?

 

thanks in advance