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New Dual Xeon v4 Workstation


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I am bulding new workstation based on newest dual Intel Xeon v4:

 

2xIntel Xeon E5-2696 v4 22 core

1xnVidia Asus GTX 1080 Strix 8 GB

Samsung DDR4 2400 MHz 4x32GB (128GB) RDIMM ECC

Samsung M.2 NVMe 950 PRO 512 GB

Asus Z10PE-D8 WS

2xNoctua NH-D15

Nanoxia DeepSilence 6 revB

Corsair AX1500i

Noctua NF-A14 FLX

 

Running software:

 

Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit

3ds Max 2016

V-Ray 3.4

 

And i have question if all these stuff will work correctly together:

 

1.V-Ray 3.4 already support 88 threads from version 3.3 yes? And it's working without problem on Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit?

 

On Chaos Group forum i saw that Peter Guthrie had some problems with Xeon v4 and Windows 10. This issue was solved finally?

 

2. 3ds Max 2016 will work fine on Pascal GTX 1080?

 

3. Asus Z10PE-D8 WS with newest BIOS 3204 boots system from NVMe drives like Samsung M.2 950 PRO ssd? I am planning to have in this WS only one M.2 ssd and no other ssd and hhd.

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Hi, answered your email, but I'll copy some of the post here for others. V4 are popular and I built some myself so :- ).

 

 

Asus Z10PE-D8 WS had issues with v4 gen that bios upgrade didn't solve and Asus replaced them for second revision for free. You just have to send them the board.

Asus Z10PE-D16 WS doesn't have any issues.

 

2xNH-D15 might be tight fit, I can't honestly say if it will fit but it's quite absurd choice :- ) NH-U14S that I use is still overkill that needs barelly to spin and get

 

The Windows issue, is only with Windows 10, and it concerns Start Menu search process, which can initiate leak in runtimebroker. As absurd as this sound, none of the existing solutions for both search function and runtimebroker works, so I am left buffled as to what is the true cause.

Unfortunately there was supposed to be new bios by Asus, but it's nowhere to be see. 3204 is to stay with us for some time.

 

Vray 3.3+ and Corona 1.4+ support the use of processor groups, which Windows will create with more than 64 threads available.

Most software do not unfortunately see them, and will choose randomly one group (always half the threads). Unreal 4 is currently one of those...(sucks for light baking).

 

Can't comment on NVMe in M.2 slot booting, I've read about the issue in overclockers.uk but I don't use them myself.

 

Photo of U14s in my v4 build:

 

1_2k_WebUse.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Cool. If it is too expensive, the NVMe should be the 1st thing to drop/replace with a "vanilla" M.2...the extra speed its simply wasted in a render machine (and probably 99% of ArchViz workstations too). But the price difference is probably a drop of $200-300 (marked up through the OEM) in a bucket of $6,000 so most will say "just go for it".

 

It is the same way companies like Dell and HP "slip" the "necessity" of marked up Quadro or Firepro cards in their workstations my simply not giving you an option for anything "cheaper" that would perform the same in pretty much all Autodesk applications...no, for them workstation = workstation card. But...

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I am using 850 EVOs exclusively, almost no TLC drawbacks (my 840 were nightmare, even after all firmware updates and regular 'refreshing' ), and quite affordable now.

I have them in Workstation, Fileserver, older laptop. 1 TB goes for less than 300 euros.

 

Would consider NVMe drive if I was routinely transferring terabytes of data on workstation itself ( not through local network ).

 

 

no, for them workstation = workstation card

 

Heh, I always scratch my head when I catch some hardware site discussion below article (like when new Titan came out), a lot of people will come out with "it's not a true workstation without quadro card, you're endangering your work precision and stability,etc.. " and everyone will go on agree train. That's what I call successful marketing if even the people who won't buy the card know for whom it is needed.

Edited by RyderSK
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Yep, our IT guy suggested it - but I am more than happy with a SATA SSD to be honest, but then I'm not the one paying for it.
If they are in a spending mood, its much better to have them deck out your file server with SSDs. NVMe is pointless if you are still serviced with Gbit LAN, but random access improvements over a HDD RAID are huuuuge and enough to justify SATA SSDs for something that services everyone.

 

I would not be afraid of TLCs as Juraj said, and those 4TB 850 EVOs are so tempting to substitute 4TB HDDs...

 

NVMe is like a ultra high-speed subway system with lots of stops: there is simply too little room between stations to let the train (drive) go to full speed and then decelerate comfortably, so a SATA class controller, m.2 (like the EVO M.2) or direct Sata drive simply ends up being of the same average performance in real life applications.

Edited by dtolios
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