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EvilAlchemist's New F@H Build

E

EvilAlchemist

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 11, 2008
Messages
2,732
If you have been here 1+ years, you know I so wanted to build a dual cpu system.

Well, that time has arrived. I have ordered all the parts and will post the work log in this thread.

Here are the Specs:

2 x X5550 (2.66Ghz ) Xeon 1366 CPUs - ("Turbo Boost" up 266mhz --> 2.92 when enabled *Sweet*)
2 x Noctua NH-U12DX 1366 Xeon Cpu Cooler -- > (Brand New Product & Awesome)
SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAi-O Intel 5520
12GB Crucial DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Memory

Parts I already have from current system.
LIAN LI PC-A70B
Corsair 750TX Power Supply
HIS 4850 ICEQ Turbo Video Card

I will post some pics as the parts come in and as I build the system .. Good times ahead.
 
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Very nice :D. Should put out a nice ~16-20k PPD from the CPUs alone...
 
I was looking at the Supermicro MBD-X8DAH+-F-O For my new build.
It has one more PCI-E slot to fit an extra vid card.
It would have been a +50k PpD box.

But ...........

I've bought a Trice Q recumbent bike instead.
~30mph downhill on gravel when your bum is only 6" from it is fun ............... :eek:

So the upgrade from my Skulltrail system is put off for a year or so.

Luck ............ :D
 
Nice build, dual cpu rigs are a lot of fun!

 
Very nice. I too have been looking at a Dually, but probably won't happen till the end of the year.

 
About 1/3 of the parts have arrived ... so I started the build ...

I did decide to purchase a PC&C 910w PSU (88% Efficenty - Silver) for this setup.
Doozer got a great deal on my Corsair so I know it will have a good home.

Now, on the the build .....

SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAi-O Intel 5520 inside my Lian Li Case
t_SMX8DAI.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

6 x 2GB = 12GB DDR3 1333mhz ECC Ram
t_RamInstalled.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

Incase you *might* remember, I am also in the process of having my house built.
This was taken on July 2, 2009. I will get some pics of my Server / F@H room once that room is done being framed. :)
t_20090702.jpg


CPU's should arrive Monday.
Heatsinks should be Wednesday / Thursday ....
 
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ya know.. if you want evilalchemist you could always donate some money to the sirmonkey fund.. :p lol jk.. house looks nice so far.. and nice dually rig..
 
I want to see this folding room.

I've been tempted to build something like it in the basement. Durring the summer it pumps the heat outside, and durring the winter it keeps it in.
 
My folding room is my home office. Let me say the heat generated is an utter beyotch!!!

My wife has brought up the idea of moving (yeah, new house). I will be taking copious notes on the home build. I already took some notes from Pocatello's room build.
 
EvilA, I'm sure you checked this but does the PC&C psu have two eps connectors? Thats one of the annoying requirements of the dual 1366 boards that I've found. Apparently they will run with just one plugged in but for "heavy loads" they recommend using both. Not many psu's come with two eps connectors
 
tkam said:
EvilA, I'm sure you checked this but does the PC&C psu have two eps connectors?
Click to expand...
It does not. However, that is easy to deal with by simply using an adapter to add a second connector.
 
like a dual molex to eps? honestly didn't know those existed.
 
it doesn't really, just never thought about it :)
 
tkam said:
EvilA, I'm sure you checked this but does the PC&C psu have two eps connectors? ... Not many psu's come with two eps connectors
Click to expand...

Actually, this is one of the few that does have 2 x ESP12V connections.

One of the reasons I sold my Corsair 750TX was to purchase this new unit.

I think it was designed for the original "SkullTrain" platform.

It took a great deal of searching to locate this PSU. The only other one I could find was the Corsair 1000 and that is a lot more $$$.
 
<3 my Corsair HX1000. How much was your PCP&C PSU? I paid about $210 for my Corsair last fall.
 
Will that board allow you to OC those Xeons? :) Nice work Evil!
 
flogge said:
<3 my Corsair HX1000. How much was your PCP&C PSU? I paid about $210 for my Corsair last fall.
Click to expand...

PC&C Silencer 910 = $189.99 - $20.00 MIR = $169.99

I am *slighty* concerned about the 80mm fan.
Some reports say it is loud, some say it is not.

Since my PSU is mounted on the bottom of the case, I don't have any heat coming from the CPU and video cards .. so maybe that will help

metallicafan said:
Will that board allow you to OC those Xeons? :) Nice work Evil!
Click to expand...

There are no overclock options on the server boards.
The Xeon X55xx series has the Turbo Clock, just like the i7s, but the Xeon can go up two speed steps, or 266mhz at full load and 400mhz on 1/2 core load.
 
EvilAlchemist said:
PC&C Silencer 910 = $189.99 - $20.00 MIR = $169.99

I am *slighty* concerned about the 80mm fan.
Some reports say it is loud, some say it is not.

Since my PSU is mounted on the bottom of the case, I don't have any heat coming from the CPU and video cards .. so maybe that will help



There are no overclock options on the server boards.
The Xeon X55xx series has the Turbo Clock, just like the i7s, but the Xeon can go up two speed steps, or 266mhz at full load and 400mhz on 1/2 core load.
Click to expand...

Its loud if your building a quiet system....but honestly it didnt bother me.
My TRUE and GPUs were louder so it didnt really make a difference.

Im not sure how fast you will run the fans on those Noctua's but I dont think the PSU will bother you.

Also when you get it under load for several hours can you give me some temp readings with those new Noctuas please?
 
nitrobass24 said:
Also when you get it under load for several hours can you give me some temp readings with those new Noctuas please?
Click to expand...

Will do. I got the CPUs in Monday, and the PSU and Heatsinks arrived today.
I will get some more pics taken in the morning when i start to put it all together.

I almost forgot that the Vista HP on supports one physical CPU.
Had to back up all my data so I can install Vista Ultimate once the build is complete.
 
metallicafan said:
Will that board allow you to OC those Xeons? :) Nice work Evil!
Click to expand...


no there is not a dual socket lga-1366 board out yet that can overclock the processors.. should be one soon.. but last price estimates i saw put it at over 700 dollars..
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
no there is not a dual socket lga-1366 board out yet that can overclock the processors.. should be one soon.. but last price estimates i saw put it at over 700 dollars..
Click to expand...

I heard 800 but either way it will priced so high, and it will still have limited OC'n abilitiy.
You might as well just spend that money on fasters Procs, and get a cheaper board.
 
This Morning, I had some space time to unpack and install the CPU / Heatsinks..

t_HeatSink.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

Here is a shot of the two Noctua NH-U12DX 1366 Heatsinks
t_HeatSink2.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

Standard CD/DVD vs NH-U12DX 1366 Heatsinks
t_HeatSink3.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

I could not install the fan today due to PSU Cable Length.
I have ordered spome extensions to help with this problem.
t_NoFans.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

Here is a shot of the bios. Both CPU running and 12GB of RAM. :cool:
t_X5550Bios.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

I will get some more work done when I get the extension cables on Thursday and can do some cable management.

One side note, due to the size of the heatsinks, I lost a PCI-E slot , leaving me only one free. I am looking at turning the back one 90 degrees to fix that issue. Will have to study this problem a little more to make sure that will work.

Also glad a person on Newegg noted about the time it takes this board to POST, which is about 45-50 seconds. If I had not know that going into this, I would have been worried.
 
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Maybe its the angle but it looks like you would lose a couple of your expansion slots?
 
40 seconds!

I would have probably torn it apart an rebuilt 5 times before I finally let it go.
 
40 seconds unfortunately isn't that uncommon for a server board from a cold start. But then again they don't expect them to be turned off that much...
 
Sine I am waiting on the ESP12V & ATX extension cables, I had some time to study the Heatsink problem.

I was able to determine that if I rotated each heatsink 90 degrees, it would free up the top PCI-E slot allowing me to add a second GPU in the future if i so desire.

t_Heatsink90.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

t_PCIEFree.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here
Since I changed how the Heatsink were Oriented, i had to take a look at the cases's airflow.

The LIAN LI PC-A70B case has 2 x 120 mm intake fans & 1 x 120 mm exhaust fan.
In addition, I have the optional top with an additional 2 x 120mm fans.
Originally, these were set to intake. I have reversed these now.

t_TopFans.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

t_FrontFans.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here



So I will have 3 x 120 mm intakes, with 2 x 120 mm exhaust fans on top.
(3rd Fan being the real exhaust reversed to intake)

t_BackFan.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here

This should allow me to have slighty positive pressure cooling in the case.
(Depending on the amount the GPU pushed out the back)

I also had time to get the 2 x DVD Burners in & the Card Reader (w / Lian Li Adapter)
t_LianLiOutside.jpg

(Hi-Rez Version) - click here
 
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sirmonkey1985 said:
no there is not a dual socket lga-1366 board out yet that can overclock the processors.. should be one soon.. but last price estimates i saw put it at over 700 dollars..
Click to expand...

nitrobass24 said:
I heard 800 but either way it will priced so high, and it will still have limited OC'n abilitiy.
You might as well just spend that money on fasters Procs, and get a cheaper board.
Click to expand...

:eek: Yikes. And I thought that regular i7 motherboards were pricey!

NIce job on the build Evil. Cant wait to see some results.:)
 
Personally, I don't overclock any system that runs F@H .. and since that is all my systems ... you get the idea ..

I have gotten to the point where I trade PPD for stability.Granted, some have rock solid overclocks, bud i just don't mess with it anymore.The Turbo Mode on the CPU is good enought for me ..

Each should go up to 2.92Ghz at full load with Turbo Mode.I have seen one CPU does this so far, but that was just during vista updates.I did not want to push the system hard until the fans were installed.

Will know for sure once it is fully running this afternoon.
 
If you have your PSU installed at the bottom of the case, it might be a good idea to have the rear fan as an exhaust and not an intake, because as it is, you are taking in some of the hot air being exhausted by the PSU.
EvilAlchemist said:
Each should go up to 2.92Ghz at full load with Turbo Mode.I have seen one CPU does this so far, but that was just during vista updates.I did not want to push the system hard until the fans were installed.
Click to expand...
Turbo mode doesn't work when all the cores are loaded unfortunately, so it probably won't help for F@H. That rig will get you plenty of PPD without it though ;).
 
Zero82z said:
Turbo mode doesn't work when all the cores are loaded unfortunately, so it probably won't help for F@H. That rig will get you plenty of PPD without it though ;).
Click to expand...

What do you mean?

How does it work then?
 
nitrobass24 said:
What do you mean?

How does it work then?
Click to expand...
Turbo mode will clock up one of the CPU cores when the others are underused. However, when all cores are being fully used, it will not raise the CPU speed. It's designed so that when the load is all focused on a single core, that core gets a speed boost and the other cores lower their power consumption so the CPU remains within its TDP. It's basically a way of compensating for applications that aren't multithreaded.
 
As far as I know Turbo mode speeds up the cores in use only if there are inactive cores but like Zero82z I'm quite sure it doesn't do that if all cores are in use. That's how it works on the i7's at least, it's possible it works differently on the Xeons.
 
tkam said:
That's how it works on the i7's at least, it's possible it works differently on the Xeons.
Click to expand...
It works the same way in the Xeons. The main thing is that the CPU will not exceed its TDP, which is especially important for server chips since servers often have cooling systems specifically designed to cope with exactly the amount of heat that the chips put out, not to mention the actual cooling system for the server room itself.
 
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