Dual Xeon, Dual Titan Z. Gaming/Workstation beast. (Name TBD)

[meikat]

The goal for this build was to be completely and absurdly overkill for everything my friend can throw at it.  He has more than enough money to build this and not bat an eyelash. He is a 3d designer by trade, and plans on getting into 3 printing as well. Please keep all the comments about how overkill this is out of this thread.  We don't care.  We've heard it.  We know it's obscenely overkill.  Neither of us care.
 
I planned the final details on this forum and if anyone is curious, here is the thread.
 
With that said, I've been planning this build with my friend for over 2 months.  I'm sure there will be things that we planned wrong, or chose the wrong part.  We're both expecting to have to return parts and switch them.  I'll be documenting the progress of the build.  I know this thread will be a popular one, so I'll lay out our timetable so people don't go crazy wondering when the next update will be.
 
The build will consist of 3 phases with 1-2 weeks between each phase for planning, part fabrication, etc.
Phase 1: Aircooled build - Just get all the hardware running, playing nice, do burn ins, and make sure the system is stable.
Phase 2: Clean up - Make the build pretty, get everything put in to place, all hardware mounted where it belongs for phase 3.
Phase 3: Watercooling - Take the pretty to the next level, and make this rig silent with a fully custom watercooling loop.
 
Component list:  
Mobo: Asus Z9PE-D8
CPU: 2x Xeon E-5-2697V2
GPU: 2x Titan Z
Memory: 8x CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT 8GB DDR3 1866  Model: CMT32GX3M4X1866C9 (two of the 32gb kits.)
SSD: 8x Intel 730 Series 480GB in Raid 10.
HDD: 4x Seagate ST4000VN000 4TB in Raid 10.  
Raid card: Areca ARC-1882IX-12NC (Being returned, new card TBD)
Sound card: Soundblaster ZxR
Case: Cross Desk. http://www.redharbin...-desk-complete/
Power Supply: 2x Corsair AX1500 
 
Pre build (most of the parts laying inside the cross desk): 

 
 
August 1st:

 
We officially began the build today.  Some things are still MIA.  Missing 2 monitors.  Missing the Add2PSU adapter.  We began the day by getting everything out of the packaging and laid out in the room to go into the case:
 

 
It was about now that I notice my first boneheaded mistake of this build.  I assumed that like most all other Retail versions of CPUs, they would come with some sort of basic air cooling heatsink I could use for Phase 1.  I was wrong.  The Xeons come with no cooler at all since they're intended for servers.  Damnit.  Luckily we were able to find a model at the local TigerDirect store that would fit an LGA2011 processor, and they were only $25, so we took a quick road trip and grabbed them (yeah i know the picture above shows them, but lets just pretend they aren't there. I swore I took a picture before we left.)  Here they are in place:
 

 
Unfortunately, the coolers are about 1/4 of an inch too tall for us to fit the glass on.  Luckily they're only there for a temporary setup.
 

 
Starting to get things actually in the case finally, lets start testing everything to make sure nothing is DOA!
 

 
This was an exciting moment for us.  That card is SOO heavy and massive.  It feels so solid.  Like nothing else I've ever held.
 
 

 
Everything in place for the first post.  We're booting with 4 of the SSDs hooked in, one of the titans, and half of the ram. 
 

 
Those little spikes on the ram shredded my fingers by the end of the night.  I ended up having one of the boards not inserted all the way, but other than that, all of the hardware was detected!  On to some more!  Lets put all the "good" hardware in a box!
 

 
4 more SSDs to test, and 4 more sticks of ram!  Also time to crack this bad boy open: 
 

 
In the end, all hardware seems to function.  We ran into an issue with the raid card, so we're going to return it and get a different model.  The issue is that we really can't get the hard drives far enough from the motherboard to mount them in a decent spot without having the SAS to SATA cables just running through the middle of the visible area.  We're going to use an external SAS to sata cable with a different card to route the cabling through the back of the case and come out on the other side.
 
I'll be heading back over there tomorrow to get everything fully assembled and running, and start burn ins.  Weeee!

 
August 2nd:

 
Today's goal was to get a functional computer out of the pile of parts, cables, driver disks, and instruction manuals. 
 
We decided to start out by tackling power.  Since we're pulling power from two separate outlets (and breakers), we went with 2 server grade UPS units.  We chose a 1200 watt TrippLite model which should handle everything we throw at them. We put them in place after unpacking them:
 

 
Plugged in and running with the displays rotated to vertical mode.  I was thoroughly impressed with these models, even if they are a little louder than I'd like.
 

 
Cleaned up the power supply area, and removed connectors used for testing
 

 
I forgot to take a picture of the power supply area after I put the second power supply in, but I got everything situated the best I could and ran the power wiring for the GPUs.  FINALLY we can get both Titans in this thing.
 

 
Oh my glob, that glow... 
 

 
Get dat windows goin!
 

 
I don't have any pictures of the vandal switches and the header cables that came with the desk, buuuuut yeah, they were a MAJOR cause of headache today.  It took nearly an hour and a half to get them situated.  There were no instructions or diagrams to tell me which of the 6 pins did what.  After googling for 15 minutes and only finding inaccurate MS Paint drawings, I looked at the switches again and found some markings.  This helped to get the LEDs working, but the switch functionality remained a mystery, and I basically just resorted to trial and error for 30+ minutes with each switch.  Every time I think I had it figure out and the computer was running stable, it would all of a sudden jump in to an endless reboot cycle. I figured it out and we moved on.
 
We devised a temporary workaround to be able to put the glass on without hitting the CPU coolers... Cut up pieces of foam from some of the boxes and use them as a standoff of sorts.  It worked well, and my girlfriend (who came over to hang out before we went to see Guardians of the Galaxy together), was kind enough to help me make sure we had all USB devices hooked up before the glass went on. We were literally counting the minutes before we had to leave for the theatre.  We knew we had everything right, so the glass went on... And then it hit us... the mouse wasn't plugged in.  Neither was the USB hub. Oh why is the ethernet lying here?  Crap.  This is the shot of defeat.  Time is up, time to go, we're already late.
 

 
We made it to the theatre (after doing 100mph in his fancy car at one point), and got in our seats right as previews ended... I hate missing previews.  Movie was awesome, but that's off topic.  We swung back by his house and wrapped up the build at around 3 am.
 

 
Ignore the SSDs on the right, they're not hooked up, we were just mocking up ideas for how to arrange them.  Waiting on new raid card, and we need to design and order a custom aluminum cover plate for that side.
 
Sexy shot through the glass:
 

 
Phase 1 complete.
 
ANNND GPU-Z and CPU-Z Screenies for proofs:
 
 

 

August 15th weekend:

 

We didn't do much this weekend.  We were both busy and got late starts on all of our days we could work on the PC.  Also, not too many pictures were taken since we were on tight timelines.

 

We received most of the water cooling parts.  Fans, Fan controller, and some other random bits were not ordered, so we're going to have to wait a bit more more get into wiring up fans and stuff.  We fought with the PCI power extension cables for over an hour, and finally ended up ruining one of them.  Immediately after ruining one of them (due to lack of space under the motherboard tray to run the cables, we realized there was an access panel under the desk for the purpose of doing exactly what we were trying to do.  (we want extension cables because the ones included with the PSU are just barely too short to have the PSU where we need it.  So we'll make another go at it when we get a replacement.  We installed the sound card, and connected some USB extension cables to leave dangling out of the back hole in the desk so he has access to plug things in without having to pull the glass off.  

 

Some more boxes came in on Saturday, and it included the wall mounts for the monitors, and a ton of cables for random things (most stock cables just don't work for this project since they are too short).  Now that I had the mounts in hand, I set about designing a wall plate for the mounts. He is likely going to be moving 3 times in the next few years as he is finishing one college and moving to another, so I don't want him to have to go through a long, and arduous process of mounting monitors if I'm not around to help him.

 

 

We put the monitors on the desk in the position he wants them, and I designed a 5 foot wide 12 inch tall panel to go on the wall and attach to at least 3 studs with 4 inch lag screws.  So when he moves, he'll remove the monitors from the mounts, then just pull the whole assembly down from the wall, and remount it at the next house with a level, and he'll know the monitor mounts are level.  We went to the hardware store, and bought some really nice oak to build the plate from, and necessary screws, and a cable hider thingy to go on the wall and hide all those icky cables coming down from the mounts to the desk.

 

Here's the outcome of a few hours hacking with saws and drills and stuff.

 

 

 

 

Those little shelves are for speakers.  We'll also mount a power strip to the board for distribution of power to the devices up there.  Those burn marks are from my saw blade.  I couldn't find my finishing blade for hard wood, so I used one for plastic/laminate.  It made really clean cuts but it was slow going, so there was some friction burning.  Nothing some sanding didn't later fix.

 

Today I started painting it.  It's a shame to paint such nice wood, but we chose it for it's strength not it's looks.  Here's the first coat on the back:

 

 

Hopefully this will go up on his wall Friday, and we'll get all the monitors up on the wall.

 

Finished painting the wall plate last night (Aug 19th).  Should be ready to go up on the wall this weekend after we attach the mounts.  It's not perfect.  I could have sanded it a bit more, or been more selective about the wood, or finished some blemishes, but it's going to be hidden behind monitors, and it got painted flat white to blend in to the wall, so what few blemishes it has wont be seen.

 

 

August 22: 

Today's goal was to get the monitors on the wall. 

I spent the first couple hours getting the mounts attached to the wall plate, then we had to go to the store for a couple things.  Here's where we left it when we went to the store:

 

We got back and found our studs, got our measurements and started drilling holes for the lags to pass through... Well the bits kept getting stuck in the super hard oak wood.  Finally after 2 hours, we only had half the holes done, and the bit was stuck...  We're going to try again in a couple days with different bits and a stronger drill.  

 

Here's out picture of failure and sadness:

Sept 5th:

We weren't able to work on the project last weekend, but we jumped back into things with some new drill bits designed for hard wood. I got my holes drilled, we went to mount the plate to the wall, and we discovered that through a combination of a cheap studfinder, and the apartment having some weird ass stud layout inside the walls, that the holes I drilled didn't match up.  We drilled some more holes, and got 4 lag screws in the plate, and that thing was supporting almost all my weight... I don't think it's going to have issues with a few monitors.  We started putting monitors up on the mounts, and one of the backplates did not fit into any of the mounts at all.  It's just a little bit too thick where it slides in to the mount.  We're going to have to send it back and order another one.  Two monitors for now is fine.  Also, I apparently forgot to order a 10ft display port cable, so we're stuck using a 6 foot cable right now.  Oh yeah... and for some reason we can't get the second titan z to output any signal on Displayport.  I'm really hoping this is not a hardware issue that requires an RMA. We just hooked up the second monitor via HDMI so he has SOMETHING for now.  All in all it was kind of an annoying day.  This is not the part of the build I enjoy, but we're almost through it.  This weekend I'm hoping to get the radiators, fans, and lights all mounted and wired up so we can start planning the loop, and cutting tubing and dry fitting everything next weekend or the weekend after.  Here's where we left off:

 

 

 

April 19th: 

Wew!  It's been a while since an update.  I had some complications with a medication I was taking and had to deal with 6 months of issues.  I was on medical leave from work, and the owner of the project was dealing with buying a new house to charge his Tesla since the Apartment complex wouldn't let him.  We paid a couple strong guys to move it over to my place this weekend (I wish I filmed this, because it was a nightmare to move).  It's here now finally!!!

 

Yeah, that's a lot of nerf blasters... anyways.  On to the work.  First thing I did was sort through 4-5 very large boxes of everything we brought over from his house and organize it into manageable groups that make sense.  Power cables, data cables, mounting hardware, Watercooling stuff, etc.

 

 

Then I had to modify the rightmost drive bay due to fitment issues.  It was in the way of the radiator fans on the right side of the case, so a combination of Dremel and hacksaw work fixed that.  I also had to take a file to the fan controller because it was wider than the 5 1/4 bay it was supposed to sit in. Here's my girlfriend painting the areas I mangled in Black Enamel:

 

 

No, we didn't clean up after our late night HeroScape game...  Lastly I spent about an hour measuring everything I could, and then lining the SSD drives up as close to perfect as I could.  I used a straight edge, calipers, and stickytac (to keep the drives in place).  They aren't mounted yet, just in place. The one with tape has the OS on it, I plan to clone it to another drive prior to configuring the raid array.  Tape on the plate marks where the radiator fans are, and the drive bays.  Every SSD will have at least 2 screws holding it in, and all the SSDs will be able to be unscrewed from below by taking off an access panel. 

 

 

Not a bad day.  It feels good to work on it again!  Next up, screw those babies in, and then off to the machine shop to get the aluminum cover plate made, and wire holes cut in the plate.

[MegaDave91]

You may just be the first user on the forums to have a Titan Z.

[Levent]

look how beefy that graphics card is dayum

[connorpiper]

How is the Asus Z9PE-D, I looked at that board.

I wanted two Xenon E5s. Does it handle things well?

[MattP123]

[meikat]

How is the Asus Z9PE-D, I looked at that board.

I wanted two Xenon E5s. Does it handle things well?

So far it's really nice.  Time will tell.  We haven't even installed windows yet.

[Levent]

@ViruZ_HUN GET REKT

[ZacDaMan72]

Mean!

[alby800]

               

F*CKING INSANE!!

[Syntaxvgm]

droooooooool!

[Lord Pantaloons]

[meikat]

How much did everything cost in total?

 

So far, it's like 19-20k.  It'll top 25k by the time we finish with peripherals, and watercooling.  Maybe even top 30k if you count the 3d printer that will be hooked to it.

[meikat]

You may just be the first user on the forums to have a Titan Z.

 

This is not my computer, I'm helping a friend build it, so it's not technically mine.  Also, there's 2 of them.

[elan2468]

I need to clean myself up, i call trending for this, and if linus would update the builds of the month @LinusTech @Slick this should be on it.

[sandals100]

Floop flippity fuck that is sick

[meikat]

I need to clean myself up, i call trending for this, and if linus would update the builds of the month @LinusTech @Slick this should be on it.

 

Hahaha.  Don't put too much pressure on me.  It's going to take a while to get this thing just right. 

[acidydragon]

How much did everything cost in total?

I second this.

 

Also, MOAR PICCTTURRESSS

[elan2468]

@meikat WE ORDER PICTURES GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT WE WANT MOAR MOAR MOAR

[elan2468]

I second this.

 

Also, MOAR PICCTTURRESSS

damn it 

[Bagmup]

[ZacDaMan72]

GPU-Z?

[acidydragon]

I cannot fathom this build in my head...

I'm buying a sports car soon... That might cost less than this computer...

 

A BRAND NEW 2015 SPORTS CAR.... And I wouldn't be spending as much...

I just...

Man...

 

I require updates bi-daily (twice a day), benchmarks, lots of pictures, and some tissues.

[meikat]

@meikat WE ORDER PICTURES GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT WE WANT MOAR MOAR MOAR

 

I will try to take more tomorrow.  Also, that monitor is amazingly beautiful.  I can't wait to see games running on it.

[meikat]

I cannot fathom this build in my head...

I'm buying a sports car soon... That might cost less than this computer...

 

A BRAND NEW 2015 SPORTS CAR.... And I wouldn't be spending as much...

I just...

Man...

 

I require updates bi-daily (twice a day), benchmarks, lots of pictures, and some tissues.

 

That will be a lot of updates of nothing.  I only get 2 days a week to work on this build since it's not at my house.  It's a friend's machine I'm building it in his place due to the scale of the project.

[DeViLzzz]

I have a name for this pc for you ....


DeViLzzz present for 2014.

 

 

I look forward to getting it in the mail or however I get it.