Bargain dual socket workstation

[The Ran]

Note I said bargain and not low budget, I got quite lucky with some of this.

 

I've always wanted to build a workstation class machine, dual CPUs and a ton of RAM in a utilitarian case but I don't have a lot of money, even if I did I couldn't justify spending it on something I wouldn't make good use of. However I spotted this case and motherboard combo on Ebay with no bids at a decent price and minutes to go and I just couldn't resist.

 

So, to kick off this project I grabbed a Lian Li PC70 and an Intel S5520SC for £180. Now, brand new that case would've been around the £300 mark (I think that was converting from some Canadian pricing I found) so a good deal on that alone, but then the motherboard would've also been many hundreds too (I've found similar ones on Ebay going for around £200). This particular case is at least 11 years old as it still has a PAT sticker from October 03 on it (which I'll leave on), no idea what would've been in it back then but it was likely more conservative.

 

When it arrived. An old 6870 to get some video output for testing purposes instead of paying a tenner for Intel's VGA header thing, a 4GB ECC stick I bought to test.

 

Compared to my old build, that build log was deleted a while back but some of you may remember it.

 

Next on the list was the CPUs, there was quite a large selection of Xeons and again I ended up getting an absolute bargain with two X5560s for around £50 from America. Remember that when I get to benchmarks later.

 

Initial test setup, only one heatsink and a low end PSU meant it'd be one CPU for a while. Had some issues with drives but nothing major.

 

And so it was time to transfer some parts from the old build, drives, PSU (still not enough for the second CPU), graphics card and liquid cooling, and RAM. Despite no mention of non-ECC RAM in the motherboard manual it works fine, so I took the 2x8GB from the old build and scooped 3x4GB I had laying about.

 

The PC75 isn't a case with liquid cooling in mind so I had to get a little creative. It has plenty of room but the only fan mounts are six 80mm's, but it was fairly easy to knock up a simple bracket to hang my rad in the 5.25" bays (perfect fit for a 240mm).

 

Not pretty, but you'd never know when it's hidden behind 30 quids worth of vented bay covers (to be fair that's with 2 covers to spare). The LCD is for a temp sensor jammed in the rad fins, more than anything it's to fill in for the missing 3.5" bay cover.

 

Those purty Noctuas hidden away inside.

 

One thing I did miss from the old build that couldn't be carried over was the Bluetooth, but the Intel board has a handy internal USB port and I had a dongle laying about.

 

After everything was all up and running it was time to order a new PSU and another heatsink so I could get that second CPU in there. Ended up going with an 850w Seasonic (plenty for the specs which I'll list at the end, even when I end up getting a second graphics card) and a 212 Evo to match. Regarding the heatsink, this board uses server backplates that are threaded like 2011, however they've just studs that were easily pressed out and then luckily the 212 stand offs go right through the holes. If I ever go with different coolers/water blocks I'll simply cut the back plates down.

 

Beautiful, in its own way.

 

The most recent addition, some 80mm Shadow Wings above the PSU to suck some of the hot air from the rad so it's not feeding the CPU heatsinks as much. These things are great, quieter than the crappy things that came with the case even when they're on low voltage adapters and they push a lot more air. Already ordered another 4 to kit out the whole case.

 

And one last closer shot of the main attraction.

 

 

Specs:

Case: Lian Li PC75

Motherboard: Intel S5520SC

CPU: 2x Intel Xeon X5560 2.8GHz (3.2GHz turbo) 4 cores/8 threads each

CPU heatsink: 2x Cooler Master 212 EVO with Swiftech fans

Memory: 2x8GB and 3x4GB

Storage: 128GB Samsung 840 SSD and 2x2TB Samsung Spinpoint

Power supply: Seasonic 850w M12 II EVO

Graphics card: Sapphire R9 290 reference

Cooling loop: Rad and res from a Swiftech H220, EK full cover water block, two Noctua NF-F12s, Phobya DC12-220 pump, Masterkleer 13/10mm tubing, one Alphacool swivel fitting and the rest some cheap copper compressions

 

As for benchmarks, so far the best representation is from running Cinebench (Geekbench only runs in 32bit and I'm boycotting buying it, Passmark gives me such silly results for the graphics card that I don't trust anything else it says) where I got 885 on the CPU and 71.17fps on the graphics card with a mild ~100MHz overclock. For reference a 4770k gets 822 and a 3930k gets 1096 (£250 and £450 respectively), so I don't think I've done too bad for 50 quid. I'll update this once I've ran some more benchmarks, recommendations welcome (bought Catzilla a while back and going to do Valley as well).

 

Future plans:

-Get another 290 and liquid cool that, likely put a larger rad in top of the case (with some modifications). A 480mm would fit but would mean removing the front rad of switching it for a 120/140mm, a 420/360/280/240mm would likely fit with it still in place.

-Might get another 8GB stick of RAM to make things even. Not sure if that would also make it run in triple channel, does each group need to be the same size?

-Considering getting some more NF-F12s for the CPU heatsinks, they're currently the loudest thing in the system (should be a little quieter once I've swapped out the 80mm fans), or maybe adding them to the loop depending on how much rad I end up fitting

-Need to order a SATA III expansion card as this board only has SATA II, I might get another SSD too and then RAID 0 or 1 them

[arnavvr]

man that looks nice

[ltguy]

Lian Li cases are so nice, especially the older models. What a steal. Love the radiator mod. You have a very nice machine there!

[The Ran]

Small update. Now replaced all the fans with 80mm Be Quiet Shadow Wings 2000rpm, they themselves aren't much quieter than what I had before as I was running those fans at reduced voltage but they push more are at that noise level. It's hard to measure the difference at the CPUs as the PWM fans will adjust speed to control the temps, however things do seem a bit quieter (so the fans aren't going as high as before) and they run a little cooler depending on what I'm doing (max temp was perhaps 8c lower whilst I was playing around with Valley).

 

 

I ended up hooking all the case fans and the pump up to my fan splitter (so all getting the max 12v) and moved the two rad fans to the case fan controller, before they were running off the splitter with Noctua's low noise adapter. I decided to see how high the GPU temp got before swapping things over and it reached a delta of around 28c over ambient. After swapping I first tested with the fan controller set to max and things were quite a bit cooler with a 22c delta and an acceptable noise level, however rather surprisingly dropping down to the middle fan speed (maybe 7v, I would guess close to what the low noise adapter is) only raised the delta to 23c after an additional 10 minutes. My best guess for this would be that something else is bottlenecking the heat dissipation, maybe the pump speed or the radiator area. Still, that's a 5c drop over what I would assume is a similar fan speed to before, and even dropping the fan speed down to low (which is definitely slower than the low noise adapter) only rose the delta to 25c. 

 

I also ended up getting the SATA expansion card, however I goofed up. My board only has PCIE 1.0 slots free (the 2.0 16x will be for the second graphics card) but I figured the 4x slot would have enough bandwidth for a single SSD with 1GB/s. Now, the card I bought is a 2.0 one and although it is backwards compatible with 1.0 it uses a 1x interface which I didn't think to check, so in use it runs at 1.0 1x for a bandwidth of 250MB/s or about 190MB/s in the real world. I'm actually getting about 270MB/s through the SATA II ports on the motherboard. So, I've contacted Scan about returning the card and will instead order a 4 port card (actually two SATA and two M.2) which has a 4x interface which I'm assuming will work for my needs.

[SkilledRebuilds]

/Keenly awaits for the rest of this....

Gotta say...HLYSHTBCKT, WD

I dub thee Computer "G3T R3kT!

[The Ran]

A small update.

 

Got some more NF-F12s fitted on the CPU heatsinks. I haven't done any tests as it's not as easy as testing the GPU temps as the fan speed will adjust to keep the temperature down, so really I'd need to measure sound levels too but my analogue dB meter doesn't go low enough. Still, they're NF-F12s so they must be better.

 

 

Also got around to fitting the replacement SATA card. One thing I noticed after I made my order is the product description said "2x electrical, 4x physical", of course I was worried that I may have messed up again and hoped it was just bad English (I don't know where Lycom is from but their manuals seem to be translated) and just their way of saying that it's backwards compatible with 2x slots or something. Also I couldn't think of any logical reason why they would make the connector longer than needed and not utilise the extra pins. The first thing I did when I got it was look at the pins and some of them in the 4x area are connected.

 

 

Didn't think of getting a photo before fitting it, just Google "Lycom PE-126" if you're into that sort of thing. So, does it work? Sort of. It's certainly attaining transfer speeds faster than the old card (think it was around 170MB/s if I haven't already mentioned it) and it's beating the on board SATA II speeds of 272/239MB/s read/write, however it's only getting 351/247MB/s read/write. I'm not sure what the bottleneck is here, with my old motherboard with SATA III I'd get around the 500MB/s mark and it's clearly not running at 2x speeds, even factoring overheads I would've thought the 1GB/s of PCI-E 1.0 4x would be more than enough. Any suggestions for things to check would be appreciated.

 

So, this is how she currently sits. Hopefully I'll be able to get the second 290 soon.

 

[alpenwasser]

Always great to see a 2CPU build (I may or may not have a slight addiction to those), and in a classic Lian Li no less.

[YoyiSkill]

I really enjoy unique projects like this one.... I like people buying used/old stuff and building beast computers.... It gets old and repetitive to see everyone building x99 builds with sli 980's and such.....

[The Ran]

Made some orders so should have a large update possibly some time next week. I figured I'd leave the second graphics card for a bit due to it being the most expensive upgrade and the prices are only going to drop, especially if people sell them off after getting upgrades for Christmas. Instead I've decided to add to the loop and after some measuring I've found that I can fit a 360mm rad in the top whilst still keeping my 240mm in the front, a 420mm would have fit length wise but would potentially have issues with the width (probably doable, but I'd look to keep the work required to a minimum) plus it would mean buying three more fans and having two NF-F12s just laying about.

 

For the radiator I've decided on the Black Ice SR-1 360 from Hardware Labs, the price seems good for the thickness whilst not being cheap enough to cause worries. Ordered another NF-F12 and will reuse the two currently on the CPUs and to mount them in the case I've ordered a grill, I'll cut a hole in the top of the case and screw that to it and then the fans to the grill, which will also cover up any rough edges. For the fittings I was originally going to replace the lot but the cost was soon building up, so I decided to use what I already have and only order the extras I'd need, unfortunately I couldn't find any copper to match what I have so it won't all be matching. For the CPU blocks I already had a Heatkiller 3.0 from my old build so I ordered another, they're cheap and they seem to work well. Strangely the one I ordered said it was specifically for 1366 but my old one looks to fit from 1150 to 2011 (haven't tried it, but the manual seems to imply it does and the mounting holes are slotted unlike the one I've ordered).

 

Total price came out to just over £140 which I think it pretty good, and now it means that when I add the second card I only have to factor in the cost of the card and waterblock.

[alpenwasser]

I really enjoy unique projects like this one.... I like people buying used/old stuff and building beast computers.... It gets old and repetitive to see everyone building x99 builds with sli 980's and such.....

 

Yeah, I rather enjoy builds making creative use of not-quite-up-to-date hardware.

 

For the radiator I've decided on the Black Ice SR-1 360 from Hardware Labs,

the price seems good for the thickness whilst not being cheap enough to cause

worries. For the CPU blocks I already had a Heatkiller 3.0 from my old build

so I ordered another, they're cheap and they seem to work well.

I have some SR-1 radiators as well, very happy with them. Good build quality,

and they are phenomenal at low fan speeds. (see here)

And yeah, the Heatkillers are good blocks from what I've heard, and in the end

it's not like there's a huge difference in performance between decent waterblocks

these days, a few degrees at most. Since the introduction of finely structured

cold plates a few years back things have been pretty stable on the CPU block

front, we seem to be pretty close to the limits which physics will allow with

current technology it appears to me (which would also explain why CPU block

cold plates look all pretty similar, either with very fine channels or micropins).

[The Ran]

Well this has taken longer than expected. Not only did I order the second CPU block from Germany (I assume that's where Aquatuning shipped it from) I also chose the cheapest shipping option which as it turns out can take up to 2 weeks. Oh well, at least I'll know for the future.

 

First thing to sort out was how to get the 360 rad in the top of the case. I ended up drilling out the rivets (which I later replaced with screws) to get the panel off instead of modifying it on the case, this way I wouldn't have to worry about getting metal dust inside the case and having to remove everything from it. Laying out the whole to cut was quite straight forward, I measured up what clearance I'd need for the fans at the rear above the PSU (I may remove them at some point but I wanted to keep them as an option) and the rad and fans at the front. From there fore and aft positioning wasn't critical, I just made sure to get the hole as close to centred as I cared to which in the end was just 2mm to one side.

 

 

After going through two cut off wheels on the Dremel on one short side I decided to just get out the angle grinder, made short work of it and still managed to get reasonably close to the lines. After this I just had to file down to the lines whilst checking that a fan would fit between the gap, the length was left a little longer to allow me to slide everything forward and backwards about 5mm.

 

 

Unfortunately Hardware Labs decided to only provide two lengths of screw, one set just long enough to go through the fan grill and into the rad and the other set only long enough to go through a fan and into the rad. That means there are none long enough to go through the grill and fan so I couldn't have the fans in pull and exhausting out of the top like I'd planned, instead they have to go in push which means dust collecting between the fans and rad. Another problem with this is the hole I put in the top of the case was only 365mm long where as it needed to be 370mm for the rad to mount flush. As it was getting dark and cold outside I thought sod it, mounted it up as is and it's nice and secure, there's just the slightest bow in the top panel.

 

After that ball ache was done with it was time to tear apart the rest of the computer and build the new loop, the funnest part. Everything went smoothly here, all lining up just as I'd planned. In the end I rotated the CPU blocks unlike as shown in this dry fit, the CPUs are mounted 90 degrees from normal so I thought I'd mount the blocks how they're designed to be plus it looks a little tidier without the crossed tubing and shorter tubing between the blocks.

 

 

A better view of how well the fittings ended up lining up between the GPU and CPU blocks.

 

 

I also bought some RAM heatsinks along with another 8GB stick. Not really needed but it looks nice compared to having a load of mismatched sticks, and it was only something like £1.50 per stick which I think is quite good for mirror polished solid copper with included thermal adhesive.

 

 

And then all that was left to do was run tubing from the rads and pump, drill out the rivets holding the drive cage mount to the bottom of the case, and then leak test the thing. Woke up this morning and not a single drop dripped, despite me leaving a compression fitting undone on the pump. That's my 5th loop done now with not a single leak, guess I must be lucky. So with everything else hooked back up here it is, all finished (for now) and sitting pretty (or not).

 

 

 

And how it actually looks. I think Lian Li may have done windowed side panels for this case, will have see what I can find or maybe even modify the existing panel.

 

 

Also, I think I may have figured out what the deal is with the SATA card. Before I was mistaking 2x for 250MB/s (which is actually 1x) and so thinking this card can't possibly be running at and so it must be 4x at 1000MB/s. Obviously that math doesn't add up and 2x is actually 500MB/s, and factoring in overhead it comes out to around 400MB/s which the card could very well be running at and would explain why I'm not getting transfer speeds around 500MB/s. Still, I should be getting pretty close to that 400MB/s and not the 350MB/s reads and 250MB/s writes. I'll have to continue my hunt for a card that is 4x electrical and not stupidly expensive with far more ports than I need.

[Norman_the_Owl]

I love how you call it a bargain but end up doing an entire custom loop

[ALXAndy]

I like this.

 

Must say I'm not a fan of Lian Li cases as they usually offer pretty tragic air flow, but nice to see you modding it to get those rads in.

 

Will make for a very powerful rig when you're finished

[flibberdipper]

Messy... But I really like it.

[The Ran]

I love how you call it a bargain but end up doing an entire custom loop

Haha, I can understand your point. It's by no means a cheap budget build but I'd still consider it a bargain for what it is. Without the water cooling it would be a moderately cheap build, but the money that has been saved with stuff like the CPUs, motherboard, case, graphics card, etc. has been put into the cooling.

 

I like this.

 

Must say I'm not a fan of Lian Li cases as they usually offer pretty tragic air flow, but nice to see you modding it to get those rads in.

 

Will make for a very powerful rig when you're finished

 

True, as standard all it has is the two 80mm fans in the front and another two in the rear, with the option of two more in the rear. It's a bit strange why they'd gimp such a capable and huge case.

Messy... But I really like it.

 

Another downside of many Lian Li cases, little to no cable management options. I could modify it more and make some holes just below the motherboard to run the front panel wires behind the motherboard tray, and with a lower profile fan splitter I could also hide some of the fan cables a bit better. I'll keep these options in mind for when I get the second graphics card.

[alpenwasser]

Hm, the combo of your M/B, CPUs and that case does make my nostalgia bits

tingle quite a bit I must admit.

Another downside of many Lian Li cases, little to no cable management options. I could modify it more and make some holes just below the motherboard to run the front panel wires behind the motherboard tray, and with a lower profile fan splitter I could also hide some of the fan cables a bit better. I'll keep these options in mind for when I get the second graphics card.

Yeah, Lian Li have for the most part been rather lacking in the cable

management department IMHO. I have seen really clean builds in some of them,

but those usually have either completely custom cabling and/or additional

cable room modding inside the case (like, additional panels to hide the cables,

or custom motherboard trays etc.), both of which will take quite a lot of

time to do (right, at least), and if you don't have the tools yet, aren't

exactly cheap either.

[KebabSpies]

Noice

[The Ran]

So I just won another 290 for £174, not a bad deal. The last bid was an hour ago and it's just gone midnight, I'm guessing the highest bidder went to bed and is going to wake up disappointed in the morning. Still going to need to get another waterblock which would be around £70 new, it's not desperately needed right now though so I'll keep an eye out for good deals. In the mean time I'll be able to try it out with the air cooler to see just how loud it is, didn't put my first one under much load before slapping the waterblock on it.

[The Ran]

Had the second card sitting around for a few days, finally got it in. Wasn't easy squeezing it in there without moving the first card but I managed it. Also figured I'd move my RAM to the slots suggested in the manual, it shouldn't actually make any difference but I suppose it looks a bit better.

 

 

Won a water block on Ebay for £54, used but worth it to save about £40 compared to new. Just waiting on that to arrive from Italy, order some new thermal pads and a tube to go between the cards.

[Norman_the_Owl]

God i love this build lol

[Jumper118]

this is a bad ass build. i like it. its not pretty but very good

[VIhul]

this is a bad ass build. i like it. its not pretty but very good

I'm a very "visual" person if you will and this build just makes me cringe when I see what it looks like but I still have to applaud the builder. Because really, when was the last time you saw a black PCB on a dual socket board?

[Norman_the_Owl]

I'm a very "visual" person if you will and this build just makes me cringe when I see what it looks like but I still have to applaud the builder. Because really, when was the last time you saw a black PCB on a dual socket board?

EVGA SR-X

 

Really a shame intel got rid of unlocked xeons. LGA 1366 was a great generation for overclockers

[The Ran]

I was actually planning to overclock a little using SetFSB but it doesn't seem to be compatible with this board, I couldn't find any information about which clock generator it has and none of the ones in the program worked.

[ALXAndy]

I was actually planning to overclock a little using SetFSB but it doesn't seem to be compatible with this board, I couldn't find any information about which clock generator it has and none of the ones in the program worked.

 

Yeah you'll usually find they're locked dude. I tried a program with my Dell board and even though I had the exact components needed it still didn't work.