Dual Xeon 771 (no hacksaw required)

[f22luke]

In lieu of my cpus not arriving today like USPS said they would I decided to pull the case from my rack and test fit the motherboard.  I have had some parts from my first custom build just sitting in it a while.  There may be a picture frame build involving those parts in the future.  

 

 

The case is cooled by three 120mm Rosewill fans that are dead quiet.  This is literally the quietest server case I could find.  If you are wanting to do a high end gaming build that would fit in a rack this is the case.  

 

Going back to what I will be using it for; it has the nesissary mounting holes for the 771 heat sinks and as you will see in the pictures all but one of the standoff holes line up perfect.  No ghetto backplate or mounting going on in this build, no sir!

 

[f22luke]

It's twins!!!  

 

No not that kind of twins; I'm talking about the matched pair of xeon CPUs USPS finally got around to delivering to my front door.  

 

 

 

Note that neither of them will be running for president in the 2016 elections as their birth certificates clearly indicate Costa Rica as the country of origin.  They have matching serial numbers and the power stepping is of the SLBBJ variety.  If you didn't already know this model could have two different power steppings and you want them to match.  The earlier models had SLANS for power stepping then Intel made a few tweaks half way through the life cycle or so to improve power efficiency. 

 

I also got memory in the mail to.  It's a shiny new set of 4x4Gb fully buffered DDR2 667MHz PC5300 DIMMs.  Pardon me for not posting photos but it's ram google it.

 

On to assembly......

 

Remember how I said earlier that this build would not include any ghetto mounting mechanisms?  Well I meant it.  So I'm not going to leave even one standoff hole unfilled  :huh: no no no I'm not Linus quit reading innuendos in to what I say.

 

In my quest for a secure fit and bragging rights I delved in to a secret stash of plastic standoffs.  (This my friends is why nothing even so insignificant should be thrown away)  Behold what diagonal cutters can do to unwanted plastic bits.  It is now ready to be inserted in to the h...   :unsure: place lacking a standoff.

 

 

 

In that last photo you would have notice the auxiliary motherboard power connector next to the installed plastic standoff. (feuff made it past that subject)  This leads us nicely in to the next item which is the results of the test fit and some smexy cable routing.

 

 

 

Before I say a due let me tell you about the front panel connectors and how undocumented proprietary nonsense should be combated.  

 

It's simple someone must test every freaking thousands of pin combinations and publish the results 

That someone is not me  B)  but I want to say a huge thank you to whoever published this data sheet.  It made my life sooooooo much easier.  Below are the fruits of my labor.

 

 

[iHardware Shelden]

Wow you nailed this build... Amazing!

[f22luke]

Life can't always be peaches and roses and when buying used proprietary computer parts it most certainly is not.  Since my last post I have been struggling to get the machine to post.  It gives two beeps waits two seconds and beeps twice.  According to the limited documentation it is related to a "thermal" shut down.  My theory is that it has to do with not having HP fans attached to the freaking 5 pin fan headers.  I have tried attaching regular pwm fans but that has not had any affect.  So I have broke down and ordered two HP heatsink assemblies.  

 

My plan was to slap to of these babies on the the blocks I have now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/391286786387

 

Instead I got two of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121830446764

 

If that is not the case I have to figure out what is; wish me luck

[EvilWiffles]

Ya better post Cinebench scores when you get this build posting

[agent_x007]

5-pin PWM FAN header : LINK (pin describtions are on page 223 by document, or page 235 by Adobe Reader im using),
6-pin PWM FAN header : LINK (pin describtions are on page 81 by the document, or page 82 by Adobe Reader).
May become handy someday

PS. My 6-pin to 4-pin FAN header mod : LINK (for Delta FFC1212DE -SP09 fan).

[alpenwasser]

Like can't always be peaches and roses and when buying used proprietary computer parts it most certainly is not.  Since my last post I have been struggling to get the machine to post.  It gives two beeps waits two seconds and beeps twice.  According to the limited documentation it is related to a "thermal" shut down.  My theory is that it has to do with not having HP fans attached to the freaking 5 pin fan headers.  I have tried attaching regular pwm fans but that has not had any affect.  So I have broke down and ordered two HP heatsink assemblies.  

 

My plan was to slap to off these babies on the the blocks I have now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/391286786387

 

Instead I got two of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121830446764

 

If that is not the case I have to figure out what is; wish me luck

I had an issue with thermals on my server board too (Supermicro X8-something). Turned out

I needed to add some cooling to the chipset. Problem was, server boards tend to be designed

for server-grade airflow from high-rpm server fans, and the passively cooled chipset can't

cope without that for some boards (though in my case it only occurred under high system

loads).

Just FYI.

[f22luke]

5-pin PWM FAN header : LINK (pin describtions are on page 223 by document, or page 235 by Adobe Reader im using),

6-pin PWM FAN header : LINK (pin describtions are on page 81 by the document, or page 82 by Adobe Reader).

May become handy someday

PS. My 6-pin to 4-pin FAN header mod : LINK (for Delta FFC1212DE -SP09 fan).

Thanks for the post that is the clearest I have seen it described.  I knew that it was either a second ground or it was a second Tack.  Having a second tack makes more sense as it allows the use of two pwm fans on a single plug without any fancy splitters.  What bothers me is that I tried bridging the two tacks and it didn't fix my issue.  I'll wait and see if it works with the HP fans but now that my assumptions on the pinout is confirmed I think I need to look else where for an issue.

 

I had an issue with thermals on my server board too (Supermicro X8-something). Turned out

I needed to add some cooling to the chipset. Problem was, server boards tend to be designed

for server-grade airflow from high-rpm server fans, and the passively cooled chipset can't

cope without that for some boards (though in my case it only occurred under high system

loads).

Just FYI.

Thanks for the input but this can't be actual thermal issues because it doesn't even run for a second.  I click the power on and the fans spin once then shut off and then I get "beep beep" two second delay "beep beep"

 

Documentation for this board say when you get two beeps

 

Thermal shutdown has occurred. Perform the following:

1. Ensure that the workstation air vents are not blocked.

2. Open the access panel and press the workstation power button.

3. Verify that the system fan is running.

4. Verify that the processor heatsink fan spins. If it does not spin, ensure that the fan cable is plugged into the system board connector. Ensure that the heatsink is properly seated.

5. Replace the processor heatsink.

[agent_x007]

Bridge is a bad idea, since this means signal going two ways instead of one (half here and half there).
Q : Can't U just link a tach wire from second fan, to that second Tach input ?

[f22luke]

The current state of affairs:

 

 

So I received one of the HP heatsinks:

 

 

Here's the kicker: It has a 4pin fan on it with a 5 pin header.

 

 

I pulled one of the cpus out and just had the primary cpu and the hp heatsink and it didn't make a difference.

 

At this point I'm inclined to think it's a faulty motherboard then.  What do you all think?

[Cheddle]

snip

 

without reading to see if this has been suggested...

 

stickytape mod. doit. your chip set supports it.

[f22luke]

without reading to see if this has been suggested...

 

stickytape mod. doit. your chip set supports it.

I assume you are talking about the mod where you use a 771 cpu in a 775 consumer motherboard and overclock it?  I already have the parts for this dual 771 build not sure I want to buy another motherboard.  Are there any cheap dual socket 775 motherboards out there?

[f22luke]

Well it has been a while since my last post so here is a brief summery of all my activity on this build since then.  

 

I returned the motherboard and got another one just like it.  The replacement does the same thing it beeps 4 times if the the 6 pin power connector is plugged in and twice if it is not.  I pursued the 4 beep code which indicates a power supply issue and bought an hp power supply.  I also noticed the the original front panel connector had a built in thermistor so I bought a front panel assembly.  

 

There was no change with either the power supply or the thermistor being attached.  I did notice the motherboard battery was dead and replaced it and still I could not get it to POST.  

 

I tried some different RAM that I had laying around and a pair of dual core xeons that were acquired on the cheap.  Still no POST just 4 beeps. 

 

At this point I am giving up on HP and going with my second choice motherboard.  I expect to have the new board by the 7th so an update will come after that.

 

If any of you can think of anything that would cause a motherboard to not like power from a perfectly good power supply let me know.  I find it odd that two boards would do the same thing.  

[Chasem121]

I have the same HP motherboard as you, and I'm experiencing the same issues. I hit the power switch and the cpu coolers and the fan on gpu will spin for a second and then stop. I don't have a speaker so I can't speak for the error codes. Did you try it with the 6 pin by the pcie slots filled or no? If I do have that plugged it, it won't even try to turn on.

[Smooth Bunz]

What case is that???

[f22luke]

I have the same HP motherboard as you, and I'm experiencing the same issues. I hit the power switch and the cpu coolers and the fan on gpu will spin for a second and then stop. I don't have a speaker so I can't speak for the error codes. Did you try it with the 6 pin by the pcie slots filled or no? If I do have that plugged it, it won't even try to turn on.

 

From what I have discovered is that the six pin PCIe connector is not wired the same as your typical connector.  @Robander85 supposedly got his working but has not replied to me as to what the pin out is.  The power supply I bought off of ebay was the wrong one and so I got on the sellers case for saying it would work with a xw8600 when it won't.  I got a refund on it and bought one that I know will work.  I will give it a try when it arrives and post info on the pin-out.  

 

What case is that???

 

I have the case listed in my initial post it is a Rosewill RSV-L4412 4U Rackmount Server Chassis 12 SATA / SAS Hot-Swap Drives.  I bought it off of ebay a year ago and have been using it for several different builds.  This case is entirely put together with screws and can be disassembled for painting in half an hour.  The steel is very thick and the fans are quiet.  If you want to make a high end build this would be the case to mod I just can't say enough good things about it.

[Bajantechnician]

Hospitals everywhere must be teaming with concussion patients or broken noses from epic face-palms.

Are the concussion patients playing football?

You must mean teeming

[f22luke]

Are the concussion patients playing football?

You must mean teeming

 

Fixed... some times spell-check lulls you in to a false sense of security.

[Bajantechnician]

Fixed... some times spell-check lulls you in to a false sense of security.

lol.

As long as it's a word,

Sc doesn't care

[f22luke]

It boots!!!  Ok so it was HP gone fully insane on the six pin power connector.  Below is a normal pcie power cable:

 

 

Hp thought this was too simple so to hell with standards.  "So how about we make pins 1,4, and 6 be +12v and 2,3,5 ground yea that sounds creative let's do it."

 

If I ever find the engineer who said that I will be in need of a bucket of tar and a few down pillows.  Even then my contempt will not be satisfied.

 

I still have some work to do on this build just to get the mammoth power supply to fit but then I will get around to benchmarking.

[AlienALX]

That's good news dude. As for the odd connector? most branded parts are like that. I've got an Alienware case and the logic board has a whacky 10 pin connector, proprietary jobby.

 

Glad you've sorted it though

[Robander85]

I'm glad you figured out the 6-Pin PCI-E HP garbage. Sorry I did see your problems sooner I could have helped. 

 

On a side note, Managed to over-clock my dual E5440s via BSEL pin mod. here is a cinebench for ya.

[uptownsquash]

Does the hp board use a special mounting holes or form factor?

[f22luke]

Does the hp board use a special mounting holes or form factor?

The form factor is e-ATX with only one extra mounting hole which is discussed in one of my previous posts.  The hardest part about case compatibility on these is mounting the 771 cpu coolers.  You either need a case like mine with the proper holes in the motherboard tray or you have to get/ghetto mod a backplate.  

 

You can buy the hp power supply with the special six pin or just mod a six pin connector.

[gazzimba]

I have the same worksation with original PSU

I tried adding a Radeon 7950 OC to replace my Quadro FX 4600.

Somehow the Quadro works flawlessly but the Radeon gives me 6-Beep GPU error code

 

just saw yout post on 6 Pin connector Layout.

I will check my pin out voltages.. if thats all it is, I should be able to get the 7950 working

 

@f22luke What GPU do you have currently installed? What is the peak power consumption of the card?

 

I read it in the XW8600 manual somewhere that it supports GPUs with max Power rating of 175W. Is it true?