QuadaconV2

Hi, I am trying to seek some information on the possibility of overclocking my old T710 Dell Power-edge. It is a long retired server, and it is not used for any important or work related usage. The motherboard is a T710 01CTXG 1CTXG LGA 1366 Server Motherboard. and in it are two Intel Xeon E5540's. There is plenty of system power, two 1100 Watt redundant supplies, as well as a third 650 WATT power supply for my graphics card. I know that OC'ing on this motherboard is not really supported,. I am not concerned about warranty voiding, as the system is already well past its warranty days anyway. Are there any software overclocking utilities you would recommend? I am worried than raising the FSB would create enormous issues related to the system memory, since it is locked well and truly at 1333Mhz. Is there any possibility of any raising of the Clock? even a few hundred Mhz's would be nice. Also, I am running Windows 10 Pro, the latest BIOS version from Dell, and have the BIOS CPU profile set to high performance, node Interleaving is ON Thanks!

Thanks! Used the link you sent, turns out my current CPU is the correct and matching S-Spec

Thank you for your reply. Could you tell me what exactly an sSpec is? I have seen others on other forums who claim that ONLY the CPU family has to be the same. While I do not believe this (in that I am aware that dual CPU's must match a very specific criteria), I do not understand exactly why the sSpec must match, is there a physical difference between different sSpecs? Also, the SLBF6 appears to be the consumer release E5540. All other sSpecs are engineering samples. How could my retired DELL motherboard possibly have an engineering sample CPU? Again, my CPU-z is showing Gainstown, not Nahalem, which has confused me (from my research, Gainstown appears to be a different S-Spec) Thanks again.

Hi, I have ordered a second Xeon E5540 CPU for my Server Motherboard which already has one E5540. The Second CPU which is currently on its way is the SLBF6 S-Spec. However, I am having trouble finding the S-Spec of my current model. I know its stepping is D0, and it is a Gainstown core. My concern is that the spec for the SLBF6 shows a core that is Nahalem based. my CPU-Z is showing Gainstown, and the letters SLBF6 are not present anywhere. Will these two CPU's work together? they are the same family, model, frequency, even stepping... but they have a (presumably) different S-Spec. Will they work together?. The server I am using is retired, so it is not being used for any mission critical processes, its more of a hobby machine at this stage. Thank you for your time!

Thank you for your reply, Will windows 10 Pro clients seamlessly connect and even sync offline with FreeNAS?

Thank you for your reply. The clients will simply be accessing documents, spreadsheets and databases from the server. Some large files no larger than 200MB will occasionally be accessed. The server must support offline syncing for some clients, and in the future, hopefully we can get the server to provide out of network access to some folders. The person managing the system is very skilled and will have no problem troubleshooting. This said, if a component did fail, we would have to allow for overseas shipping and the like. Spare parts can be made available on site though. All Clients and the server will run at Gigabit speeds, over a cabled network. The server ports will likely be bridged for 2Gigabit theoretical link to the switch, (I know that all clients will still have access to gigabit.)

You could try looking for a KVM Switch... not sure if you need to access multiple devices from 1 keyboard/mouse/monitor, but the switch will have Audio in/outs. Either way, HDMI can carry audio streams, so you could use an HDMI HUB and an audio splitter for the RCA?

Right... Good point, I forgot about the OS... Can I install the OS on a 120GB SSD, and then RAID 1 two other drives, separately? or would this not work so well..? Also, can I easily select the seperate drive as the share folder destination within Windows Server? Thank you for all your help so far by the way, it is greatly appreciated.

Could I just put 2 500GB SSD's in a RAID 1? (Total of 500GB usable space)? In this case, I'd forget about the RAID 5, and just mirror two SSD's, since read performance is more important than write performance for me anyway.

The mirror will duplicate data across two drives for redundancy, correct? Won't this slow it down? Would I be better off performing backups? If not, will the Windows mirroring tools suffice?

I would absolutely need at least 400 GB, but 1-2TB would be great, you know, for future proofing and for the ability for the system admin (not actually me) to store extra files as they require.

I would be happy to try another Server OS, although I will not be the one maintaining the Server, so although I will be able to set it up, I fear it will be too hard to manage for someone who is used to a Windows interface. As well as this, all of the clients will be Windows based (Windows 10 Pro) and I fear that they will not work as well with another OS? Or am I wrong?

Sorry, I tried to edit my original post. I will not use SSD's in a RAID, I will either use multiple Hard Disks in a RAID 5 or 10, or a single SSD with no RAID, which will provide the fastest data access? I will also sort out backups, either way, as I know that RAID is not a replacement for backups

Thank you for your reply. I don't like the idea of a Mini ITX Build as it is quite fiddly to get everything installed correctly... Although it is a great idea. You really think WD Red drives would be fast enough? I really need this server to be quick when it comes to file access, would a single SSD provide better performance than 24/7 drives in a RAID 5 or 10? I was planning on using Windows Server essentials to create accounts that clients will connect and login to to access their allocated folders, there will be no remote desktop use, just access from within the network. I might use Server Essentials 2012 R2, will this provide the functionality I need? Thanks

Hi, I am in the market for components to create a custom built server suitable for close-to 24/7 operation:I am looking to build a reliable file share server that will run Windows Server Essentials 2016. At this point, the server will need to be able to supply up to 20 users (although rarely simultaneously), and provide each client with varying levels of file access. Will one copy of Windows Server Essentials 2016 provide this? I am under the impression that no CALS or seperate licenses will need to be purchased on top of the OS? (My budget for this machine is flexible, but preferably, no more than $3000 would be spent on this project of mine)I need to assure that my knowledge of components will serve me well, and that the server will work correctly, and that all components will be compatible and cost effective. I will be able to build the PC myself, but require validation that the configuration will work, and will last a large number of years. I was considering an Intel Xeon E3-1220V5 CPU on the S1150 Socket, since the server does not need to have an excess of compute power, and does not need to be overly expensive, I would assume this Quad core should be fine.A motherboard that is available at my local store, that appears to be compatible with the above mentioned CPU is the Intel S1150 S1200SPSR Xeon Server Motherboard. I was planning on using around 4 Seagate 10K 2.5" drives in a RAID 10, using the embedded Intel RAID controller, will this be reliable?. Also, will this motherboard fit in a Micro ATX Case? If not, which type of case must be purchased to properly house this motherboard?16GB of DDR4 2133Mhz ECC Unbuffered Server Memory will likely be used.Around 4x Seagate 10K 2.5" Drives will preferably be used in a RAID 10, or 5, since read performance is more important than write performance.Any Chassis that is suitable for the motherboard, and is below $200 will be fine.A Power supply that is of fantastic quality is needed, a 650 Watt Corsair PSU would likely be used.If there are enough PCI Lanes on the Motherboard/CPU, a Dual Gigabit Ethernet Networking card would also be preferable, unless the networking on the Motherboard would be sufficient and just as fast.The Server will run 24/7, does not require a video card, and will be running in an air-conditioned office environment, it does not need to be rack-mountable, and does not need power redundancy, since the Server is not mission-critical (although 24/7 operation is preferable). Do you think this configuration will provide a stable platform for file-access, sharing and stability? Thank you for reading this thread, any thoughts, advice, warnings or comments on the build, as well as component suggestions would be greatly appreciated.