I guess that my next rep objective should be 7K by 2020 - which would be Project Personal Datacentre (Threadripper Edition) 
Then I'll be on page 3, which would be pretty cool. Can't wait to start my first internship, though.
On a side note, due to the way that things are looking for this summer, I may have to extend the duration of my upgrade. I'll probably start with a small, functional subset of the parts I need for the final version:
Base Computer/Tower :: Dell Precision T7610
CPU :: 1x Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2
RAM :: 16x 4GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 REG ECC (gotta keep costs down - will upgrade to 8/16GB DIMMs later)
STR :: 3x 2TB HITACHI HUA722020ALA330 HDDs +
1x Western Digital WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB SATA SSD (already acquired)
GPU :: 1x AMD Radeon Rx Vega 64's (I may even forgo getting the Vega 64's this summer) +
1x nVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080/1080 Ti (more time-sensitive)
SFX :: 1x Creative Sound Blaster ZxR/Zx (w/ ACM)
PRP :: 1x Elgato Game Capture HD60 Pro (already purchased)
1x Logitech K120 USB keyboard (already purchased)
1x Logitech M510 wireless mouse
1x HITACHI GH24NSC0 optical drive
1x NETGEAR WNDA3100v3 N600 (Wi-Fi - already purchased)
NOTE :: All other components (not included in the linked photo) provided by OEM
I also have to buy supporting hardware possibly (like compatible HDD caddies and such - prices without the GPUs included). Then I'd buy the rest later on, as more cash comes in from my eBay store and such. So, AMD plan may get pushed back to 2021/2022, due to the decision by my parents to force the internship. I can't be sure of what income I will be earning, even though it's a paid internship. If it goes to worst, I'll simply ditch the new sound card for a while and buy the GTX 1080/1080 Ti, the new mouse, and maybe the CPUs this year. I'll have a spare PCI slot at the bottom of the motherboard that I can use my current sound card with. Then buy the rest over time. Such a bad upgrade cycle...
- Cyberspirit and Razor Blade
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True legends stay at 6,969. Change my mind.
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immabout to bump you into 2k.
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I would've probably went for the more expensive Foxconn board route getting an expensive psu too haha
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@Ashiella I would, if I had the money XD
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On a "new to me" build that I may or may not be working on, the price difference between the E5-2690 V2 and the E5-2697 V2 was more than I could justify. Unless you really need those extra 2 cores...the 2690 will have slightly better single threaded performance as well.
Also for the memory... just borrow some from your existing workstation until you get some 16GB PC3-12800R sticks. You can find 128GB listings (8 X 16GB) on eBay for about $230 shipped. Maybe it'll drop some more once you're ready to buy.
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@Razor Blade The CPU is not something I can skimp on this time around, unfortunately. I need all 12 cores for minimal functionality from this point forward. The RAM, however, can be borrowed (at least for now)
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Not saying to skimp... just that depending on your use case, if you want a slightly higher clock, the 2690 would still give you 10 cores while also giving a bit better single thread performance at a cheaper price to boot! The system I'm putting together has 2 CPUs so I don't obviously I probably would not miss the extra 2 cores as much as you might...but for the price difference IMO could be better spent on more memory, good GPU, PSU, more storage, etc.
Unfortunately the E5-2697 V2 being at the top of the Ivy Bridge Xeons their price is not likely to drop much until they're completely and utterly obsolete...similar to how the X5450 was and the X5690 is now...
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@Razor Blade I agree with you on the price part, but the use case is ESXi 6.5 in this case, running 4 VMs or more (at least 4 cores per VM + 2 cores for ESXi). I'm currently used to having 12 cores in one OS, so I'll need more than 20 cores to keep my multitasking from turning into complete garbage (H.264 Software encoding, video editing, etc.) because I don't use a lot of hardware acceleration (I don't have many applications that can actually leverage it, or the cash to do so while affording a decent workstation - gotta choose either or). So, I'll need those cores. But, the good part is that the CPUs are only 300-400 USD as of now, so I can afford that on a decent budget. In addition to that, the prices may fall soon when Threadripper next gen arrives (if they become obsolete enough, as you mentioned). Hopefully, no one pulls a fast one and starts making all of the listings into bidding ones (in opposed to Buy It Now). Otherwise, I'll cancel the entire project, settle for the 2690's as you mentioned, and call it a day. If demand for those falls enough, the sellers will relent and stop unnecessarily jacking prices on older hardware. It's almost EOL anyway for most businesses, so they're almost entirely dependent upon individuals and their paychecks.
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Ah didn't know you were running a hypervisor, sure I can understand wanting the extra cores. As far as I know you don't need to reserve cores for ESXI either...At least there are no cores left on my server for ESXI...they're all provisioned for running VMs
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Maybe look into the Xeon W line? Used ones of those can sometimes can be found cheaper than the E5 line.
The W line is lower quality silicon than the E5s, but usually clocked a tad higher than the E5 line.
Also, look at E5-2670V3s. Those are 12c/24t from the Haswell family. Used ones up for sale tend to pop up a good bit.
Interestingly, by the info on Intel Ark, the E5-2670V3s have a slight higher bus speed and support 2133MHz RAM compare to the E5-2697V2.
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@Ithanul I went on and searched up the Metal series Xeons first:
- _from=R40&_nkw=Intel+Xeon+Gold+5118&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=1&LH_TitleDesc=1&_blrs=recall_filtering&LH_BIN=1&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=2
- https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Intel+Xeon+Silver+4116&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=1&LH_TitleDesc=1&LH_PrefLoc=2&LH_BIN=1&LH_TitleDesc=1&_blrs=recall_filtering
While the ES (engineering samples) are pretty cheap, they have certain limitations that would prevent me from building a system for under 2k USD. I red through a few of the listings, and found these lines in the item description(s) to be common ones:
- "This engineering sample does NOT support most of the branded desktops or servers (Be cautious with the purchase for branded desktops or servers users and the buyers take full responsibility for incompatibility problems while the store keeps all rights reserved)"
- "You must send us a message to inform the model of your motherboard and BIOS version BEFORE clicking the "Buy It Now" button, and we will confirm the compatibility in one business day (Even if you have met the Purchase Terms & Conditions, you must also inform us in advance) !!"
So, the cost of the entire build might end up being higher. Also, if I decide not to get an engineering sample, the price jumps
into the low thousands (a piece). I need at least two of these in the end (even if I end up buying one of them later in time - not guaranteed to have a job past this summer), so the price of the processors alone could exceed the budget that I set. And I'd still have to buy a decent motherboard and case (what OEM options support these for under 500 USD barebones?) Not to mention the cost of DDR4 ECC The Metallic Xeons are ded in the water. I'll check on the other E-Series Xeons next...
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@Ithanul The E5 v3's and v4's both require DDR4, so that increases platform cost. I'll divide these further into comparison sets:
- https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=91767,91750
- https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compare.html?productIds=81713,81908,81709
The good thing is that they all support the same socket (LGA2011-3). But, decent motherboards cost at least 200 USD
So, the price of 2 CPUs, plus a motherboard. And I still have to buy a case, PSU, and other basic necessities. Perhaps you can point me in the direction of a decent OEM model that uses the LGA2011-3? I'd be willing to consider switching platforms (and incurring the added cost of DDR4 ECC) if the rest of the build doesn't exceed 1k USD. RAM costs would reduce the number of PCI Passthrough enabled VMs that I can run, since RAM would cut into the money used for GPUs. But, that just means that I postpone Threadripper 2021, then.
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Ah, so you want to stick to a DDR3 platform then? And, a 2P board?
I will look around at what other Xeons that work on platforms with DDR3.
Hmmm, you most likely going to get nail on the motherboard either way. Even the boards pre-x99 cost a good bit of money. Offset, is the DDR3 ECC RAM should be easier to source.
If you need some DDR3 ECC RAM, I got some lying around (just need to find where I stashed it at) not doing anything that I can sell to you for cheap. All my main platforms moved over to DDR4 now, so I really don't have a need for the kit.
On the matter of ES chips, yeah, there always a risk with those. Thankfully I had good luck with my E5-2670V3 that is an ES sample. Been working fine on an ASUS x99 motherboard I manage to nab a while back.
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Also keep this in mind when looking at the 2600 Series Ivy Bridge Xeon chips:
There the E5-2695V2 from that family of chips. Tad lower on the core clocks, but is a 12c/24t.
Some others I found from the Ivy Bridge family.
E5-2651 V2 - OEM
E5-2692 V2 - OEM
E5-2696 V2 - OEM
E5-4657L V2
E7-2850 V2
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@IthanulIn case you were wondering, I managed to get around the issue of motherboard (and PSU, case, etc.) cost by settling on getting a Dell Precision T7610 barebones. From there, I'd simply buy CPUs, GPUs, drives, and RAM. So, compatibility will be somewhat limited. But, I also will be working with a system that has decent documentation (and ESXi support)
Just working around power limitations atm, because I won't be firing up multiple GPUs simultaneously One VM will be running background services (Windows Server 2016), one will be running full-force (my current/primary VM - Windows 10, for example), while the others can sit idle until they're needed (like MacOSX and Linux).
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What sort of power limitations? You planning to put a couple overclocked titans in that Dell?
I have an old R5500 that will handle 3 Fermi quadro cards (at least 360W worth) on an 1100W PSU... From what it looks like the T7610 has PSUs that go up to 1300W but doesn't support redundant PSUs...The R7610 will but were you looking for redundancy or just want higher rated PSUs?
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@Razor Blade
Higher power ratings for PCI device support.QuoteSupport for up to three7 PCI Express® x16 Gen 2 or Gen 3 cards up to 675W (total for graphics (some restrictions apply)
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into the low thousands (a piece). I need at least two of these in the end (even if I end up buying one of them later in time - not guaranteed to have a job past this summer), so the price of the processors alone could exceed the budget that I set. And I'd still have to buy a decent motherboard and case (what OEM options support these for under 500 USD barebones?) Not to mention the cost of DDR4 ECC 
