Server Gaming/Workstation Computer How-To Guide (LTT Complementary Guide)

[FAQBytes]

Alright, so I was already planning to do this, as during the planning process of building my current computer I came up with many server builds, and I learned a whole lot doing my build.

If you want to look at my current build, look for "Spirit of Xeon", which is my pride and joy trouble child.

 

NOTE:

This guide acts as a supplementary guide for Linus's video on the matter, which will go much more in-depth on the actual building and such and is much of the information I have accrued while researching and building mine.

 

 

NOTE:

Please be aware that by doing this I am by no means responsible for what you do. Do remember that I am just some guy on the internet. Also be aware that by doing this that it will take much more effort to get up and running, and you pretty much have no warranty on any of the components as much of them here are much older. Do also note that this can cause incompatibilities with some hardware. For example, my r9 290x was not compatible with my father's intel motherboard and i7-860.

 

SPOILER-

This will be an Intel-centric build tutorial, as that is what I did. Most of this information should be relevant to AMD, but I have no experience on that side with server gaming.

 

SECTION 1: Is server building right for you?

Congratulations on your first steps towards building a Gaming-Server PC. This will be a long and complicated journey which will require hours of research and most likely hours of troubleshooting as well. 

If this does not phase you, Welcome aboard me maty! Otherwise, come back later if you decide this is something you want to do.

 

This guide is a compilation of the hundreds of hours of research and building that went into my build. A little excessive? Maybe. But it was worth it if I can help people in the end. You will face many challenges and this guide just simply cannot hold everything needed to be known. I still require you to do your part. I will do my best to answer any questions, but remember that I am a student. I have stuff I have to do.

 

 

 

 GENERATION:

 

The first and most important thing to know when going into this is knowing what generation you want to do, among many other things. There are pros and cons to each, many of which will be addressed.

 

LGA 771/Socket J:

 

This is honestly the oldest I would go. 

Pros:

As it is the oldest on this list, it will most likely be the cheapest.

As it [usually] uses an On-Board FSB, instead of an on-chip, software overclocking software which uses the FSB to overclock everything can be used, such as SetFSB. (More on this later)

Cheaper DDR2

 

Cons:

It is the oldest, and therefor the most likely to be unsupported.

DDR2 memory is much slower than DDR3 and even DDR4 now. 

Only up to PCI-E 1.1

Most boards only have x8 electrical connection for PCI-E. 

Only 8 USB 2.0 slots supported

Only 6 SATA II ports supported 

No On-board graphics

Only 2 channels per CPU

No Intel Turbo Boost

 

INTRO:

LGA 771, also known as Socket J, is a CPU interface introduced by Intel in 2006. It is used in Intel Core microarchitecture based DP-capable server processors, the Dual-Core Xeon is codenamed Dempsey, Woodcrest, and Wolfdale and the Quad-Core processors Clovertown, Harpertown. It is also used for the Core 2 Extreme QX9775.

 

It was succeeded by LGA 1366 for the Nehalem-based Xeon processors.

 

LGA 771 builds will be your dirt cheap builds. While they may be lacking in the IO department, that can often be solved with add-in cards. All the IO is run by the 6311ESB Chipset. The 6311ESB Chipset supports up to 8 USB 2.0 slots without an add-in card. The chipset supports dual-core and quad-core CPUs ranging from 1.6 GHz dual-core to 3.4 GHz Quad-core (Xeon X5492). This chipset also supports the Intel® Core™2 Extreme Processor QX9775. 

 

Overclocking is possible, but not really recommended, as FSB overclocks can quickly cause instability issues for most generations. 

 

Some chips may be unlocked and overclockable, please do your own research on this matter.

 

Who is this generation for?

Plain and simple, unless you are building this for nostalgia purposes for some reason, this really is only useful for those who want dirt cheap and old hardware. Overclocking can put some extra life into these chips, but do note that FSB overclocking yields marginal results and can quickly cause instability.

 

LGA 775/Socket T 

While LGA 775 is intended to be for consumer grade hardware, and was released nearly a year and a half earlier, some modifications can be done to LGA 771 CPUs to allow them to be used in LGA 775 motherboards. Please perform any modifications at your own risk and be prepared to kill any hardware you modify. While these modifications are low-risk, doing it wrong can still potentially kill either the CPU, motherboard, both, or anything attached.

 

LGA 1356/Socket H // LGA 1366/Socket B

LGA 1156, along with LGA 1366, were designed to replace LGA 775. Whereas LGA 775 processors connect to a northbridge using the Front Side Bus, LGA 1156 processors integrate the features traditionally located on a northbridge within the processor itself. The LGA 1156 socket allows the following connections to be made from the processor to the rest of the system:

 

PCI-Express 2.0 ×16 for communication with a graphics card. Some processors allow this connection to be divided into two ×8 lanes to connect two graphics cards. Some motherboard manufacturers use Nvidia's NF200 chip to allow even more graphics cards to be used.

DMI for communication with the Platform Controller Hub (PCH). This consists of a PCI-Express 2.0 ×4 connection.

FDI for communication with the PCH. This consists of two DisplayPort connections.

Two memory channels for communication with DDR3 SDRAM. The clock speed of the memory that is supported will depend on the processor.

LGA 1156 socket and processors were discontinued sometime in 2012, and superseded by the LGA 1155 socket. LGA 1366 was discontinued at the same time.

 

LGA 1366 server motherboards run off the 5520 I/O hub and the 82801IB controller, since the FSB no longer exists on the motherboard itself, it is not possible to use FSB modifier tools to overclock these CPUs. EVGA made the SR-2 motherboard to overclock xeons, which were often unlocked. Good luck finding these as they are now very rare. Expect to pay upwards of $600 USD if you even manage to find one. 

 

 

Pros:

PCI-E Gen 2 allows for modern graphics cards to run without being bottlenecked.by the PCI-E 1.1 standard running in x8. 

Up to 36 PCI-E lanes 

Now up to 12 USB 2.0 ports.

Supports both SATA 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s 

Some may support USB 3.0

Newer than LGA 771

Supports up to 6 cores/chip, compared to 4.

Now supports Tri-channel for each CPU

Supports DDR3 (Check mobo for specific max frequency)

Most chips support Intel Turbo Boost V1

 

Cons:

SATA 6Gb/s is rare

Often no USB 3.0 on server motherboards

Not as new as LGA2011

Does not support 8-core CPUs

No Quad-channel/CPU

 

 

INTRO: (Well, additional info.)

A trend that will be seen is that chips will increase in core count each generation, and the "Workstation" CPUs will continue to get faster. Also note that CPUs have increased operations/cycle each generation as the lithography gets smaller and the cores become more energy efficient. In this generation the CPUs range from 1.86 GHz dual-core to 3.46 GHz (Turbo to 3.73 GHz). This is also the first generation to intro Intel Turbo boost. While the gain is minimal when compared to today's chips, it was vastly helpful, as well as a start. 

 

LGA 1366 will cost slightly more than the LGA 771 build, but less than an LGA 2011 build. It is not a bad choice, and CPUs are in decent stock on EBay. 

 

Who is this generation for?

LGA 1366 will be sufficient for most people. Those who have a r9 290 or 970 or higher might want to go to LGA 2011. While this definitely bumps up the price compared to when looking at LGA 771, it will definitely be worth it for most people, as they have most likely spent more on their GPU alone. It is definitely on the low-mid ground.

 

LGA 2011 V0/V2 // Socket R

LGA 2011, also called Socket R, is a CPU socket by Intel. Released on 14 November 2011, it replaces Intel's LGA 1366 (Socket B) and LGA 1567 in the performance and high-end desktop and server platforms. The socket has 2011 protruding pins that touch contact points on the underside of the processor.

 

The LGA 2011 socket uses QPI to connect the CPU to additional CPUs. DMI 2.0 is used to connect the processor to the PCH. The memory controller and 40 PCI Express (PCIe) lanes are integrated on the CPU. On a secondary processor an extra ×4 PCIe interface replaces the DMI interface. As with its predecessor LGA 1366, there is no provisioning for integrated graphics. This socket supports four DDR3  memory channels with up to three unbuffered or registered DIMMs per channel, as well as up to 40 PCI Express 2.0 or 3.0 lanes. LGA 2011 also has to ensure platform scalability beyond eight cores and 20 MB of cache.

 

The LGA 2011 socket is used by Sandy Bridge-E/EP and Ivy Bridge-E/EP processors with the corresponding X79 (E – enthusiast class) and C600-series (EP – Xeon class) chipsets. LGA 2011-1, an updated generation of the socket and the successor of LGA 1567, is used for Ivy Bridge-EX (Xeon E7 v2) CPUs, which were released in February 2014. LGA 2011-v3 (also referred to as LGA 2011-3) is another updated generation of the socket, used for Haswell-E and Haswell-EP CPUs, which were released in August and September 2014, respectively. Updated socket generations are physically similar to LGA 2011, but the used electrical signals and ILM keying prevent them from being backward compatible with older CPUs.

 

Pros

PCI-E Gen 3 support

Up to 40 PCI-e Gen 3 channels per processor (Yes, some motherboards support 80 lanes. Be sure to check technical specifications as this is most definitely not true for all dual socket motherboards.)

More likely to have USB 3.0

Most include SATA 3

LGA 2011 v2 have up to 12 cores

Quad channel RAM per CPU

WAY cheaper than LGA 2011 v3

 

Cons

LGA 2011 has been heavily locked down except for a few chips

Much more expensive than LGA 1366

 

In my experience, LGA 2011 costs about 50% more than LGA 1366. It is difficult to find dual-socket motherboards for much under $200. I managed to nab my E5-2680 for $190. I overall decided that this really gave the best performance for me for the price. I spent $390 on the two. 

 

This generation also has a vastly superior turbo boost mode, allowing for a much higher turbo than the previous generation. This generation also allows up to 12 cores. The fastest CPUs (E5 V1 series) are the E5-2687W for 8 core CPUs at 3.1-3.8 GHz (Up to 2 CPUs) and the E5-1620 quad core at 3.6-3.8 GHz (One max CPU). There are also some faster ones in the E5 V2 seres with one Hex-Core CPU which is clocked at 3.7-4.0 GHz.

 

The E5-2680 that I have is clocked at 2.7-3.5 GHz, which I have found to be more than sufficient to run my GPU. 

 

Who is this generation for?

In my opinion, this generation gives the best price-performance ratio. As it is not the newest generation, many datacenters are getting rid of them as they replace them. These will be available for a long time, and price will continue to decrease, however, this price fluctuation is very slow. 

It is new enough to often be supported by newer hardware, and I have had very few problems installing an r9 290x in it and overclocking it to 1130/5400. 

While it is not the cheapest, there are some great deals out there to be found.

 

LGA 2011-v3

LGA 2011-v3 is essentially the same as LGA 2011, despite not being compatible. Look for pros and cons for differences

 

Pros

Supports DDR4

Supports even more cores (Up to 18)

Most modern and often has USB 3.0/3.1

Many more SATA III ports

 

Cons

The most expensive

 

 

For this I am just going to copy-paste a few of the specs from a few different sources, as well as from a few motherboards.

 

Fastest

Xeon E5-2699 v3 18 36 2.3 GHz 3.6 GHz 45 MB 9.6 GT/s 145 W 1600/1866/2133 Xeon E5-2643 v3 6 12 3.4 GHz 3.7 GHz 20 MB 9.6 GT/s 135 W

1600/1866/2133

 

TYAN designed its S7077 server motherboard to support (2) Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 v3, (4+4) DDR-4 DIMM Slots, (1) PCI-E G3 x16 slots, (1) PCI-E G3 x8 slot, (1) PCI-E G3 x4 8 mezzanine slot, (2) 1000BASE-T GbE ports, and (10) SATA 6G ports. The TYAN S7077 is a reliable and affordable general purpose motherboard that delivers the dependability and value that SMB customers appreciate.

 

http://www.asus.com/us/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/Z10PED162L10G2T/specifications/

 

Who is this generation for?

LGA 2011-v3 is for those who want to be on the cutting edge. It will be expensive, and you can spend thousands of dollars on getting just the CPU. These do provide the best performance, but do so at cost. 

 

 

 

 

MOTHERBOARD:

Hopefully you have read enough to give you a generic idea of what generation you want to go with. I will not be going over each generation specifically, but will be giving very important information regarding things to be on the lookout for.

 

#1 MOST IMPORTANT THING! 
MAKE SURE THE MOTHERBOARD SUPPORTS DISCRETE GRAPHICS!!!

 

I can't stress the importance of this. While I would say 99% of them will, I almost bought one that doesn't. In Intel ARK, and on the manufacturer websites, this can be found for most motherboards. 

 

For the most part, workstation motherboards are your best bet. As they often support both dual CPUs, more x16 electrical slots, and on-board sound, they are more game-ready than most others. Some may even support SLI or X-fire, although this is rare.

 

Also be sure to check the SATA type that the motherboard has and make sure it lines up with what you want.

Also take into account whether or not you will need add-in cards and factor those into the costs. A cheap USB to 3.5mm converter will easily stand in for on-board sound like mine. You might also need a USB add-in card in the case you have a crazy number of USB devices you need to plug in. 

 

Step by step (This will work for most, but always look at what works best for you.

1- Check for the ability to use discrete graphics

2- How many CPUs do you want? 1? 2? 4?

3- How many add-in cards do you need? Check the number of PCI/PCI-e slots are available.

4- If you need many GPUs, check that many GPUs can be installed. Also check for RAM placement, as it can interfere with some PCI-E slots if they overlap. (Look at S2600CP series for an example)

5-Check the SATA revision. Does not matter a whole lot for normal HDDs, but makes a large difference for SSDs.

6- Check for form factor. SSI EEB will fit into EATX cases with a few modifications. It only takes a few holes and motherboard standoffs to make it compatible. Be careful when looking at the shape as well.

 

Another important factor is price, but it really is independent from the above. Price essentially dictates the above, and is pretty much the filter through which you look at the motherboards.

 

 

It's difficult to make a guide for everyone, but do your research and read some reviews. I'll be happy to answer any questions and try to help.

 

ALSO: Make sure that when you are getting two CPUs, that you are getting the same stepping. This is something that Linus neglected to acknowledge when making his video. While it is possible to potentially get it to work together, this just leads up to problems. Stepping is essentially the maturity of the lithography. The later the number, the later the model. These may incorporate minor upgrades to prevent bugs, or may have slightly larger changes in the case of larger problems.

 

CPU

The CPU is really dictated by the motherboard, as the number of sockets on the motherboard dictates the series. 

I will be using the E5 series for my examples, as it is pretty much the easiest to understand. For other generations, you're gonna have to look it up. A quick google should be sufficient.

 

My CPU is the E5-2680

That actually means a whole lot more than what you might think.

E5 is the series, there are three main series, E3, E5, and E7. These essentially are similar to i3, i5, and i7. While the characteristics are definitely not the same, the idea is. If you want to learn more about each, a quick google search should suffice. 

The next number is 2. You will see 3 primary numbers in this position, 1xxx, 2xxx, and 4xxx. This tells how many QPI links there are, as well as how many CPUs can be used on a motherboard.

the next number is 6, which denotes socket type.

The last two numbers denote Skus, 

 

This information can be found on Intel's website.

 

This, again is really up to you to decide what you want.

 

My suggestion, as always, it to get the best hardware you can afford at the time. 

 

Another question might be where to get these Xeons. I am in no ways opposed to Ebay, it's where I got most of my hardware. The only new pieces of hardware is a 700 watt power supply, (29.99 Newegg Thermaltake) and the mounting bracket from Asetek. 

 

The Xeon was also coated in thermal paste, but don't really let that dissuade you. It just takes a little rubbing alcohol to fix. 

 

How to decide what type of Xeon is best for you.

 

What is your primary goal for this build?

 

CAD

Alright, do a little research. How many threads does it support? Another important thing is to know if it is single-thread heavy, such as physics simulations. Figure out what the company suggests.

 

Single-Threaded heavy workload

- With this, your goal should be a dual or quad core processor with the absolute fastest speed. Also look for those which may be overclocked. I know there are some LGA 2011 CPUs which are unlocked. There are many forums on this, and can be found with a simple google search. Note that I believe it was the E5-1660.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/xeon-e5-1620-v2-oc.191422/

 

Multi-threaded workloads

- Look at the most number of cores that the program supports. Try to get as close to this as possible on your budget. Also try to get as high a clock as possible, as this will also help a lot. Check on the program forums and check if the program benefits more from more cores or from higher clocks. Again, both is best. 

 

Rendering

Look at what I say for Multi-threaded, as they are almost always multi-threaded workloads.

 

Gaming

For gaming, the most number of cores I usually suggest is 8, as that is normally the max number of cores a game can handle. If you are wanting to stream, limiting the game to fewer cores may help maximize performance for both, or getting 10-12 cores can help do the same thing while maximizing cores available to both, but does cost more. Games definitely benefit from higher clocks. I would look at unlocked xeons (The E5-1660 has been overclocked to 5.0 GHz, using an Asus x79 pro.), as they exist, and doing some research, they can be found.

 

Server Workloads

Look at CAD.

 

PSU

For the PSU, I always recommend people get stuff that is at least 80+ bronze. Aim for about 55-75% of the rated wattage of the PSU, as that is the hump of the PSU efficiency. range. Just get the best you can afford for the budget of your PC. Don't always listen to the crowd, as they can be wrong, and I trust these guys more than some randoms.

 

EXAMPLE: If your average workload is going to use about 500 watts, aim for about an 800 watt PSU.

 

There are also many websites that I like to go to in order to "Vet" PSUs.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/PSUReviewDatabase.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/t/power-supplies/

http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/psu_power_supplies/

 

RAM

What type of RAM should you get? How much should you get? What speed?

 

To go over the types, there are 4 main types of RAM.

http://stores.ebay.com/GeeK-NoiZe-Memory-and-More/RAM-Types-Explained.html

 

But... how much should you get? 

 

That's up to you. 

For gaming I suggest 4-16 GB of the fastest speed the memory bus can support and you can afford. The amount is dependent on what you are trying to do. I can play War Thunder on movie graphics with everything maxed out playing tanks and stay at 120 FPS with 4 GB of 1333 normal desktop RAM in my server computer. If you can get a good deal, I guess more is fine, but is pretty much unnecessary for gaming. But who am I to speak this heresy? 

With most of these, you will have more than two channels of memory. Filling all the channels will give the best performance.

 

For other uses, I suggest looking at what the program developer recommends, as well as looking on the forums. Also look what the program prefers; speed or amount. While both is best, focus on what will be most beneficial if you can't afford the cream of the crop.

 

Peripherals  

This really depends on the user, and I will leave most things, like USB headers and RAID cards, up to you to decide.

 

Sound

There are 3 ways you can go with this.

 

Cheap-O USB 3.5mm jacks

For all but the most audiophilistic among you, this is definitely the best way to go as normally they are decent enough. These are the absolute cheapest way to go.

 

Sound Cards

Sound cards are add-in cards that plug into a PCI or PCI-E slot. They are not isolated from the board, and thus are not isolated from the ripples from the PSU. Higher quality Sound cards have very good isolation, but cost much more.

 

USB DAC

USB DACs are pretty much between sound cards and the USB jacks, but can always go off in the extreme. They are isolated from the ripple from the motherboard and PSU. However, a poor quality chipset in a DAC can cause problems.

 

Again, although I sound like a broken record, do your own research to find what is truly best for you.

 

Section 2: What issues am I likely to face?

When building server computers, there are many issues that you are likely to face. While these are often no different from normal desktop hardware, they are more likely since the hardware is much less common and therefor much less accounted for. 

 

Here are a few of the troubleshooting tips that I have.

 

If there are problems soon after AMD or Nvidia drivers are installed, try uninstalling or reverting. I know crimson has been giving me issues.

 

Be careful when installing Windows updates. Make sure that it makes restore points. I have had one or two give me issues. 

 

Follow troubleshooting guides for normal desktops. It is [in essence] a normal desktop, just with different hardware. The problems have been had before. If not, you should feel special, then post online. There will be people out there wanting to help.

 

I will not be going over Hard drives, SSDs, GPUs, or the like. There are already plenty of guides out there for you. I just felt there was a lack of a good guide on this topic out there. One thing that I do, and always will do, is harp on how important doing your own research is.  I am only a random on the internet. I am fallible, that's why I stress doing your own research. 

 

Section 3: What sort of hardware mods am I looking at?

Well, depends on what you're doing. As stated earlier, if you have an EATX case, that doesn't support SSI EEB or other proprietary you might have to drill some holes

http://www.instructables.com/id/Case-Mod-for-Non-Standard-Motherboard/

 

If you have clearance issues, be prepared to take some sort of saw to a component. It happens, and while I usually try to avoid it to maximize resale value, a working modified component is better than a non-working intact one. Just make sure you don't kill it. 

Do consult back here before doing so though.

 

If your computer is even smaller, you might have to remove the hard drive cage to make the motherboard fit. Be sure to use a drill bit just slightly larger than the pin itself to remove the rivet.

 

That should be the most extensive hardware mod you should have to do.

 

Section 4: Cooling

Especially if you follow the next step, I recommend getting a good cooler. Make sure that the cooler is compatible or comes with a compatible bracket. I managed to get a 120mm dual-thick AIO water cooler from Asetek on Ebay for $35. While it did not come from Asetek, and some of the fins were bent, it was easily fixed by running a slim toothpick through the gaps. 

 

While Xeons are much more energy efficient than their desktop components, they still do produce heat, and keeping them cool will let you sleep easy at night. Look at the max TDP of the chip, most will be around a 130 Watt max (Some do reach around 150 Watts.). A simple desktop cooler should suffice, as even a Hyper 212 Evo, the 'godsend cooler', can sufficiently cool an FX 8350, which has a max TDP of about the same. I even did a test run with a Freezer 64 Pro, and the max was about 63C (The E5-2680 has a 130 Watt TDP).  Do note this was also held down by elastic bands screwed in with mix matched screws.

 

As you will most likely be doing only minor overclocking, a standard cooler should be sufficient. Most of these chips were designed to be able to be cooled passively. There are plenty of guides out there on choosing the right cooler, so I don't care to be too redundant. :rolleyes:  

 

 

It was pointed out to me that I forgot to include that some companies, such as Super Micro, often use a slim mounting system. This should be explicitly stated on the specsheet, as Super Micro has some of the best manuals and short list information on the home page for websites. 

 

This just stresses how important it is to fact check me and to know how to perform critical research on your own.

 

Section 5: Profit?

Well, now that you have pretty much put it together, what now? 

 

While this in no way involves any form of profit to you, one thing I always like to say is to at least try Folding at Home or any other research project that you feel is important of your time. It's something I always tell my friends to do. FAH and others are fighting for a cause and ask you to use just a little more power to try to cure Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's, and many cancers by simply running a piece of software on your computer. 

 

While not directly profitable to you, it will be immensely beneficial and priceless when these horrible diseases are cured. These programs have already been used by companies to help develop drugs.

 

https://folding.stanford.edu/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distributed_computing_projects

Congratulations! You're done!

 

Hopefully you've been successful in your endeavors to build a Server Gaming/workstation PC. Feel free to now post photos of your system and let us know how it went. If you have something you feel is pertinent to have added to this, let me know. I'm not perfect and I know for a fact there are many things I have wanted to add but forgot, because horrible short-term memory. Y'know, can't have it all.

 

 

 

This guide will be updated as time goes on as either incorrect data is pointed out or information changes. 

 

I will be more than happy to ask any question that you have, so long as I feel that you actually have put time and effort into writing it.

[Guest]

LGA 2011 V0/V2 // Socket R

LGA 2011, also called Socket R, is a CPU socket by Intel. Released on 14 November 2011, it replaces Intel's LGA 1366 (Socket B) and LGA 1567 in the performance and high-end desktop and server platforms. The socket has 2011 protruding pins that touch contact points on the underside of the processor.

 

The LGA 2011 socket uses QPI to connect the CPU to additional CPUs. DMI 2.0 is used to connect the processor to the PCH. The memory controller and 40 PCI Express (PCIe) lanes are integrated on the CPU. On a secondary processor an extra ×4 PCIe interface replaces the DMI interface. As with its predecessor LGA 1366, there is no provisioning for integrated graphics. This socket supports four DDR3  memory channels with up to three unbuffered or registered DIMMs per channel, as well as up to 40 PCI Express 2.0 or 3.0 lanes. LGA 2011 also has to ensure platform scalability beyond eight cores and 20 MB of cache.

 

The LGA 2011 socket is used by Sandy Bridge-E/EP and Ivy Bridge-E/EP processors with the corresponding X79 (E – enthusiast class) and C600-series (EP – Xeon class) chipsets. LGA 2011-1, an updated generation of the socket and the successor of LGA 1567, is used for Ivy Bridge-EX (Xeon E7 v2) CPUs, which were released in February 2014. LGA 2011-v3 (also referred to as LGA 2011-3) is another updated generation of the socket, used for Haswell-E and Haswell-EP CPUs, which were released in August and September 2014, respectively. Updated socket generations are physically similar to LGA 2011, but the used electrical signals and ILM keying prevent them from being backward compatible with older CPUs.

 

Pros

PCI-E Gen 3 support

AUp to 40 PCI-e Gen 3 channels per processor (Yes, some support 80 lanes)

More likely to have USB 3.0

Most include SATA 3

LGA 2011 v2 have up to 12 cores

Quad channel RAM per CPU

WAY cheaper than LGA 2011 v3

 

Cons

LGA 2011 has been heavily locked down except for a few chips

Much more expensive than LGA 1366

 

In my experience, LGA 2011 costs about 50% more than LGA 1366. It is difficult to find dual-socket motherboards for much under $200. I managed to nab my E5-2680 for $190. I overall decided that this really gave the best performance for me for the price. I spent $390 on the two. 

 

This generation also has a vastly superior turbo boost mode, allowing for a much higher turbo than the previous generation. This generation also allows up to 12 cores. The fastest CPUs (E5 V1 series) are the E5-2687W for 8 core CPUs at 3.1-3.8 GHz (Up to 2 CPUs) and the E5-1620 quad core at 3.6-3.8 GHz (One max CPU). There are also some faster ones in the E5 V2 seres with one Hex-Core CPU which is clocked at 3.7-4.0 GHz.

 

The E5-2680 that I have is clocked at 2.7-3.5 GHz, which I have found to be more than sufficient to run my GPU. 

 

Who is this generation for?

In my opinion, this generation gives the best price-performance ratio. As it is not the newest generation, many datacenters are getting rid of them as they replace them. These will be available for a long time, and price will continue to decrease, however, this price fluctuation is very slow. 

It is new enough to often be supported by newer hardware, and I have had very few problems installing an r9 290x in it and overclocking it to 1130/5400. 

While it is not the cheapest, there are some great deals out there to be found.

 

LGA 2011-v3

LGA 2011-v3 is essentially the same as LGA 2011, despite not being compatible. Look for pros and cons for differences

 

Pros

Supports DDR4

Supports even more cores (Up to 18)

Most modern and often has USB 3.0/3.1

Many more SATA III ports

 

Cons

The most expensive

BIntel stopped making motherboards

 

For this I am just going to copy-paste a few of the specs from a few different sources, as well as from a few motherboards.

 

Fastest

Xeon E5-2699 v3 18 36 2.3 GHz 3.6 GHz 45 MB 9.6 GT/s 145 W 1600/1866/2133 Xeon E5-2643 v3 6 12 3.4 GHz 3.7 GHz 20 MB 9.6 GT/s 135 W

1600/1866/2133

 

TYAN designed its S7077 server motherboard to support (2) Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 v3, (4+4) DDR-4 DIMM Slots, (1) PCI-E G3 x16 slots, (1) PCI-E G3 x8 slot, (1) PCI-E G3 x4 8 mezzanine slot, (2) 1000BASE-T GbE ports, and (10) SATA 6G ports. The TYAN S7077 is a reliable and affordable general purpose motherboard that delivers the dependability and value that SMB customers appreciate.

 

http://www.asus.com/us/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/Z10PED162L10G2T/specifications/

 

Who is this generation for?

LGA 2011-v3 is for those who want to be on the cutting edge. It will be expensive, and you can spend thousands of dollars on getting just the CPU. These do provide the best performance, but do so at cost. 

 

 

 

 

MOTHERBOARD:

Hopefully you have read enough to give you a generic idea of what generation you want to go with. I will not be going over each generation specifically, but will be giving very important information regarding things to be on the lookout for.

 

#1 MOST IMPORTANT THING! 

MAKE SURE THE MOTHERBOARD SUPPORTS DISCRETE GRAPHICS!!!

 

I can't stress the importance of this. While I would say 99% of them will, I almost bought one that doesn't. In Intel ARK, and on the manufacturer websites, this can be found for most motherboards. 

 

For the most part, workstation motherboards  are your best bet. As they often support both dual CPUs, more x16 electrical slots, and on-board sound, they are more game-ready than most others. Some may even support SLI or X-fire, although this is rare.

 

Also be sure to check the SATA type that the motherboard has and make sure it lines up with what you want.

Also take into account whether or not you will need add-in cards and factor those into the costs. A cheap USB to 3.5mm converter will easily stand in for on-board sound like mine. You might also need a USB add-in card in the case you have a crazy number of USB devices you need to plug in. 

 

Step by step (This will work for most, but always look at what works best for you.

1- Check for the ability to use discrete graphics

2- How many CPUs do you want? 1? 2? 4?

3- How many add-in cards do you need? Check the number of PCI/PCI-e slots are available.

4- If you need many GPUs, check that many GPUs can be installed. Also check for RAM placement, as it can interfere with some PCI-E slots if they overlap. (Look at S2600CP series for an example)

5-Check the SATA revision. Does not matter a whole lot for normal HDDs, but makes a large difference for SSDs.

6- Check for form factor. SSI EEB will fit into EATX cases with a few modifications. It only takes a few holes and motherboard standoffs to make it compatible. Be careful when looking at the shape as well.

C

Another important factor is price, but it really is independent from the above. Price essentially dictates the above, and is pretty much the filter through which you look at the motherboards.

 

 

It's difficult to make a guide for everyone, but do your research and read some reviews. I'll be happy to answer any questions and try to help.

 

ALSO: Make sure that when you are getting two CPUs, that you are getting the same stepping. This is something that Linus neglected to acknowledge when making his video. While it is possible to potentially get it to work together, this just leads up to problems. Stepping is essentially the maturity of the lithography. The later the number, the later the model. These may incorporate minor upgrades to prevent bugs, or may have slightly larger changes in the case of larger problems.

 

CPU

The CPU is really dictated by the motherboard, as the number of sockets on the motherboard dictates the series. 

I will be using the E5 series for my examples, as it is pretty much the easiest to understand. For other generations, you're gonna have to look it up. A quick google should be sufficient.

 

My CPU is the E5-2680

That actually means a whole lot more than what you might think.

E5 is the series, there are three main series, E3, E5, and E7. These essentially are similar to i3, i5, and i7. While the characteristics are definitely not the same, the idea is. If you want to learn more about each, a quick google search should suffice. 

The next number is 2. You will see 3 primary numbers in this position, 1xxx, 2xxx, and 4xxx. This tells how many QPI links there are, as well as how many CPUs can be used on a motherboard.

the next number is 6, which denotes socket type.

The last two numbers denote Skus, 

 

This information can be found on Intel's website.

 

This, again is really up to you to decide what you want.

 

My suggestion, as always, it to get the best hardware you can afford at the time. 

 

Another question might be where to get these Xeons. I am in no ways opposed to Ebay, it's where I got most of my hardware. The only new pieces of hardware is a 700 watt power supply, (29.99 Newegg Thermaltake) and the mounting bracket from Asetek. 

 

The Xeon was also coated in thermal paste, but don't really let that dissuade you. It just takes a little rubbing alcohol to fix. 

 

How to decide what type of Xeon is best for you.

 

What is your primary goal for this build?

 

CAD

Alright, do a little research. How many threads does it support? Another important thing is to know if it is single-thread heavy, such as physics simulations. Figure out what the company suggests.

 

Single-Threaded heavy workload

- With this, your goal should be a dual or quad core processor with the absolute fastest speed. Also look for those which may be overclocked. I know there are some LGA 2011 CPUs which are unlocked. There are many forums on this, and can be found with a simple google search. Note that I believe it was the E5-1660.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/xeon-e5-1620-v2-oc.191422/

 

Multi-threaded workloads

- Look at the most number of cores that the program supports. Try to get as close to this as possible on your budget. Also try to get as high a clock as possible, as this will also help a lot. Check on the program forums and check if the program benefits more from more cores or from higher clocks. Again, both is best. 

 

Rendering

Look at what I say for Multi-threaded, as they are almost always multi-threaded workloads.

 

Gaming

For gaming, the most number of cores I usually suggest is 8, as that is normally the max number of cores a game can handle. If you are wanting to stream, limiting the game to fewer cores may help maximize performance for both, or getting 10-12 cores can help do the same thing while maximizing cores available to both, but does cost more. Games definitely benefit from higher clocks. I would look at unlocked xeons (The E5-1660 has been overclocked to 5.0 GHz, using an Asus x79 pro.), as they exist, and doing some research, they can be found.

 

Server Workloads

Look at CAD.

 

RAM

What type of RAM should you get? How much should you get? What speed?

 

To go over the types, there are 4 main types of RAM.

http://stores.ebay.com/GeeK-NoiZe-Memory-and-More/RAM-Types-Explained.html

 

But... how much should you get? 

 

That's up to you. 

For gaming I suggest 4-16 GB of the fastest speed the memory bus can support and you can afford. The amount is dependent on what you are trying to do. I can play War Thunder on movie graphics with everything maxed out playing tanks and stay at 120 FPS with 4 GB of 1333 normal desktop RAM in my server computer. If you can get a good deal, I guess more is fine, but is pretty much unnecessary for gaming. But who am I to speak this heresy? 

With most of these, you will have more than two channels of memory. Filling all the channels will give the best performance.

 

For other uses, I suggest looking at what the program developer recommends, as well as looking on the forums. Also look what the program prefers; speed or amount. While both is best, focus on what will be most beneficial if you can't afford the cream of the crop.

 

Peripherals  

This really depends on the user, and I will leave most things, like USB headers and RAID cards, up to you to decide.

 

Sound

There are 3 ways you can go with this.

 

Cheap-O USB 3.5mm jacks

For all but the most audiophilistic among you, this is definitely the best way to go as normally they are decent enough. These are the absolute cheapest way to go.

 

Sound Cards

Sound cards are add-in cards that plug into a PCI or PCI-E slot. They are not isolated from the board, and thus are not isolated from the ripples from the PSU. Higher quality Sound cards have very good isolation, but cost much more.

 

USB DAC

USB DACs are pretty much between sound cards and the USB jacks, but can always go off in the extreme. They are isolated from the ripple from the motherboard and PSU. However, a poor quality chipset in a DAC can cause problems.

 

Again, although I sound like a broken record, do your own research to find what is truly best for you.

 

Section 2: What issues am I likely to face?

When building server computers, there are many issues that you are likely to face. While these are often no different from normal desktop hardware, they are more likely since the hardware is much less common and therefor much less accounted for. 

 

Here are a few of the troubleshooting tips that I have.

 

If there are problems soon after AMD or Nvidia drivers are installed, try uninstalling or reverting. I know crimson has been giving me issues.

 

Be careful when installing Windows updates. Make sure that it makes restore points. I have had one or two give me issues. 

 

Follow troubleshooting guides for normal desktops. It is [in essence] a normal desktop, just with different hardware. The problems have been had before. If not, you should feel special, then post online. There will be people out there wanting to help.

 

I will not be going over Hard drives, SSDs, GPUs, or the like. There are already plenty of guides out there for you. I just felt there was a lack of a good guide on this topic out there. One thing that I do, and always will do, is harp on how important doing your own research is.  I am only a random on the internet. I am fallible, that's why I stress doing your own research. 

 

Section 3: What sort of hardware mods am I looking at?

Well, depends on what you're doing. As stated earlier, if you have an EATX case, that doesn't support SSI EEB or other proprietary you might have to drill some holes

http://www.instructables.com/id/Case-Mod-for-Non-Standard-Motherboard/

 

If you have clearance issues, be prepared to take some sort of saw to a component. It happens, and while I usually try to avoid it to maximize resale value, a working modified component is better than a non-working intact one. Just make sure you don't kill it. 

Do consult back here before doing so though.

 

If your computer is even smaller, you might have to remove the hard drive cage to make the motherboard fit. Be sure to use a 1/8" drill bit to remove the rivet.

 

That should be the most extensive hardware mod you should have to do.

 

Section 4: Cooling

Especially if you follow the next step, I recommend getting a good cooler. Make sure that the cooler is compatible or comes with a compatible bracket. I managed to get a 120mm dual-thick AIO water cooler from Asetek on Ebay for $35. While it did not come from Asetek, and some of the fins were bent, it was easily fixed by running a slim toothpick through the gaps. 

 

While Xeons are much more energy efficient than their desktop components, they still do produce heat, and keeping them cool will let you sleep easy at night. Look at the max TDP of the chip, most will be around a 130 Watt max (Some do reach around 150 Watts.). A simple desktop cooler should suffice, as even a Hyper 212 Evo, the 'godsend cooler', can sufficiently cool an FX 8350, which has a max TDP of about the same. I even did a test run with a Freezer 64 Pro, and the max was about 63C (The E5-2680 has a 130 Watt TDP).  Do note this was also held down by elastic bands screwed in with mix matched screws.

 

As you will most likely be doing only minor overclocking, a standard cooler should be sufficient. Most of these chips were designed to be able to be cooled passively. There are plenty of guides out there on choosing the right cooler, so I don't care to be too redundant. :rolleyes:  

 

Section 5: Profit?

Well, now that you have pretty much put it together, what now? 

 

While this in no way involves any form of profit to you, one thing I always like to say is to at least try Folding at Home or any other research project that you feel is important of your time. It's something I always tell my friends to do. FAH and others are fighting for a cause and ask you to use just a little more power to try to cure Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's, and many cancers by simply running a piece of software on your computer. 

 

While not directly profitable to you, it will be immensely beneficial and priceless when these horrible diseases are cured. These programs have already been used by companies to help develop drugs.

 

https://folding.stanford.edu/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_distributed_computing_projects

Congratulations! You're done!

 

Hopefully you've been successful in your endeavors to build a Server Gaming/workstation PC. Feel free to now post photos of your system and let us know how it went. If you have something you feel is pertinent to have added to this, let me know. I'm not perfect and I know for a fact there are many things I have wanted to add but forgot, because horrible short-term memory. Y'know, can't have it all.

 

 

 

This guide will be updated as time goes on as either incorrect data is pointed out or information changes. 

 

I will be more than happy to ask any question that you have, so long as I feel that you actually have put time and effort into writing it.

A - The CPU's are all limited to 40 PCI lanes

B - Intel most certainly still manufacture server grade motherboards

C - You also missed out that there are two mounting points for LGA 2011 and 2011-3 - standard and then the narrow ILM. The majority of Supermicro boards use a narrow ILM cooler mount.

 

Interesting guide however I don't quite see the purpose of dual Xeon rigs for gaming..

[PlayStation 2]

[2FA]

This was a really good read, it's even applicable if someone is looking to buy older parts for a server.

[FAQBytes]

A - The CPU's are all limited to 40 PCI lanes

B - Intel most certainly still manufacture server grade motherboards

C - You also missed out that there are two mounting points for LGA 2011 and 2011-3 - standard and then the narrow ILM. The majority of Supermicro boards use a narrow ILM cooler mount.

 

Interesting guide however I don't quite see the purpose of dual Xeon rigs for gaming..

A- I'm not sure exactly where I said the CPU exceeds 40 lanes, I know I have seen some dual CPU motherboards out there in excess of 40 lanes.

B- Hmm... I'll have to double check this. I thought they stopped at LGA 2011-v3. If I find I am wrong, this will be reflected in the original post.

C- Thank you for the clarification.

 

I have a part in there specifically about that. 

"Gaming

For gaming, the most number of cores I usually suggest is 8, as that is normally the max number of cores a game can handle. If you are wanting to stream, limiting the game to fewer cores may help maximize performance for both, or getting 10-12 cores can help do the same thing while maximizing cores available to both, but does cost more. Games definitely benefit from higher clocks. I would look at unlocked xeons (The E5-1660 has been overclocked to 5.0 GHz, using an Asus x79 pro.), as they exist, and doing some research, they can be found."

 

This isn't exclusively for dual socket gaming. This guide should also take into account 1 and 4 socket systems as well. It just allows for more things to go on, at least in my case anyways.

[Guest]

A- I'm not sure exactly where I said the CPU exceeds 40 lanes, I know I have seen some dual CPU motherboards out there in excess of 40 lanes.

B- Hmm... I'll have to double check this. I thought they stopped at LGA 2011-v3. If I find I am wrong, this will be reflected in the original post.

C- Thank you for the clarification.

 

I have a part in there specifically about that. 

"Gaming

For gaming, the most number of cores I usually suggest is 8, as that is normally the max number of cores a game can handle. If you are wanting to stream, limiting the game to fewer cores may help maximize performance for both, or getting 10-12 cores can help do the same thing while maximizing cores available to both, but does cost more. Games definitely benefit from higher clocks. I would look at unlocked xeons (The E5-1660 has been overclocked to 5.0 GHz, using an Asus x79 pro.), as they exist, and doing some research, they can be found."

 

This isn't exclusively for dual socket gaming. This guide should also take into account 1 and 4 socket systems as well. It just allows for more things to go on, at least in my case anyways.

A"Up to 40 PCI-e Gen 3 channels per processor (Yes, some support 80 lanes)"

B - I can confirm as I've sold them..

[thekeemo]

A - The CPU's are all limited to 40 PCI lanes

B - Intel most certainly still manufacture server grade motherboards

C - You also missed out that there are two mounting points for LGA 2011 and 2011-3 - standard and then the narrow ILM. The majority of Supermicro boards use a narrow ILM cooler mount.

 

Interesting guide however I don't quite see the purpose of dual Xeon rigs for gaming..

Please. You have been here long enough to know not to quote walls of text

[PlayStation 2]

Please. You have been here long enough to know not to quote walls of text

inb4 b& jk

[Guest]

Please. You have been here long enough to know not to quote walls of text

If you expand the quotes you'll see the ABC makes reference to certain points.

[thekeemo]

If you expand the quotes you'll see the ABC makes reference to certain points.

But do you really have to copy all that? Couldnt you just copy the sentences?

[FAQBytes]

A"Up to 40 PCI-e Gen 3 channels per processor (Yes, some support 80 lanes)"

B - I can confirm as I've sold them..

I stand corrected. I will remove.

 

EDIT: Note added to cooling.

 

EDIT: Oh, I see where the confusion comes in. Will clarify.

[Guest]

But do you really have to copy all that? Couldnt you just copy the sentences?

Doing it as I went through..

[FAQBytes]

All feedback is welcome, and lets me know that what I put my time into is actually helping the society.

[GloriousPain]

Interesting guide may follow for a low end 1366 or highish end 771/775 buildprobably as a fun challenge, and to pay my respects to older harder before I was as much a tech enthusiast as I am now. Maybe give it as a gift to a relative or something or just help out a charity or use it for some F@H 

[FAQBytes]

Interesting guide may follow for a low end 1366 or highish end 771/775 buildprobably as a fun challenge, and to pay my respects to older harder before I was as much a tech enthusiast as I am now. Maybe give it as a gift to a relative or something or just help out a charity or use it for some F@H

Be sure to link the build in here if you do wind up building one.

[mikat]

A"Up to 40 PCI-e Gen 3 channels per processor (Yes, some support 80 lanes)"

B - I can confirm as I've sold them..

so can you run 5 16x cards on two processors?

[Guest]

so can you run 5 16x cards on two processors?

Theoretically yes, practically no - those PCIe lanes are also shared with NIC's, PCIe storage interfaces like M.2 as well as numerous other possible add ons to the motherboard

[mikat]

Theoretically yes, practically no - those PCIe lanes are also shared with NIC's, PCIe storage interfaces like M.2 as well as numerous other possible add ons to the motherboard

do 100 Gbit NICs exist? because that would be an awesome use for all those lanes haha

2x DC3608 + 100 Gbit network = awesome

[Guest]

do 100 Gbit NICs exist? because that would be an awesome use for all those lanes haha

2x DC3610 + 100 Gbit network = awesome

Yeah 100Gbit is a thing though I'm not too sure why you want 3610's. 3608's or 3700's would be a better bet.

[mikat]

Yeah 100Gbit is a thing though I'm not too sure why you want 3610's. 3608's or 3700's would be a better bet.

i meant 3608's sorry haha

[GloriousPain]

Be sure to link the build in here if you do wind up building one.

Will do, probably gonna do it after the holiday season though and still debating what parts to get, any specific 1366(maybe 115(6/5)) chips you'd recommend? 2011 too but I don't think my budgets quite that high, If I go 77(1/5) probably gonna go X5450 if I go  1366 debating Intel Xeon W3530 cause I'm finding them for like $5 each questioning why they're so cheap, or a Hexacore but I can't find any decent hexacores that don't lose all sense of price/performance. 

[FAQBytes]

Will do, probably gonna do it after the holiday season though and still debating what parts to get, any specific 1366(maybe 115(6/5)) chips you'd recommend? 2011 too but I don't think my budgets quite that high, If I go 77(1/5) probably gonna go X5450 if I go  1366 debating Intel Xeon W3530 cause I'm finding them for like $5 each questioning why they're so cheap, or a Hexacore but I can't find any decent hexacores that don't lose all sense of price/performance. 

Budget?

[GloriousPain]

Budget?

$400-600 for a whole system (case and inside case, OS/KB/M/Monitor aren't needed) 

 

my rough price estimates of the system

Base platform(CPU/RAM/MOBO): $150-250 (debating 771/5 high end vs 1366 mid end vs 2011 low end vs random 1155 stuff)

Graphics card setup:  $150-200 (290, 7970, 7990, 680, 690 if Pcie gen 2+) (if pcie 1 6970 6990 480 580 or 590 within  a $75-150 budget)

Solid state drive 120ish GB:  $10-50 (only if Sata 2 or 3 ports on mobo if not $0)

1TB+ Hard drive space: $10-25

Case: $20-50

Powersupply:  $40-50 (maybe used if good deal maybe new not sure)

CPU Cooler: $5-50 ($25/Cpu if 2 cpus)

if budget allows and system calls for it maybe an AIO cpu cooler and zip ties for graphics card

any tips on any components would be nice if I learn anything of note for your guide I'll be sure to give you the info...

[TheRandomness]

@FAQBytes Missing a k in workstation in the title

[FAQBytes]

@FAQBytes Missing a k in workstation in the title

Oh wow, I knew some revisions were necessary, but I am ashamed...

 

Unfortunately I have no control over topic title, so I shall now proceed to tag mods/admins to request that the word "Workstation" in the title is corrected by adding in the letter "k" in between the "r" and "s" in the word. 

*Ahem*neverhappened*Ahem*

 

Sorry if you are the wrong people to ask, but you are the only ones currently online that have the power to resolve the issue.