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Budget Workstation Rig for Video Editing and Graphic Design Work - Exploring recycling old Xeon Hardware.

Budget (including currency): 250 usd

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Davinci Resolve, Adobe Photoshop, OBS

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): GTX1050TI, Cooler Master Masterbox 5 (build would be around 350 including the graphics card and the case.)


These parts we have received: 
 

Processor: Xeon E5-2650 V2 8 Cores 16 Threads 2.6 ghz 3.5ghz Turbo: 30 USD

EUKGors.jpg

 

Motherboard: Dell T Precision 3600 Server Board: 45 USD
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Ram: 32 GB Crucial DDR3 ECC Memory @1600mhz for Dell Precision T3600: 65 USD
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Cooler: Enermax ETS-T40 Fit up to 200W TDP Air Cooler for Lga 775/1366/1150/2011: 29 USD

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These parts we are still waiting on:
 

Storage: 

Kingston 240gb SSD Sata 3 2.5": 26USD
Western Digital 1TB Blue 7200RPM Sata 6 Gb/s: 40usd

8in 24 Pin ATX 2.01 Power Extention cable Atx (m) to Atx (f): 6 Usd
6 Pin PCIE M to Female Power Extension Cable: 3.5 USD

Part we need to return:

EVGA 500B 80+ BRONZE PSU: 47usd

Parts in consideration after the PSU return: 
Antec EA-650 Green 12V 80+ Bronze 650W Psu: 48 usd


Hurdles about this build:

We will need to do something similar to what Linus did in scrapyard wars with the Lenovo pcs where we have to rewire the power supply to work on the proprietary pinout, luckily someone on the Hardware Canucks forum named Enaberif has already successfully done this and has provided a pinout map of the connector

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The ECC memory only works with a 630W + PSU from the server it was supposed to be in, so unless we have a way to ignore the ECC requirement, we will need to ship back the PSU we bought on ebay to find something with a 650W+ 80+ bronze rating that will still fit in our budget. (has to be around or the same price we paid for the 500W unit).

Soldering Iron Required, I do not own one myself, but I have a friend in town in one who will let me use theirs, so additional cost for solder is also something to keep in mind.

If anyone can I need recommendations on any old PSUs [pref with an 80+bronze rating] that they could recommend  within the budget of 48-50 usd that have the ketchup and mustard cables so that I wouldn't feel bad destroying a modern psu for this, thank you in advance!

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  • 2 weeks later...

hopefully either today or tomorrow completes the build, I spent the last 4 hours making an adapter for the 24 pin to use dells proprietary layout: IMG_20210115_051633041.jpg

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unfortunately we were not successful as the ecc memory refuses to boot with the makeshift adapter, I've decided the best plan of action then is get the OEM PSU and the power distribution board, and find a way to mount in inside of the case, updates soon.

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