Dual Xeon E5-2695v3, 128GB DDR4 ECC, 4TB SSD + 2-way SLI GTX 980

[skylane]

So I'm half way through my build. Thus far:

 

1 Xeon E5-2695v3 (5% OC at 2.41Ghz to 3.49Ghz TB)

Noctua NH-U12S CPU cooler

64GB DDR4 ECC (Crucial 4X16GB)

Asus Z10PE-D16 WS motherboard

EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0

Fractal Design Define XL R2 case 

Corsair AX1200i

1TB Samsung EVO Pro SSD

Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

4 Noctua 140mm fans 

Das keyboard

Razor Chroma mouse

32" Samsung 1080p monitor

 

Notes:

1. First off the workstation Asus motherboard is an EEB sized board - similar in size to an E-ATX board but 2 of the retainer holes do not match up. The middle top and middle right side holes. All other holes align. I used regular mounting offsets with plastic tabs to keep it from shorting the board and maintaining board support. Don't know why it was so hard getting definitive information as to how the EEB board will align with E-ATX mount holes but there you have it. 

2. The Noctua NH-U12S keeps the Xeon between 5 to 20 degrees Celsius above ambient at idle and at full load respectively (never hit above 47 degree core temp at full load). Even in low 80's ambient it kept max temp at 47 at full load. 

3. Quick benchmarks:

  1. Geekbench 3 (32-bit trial mode) 3064 single / 35,329 multi-core

  2. Cinebench R15: 144 fps OpenGL (Single GTX 980) 2030 (CPU)

  3. 3DMark Firestrike: 13,275

  4. Linpack: 447Gflops

 

On order:

1. Second Xeon E5-2695v3

2. Additional 64GB DDR4 ECC memory

3. 3 more 1TB Samsung EVO Pro SSD for RAID 0 array

4. 2 WB 6TB Red HDD for RAID 1 backup array

5. Second GTX 980 for 2-way SLI

6. LG 34" curved ultrawide 1440p monitor

 

This isn't a gaming rig - yea I'll pay the occasional game but is mostly a financial modeling workstation with some minor content creation. I'll be swapping out the Asus Z10PE-D16 WS for the D8 model because the board design on the D16 doesn't allow for the use of one of the X16 PCIe slots because of the RAM placement for CPU 1. Hoping to throw in a couple Xeon Phi Knights Landing when they come out later this year. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

What is the point of the 980s? This hardly seems like a gaming build, the GPUs seem out of place. 

[the ginger gamer]

Amazing build but just to let you know the 980ti is better than the 980 and not much more money, maybe check that out.

[the ginger gamer]

What is the point of the 980s? This hardly seems like a gaming build, the GPUs seem out of place. 

The card can be used for cuda acceleration in many different applications. Gpu are not only for gaming, though that is one of their main uses it is not their only one. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

The card can be used for cuda acceleration in many different applications. Gpu are not only for gaming, though that is one of their main uses it is not their only one. 

True, but GTX cards are not designed for that. They are primarily gaming cards, designed and marketed to gamers. Quadro or FirePro cards would make more sense. 

 

He also said SLI 980s, which is entirely a gaming feature. Rendering, 3D and other applications will see no benefit from SLI, compared to just having the two cards without the bridge. Unless he just means two of them, by SLI. 

 

EDIT: Just to clear it up. I know that GPUs are not only for gaming. I was referring to these GPUs in particular. They're not designed for workstations. Even the original Titan or Titan Black could be better for their double precision capabilities, but even then, it doesn't make sense. For the workloads that will likely be placed on this machine, actual workstation cards would perform much better. 

[skylane]

The GTX 980 is primarily for gaming and light CUDA acceleration. I have an HP DL380p Gen8 with dual Telsa accelerators (headless) that I use for most of the actual run-time modeling but that rack server is LOAD. The XL R2 with air cooled Xeon is bedroom quiet.

 

Was thinking about getting an AMD W9100 for the DP workload but that card is louder than what I want next to me most of the time. 

[the ginger gamer]

True, but GTX cards are not designed for that. They are primarily gaming cards, designed and marketed to gamers. Quadro or FirePro cards would make more sense. 

 

He also said SLI 980s, which is entirely a gaming feature. Rendering, 3D and other applications will see no benefit from SLI, compared to just having the two cards without the bridge. Unless he just means two of them, by SLI. 

 

EDIT: Just to clear it up. I know that GPUs are not only for gaming. I was referring to these GPUs in particular. They're not designed for workstations. Even the original Titan or Titan Black could be better for their double precision capabilities, but even then, it doesn't make sense. For the workloads that will likely be placed on this machine, actual workstation cards would perform much better. 

I totally see what you are saying, i didnt notice that he said sli and i do agree with you about that.

[skylane]

I'm switching out the GTX 980 for the GTX 980 Ti once they are in good supply. Considering the EVGA Titan X hybrid hydro card but I'm not sure how load the pump would be on it. 

[skylane]

Second EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0 arrived. Big jump in fps in Witcher 3. 

 

 

[Hodor]

Why don't you put it on the floor?

[skylane]

I had it on the floor but we have a dog and I got sick of vacuuming the filters every few days. Off the floor made a huge difference, especially since he likes to snuggle under the desk right next to where it used to be on the floor.

[Sir Asvald]

I had it on the floor but we have a dog and I got sick of vacuuming the filters every few days. Off the floor made a huge difference, especially since he likes to snuggle under the desk right next to where it used to be on the floor.

What's with the HP server?

[skylane]

What's with the HP server?

Financial modeling and trading analysis runs on it (day job). It runs headless in a closet.

[Sir Asvald]

Financial modeling and trading analysis runs on it (day job). It runs headless in a closet.

Ohh, that is interesting So, like an accountant or something different?

[skylane]

Ohh, that is interesting So, like an accountant or something different?

No I'm a securities trader. Run pricing analysis on it 24/7. It's much more cost effective running my own compute server as opposed to leasing cloud time on AWS for example.

[hearthofsin]

cable management could be better (just saying) but god damn it's a nice build. i love the noctua fans and cooler  

[skylane]

cable management could be better (just saying) but god damn it's a nice build. i love the noctua fans and cooler

Oh, I def think so too. Pretty good though considering my 4 year old son "helped" me build it and I had a dog licking my ear the whole time. Lol. It helps not having a see-through side case tho !

[nokia3310]

So I'm half way through my build. Thus far:

 

1 Xeon E5-2695v3 (5% OC at 2.41Ghz to 3.49Ghz TB)

Noctua NH-U12S CPU cooler

64GB DDR4 ECC (Crucial 4X16GB)

Asus Z10PE-D16 WS motherboard

EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0

Fractal Design Define XL R2 case 

Corsair AX1200i

1TB Samsung EVO Pro SSD

Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

4 Noctua 140mm fans 

Das keyboard

Razor Chroma mouse

32" Samsung 1080p monitor

 

Notes:

1. First off the workstation Asus motherboard is an EEB sized board - similar in size to an E-ATX board but 2 of the retainer holes do not match up. The middle top and middle right side holes. All other holes align. I used regular mounting offsets with plastic tabs to keep it from shorting the board and maintaining board support. Don't know why it was so hard getting definitive information as to how the EEB board will align with E-ATX mount holes but there you have it. 

2. The Noctua NH-U12S keeps the Xeon between 5 to 20 degrees Celsius above ambient at idle and at full load respectively (never hit above 47 degree core temp at full load). Even in low 80's ambient it kept max temp at 47 at full load. 

3. Quick benchmarks:

  1. Geekbench 3 (32-bit trial mode) 3064 single / 35,329 multi-core

  2. Cinebench R15: 144 fps OpenGL (Single GTX 980) 2030 (CPU)

  3. 3DMark Firestrike: 13,275

  4. Linpack: 447Gflops

 

On order:

1. Second Xeon E5-2695v3

2. Additional 64GB DDR4 ECC memory

3. 3 more 1TB Samsung EVO Pro SSD for RAID 0 array

4. 2 WB 6TB Red HDD for RAID 1 backup array

5. Second GTX 980 for 2-way SLI

6. LG 34" curved ultrawide 1440p monitor

 

This isn't a gaming rig - yea I'll pay the occasional game but is mostly a financial modeling workstation with some minor content creation. I'll be swapping out the Asus Z10PE-D16 WS for the D8 model because the board design on the D16 doesn't allow for the use of one of the X16 PCIe slots because of the RAM placement for CPU 1. Hoping to throw in a couple Xeon Phi Knights Landing when they come out later this year. 

I have been asking this question on another forum http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/438287-please-help-will-this-supermicro-workstation-be-loud/

 

How did you fit the XL R2 with the ASUS Z10PE-D16 motherboard? pcpartpicker alerted that the two are not ocmpatible.

How did you do it?

 

Thanks

[venturi]

Very nice build, all the way from the Noctua fans all the way to the uber motherboard. And good CPUs

It's a great combo!

What bios are you using ?

If there is a setting in your bios for above 4g decoding you should enable it.

Also with that Xeon you might also considering using cache on die

Enable Nima, enable fast in the qpi

In CSM,enable UEFI for network, storage, and other devices but leave video to legacy

In boot allow boot to be both legacy and uefi

With that heat sink you might be pulling air from above video card that's been warmed, when you get the second cup it will make a big difference

Also adding one fan in the cup train on the front of the 2nd cup will keep both CPUs cool and the TIM on that Xeon and heat sink might transfer better for the multicore for less resistance, might consider "thermal grizzly"

With your axi1200 PSU make sure it's set to single rail oc. Otherwise it will cause hickups on the sli

Unfortunately you'll have to use the pathetic corsai link software and the links sub dongle, but once you set it, you'll never have to use the software again and you can uninstall it

Feel free to ask questions

Ciao

V