Converting Used Server to Workstation

[ninjaman2000]

I do a lot of 3d cad stressing my 5820K overclocked to 4.1GHz. I am constantly waiting for flies to poses for 2 or 3 minutes. I was think of buying a used Dell PowerEdge R900 Server 4x Xeon X7350 QC 2.93GHz 128GB 5x 1TB PERC6i RPS http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R900-Server-4x-Xeon-X7350-QC-2-93GHz-128GB-5x-1TB-PERC6i-RPS-/172070117378?hash=item28102da002:g:6FIAAOSwP~tW1vZ5&autorefresh=true  my thought was to load my cad programs on to a ram disk along with my files so loading times would be reduced. I would put a quadro in the server by a pci 16x to 8x adapter. However I do not know if this server would run windows 10 or 7. I would also like to know the performance of the CPUs. According to http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-X7350-vs-Intel-Core-i7-5820K  the performance of 4 xeon x7350 would be 3.11 times faster the the 5820k. This is the speck list for the server http://www.dell.com/us/dfb/p/poweredge-r900/pd  the server runs windows server 2008 can windows server 2008 run windows 10 in a virtual machine will little to know performance hits or would I be beater of not using windows server and just installing window 10 or 7. 

 

I appreciate your time and am open to suggestions

[SLAYR]

I would see about upgrading the cpus to some of the hex core cpus for a fraction of the  price more.

 

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-Four-Intel-Xeon-X7460-SLG9P-2-66GHz-16M-1066-Six-Core-CPU-DELL-R900-/282061191670?nav=SEARCH

 

24c/48t over 16c/32t is probabbly worth the extra $60, but the cpus are nehalem based so even something like dual e5 2670s would probabbly be better performing, and save a lot less power since you will have 4 x 130w (520w) for just the cpus and with modern cpus you can get that down to about 260w. The only downside is that the e5s will cost more.

[ninjaman2000]

so you think that I will receive a noticeable multi threaded performance increase compared to a 5820k. Do you think there will be any problems running windows 10 or seven on this computer. What about drivers will old servers?

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I would see about upgrading the cpus to some of the hex core cpus for a fraction of the  price more.

 

[scottyseng]

3 minutes ago, ninjaman2000 said:

so you think that I will receive a noticeable multi threaded performance increase compared to a 5820k. Do you think there will be any problems running windows 10 or seven on this computer. What about drivers will old servers?

 

You should see an improvement, but this is going to use quite a bit of power to do so...you might consider a newer generation of Xeon. It should run Windows 10 just fine, but yeah, driver support might be an issue. Also do note that servers run really loud...you're not going to want this to be on your desk...Good news is that server appears to have a ton of RAM for you.

[ninjaman2000]

graphic card sport with a 16x to 8x adapter is just fine no performance loss on a gen 2 slot?

[SLAYR]

9 hours ago, ninjaman2000 said:

so you think that I will receive a noticeable multi threaded performance increase compared to a 5820k. Do you think there will be any problems running windows 10 or seven on this computer. What about drivers will old servers?

 

You will need the windows server on this as windows 10 only supports up to 2 cpus, and thedrivers should be on the manufacturers website.

[Electronics Wizardy]

You will need windows server as windows desktop doens't support quad socket systems. That will cost about 1000 for a licence

 

This is will chug power and probably cost over 15cents an hour to run.

 

It might not worth with gpu and the igpu will be the only gpu you can use.

 

It probably won't be much faster(only about 20-30% therotically max). IF you program isn't perfecttly multithreaded it will be much slower.

[Electronics Wizardy]

12 hours ago, ninjaman2000 said:

graphic card sport with a 16x to 8x adapter is just fine no performance loss on a gen 2 slot?

It might not support it at all. Many servers from this gen don't

[Electronics Wizardy]

12 hours ago, ninjaman2000 said:

so you think that I will receive a noticeable multi threaded performance increase compared to a 5820k. Do you think there will be any problems running windows 10 or seven on this computer. What about drivers will old servers?

 

You can't run windows 7/10 on here you need server with 4 socket support for about 1000 dollars.

[ninjaman2000]

Thanks for the info Electronics Wizardy with the concerns you raised I will probably not move forward in this project. But never the less it would have been vary inserting exploring old server hardware. I will probably wait a couple more years so I can pickup a couple of skylake CPS. Or buy a old duel socket server that can replace my pfsence computer and become a new NAS.

[nicco79]

1 hour ago, ninjaman2000 said:

Thanks for the info Electronics Wizardy with the concerns you raised I will probably not move forward in this project. But never the less it would have been vary inserting exploring old server hardware. I will probably wait a couple more years so I can pickup a couple of skylake CPS. Or buy a old duel socket server that can replace my pfsence computer and become a new NAS.

If you want to do something similar but with a bit more ease of implementation, look into used Workstation class machines from Dell and HP.

 

For example, HP's Z600 line is relatively cheap for dual 8 core machines, and I think there are even 6 core models out there, you can load them up with, again, cheap ECC ram, and because they're dual proc you can run Windows 7-10 on them and have yourself a processing platform for your rendering.  They're cheap enough where you can have 2 of the Z600's, or 1 of the Z620's, for about how much that quad proc Dell you were looking at is running.

 

By the way, be aware that they have proprietary power units, so you'll be limited in your video card selection.  However, the majority would be available with the workstation class video cards, which might actually be better for your rendering needs.  I can also tell you that the Z600 line is PCIe 2.0 only - no 3.0 support.  Can't remember off the top of my head whether the Z620 line has 3.0 or not.

 

Also, if you want to go even cheaper, you can drop to the Z4XX line - same Xeon procs, just a single proc.  Or you can spend more and crank it to 11 with the Z8XX line.

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 hour ago, nicco79 said:

If you want to do something similar but with a bit more ease of implementation, look into used Workstation class machines from Dell and HP.

 

For example, HP's Z600 line is relatively cheap for dual 8 core machines, and I think there are even 6 core models out there, you can load them up with, again, cheap ECC ram, and because they're dual proc you can run Windows 7-10 on them and have yourself a processing platform for your rendering.  They're cheap enough where you can have 2 of the Z600's, or 1 of the Z620's, for about how much that quad proc Dell you were looking at is running.

 

By the way, be aware that they have proprietary power units, so you'll be limited in your video card selection.  However, the majority would be available with the workstation class video cards, which might actually be better for your rendering needs.  I can also tell you that the Z600 line is PCIe 2.0 only - no 3.0 support.  Can't remember off the top of my head whether the Z620 line has 3.0 or not.

 

Also, if you want to go even cheaper, you can drop to the Z4XX line - same Xeon procs, just a single proc.  Or you can spend more and crank it to 11 with the Z8XX line.

 

 

Make sure you know that your workload would benifit. There are many uses like video editing that won't take advantage of dual cpu's well and run better on a modern 6 core.