Building an Affordable 16-Core, 32-Thread Xeon Monster PC

True, there is no official support for Windows 10 but it might work. This is interesting for future reference:

https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-and-windows-10-no-more-random-crashes.11170/

Hey Ankoron, what you think about this memory:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/64GB-8X8GB-...240-PIN-1333MHZ-for-Servers-WS-/152170072172?
is the same that you posted early?
I need that the seller send from USA, this seller offers 3 brands, Hynix, Micron, Samsung

thanks, David
 
Hey Ankoron, what you think about this memory:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/64GB-8X8GB-...240-PIN-1333MHZ-for-Servers-WS-/152170072172?
is the same that you posted early?
I need that the seller send from USA, this seller offers 3 brands, Hynix, Micron, Samsung

thanks, David

Looks good, great price too! From what I can tell the seller doesn't specify the brand, just that it will be either Hynix, Micron or Samsung. If you have a choice ask for Micron, but any of them should be fine!
 
Last edited:
I am sooo happy I found this article, been searching ebay for a month now and as of Jan 2017 (a quiet month on ebay) I made offers on; intel Intel E99552-510 2 cpu board, 2 x zeon 2670's and 64GB 1600 ECC ram and paid £400 sterling for the lot!!! Less than the new price of a 6700k. Its for photoshop, premier, nuke, z-brush, maya and 3d-coat, so looking forward to building and firing it up. Just awesome.
 
I have to ask, Was this test using Windows 10 64 bit? If it is windows 10, how did you go about downloading the updates, I seem to have 1 hardware issue with the SAS controller on my board.

The only thing I'm not using in this would be the power PSU,RAM, My RAM is ECC PC3L Samsung 1600, Any help with drivers?
the mother in the post does't fully support windows 10, asrok rack don't have drivers for win 10

It's true that the motherboard does not officially support Windows 10, but I'm running W10 64 bit with no problems on it. Not sure about the SAS controller though, I'm just using SATA.
 
Pulled all RAM and one of the CPU's. Started loading RAM one at a time. Was able to get to the Start-up screen on each one. Placed other CPU in and tested again. Same thing. Now with both CPU's in and RAM in slots A,C & G and I can get to the settings. As soon as I placed a 4th in the E slot I get the 'b9" motherboard LED display and monitor & keyboard won't start-up.
Sounds like you've got a rogue motherboard standoff screwed into your case just below the E slot...
 
Hi Guys,

I'm hoping this thread isn't totally dead. I'm seeking advice as someone who has never built a computer but is looking for a high quality video editing / color correction workstation. (Please be kind, I don't really know what I'm talking about aside from the week or two of reading about this stuff online). I stumbled on this article and am genuinely excited about the possibility here. (Particularly the early posts about how Premiere works on this build.)

I'm a cinematographer who can edit and color. I'd like to edit and color more often. After a couple of small pieces on my current computer (A mid 2012 mac book pro) It's become clear that I really need a new computer if I want to work with the kinds of footage I'm used to shooting.

I want to "go big" but also can't really afford a trash can mac with these kind of specs.

I work in Adobe Creative Cloud (Premiere and media encoder mostly, but have used most of the other apps from time to time), Avid Media Composer (much less these days, but still), and would like to color using Davinci Resolve. There are other apps that come in handy such as ShotputPro (for data management) and REDCine-X.

I'd love some feedback on whether a set up like this would work for my purposes:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PgdQBP

This list would run me around $3200 (If I buy the Xeons and the Quadro used).

I'd really appreciate some advice! Again, I'm really brand new with computer building and have been a mac user for about a decade. But unless I'm missing something a system like this could really fly....

Thanks for any help guys, who knows - if this work out I might just learn Pinnacle.

-Jack
dpjack.com
 
Hi Guys,

I'm hoping this thread isn't totally dead. I'm seeking advice as someone who has never built a computer but is looking for a high quality video editing / color correction workstation. (Please be kind, I don't really know what I'm talking about aside from the week or two of reading about this stuff online). I stumbled on this article and am genuinely excited about the possibility here. (Particularly the early posts about how Premiere works on this build.)

I'm a cinematographer who can edit and color. I'd like to edit and color more often. After a couple of small pieces on my current computer (A mid 2012 mac book pro) It's become clear that I really need a new computer if I want to work with the kinds of footage I'm used to shooting.

I want to "go big" but also can't really afford a trash can mac with these kind of specs.

I work in Adobe Creative Cloud (Premiere and media encoder mostly, but have used most of the other apps from time to time), Avid Media Composer (much less these days, but still), and would like to color using Davinci Resolve. There are other apps that come in handy such as ShotputPro (for data management) and REDCine-X.

I'd love some feedback on whether a set up like this would work for my purposes:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/PgdQBP

This list would run me around $3200 (If I buy the Xeons and the Quadro used).

I'd really appreciate some advice! Again, I'm really brand new with computer building and have been a mac user for about a decade. But unless I'm missing something a system like this could really fly....

Thanks for any help guys, who knows - if this work out I might just learn Pinnacle.

-Jack
dpjack.com


I can try to help, I've owned my dual e5 2670 for 3 months I'll try to help as much as I can.
The Dual Xeon E5 2670 would only be great for apps that use the extra cores. So you will have to dig on the software you use or plan to use and check and make sure they can use all 16 cores or more if you ever get a better CPU.

First looking at your post with the link of parts, no this is way too high in price.

NO NO NO Your list is scary

My RAM I use is
http://www.ebay.com/sch/I.html?_odk...0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=m393b1k70dh0-yk0&_sacat=0

The E5 2670 chips are around $88.00 at time of posting on Ebay
http://www.ebay.com/sch/I.html?_odk...XXeon+e5-2670.TRS0&_nkw=Xeon+e5-2670&_sacat=0

When buying on Ebay make sure you read everything, and check the pictures, Make sure it's not a ES sampple, ES samples are testing samples and not the real chips. They might use names like Intel confidential. Easy way to make sure you don't get a ES is not order from China and check pictures.

RAM No no no flashy RAM needed for a E5 2670 Xeon PC
m393b1k70dh0-yk0 Google this name
It's the RAM I use with this computer, Never had no issues with this at all. $15.00 per 8GB stick on Ebay. I use 64GB with my E5 2670

There is 16GB sticks around for about $50, but I'm waiting on price to drop, Seems the only high RAM prices are gaming flashy RAM with uber names with bad design. Stay with what works, You can thank me later

Motherboard is up to you but I use this
http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=EP2C602#CPU

I would look for this board if you could, would be able to use more RAM for cheaper.
ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16

Can't help you with that GPU, I would ask in Toms Hardware about that GPU and a GTX 1080, see what they say.

The HDD are up to you, the Samsung 850 is fine, kinda big for a OS drive to be honest, the 5Tbs I can't comment because I only ever bought Seagate drives.

Power Supply, look into a Seasonic Prime 850, it would be your last PSU you will ever need.

Sound Card hmm, Look into a Sound Blaster Z, I hate to say it, but Sound Blaster have better support then Asus.

Any Case that supports SSI EEB and your good, I use a
Thermaltake Core V51
I paid $85.99 with $20.00 back on rebate card newegg

Do you really need a $90.00 wifi card that looks like a ****ed up bee?

Heatsinks I use 2 Noctua NH-U14S, they are kind a big, but very silent.
 
Steve,

Am I interpreting the FPS data on the Handbrake encodes correctly? See below...

SINGLE HANDBRAKE INSTANCE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2)Xeon e5-2670 = 401.2 FPS
i7-5960x = 378.4 FPS

TRIPLE HANDBRAKE INSTANCE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2)Xeon e5-2670 @ 401.2 FPS X 3 = 876.9 Total FPS
i7-5960x @ 378.4 FPS X 3 = 702.9 Total FPS
 
I wanted to add my two cents. I ran across this article at some point about a year ago. I thought I'd give it ago as I was needing to do a lot transcoding of my daily lecture videos. Short story is that got a dented dell t7600 off ebay and upgraded it to dual 2670's with 32 gig of ram. My total cost with shipping was just under 700$ ( it was a good deal and or timing) . For my uses it works great but this is the biggest BUT I'm pretty sure I could have built a new i7 rig that would out preform the 32 threaded beast in my daily work loads. To realize the potential of the system you need to run multiple transcodes at one time. Realistically that means I have to think up new workflow patterns just to see cpu usage better than 65%.

Final thoughts, I just checked ebay for 2670's prices are about double what I paid one year ago. With the new Ryzen 7 chips out it really would make me leery of going down this path. That said I like the T7600. It's a solid package and can be had cheap with but beware of the--
RAID card as it only has 2 on board sata ports
unless you like fan noise cpu2 runs at 85C under full load
could not easily find and aftermarket cooler that would fit.
It will raise temp of what ever room its in by 5 degrees just idling didn't stick around to see temps when left under full load for a few days.
 
I wanted to add my two cents. I ran across this article at some point about a year ago. I thought I'd give it ago as I was needing to do a lot transcoding of my daily lecture videos. Short story is that got a dented dell t7600 off ebay and upgraded it to dual 2670's with 32 gig of ram. My total cost with shipping was just under 700$ ( it was a good deal and or timing) . For my uses it works great but this is the biggest BUT I'm pretty sure I could have built a new i7 rig that would out preform the 32 threaded beast in my daily work loads. To realize the potential of the system you need to run multiple transcodes at one time. Realistically that means I have to think up new workflow patterns just to see cpu usage better than 65%.

Final thoughts, I just checked ebay for 2670's prices are about double what I paid one year ago. With the new Ryzen 7 chips out it really would make me leery of going down this path. That said I like the T7600. It's a solid package and can be had cheap with but beware of the--
RAID card as it only has 2 on board sata ports
unless you like fan noise cpu2 runs at 85C under full load
could not easily find and aftermarket cooler that would fit.
It will raise temp of what ever room its in by 5 degrees just idling didn't stick around to see temps when left under full load for a few days.

Food for thought there...
I built the system eventually, had a false start with a motherboard for the V2 processor, but got that returned for refund, I was going to bail on the idea. But, I stuck with it, did some more research and eventually struck lucky with my shopping, I got a foxconn server blade inc psu for £130, (basically a dell/hp type board) got 2 x 2670 for £160, best of all was 16 x 4 gb 1333mhz ddr3 eec memory for £70, I then stuck in an old 80 gb sata drive, so for £360 sterling I got a system,Yay!

To make it worth while as a project, I think this is the kind of money you want to be spending, some of the mother boards I looked at were £340-400, yes they had pci slots so could have much better graphics. However I was pleasantly surprised at the resolution of the built in gfx, running in 16bit colour at 1680x1080. (I think I expected 640x480 dos screens lol)
I am rendering maya files using pixer renderman, did tests with and without hyperthreading and with hyperthreading my test scene rendered in 20 seconds, with hyperthreading off rendering time dropped to 12 seconds and power usage dropped 15% and max temps dropped from the 84 deg cel to 65 deg cel range. Maya was also using 100% cpu in both scenarios.

I am running my 1333mhz ram at 1600mhz, and using the full power profile with turbo mode active, with 8 cores its limited to 3ghz, comparing to my workstation, based on a liquid cooled 5820 clocked a a modest 4.2 ghz with 16gb 2666mhz ddr4 ram which took 32 seconds to render the same scene, the 2670 for what my system costs offers a very afforadable render 'small holding' as oppsed to 'farm' for little money as it will be only on when its working the minute difference in power comsumption will never be an issue. So to summerise, do your research and spend wisely and you can get a lot of bang for your buck.

P.S.
I live in the frozen north so any extra heat is always welcome.
 
Ok guys. Am a little late coming to the party lol but I have a slightly different agenda. I am looking for a trading PC that will support 4-6 screens. This seems overkill but again the price is what I'm looking at (the basis of the article lol). A bespoke trading setup is likely to cost around $1,500+ for a higher i5 or lower end i7. Unfortunately I have no experience building my own machine so a full kit list would be appreciated. Would need audio on motherboard as looking to play likes of Bloomberg, etc. and yes a couple of decent graphics cards. Am based in the UK so not sure of availability....AMD's Ryzen 7 chipsets look appealing but have not looked at them in anger yet
 
I'm going to suggest that your use may not be the best use for a set up like this. From a cost perspective the cost of this old hard ware has gone up since writing. I am guessing that the cup's and used ram cost have doubled. So my 750$ build not counting any GPU's would be 900$ to 1000$ USD. Adding two decent GPU's right now would be another 500$. My system draws 250W at idle. Heat is an issue if it is a room without a thermostat. My suggestion would be buy off the shelf and add GPU's of your choosing.

Ok guys. Am a little late coming to the party lol but I have a slightly different agenda. I am looking for a trading PC that will support 4-6 screens. This seems overkill but again the price is what I'm looking at (the basis of the article lol). A bespoke trading setup is likely to cost around $1,500+ for a higher i5 or lower end i7. Unfortunately I have no experience building my own machine so a full kit list would be appreciated. Would need audio on motherboard as looking to play likes of Bloomberg, etc. and yes a couple of decent graphics cards. Am based in the UK so not sure of availability....AMD's Ryzen 7 chipsets look appealing but have not looked at them in anger yet
 
Ok guys. Am a little late coming to the party lol but I have a slightly different agenda. I am looking for a trading PC that will support 4-6 screens.

Why not simply ring/email your local computer shops for a listed part quote? That way, you can use their list to do some research on the individual parts you'd like & have it built for you. Tell them you need it to output to 6 screens-- they'll know what you need. I'm in AU (rip-off world!) & here, most shops only charge $50-100 to build. Good luck!
 
I'm in AU (rip-off world!) & here, most shops only charge $50-100 to build. Good luck!
$50 to $100 to build a custom PC is pretty cheap considering whats involved. You have to hunt the parts, then assemble them, then install the drivers in a specific order, then you got a ton of windows updates. Its a very time consuming process.
 
Back