please i need help about workstation

dixton2010 · Apr 26, 2013

thanks friend. i have this task of assembling a workstation, and i have been thinking of what model of system motherboard to use, and what intel processor type to use and the type of media card to use

the workstation is going to be used to hold large amount of data, and stores some high resolution media contents including specialized softwares...

the workstation specification is for 32GB RAM, about 32TB disk space....

i have been recommended a gigabyte Z68AP-D3 motherboard.... can this board be efficient for this kind of work? will a single intel core i7 3.4 serves a good amount of speed and data use functions?

i have also been recommended an Nvidia Quadro card... will it serves a gud purpose or are there better ones please?

what other functionalities does the board carries that i need to know that will help me achieve an enhanced usage?

what level of RAID will be better to link the drives together? or are there any other technology i can use to link the drives together efficiently and get better results?

ASAP please...my mail is dixton2010@gmail.com
Thanks...

TheBigTroll · Apr 26, 2013

why would you need 32tb of storage? and other than storing stuff, what is the system going to be used for?

and your budget and location.

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

Thanks friend... I was given the specification by my contact person.... but i guess in case the budget are going to be somewhere up he might be considering reducing the size of the disk...as he told me to work with that size and lesser size in my cost analysis...

am located in Nigeria... i have a recommendation to use a this gigabyte board GA Z68AP-D3...am just considering whether it is going to be a good option before i proceed with things.

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

to run that many hard drives, you will need a RAID card, something that most likely will not be found in Nigeria due to the fact that there are so few people that use them.

and as for the board, id get at least a z77 board or a server board

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

Thanks friend... as for the z77 the problem is am not even sure it is available here but i will try my best to get it... one thing i noticed bout the GA-Z68AP-D3 is that it does not support the NVIDIA SLI technology as am thinking of using the Nvidia Quadro card...and in case i might want to use say like two.... please how does the RAID card work?

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

you wont need SLi as quadro cards dont run SLI. but its best to get a board that has it. you wont need to use a quadro card either if you are only using this to store stuff

raid cards are a must if you are going to run more than 4 drives. the onboard sata controllers will not run that many drives in a RAID array efficiently. RAID is a must since when you have a lot of drives, there is a much larger chance that one will fail. and if that one fails, you lose a ton of data. raid cards let you control raid arrays with ease and for maximum speed

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

do you have any RAID card manufacturer in mind for recommendation?

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

you usually go with a LSI raid card. like this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-IN-BOX-LSI-Logic-MegaRAID-9240-8i-8-port-SAS-SATA-RAID-Controller-LSI00200-/300892303027?pt=US_Server_Disk_Controllers_RAID_Cards&hash=item460e942eb3

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

thanks for your info... highly valued. and the this LSI-Logic MegaRaid card will be useful to the SATA3 drives i have in mind of using?

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

yes. it will control up to 8 drives. just remember that if you use less than 2-3 drives, you should be fine with a onboard controller.

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

ok. while i use d onboard controller to control 2-3 drives, the raid card will control the about 8 others i might be adding to the units.

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

pretty much. now back to the rig. is it just for storing stuff or is it for 3d work as well

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

will be for both... i was told the software they want to use will need pretty amount of graphics resolution... so when i analyze nvidia geforce and quadro for them they opted for the quadro...so i thought of say: since they said high resolution why not go for say two quadros... why i ask about the SLI to bridge the two GPU cards

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

a single quadro is fine for a single monitor or multiple panels.

quadro cards cannot run SLI unless you buy a enterprise board from lenovo or hp.

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

ok.. you mean a single quadro will do fine for say two monitors./ then maybe a quadro 6000 or k5000, right?

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

quadro cards can take up to 3 panels i think.

as for card selection, it can really depend on the application. some programs will run just as fast on a 600 series card compared to a quadro k5000 card or it can run better on a 500 series card or the fermi based quadro cards

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

'quadro cards can take up to 3 panels i think.?' please detail meaning. thanks

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

it will run 3 monitors

dixton2010 · Apr 27, 2013

TheBigTroll :

ok... thanks friend your time and info are well appreciated...they have been useful... will put you in the know as things goes on

TheBigTroll · Apr 27, 2013

no problem. ill see how it goes. if you have any further questions, you can PM me in the future. this thread is most likely going to be buried

dixton2010 · Apr 28, 2013

TheBigTroll :

thanks friend... well i have resolved to use this mobo: Gigabyte GA-X79S-UPS-WIFI and an intel xeon E5-2600 family @3.1GHz(3.8GHz turbo boost) 8 cores processor of 20MB L3, L2 @ 6 x256KB...

and the storage has been streamed down to 5 HDs of 2TB each...with the mobo i can have memory up to 64GB

hope this is a good choice of mobo and spec?

the mobo is a single rack processor socket, not dual socket

plz can u advice on what psu compatible to this mobo and other components ?

TheBigTroll · Apr 28, 2013

you wont need a 8 core for storage based work. its overkill to the max. 6 cores is generally enough. if this was solely for renderings and all that, then a 8 core is the way to go. the mobo is great.

for the price of 5 2tb drives, you might as well just get 4 3tb drives and skip the raid card.

any psu and atx tower will fit the board and everything. i might suggest though getting something like a 750w unit from corsair, seasonic, antec, or xfx

dixton2010 · Apr 29, 2013

TheBigTroll :

got that...... @ a local store here got a 750w coolermaster psu already, and a coolermaster atx server type casing i .... but d board form factor is said to be E atx....

TheBigTroll · Apr 29, 2013

do not get a coolermaster psu. they suck for the most part unless its the silent pro series. any coolermaster case such as the haf xm, haf 922 and above will fit the gigabyte board. its not true eatx. its atx plus an inch of space.

see if there are any corsair cases avaliable as well

dixton2010 · Apr 29, 2013

TheBigTroll :

i will go for the gigabyte psu i saw then....

please i need help about workstation

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Illustrious

Honorable

Share this page