New Xeon Build, Need advice.

[Nitro350Z]

Alright, This build is so far in the planning stages. I'm a bit short on cash now so this will have to wait a few months but I want to have at least a general idea of what it's going to be.

So far I have this planned.

Dual Xeon 5160s (dual core, 3ghz, 1333mhz fsb)
Supermicro X7DA8 - Specs
Kingston PC2-5300 FBDIMM (CL5-5-5) - ~4gb for start(2x 2gb modules)
~4x 36gb 15k HDs in Raid 0 (Ultra320 SCSI or SAS, Depends if using onboard controller or PCI-X one) or 6x 300gb MaxlineIII Sata 7200 HDs in Raid 0
X1900XT or other high-end desktop card(no need for OpenGL card, I think)
~700W modular powersupply, havent decided brand yet
Sceptre X37sv-Naga 37" 1920x1080p / 1000:1 Contrast Ratio / HDMI / DVI /HD LCD TV or similar monitor
Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1 470W
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Platinum
Logitech G15 keyboard and G5 mouse

CM Stacker 830 (already have)
I think that's it, if I missed something, please tell me.

This computer will be used for Video Editing, CAD, Gaming, Visual Studio, Photoshop, Maya, 3D Studio Max,Don't know what else.

I just want your opinion and help, Does this look good, Will this all work together(I'm pretty sure it will but just want to make sure).

If you find something you can improve, then please post.

Thanks in advance

 

[Nitro350Z]

Bump... Nobody yet?

 

[shadowduck]

Bump... Nobody yet?

Look at the Mac Pro. You can pickup a sweet setup for less than you can build it in some cases + plus you have hardware support from Apple.

Also, look at the Socket F Opterons- in some benchmarks they beat Woodcrest nicely.

 

[fredgiblet]

Looks pretty good...but. I would not suggest 6 drives in RAID 0, that's just begging to lose your data. I would run 4 250's in RAID 0 and then 2 500-750 in RAID 1 with all my important data on it.

Also, you should look into the Logitech Z-5500 (I think) speakers.

Also, if you are doing CAD and 3D rendering then you should look into a workstation card like a FireGL or Quadro instead of a gaming card. A top-end FireGL will perform nearly as well as a top-end Radeon, but you get much better driver support for CAD\3D programs.

 

[Nitro350Z]

Thanks for the info, I was looking at the mac pro but I prefer to build my own and I'm not really a mac fan so support for it is kinda useless for me.

I'll look into the Socket F Opterons.

That is a pretty good solution for speed and data integrity but I thought I would risk it as I have a seperate backup computer that has ~1tb of raid 5 storage for important files. I will have to see.

I considered the logitech Z-5500 but the klipsch system is aparently higher quality.

Do the FireGL and Quadro series of cards support all the features of DirectX? I think they do but just want to make sure, NV & ATI just talk about OpenGL on their sites and dont really mention that much about DX.

Also I've heard that the the FireGL series has/had some problems rendering OpenGL correctly, Is this true and has it been fixed?

Thanks for the posts so far, the advice is appreciated.

EDIT - Also, I wonder if the FireGL & Quadro cards are faster than their desktop versions in OpenGL games?

 

[PhoenixKnight]

That looks like a very nice build. I'm actually planning on building a similar one at the end of this year or beginning of next.

For the hard drives, I would recommend getting a pair (or more) of either 36GB or 72GB SCSI's in RAID 0 to hold the OS, programs, and virtual memory (and Photoshop scratch disk). Alternately, you can go with WD Raptors in RAID 0.

To keep all of your data safe, you should consider getting some perpendicular hard drives and setting them up on RAID 5. Four 750GB drives will run really fast, get you 2.25TB of storage, and have data redundancy. I'm not sure how good the onboard RAID 5 controller is, so you may have to look into buying a RAID 5 card.

If you decide not to go with SCSI drives at all, then you can save a bit of money by going with the X7DAE instead of the X7DA8.


What type of games do you plan on using the computer for? If you won't do much high-end gaming, then you can go with a FireGL or Quadro card. They are very expensive retail, but you can pick them up for dirt cheap on Ebay. Last time I checked, a FireGL v7100 went for about $250 on Ebay, vs $700 retail.


For the memory, you're going to have to decide whether you want 1GB or 2GB modules. 1GB modules will perform a bit better and cost a lot less per GB. It all depends on whether or not you'll need more than 8GB.

You also need to figure out if you want ECC or non-ECC memory. Non-ECC is generally cheaper. However, ECC will detect and correct memory errors and may help improve stability, but it's not as necessary to a workstation as it is to a server.

 

[shadowduck]

Thanks for the info, I was looking at the mac pro but I prefer to build my own and I'm not really a mac fan so support for it is kinda useless for me.

Hence "Hardware" support. If hardware fails, Apple replaces it for you onsite.

 

[Nitro350Z]

Thanks for all the tips.

Haven't considered looking on ebay, The prices are really attractive, FireGL V7350 for $900CND appose to almost 2g's retail.

hopefully I can find a good deal when I will be buying everything.

How well do the workstation cards stack up to desktop cards?

 

[fredgiblet]

Thanks for all the tips.

Haven't considered looking on ebay, The prices are really attractive, FireGL V7350 for $900CND appose to almost 2g's retail.

hopefully I can find a good deal when I will be buying everything.

How well do the workstation cards stack up to desktop cards?

If I remember correctly, workstation cards usually come pretty close to the gaming cards the are based off of. They may not match the speed in games, but their performance, compatibility, stability and image quality in productivity apps is much greater.

I can't see any workstation card having trouble with OpenGL since that is what most workstation apps use, in fact if anything I would guess (though I don't use them so I don't know) that the OpenGL drivers would be significantly more mature for workstation cards.

If you have a backup storage computer then I would suggest the 6x300GB setup because with that kind of RAID array the speed difference between 4 15K and 6 7.2K drives will probably be negligible (unless you use a synthetic test).

Both the Quadro and FireGL should have full DX9.0c support, the reason they talk mostly about OpenGL is because the people who buy them usually care mostly about OpenGL (D3D is rarely if ever used for productivity apps)

As for Logitech vs. Klipsh, you should be happy with either system but I'm fairly sure that everything I've read rated the Logitech higher. Though honestly the difference is probably negligible.

 

[Dante_Jose_Cuervo]

Well everything looks great but the huge RAID 0 setup is basically suicide.

The only thing I should warn you about are the FB-DIMMS
If you're running both CPUs you'll neeed at LEAST 4 sticks so I'd just go with the 1 GB sticks... unless you have the money for the 2 GB sticks.

For gaming... you'll leave a lot to be desired for one reason: latency. I haven't seen any gaming benchmarks for the woodcrests but they should be at least decent.

Anyways other than that it looks good and good luck with the rig, I'm doing something almost identical except I'm going quad-sli (iWill apparently supports it... I got an email from one of their reps)

 

[Nitro350Z]

Thanks for all the great responses.

I've been a bit busy lately so it's hard to respond to everything.

I looked up some benchmarks on the FireGL series and regular desktop graphics cards, all I could find was that the regular cards are severly crippled when it comes to OpenGL rendering(Old benchmarks, not sure if still true), but I coulnt find any benchmarks for workstation cards with games, just CAD. I know CAD is the main purpose of these cards but I hope they arent as crippled as the desktop cards on CAD.

Does anyone know where I can find benchmarks like these or does anyone have a workstation card and tell how well it plays games?

Sorry if its hard to read, I'm kinda tired today.

 

[shadowduck]

Thanks for all the great responses.

I've been a bit busy lately so it's hard to respond to everything.

I looked up some benchmarks on the FireGL series and regular desktop graphics cards, all I could find was that the regular cards are severly crippled when it comes to OpenGL rendering(Old benchmarks, not sure if still true), but I coulnt find any benchmarks for workstation cards with games, just CAD. I know CAD is the main purpose of these cards but I hope they arent as crippled as the desktop cards on CAD.

Does anyone know where I can find benchmarks like these or does anyone have a workstation card and tell how well it plays games?

Sorry if its hard to read, I'm kinda tired today.

Workstation cards will not game very well. It will be acceptable sure, but don't expect to have all the eye candy turning on playing at 16x12.