Building A Very High End System

[SeymourCray]

Can anyone tell me if I should buy the highest spec Xeons, MOBO and DDR3 now in order to build a very high spec system OR should I wait until Intel release their new LGA-2011 line up?

I'm planning to build a machine with up to 64GB of memory, two Xeon W3690s (or X5675s or X5690s) and a top of the range MOBO.

But I don't want to invest many thousands of dollars and then find a higher spec CPU line up is announced that has an even higher spec.

Do any experts here have a view on this now or later question?


Thx

 

[itzdanielp]

The new Xeons should be coming out in about 3 weeks, wait until then.

Look at the EVGA SR-3 Board, and use that as a model if you are going for ultra high end dual processor.

http://www.techpowerup.com/153916/EVGA-SR3-Super-Record-3-Motherboard-Pictured.html

 

[SeymourCray]

The new Xeons should be coming out in about 3 weeks, wait until then.

Look at the EVGA SR-3 Board, and use that as a model if you are going for ultra high end dual processor.

http://www.techpowerup.com/153916/EVGA-SR3-Super-Record-3-Motherboard-Pictured.html

Hi

Thanks for that info, do you know what the names/model numbers might be for the new Xeons? Is there any new or advance chit chat?


Thx

 

[itzdanielp]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_2011

 

[itzdanielp]

Here's a better list

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sandy-bridge-e-xeon-cpu-servers,13308.html

 

[SeymourCray]

Here's a better list

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sandy-bridge-e-xeon-cpu-servers,13308.html

Thanks again, I'm liking the 8 core devices. two of those and I have 32 hyper-threaded processors available truly stunning.

A big concern I have is ensuring the CPU/MOBO and DDR3 sticks are all rock solid - I know some of these higher spec systems are a little picky and the MOBO makers have their lists of "tested" memory brands etc.

Incidentally the Wikipedia article refers to Xeon E5 16XX device numbering but the other list refers to Xeon E5 26XX any significance to this?


Thx

 

[damian86]

If it was me I would wait for the new motherboards as they will support quad channel ram.

Can I ask why do you want to install 64 gb ram? What do you use your pc for? I was amazed when I saw that and curious.

 

[rds1220]

I was thinking the same thing. What could you possibly be doing that you would need that much memory. Anyway I agree with itzdanielp. Its only a couple weeks until te Xeon's come out just wait then decide.

 

[amuffin]

I was thinking the same thing. What could you possibly be doing that you would need that much memory. Anyway I agree with itzdanielp. Its only a couple weeks until te Xeon's come out just wait then decide.

Maybe 3d programs? or "hardcore" programming?

 

[SeymourCray]

If it was me I would wait for the new motherboards as they will support quad channel ram.

Can I ask why do you want to install 64 gb ram? What do you use your pc for? I was amazed when I saw that and curious.

Memory speed is important so yes quad channel has caught my attention, is this a feature of the new LGA 2011 platform?

The memory size is relevant because I run a small business that has developed a very high performance in-memory database technology for Windows.

Some datasets may contain millions of items (e.g. real-time stock or option price data) and with indices for the data etc can easily consume 20 GB or more.

Testing with these volumes of data is impossible if physical memory is too small, such a system would be subject to intense thrashing which pretty much prevents testing.

The high core count is likewise important as apps and tools for this system are inherently parallel (one test program here runs 100,000 database writes per thread concurrently into a test in-memory data set using 8 threads on an 8 core machine).

Because data is in-memory (well ideally it has not been paged out) we can update data at rates exceeding 500,000 updates per second or even higher.

64GB is plenty and I like to have more resources than I currently need to I won't hit hardware limits on massive tests.


Seymour

 

[itzdanielp]

Incidentally the Wikipedia article refers to Xeon E5 16XX device numbering but the other list refers to Xeon E5 26XX any significance to this?


Thx

1XXX = 1 processor per board
2XXX = 2 Processor per board
4XXX = 4 processor per board.

EDIT: er, just to clarify I mean Motherboard.

These are server chips, so they are designed to work in parallel on a single system, but some are limited as to how many can be used.

 

[SeymourCray]

1XXX = 1 processor per board
2XXX = 2 Processor per board
4XXX = 4 processor per board.

EDIT: er, just to clarify I mean Motherboard.

These are server chips, so they are designed to work in parallel on a single system, but some are limited as to how many can be used.

Ahh - had no idea about numbering ! now how much is a four processor board ..... (may be overkiil!)


Seymour.

 

[itzdanielp]

uhm.. expensive? lol

They haven't announced the LGA-2011 4p boards, but an AMD variationi
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813151219

Or a beast.... up to 512MB of RAM (DDR3)
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon7000/7500/X8QB6.cfm?SAS=Y

 

[itzdanielp]

Or this guy with up to 8 Xeons and 1TB of DDR3 RAM

http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon7000/7500/X8OBN-F.cfm

 

[damian86]

Yes LGA2011 is supposed to support quad channel ram, it is hard to find quad channel boards, so we will have to wait a bit in that case.

Here, a little review

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3960x-x79-performance,3026-2.html

I would also suggest to make sure that your MB can support Sata3 (6.gb/s)

What you said sounds interesting, so you will definitely use all the ram.

Another killer:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/4U/8046/SYS-8046B-6R.cfm?SAS=Y

 

[itzdanielp]

All LGA-2011 boards come with at least 4 DIMMS, support 1 stick per channel. Most mid to upper range boards come with 8 dimms, 2 sticks per channel quad channel. There are currently none on the market due to NDA's from Intel.

The socket is supposed be released Nov 14th. You will start seeing a lot of boards then.

 

[SeymourCray]

Yes LGA2011 is supposed to support quad channel ram, it is hard to find quad channel boards, so we will have to wait a bit in that case.

Here, a little review

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3960x-x79-performance,3026-2.html

I would also suggest to make sure that your MB can support Sata3 (6.gb/s)

What you said sounds interesting, so you will definitely use all the ram.

Another killer:

http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/4U/8046/SYS-8046B-6R.cfm?SAS=Y

Yes that latter system is nice but even at entry level is priced at over 9,000 bucks. I've noticed that as the spec goes up the margins on assembled systems (as a % of parts cost) also rises.

I looked at one well known high-end vendor recently and calculated that they were (in effect) charging over 500 bucks extra - per Xeon - not to mention other overheads.

I'd love to just hand overthe cash and order one of these big beasts - but it's such a waste when one can save several thousand just by assembling it one's self.


I'm just waiting now to see what these LGA2011 parts are really like when they arrive...


Seymour.

 

[SeymourCray]

All LGA-2011 boards come with at least 4 DIMMS, support 1 stick per channel. Most mid to upper range boards come with 8 dimms, 2 sticks per channel quad channel. There are currently none on the market due to NDA's from Intel.

The socket is supposed be released Nov 14th. You will start seeing a lot of boards then.

I see, so next week news should begin to trickle....


Seymour.

 

[itzdanielp]

I'll build one for you without the massive overhead

heck, I'll do it for the fun of it

 

[Fanbars]

hahaha, im not sure what you intend to use this PC for, but if its for gaming you're going to have some serious problems... When using 4 CPU's no matter the cores or threads your going to have BIG scaling problems on anything that doesnt utilize or was designed for that use, for example when quad cores were released a few years back games ran like s***, because they couldn't utilize anything from it. Id reccomend DUAL 990X i7's if i was to blow all my money.!

 

[icedfire690]

Can anyone tell me if I should buy the highest spec Xeons, MOBO and DDR3 now in order to build a very high spec system OR should I wait until Intel release their new LGA-2011 line up?

I'm planning to build a machine with up to 64GB of memory, two Xeon W3690s (or X5675s or X5690s) and a top of the range MOBO.

But I don't want to invest many thousands of dollars and then find a higher spec CPU line up is announced that has an even higher spec.

Do any experts here have a view on this now or later question?


Thx

Get this, noob.

http://www.apple.com/mac/

 

[itzdanielp]

Get this, noob.

http://www.apple.com/mac/

Dude... It is completely unnecessary to complete every comment you make on this forum with "noob"

Especially if you look at the tag under your name.

And at least try to stay relevant to the topic of the thread.

 

[icedfire690]

But seriously, why fuss over all these when you can get something powerful with the click of a mouse?

 

[itzdanielp]

because any of the custom builds we are discussing would be around half the price, and would run circles around whatever is "pre-made" from apple.

Apple just a couple years ago started even beginning to compete with windows, when the switched to Intel processors.

However apples business model consists of happily hanging back from cutting edge, going with what is tried and true, using their name instead of their performance to make sales.

If you want true cutting edge power, which is what the OP asked for, you can't go with a click and buy method, especially from apple.

 

[Mybumurface]

because any of the custom builds we are discussing would be around half the price, and would run circles around whatever is "pre-made" from apple.

Apple just a couple years ago started even beginning to compete with windows, when the switched to Intel processors.

However apples business model consists of happily hanging back from cutting edge, going with what is tried and true, using their name instead of their performance to make sales.

If you want true cutting edge power, which is what the OP asked for, you can't go with a click and buy method, especially from apple.

Preach it brother! It's refreshing to see someone not deluded by the monster that is apple.

I have to admit OP, you have one impressive set up in mind. I couldn't even begin to fathom the programs you could run with such a system. Granted i'm just a gamer, but seeing someone build something like that is still quite the site. As far as advice goes I recommend waiting for the LGA. From what I've read they will be packing several next-gen features, including PCI-E 3.0, SAS 6Gbps and quad-channel DDR3 memory; If only my wallet was big enough to even think about getting one... Oh the woes of being a struggling college kid.