Advice needed on workstation build: ASUS Z9PE-D8
Last response: in Systems
Hey guys, I'm currently putting together a new workstation build for work. My budget is around ~3500 and I'm looking for something with a large # of CPU cores and ram that will be fairly extensible in the future. I opted to go with the Z9PE and the lowest end Xeon chipset that's compatible. I also considered the EVGA SR-X, but I prefer the smaller form factor. (although it's not a deal breaker). The case I'm looking at right now is the coolermaster cosmos II, but options are limited because the motherboard is eeb.
My thought process is that I'll go with the E5-2620 for now and then upgrade to the 22nm line of Xeon's in 6-8 months if I need more power. Similarly, I left a lot of room and excess wattage in case I need to upgrade to more RAM or an SLI GPU config.
My sticking point right now is the cooling/case situation. I could really use suggestions for dual processor cooling/case setups that work with an EEB motherboard. I was considering the Corsair HL100 and the Intel BXRTS2011LC, but I don't know that the cosmos case has enough clearance. Does anyone have any experience building a rig that's similar? I could really use suggestions for a case/cooling system, but I'm also totally open to any advice on the build in general. I'd be especially eager to hear from anyone who's built a similar rig for signal analysis or audio applications.
Thanks so much for any help guys, I appreciate it.
Hey guys, I'm currently putting together a new workstation build for work. My budget is around ~3500 and I'm looking for something with a large # of CPU cores and ram that will be fairly extensible in the future. I opted to go with the Z9PE and the lowest end Xeon chipset that's compatible. I also considered the EVGA SR-X, but I prefer the smaller form factor. (although it's not a deal breaker). The case I'm looking at right now is the coolermaster cosmos II, but options are limited because the motherboard is eeb.
My thought process is that I'll go with the E5-2620 for now and then upgrade to the 22nm line of Xeon's in 6-8 months if I need more power. Similarly, I left a lot of room and excess wattage in case I need to upgrade to more RAM or an SLI GPU config.
My sticking point right now is the cooling/case situation. I could really use suggestions for dual processor cooling setups. I was considering the Corsair HL100 and the Intel BXRTS2011LC, but I don't know that the cosmos case has enough clearance. Does anyone have any experience building a rig that's similar? I could really use suggestions for a case/cooling system, but I'm also totally open to any advice on the build in general. I'd be especially eager to hear from anyone who's built a similar rig for signal analysis or audio applications. Thanks so much for any help guys, I appreciate it. Also, sorry I couldn't use parts picker, most of the parts I'm using aren't options.
Approximate Purchase Date: this week
Budget Range: ~3500
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Scientific Computing/Signal Analysis/Audio
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com
Country: USA
Parts Preferences: Full Tower, Asus Z9PE or EVGA SR-X MB, Dual Xeon
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe in the future
Parts List:
ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS Dual LGA 2011 Intel C602
Intel Xeon E5-2620 Sandy Bridge-EP 2.0GHz x @
Western Digital Caviar Green WD30EZRX 3TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory DR x4 w/TS Intel Model
COOLER MASTER COSMOS II ATX Full Tower Computer Case
ENERMAX MAXREVO Series EMR1350EWT 1350W ATX12V / EPS12V v2.92, v2.8 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Power Supply
EVGA 015-P3-1480-KR GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Intel BXRTS2011LC Liquid-cooled Thermal Solution For the LGA2011 Socket x 2
My thought process is that I'll go with the E5-2620 for now and then upgrade to the 22nm line of Xeon's in 6-8 months if I need more power. Similarly, I left a lot of room and excess wattage in case I need to upgrade to more RAM or an SLI GPU config.
My sticking point right now is the cooling/case situation. I could really use suggestions for dual processor cooling/case setups that work with an EEB motherboard. I was considering the Corsair HL100 and the Intel BXRTS2011LC, but I don't know that the cosmos case has enough clearance. Does anyone have any experience building a rig that's similar? I could really use suggestions for a case/cooling system, but I'm also totally open to any advice on the build in general. I'd be especially eager to hear from anyone who's built a similar rig for signal analysis or audio applications.
Thanks so much for any help guys, I appreciate it.
Hey guys, I'm currently putting together a new workstation build for work. My budget is around ~3500 and I'm looking for something with a large # of CPU cores and ram that will be fairly extensible in the future. I opted to go with the Z9PE and the lowest end Xeon chipset that's compatible. I also considered the EVGA SR-X, but I prefer the smaller form factor. (although it's not a deal breaker). The case I'm looking at right now is the coolermaster cosmos II, but options are limited because the motherboard is eeb.
My thought process is that I'll go with the E5-2620 for now and then upgrade to the 22nm line of Xeon's in 6-8 months if I need more power. Similarly, I left a lot of room and excess wattage in case I need to upgrade to more RAM or an SLI GPU config.
My sticking point right now is the cooling/case situation. I could really use suggestions for dual processor cooling setups. I was considering the Corsair HL100 and the Intel BXRTS2011LC, but I don't know that the cosmos case has enough clearance. Does anyone have any experience building a rig that's similar? I could really use suggestions for a case/cooling system, but I'm also totally open to any advice on the build in general. I'd be especially eager to hear from anyone who's built a similar rig for signal analysis or audio applications. Thanks so much for any help guys, I appreciate it. Also, sorry I couldn't use parts picker, most of the parts I'm using aren't options.
Approximate Purchase Date: this week
Budget Range: ~3500
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Scientific Computing/Signal Analysis/Audio
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com
Country: USA
Parts Preferences: Full Tower, Asus Z9PE or EVGA SR-X MB, Dual Xeon
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe in the future
Parts List:
ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS Dual LGA 2011 Intel C602
Intel Xeon E5-2620 Sandy Bridge-EP 2.0GHz x @
Western Digital Caviar Green WD30EZRX 3TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory DR x4 w/TS Intel Model
COOLER MASTER COSMOS II ATX Full Tower Computer Case
ENERMAX MAXREVO Series EMR1350EWT 1350W ATX12V / EPS12V v2.92, v2.8 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Power Supply
EVGA 015-P3-1480-KR GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Intel BXRTS2011LC Liquid-cooled Thermal Solution For the LGA2011 Socket x 2
More about : advice needed workstation build asus z9pe
Hey pbbrunet,
Just saw your post. It's pretty old with no replies, so I was wondering if you ever got your questions answered. I went thru a lot of the same thot process before building mine.
I settled on the HAF X case with Dynatron R17 CPU coolers. They are small but adequate for Xeons.
The case supports extended ATX form factor boards which have same mobo dimensions (13" x 12") and the standoff pattern is mostly the same. I found 2 missing standoff holes. Unfortunately they are located in critical areas where support is really needed (in the middle-top and middle-side spans where there isn't much other standoff support. So I was going to drill and tap my own; but than decided to just ground off the threads on the brass standoffs - the threads that would normally screw into the case. And then I simply attached them to the motherboard. So they still touch the case for decent support and they still prevent the otherwise inevitable board warping when pushing in RAM modules.
You mentioned possibly expanding RAM later. You probably already understand this by now... do not underestimate why they package DDR3 RAM in kits. I originally opted for two 32GB kits because I wanted 64GB; but couldn't find a single 64GB kit. I thought it would be fine, but learned otherwise. BIOS will lower the frequency to 1333 and if one wants to run at the 1600 advertized, one needs to force it in BIOS. But when I did that, it became more unstable. I was told that mixing large kits on this complicated board (2 CPUs w/ integrated controllers plus memory controller on mobo next to each RAM slot) is not advisable if you are expecting to run the RAM at rated frequency, timing, and voltage. Because the two kits were not tested as one, there easily may be compatibility problems between individual sticks. This incompatibility may require you to drop the frequency and raise the voltage to loosen things up for for better compatibility.
Cheers
Just saw your post. It's pretty old with no replies, so I was wondering if you ever got your questions answered. I went thru a lot of the same thot process before building mine.
I settled on the HAF X case with Dynatron R17 CPU coolers. They are small but adequate for Xeons.
The case supports extended ATX form factor boards which have same mobo dimensions (13" x 12") and the standoff pattern is mostly the same. I found 2 missing standoff holes. Unfortunately they are located in critical areas where support is really needed (in the middle-top and middle-side spans where there isn't much other standoff support. So I was going to drill and tap my own; but than decided to just ground off the threads on the brass standoffs - the threads that would normally screw into the case. And then I simply attached them to the motherboard. So they still touch the case for decent support and they still prevent the otherwise inevitable board warping when pushing in RAM modules.
You mentioned possibly expanding RAM later. You probably already understand this by now... do not underestimate why they package DDR3 RAM in kits. I originally opted for two 32GB kits because I wanted 64GB; but couldn't find a single 64GB kit. I thought it would be fine, but learned otherwise. BIOS will lower the frequency to 1333 and if one wants to run at the 1600 advertized, one needs to force it in BIOS. But when I did that, it became more unstable. I was told that mixing large kits on this complicated board (2 CPUs w/ integrated controllers plus memory controller on mobo next to each RAM slot) is not advisable if you are expecting to run the RAM at rated frequency, timing, and voltage. Because the two kits were not tested as one, there easily may be compatibility problems between individual sticks. This incompatibility may require you to drop the frequency and raise the voltage to loosen things up for for better compatibility.
Cheers
Related ressources:
- ForumAsus z9PE-D8 problems.
- ForumASUS Z9PE-D8 WS dual boot pc / mac w/o virtualization
- ForumDUAL BOOT Asus Z9PE-D8 with Windows 7 and Mac OSX w/o virtualization
- ForumASUS - Z9PE-D8 WS Future Proof?
- ForumAsus Z9PE-D8 WS can work with two i7 3930k?
- ForumA powerful workstation design looking for a few good man!
- ForumAsus z9pe-d8 ws second socket does not work
- ForumNew Virtualization workstation
- ForumCan asus z9pe-d8 ws run with one cpu ?
- ForumDual Xeon workstation rig advice (rendering, modelling)
- ForumBestConfigs: High-End Workstation
- Forum5000$ budget Workstation for VFX(houdini, Maya)
- ForumPhotoshop Builds
- ForumHelp! What mobo is in HP-Z420 workstation ?
- ForumXeon and Thunderbolt
- ForumScientific/Programming Computer Build
- ForumNeed advice to build a Workstation + media PC
- ForumAdvice on $1500-$2000 Gaming/ Workstation Build
- ForumEnough Power?
- ForumHTPC Mobo+CPU ~$150
- More resources
Read discussions in other Systems categories
!
