Question Build advice for Xeon based system

jblackmd

Honorable
Mar 20, 2018
88
3
10,545
My current rig has an i7 4790 Gigabyte Z97 with 32 gig ram. Thinking of going dual Xeon. I don't know much about server builds, but from what I have found, this is the plan:

ASUS WS C621E
Xeon Silver 4208 x 2
Corsair Vengeance x 128 gig
Noctua NH-U14S DX-3647 x 2

Basically, I do a lot of computer rendering using Daz3d/Iray. I have two rigs. The one that is surrently doing the bulk of the rendering is: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X/128 gig RAM/ASRock Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming /1 Tb SSD/2 TB SSD/RTX 2080 Ti x 2,GTX 1080 Ti x1 Thermaltake View 71 TG Full Tower Case/1600W PSU. The computer I am upgrading is used for scene set up, but has rwo 1080 Ti's which I plan on replacing when the 3090 prices come down. It has been recommended to get away from computer grade compnents as I render about 20 scenes/day for my comic business.

All advice is welcome.
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
My current rig has an i7 4790 Gigabyte Z97 with 32 gig ram. Thinking of going dual Xeon. I don't know much about server builds, but from what I have found, this is the plan:

ASUS WS C621E
Xeon Silver 4208 x 2
Corsair Vengeance x 128 gig
Noctua NH-U14S DX-3647 x 2

Basically, I do a lot of computer rendering using Daz3d/Iray. I have two rigs. The one that is surrently doing the bulk of the rendering is: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X/128 gig RAM/ASRock Fatal1ty X399 Professional Gaming /1 Tb SSD/2 TB SSD/RTX 2080 Ti x 2,GTX 1080 Ti x1 Thermaltake View 71 TG Full Tower Case/1600W PSU. The computer I am upgrading is used for scene set up, but has rwo 1080 Ti's which I plan on replacing when the 3090 prices come down. It has been recommended to get away from computer grade compnents as I render about 20 scenes/day for my comic business.

All advice is welcome.
For MAXIMUM performance you really want 12 DIMMS !!! Each of your two CPUs is a six channel memory controller. So that probably means 12 x 8GB or 12x 16GB. Not 128GB. Xeons are like desktop CPUs, you need to look at the specs and design the rest of the motherboard appropriately.
 

jblackmd

Honorable
Mar 20, 2018
88
3
10,545
Heh. I didn't mean one 128 gig memory stick. That was just the total. The board has 12 slots, so I can certainly use 16 gX12. Guess I didn't do that math right. So the toal would not be 128, it would be either 96 or 192, either of which are fine. How about the rest of the build?
 

jblackmd

Honorable
Mar 20, 2018
88
3
10,545
I am just saying that 128 is not divisible by 12. You will do 96GB or 192 in order to get your 6 memory slots per processor filled.
Got it. I actually didn't even count the RAM slots when I first mapped it out, just looked like a lot of them and I'm not accustomed to working with that many of them. I just assumed that 128 would fit, but of course all of the RAM sticks will be identical and I will likely fill all of the slots. But that aside, how does the rest of it look?
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Got it. I actually didn't even count the RAM slots when I first mapped it out, just looked like a lot of them and I'm not accustomed to working with that many of them. I just assumed that 128 would fit, but of course all of the RAM sticks will be identical and I will likely fill all of the slots. But that aside, how does the rest of it look?
Need to be sure you get a power supply with the appropriate connections. I see two ATX12V, 8 pin, a 24 pin and a 6 pin PCIe on the motherboard. You need to double check the user's manual to be sure you get a compatible power supply.
Since this is a "for revenue" build, you might look for a case that has dual, hot-swap power supplies. Power supplies are the most likely component to fail.
That motherboard doesn't have 10GE or even 2.5GE. That is kind of disappointing in a workstation motherboard these days.
 

jblackmd

Honorable
Mar 20, 2018
88
3
10,545
I was going to use the existing case (Coolermaster Haf x) and PSU (EVGA SuperNOVA 1200 PLATINUM). As for the motherboard, I'm all ears. Please suggest the one for me to use. Like I said, I've built rigs but not a dual Xeon.