X99-E WS + Multiple RAID0 M.2 drives + Dual 5K

[wcniedba]

I am trying to build a machine (workstation) that has a video card which can drive two 5K displays. I am also trying to have incredibly fast disks for some rather large data analysis (using MS SQL Server) so I am looking at using NVMe M.2 drives configured in RAID 0. I have been looking at the Asus X99-E WS/USB 3.1 motherboard and am curious if the following configuration will work given the requirements above and the motherboard itself.

1 Nvidia Quadro p4000 (to drive dual 5k monitors)
2 Samsung 960 PRO 1TB disks (configured in RAID0 to make a 2TB partition)
* OS & Software & Paging Files will live here.
2-3 Samsung 960 PRO 2TB disks (configured in RAID0 to make a separate 4-6TB partition)
* Data will live here
Since the motherboard only has a single M.2 slot I will be adding the other M.2 drives using PCIe cards (LIKE THIS ONE).

Does anyone see any issues with this setup? Any gotchas I should be on the lookout for? Especially with regards to either the RAID configuration or the number of PCIe M.2 adapters?

Thanks ahead of time!
Chris N.

 

[eyupo92]

Read this first : https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/27/micron_nvme_ssd_review/

1) Are you crazy ? Why do want to run SQL Server on this computer ? Nowadays Even a modest SQL server deployment wants to have 64 GB+ RAM, 8+ Core CPU etc. It is almost impossible to run that bloatware and carry out high performance calculations at the same time.

2) What is your CPU ? will it have enough PCI 3.0 lanes for 5 x 4 = 20 for NVMe + 16 for GPU ?

3) Are you sure your BIOS/Intel RST supports NVMe RAID ? YOu can always use Microsoft Storage Spaces capability in Windows 10 Pro+ OS, they are very very fast software RAID.

4) as you could read from the first link, you are limited to a storage bandwidth and you can not pass that with NVMe RAID. I can see money is no object to you, so maybe wait for Intel's Optane series that should perform much better with SQL Server ?

5) Did you read this : https://www.techpowerup.com/231084/kingston-announces-the-dcp-1000-pci-express-nvme-ssd A single drive that performs much better than NVMe RAID ? Maybe add one small one and a big one to your system and save yourself the hassle ? I had read news about one other such x8 NVMe drive last month, but could not find the link.

Best of luck.

 

[wcniedba]

Ok. I have abandoned the RAID idea. But I will still need multiple NVMe drives. I'm looking at the i7-6950X CPU. Will this CPU and the Asus X99-E WS/USB 3.1 support 5 NVMe drives (using PCIe adapter cards) and a Quadro P4000 GPU? You asked if the CPU I have will support up to 36 PCIe lanes. The i7-6950X says it supports up to 40 but I don't really understand the whole (2x16+1x8) thing.

 

[eyupo92]

https://www.asus.com/us/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/X99E_WSUSB_31/specifications/

states :
Expansion Slots
7 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (single x16 or dual x16/x16 or triple x16/x16/x16 or quad x16/x16/x16/x16 or seven x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8)

The last one translates to : 1 * x16 for Quadro P4000 + 6 * x4 NVMe

If there is a motherboard that can support your GPU + 5 NVMe drives, this is the one. As for PCIe adapter card, you can use Asus' own Hyper m.2 card.

Physically and electronically there are no obstructions to use GPU + 5 * NVMe disks. BIOS must support at least one NVMe disk as it has an m.2 NVMe slot, so NVMe must be supported as well, it also supports PCIe SSD's connected over PCI slots as well. Here is the list of all supported devices: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/Socket2011-R3/X99-E_WS/QVL/X99-E_WS_Series_Device_QVL_13022017.pdf?_ga=2.76373718.2112188440.1494453083-1924303578.1492984173

Hope it works. Fingers crossed.

 

[eyupo92]

This card seems to be the best answer to your needs. Two of these can solve your problem.

https://www.amazon.com/Aplicata-Quattro-NVMe-PCIe-Adapter/dp/B01MTU75X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494702103&sr=8-1&keywords=Aplicata