Dual Xeon E5-2670 or i7-5820k [mod: Thread now about 2670 only :) ]

[mraw]

what a shame it is serbian only. But still a  very good price. Thank you.

[Juraj]

Hi Srdan, I wrote you on FB, please check you message :- )

[tomislavn]

1   ASUS Z9PA-D8/iKVM
Ihre Online-Bestellung vom 18.06.2016

Info Wareneingang bei uns voraussichtlich erwartet am 05.07.2016
(Aktuelle unverbindliche Angabe unseres Lieferanten)
238,57 €   


Got mine from CU for 238 euros (company order without VAT + delivery 15 euros), but it is arriving to the warehouse in 10 days... will be around 3 weeks of wait time in total.
Is that Intel motherboard better then Z9PA?

Btw, any info about narrow ILM coolers that you guys can share? Are there any cheaper consumer grade coolers that support it (apart from Noctua that is 60 euros each)?

EDIT: Actually, looking at the high-res image of Asus Z9PA-D8, it looks like it is not narrow ILM, rather standard square?! I've read Juraj's blog and was under an assumption it was using narrow ILM... Guess I will be fine with Coolermaster 412S x2 in that case, just wondering how should I mount them considering that the sockets are that close to each other :/

[Juraj]

You're right, they look like regular mountings. I've added this narrow part to this board based on feedback from one guy (who was way too over-active to pinpoint every situation to cater on planet...), but didn't check further. God do I hate these theoretical keyboard warriors : / I'll correct it.

Many boards do feature narrow ILM if they want to avoid using extended form factors, but it's just not this one...

[tomislavn]

No problem at all :) Thanks for writing it - It made me realize quite some things, for instance that I need an additional sound card since I was absolutely not paying attention to ports on Z9PA-D8 before reading about it :)

Do you recommend any? Asus Xonar?

Any idea how should I mount the coolers since the sockets are so close to each other? Should I do it like "<O I O>" or like "O> I O>"? Not sure that the latter will fit or have good airflow..

(< and > being the sides where I should mount the actual cooler fans, "I" being the small space in between the coolers and "O" being the actual cooler bodies)

[Juraj]

I think both would have just fine airflow, but yes, the latter, push/push would have slightly better, but if that won't fit due to heatsink, I would not worry.

I don't know anything about sound cards, last time I owned one (Audigy Pro 2 or something like that :- ) .. ) was 14? years ago I think.

[tomislavn]

Heh alright :) thank you. Yeah, I guess both should work, but I am like 99% sure that the latter one won't fit - we will see when the components arrive.

Yeah.. same. Been using integrated sound cards since like forever. Last one I used was a Sound Blaster in a 386 or 486 :) Can't even remember. Will try to go with Asus XONAR for 36 euros and see how it works out (PCIEX x1).

[srmarkovic]

I'm waiting for 64GB ecc ddr3 and usb3.0. I still don't know what GPU to use.

[Rhodesy]

I've just built my z9pa-8d system this afternoon. Literally just installed Windows and checked everything was posting correctly. Installed cinebench and got 2003 which seems par for the course. Temps looked ok but not stressed it yet. Build went well, got some 1600 64gb ecc ram for £100 off eBay from China which I was nervous about but it posts at least. Coolers are i30's and I have them pushing into each other with front and rear case fans sucking air in and then 2 120mm fans out of the top. Case is fractal define s and psu is the evga 650w that Jens used earlier in this thread. All in all so far I'm really pleased with this setup if it proves to be robust but so far so good. The case is great and it's so sparse with no gpu required, bags of room for air flow. Thanks for everyone's input and advice on this thread and to Juraj for his blog post.

[Rhodesy]

Here is a rubbish pic of it. All the HDs are around the back. I just have a 240gb ssd that I had from another PC.

[Juraj]

Define-S is so good. If I didn't already own so many XL-s when S didn't exist, I would switch :- )

[tomislavn]

Looking really good Rhodesy :)

I can't wait for all my components to arrive! Got everything apart from processors and mainboard (they should be here in around 10 days). Ram arrived yesterday from UK, 64GB DDR3 (8x8GB sticks) but it is 1333 Mhz ECC registered from HP (brand new, packed in original boxes) - wondering if that will work good in Asus Z9PA-D8 :S

[Rhodesy]

Thanks. I'm sure they will be fine Tom.

Yes the define S case and full modular psu is so good. It doesn't look there there are enough parts in there for it to work! I would defo recommend this set up if your just wanting a node but I think the atx mobo has limitations for a full workstation. Like no sound, no usb3 header for front ports. But it has vga so no gpu required.

One thing I should mention about the S case is I can't see a way to add a DVD drive in the front. I have a portable one I use for node installation and on my laptop.

[tomislavn]

Everything arrived :) Just assembled it all - working perfectly!

Added ASUS Xonar DSX in the mix for audio and other then that I had some minor issues with fitting everything in the Corsair 300R :P Had to shuffle some fans around, etc.

Sockets on Z9PA-D8 were quite close so I had to switch the fan to the other side and reverse its direction. Also I have added a fan on top to pull the heat out from between sockets, since I was left without space in the rear where the fan goes (damn huge coolers).

All in all, I am really satisfied how it all came out :)

Oh and Cinebench R15 = 2003 with stock settings. Corona 1.3 benchmark = 1.33min

Great stuff :))

[Juraj]

Congrats :- ) Hope it works well.