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

[erkuttaner]

you can buy used cpu at really cheaper pric and only for 2670 http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2322090.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.XIntel+Xeon+E5-2670.TRS0&_nkw=Intel+Xeon+E5-2670&_sacat=0
it's rare phenomenon at market, but if you will buy it read some info about stepping and revisions, you can save huge amount of money

sorry video in russian but there config and comparison with i7

Since i'm noob about xeons could you point me at stepping and revisions part.Thanks

[Juraj]

The stepping and revision refer to version of chip. When buying those, earliest revisions can have much lower clock and offer lesser stability and features.

Some of the the E5-2670 v1 which are flooding the market are SR0H8, feature C1 stepping, which lacks working VT-d, a virtualization tech by Intel, which DOESN'T matter for rendering :- ).

It's possible also to buy E5-2670 v1 which is SR0KX, stepping C2 for slightly higher sum.

Again, none of this matters for rendering, as both versions feature otherwise same spec (frequencies, turbos,etc..).

[erkuttaner]

I see.
Is there an easy way to inspect decent ones when buying?
Also i'd like to now your opinions about supermicro motherboards and the cheap server rams on ebay.
Thanks

[Juraj]

Buy the cheapest :- ) When it's for node, it doesn't matter. When it's for workstation, it does... and SuperMicro has a lot of versions, so if you find one, search it on their website to see if it has what you need (USB 3.0 slot, enough PCI slots,etc..).

Regarding memory, always buy the cheapest :- ) If you buy Supermicro, or Asus Z9PA (opposed to PE WS, first is server board, second is workstation board), you will need DDR3-ECC (1333-1600 Mhz), just find the cheapest. Remember, to run these in quad channel, you need 4 modules for each CPU. But it doesn't matter too much, because for rendering it doesn't matter a lot. Just don't buy 2x16 if you want 32gb :- ) buy 4x8 to run dual-channel, and if you need later 64gb, you will just buy another 4x8.

[mraw]

Juraj: What would be the cheapest board you can think of for such a render node? Is there a reason why this Xeon CPUs are so cheap?
thanks.

[Juraj]

Guys, I've stumbled upon this phenomenon just 3 days ago :- ) Completely random, I came across that Reddit thread which started it all in 2015.

There is a lot of information about it on internet, I did not bother searching much. I just bought the same board I use for my 2680v2.

I hope to have this PC completed in week +/- and then I will post a blog/tutorial quickly here to help others (if it will WORK :- ) ). But in meantime, I mean, there are about 200 such posts on internet :- )

[Rhodesy]

Ive just snapped up a couple last night after reading this thread. It seems too good to miss for a cheap render node with some bite....if they work. Looks like they should CB R15 about 2000 points which is definitely worth the corona node license. I think sometimes people build many cheap nodes and forget that each node will need a render license which has an ongoing cost these days now vray has changed its pricing, so I think all major engines now charge for nodes.

As for Mobo I'm hovering over a Asus Z9 PA-D8 which looks to be the cheapest and supports DDR3 and strangely its ATX. It doesn't seem as common as the other Asus boards which is surprising to me as being cheaper and ATX size I would have thought was appealing so not sure why it wasn't popular at the time. It even has a VGA port. Anyone know if this isn't a good option?

Im hoping to build this close to as cheap as I can within reason for a bit of an experiment as I wasn't planning any major investment right now.

[Juraj]

Yup, as Jann said,  Asus Z9 PA seems like the cheapest option available in Europe. Are you 100perc. sure it supports non-ECC (U)Dimms ? The Asus only lists that on PE WS. If so it's great choice. But both kind of memory should be plenty cheap available.

The board is strange, I didn't even know it existed and it is younger then PE. It also looks incredibly cheap and shitty :- ) But that should matter at all.

2100 +/- C15 is excellent, in Corona Benchmark it has 1:48 seconds I think ?

[Rhodesy]

I've just rechecked the spec page and it does support UDIMMS so I think we are safe. Although the supported RAM list is quite short and doesnt have any corsair RAM on it but I suspect its just not been tested by Asus. It does say in the small print it has to be 1600 or lower for the V1 which is worth noting.

[Juraj]

I've just rechecked the spec page and it does support UDIMMS so I think we are safe. Although the supported RAM list is quite short and doesnt have any corsair RAM on it but I suspect its just not been tested by Asus. It does say in the small print it has to be 1600 or lower for the V1 which is worth noting.

Yes,but...

In server boards, UDIMMs in 90perc. of time simply mean Un(buffered/registered) ECC modules, so ECC modules not meant to be stacking in high amounts (clusters).

But if you checked the vendor list and found regular modules, then good, that's what I was lazy to do (because why can't Asus just link directly ?).

[Rhodesy]

eee crap i've just ordered it but looking again I think you're right. I googled UDIMM and just saw it meant unregistered so I thought I was in the clear with common DDR3. Looked more closely at the supported memory list and they were all ecc. Might have to cancel that. What a pain but my mistake!

EDIT: Trying to get hold of the seller by phone but can't get through. But looking on the Crucial website I can get 2x8GB 1600 compatible EEC kits and if I bought 4 of them as I want 64GB then in terms of price it works out about the same as the WS mobo and RAM combo as I was going to get 2 x 32GB kits for that. Is it safe mixing 4 kits do you know? Another spanner is that there are about 5-6 different 2X8 GB kits, some unbuffered some with CL11 some CL13. I think CL11 is better but my knowledge is defo being tested. Might give them an email!

[Jann]

The Z9PE-D8 WS system I had with two 2660 C0 stepping ES xeons, worked fine with 4 kits of 2x8Gb ddr3 (KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G)
The only trouble was setting the timings manually, as otherwise anything above 1333MHz would freak the ram out and show less amount. But once I set the correct timings, all 64Gb worked fine at full 1600MHz.

I have honestly never had trouble with mixing ram as long as it's the same model, and you don't AUTO everything. Though I even had an old Q9500 system with 2 kits from different brands working fine on auto too :D

[Rhodesy]

Thats good to know thanks. I have mixed two 32GB kits in one of my nodes and it seems to run fine with an OC'd i7 but was thinking server boards might be more picky.

I have since found a 64GB Kingston kit that would work out slightly cheaper and hopefully more reliable as its a kit. But its 4 x 16GB so I would only be using half the slots. Does that really matter if I have two free slots on each cpu? I dont think RAM speed effects rendering much? The only thing I can think of is loading the scene into the RAM but on a large still that is negligible.

[Juraj]

The Z9PE-D8 WS system I had with two 2660 C0 stepping ES xeons, worked fine with 4 kits of 2x8Gb ddr3 (KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G)
The only trouble was setting the timings manually, as otherwise anything above 1333MHz would freak the ram out and show less amount. But once I set the correct timings, all 64Gb worked fine at full 1600MHz.

I have honestly never had trouble with mixing ram as long as it's the same model, and you don't AUTO everything. Though I even had an old Q9500 system with 2 kits from different brands working fine on auto too :D

Funny you say this because I had the exact issue with 1600Mhz but I didn't tried playing with timings manually : / But I did performance comparisons and there was no difference so I just left it as it was...

Regarding mixing, it does work most of the time as long as they are set to same clock/timing (of the slower version), but I still wouldn't suggest it...

Regarding free slots, it does not matter how many you fill, as long you fill same amount of slots for each CPU, in correct slots (A1/B1,etc...) as specified in manual. Even dual-channel/quad-channel does very little for performance.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-CPU-E5-2670-SR0KX-2-60GHz-Eight-Core-LGA2011-20MB-Processor-QTY-100-/281816232417?hash=item419d8e71e1:g:TeQAAOSwKIpWDv3N



:- D

[Rhodesy]

holy smokes there are tonnes of these things! If it all works out somebody could set up a render farm so cheaply. I'm hoping to bring it all in for £800 for the hardware. Probably about 35% of the cost of a new PC with the same CB scores.

I'll go for the 4x16GB kit then.