HELP – new workstation – is that a good deal?

[semag0]

Hey Guys!

I need some help, I am planning to invest in a new Workstation. The thing is, I don't really know that much about hardware. So I saw this deal on ebay: http://www.ebay.de/itm/251822079195 and my plan was to buy that computer and build in a bigger SSD and switch the nvidia Quadro with a new GTX 1080 or maybe even two. The processor is 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2660, which got a nice ranking in the corona Benchmark.

Here are the specs:

2 x Intel Xeon E5-2660 Octa Core
32 x 2,20 GHz bis 3,00GHz
48 GB Ram
NVIDIA Quadro 4000

So what do you think does it make sense?

[Freakaz]

No it does not. From my personal experience - I would suggest avoid used HP Z620 or whatever branded workstations at all cost. Z620 has a retarded motherboard, that does not allow much of a customization, you won't be able to change the PSU in case of failure, nor you will able to change the coolers, as the pining on it is not standard. Also the mobo's like to burn. I've cooked one in a month of heavy usage and replacement workstation is beeping some errors about non working QPI links (not that i care about it as I'll be using it as a node soon until it will eventualy die, which is inevitable i think).
 If you're on a tight budget - follow the guide by Juraj in his blog and build your own WS, i think you'll definately fit in this sum with some used E5-2670, do not waste your money on 2nd hand Branded workstations.

[Jann]

So what do you think does it make sense?

That's a bad deal honestly.
You can either build your own 2 cpu build based on 2670 V1 Xeons like in guide by Juraj, as mentioned.
Or even better, get a X99 based system on Xeon E5-2683 V3 QS cpu which will give you same or better speed than those two V1 xeons.
CPU - Xeon E5-2683 V3 QS - around 320euro
MB - Asrock X99 WS - around 320euro (based on ebay sellers listing Asrock boards as most compatible, can probably even go with cheaper model)
RAM - two 16Gb DDR4 sticks  - around 210euro (either separate or kit, ECC or not depending on price, as the MB/cpu work with either. Could even got with 8Gb sticks if 64Gb total is enough and cheaper)
PSU - Corsair RM850 - around 150euro (or other psu at least 750w with gold 80+ rating and good reviews)
CASE - Fractal Define R5 - around 100euro (can substitute for any case if sound dampening isn't required)
COOLER - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo or similar - around 30euro (more than enough to cool a Xeon even under long heavy load)
SSD - Samsung 850Evo 250Gb - around 100euro
HDD - any WD or HGST 2Tb drive - around 95euro
GPU - Nvidia Geforce 1070 - around 410euro (best price/performance currently, even overkill if mainly for work)
Total = 1735euro, so you can buy Windows license and/or switch some stuff around. And everything except CPU is new. If you find used parts still with warranty, you could easily have enough spare money to double the ram or any other part.

V1 xeons are ok, but only if you get them cheap.

[Nejc Kilar]

I really don't want to steal this thread but Jann, do you by any chance have any idea if you can fit 5 double slotted GPUs on that motherboard? Asking out of curiosity, they seem oddly tight for some reason.

[Jann]

I really don't want to steal this thread but Jann, do you by any chance have any idea if you can fit 5 double slotted GPUs on that motherboard? Asking out of curiosity, they seem oddly tight for some reason.

The PCIEX5 slot is just x4, which could still work, but you would have to use two single slot (native or modded) GPUs in 4th and 5th slot. Normally the board supports 4 GPUs at 8x each (but the 6th slot card would go over usb connectors, so some tinkering would be required).

[pas2bruit]

I was ready to buy a bunch of these z620 bi xeon 2670 knowing that now, you can find them less than 1000 euros in europe.
I though that a bi-xeon for that price (even second hand) was a good deal to push in my small renderfarm but after reading this post ... didn't know that these z620 were that bad.

[Nejc Kilar]

I really don't want to steal this thread but Jann, do you by any chance have any idea if you can fit 5 double slotted GPUs on that motherboard? Asking out of curiosity, they seem oddly tight for some reason.

The PCIEX5 slot is just x4, which could still work, but you would have to use two single slot (native or modded) GPUs in 4th and 5th slot. Normally the board supports 4 GPUs at 8x each (but the 6th slot card would go over usb connectors, so some tinkering would be required).

Thanks buddy!

[semag0]

thx for all your replies!

So I needed some time to look for parts and try to understand what fits together.
I followed the guide by Juraj and adjusted it to my needs.

And this is what i come up with:

Motherboard: Asus Z9PE-D8 WS

Ram: 4x 8GB G.Skill RipJawsX DDR3-2133 DIMM CL9

harddrive: 500GB Samsung 750 Evo 2.5" (6.4cm) SATA
                1000GB Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 32MB 3.5" (8.9cm) SATA 6Gb/s

graphics card: 2x 8GB KFA2 GeForce GTX 1080 EX OC Edition Aktiv PCIe 3.0 x16

cpu: 2x  Intel Xeon E5-2670

cpu-cooler: 2x Noctua NH-U14S Tower Kühler

psu: 750 Watt be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 Modular

case: Fractal Design Define R5 gedämmt Midi Tower

case fan: 2x be quiet! Shadow Wings SW1 PWM

In total this will be around 2800€, which is also the maximum i wanted to pay, so that is okay. What do you think? Do the parts fit together and does it make sense :D? I want to render with Arnold, Corona and Octane. That's why CPU and GPU is important to me.

Thanks for all your Support!

[Jann]

thx for all your replies!

So I needed some time to look for parts and try to understand what fits together.
I followed the guide by Juraj and adjusted it to my needs.

And this is what i come up with:

Motherboard: Asus Z9PE-D8 WS

Ram: 4x 8GB G.Skill RipJawsX DDR3-2133 DIMM CL9

harddrive: 500GB Samsung 750 Evo 2.5" (6.4cm) SATA
                1000GB Seagate Desktop HDD ST1000DM003 32MB 3.5" (8.9cm) SATA 6Gb/s

graphics card: 2x 8GB KFA2 GeForce GTX 1080 EX OC Edition Aktiv PCIe 3.0 x16

cpu: 2x  Intel Xeon E5-2670

cpu-cooler: 2x Noctua NH-U14S Tower Kühler

psu: 750 Watt be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 Modular

case: Fractal Design Define R5 gedämmt Midi Tower

case fan: 2x be quiet! Shadow Wings SW1 PWM

In total this will be around 2800€, which is also the maximum i wanted to pay, so that is okay. What do you think? Do the parts fit together and does it make sense :D? I want to render with Arnold, Corona and Octane. That's why CPU and GPU is important to me.

Thanks for all your Support!

Are all of these new?
Why that ram? There is no benefit from higher ram speed for rendering purposes. You can find ecc ddr3 kits on ebay really cheap.
Avoid Seagate drives if possible.
These, or almost any Xeons, don't need that much cooling. I've had Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo's cooling dual E5-2660 and currently cooling an E5-2686V3. These or most 120mm basic coolers would be more than enough.
Define R5 will NOT fit that motherboard. The R4 could, though not officially, but in R5 they recessed the M/B tray, and that prevents bigger boards from fitting. For airflow reasons, and gpu expandability, I'd suggest Define XL R2 or similar.
Now on the GPUs. Are you 100% sure you'll be rendering on them straight away? Otherwise getting 2 at once could be a waste. And aftermarket coolers like these have will suffocate each next card, even when you space them apart. For this reason, Founder cards are preferable (or similar blower type cooler). Also Hybrid cards like EVGA, MSI and others make are ok and will survive even stacked next to each other.

I don't fully understand why you want two 2670, when you could get an X99 based Xeon, but in the end, it's your choice.

[semag0]

All is new except the cpus.

I took that ram because i found them on mindfactory.de and the ram did not cost much more than the slower ones. I was thinking that it couldn't be bad to have the faster ones. But i do not really know much about ram, so if you can recommend me a ram that is cheaper and will work to, would be cool.

Why avoiding seagate? What is the better alternative?

thx for the tip with the case, i will go with the Define XL R2.

As GPU I will take the MSI Version and also 2, i am planning to use a GPU renderer as my main rendering engine.
For 2 GPU's i will need an SLI Bridge right? When i am taking the MSI GPU's this should be right, doesn't it? http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/MSI-SLI-Bridge-fuer-Grafikkarten--914-4395-001-_1009950.html

I wanted 2x 2670 CPU's because the have a total amount of 16 cores and got a really nice ranking in the corona Benchmark. Also the will only cost around 280€.

With X99 based xeon you mean the Xeon E5-2683 V3 QS? It cost a bit more and only got 14 cores. The benefit is that the mainboard will be much cheaper, am i right?
Does an X99 based xeon have any more benefits? And which one would be the best for around 300€?

thx for your help.

[Jann]

All is new except the cpus.

I took that ram because i found them on mindfactory.de and the ram did not cost much more than the slower ones. I was thinking that it couldn't be bad to have the faster ones. But i do not really know much about ram, so if you can recommend me a ram that is cheaper and will work to, would be cool.

Why avoiding seagate? What is the better alternative?

thx for the tip with the case, i will go with the Define XL R2.

As GPU I will take the MSI Version and also 2, i am planning to use a GPU renderer as my main rendering engine.
For 2 GPU's i will need an SLI Bridge right? When i am taking the MSI GPU's this should be right, doesn't it? http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/MSI-SLI-Bridge-fuer-Grafikkarten--914-4395-001-_1009950.html

I wanted 2x 2670 CPU's because the have a total amount of 16 cores and got a really nice ranking in the corona Benchmark. Also the will only cost around 280€.

With X99 based xeon you mean the Xeon E5-2683 V3 QS? It cost a bit more and only got 14 cores. The benefit is that the mainboard will be much cheaper, am i right?
Does an X99 based xeon have any more benefits? And which one would be the best for around 300€?

thx for your help.

Ram is fine if the price is right ;)

Seagate have higher failure rates than Western Digital for example. From personal experience, my friends still run their old WD drives, while I have had 2 Seagates die after a few years of use. None died instantly, so a good backup plan will keep you safe even with Seagate.

You do NOT need a SLI bridge for gpu rendering. It is actually suggested to turn off SLI in drivers for better stability. SLI is only for gaming. As for the cards HERE you can kind of see why aftermarket coolers are bad for multi-gpu setup. They just blow hot air up to the next card. So they are only used for gpu rendering in open/custom cases.

The 2x 2670 choice depends on price. For 70-80euro for a cpu, they are a great deal, if the motherboard is cheap. More cores doesn't always equal better performance.
X99 is just a newer platform. And if the total cost is close, I honestly don't see the benefits of older dual cpu config. But all depends on what you can buy, local pricing, and research on those QS cpus.

[Freakaz]

I wanted 2x 2670 CPU's because the have a total amount of 16 cores and got a really nice ranking in the corona Benchmark. Also the will only cost around 280€.

Could find cheaper, I've bought couple of those for 230 two weeks ago. So worth checking ebay for better price, if in EU, if worldwide, you can still find these for ~80 bucks.

Jann, single  Xeon E5-2683 V3 QS does not outperform the 2x 2670 according to corona benchmark, neither does E5-2686 V3 even if it does, it is by a small fraction, price-wise it is still the more expensive option, albeit the difference is somewhere around 100 euro, so it's OP's decision on what he chooses.