Hi guys,
 
Here's my little contribution to SR-2 forum/community.
The SR-2 SuperServer
 
Original idea: Deliver maximal computing power to multiple single-threaded applications running inside the VM's on VMWare ESX 4.1 server.
Contributors:
Thanks to
JSComputers [www.jscomputers.cz] for parts delivery, first assembly and initial setup/overclock
Stoobimodding [www.stoobimodding.com] for case mod 
[edit]
See the attached files for parts, 2U server pics, CPUZ 
 
General specs:
SR-2
2x X5690@4.8GHz (200x24@1.45Vcore)
24G Gskill@1600
EDIT: 48GB 6*8GB ECC DDR3 Hynix HMT31GR7BFR4C @ 1600 11-11-11-29 (rated@1333)
BIOS A56 (a good one )
 
Wish u good luck with your builds
Patrick

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Hi,
 
Nice build. I have similar OC settings, but am using a Lian Li case, which is huge. Where did you buy the case, and did it come modified ?
 
Thanks

ekamber


Hi,

Nice build. I have similar OC settings, but am using a Lian Li case, which is huge. Where did you buy the case, and did it come modified ?

Thanks

 
Hi,
The case came from JSComputer [www.jscomputers.cz] (a Czech company) but it was a brand new product from supermicro so we had to wait for delivery from supermicro central european distribution point (in germany I think). The SR-2 can fit only in very few of SU rack cases and this was the only one with 16xSFF bays.
The case mod was made by Stoobimodding [www.stoobimodding.com].
Patrick

PatriX007

ekamber


Hi,

Nice build. I have similar OC settings, but am using a Lian Li case, which is huge. Where did you buy the case, and did it come modified ?

Thanks

Hi,
The case came from JSComputer [www.jscomputers.cz] (a Czech company) but it was a brand new product from supermicro so we had to wait for delivery from supermicro central european distribution point (in germany I think). The SR-2 can fit only in very few of SU rack cases and this was the only one with 16xSFF bays.
The case mod was made by Stoobimodding [www.stoobimodding.com].
Patrick

 
Thanks for that. One more question. So, how much modding work did it take to reconfigure the back panel to accomodate the SR-II and to make the PCI slots?
 
Thanks

The modder had to cut out the back plate entirely and replaced it by a custom made one and to replace the mounting nuts on the bottom side of the case.
I didn't saw the process so I assume it only based on my observation of the final product.
I made some pics of the back plate for you.

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Curiously... how much would it cost me to get 10x that with 48 gb ram and 2x 580 3gb gtx... (GPU questionable...) ??

10x small car

What OC settings do you have for 5Ghz, and is it Linx/IntelBurnTest stable ?
 
Thanks

Nice and clean build man but why the SR2? why OC the CPU's a server is all about lifespan, reliability and stability in any workloads 24/7.
 
Anyways I hope she will last longer than a year heh, most OCed servers die within 2 years max heh. Most Server CPU's run at lower speeds and have twice the amount of cores desktop CPU's have, although the SR2 uses Xeons, even so OCing them won't make them run more stable especially in a server environment, as the years go bya high OC such as 5Ghz will decrease their lifespan and the entire reliability of the system majorly. Xeons are like Opterons they are made to run at low speeds with lots of cores without failure.
 
Hmm I would of gone for the Supermicro X8DA3 if it were going to be used for a server, much cheaper and much more server based hardware on the Mobo as well as SAS2-600 raid controller from LSI which is hardware driven @ PCI-E 2.0 x8, IPMI 1.5 & 2.0 support, PCI-X 100Mhz / 133Mhz support, 8x SAS2-600 Raid support, Mass Ram Support up to 192GB PC3-10600 ECC Reg you name it.
 
The SR2 lacks the features you'd expect and want on a real professional server board. Supermicro is master of all sevrer & Workstation Motherboards, there is no way around this it's what everyone @ 2cpu.com also advise if you can afford one, well to be honest the X8DA3 is about 300 euro's cheaper and has more Server/Workstation options that the SR2 can't give, so yeah I would of dug this out before making the wrong move.
 
Supermicro is the leader when it comes to server/workstation motherboards with 1, 2 and 4 socket CPU support, especially when it comes to stability, reliability and lifespan of the motherboard components.
 
Here the X8DA3 Info page:
http://www.supermicro.com...ard/QPI/5500/X8DA3.cfm
Good alternatives are ASUS, MSI, TYAN and an older brand that does not exist anymore which was iWiLL, they were the closest to the quality, stability and reliability Supermicro has today.
 
That might be handy info if you do plan on upgrading the motherboard to a more suitable and professional server one  
Anyways I have been working with 2CPU based workstations since 2000 and I have to admit taking server class motherboards is the best thing I ever done, never had a single regret, but hey it all looks good for the rest very clean build, always love that look
 
It's that I just hope you won't expereince all the bad things other SR2'ers @ 2CPU.com have been experiencing and the people at Trubritar forums also.
 
I hope she runs stable for your needs man and hey, happy 2CPUing !

Love serious answer - but seriously how much ££ is an estimate for 10 rig...?

ekamber


What OC settings do you have for 5Ghz, and is it Linx/IntelBurnTest stable ?

Thanks

 
I had to revert back to 4.8GHz. 5GHz wasn't stable even with insane volts 
I'll post the final settings when the tuning will be over.
 

PatriX007

ekamber


What OC settings do you have for 5Ghz, and is it Linx/IntelBurnTest stable ?

Thanks

I had to revert back to 4.8GHz. 5GHz wasn't stable even with insane volts 
I'll post the final settings when the tuning will be over.

 
Once you do have the final settings, please send me a PM. I would much appreciate that.
 
Cheers

Dariusz1989


Love serious answer - but seriously how much ££ is an estimate for 10 rig...?

I'd estimate it about €6000 per rig.
So make that €60.000 for 10 of them, I gues you can convert it to pounds yourself.

Gold Leader >
 
I tried to declare the objectives - which lead us to that choice - in the initial post in order to prevent to run into that kind of discussions but it might be that I wasn't clear enough.
First of all the SR-2 based machine is not our only one server or workstation (if you prefer J). Our production systems run on ESX cluster powered by many HP DL380 G7 servers. They can process really a lot of threads at the same time but when it comes to single threaded computing power than a more advanced laptop has more power that this servers.
Now I am speaking about end user applications like MS Excel etc. Try to filter a XLS worksheet having hundred of thousands rows and hundreds cols and to apply some formulas on it and let see how this will be processed even on a powerfull workstation.
So instead of buying many (10+) workstation at the price of ~5k$ each which anyway are still not powerful enough to save time to the operators we decided to create one “superserver” that will provide enough computing power to all virtualized desktops for everybody who will need it. The whole investment was not more than 14k$.
The VM’s are regulary mirrored (VRanger app.) to the main ESX cluster so even when the server fails, the users may continue to work on the cluster.
If the machine will survive for ~2-3Y it’ll be written of and we will replace it by a more up to date hardware. Anyway most of the expensive part of watercooling components will stay and continue with the next build.
So I hope that I cleared a bit what lead us to that – from the point of view of server implementation – strange configuration. 

SandersAce

Dariusz1989


Love serious answer - but seriously how much ££ is an estimate for 10 rig...?

I'd estimate it about €6000 per rig.
So make that €60.000 for 10 of them, I gues you can convert it to pounds yourself.

 
The final config costed exactly €10500 which is $14700 or ££9000.
10 RIGS = €105k 
Hope now it's clear huh.

PatriX007


If the machine will survive for ~2-3Y it’ll be written of and we will replace it by a more up to date hardware.

Contact me by that time
 

PatriX007

The final config costed exactly €10500 which is $14700 or ££9000.
10 RIGS = €105k 
Hope now it's clear huh.

Now that's a nice pricetag. And that doesn't even include some high powered videocards (not nessecary for you, but maybe for another?).
Might I ask what costs so much then? Since my build came around €6000. Now I don't have two high end Xeon CPU's but on the other hand I do have a more expensive watercooling and 3 GTX 580's so I'm a little struck by why yours is €4000 over mine

SandersAce

 Might I ask what costs so much then? Since my build came around €6000. Now I don't have two high end Xeon CPU's but on the other hand I do have a more expensive watercooling and 3 GTX 580's so I'm a little struck by why yours is €4000 over mine

 
i.e.
SAS RAID HBA Adaptec 6850 (incl. battery, cables) = €750
4x OCZ Vertex 3 240GB MAXIOPS = €1800
Case + modding = €1000
2x Intel Xeon X5960 = €1200 each = €2400 for CPU's
2x Intel ET2 quad = €550
etc...

Ah yeah that adds up.
Hope you didn't mind me asking, was just curious about it.

Now that we know full specs...
 
Its way above what my slave would need in terms of HDD,
intel et2 quad - whats that ?
 
Anyway the case and cooling I'm interested in. All I need in rig is 500gb hdd and as much CPU power as possible with 48 gb ram n optional 2+gpu for gpu rendering...
 
Thanks, bye.

Dariusz1989

 intel et2 quad - whats that ?
 Anyway the case and cooling I'm interested in. All I need in rig is 500gb hdd and as much CPU power as possible with 48 gb ram n optional 2+gpu for gpu rendering...

 
Intel Gigabit ET2 Quad = gigabit Intel NIC with 4 ports
The case has only 2U in height. So you will need low profile GPU's which might be quite limiting in term of computing power.

looks like a nice 2U setup!!  do you know what is the stock supermicro part number is for the case (non-modded).  My goal is to come up with a 3U setup that will have the liquid cooling internal for the server.  If I can find a good 3U case that is deep enough, it should be sufficient for the 120mm radiators and fans and allow for using full-height peripheral cards.   can you post the stable settings for your 4.8Ghz system?
 
cheers---

Guys U know U can probably make a case 3u for like 50£ or so instead of paying thousands to supermicro ?
 

radOC


looks like a nice 2U setup!!  do you know what is the stock supermicro part number is for the case (non-modded).  My goal is to come up with a 3U setup that will have the liquid cooling internal for the server.  If I can find a good 3U case that is deep enough, it should be sufficient for the 120mm radiators and fans and allow for using full-height peripheral cards.   can you post the stable settings for your 4.8Ghz system?

cheers---

CASE:
www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/2U/219/SC219A-R920U.cfm

bios A43
cpu: 2x X5690@4.8GHz = 200*24
memory: 24GB (6x4) gskill ripjaws 1600@9-9-9-24 -> 2:8
vcore 1.5
vtt 1.45
ioh 1.45
ddr 1.65
ibt stable @max for 48h

Dariusz1989


Guys U know U can probably make a case 3u for like 50£ or so instead of paying thousands to supermicro ?

Time is money and besides this the saved time goes to another projects especially for house&family 
Must add this, in order to change the atmosphere a little bit...there's just pictures of boxes loaded by integrated circuits 
 

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I did the ssd benchmark of my 4x OCZ Vertex 3 MaxIO 240GB in R10 on Adaptec 6805 (512MB cache) SAS/SATA 6GB/s.
I like specially the last 4 lines 
 

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RAM compatibility infomation:
 
I'm now running my SR-2 with 6 x 8GB ECC DDR3 modules from HYNIX and so far do good.
The specs are on the first post.

nice car for your daughter:) what is the other picture of?

Gratuitous


nice car for your daughter:) what is the other picture of?

 
Here's the answer :)

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Adaptec low profile 8port sas raid hba replaced by LSI 16port full-height hba using pci-extender
 

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interesting  build
 
thanks for sharing
 
Henrik