My new build - 2xGTX1070, 2xE5-2660

0x4452

n00b
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Nov 19, 2016
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Why go mainstream when you can double up?

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I built my little monster on the "cheap" and wanted to share it with you guys and hear what you think.

Components:

2x GTX1070 = $900
2x Xeon E5-2660 = $100 (eBay)
2x Cooler Master Evo 212 = $0 (found them in a junkyard)
8x4GB Micron 1333 ECC = $100 (eBay)
Asus Z9PE-D8 = $250 (eBay)
Intel SSD 520 (had it for a long time)
WD Green 2TB (same)
Lian Li E05 (used)
40" 4k Samsung TV (main and only monitor) = $300 (Black Friday sale at Best Buy)

I wanted to use a small case and pack it full with GPUs and CPUs. I ended up picking Lian Li A05 which is almost as long as the extended ATX motherboard. So to make it fit, I removed the drive trays, relocated the power supply to stand vertical in front and mounted the drives on the bottom.

The processors are 8C/16T Sandy Bridges rated at 2.2GHz but in practice often hit 2.93GHz in use in turbo. They overclock mildly too. In total, I have 16C/32T & task manager graphs are cool.

LGA2011 coolers are pretty pricey, so I retrofitted the Evo 212s using spacers from the local (non-PC) hardware shop.

My new PC in total costs $1500. Most expensive I've ever had, but coolest too
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I really enjoyed building it and this is the first time ever I have a nice PC, despite having had a job for about 6 years now. Hunting for components in eBay took a long time though.
 
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Nice. Is that enough single CPU thread horsepower to make use of those dual GPU's?
 
I had the same concern and "solved" it by getting a 4k display. Witcher 3 for example scales 1.5x for me in SLI (everything max except hair works = off) which is inline with what review sites are getting with 4+GHz CPUs.

Btw, the extra cores really help with compile times. I am using the computer for work & play.
 
What is the primary use of this computer? What do you need all the cores for? Also, 1333 mhz ram?
 
I like a lot you put that mobo is that box.

Was it difficult to drill holes to attach the motherboard or did you use another method? and the power supply?
 
> What is the primary use of this computer?

Gaming and coding. Compile times are pretty good and in parallel. The linker is still serial though :/

> nice system, whats up with the foam?

For airflow. The foam partitions the case into the top half and the bottom half. It might be hard to see, but there are 2 120mm exhaust fans - one on the left and one on the top. Due to the foam, the fans pull most of their air through the CPU heat sinks. Notice that one CPU doesn't even have a fan because of this (and because I don't have its fan bracket).

> I like a lot you put that mobo is that box. Was it difficult to drill holes to attach the motherboard or did you use another method? and the power supply?

Thanks! Yeah, I also like how dense the case ended up being - almost all space utilized :)

The extended ATX mobo needs 5 (or 6) extra holes + spacers not provided by the case. Unfortunately the ones on the right edge were past the end of the back plate and I had to leave them hanging. For the other 2, I drilled guiding holes, placed the case and back plate on solid support and basically with all my strength force-screwed the spacer so it makes its own thread. The back plate on this case is aluminum so my method worked out well.

The power supply is supported on 2 sides by existing bends on the inner front panel. For the third side, I made a bend in the metal inwards, and for the forth side, I used thick cable ties to pull the PSU towards the front. Quite sturdy at the end, but not meant to be taken in and out naturally.

The harddrive is screwed to the bottom through a few mm of rubber.
 
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