X99 Xeon Gaming Workstation Server Build

[jophde]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
I will game at 1600p. I also do numerous software related tasks. I will have ton of VMs and Docker containers running. I have a static IP and want to access things over the Internet so the box will need to run 24/7.


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$2500


3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

San Francisco, CA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, Motherboard, CPU, Memory, SSD, GPU, Power Supply, CPU Cooler


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

None. I already have a Dell 3014U and a keyboard and mouse.

6) Will you be overclocking?

No. I am going for stability.


7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

2560x1600 30 inches. I will probably upgrade to 4k at some point in the future.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Now.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

I could see myself eventually having 2 GPUs and 2 Intel 750s. I would like to give them all the PCI-E lanes they need. I will probably have numerous 2.5 SSDs on Sata III down the road too.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

I will probably use Windows 10 preview until the real thing comes out. I have Windows 7.


Here is what I am thinking:

CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2620 v2 $404.99

It's about as much as the 5820K and has all 40 lanes. I won't be overlocking...

GPU: EVGA GTX 980 Ti $669.99

I am pretty sure I will need the 6GB VRAM for 1600p and above

Storage: Intel 750 400 GB $399.99

I want the fastest SSD possible. I will be putting Windows on it as a host. I will run a ton of hyper-v machines and docker containers on this drive in addition to windows and games.

Ram: 32gb Ram $203.99

Seems like a good value.

Power Supply: Corsair HX750i Power Supply $144.49

I don't like to skimp on power supplies. Is this enough for 2 980 Ti down the road? I will also have some more SSDs. I don't really see myself ever going to 3 cards.

CPU Cooler: Noctua CPU Cooler $96.68

This thing is supposed to be really nice. I am looking for silence and stability. The machine will have email, file servers, etc running.

Case: Fractal Designs Define R5 $99.99

I love this case. Will everything fit ok in it?


I am really drawing a blank on the mother board. I was thinking of going with this. I love Supermicro and it seems like a good deal.

 

[Quartz-1]

Would it not be more sensible to have two PCs, one a games box and one a host for your VMs? You could use a router with NAT and port forwarding to enable remote access.

Do be aware that your motherboard will need to be NVMe aware, and that using PCIe slots may degrade GPU performance when you get the second GPU.

WRT the SSD, is 400 GB going to be sufficient for all your VMs?

 

[jophde]

400 GB should be enough for the immediate future. I could always just buy a second one later on and put them in Raid 0.

I am not going to be running a ton of VMs. I will probably have a desktop linux that I use for development instead of Windows. For the dev I do the performance should be fine. Besides that I will have various Docker containers running and probably mail, file, and web server running.

I have considered going with Linux as the host. Gaming on Linux seems to make the 980 Ti kind worthless though. I also want to buy an Oculus when it comes. With Windows as the host I get great gaming and the machine should be more than fast enough to run Linux in a VM. I am not looking for 5 9s uptime. If the box crashes from a game my personal website and mail server can go down for a few minutes.

The other alternative I have considered is waiting for Skylake and building a gaming and just getting a Broadwell NUC to run my Linux desktop on. I really want X99 though.

 

[jophde]

Anyone have any ideas on nvme xeon x99 board that isn't $500? I think this Supermicro board could work but I can't find anything definitive.

 

[Blue Fox]

If you're dead set on getting a Xeon CPU, at least get one of the single socket ones to save some money. It will be faster. The i7 5820K might also not have as many PCIe lanes, but with 2 GPUs, it makes a negligible difference to have them run with 8 lanes instead of 16. The i7 5820K offers more than 50% more performance than the CPU you selected even without any overclocking too.

 

[jophde]

I suppose I don't need a Xeon. The i7 5820K will work with Hyper-V right? Do you have a motherboard recommendation for that chip that will also work with the Intel 750?

 

[jophde]

Would this be a good board to pair with i7 5820k? Would it work fine with the Intel 750? From what I read it looks like all Asus boards support it. What exactly is the hyper card for though? Would any of the other Asus boards be worth looking at for a non over clocker? I really don't tinker much. Onboard wifi would be nice though.

 

[Dangman]

That Asus X99-A/USB 3.1 board should be ok since it's based on the popular and reliable, so far, X99-A motherboard. That Hyper card just lets you add a second M.2 SSD to the system.

At $145, that Corsair PSU isn't that great of a choice. For $10 more, you can get a better quality and higher wattage/ameperage Seasonic:
$155 - Seasonic X850 Gold 850W Modular PSU

Everything else looks ok.

 

[jophde]

Thanks for the feedback.

Is the Asus X99-Pro USB 3.1 the same thing as the X99-A but with wifi and bluetooth? I will probably just go with that instead.

If I were to use Linux as the host OS what sort of graphics card would I need to run CS GO and SCII at 1600p? Could I get buy on a GTX 960 or a 970? I am having a hard time finding numbers. I don't really game much besides those too and I really want run Linux on the metal. I will be playing around with Rift and the HTC Vive though so maybe the extra power of the 980 Ti would be worth it.

 

[Dangman]

Thanks for the feedback.

Is the Asus X99-Pro USB 3.1 the same thing as the X99-A but with wifi and bluetooth? I will probably just go with that instead.

If I were to use Linux as the host OS what sort of graphics card would I need to run CS GO and SCII at 1600p? Could I get buy on a GTX 960 or a 970? I am having a hard time finding numbers. I don't really game much besides those too and I really want run Linux on the metal. I will be playing around with Rift and the HTC Vive though so maybe the extra power of the 980 Ti would be worth it.

Wait, why do you need WIFI? Judging from what you've written so far, WIFI doesn't sound like the best solution. Can you really not get a long enough ethernet cable and hook it to the PC?

As for the GPU, SC2 isn't native to Linux hence why you haven't found numbers for it. With that said, considering that the GTX 960 can provide roughly 77FPS at 2560x1600 on Ultra settings with Bioshock Infinite in Linux, a game that's significantly more GPU demanding than SC2 or CS:GO, that should give you a clear indication of how well the GTX 960 will do with the lesser demanding SC2 and CS:GO. So stick with the GTX 960.

The GTX 980 TI isn't worth it in your case since A) you're not playing AAA games and B) you're only "playing" with Rift/HTC Vive. Your planned usage just isn't serious enough to justify the extra $470. You're better off spending that extra $470 on a second and/or larger SSD or doubling your RAM to 64GB or improving your network so that you don't have to rely on wifi or get the best wireless setup possible.

 

[jophde]

Yea you are right, I will just run some ethernet. X99-A it is.

Is this a good 960? I assumed that I should go with the 4GB version instead of the 2GB version for 1600p. Are any of the Evga overclocked models a particularly good deal?

Since I am going with a GTX 960 should I still get an 850 Watt power supply? I suppose I could conceivably add enough cards and drives down the road that I will need it but it seems like overkill for now.

How does the SM951 stack up against the Intel 750? If they do have about the same performance would it be a better use of PCI-E slots and lanes to use the SM951 in m2? I have heard there are some issues with using m2 drives as boot drives.

Thanks for all of your help. I am almost ready to pull the trigger .

 

[Dangman]

Yea you are right, I will just run some ethernet. X99-A it is.

Is this a good 960? I assumed that I should go with the 4GB version instead of the 2GB version for 1600p. Are any of the Evga overclocked models a particularly good deal?

No, not really. The GTX 960 isn't fast enough to take advantage of all that extra VRAM. Considering the games you're planning on playing, 2GB of VRAM is plenty. If you were in a situation when 4GB of VRAM is needed, that basically means you shouldn't be considering the GTX 960 at all.

At $240, that GTX 960 card is overpriced since it's $40 more than this eVGA GTX 960 2GB card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487091

Since I am going with a GTX 960 should I still get an 850 Watt power supply? I suppose I could conceivably add enough cards and drives down the road that I will need it but it seems like overkill for now.

Honestly, not really. You'll be fine with this PSU:
$80 - Seasonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W Modular PSU

But if you want to go overkill, then this PSU is a good choice:
$117 - eVGA SuperNOVA 750G2 750W Modular PSU

How does the SM951 stack up against the Intel 750? If they do have about the same performance would it be a better use of PCI-E slots and lanes to use the SM951 in m2? I have heard there are some issues with using m2 drives as boot drives..

Best double check with the people over at the Data Storage subforum for that.

Please post a final build list before you buy just to make sure we didn't miss anything.

 

[redrage]

some how from the OP to the last post went from a bad ass hyper-v xeon rig to a mid grade older gaming rig lol.

here is kinda a compromise between the two.

PC Hound Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-5930K ($579.99 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: ASUS X99-A ($268.99 @ Mwave)
Memory: G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8GB) Ripjaws 4 series ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 04G-P4-1972-KR ($319.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 860W Platinum SS-860XP2 ($155.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: SAMSUNG 512GB 850 Pro Series MZ-7KE512BW ($257.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK ($99.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: CORSAIR Hydro Series H60 CW-9060007-WW ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1,852.90
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound

6core/12 thread more PCI lanes. i just picked it cause personally I like the idea better but 5920 appears to be just fine for you as well and cheaper.

Board looks to support everything you are looking for(?) probably another cheaper brand though

I just like Gskill. 16GB enough for a couple vms using 8GB sticks to keep the option to go to 64GB if needed

GTX970 with CS the 960 is probably just fine but if you are running full screen on your monitor any half newer game will probably chock. 970 will probably handle it a bit better though it will likely hit or be close to that 3.5GB limit. If you are like most of us.. once you get this system built you'll probably want EA Star Wars ;-)

SSD: just cause i'm not sure where you are going. for a couple VMs serving up mail web site, etc on linux with out much traffic a 4200rpm laptop drive will be more than enough once they're booted.. getting one of these expensive PCIe drives probably is a waste of cash as you probably won't even get close to what the SSD can put out except on large transfers or synthetic tests. You could probably go with a lower grade option and still have similar non-synthetic results.

since your not overclocking and i assume under 80F room temp the h60 cooler will do nicely if not overkill.

860W PSU in case you want SLI or add some mechanical drives. you could save a few bucks and go for the 660W one as well.

 

[jophde]

Sorry about being so fickle about the Xeon Hyper-v build vs mid range gaming build. In my ideal world I want the server that does everything. Quartz-T got me thinking splitting things up into different boxes though. While Hyper-v is fine for servers, I have always had some issue with virtualized LInux desktops and I really want to run my development OS on the metal. I will save the server build for another box or just buy some Nucs.

I am now targeting a dual booting mid range gaming box . Since this box will need to be restarted I am not worried about Hypver-v or virtualization support. Here is where I am at:

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K ($389.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS X99-A/USB 3.1 ($249.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 ACX 2,9 ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 16GB Kit (4x4) ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB ($259.99 @ Amazon)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 ($117.06 @ Amazon)
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 ($96.68 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ($99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1779.62 /w Tax and Shipping

The only keyboard and mouse games I play right now are CS:GO and SC2. The GTX 970 should crush them on my 1600p screen. The other gaming I want to do is on a 1080p TV/Projector in my living room. The GTX 970 should be able to handle Witcher 3 at 1080p. I haven't played many modern games because I have only had a Mac for a while. Once I rejoin the master race I will probably get some new games. I code all day so I usually want to game on the couch.

I will buy a HTC Vive or Oculus day one. The 970 is the minimum recommended card for the consumer version. Even it's not enough I can just toss in another one down the road. DX 12 should allow memory of multiple cards in SLI to stack right? VRAM is my only concern versus the 980 Ti. VR screen density is only going to go up.

While the extra 12 PCI-E lanes could be useful I think 28 should be fine. The most I ever see myself using is dual GPUs and a PCI-E SSD. Down the road I could upgrade to a chip with more PCI-E lanes if need be. Skylake-E is going to be the same socket right? Would I need more lanes to add USB Type-C interfaces to this board? That's something I will probably do.

I am going to hold off on the PCI-E NVME drives for now. It seems like the driver support is a bit buggy and the NVME version of the SM951 is not out yet. The 850 Pro should suite my needs. I will probably partition the 512 GB drive to 384 GB Windows and 128 GB for Arch Linux. Whenever NVME calms down I will just upgrade to that and move my system over use the 850 Pro for a storage drive.

I realized I only really need 16 GB of ram. While I like the idea of going with 8GB sticks wouldn't that hurt performance since it's not quad channel?

Also, since I am not going to use this box as a server I will probably be overclocking so I am just going to keep the Noctua cooler.

On a side note, is the Nvidia Shield the best way to stream games from my desktop to the living room? Seems like a good way to go until the Steam box comes out.

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks for the help! Hopefully I can pull the trigger today.

 

[redrage]

I am now targeting a dual booting mid range gaming box . Since this box will need to be restarted I am not worried about Hypver-v or virtualization support. Here is where I am at:

ok.. well forget x99 you won't need to even think about considering its expandability.. Just

get a i7-4790s a z97board to your liking and pretty much any gtx970/980 you like. since you're not going VMs on this machine you can probably downgrade the SSD to a more consumer grade and save 50bucks or so like a crucial MX200 or something(?) Since Star craft 2 and CS are 'fairly' small a 256GB should be more than fine instead of 500GB save you another 75bucks.

get a 2x4GB 8GB set will be fine for gaming for quite a while since its DDR3 instead of 4 and half as much it'll save you ~150.

all that money you saved put toward you dev box or to a higher end video card.

 

[jophde]

My linux partition is going to have development VMs, Docker containers, and Android emulators running. I do all of my current dev work on a Macbook Pro with 512 GB SSD and 16 GB ram. I use about 12-14 GB ram regularly while running 2-3 Android AVDs and our backend Docker containers.

I am going to sell my current mbpr for around $1500 to fund most of this. My new job is going to give me a brand new one. This computer will be for some games, VR stuff, side projects, etc. I like how expandable and upgradable the X99 is. I have been pretty poor fro the last few years doing startups so I haven't had much money to play with. After being on Macs for a while now the idea of having a tower and I can upgrade for the foreseeable future is appealing.

 

[schizrade]

Whatever you buy, buy a dual/quad port nic for dedicated guest VM networks. Use the onboard for your host.

And I would still go with your initial Xeon setup and get an E5-1650 V3. 6 cores @3.5-3.8ghz with 15MB cache and all 40 lanes. Beast chip. Will run all your games and your VM's.

 

[jophde]

Any concerns with my current parts list? I am trying to order today .

 

[jophde]

ok.. well forget x99 you won't need to even think about considering its expandability.. Just

get a i7-4790s a z97board to your liking and pretty much any gtx970/980 you like. since you're not going VMs on this machine you can probably downgrade the SSD to a more consumer grade and save 50bucks or so like a crucial MX200 or something(?) Since Star craft 2 and CS are 'fairly' small a 256GB should be more than fine instead of 500GB save you another 75bucks.

get a 2x4GB 8GB set will be fine for gaming for quite a while since its DDR3 instead of 4 and half as much it'll save you ~150.

all that money you saved put toward you dev box or to a higher end video card.

I went ahead and put something together quick on PC Hound.

PC Hound Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K ($339.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS Z97-A ($146.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8G) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 04G-P4-3975-KR ($334.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 220-G2-0750-XR ($117.06 @ Amazon)
Storage: SAMSUNG 512GB 850 Pro Series MZ-7KE512BW ($257.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1,396.99
Price may include shipping, rebates, promotions, and tax
Generated by PC Hound


My thinking is that is that for only a few hundred more I can get into an X99 which is far more upgradable. Although I could just go with a GTX 980 Ti with the price difference. I just don't think I will use that much card right now though.

 

[jophde]

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K ($389.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS X99-A/USB 3.1 ($249.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 ACX 2,9 ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 16GB Kit (4x4) ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB ($259.99 @ Amazon)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 ($117.06 @ Amazon)
Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 ($96.68 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ($99 @ Newegg)

Total: $1779.62 /w Tax and Shipping

I just went ahead and ordered this. I think it will suite my needs perfectly. Sorry about being difficult. I didn't really know exactly what I wanted. Let me know if there is anything glaringly wrong but I am pretty happy .

 

[Dangman]

I just went ahead and ordered this. I think it will suite my needs perfectly. Sorry about being difficult. I didn't really know exactly what I wanted. Let me know if there is anything glaringly wrong but I am pretty happy .

A few glaring issues:

1) The choice of RAM. One of the key reasons to go with X99 is for the amount of RAM supported. By going with 4 x 4GB of RAM, you're limiting yourself to a maximum of 48GB of RAM before you would need to outright replace some of that RAM. So you should have gone with 2 x 8GB set which would allow you to upgrade to 64GB of RAM in the future without having to replace any RAM. Not to mention, 2 x 8GB set of DDR4 RAM is actually $10 cheaper:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MMLUYQK/?tag=extension-kb-20

No, it won't matter at all whether you have RAM in dual-channel or quad-channel configuration. So no real good reason to go with that 4 x 4GB set. Yes if you're not aiming for 64GB of RAM with X99, you're effectively negating one of the three main reasons of going X99.

2) Are you trying to aim for low noise or overclock capability? I ask because if the latter, then the Noctua is not the optimal choice for overclocking the 5820K. Same goes for the R5 as well. the R5 is perfectly fine for a non-overclock or low overclock quad-core system. But for overclocking a six-core Intel CPU, I'd aim for a better cooling case.

 

[jophde]

I went ahead and changed the RAM kit to 2 x 8. I thought not being quad channel would be a big deal but apparently not.

I am definitely optimizing for low noise which is why I went with the R5 and the Noctua. I will take what I can get from OC. I am sure the system will be plenty powerful enough for me. Out of curiosity, what case would you recommend?

 

[Dangman]

For heavy overclocking, I'd recommend these cases:
$90 - NZXT Source 530 Full Tower Case
$100 - Thermaltake Core V51 Black ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$100 - Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full Tower Case
$103 - Antec 1100 V2 ATX Case
$110 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$110 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Obsidian Series 450D ATX Case
$136 - NZXT Phantom 530 Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Obsidian Series 750D ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Graphite Series 730T ATX Case
$150 - NZXT Phantom 630 White Windowed Full Tower ATX Case
$150 - Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Full Tower Case
$158 - NZXT Phantom 630 Gunmetal Full Tower Case
$170 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T Arctc White Full Tower Case
$180 - Corsair Graphite Series 760T Black Full Tower Case
$180 - Corsair Graphite Series 760T White Full Tower Case
180 - Corsair Graphite Black ATX Full Tower 780T
190 - Corsair Graphite White ATX Full Tower 780T

 

[redrage]

lol you sound like me.. "for only a few hundred more...."

 

[ND40oz]

The Asus WS line and all of the Asrock X99 boards support Xeons. Some of the other Asus boards also support Xeons but may not support all the features, like ecc ram. Also, you want the E5 v3's, the v2's are Ivy Bridge. I'd send the processor back and get a Xeon E5-2620 v3 if that's what you really want, the board you bought supports it and the rest of the Xeons for that matter: https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X99AUSB_31/HelpDesk_CPU/

 

[Chellexelle]

This may be a good motherboard to use if you are doing a workstation/gaming build. It supports dual Xeon's and has SLI/Crossfire support but may be a little dated. There is a Newer version but both motherboards are more than $500.