Workstation for GPU/CPU rendering

[Moriah]

I’m looking to buy a new workstation specifically for GPU rendering, but also for CPU rendering when needed in some scenarios, and for that i need dual xeons. Thing is new xeons are super expensive, so i’m looking at finding a good deal on a pair of used server xeons.
My doubt is if there’s any issue between all components, specially with the most recent Pascal GPUs and the dual xeons / server board from 2014.

I don’t have an unlimited budget, so i’m looking for the best price/performance ratio, that’s why im thinking about the 1070’s, for now 3 of them, but having the possibility to go to 7x.

Here are the components let me know what you guys think about it.

Board - Asus Z10PE-D8 WS
CPU - 2x Xeon E5-2683 V3 (56 Threads, 2.0ghz/2.6 Turbo) - i can have a good deal on these, around 800€ used, original price is 3200€ for both.
GPU - 3x GTX 1070 (haven’t decided on the brand and which exact OC model, what do you guys advice here)
PSU - EVGA SuperNova 1000W 80+
SSD - 250gb Samsung 850 EVO
HDD - 2TB WD
Mem - 64GB DDR4
Case - Fractal Design Define R2 XL
Coolers - 2x Noctua NH-U12S

1. - Is this case silent enough? How does it sound when cpus and gpu are working?
2. - How do these Xeons handle single core stuff when on 2.6ghz, for example 3dsmax's general use.
3. - What brand of 1070 are the best right now for GPU rendering?
4. - PSU might be more powerful if needed...
5. - Does someone have any experience with this mobo? Any issues with BIOS or something?

[hubmer3]

Hy there!

i have bought a similar config a week ago!


Board - Asus Z10PE-D16 WS (Better if you plan to upgrade ram up to 16 DDR4 slots, almots same price here in austria)
CPU - 2x Xeon E5-2683 V3 (overclocked the blck to 105.5, now all cores go up to 2,6375Ghz in stead of 2,5Ghz on 28 cores it also 5% oc makes sense, do it on your own risk )
GPU - 1x GTX 780ti (Palit super jetstream, works well. next year i will do an upgrade to 1080s i think)
PSU - Corsair RM1000i Gold
SSD - 500gb Samsung 850 EVO
HDD - Server
Mem - 64GB DDR4 (very important ECC ram, i havent minded this so i lost almost a week because i ordered non ecc ram)
Case - Deep Silence 5 Rev. B (Almost same like the Fractal but the fractal doesnt listed the formfaktor for the asus motherboard, watch out)
Coolers - 2x Noctua NH-U12S

And be careful about the chips, i also bought used ones. let the buyer send you pictures from both sides of the cpu!

Cinebench: 3035 (non OC) / 3344 (OC)
Corona Benchmark: 55sec.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLVz_bKDEOD/

[Moriah]

Hey hubmer3 thanks for the help!

Board - I saw that mobo but it doesn't support 4 GPU's with air, the D8 does, ram slots are no big issue for me.
CPU - Thanks for the pictures tip, what should i look at when looking at them? They say its Grade B, only slight used marks on the top part, also the ebay seller has 100% feedback selling similar chips so should be safe i think.
Mem - Does it really need to be ECC ram? Because it's way more expensive.
Case - As fair as i know and researched, doesn't all eATX (extended-ATX) support these kind of server motherboards?

That's a nice looking beast and a sick ass bench time! May i ask you how does the Xeons perform in 3dsmax / single core apps? Since 2.6 is usually low compared to i7's.. Do you notice any substantial lagging in those apps?

[hubmer3]

Hey!

CPU - it shouldn't look like this (the chip is working for me, but watch out)


PSU - Watch out for 2x 8Pin Power!

RAM - YES, here is the list what this mobo is working with (i bought these: https://www.amazon.de/Kingston-KVR21.../dp/B00NLZANBC)
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...110.1475071753

Case - with E-ATX you should be save, i choose this
http://nanoxia-world.com/en/products...rk-black?c=127

The beast is performing very well in all my apps, also singlecore. it uses the 3ghz boost for singlecore apps. i'm comming from a 4,4 ghz quadcore and i see no big difference or lags.

[Moriah]

Thanks for the help, i'm going to buy the beast now

[Moriah]

After some more revision on some items, and the fact that these 2 ASUS boards seem to have a lot of issues around the web, i'm going with this build:

ASRock EP2C612 WS (same as asus ws, 7x 16x lanes, better bios)
2x Xeon E5-2683 V3
3x EVGA GTX 1070 SC (slightly lower stock clock, but only requires 1x 8-pin instead of 2x)
Corsair AX1200i (good enough for even 4x GPU's, no problems with 8-pin)
250GB Samsung EVO
WD 1TB
4x Kingston 16GB DDR4 2133 ECC (supported by ASRock board)
Fractal Design Define R2 XL
2x Noctua NH-U12DX i4 (made specifically for Xeons)

Let's pray that everything works