Advice for an EPYC DAW workstation, Part II: Cooling

Continuing on from the original thread here.

Quick recap:

This is for a multitrack audio workstation. Not so much of a need for multitrack live recording, but more for editing, composition and mixing, so latency is slightly less of an issue as it would be otherwise. It’s probably a little overpowered, but I won’t be buying another machine for 7-10 years :slight_smile:

So as far as parts go, the config itself is pretty much set:

  • Dune Pro case (Mac Pro clone)
  • AsRockRack ROMED8-2T motherboard - 7 PCIe 4.0 slots
  • EPYC 7302p CPU (16 core, 32 threads) to start
  • Likely start with 128-256GB RAM, populating all 8 slots
  • Using both onboard M.2 slots, 500GB each NVME, PCIe 4.0
  • WX2100 graphics, keeping it basic
  • Windows for Workstations
  • Seasonic Platinum fanless power supply
  • Probably going to add a quad USB 3.2 card from Sonnet
  • In theory the board has a Thunderbolt 3 header, but I may not need that
  • That leaves 3-4 PCIe slots for UAD-2 DSP cards for audio effects plugins
  • And one slot for a quad M.2 carrier to expand storage (splitting x16 down to quad x4)

Now I’m looking at cooling solutions.

The issue with most EPYC motherboards is that they’re designed for server use, so the orientation of the CPU and RAM slots is 90 degrees to how they are on TR4 / TRX40 boards.

As the case has only front-to-back airflow, this means that regular TR4 air coolers like those from Noctua will only blow air up or down.

So I’m looking at watercooling, and trying to keep things as simple as possible.

Based on the advice people have given me, I’m probably going to go with this setup, using a watercooling radiator+fans up front to push air through the rad:

  • Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity radiator - 280 mm, copper fins, combined with their modular reservoir + D5 pump to create a combo “AIO” unit. (Their 360mm version will not fit in the case.)
  • Heatkiller IV all-copper waterblock
  • Pair of Noctua NF-A14 PWM 140mm fans for intake, between the front and the radiator
  • Pair of Noctua NF-A8 PWM 80mm fans for exhaust at back

Questions I still have:

  • As the power supply is fanless but under a shroud, should I worry about its ability to get fed cool air, or will passive cooling suffice? (The case has bottom air intake holes.)
  • Any opinions on the choice of fans? Goal is to keep it low RPM and quiet when not doing a crunch (rendering out a stereo file from a mix, etc.)
  • Is a 280mm radiator enough to deal with potential peak heat from an EPYC? They are designed to run cooler and aren’t overclockable so I’m not that worried; the 7302p has a TDP of 155w. I might have to revisit this if I venture into 32 or 64 core land in the future, but for 16 cores, is that adequate?
  • Any thoughts on connector types, hose diameters for the waterblock etc?
  • The case comes with dust filters for the intakes. Should I use them, or leave them off? Will they negatively affect air pressure?

Thanks all!

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When you have intake fans in the front, that should suffice for cooling.

Should be, yes. IIRC 120mm (30mm thick) is roughly 200W capacity.

Leave them off, clean once or twice per year.

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Thanks! Re: the power supply, I’m now realizing I’ll have to use a model with a fan, as the one I was contemplating definitely does not want to have its airflow blocked.

Here’s a side view; as you can see, the shroud goes front to back, so a PSU that draws air from the bottom with a fan will likely work better.

dunepro_shroud

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Thanks for the very! interesting thread. Somewhat late with this but there is an AMD epyc ‘server gurus’ site that could be of interest. Although a lot of it is out of scope, there is a lot of technical detail about how the epyc chips work and interface.

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And a specific follow up: culled from an AMD document, the memory bandwidth varies according to which memory slots are populated.

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