I am looking to build a workstation/ server that will mainly be accessed remotely to run some custom multi-threaded data intensive software that I wrote.
The v4 2600 CPUs just came out, so there aren't a lot of Motherboards available that can be used and take advantage of the available 2400 RAM speed (previously, v3 supported 2133).
So, I am looking at the slightly more expensive MoBo by Intel: The Server Board S2600CW2R
Initially, I will purchase 1 Xeon E5-2637 v4, and leave the second socket empty.
However, after that I am uncomfortable picking out RAM, and a case. I am looking to fill each slot with at least 16 GB of RAM for a total of 128 GB per CPU.
Would appreciate advice on how to build around the above listed MoBo and CPU--I am also welcome to suggestions of alternative MoBo's, but I have not found any others that were built for 2600 v4 with RAM 2400 support.
Wouldn't more, slower cores be better than 4 fast-ish ones?
If you're only getting 4 core parts, an extreme edition part could possibly be better value. The 6950X is rumoured to have 10 cores, and non-ECC DDR4 has decent error checking. An Asus WS board would also cost less, not to mention have more features.
Actually, no, this custom software is multi-threaded, but it has a discrete limit to the number of threads. I am sure about the CPU selection, but unsure how to proceed with RAM and a case.
I have been looking at the Asus Z10PE-D16 WS, but they only support 2133 RAM for now. Would it not be better to use 2400 RAM? It is possible that asus just hasn't updated their specs. Their boards require a firmware update to work with the v4 CPUs.
It will read large chunks ~10GB of numerical data from SSD, process the data, then repeat. It is, in a sense machine learning software very large batch size and no GPU capability.
So, that forces me to use the to go with the Intel MoBO I think. It is more expensive. Both of my previous desktop builds used asus boards, so I would use them again if possible.
Don't quote me on this, but I'd expect Asus to come out with a V2 of their dual socket 2011-3 boards. If Intel are supporting 2400MHz, I'd expect Asus to follow suit.
Maybe JJ can help shed some light on this, but he hasn't been on here in a year. @illuminatiASUS
Thanks, I've been wondering how long it would be before ASUS released another version of the dual socket 2011-3 boards. I don't have the luxury of waiting too long unfortunately.
I initially though of using an extreme edition CPU like the 6950X, but that would reduce the amount of RAM I had available by roughly 1/2, and for now, we need lots of RAM
I have one more question: Will the built in VGA output on the Z10PE-d16 WS be enough to support installing the OS, drivers, and basic software? After that I will be primarily accessing the machine remotely through Windows Remote Desktop Connection.
The manual says: Supports VGA with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz, so this seems like a dumb question, but I want to make absolutely sure because I've never built a machine without a graphics card.
I doubt you're going to find any board that wont run 2400 without issues, the memory speed support is mostly a CPU thing than a motherboard thing as the pins on the ram are directly hooked into the CPU.
My CPU only "supports" DDR4 1333/1600/2133 but I'm running 2666mhz with -very- tight timings without issues.
Do you need ECC support? how much does memory speed affect your application?