Completed Project: Caspar - Octacore Linux Server

[steers]

Hello again everybody. The opportunity has presented itself to finally build a dedicated server for around the house (I live with 3 other software engineers) thanks to Chilly. I thought I would document the gradual process here on HWC. Nothing like a good summer project, right? As far as the name, this is going to bring the number of computers I'm currently running up to 3, so I decided to take the names of the MAGI (from Evangelion moreso than the Bible). Real original I know, but it's fun

Anyway, some planned out specs:

2x Xeon E5504 (2.0 GHz Quad-core, LGA1366) - from Chilly => GET!!
SuperMicro X8DAi - from Chilly => GET!!
XFX Radeon HD 4850 - Shipped => GET!!
CoolerMaster ATCS840 - Shipped => GET!!
6x 2GB Mushkin Blackline DDR3 - Shipped => GET!!
Seasonic X650 PSU - Shipped => GET!!
2x Noctua NH-U12DX - Shipped => GET!!
4x Noctua NH-P12 - Shipped => GET!!

Disks:
Intel X25-M G2 (/boot, /) => GET!!
WD Black 1TB (/swap, /home) - Shipped => GET!!
WD Green 2TB (/samba)

The plan is to have this server do pretty much everything for us. It'll be running CentOS 5.5, and its duties will be:
Game server (TF2, Minecraft, etc.)
Fileserver (BitTorrent server too)
App server (SQL, SVN, MATLAB, etc.)
Some networking stuff (VPN)

June 12th: Build complete.




News:
May-21: Xeons and motherboard acquired from Chilly. Today is GOOD day.
May-23: After a bit of research I've chosen the Seasonic X650 to power the server. 80PLUS Gold seems pretty important for a system that's going to be on 24/7. Full modularity is a nice bonus too
May-25: The UPS man showed up today with a small shipment (a few fans, the video card), but I thought I'd snap a pic of what I've got going so far. See below.



May-26: The case came today, but I'm feeling a bit too lazy to do much work on it. I installed the P12s that I had in the top and that's about it. I'll probably post another update later in the week, or on the weekend.
May-27: Set my sights on Mushkin's 1333MHz 6GB Blackline kit with 7-7-7-20 timings. Good price, and I've heard good things about Mushkin. Going to pick up a couple of kits in the next order.
May-31: Paycheck get! Arranged to get a couple of Mushkin kits FedEx'd here.
June-3: The memory came today, and the credit card's been paid off so it's time to place another order! This'll cover everything except the SSD and the 2TB drive, which I suppose will make up the entirety of the final order.
June-3: Power supply, heatsinks, 1TB Black and the last fan (ordered today) shipped out today via Purolator Express
June-4: A beautiful brown cardboard box showed up at my doorstop today. I'm only waiting for one more, but in the meantime (not this weekend though) I can get started on whipping things together
June-7: I took the time to get what I had (mostly) installed into the case. Check out my later post for more early-stage build pics.



June-12: Got it fully assembled. All that's left now is to work out the last few issues then onto configuration! More shots in a later post.
June-16: Finally found it was extra standoffs shorting out my last RAM slot. Remove those and problem solved! Now it's time to get installin'!

[ImmaPC]

Sweet, octo-core 16-thread beast. Woot! I absolutely love it when people do multiple-CPU builds, it makes the dream I have just a bit closer to reality. And I love Minecraft, good call. Damn griefers.

[ottoyu34]

Sound like a great one. Glad it's going into an ATCS

Originally Posted by ImmaPC

Sweet, octo-core 16-thread beast. Woot! I absolutely love it when people do multiple-CPU builds, it makes the dream I have just a bit closer to reality. And I love Minecraft, good call. Damn griefers.

Nope, dual CPU 8 threads machine since the E5504s don't have HT.

[martin_metal_88]

hmmm ATCS ( imagine homer saying hm donuts ) This build, in THIS case, will be a true geek boner maker! keep us up to date!

[steers]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

I may be jumping the gun a bit here but I already placed an order for the ATCS, a few fans and the video card (which I changed my mind about and instead got an XFX HD4850 - apparently better Linux driver support, and I believe it's a better card than the 9800GT, even though this probably won't be playing games much anyway). I've got the cash to do the deal with Chilly this week, so with luck I can get things started soon at least.

[steers]

Chilly just made the trip to my office in Waterloo to hand-deliver the motherboard and CPUs. What a swell fellow

The case and the video card are on their way here from BC (shipped on Tuesday), but I don't expect them to show up on my doorstep until after the long weekend. Once the ATCS arrives, I'll throw what I've got in there and take a couple teaser pics to show off

It'll probably be a couple of paychecks before I can continue the build after this... A bit behind on my rent as it is

[Neolithium_Wpg]

*wipes the drool from his keyboard* Definitely sounds like it's going to be a sweet project!

[martin_metal_88]

XEON in the house!!! nice can't wait to see that rig runnig and the work you will do with the ATCS. For sure you will LOVE IT!

[ImmaPC]

I'm not into Xeons so I wouldn't know. AFAIK (until now) anything 1366 means Nehalem which means Threads = 2x cores. Fail on my part