Schwarzgerät: Difference between revisions
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[[File:I76950X.jpg|thumb|Roughly one year's wages in Kyrgyzstan]] | [[File:I76950X.jpg|thumb|Roughly one year's wages in Kyrgyzstan]] | ||
<blockquote> | |||
'''Update: this has been rebuilt as [[Schwarzgerät_II|Schwarzgerät II]].''' | |||
<blockquote>“There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story really is a confession, then so is mine.” | |||
―''Apocalypse Now'' (1979)</blockquote> | |||
'''ABSTRACT:''' In August of 2016, I pulled the trigger on a long-planned workstation build. That same month, Intel and NVIDIA dropped new product. Hot, salivation-provoking product: densely packed marvels bursting with FLOPS, rough dank beasts woven up from high-κ 16nm and 14nm strained-silicon FinFETs. Both companies, utterly dominant at their markets' high ends, announced pricing that shoved atom bombs up the ass of every computing enthusiast in the free world. | '''ABSTRACT:''' In August of 2016, I pulled the trigger on a long-planned workstation build. That same month, Intel and NVIDIA dropped new product. Hot, salivation-provoking product: densely packed marvels bursting with FLOPS, rough dank beasts woven up from high-κ 16nm and 14nm strained-silicon FinFETs. Both companies, utterly dominant at their markets' high ends, announced pricing that shoved atom bombs up the ass of every computing enthusiast in the free world. | ||
This is the rambling, poorly-edited, relentlessly technical story of that build. Also: epigraphs. | This is the rambling, poorly-edited, relentlessly technical story of that build. Also: epigraphs. You can skip to the [[#Final_Bill_of_Materials|bill of materials]], if you just want specs. | ||
==Intro: 10 cores of garbage== | ==Intro: 10 cores of garbage== | ||
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==Build Goals== | ==Build Goals== | ||
<blockquote> | [[File:Teragross.png|thumb|12x 12TB EXOS drives]] | ||
<blockquote>“Money has only a different value in the eyes of each.” | |||
―William Makepeace Thackeray, ''Vanity Fair'' (1847), Chapter XLIV</blockquote> | |||
I am not a gamer. If you're building a gaming rig, buy the excellent Skylake 6700K and be done with it. Game performance is almost entirely based on on GPUs, games generally make poor use of extra cores, and the reference 6700K clocks in at 4GHz. You'll get a better interface to the southbridge via DMI 3.0, you'll draw less power, and you'll save money sufficient to buy a video card. You'll have a lot less PCIe capability, though: Skylake offers 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and another 20 via the Southbridge, but the Southbridge only gets 4 DMI 3.0 lanes to the processor. A 16 lane video card is thus going to monopolize your die's direct PCIe hookup. | I am not a gamer. If you're building a gaming rig, buy the excellent Skylake 6700K and be done with it. Game performance is almost entirely based on on GPUs, games generally make poor use of extra cores, and the reference 6700K clocks in at 4GHz. You'll get a better interface to the southbridge via DMI 3.0, you'll draw less power, and you'll save money sufficient to buy a video card. You'll have a lot less PCIe capability, though: Skylake offers 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and another 20 via the Southbridge, but the Southbridge only gets 4 DMI 3.0 lanes to the processor. A 16 lane video card is thus going to monopolize your die's direct PCIe hookup. | ||
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―Ludwig Wittgenstein, ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' (1921)</blockquote> | ―Ludwig Wittgenstein, ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' (1921)</blockquote> | ||
I'd purchased a [ | I'd purchased a [https://nick-black.com/tabpower/MAGNUM%20Case%20Owner's%20Manual.pdf CaseLabs Magnum T10] in 2013 (the Magnum T10 has been discontinued; the linked Magnum TH10A is similar), and was determined to finally make fitting use of it. The T10 is a gorgeous, brilliantly engineered monster of a double-wide reconfigurable case, weighing in at 24 pounds of aluminum. At 15 inches wide, 25.06 inches tall, and 20.06 inches deep (381mm x 637mm x 510mm), it'll easily fit EATX, SSI-CEB or even XL-ATX motherboards, dozens of hard drives, dual PSUs, and the powerful radiators/fans necessary to quietly cool it all. With casters attached, it could transport a small child in comfort and style. | ||
Multisocket and custom liquid-cooled solutions are thus in play. Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair! | Multisocket and custom liquid-cooled solutions are thus in play. Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair! | ||
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―Thomas Pynchon, ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (1973)</blockquote> | ―Thomas Pynchon, ''Gravity's Rainbow'' (1973)</blockquote> | ||
You can't go multisocket without C612, though, and C612 got me down. It doesn't bring certain workstationish elements I want, seems USB-starved, and even large SSI motherboards don't seem to put as many I/O slots on there as one could. Aesthetics are brutish and fan support is limited. IPMI scares the hell out of me. So far as I could tell, no multisocket enthusiast/DIY scene exists. Shit shit shit. Meanwhile, there were any number of simply lovely "Generation 2" X99 boards, loaded with valuable capabilities that would consume PCIe slots on the SSI boards, PCIe slots I needed for GPUs and fast storage (with that said, I did | You can't go multisocket without C612, though, and C612 got me down. It doesn't bring certain workstationish elements I want, seems USB-starved, and even large SSI motherboards don't seem to put as many I/O slots on there as one could. Aesthetics are brutish and fan support is limited. IPMI scares the hell out of me. So far as I could tell, no multisocket enthusiast/DIY scene exists. Shit shit shit. Meanwhile, there were any number of simply lovely "Generation 2" X99 boards, loaded with valuable capabilities that would consume PCIe slots on the SSI boards, PCIe slots I needed for GPUs and fast storage (with that said, I did appreciate the 10GigE built onto many C612 boards, and [https://www.sprezzatech.com/blog/0009-a-disquisition-into-the-sadly-slovenly-takeup-of-10gbase-t.html lament its absence] on all save one X99). And anything but the 2x2640v4 was going to be ''awfully'' expensive in absolute terms. Shit shit shit. And it's not like $1880 is exactly cheap. See, this is what multi-socket thinking does to you. Shit. Alright. Single, boring old unisocket on a phat X99, FML. | ||
===The processor=== | ===The processor=== | ||
<blockquote>“Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth.” | <blockquote>“Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth.” | ||
―H. P. Lovecraft, “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)</blockquote> | ―H. P. Lovecraft, “The Dunwich Horror” (1929)</blockquote> | ||
==Problems and annoyances== | |||
The build, and indeed the final product, were not without some problems. | |||
* The locking mechanism on the motherboard's PCIe slots requires a delicate unlatching to remove a plugged-in card. The Noctua DH-N14 cooler's height and width makes this pretty much impossible for the topmost SafeSlot when loaded with a full-sized video card. I can't currently remove my GTX 1080. | |||
* My PCIe 3.0 16x GTX 1080 is only posting at 8x, as reported by the UEFI BIOS and <tt>nvidia-smi -a</tt>. | |||
** Update: this is confirmed to hit 16x under load | |||
* The video card blocks easy access to 6 of the 10 SATA3 ports. | |||
* The onboard Broadcom BCM4360 wireless+bluetooth chipset has no open source drivers. The <tt>broadcom-sta-dkms</tt> package provides a working <tt>wl</tt> driver, though one must ensure conflicting drivers are not loaded for it to recognize the device. | |||
** The bluetooth module still then required extracting firmware from the Windows driver. | |||
* The ASUS Aura lighting system, both on the motherboard and card, does not appear to have Linux support. The motherboard lighting can be minimally controlled through the UEFI BIOS. | |||
* The Funtin U.2 cables are very thick and inflexible, leading to some cabling annoyances. The second U.2 connector's placement on the motherboard leads to unavoidable cabling pollution of my primary airflow channel. | |||
* The EVGA SuperNova 850's cables are likewise problematic, especially given the location of the GTX 1080's power plugs. | |||
* The CaseLabs Magnum T10's FlexBay system is intolerant of excessively-sized 5.25" devices, including the Rosewill RSV-SATA-Cage-3 hotswap bay I originally purchased. | |||
* The CaseLabs Magnum T10's hard drive cages can't support front-loading bays, and adding/removing drives requires removing an entire cage. | |||
* The absence of a PCI slot on the ASUS X99 Deluxe II meant I couldn't use my ASUS Xonar ST sound card. | |||
* The CaseLabs Magnum T10's PSU side could really use some fan cutaways. | |||
* When both U.2 connectors are populated with NVMe SSDs, Linux notes corrected PCIe errors at a rate proportional to load. | |||
** Update: this was due to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_State_Power_Management ASPM], which I have disabled. Problem gone. | |||
* The ASUS X99 Deluxe II's hardware sensors do not appear to have Linux support. | |||
** Update: with the kernel command line option <tt>acpi_enforce_resources=lax</tt>, the nct6775 chip can be found. | |||
==Final Bill of Materials== | ==Final Bill of Materials== | ||
* [https:// | ===Chassis=== | ||
** 2x [http://www.caselabs-store.com/double-wide-magnum-standard-hdd-cage/ Caselabs MAC-101] HDA+fan cages | * [https://nick-black.com/tabpower/MAGNUM%20Case%20Owner's%20Manual.pdf Caselabs Magnum T10] chassis with [http://www.caselabs-store.com/magnum-th10-a-and-mh10-top-covers-pricing-varies/ 78mm ventilated top] plus... | ||
** | ** 2x [http://www.caselabs-store.com/double-wide-magnum-standard-hdd-cage/ Caselabs MAC-101] HDA+fan cages | ||
** 2x [http://www.caselabs-store.com/2-5-hdd-ssd-mounting-kit/ Caselabs 2.5" MAC-322] SSD mounts | |||
** [http://www.caselabs-store.com/flex-bay-120-1-120mm-fan-radiator-mount-pricing-varies/ Caselabs MAC-113] 120mm fan mount | |||
** [http://www.caselabs-store.com/flex-bay-3-5-bay-device-adapter/ Caselabs MAC-151] 3.5" device mount | |||
* [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OUSU8MI StarTech HSB4SATSASBA] 4-bay 3U HDD cage | |||
* [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V5JHOXQ Icy Dock MB324SP-B] 4-bay 1U SSD cage | |||
===Power/Cooling=== | |||
* [http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=220-T2-0850-X1 EVGA SuperNOVA 850 T2] 80 Plus Titanium PSU | * [http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=220-T2-0850-X1 EVGA SuperNOVA 850 T2] 80 Plus Titanium PSU | ||
* [http://noctua.at/en/nh-d14 Noctua NH-D14 SE2011] CPU cooler (NF-P14 and NF-P12 fans) | |||
* 2x [http://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-industrial/nf-f12-industrialppc-2000-pwm Noctua NF-F12] iPPC 120mm PWM fans | |||
* 2x [http://noctua.at/en/products/fan/nf-s12a-pwm Noctua NF-S12A] 120mm PWM fans | |||
===Processing=== | |||
* [https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X99-DELUXE-II/ ASUS X99 Deluxe II] motherboard | * [https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/X99-DELUXE-II/ ASUS X99 Deluxe II] motherboard | ||
* [http://ark.intel.com/products/94456/Intel-Core-i7-6950X-Processor-Extreme-Edition-25M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz Intel 6950X] Broadwell-E CPU | * [http://ark.intel.com/products/94456/Intel-Core-i7-6950X-Processor-Extreme-Edition-25M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz Intel 6950X] Broadwell-E CPU | ||
* 4x [http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/bls4k16g4d240fsc Crucial Ballistix Sport LT] 16GB DDR4-2400 DIMMs (64GB total) | |||
* 4x [http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/bls4k16g4d240fsc Crucial Ballistix Sport LT] 16GB DDR4 DIMMs (64GB total) | |||
* [https://www.asus.com/Graphics-Cards/ROG-STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING/ ASUS GTX1080 A8G] video card (NVidia GP104 GPU) | * [https://www.asus.com/Graphics-Cards/ROG-STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING/ ASUS GTX1080 A8G] video card (NVidia GP104 GPU) | ||
* [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A5DGJQA E-SDS USB/HD-Audio] 3.5" front panel | |||
* [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01A5DGJQA | * [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008KEPWMY NZXT AA-APMU3-B1] 5.25" USB/media card reader | ||
* | |||
* [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DQQLH74/ ASUS R2.0] 14-pin TPM | * [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DQQLH74/ ASUS R2.0] 14-pin TPM | ||
* | |||
* 2x [http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/solid-state-drives/solid-state-drives-750-series.html Intel 750] 400GB NVMe U.2 SSDs | ===Storage=== | ||
* 4x [http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=1324 WD40EFRX Western Digital Red] 4TB SATA3 HDDs | * 12x [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0759Q9FXZ Seagate EXOS] 12TB SATA3 HDDs | ||
* | * 2x [https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/pc-sn720-ssd Western Digital SN720] 1TB NVMe SSDs | ||
* Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SATA3 SSD | * 2x [http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/solid-state-drives/solid-state-drives-750-series.html Intel 750] 400GB NVMe U.2 SSDs (removed) | ||
* 2x [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01COOQ3MS Funtin U.2 to Mini-SAS] cables (removed) | |||
* 4x [http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=1324 WD40EFRX Western Digital Red] 4TB SATA3 HDDs (removed, sold for $144) | |||
* 6x ST4000VN000 Seagate NAS 4TB SATA3 HDDs (removed, sold for $216) | |||
* Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SATA3 SSD (removed) | |||
* Lite-on Bluray burner | * Lite-on Bluray burner | ||
==External links== | |||
* [http://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/reviews/intel-core-i7-6950x-broadwell-e-and-asus-x99-deluxe-ii-review-1473319 Gadgets 360] reviewed the ASUS X99 Deluxe II + Intel 6950X on 2016-10-14 | |||
* [http://edgeup.asus.com/2016/06/17/broadwell-e-overclocking-guide/ The Broadwell-E Overclocking Guide], from ASUS's EdgeUP site 2016-06-17 | |||
* ASUS X99 Deluxe II [http://www.overclockers.com/asus-x99-deluxe-ii-motherboard-review/ review] at overclockers.com 2016-08-08 | |||
[[CATEGORY: Hardware]] | |||