I've built a lot of desktops in my day, but the needs of this particular build are fairly strange, so I thought I would post the build and what it needs to do...
First what it needs to do:
I think I have most of the hardware sorted out, but my biggest concerns are: power and cooling. I've been told power there is reliable, but I'd feel a lot safer knowing I had a rock solid PSU that could take bizarre fluctuations in voltage and current if necessary. I think air cooling is sufficient, but I want to be sure I have a case that optimizes air flow.
Lastly, reliability is a sizable concern. If something critical on this machine breaks while it is deployed, the project is hosed, or at least set back while new parts are sourced.
TL;DR: I need a powerful machine to use in a third world country. My current biggest concerns are power, cooling, and reliability. I have ~$2500 to spend.
The build:
Final thoughts. My budget is about $2500. So there's a little headroom here for a case, which hasn't been determined yet. I've got about $150.00 to spend there, and I'm looking for recommendations.
I skimped a bit on the processors, I think, but something had to give and RAM is more important than CPU for the task being performed. If someone has a better recommendation for CPU (e.g., "X gives you much more power for a little more money", "Y gives you a little less power for a lot less money", etc.) I'm all ears. The GPU is a nice to have that will help with processing, but once again, I compromised here to get more RAM. RAM above all else. Lastly, I've never used an Athena PSU before. Thoughts on its reliability and performance? I'll take advice on the reliability and performance of any item I've listed, for that matter.
Edit: I forgot to mention, data backup/redundancy (i.e., RAID) isn't a huge concern. First, I will backup any ''finished'' data processing on a large external USB drive. On the weekends I will travel to a city where internet access is available and I will FTP these finished data sets to a server in the US for long term storage. I'm still on the fence about RAID, though. Perhaps it's worth it to do some kind of RAID array on the 2TB HDD? I'll have to weigh the cost:benefit ratio.
Thanks!
First what it needs to do:
- This server will be built in the United States, tested, configured, dismantled, and shipped to a remote village in a third world country. Once there it will be used to perform computationally intensive tasks (RAM is first and foremost the most important component; however, the graphics card and processor(s) are also heavily utilized). I've been informed that I will at least have access to a reliable source of power. No Internet, though.
- This machine will run for long periods of time, and heat (both environmentally and internal to the machine) may be an issue. So there are thermal concerns, but nothing so drastic as to necessitate water cooling or anything.
- This machine will store and process large (compared to the average user, I guess) amounts of data, on the order of GBs at a time. To improve access times to the information, I am considering an SSD to hold the ''working'' data set to be processed, with completed analysis and old data stored on a large (2TB) internal HDD.
I think I have most of the hardware sorted out, but my biggest concerns are: power and cooling. I've been told power there is reliable, but I'd feel a lot safer knowing I had a rock solid PSU that could take bizarre fluctuations in voltage and current if necessary. I think air cooling is sufficient, but I want to be sure I have a case that optimizes air flow.
Lastly, reliability is a sizable concern. If something critical on this machine breaks while it is deployed, the project is hosed, or at least set back while new parts are sourced.
TL;DR: I need a powerful machine to use in a third world country. My current biggest concerns are power, cooling, and reliability. I have ~$2500 to spend.
The build:
- SUPERMICRO MBD-X9DAL-3-O Server Motherboard Dual LGA 1356
- Athena Power AP-P4ATXK110FEP 20+4Pin 1100W Single EPS-12V Server Power Supply
- Intel Xeon E5-2407 Sandy Bridge-EN 2.2GHz 10MB L3 Cache LGA 1356 80W Quad-Core Server Processor (x 2)
- Kingston 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1600 Server Memory (x6, for a total of 96GB)
- Intel 330 Series Maple Crest SSDSC2CT120A3K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive
- TOSHIBA PH3200U-1I72 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
- ASUS ENGTX560 DCII GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB
Final thoughts. My budget is about $2500. So there's a little headroom here for a case, which hasn't been determined yet. I've got about $150.00 to spend there, and I'm looking for recommendations.
I skimped a bit on the processors, I think, but something had to give and RAM is more important than CPU for the task being performed. If someone has a better recommendation for CPU (e.g., "X gives you much more power for a little more money", "Y gives you a little less power for a lot less money", etc.) I'm all ears. The GPU is a nice to have that will help with processing, but once again, I compromised here to get more RAM. RAM above all else. Lastly, I've never used an Athena PSU before. Thoughts on its reliability and performance? I'll take advice on the reliability and performance of any item I've listed, for that matter.
Edit: I forgot to mention, data backup/redundancy (i.e., RAID) isn't a huge concern. First, I will backup any ''finished'' data processing on a large external USB drive. On the weekends I will travel to a city where internet access is available and I will FTP these finished data sets to a server in the US for long term storage. I'm still on the fence about RAID, though. Perhaps it's worth it to do some kind of RAID array on the 2TB HDD? I'll have to weigh the cost:benefit ratio.
Thanks!
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