The story:
First of all, hello all. I have been a lurker for a while now, researching for my 2U high-performance, future-proofed, non-gaming server concept to replace my existing hardware:
I have decided to go with AMX and have already purchased a bunch of components (https://pcpartpicker.com/user/cromo/saved/#view=G8PdD3 for reference).
Spec:
The case:
I spent about a month and a lot of free time to figure out what to get. There are 2 cases that I could use and that would meet my requirements:
The cooling:
I will appreciate any input you can provide to help me with my choices. I can't wait until I finally get to build it and share my progress here.
First of all, hello all. I have been a lurker for a while now, researching for my 2U high-performance, future-proofed, non-gaming server concept to replace my existing hardware:
- i7 64GB 2018 Mac Mini that I use for software engineering and music production,
- 32GB, 8TB WD RED, HP t730 VM server running Proxmox hypervisor, hosting pfSense, backups, and other containers.
I have decided to go with AMX and have already purchased a bunch of components (https://pcpartpicker.com/user/cromo/saved/#view=G8PdD3 for reference).
Spec:
- AMD 3900x.
- Low-end GPU, no gaming at all.
- Low TDP is preferred and realistically only AMD can be used with macOS, so most likely a cheap AMD RX 460 or 470.
- I may want to add another Nvidia card later on for CUDA to be used with Linux
- 1 x 1TB NVMe WD Black SN750, passed through to macOS.
- 512 WD Blue M.2 2280. Not ideal, but got it almost for free. For the Hypervisor and other VMs.
- 8TB WD RED I have had for a while now.
- 64GB RAM. I got the famous Ballistix DDR4 3000 CL15 on offer.
- I was thinking about going with 128GB, but I understand I wouldn't be able to reach high freqs and that 64GB is already a stretch on Ryzen platform.
- ENP-7660B FlexATX power supply.
- 2x 10GB Mellanox PCIe NIC.
The case:
I spent about a month and a lot of free time to figure out what to get. There are 2 cases that I could use and that would meet my requirements:
- Provide full length PCI support, or ideally mixed full/low length.
- I don't want to be limited to low-profile GPUs only
- Would facilitate a back to front airflow. The case will be sitting in a regular TV media cabinet for now and any other airflow would be too problematic.
- this means the fans need to be directly attached to the front plate and offer unobstructed airflow, so e.g. this Logicase is a no-go despite checking all other boxes
- Allow to use water-cooling if I decided it was a better option in the future for more demanding CPUs or GPUs
- At least 2 x 80mm fans in the front, unobstructed. Ideally 3.
- Flex or 1U power supply to reduce the space occupied.
Chenbro RM24302
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K245f (aka x245f)
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The cooling:
- Air:
- 3900x will work with Dynatron A24. It's designed for TDP up to 105W but is said to be capable of handling even more in an efficient front-back airflow layout that the 2U cases provide.
- The 3 fans of the Chenbro should guarantee an ideal back to front flow
- The 2 fans of K245f would not be in direct line with the CPU and I understand this would be a problem.
- Water
- Chenbro would house a 3x80mm radiator.
- K245f would house a 2x80mm radiator + 1x80mm on the side.
- the 80mm would be pulling/pushing the air into the case, so slightly less optimal.
- I found at least couple options for each, Alphacool or Black Ice Nemesis offer those more known, some non-name ones are also available.
- No idea about a pump and reservoir.
- Potential to water-cool the GPUs as well, although not sure if that makes any sense with my low GPU requirements.
- Noise
- I did a lot of reading and understand that a pump adds enough noise to make most solutions louder than the equivalent CPU fan.
- Are there pumps that are substantially quieter than other? E.g. the way Noctua is for fans.
- OC
- Since I'll be using it for software engineering, my use case implies a frequent CPU spinning and keeping it there for couple minutes or longer. I understand that water-cooling is better at maintaining low-temps for prolonged periods of time and helps avoiding throttling/reach high AutoOC (PBO) freqs, but would that really matter with those relatively-well aircooled cases?
- Full ATX
- Rather don't care about PCIe 4.0 for now, so x470 chipset would be enough. In light of recent AMD announcements, however, I'd rather future-proof for Zen 3, so x570 is preferred.
- Since I have 64GB RAM, I understand t-topology vs Daisy Chain can be an issue since I want to overclock the memory
- 10GB Ethernet would be nice to have
- Don't care about embedded WiFi, wouldn't hurt though.
- 2 x NVMe or even 3, if possible.
- Thunderbolt would be nice to have, either on-board or through the headers and additional PCIe card.
- High quality VRMs
- Stability, quality and relatively buggy-less BIOS are important.
- Don't care about RGB
- Most importantly, the motherboard should have isolated IOMMU groups for virtualization (ie. ACS support), but I understand it's a standard now: https://community.amd.com/community/gaming/blog/2017/05/25/community-update-4-lets-talk-dram
I will appreciate any input you can provide to help me with my choices. I can't wait until I finally get to build it and share my progress here.