2U Eclipse Workstation

[gte619n]

Hey Guys!

I'm looking to build a new workstation and I was hoping you could help me with some of the components I've selected. I'm a Java programmer (Android and GWT, specifically) and spend most of my day in Eclipse. I have a three monitor setup and do a little bit of Photoshop here and there, but the majority of time is spent rockin' the Java Compiler. I'm really interested in building the fastest development machine I can. I'm looking to fire this badboy into a 2U Case. Noise is important, but I don't need to to be ABSOLUTELY SCARY QUIET.

Here's what I've got so far:
NORCO RPC-230 2U Rackmount Server Case
Seasonic SS-460FL Fanless Power Supply
Intel Core i7 2600K
Scythe Kozuti
G.SKILL Sniper 8GB DDR3 1866
ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z Z68
Sony Optiarc Slim CD/DVD Burner
Koutech IO-RCM330 USB 3.0 Card Reader
VisionTek 900315 Radeon HD 5450 1GB
OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS 128GB
Nexus SP802512L-03 80mm Case Fan
Startech Slim Optical & 3.5in Mounting Bracket
TP-LINK TL-WN722N Wireless Adapter
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional

I think it's generally looking like a pretty solid build. The only fans would be the heatsink on the processor and the case fans, so I imagine it will be pretty quiet. I am not married to ANY of these components, so if anything is not the best/most reliable/whatever please let me know! I have a couple of questions I was hoping you could help me with:

1. Is that Kozuti enough to cool down the 2600K? I notice it is recommended for 65W TDP, but says it can do i7 if the fan is on.

1a. Would a SHURIKEN Rev.B fit in a 2U case? Would that be a better choice?

2. What the hell is going on with RAM these days? The more expensive chips I saw on Newegg have fans and stuff?! Is that necessary? Any thoughts on the reliability of this particular brand/product? Also, should I just go ahead and fire in 16GB? Any thoughts on the actual performance impact of 2200 vs 1833?

3. Will this video card, plus the on-board graphics, be able to run three monitors at 1920x1080? Also, do I need an ACTIVE DisplayPort to DVI adapter?

4. The Vertex 3 128GB MAX-IOPS seems to get great reviews; however, I can't find it in stock anywhere? The other option I was considering is a Vertex 3 240GB, but it's twice the price! Any opinions on that?

Thanks for looking and I appreciate any advice you guys can give me on these components!

Thanks!

E

[HFat]

1. Is that Kozuti enough to cool down the 2600K?

As always, it depends on your overclock and your target temperature which you didn't state.
It also depends on the case, the other fans and so on and I have no experience with 2U builds with aftermarket heatsinks so I won't be able to help you with that.
But it's still a good idea start by stating your goals. Otherwise, all you'll get are vaccuous opinions.

You don't need dedicated fans for your RAM. Only you can tell if your workload justifies 16G of RAM and what difference RAM speed would make for you. For most people it would make practically no difference but it might make a difference in Photoshop depending on what you're doing with it.

The SSD market is difficult to understand. Reviews are worthless without some technical understanding on your part.
The first thing you need to get right is what capacity you need. Price is tied pretty closely with capacity.
The latest Sandforce drives perform well but are not necessarily worth the premium. Sandforce consumer drives have had reliability issues in the past. If you care about that, get an Intel. Intel 320s are especially good if you don't have an UPS or a battery-backed controller.

[gte619n]

HFat,

Thanks for the response. Here's some clarification:

1. I'm not looking to do any overclocking, just take it out of the box and install it.

2. I was under the impression that the SSD capacity also drives performance. Over on Anandtech, they have the Vertex 3 240GB absolutely crushing it, while the Vertex 3 120GB only showing moderate performance. I believe this has to do with the controller layout and number of chips. I believe the Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120GB displays similar performance to the 240GB at 120GB capacity (and price).

How does the UPS affect the SSD reliability? Are the Intel drives better at recovering from power loss?

Thanks!

E

[HFat]

You're paying for a CPU which can be overclocked (most can't). You're paying for a board which can overclock (most can't). Maybe you should buy something else if you don't want to overclock.

You haven't stated your target temperature.

The relationship between SSD capacity and performance is not straighforward (but it's real enough!). What kind of performance do you need exactly?
If you want fast sequential writes, you want to have all channels available which usually means you want the biggest-capacity version of any model. But capacity increases over time so some older, smaller SSDs should be faster at sequential writes than those (but slower at everything else so you've got to know what you want!). The older Sandforce were really bad at sequential writes however. You've almost got to look at each model as a special case.
Striping can yield good sequential write performance with hard drives at a fraction of the cost by the way.

All drives will lose data if they lose power unless you disable the cache (which makes them slow, especially for hard drives). Some drives will not allow their cache to be disabled (they lie).
Not all Intel drives are the same. The major problem with the previous generations of Intel consumer SSDs was the amount of potential data loss on power loss. And they lied so you couldn't do anything about it. The new Intel 320s are supposed to have a battery which should fix that problem (I didn't test it on mine).

[awolfe63]

The AMD 5450, while an excellent graphics card, is not noticeably faster than the build in graphics on the Core i7 2600K. It may actually be slower.

The built-in graphics won't do 3 monitors though. The 5450 will - but I think one needs to be VGA. I don' t think you can use Intel and AMD graphics at the same time.

Given what you are spending, I would get a FireGL/Quadro class graphics card that has 4 digital ports. Something like ATI FirePro™ 2460.

[gte619n]

I've got that card in there so that I can rock a 3x 1920x1080 setup. I figured having the onboard video, plus this card would allow me to do that?

Thanks!

E

[awolfe63]

Figured that out and edited my post. Sorry - read it again.

[gte619n]

I actually have an NV450 now which I'm quite happy with, but it won't fit in a 2U case. I was under the impression that SandyBridge allowed you to use the onboard graphics and a graphics card at the same time?

[awolfe63]

I think that both AMD and Nvidia have drivers that can pump the graphics card output through the Sandybridge - but I don't think you can use both sets of connectors. Not completely sure though.

What about getting a riser to set the NV450 in horizontally? Some cases support that. Just not that one.