dual node 2x e5-2670 build. recommendations

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Jannis Jacobsen

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Mar 19, 2016
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In the process of getting all the parts together for getting a proper homelab.
NIB 2x Intel S2600cp2 motherboards should arrive tomorrow.
2x Antec P380 cases
3x Mellanox connectx-2 cards
Dell PowerEdge 6224 with 4 10G sfp+ ports
Psu's etc is taken care of.

The coolers for the cpu's is the part I'm wanting input about.
Needs good cooling, but as low noise as possible.
Trying to keep the WAF relatively high here :)

-n
 
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Stereodude

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Feb 21, 2016
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A few things.

1) You don't need to get a narrow ILM heatsink for the Intel S2600CP2J motherboards, so any LGA2011 compatible heatsink should work.

2) The Intel S2600CP2J motherboard uses a closed loop thermal control system to control the PWM duty of the fans. It will not increase the RPMs of your fans on the CPUs until they hit 80-82C. You have to "hack" the .sdr file for the motherboard if you want to change the closed loop temperature target. Alternatively, you can let the fans run at a constant RPM all the time bypassing the PWM control, or use some other external fan controller.

3) Without one of the Intel P4000M chassis getting the cooling domains to work nicely and controlling the right fans with be interesting.​
 
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kroem

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Supermicro active coolers should work...just swap the fans to Noctua or BeQuiet :)
 

Stereodude

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Antec P380: Maximum CPU cooler height: 180mm
Guess I should have looked back at the OP. :oops:

There are lots of tower heatsinks that will work with that constraint. I like Noctua fans, but haven't found myself using any of their coolers. I've been using the Thermalright True Spirit 140 starting in my builds a few years ago and in more recent ones the Thermalright True Spirit 140 BW Rev. A. It's not the best air cooler you can buy, but it's a top performer and it's quiet. Best of all they are about $55 shipped in the US. The only two builds where I haven't used one are:
  • Intel S2600CP2J build is in an Intel P4000M chassis and uses the Intel heatsinks meant for the board / chassis / ducting.
  • Xeon E3 v3 based server in a Supermicro 4U enclosure and a 120mm tower wouldn't fit so I used a Cooler Master GeminII S524 Ver.2 because the standard Intel cooler seemed totally inadequate.
 
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Jannis Jacobsen

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Mar 19, 2016
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I ended up with 2 Intel P4000M chassis from kalleyomalley.
Was actually cheaper than getting coolers + psu here in Norway.

Just need to find a good howto to setup w2012r2 as shared storage for a 2-node hyper-v cluster.

-Jannis