Space-efficient research box?

[Nivel Egres]

I am trying to figure out a personal R&D box so I can tinker with various data-mining ideas at home. As one can imagine, that stuff is reasonably RAM/CPU/HD hungry. I took a look around and it seems I can get a cheap used server with good specs off Newegg for under a grand. However, I have a serious space constraint due to living in a Manhattan apartment with a hoarder wife. The only case size I can fit into my closet is 15" x 15" x 15" (roughly).

So, the question is - can I find a hardware configuration that will fit into that type of space and yet will have enough juice? Let's say 64GB+ RAM, 2 CPUs and 4TB of storage.

 

[Evan]

Why would you need 2 cpu with only 64gb ram ? I guess the question is how many cores do you need, there is lots of tiny compact systems out there that will meet you needs if you only need a moderate number of cores, say 8 to 16 cores.

 

[cesmith9999]

I would look at the articles that @Patrick already wrote on the subject

Optimizing a Starter CUDA Machine Learning / AI / Deep Learning Build
DeepLearning02: A Sub-$800 AI / Machine Learning CUDA Starter Server

Chris

 

[StammesOpfer]

I run a Dual E5-2670v1 in a Supermicro X9DRL-iF with 64GB RAM (8x 8GB could go 8x 16GB) in a CoolerMaster HAF XB Evo case 13"x16"x17" just have to use an ATX motherboard no room for a E-ATX etc.

 

[Nivel Egres]

I would look at the articles that @Patrick already wrote on the subject

Optimizing a Starter CUDA Machine Learning / AI / Deep Learning Build
DeepLearning02: A Sub-$800 AI / Machine Learning CUDA Starter Server

Chris

Actually, stuff I do is not really GPU-able (mostly linear/iterative runs through large data sets), so fitting large datasets into RAM is key. But that build does look interesting .

 

[Nivel Egres]

I run a Dual E5-2670v1 in a Supermicro X9DRL-iF with 64GB RAM (8x 8GB could go 8x 16GB) in a CoolerMaster HAF XB Evo case 13"x16"x17" just have to use an ATX motherboard no room for a E-ATX etc.

Would you mind posting the details of your build? That sounds like a perfect setup for me (8x16GB would be ideal).

PS. At work I get to play with a box with 1TB of RAM

 

[StammesOpfer]

Cooler Master HAF XB Evo case (Should be plenty of video reviews of this case)
Supermicro X9DRL-iF (One of the few Standard ATX options for this generation of CPU)
2x Intel Xeon E5-2670v1 (Should be able to go to the E5-2680v2 or another v2)
8x8gb ECC Reg. DDR3 (As mentioned previously 16GB sticks will work)
Corsair AX1200i PSU (Way overkill but wanted to be able to add big GPUs later if I wanted)
Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO heatsinks.
GTX 1050ti (Cheap and handles 4k productivity apps well)
Mellanox Connect-x2 10GbE NIC (Could probably use a little more airflow on this)
Generic PCI sound card (I wanted to use the front panel audio connections on the case)
USB 3 PCIe addon card (Cause it only has USB2 onboard)
It has plenty of mounting options for multiple drives on the lower level.

 

[Evan]

So far the smallest really nice mATX and ATX cases are the Cerberus and Cerberus-X
Cerberus

 

[Nivel Egres]

Cooler Master HAF XB Evo case (Should be plenty of video reviews of this case)
Supermicro X9DRL-iF (One of the few Standard ATX options for this generation of CPU)
2x Intel Xeon E5-2670v1 (Should be able to go to the E5-2680v2 or another v2)
8x8gb ECC Reg. DDR3 (As mentioned previously 16GB sticks will work)
Corsair AX1200i PSU (Way overkill but wanted to be able to add big GPUs later if I wanted)
Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO heatsinks.
GTX 1050ti (Cheap and handles 4k productivity apps well)
Mellanox Connect-x2 10GbE NIC (Could probably use a little more airflow on this)
Generic PCI sound card (I wanted to use the front panel audio connections on the case)
USB 3 PCIe addon card (Cause it only has USB2 onboard)
It has plenty of mounting options for multiple drives on the lower level.

Looks pretty good. I am going with a headless version (closet). Also, since it's a self-contained unit, I am going to stay with the on-board network card. On the other hand, I'll probably get v2 CPU and 8x16GB RAM.

 

[acquacow]

So far the smallest really nice mATX and ATX cases are the Cerberus and Cerberus-X
Cerberus

And the Raijintek Thetis =)

 

[Nivel Egres]

So far the smallest really nice mATX and ATX cases are the Cerberus and Cerberus-X
Cerberus

If I had the space to fit a regular size ATX case, I'd just go out and buy a used rack-mount server like this: Refurbished: Dell PowerEdge R900 Server 4x E7420 2.13GHz 16-Cores Total 128GB RAM 4x 500GB SAS HDD PERC6/i iDRAC5 No Bezel - Newegg.com
I know it's mostly obsolete but it fits well with what I am trying to do and it would be cheaper than anything brand-new or even DIY. Unfortunately, I do not have the space at home (I envy the people that have a proper garage for this type of stuff).

 

[Evan]

@acquacow that Raijintek Thetis looks cool, I don’t know how I missed it looking for deektop cases, do you have one ? Is it good ?

@Nivel Egres if your workload works on the small Xeon cores ie Xeon-D
Then there is versions of Xeon-D to 16 cores and small cases like this...
Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | Mini 1U | E300-8D
Supermicro | Products | SuperServers | Mini 1U | SYS-E200-8D

Not the quietest but certainly very small and portable if needed even.