Supermicro X9QR7-TF+. Any luck building a workstation out of it?

[gilboa]

Hello,

I currently in the process of dismantling an old Intel 4S server and I find myself "stuck" with 4 x E5-4624L V2 CPUs and 256GB RAM.

Now granted, this machine will not be top of the line by any means and will get clobbered by any 32C and above AMD Epyc setup, but the fact that it comes with 256GB RAM is a considerable bonus (I plan to run single host ovirt on it).

So, a couple of questions:
1. Any one had any luck connecting this board to a normal case (CM Stacker, HAF932, etc)?
2. Any suggestions concerning PSU (I assume the 4 x 8pin will be an issue)?
3. Is this board compatible with Noctua NH-U12DX i4 HSFs? (Luckily I have 4 of them).
4. Any limits on the GPU its host?

Thanks,
Gilboa

 

[tesla100]

Hello Gilboa and welcome.

I was using the X9QRi-F+ motherboard (which has the same size as the one you have) with four E5-4650 V1s for a year more or less back in 2018, at that time it was still a powerful beast!

1) You need a case that is very high and has a lot of space above the IO shield. The best "normal" case for this board I found was the Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra, unfortunately, I couldn't find any in the EU where I live. So in the end I chose the Thermaltake Core P5 case and modded it to my needs.

2) As for the PSU, I wouldn't worry too much about that, you can always use this Akasa AK-CB051 adapter from 6-pin PCIe to 8-pin ATX12V. So just make sure your PSU has enough 6-pin PCIe connectors for both VGA and CPUs: Akasa Thermal Solution

3) YES

4) Do you mean the size limit or its consumption?


Here are some pics of the modification of the Thermaltake Core P5 case I did: Imgur

And here you can see some builts they did in Puget systems: Supermicro X9QRI-F+ Photography

Hope this helps.

 

[gilboa]

Thanks for the prompt reply (especially for the pictures). BTW, why did you replace it? Faster machine or due to excessive power use?
1. What type of modding did you need? Was it limited to simple drilling (non-standard MB screw position) or something other than that?
2. What type of PSU did you use? I plan to use a 1050w Seasonic PSU (that has, AFAIR, 8 PCI-E connectors).
3. Thanks!
4. Both. Any limits on power budget and/or size?

Thanks again,
Gilboa

 

[tesla100]

Yep, I think that the reason for replacing it was that I could get the same performance with a dual-socket system, which is less power demanding (not to mention the size and the weight of the built).

If I remember well, I had to drill several holes for the standoffs and also for that graphics card holder.

The PSU I used is the one you can see in the photos (Corsair RM1000i).

As for the graphics card, I don't think there were any limits at all. But as I used this workstation as a render node, the choice of the VGA was not very important to me.

 

[gilboa]

Many thanks!