Server Board or PC Motherboard?

[Gibrril]

Hi all,

I'm looking to upgrade my system (quite a massive upgrade) and I need some advice about motherboards.
First off, I use my system for 3D content creation, music production and gaming.

Now I saw a very nice setup using an MSI X99S GAMING 9 ACK motherboard, but that one supports only one intel i7 cpu (only the one, powerfull as it might be) and also has a limit of 64 GB RAM. It has however, 5 PCIe x16 slots.

After a bit of looking around, I found several server boards that allow for two cpu's and up to 512 GB of DIMM memory. If I were to follow ADM technology I could build a system with a 32 core cpu. However finding a serverboard with 5 PCIe x 16 slots so I can hook up my four Nvidia Titan cards proofs difficult.
If I were to buy a serverboard, would that setup allow me to use all that power? (32 cores, 512 GB of memory and four graphics cards) to model and render 3D content, create music using heavy samples and play my games with maximum settings? If so what about power supply and which OS do I need, Will windows 7 ultimate do or do I need a server edition?
I don't know a lot about server architecture, so I'm hoping some of you could give me some much needed advice.

Thanks a lot,
Gibrril

 

[Disparia]

Windows 7 Ultimate/Enterprise/Professional allows for 192GB to be installed. Will need Windows 8 Professional, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012 for more.

Might want to take a gander at this: http://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/Z10PED8_WS/

Doesn't have as many memory slots as other boards, but should allow your four titans. To keep Windows 7 Ultimate you could go with 8 x 16GB for a very respectable 128GB. I know some 4K video editors that live comfortably in 64GB. However, I've seen 32GB sticks available and with a change of OS could go 256GB. Of course, if you are set on going balls out, I believe there is a Supermicro board that will handle not only your 4 Titans and 512GB, but also still have a couple PCIe slots leftover for additional cards.

 

[Gibrril]

Thanks for the reply!

What about power supply? How strong would I need? How many Watts?
I'll start looking for the supermicro board!

Thanks,
Gibrril

 

[Disparia]

There's this: http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X10DRG-Q.cfm

Also note the recommended chassis on that page, as it's a larger than normal board. They don't make the only case that will fit this board, but there are very few that will. I usually buy Supermicro products as SuperServer or SuperWorkstation, which is a board and power supply pre-installed in one of their cases. Saves me time when checking for compatibility.

This particular bundle comes with their top 2000w platinum-rated power supply: http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/4U/7048/SYS-7048GR-TR.cfm

It may or may not be overkill, depending on the parts you're using in addition to the Titans, but I see going with at least their 1620w model (and a 220v-240v outlet installed if you don't have one in the room where this computer is going)

 

[Gibrril]

Thanks!

Would you recommend Intel or AMD cpu's?
I've been looking for a supermicro AMD based board that allows 4 titans, but I haven't found it yet.

Thanks a lot,
Gibrril

 

[Disparia]

They have their own section of the site: http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherboard/Opteron6000/

AMD hasn't done much in this market for awhile so the pickings are slim. Not just Supermicro but also Asus, Gigabyte and others that produced 2P/4P boards in the past. Some of those companies only have 1 or 2 boards now or have completely stopped producing them. While I wouldn't be unhappy with such a machine (for certain purposes) I'm leaning Intel for the newer tech, upgrade path, and performance.

Cinebench reports that the Xeon 2660 is 20% faster than the Opteron 6380. In the 3DS Max, the Xeon is up to 77% faster. The new Mental Ray engine seems to be extremely well optimized for the Intel architectures and underperforms on the AMD architecture.

Note: that was the older 2660 with 8-cores, the new V3 model has 10.

 

[Gibrril]

Thanks,

I've posted another thread here on CPU's and the nice people here have also pointed out that Intel outperforms AMD on regular basis.

Thanks a lot!