X58 based Workstation build - general advice

Kamikaze-X · Aug 31, 2016

Hi all,

I managed to nab a Xeon E5630 (4 cores, 8 threads) on e-bah for £6 delivered, so delved into building up a workstation based on X58.

I grabbed a Dell T3500 motherboard for about £25 too, which is on the way.

I have ordered fan adapters to try and negate any error messages that fans arent attached.

Any advice on a decent cheap cooler? Obviously won't be overclocking on this board.

What about the rest? I have a PSU and GPU I can whack in, will need RAM (have my eye on 8GB of DDR3) What OS would you recommend for a workstation build, that might allow a bit of gaming etc?

Disparia · Aug 31, 2016

Should be looking at 12GB (4GB x 3) since it's triple channel. Though it will work if you end up with 1 or 2 sticks.

Frick · Aug 31, 2016

First of all, do you have a case for it?

CAPSLOCKSTUCK · Aug 31, 2016

Kamikaze-X said:
Any advice on a decent cheap cooler?

You need to check the space between the mounting holes.........it may not take a conventional ( non proprietary) cooler.

silentbogo · Aug 31, 2016

Kamikaze-X said:
Hi all,

I managed to nab a Xeon E5630 (4 cores, 8 threads) on e-bah for £6 delivered, so delved into building up a workstation based on X58.

I grabbed a Dell T3500 motherboard for about £25 too, which is on the way.

I have ordered fan adapters to try and negate any error messages that fans arent attached.

Any advice on a decent cheap cooler? Obviously won't be overclocking on this board.

What about the rest? I have a PSU and GPU I can whack in, will need RAM (have my eye on 8GB of DDR3) What OS would you recommend for a workstation build, that might allow a bit of gaming etc?

Get a full-tower case or better, find it's stock case and cooling. There are also some compatible full-copper heatsinks for rackmount cases, but those are very hard to find.

Regarding PSU - pretty much any decent 500W EPS12V will do. If you are on the budget, I'd probably invest into a good used PSU, or otherwise bought a EVGA 500B [or W].
Any GPU will do. You can even stick an RX470 in it and be happy.
RAM - definitely triple-channel. My old rig used a combined quad-kit and dual-kit of G-SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3-2133, but if you don't plan to overclock, then you should go with regular DDR3-1066. Also note that server memory from that generation costs mere pennies, so you can sacrifice a bit of performance, but save near ~30-40% of your hard earned money (4GB FBDIMMs cost a tad more than used 2GB UDIMMs).

Kamikaze-X · Aug 31, 2016

Good spot, forgot x58 was triple channel. 3x4GB on the way now

Kamikaze-X · Aug 31, 2016

Frick said:
First of all, do you have a case for it?

yeah i have a fractal define that I butchered for a server motherboard that I will be swapping this in to.

Kamikaze-X · Aug 31, 2016

silentbogo said:
Get a full-tower case or better, find it's stock case and cooling. There are also some compatible full-copper heatsinks for rackmount cases, but those are very hard to find.

Regarding PSU - pretty much any decent 500W EPS12V will do. If you are on the budget, I'd probably invest into a good used PSU, or otherwise bought a EVGA 500B [or W].
Any GPU will do. You can even stick an RX470 in it and be happy.
RAM - definitely triple-channel. My old rig used a combined quad-kit and dual-kit of G-SKILL Ripjaws X DDR3-2133, but if you don't plan to overclock, then you should go with regular DDR3-1066. Also note that server memory from that generation costs mere pennies, so you can sacrifice a bit of performance, but save near ~30-40% of your hard earned money (4GB FBDIMMs cost a tad more than used 2GB UDIMMs).

PSU: I have a good quality workstation PSU from FSP I believe that supports EPS12V and is 550W (its been running a Supermicro dual socket server motherboard).
RAM: just ordered 3x4GB DDR3-1333
GPU wise I have an old 6870 sitting round doing nothing.

Will stick my old 64GB Crucial SSD and an old 500GB hard disk with it.

silentbogo · Aug 31, 2016

Kamikaze-X said:
PSU: I have a good quality workstation PSU from FSP I believe that supports EPS12V and is 550W (its been running a Supermicro dual socket server motherboard).
RAM: just ordered 3x4GB DDR3-1333
GPU wise I have an old 6870 sitting round doing nothing.

Will stick my old 64GB Crucial SSD and an old 500GB hard disk with it.

Sounds like you have everything you need, just try to find the heatsink.
I am not 100% sure, but it looks like you can remove the backplate and install an aftermarket cooling solution for LGA1366, but you need to check the distance between holes. Maybe even a box HSF from Core i7-9xx

CAPSLOCKSTUCK · Aug 31, 2016

If you cant find an alternative i am almost 100% certain that these passive heatsinks will fit.

If you need one let me know......you know where to find me..

silentbogo · Aug 31, 2016

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:
If you cant find an alternative i am almost 100% certain that these passive heatsinks will fit.

If you need one let me know......you know where to find me..

View attachment 78391

those are exactly the ones I was talking about - heavy as bricks, but absolutely awesome (especially inside a rackmount case).

CAPSLOCKSTUCK · Aug 31, 2016

silentbogo said:
heavy as bricks

498 grams each

Kamikaze-X · Sep 1, 2016

Sweet thanks guys

System Name	MSI Krait Gaming
Processor	Core i5 4690K @ 4.7Ghz
Motherboard	MSI Krait Z97s SLi Edition
Cooling	Custom Water Cooling Loop
Memory	16GB x Corsair Vengeance Pro 2400Mhz DDR3
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX 1070 FE with EK Waterblocks EK-FC Plexi
Storage	Samsung 850 Pro 128GB + Toshiba 1TB
Display(s)	Hazro 29" Ultrawide 2560x1080
Case	Corsair 650D Obsidian (heavily modded)
Audio Device(s)	N/A
Power Supply	Corsair 550W
Mouse	Logitech G500
Keyboard	Corsair K70
Software	Windows 10 x64 Home
Benchmark Scores	Time Spy: 6000 Firestrike: 15813

Processor	Intel i5-6600
Motherboard	ASRock H170M-ITX
Cooling	Cooler Master Geminii S524
Memory	G.Skill DDR4-2133 16GB (8GB x 2)
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte R9-380X 4GB
Storage	Samsung 950 EVO 250GB (mSATA)
Display(s)	LG 29UM69G-B 2560x1080 IPS
Case	Lian Li PC-Q25
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC892
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-460FL2
Mouse	Logitech G700s
Keyboard	Logitech G110
Software	Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Black MC in Tokyo
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600
Motherboard	Asrock B450M-HDV
Cooling	Be Quiet! Pure Rock 2
Memory	2 x 16GB Kingston Fury 3400mhz
Video Card(s)	XFX 6950XT Speedster MERC 319
Storage	Kingston A400 240GB \| WD Black SN750 2TB \|WD Blue 1TB x 2 \| Toshiba P300 2TB \| Seagate Expansion 8TB
Display(s)	Samsung U32J590U 4K + BenQ GL2450HT 1080p
Case	Fractal Design Define R4
Audio Device(s)	Line6 UX1 + some headphones, Nektar SE61 keyboard
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x v3
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Cherry MX Board 1.0 TKL Brown
VR HMD	Acer Mixed Reality Headset
Software	Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	Rimworld 4K ready!

System Name	Party On
Processor	Xeon w 3520
Motherboard	DFI Lanparty
Cooling	Big tower thing
Memory	6 gb Ballistix Tracer
Video Card(s)	HD 7970
Case	a plank of wood
Audio Device(s)	seperate amp and 6 big speakers
Power Supply	Corsair
Mouse	cheap
Keyboard	under going restoration

System Name	WS#1337
Processor	Ryzen 7 3800X
Motherboard	ASUS X570-PLUS TUF Gaming
Cooling	Xigmatek Scylla 240mm AIO
Memory	4x8GB Samsung DDR4 ECC UDIMM
Video Card(s)	Inno3D RTX 3070 Ti iChill
Storage	ADATA Legend 2TB + ADATA SX8200 Pro 1TB
Display(s)	Samsung U24E590D (4K/UHD)
Case	ghetto CM Cosmos RC-1000
Audio Device(s)	ALC1220
Power Supply	SeaSonic SSR-550FX (80+ GOLD)
Mouse	Logitech G603
Keyboard	Modecom Volcano Blade (Kailh choc LP)
VR HMD	Google dreamview headset(aka fancy cardboard)
Software	Windows 11, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

X58 based Workstation build - general advice

Kamikaze-X

Disparia

Frick

Fishfaced Nincompoop

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick

silentbogo

Moderator

Kamikaze-X

Kamikaze-X

Kamikaze-X

silentbogo

Moderator

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick

silentbogo

Moderator

CAPSLOCKSTUCK

Spaced Out Lunar Tick

Kamikaze-X