Design a PC/Server for ROON and HQ Player

[Miska]

41 minutes ago, ericuco said:

Question for @Miska, on the Signalyst Consumer webpage in the download section, you had for years referenced "Ubuntu Studio" as the preferred version but now it just references "Ubuntu".

 

It still recommends Ubuntu Studio on the same line...

 

42 minutes ago, ericuco said:

As I am going to have SilentPC install the OS, which one would you recommend? Ubuntu Studio or Ubuntu? My understanding is the Unbuntu Studio includes additional tools for audio & video which I probably don't need but thought I would ask. Thanks as always.

 

Ubuntu Studio contains default software selection and OS tunings towards use for audio and graphics. And slimmer desktop. While normal Ubuntu Desktop now uses GNOME 3 (after switching away from their own Unity), Ubuntu Studio uses lighter weight XFCE desktop. Ubuntu Studio is more basic with less eye candy, which suits my purposes and needs better.

 

Base things for the various Ubuntu flavors come from the one and same Ubuntu package repository, just the installation is different.

 

If you want more eye candy and more "native" GUI environment for HQPlayer, Kubuntu is the choice.

 

[Miska]

25 minutes ago, elan120 said:

On the cooler side, my current plan is to go with liquid cooler

 

You've noticed there's the Aorus Xtreme Waterforce? That has the Thunderbolt too. And the Aorus Xtreme Waterforce 5G that they advertise for 9900K. Both of these also feature 10 Gbps Ethernet.

 

[elan120]

4 minutes ago, ChrisVH said:

 

Have you confirmed that the D15 will be an issue clearing the PCIe slot (vs D15S), or are you just wanting the little extra 'wiggle-room'. Looks like the 15 is a little bit better for cooling, which is why I chose that one, but if I am compromising that cooling if I use the PCIe slot, then you're right and the 15S would make more sense...

My understanding of Designaire is 71.6mm center CPU to near side of PCIe socket, where NH-D15 is 150mm wide with centered base, which is 75mm center CPU to sides of cooler.

 

NH-D15S will fit as it has base offset, so it's fins are 67.5mm center CPU toward PCIe socket.

 

[elan120]

2 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

You've noticed there's the Aorus Xtreme Waterforce? That has the Thunderbolt too. And the Aorus Xtreme Waterforce 5G that they advertise for 9900K. Both of these also feature 10 Gbps Ethernet.

 

Yes, I am also looking into that one as well.  Look to be a very nice one.

[Miska]

1 hour ago, ChrisVH said:

Thank you, Elan - yes, I also saw that. Just looks like I am giving up an m.2 AND PCIe slot, but gaining Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C. Given that I don't anticipate a need for 3rd M.2, I think that Designare might fit my need a little better, since I won't need to buy an additional Tbolt card...

 

Aorus Master also has USB Type-C, just no Thunderbolt without extra card...

 

[ChrisVH]

19 hours ago, elan120 said:

My understanding of Designaire is 71.6mm center CPU to near side of PCIe socket, where NH-D15 is 150mm wide with centered base, which is 75mm center CPU to sides of cooler.

 

NH-D15S will fit as it has base offset, so it's fins are 67.5mm center CPU toward PCIe socket.

 

Was taking another look at the differences between the Noctua fans, and came across this on Noctua's website: Users who have sufficient room can also upgrade the NH-D15S with either a 120mm (e.g. NF-A12x25 PWM) or round 140mm (e.g. NF-A15 PWM).

 

@elan120 (or @Miska): Do you happen to know if that larger fan (140mm) will fit in the case I'm looking at (assume Elan is looking at same case?)? It appears using the larger fan brings the cooling spec back up to the D15... https://pcpartpicker.com/user/chrisvh/saved/XDnf99

[elan120]

42 minutes ago, ChrisVH said:

Do you happen to know if that larger fan (140mm) will fit in the case I'm looking at (assume Elan is looking at same case?)?

It should.  Based on Noctua's spec., NH-D15S has a total height of 160mm, and since max cooler height for Fractal Design Define R6 is 185mm, there is more than enough room to fit NH-D15S inside the case.

 

 

 

 

[ChrisVH]

35 minutes ago, elan120 said:

It should.  Based on Noctua's spec., NH-D15S has a total height of 160mm, and since max cooler height for Fractal Design Define R6 is 185mm, there is more than enough room to fit NH-D15S inside the case.

 

Right- I shouldn't have referenced the case, but rather the board components. I didn't think there'd be an issue with height (same as primary fan), but rather the additional horizontal footprint with the 2nd fan (and vertical board clearance), and whether that might be an issue? i.e. - 26mm difference in horizontal extension, and 32mm vert clearance (from board) in vertical dimension...

[elan120]

2 hours ago, ChrisVH said:

the additional horizontal footprint with the 2nd fan (and vertical board clearance), and whether that might be an issue?

With the second fan installed, the memory you specified in your build BOM would be too high at 42.2mm to clear the reduced clearance at 32mm to fit 4 sticks (64G) of RAM.  If this is the RAM you would like to use and can live with 32G instead, then look at HX426C13PB3K2/32 and use the outer two RAM slots away from CPU socket.

 

 

 

[ChrisVH]

31 minutes ago, elan120 said:

With the second fan installed, the memory you specified in your build BOM would be too high at 42.2mm to clear the reduced clearance at 32mm to fit 4 sticks (64G) of RAM.  If this is the RAM you would like to use and can live with 32G instead, then look at HX426C13PB3K2/32 and use the outer two RAM slots away from CPU socket.

 

 

 

 

Thank you VERY much. So, it looks like a choice between using 2 RAM slots + extra fan vs the NH-D15, and having that tight with a PCIe slot... IF that's the case, then I'll probably still with the original fan selection of NH-D15, because I'd rather have that extra RAM than extra PCIe slot...

 

Amazon shows the CPU will ship next week, and I'll have by next Wednesday, so need to get this locked-down this weekend... 

 

Thanks again, Elan!

[elan120]

15 minutes ago, ChrisVH said:

I'll probably still with the original fan selection of NH-D15, because I'd rather have that extra RAM than extra PCIe slot.

4 sticks of HyperX Predator RAM and either NH-D15 or NH-D15S don't go too well together, as NH-D15 is having the same clearance at 32mm.

[Miska]

26 minutes ago, elan120 said:

4 sticks of HyperX Predator RAM and either NH-D15 or NH-D15S don't go too well together, as NH-D15 is having the same clearance at 32mm.

 

You can adjust height of the second fan by placing the attachment shims at suitable height. So you can place the second fan higher up. But even in my second setup, I have removed the second fan, so now in both builds where I have NH-D15 I have only the middle fan. It is well enough for my use cases.

 

When I get to my next build, I'll report about details with the BeQuiet Dark Rock 4. But likely it is not much different.

 

[Miska]

4 hours ago, elan120 said:

It should.  Based on Noctua's spec., NH-D15S has a total height of 160mm, and since max cooler height for Fractal Design Define R6 is 185mm, there is more than enough room to fit NH-D15S inside the case.

 

I have two Define R5 cases with NH-D15 and no problem fitting it.

 

Also ASUS STRIX-series GTX/RTX graphics cards fit by removing one drive bay. On the newer Define models, there's more flexibility with drives, so you don't need to take out drive space in blocks of four like on R5.

 

P.S. If you want a really quiet high performance system, extreme care needs to be taken when applying thermal paste between  cooler and CPU. The layer should end up covering entire contact area with as thin layer as possible, without any air pockets/cavities.

[randytsuch]

I use the D15s heatsink, all my parts used are here

https://sites.google.com/view/audiostuff/audio-pc/parts

 

Here are a couple pics.  I moved the big noctua fan to the middle.

Looks like your case has a rear fan.  Make sure they blow in the same direction, and it will almost like having the 2nd fan.

 

I would have had problems putting a 2nd big fan on either side of the heatsink I think.  Ram is on one side, and other fan and the rear of the motherboard is on the other side.  

In the 2nd pic you can see how low the fan goes, but I pushed it down to make sure it cleared my case door.

I had to remove the rear case fan to install the motherboard, because the mb heatsink was hitting the fan.  But could install the fan after mb was in.

 

EDIT:  I don't have a video card, so no heat there.  Case has three front fans, one rear, good ventilation, and hardly gets warm running hdp.

 

 

[ChrisVH]

My i9-9900KS will be here tomorrow, so I'll be locking-down my parts list in the next day or two, and start making my purchases. I'll try the 15S Noctua first, and if it looks like I can get the extra A15 in there without an issue, I'll pick that up. I have the Asus 2080Ti Strix in the build just to see where that put me for power needed, but will likely hold-off on that until next year, and just use my Quadro K4000 from other PC in the interim.

 

Before I start ordering the rest of the parts, does anyone have any other suggestions, or words of caution for my FIRST DIY PC build ever? 🙂  https://pcpartpicker.com/user/chrisvh/saved/XDnf99

 

Miska's note about thermal paste application noted...

 

Thanks for everyone's help!

[ericuco]

On 11/7/2019 at 1:06 PM, elan120 said:

If running DSD256 using EC modulators is the goal, then go for 9700K instead.  i7-9700 might only do up to DSD128 with EC modulators.

 

I did call silentPC and asked them about the 9700K. It is 95W whereas the 9700 is 65W. As such the 9700K would not work with the case cooling.

[elan120]

43 minutes ago, ChrisVH said:

My i9-9900KS will be here tomorrow, so I'll be locking-down my parts list in the next day or two, and start making my purchases. I'll try the 15S Noctua first, and if it looks like I can get the extra A15 in there without an issue, I'll pick that up. I have the Asus 2080Ti Strix in the build just to see where that put me for power needed, but will likely hold-off on that until next year, and just use my Quadro K4000 from other PC in the interim.

 

Before I start ordering the rest of the parts, does anyone have any other suggestions, or words of caution for my FIRST DIY PC build ever? 🙂  https://pcpartpicker.com/user/chrisvh/saved/XDnf99

 

Miska's note about thermal paste application noted...

 

Thanks for everyone's help!

Just curious, what is purpose of having one each of these two drives?

[Miska]

24 minutes ago, ericuco said:

I did call silentPC and asked them about the 9700K. It is 95W whereas the 9700 is 65W. As such the 9700K would not work with the case cooling.

 

95W needs quite big case, like Streacom DB4. It may also work with Streacom FC10 Alpha.

 

[dminches]

On 11/8/2019 at 4:04 PM, ChrisVH said:

Thank you VERY much. So, it looks like a choice between using 2 RAM slots + extra fan vs the NH-D15, and having that tight with a PCIe slot... IF that's the case, then I'll probably still with the original fan selection of NH-D15, because I'd rather have that extra RAM than extra PCIe slot...

 

Amazon shows the CPU will ship next week, and I'll have by next Wednesday, so need to get this locked-down this weekend... 

 

Thanks again, Elan!

 

I have used liquid cooler for the CPU in the last several builds so I don't have to worry about the height of the ram sticks. It is also much cleaner inside the case.  Have you considered that?  I use the Corsair Hydro Series.

 

[ChrisVH]

17 hours ago, elan120 said:

Just curious, what is purpose of having one each of these two drives?

The Pro will be used for my OS / Programs, and the other will be used for Dropbox files + scratch disk for Photoshop. Didn't think I'd need a super-fast drive for the dropbox & scratch disk, so downgraded slightly there...

[ChrisVH]

15 hours ago, dminches said:

 

I have used liquid cooler for the CPU in the last several builds so I don't have to worry about the height of the ram sticks. It is also much cleaner inside the case.  Have you considered that?  I use the Corsair Hydro Series.

 

 

I originally spec'd a liquid cooler when I originally proposed this build, but there was at least one person on this forum who noted these were susceptible to (eventual) leaking. I did some searching on other forums about this topic, and couldn't come up with any firm consensus on the actual risk, so decided to play it 'safe'. 

[dminches]

20 minutes ago, ChrisVH said:

 

I originally spec'd a liquid cooler when I originally proposed this build, but there was at least one person on this forum who noted these were susceptible to (eventual) leaking. I did some searching on other forums about this topic, and couldn't come up with any firm consensus on the actual risk, so decided to play it 'safe'. 

 

I have used liquid cooling for over 5 years in multiple systems and have never had a leak.  I supposed anything can occur but most gaming and high end computers use liquid cooling.  I would not try build a system without it as this point.

 

I find the air cooler to be too restrictive in terms of the height of the memory and the width of the case.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

2 minutes ago, dminches said:

I have used liquid cooling for over 5 years in multiple systems and have never had a leak. 

I have heard that the pump can be noisy but I wish there was adequate noise documentation to know more.

[dminches]

1 minute ago, Kal Rubinson said:

I have heard that the pump can be noisy but I wish there was adequate noise documentation to know more.

 

Kal, the fans are much louder than the pump.  Frankly, I don't think I have ever heard the pump itself.

 

[Miska]

Fans can be also quiet. My i7-6950X server is quiet although it has one front fan, one rear fan, PSU fan, three fans on the GPU and one on the CPU. PSU and GPU fans are stopped when not needed and they only start rotating slowly when needed. Case and CPU fans run at minimum rotation speed unless they need to speed up. No HDD, only M.2 SSD drive. With my HQPlayer loads it is quiet enough that I need to put my ear next to the machine to hear it.

 

The Fractal Design case has sound proofing and quiet fans. The machine could also house water cooling, but I have not needed it and I'm worried about possible disasters when the system ages...