Building a DIY Music Server

[SK8]

17 hours ago, drjimwillie said:

That really looks fantastic. Congratulations! I would really love to hear it.
 

Will you please tell me where you sourced the copper plates?

 

I had stumbled into a source for the copper plates a while ago, but I have forgotten where I found them.
 

does anyone know where to source copper plates in the US, please?

 

I am going to need them for my DIY Taiko chassis/Sage build. I am going to start putting that together soon. (I am almost to the painting stage of my cabinets which needs to precede it.)

 

I am hoping to see someone solve the build, including the monstrous custom chokes. 😳😁

 

thanks in advance😎

For most of the copper plates, I prepared the drawings and sent to small factories in China to cut and drill holes or threaded holes according to my specification. In the US, you can try this but it is quite expensive there, in my opinion:

 

www.onlinemetals.com

 

One more picture to show how the Mundorf chokes were mounted to the bottom of the chassis.

 

 

[baconbrain]

12 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

Question, does anyone know the TDP/Watt rating for th eheatsinks in their dual Xeon (85W TDP) build?

Are you referring to the Taiko DIY chassis?

[MarcelNL]

20 minutes ago, baconbrain said:

Are you referring to the Taiko DIY chassis?

I'm trying to find out what sort of rating keeps the build cool enough, so basically interested in every build's heatsink rating.

 

I have two 300W heatsinks, one of them keeps the 125W TDP Ryzen 16core well below 40'C and I'm trying to assess if one is enough...the Xeon is 85W TDP, totalling at 170W so it should work but I'm not sure if core temp stays 'in da zone' 

I can just try but hate messing with the heatpipes and conductive paste too much.

[Nenon]

@MarcelNL - stating the obvious, but the overall efficiency of the cooling system depends on many factors, including room temperature, Operating system, BIOS settings, the angle of the pipes, what else is in the chassis, etc. All that is in addition to the heatsink and pipes specs. 

With everything else being equal, my Windows 10 LTSC stayed cooler and consumed less power than Eupony for example. Adding a Solarflare NIC (without any special cooling for it) for example will keep your computer parts hotter.

As a general rule, the cooler your computer stays, the better it sounds. Even 1-2 degrees of temperature can be audible. A good example was the JCAT NIC. Every time I installed it in my DIY server, it sounded better. But if I give it 24 hours and remove it, I will notice that my computer sounded better without it. The drop in temperature when I shut down the computer to remove the JCAT had at least as big of an impact as the JCAT NIC itself. Ultimately, I ended up removing the JCAT NIC because it was contributing to a warmer temperature inside the chassis. That was with my DIY HDPlex chassis, which was too small for this dual SAGE build. The bigger Taiko DIY chassis may have different results due to its better cooling parts. 

So while I am not not answering your question directly, the point is GO BIG and oversize your cooling. Get the best cooling system that you can. 

The Taiko Extreme for example has a heatsink that is around 42 cm x 15 cm and is made from copper, not aluminum. And the whole chassis is designed to dissipate heat from the heatink. That keeps it just slightly warmer than room temperature. 

[MarcelNL]

@Nenon

 

Thanks for confirming what I was thinking..I'll skip trying one heatsink and will use both....will make for an interesting chassis when it gets to that as I expect it to be a tad larger than the Extreme itself ;-)

 

I noticed the same with my current builds, a lower core temperature makes for a better sound, weird as it may seem....

 

I have a bundle of heatpipes each capable of approx 100 watt lying around for the final build (here shorter is clearly better), just have to see if there are enough to fill two 8 slot heatsink adapters...I have good faith in the HDPlex heatpipe adapter block made out of copper, each weighs a kilo. Getting heat to the heatsink should work nicely, and a 300W heatsink per CPU ought to be oversizing things ;-)

 

 

[baconbrain]

6 minutes ago, Nenon said:

So while I am not not answering your question directly, the point is GO BIG and oversize your cooling. Get the best cooling system that you can. 

+1 Completely agree.

 

[baconbrain]

6 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

Thanks for confirming what I was thinking..I'll skip trying one heatsink and will use both....will make for an interesting chassis when it gets to that as I expect it to be a tad larger than the Extreme itself ;-)

 

I noticed the same with my current builds, a lower core temperature makes for a better sound, weird as it may seem....

 

I have a bundle of heatpipes each capable of approx 100 watt lying around for the final build (here shorter is clearly better), just have to see if there are enough to fill two 8 slot heatsink adapters...I have good faith in the HDPlex heatpipe adapter block made out of copper, each weighs a kilo. Getting heat to the heatsink should work nicely, and a 300W heatsink per CPU ought to be oversizing things ;-)

 

 

Good idea.

 

IMO (and for my specific use case), the out of the box Taiko provided one sided cooling solution for their DIY chasiss is not optimal .  

[MarcelNL]

1 minute ago, baconbrain said:

 

Good idea.

 

IMO (and for my specific use case), the out of the box Taiko provided one sided cooling solution for their DIY chasiss is not optimal .  

I won't be using the Taiko DIY case, I hate the sound of metal around my systems ;-)

 

 

[MarcelNL]

anyone delidded the Xeon to apply better thermal paste? 🤪

[drjimwillie]

5 hours ago, MarcelNL said:

anyone delidded the Xeon to apply better thermal paste? 🤪

What is delidded , please?

 

Do you use a NM torque wrench to tighten your CPUs?
 

in the Taiko DIY chassis, there was documentation that specified how to fasten the CPU. There was a bolt pattern to follow, and it gave a specific  torque. 
 

i’m trying to determine if I have to buy a very small, digital torque wrench.

[MarcelNL]

delidding is the process of taking the top metal plate of a CPU to take off the heat conduction compound between the die and lid and replace it with something better, it can shave off 5 'C off the core temp....

 

I'm not planning to use a torque wrench in a DIY build, tight but not overly tight is doable without ;-)

 

Intel provides the specs and tightening pattern, if anything IMHO it's more like sticking to a cross tightening pattern than that starting at 1 has any meaning.

 

the intel website, google for socket 3647, will show the order of tightening and torque spec, just imagine how much force you need and translate that to your allen key / wrench (you should be able to calibrate using scales

[The Computer Audiophile]

12 minutes ago, drjimwillie said:

What is delidded , please?

Here’s some good info. 
 

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/how-to-delid-your-processor,38720.html

[MarcelNL]

meanwhile I found someone who'll probably delid the Xeons for me

(no interest in finding out how that works in detail)

why not go balls to the wall when doing stuff ;-)

[SK8]

Just a precaution that the LGA3647 socket is quite a tricky one to install the Xeon CPU on it, especially with the HDPlex copper heat sink which is narrower than the IHS. I spent a whole day to adjust the screws for both CPUs to make them visible to the motherboard and recognize all 48G RAM. The heatlinks have to be tightened gradually and evenly to ensure a leveling pressure is applied. Otherwise, I had to unscrew all, release the CPU from the socket and try again. Quite frustrating at that time. Having the IHS delidded and reinstalled back with glues should add to this challenge. Hope it will work out well for you.

 

[baconbrain]

10 hours ago, drjimwillie said:

What is delidded , please?

 

Do you use a NM torque wrench to tighten your CPUs?
 

in the Taiko DIY chassis, there was documentation that specified how to fasten the CPU. There was a bolt pattern to follow, and it gave a specific  torque. 
 

i’m trying to determine if I have to buy a very small, digital torque wrench.

 

I purchased a torque wrench specifically for the task, and by following the Taiko instructions, it worked like a charm. A small  investment but no headaches.

[MarcelNL]

6 hours ago, SK8 said:

Just a precaution that the LGA3647 socket is quite a tricky one to install the Xeon CPU on it, especially with the HDPlex copper heat sink which is narrower than the IHS. I spent a whole day to adjust the screws for both CPUs to make them visible to the motherboard and recognize all 48G RAM. The heatlinks have to be tightened gradually and evenly to ensure a leveling pressure is applied. Otherwise, I had to unscrew all, release the CPU from the socket and try again. Quite frustrating at that time. Having the IHS delidded and reinstalled back with glues should add to this challenge. Hope it will work out well for you.

 

I read that and will take care...!

 

PLan on starting with some standard fan based cooling solution to test drive the thing....also to get a feel for everything

[MarcelNL]

BTW; I am identifying all parts and start wondering which bracket to use to mount the HDPlex lower copper heatpipe adapter on the sage motherboard?

 

There is no instruction in the kits, and with some searching I found the chassis V3.0 manual online (I was not able to find any manual on the HDPlex website directly) does not even mention socket P (LGA 3647) 

[MarcelNL]

I think the smaller metal bracket goes underneath the copper block, yet that does not fit the CPU in its plastic cradle so I assume that needs to go?

 

[SK8]

There is a special mounting kit for LGA3647 socket. Did you contact Larry or you purchased directly from their website?

[MarcelNL]

7 minutes ago, SK8 said:

There is a special mounting kit for LGA3647 socket. Did you contact Larry or you purchased directly from their website?

I did email him referring to the LGA 3647 Xeon and bought two kits from him, looking at the brackets included in the kit makes me think it'll work.

 

let me rephrase that, one of the 4 pins around the socket on the MB is larger than the clasp will allow...so I may have to drill that one to larger diameter.....but I'll check with Larry first.

 

[SK8]

You should have a pair of this mounting bracket from him with the proper screws. Tell him it's for use on Asus Sage C621e motherboard .

[MarcelNL]

that looks quite specific indeed! Thanks a million!

 

[MarcelNL]

quick question, are the two EPS power connectors powering the CPU's on the MB linked or do I need two separate cables to feed both CPU's?

[lwr]

Yes

[MarcelNL]

6 minutes ago, lwr said:

Yes

thanks for the response, however...yes to what? ;-) (it's a bit like asking someone if they would like coffe or tea and the response is yes)

 

I take it I need two EPS cables?