Building a DIY Music Server

[MarcelNL]

why does it allow 'tuning' latency? I'd think that the lowest latency a CPU/RAMchipset/MB combination can handle rules...find a way to figure out what that is (a latency test) tweak your settings and stick to that.

 

just trying to understand this better.

[MarcelNL]

I just read it, I wonder how different this is from fixing the base frequencey and setting the CPU to that speed without slow down/power saving set? 

[MarcelNL]

big upvote on the above on fans, passive rules BUT comes with the need to go BIG in order to keep CPU core temp low.

 

[MarcelNL]

Windows has ASIO but doesn't Euphony use ALSA?

 

https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/1378825-what-delivers-lower-latency-core-audio-asio.html

[MarcelNL]

@Nenon Good for you man! Going with the flow of life is the most interesting aspect in life IMHO!

 

 

[MarcelNL]

First of all, a Nenon DIY server with a non Asus Sage MB?

 

Secondly; your BIOS appears to have reset, which may point at an empty BIOS backup battery.

Did yo run a temperature check or anything, something must cause the board to power down, that may be a glitch (BIOS Update?) CPU temp issue, memory temp issue, insufficient power capability of the PSU...andsoforth

[MarcelNL]

34 minutes ago, JackJohnson316 said:

Anybody know the model number of the ATP ram that Taiko uses? I tried to research it but came up empty so far. I thought it was ATP A4B04QG8BLPBSE , but that is speed 2133 mhz, and others have suggested Taiko uses speed 2400 mhz.

 

So far I know it's ATP ram, VLP (Very low profile) RDIMM, DDR4, and 4 GB size. I'm not sure of the model number, if it's high temperature or not, and the speed. 

 

Thanks for any help! 

it's bl&^dy hard to find...I have some sticks with code

atp 4gb ecc 96d4i-4g2400r-atl

 

coming my way to complement the other set I have

[MarcelNL]

26 minutes ago, JackJohnson316 said:

Perfect! I'll see if I can find them anywhere for sale now:) Are these the ones that Taiko uses then? Thanks again. 

The initial batch was sold under that notion....but guarantee?

[MarcelNL]

Question is why would we?

 

If you read the thread through I read between the lines that Taiko needed to replace the Xeon design as the Silver CPU is no longer available in the quantities they need but that they researched and found this solution to sound quite similar, not better than Sage plus dual Xeon.

 

As Xeon Silver CPU's are pretty sturdy used CPUs should prove value for money for the DIY community IMHO.

 

 

BTW: I seem to have forgotten the magic word to get an NVME in an NVME to PCI adapter to be seen in BIOS, it was a combination of CPU storage setting (not data, so two options left) and formatting to the right boot system and OS...

[MarcelNL]

1 hour ago, lwr said:

From the SuperMicro installation guide:

Thanks, yet this is the Asus Sage C621E MB, with more settings than I currently seem to be able to handle ;-)

 

There is a bios setting for CPU storage, which has three options, and the formatting settings for the NVME disc in f.e. Rufus provide like 4-5 options for OS, and then the boot system.  

 

Weird thing s that I had both Daphile and W 10 PE working on two NVME SSD drives but they no longer boot...nor are they recognized as NVME under 'NVME settings'

[MarcelNL]

first question in my mind is; what do you feed your computer with?

 

In a 'standard PC' setup with SMPS type PSU  that filter undeniably has an impact, I tried it when I finishd the unregulated LPSU feeding the Taiko ATX with bypasses and it did nothing (well, it did something that i did not particularly like)

[MarcelNL]

I did not experiment much with it as i found other things to have much more impact on SQ than the location on the MB...the majority of caps on that thing are electrolytics, so turning them 180' seems counter intuitive to me...

My system is local playback and streaming but without upsampling/filtering too.

 

Have to add that I'm not a Mundorf S/G cap or S/G wire fan either.

[MarcelNL]

I'm using Neotech UPOCC and a.o. bespoke precious metal caps as bypass, speed of power delivery is everything in digital.

[MarcelNL]

just take the module off, BIOS should recognize it's not there (I had one on it briefly and now took it off)

[MarcelNL]

Just now, drjimwillie said:

Hi Marcel

I thought that the BMC was so you did not have to hook a monitor up to your server.

 

I thought it is a recommended component and I am just about to purchase one.

 

why did you remove it?

it is, yet I only needed it briefly to tame the blazing fans down (was using standard CPU coolers with fan for a bit, but those kept going full speed)

 

Since I got to the stage where the heatpipe adapter alone almost is enough to keep the CPU cool so I took off the BMC module. Now in a short delay to finalize the build to full passive cooling and a proper OS....

 

 

 

[MarcelNL]

did you try the Solarflare X2522 also? That might be in the same pricebracket (used, perhaps takes some time to find one on ebay for that price)

[MarcelNL]

2 hours ago, Exocer said:

I ordered a used X2522 with Onload. Stay tuned!

nice!

 

the regular one can be set to 'low latency' mode or something similar, I;d like to suggest you break it in for a couple of days and set it to low latency , before using onload...just for science and my information ;-)

 

 

[MarcelNL]

I have a 12v fan running at 9V or so, air flow directed at the x2522 and it keeps cool.....passive cooling is in the make...

 

it does not take much to cool it since it dissipates only few watts, yet I think it truly sounds great.

 

 

[MarcelNL]

that X2522 as well as the 85something Solarflare cards are designed for use in servers in a serverroom with forced air flow at around 5'C 

 

The heat dissipated by the chip is a measely 10 Watt or less but it adds up and without forced air OR a proper passive cooling solution it'll overheat and shut down.

 

 

A small PC fan on 9 Volts is enough to keep it cool, passive cooling is of course much better (work in progress for me)

[MarcelNL]

I'm planning a cotton in resin chassis, personally I'd start at planning and designing passivle cooling, followed by short pathways for power.

I'm going to stack the Sage MB on top of the LPSU and have two 300W rated passive air flow heat sinks. I expect those should be capable of keeping CPU temp as low as it gets. Anything else is function follows form since in and outputs are already predestined by the PCIe slots  IMHO.

[MarcelNL]

running a very light OS and player should result in far less actual TDP than using something like lightroom...IMHO

[MarcelNL]

I somehow doubt that the copper plate will dissipate much heat, any heat it will dissipate needs to travel from components through the circuitboard (epoxy) and via M3 bolts....it likely is more intended as EMI shield.

Still it's another very nice design by Taiko!

[MarcelNL]

How exactly would heat transfer to that plate? For it to do anything thermal it would have to have some way of getting the heat transferred to it and to release it, all it does now is buffering some heat and I think that is already taken care of by the bulk of the chasis.

 

You may underestimate the sonic difference between aluminium and copper, or I may be wrong...time will tell.

[MarcelNL]

great work Angelo!

 

 

[MarcelNL]

Hi Angelo, 

 

I added a copper plate of about a cm thickness to my Mk5 server to go under the heat pipe assembly, assuming correctly that it adds thermal stability, acting like a buffer with a small improvement sonically. Copper conducts heat well and fast, but there for sure is an amount where it becomes too much and it'll hinder heat transfer.

 

Your design may well do the same but with copper mass as buffer over the heatpipes..in the end it'll work fine.