Article: CAPS Twenty | Part Two

[EdmontonCanuck]

15 minutes ago, sgr said:

Chris, 

The build looks amazing. Certainly should run everything you throw at it without doubt. 
 

But . . .  It seems to resist all the accumulated wisdom concerning server  and audio PC builds on your wonderful site. 
 

In my experience and many others running ROON or RoonServer on the same pc as HQPlayer is a solid no. Better to split them up in two PCs. 
 

I’ve not seen anyone recommending liquid cooled builds cool as it is and looks. 
 

Power supplies are critical to hood sound. Why not try a couple of large custom built linear power supplies or a couple of the 400 watt Hdplex and their converters. 
 

Again an amazing build that you should be proud of 

 

but how well does it play music? 

 

Why would you care to split up Roon and HQPlayer in a server machine that's sending a digital output stream to a renderer? As long as the machine is powerful enough to handle the load, splitting them across different servers would be complete overkill.

 

The same goes for a fancy linear power supply....why? The point of the server is to produce a digital stream that can be sent to the renderer. Put a good power supply on the renderer where the DAC is attached if you're worried about electrical noise.

 

As for liquid cooling, that would be to keep the server as silent as possible, something to consider if the server is in the same room as your audio gear. I wouldn't bother with it at all if the server were in a closet in a separate room where you couldn't hear it in operation.

 

The server doesn't *play* music per se....it just produces the stream to send to the renderer.

[EdmontonCanuck]

1 hour ago, 4est said:

Are you sure? I don't really know first hand, but I do not quite understand how liquid cooling can be much quieter than air cooling when the liquid is still cooled by fans, plus a water pump. I am sure I am missing something, and would love to be educated. I simply used a big Noctura air cooler in mine. I was under the impression that water cooling was simply better at cooling for over clocking and such.

 

It's true that you can achieve a fairly quiet air cooled setup with proper selection of fans, etc, but generally speaking, liquid cooling is generally regarded as quieter. Under high loads, you typically need to be moving a lot of air with lots of fans, and water is much more efficient at transferring heat than air. YMMV.