PROMETHEUS

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Pri
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Sat Aug 02, 2014 4:59 pm

RAM arrived today. 64GB total, two 32GB Kits. That's 8 x 8GB Sticks. I took two pictures:

Image

Image
IceDevice
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CPU: AMD FX 8120
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:35 pm

Is it just as fun to have the parts arrive and opening them as it is to build?
It would be for me :P
The only difference between dicking around and science...
is writing it down.
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Pri
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Sun Aug 03, 2014 5:14 am

It is fun! :)
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Pri
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Mon Aug 04, 2014 4:57 pm

I've decided to make a slight change to the upgrade. I'm now going to load Windows Server 2012 R2 on a 120GB SSD (Corsair Neutron GTX) and that will be the OS and App drive. Then I'll use our current 1TB Western Digital Black for a database drive, MySQL and so on.

So the server is getting a significant disk upgrade. This should greatly improve performance. I'm sure you've noticed sometimes the server can get extremely laggy for no reason, when that occurs it's usually due to the boot disk being bogged down by a backup being performed. When the backup is occurring other things accessing the disk have to wait and that creates a queue which makes the server feel slow.

SSD's are different to Hard Disks in that instead of handling only a few hundred in/out operations simultaneously they can handle 90,000+ the SSD we'll be using has a very high IOP rate of around 90K.

It's actually a brand new SSD that I received back from Corsair as a replacement for our previous Corsair Neutron GTX which failed. I've only used it a few times to run Mac OS X Mavericks on my desktop but I've decided it'll be better to use it on the server.

As for Windows Server 2012 R2, it offers better performance and I'm looking forward to using it. I already ran it in a Virtual Machine today (On the SSD actually) and it runs amazingly well with all our software. I literally ran everything we use on it including a bunch of Minecraft servers and it just works beautifully and is incredibly fast.
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ottermanuk
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CPU: i5 3570k
RAM: Corsair Vengeance
Motherboard: ASrock Z77 Extreme4
GPU: Twin Frozr R9 280X
Display: Some crappy 1080p
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Tue Aug 05, 2014 4:00 pm

Lookin' good, Pri!

We probably won't notice the change in performance, but we all appreciate it anyway.

Keep up the good work
Image
Image[url=steam://friends/add/76561198024261005]Image[/url]
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Pri
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:19 pm

It probably will be noticed when the OS is backing up and theres no lag on the server :)

Also I think when we add more servers (we are thinking about a snapshot server) it'll be felt.
NorwegianCraft
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CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-3570K
RAM: Kingston DDR3 HyperX blu 16GB
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Tue Aug 05, 2014 5:50 pm

Snapshot servers, the future is now .
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Pri
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Fri Aug 08, 2014 11:49 am

I've decided to modify the build slightly. Instead of going with the E5-2630v2 (2.6GHz-3.1GHz / 6 Cores / 12 Threads) we are gonna go with the E5-1650v2 (3.5GHz-3.9GHz / 6 Cores / 12 Threads)

This newer CPU is still based on Ivy Bridge-EP like the 2630v2 but it has a much higher clock speed. Minecraft will benefit greater from the 3.5-3.9GHz speed (3.9 with Turbo boost). So we still keep 6 cores, still 12 threads, still a newer architecture than our current 3930K and in-fact this XEON will be faster than our 3930K as that chip is a 3.2GHz-3.8GHz processor and it's based on the older Sandy Bridge-E architecture.

The only drawback to going with the E5-1650v2 (apart from the price lol) is I can only use one of them. When the CPU model number starts with E5-1 instead of E5-2 it means only one of them can be used in a computer. It doesn't support being used with two of them. I however don't really see this as a problem because I'm really not intending to stick a second CPU in the server the power consumption would be quite high and one of my aims with the build is to reduce power consumption. If at a later date (3+ years from now) I want to stick a 2nd CPU in I could just get two E5-2xxx CPU's off ebay for cheap as chips.
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Tue Aug 12, 2014 6:55 am

Ordered our CPU today. I managed to get what is probably the deal of the century. The E5-1650v2 retails for £543.91 at the moment. That's the lowest price I can find it that actually has stock which is Amazon.

I've managed to source an E5-1650, that's basically a v1 using the Sandy Bridge-EP architecture for £240. The CPU's score almost identically in multithread and single thread and it's easy to see why, they both are 6 core, 12 thread, 12MB Cache CPU's the only difference is the v2 is a 22nm chip and the v1 is a 32nm chip and the v2 has a 100MHz speed boost. Which is nothing, V1 is 3.8GHz the V2 is 3.9GHz.

In-fact, the 3930K we are using right now? It's essentially an identical processor to the E5-1650. In-fact they are completely identical except Intel loads software on the 3930K which disables its ECC support and changes its name.

So what this all means is, I've saved £300 and the performance of the CPU remains how it is now, and we get ECC support. And by saving money on the CPU at this juncture it makes it easier for me to replace this processor later on when I decide to pop two processors in our motherboard (in a few years time) as I wouldn't have spent so much up front on the CPU we have now.

I hit a goldmine in finding a retailer with an E5-1650 as Intel don't even make them anymore and even when they did make them they only shipped them to OEM's (HP, Dell etc). It's astounding I was able to find one that's brand new and for such a low price.
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Pri
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Re: PROMETHEUS

Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:31 pm

New buy today. I thought long and hard about using the HX1000 PSU we currently have in the new server but I've had this power supply running 24.7 for 4 years and 4 months. I feel like this is really pushing this power supply, 24.7 usage really puts a toll on a PSU, especially the fan which if it were to fail would be very bad indeed.

So I've decided to upgrade to an AX1200i. Actually a better more up to date power supply than I have in my desktop rig. I'm using an AX1200 there which is a Gold rated power supply, the AX1200i is platinum which just means it's a lot more efficient.

Looking at our power draw from our UPS we are hovering around 340 Watt load when idle. Which isn't a lot of wattage. The AX1200i is way more than we need, it is a 1200 Watt power supply. But it has some neat features, firstly the fan doesn't even start to spin until it reaches a load of around 400 Watts. So for pretty much the entire use the fan will be turned off which extends its life and keeps the noise lower. It also has Corsair link so I can setup my own fan curves and monitor the power distribution to make sure it's working properly and finally it has a power on self testing system which means the power supply has a little button to test that it's working properly. Quite a nice feature.

The only reason I'm doing this upgrade is I know the HX1000 will fail eventually and its nearing the end of its 5 year warranty period. I don't want to have to take the server apart in a few months time to replace it. So the AX1200i with its fresh 7 year warranty will remove the need for me to do that.

It also has one added benefit, the new server now doesn't need me to dismantle the old server straight away. I can set it up, get everything configured before I power the old server off. This means less down time and I can make sure everything works before I dismantle our old server for some of its parts. :)

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