What's new
Carbonite

South Africa's Top Online Tech Classifieds!
Register a free account today to become a member! (No Under 18's)
Home of C.U.D.

Budget HEDT

Valheru

Coin Pouch Tester
VIP Supporter
Carbonite Donator
Rating - 100%
152   0   0
Joined
Jun 12, 2017
Messages
4,878
Reaction score
5,883
Points
11,355
The time has come to post some pics and some more info on my 1st proper project build. This is the first time
that I was required to perform some customization to complete.

So I came here looking for a SSD to fit into my media PC (2600K) and got caught up in a fantastic CUD idea that I always wanted to do. Build a workstation from server parts.

So I got the initial parts bin from ScorpioMan86 and promptly broke my motherboard a week later. Apparently eagerness and alcohol does that. Chalk that one up to experience. After a lot of searching, I found a suitable replacement board on EBay which arrived quite a few stressful weeks later.
 
Cooler fitting: I had to rip apart the brackets for the coolers, at least this time I had spare screws/bolts.

View attachment 77442

Enter problem no. 2 - the PWM fans were running at 100% speed due to the board not detecting appropriate fans/chassis. I eventually replaced both fans with CM Pro ones I got from DXXL.
 
The machine was finally up and running, and must admit that the cooling was working a charm. The resolution was terrible since it was running the onboard / integrated display. I was happy, look at those threads!

View attachment 77443
 
Problem no. 4 - I ended up trashing my software RAID used for my data. Had to rebuild and lost quite a bit of it. Chalk that up to experience too.

Problem no. 5 - how (and what) to fit as GPU. Decided on a GT710 due to its very small size and adjustable bracket.

I got a GPU riser from Kav33r and used to mesh on the back of the case to fit the GPU vertically.

View attachment 77444
View attachment 77445
 
Problem no. 6 - the board did not come with a I/O backplate and I did not want a gaping hole at the back of the machine. I got a friend to 3D print me a new backplate.

View attachment 77446
 
Here is the current state of the build:

View attachment 77447

Case: Coolermaster HAF922
PSU: Coolermaster GX750 Bronze
Board: Intel S5500BC(a)
CPU: 2x IIntel Xeon 5540 @ 2.83GHz
Cooling: 2x Coolermaster Hyper212X with 2x MasterPro Fans (set to silent)
2x Coolermaster Megaflow (1x in, 1x out) case fans
RAM: 32GB 10600 (Registered)
GPU: Gigabyte Geforce GT710 1GB
System Drive: 1TB Seagate
Data Drive(s): 2x 2TB Seagate Ironwolf (not raid)
Optical Drive: Generic DVD+R drive
 
Last edited:
What I learned so far:
  1. It will cost more than estimate
  2. Things will break
  3. Other things wont fit (or work)
  4. Get the rights tools
  5. Do research, think, do more research. Then more research.

Current cost: ~R3000
Build time: ~4 months (incl. ebay wait)
ToDo: Change system drive for SSD
Experience:
This things runs like there is no tomorrow, but severely hampered by the system drive. Takes long to boot and load programs, but overall very happy with the build so far. Yes it is far slower than most people's machines and yes most modern machines will run rings around it, but that is not the point of the build. I wanted a budget HEDT and learned a lot from this build. I will definitely do this again.
 
Last edited:
Well done man!!! I think I would've doused it in alcohol & set it alight a while back :p

Through my own experiance, I now can get into a bit of a state (of overthinking that is) when doing projects, small or big... Currently deciding how to design a stackable DIY frame for a mobo+PSU+HDD so I can stack a few on top of each other so save space on my workbench when testing / stress testing parts.

WHat ever you think something will cost / how long it will take to do, add ATLEAST 50%, esp when doing something for the 1st time.

That mahcines much have more PCIe lanes then certain presidents have stolen money, with that said, I'd look @ a PCIE adaptor (Asus Hyper x4 to be exact) with a Samsung 960 Evo. Research wise you'll need to find out if you can inject a NVME module into existing BIOS. Its not rocket science by any means, just a specific thing where you need to pay attention & colour with in the lines:)

What I learned so far:
  1. It will cost more than estimate
  2. Things will break
  3. Other things wont fit (or work)
  4. Get the rights tools
  5. Do research, think, do more research. Then more research.

Current cost: ~R3000
Build time: ~4 months (incl. ebay wait)
ToDo: Change system drive for SSD
Experience:
This things runs like there is no tomorrow, but severely hampered by the system drive. Takes long to boot and load programs, but overall very happy with the build so far. Yes it is far slower than most people's machines and yes most modern machines will run rings around it, but that is not the point of the build. I wanted a budget HEDT and learned a lot from this build. I will definitely do this again.
 
Well done man!!! I think I would've doused it in alcohol & set it alight a while back :p

Thanks :)

WHat ever you think something will cost / how long it will take to do, add ATLEAST 50%, esp when doing something for the 1st time.

Yes, I know that now, lol

I'd look @ a PCIE adaptor (Asus Hyper x4 to be exact) with a Samsung 960 Evo. Research wise you'll need to find out if you can inject a NVME module into existing BIOS. Its not rocket science by any means, just a specific thing where you need to pay attention & colour with in the lines:)

Due to previous answer, I think after changing out the system drive for a SSD I am done with this one for now. I will start thinking of what build to do next as I do not want to spend more money on this build. It is seriously good value per core, but the benchmarks are not going to set any records:

View attachment 77737
 
So I have changed some of the drives around, made a huge difference to the system performance

Current cost: ~R3900
System Drive: 180GB Intel Series 520 SSD
Data Drive: 2x WD Black RE4 (Raid-0)
Backup Drive: 2TB Seagate Ironwolf

Temps & Noise:
Noise levels are fantastic considering that I have zero control over the fan speeds (board out of chassis runs all fans at 100%). The temps are also fantastic since this thing is running on air:

View attachment 79098
 
So I made the mistake of browsing the forum and suddenly a wild CUD appeared:

View attachment 80138
View attachment 80139

Current state:

Case: Coolermaster HAF922
PSU: Coolermaster GX750 Bronze
Board: Intel S5500BC(a)
CPU: 2x Intel Xeon X5680 @ 3.6GHz
Cooling: 2x Coolermaster Hyper212X with 2x MasterPro Fans (set to silent)
2x Coolermaster Megaflow (1x in, 1x out) case fans
RAM: 32GB 10600R @ 1,333MHz
GPU: Gigabyte Geforce GT710 1GB
System Drive: 180GB Intel Series 520 SSD
Data Drive: 2x WD Black RE4 (Raid-0)
Backup Drive: 2TB Seagate Ironwolf
Optical Drive: Generic DVD+R drive
 
Total cost thus far? That is some insane performance. Kudos!

R4900 - but hoping to offset R400 from the old CPU's which will make nett cost 4500.

I was not expecting the CB15 score to double, let alone outscore the 8700K @ stock.
 
That is some really good price/performance numbers you have there.

What's next?

Not sure, I look like an amateur next to some of the other chaps in this section. Maybe some practice / skills acquisition first and see what the market does when cannon lake drops.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom