[SUCCESS] Supermicro X8DAL-I & Dual Xeons X5675

[audioguyjosh]

audioguyjosh’s Build: 2x Xeon X5675 - X8DAL-i - 24GB RAM - GT 610 - 10.9.5



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Components

Supermicro X8DAL-I Sever Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DCJZRA/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182192

2x Intel Xeon 6-core X5675 Processors
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007O7T0EE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117254

Samsung Registered DDR3 1333 ECC Memory M393B1K70CH0-CH9 (3x8 GB)
EBay Link

Cooler Master Hyper T4 - CPU Cooler
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BSKY1M4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103182

Syba USB 3.0 External 2-port, 19 pin Header Etron EJ188 Chipset PCI-e Card SY-PEX20140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124122
http://www.amazon.com/Internal-PCI-Express-Profile-Bracket-SY-PEX20140/dp/B009LIPFEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1428938703&sr=1-1&keywords=SY-PEX20140

Cooler Master Storm Stryker - White Full Tower Case with Handle
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119260&cm_re=storm_stryker-_-11-119-260-_-Product
http://www.amazon.com/CM-Storm-Stryker-Computer-SGC-5000W-KWN1/dp/B008O2HOI2


Already Owned

PNY GeForce GT 610 2 BB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 DVI/HDMI Graphics Card
http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GEFORCE-610-Video-Card/dp/B00KNBCFFO

Plextor PX-L890SA LightScribe 24x Super-Multi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QFFJHYE/

SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE500BW 2.5" 500GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W19MO/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147249

Thermaltake TR2 RX-850 850W Power Supply W0319RU
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001QXDQB0/
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153106

Avid Pro Tools|HD Native + HD I/O 16x16 Analog
Sweetwater Link


Comments

I run a professional recording studio in the Southeast. We needed a new rig to run Pro Tools HD and the goal was raw horsepower without overclocking so we could be as stable as possible. I Did not bother with the on-board audio. Keep in mind Safari does not play nice with the Avid Core Audio/HD driver. This is a known issue on real macs as well. This install is for Mavericks. I have tried Yosemite and it installs with no problems, but getting system audio through the Avid Core Audio driver in Yosemite is hit or miss. Seems like some apps work and most do not. By the way, buy the ram listed or one on the motherboard's approved list. I've seen too many posts about incompatible ram.


Installation Notes

BIOS Settings

As always turn SATA to AHCI mode and turn off VT-d. Performance under load was better in Pro Tools if I turned off the C states.

Boot Flags
<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>"1920x1080x32"</string>
<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x2000 darkwake=0</string>

The default partition flag is not necessary but convenient for me.



DSDT
Not using one

Multibeast Settings


Benchmarks


Other Install Notes

Install worked without problems with both CPUs installed. Speedstep works. Do not need to null the apple power management kext because these CPUs were used in Mac Pros. ECC shows enabled and the ECC kext is running. I did notice a strange kernel panic related to the patched ethernet kext. It only happened a few times but was not a consistent thing. I got around it by placing the appleintele1000e.kext from the Unibeast drive in the boot drive' Extra folder and adding the -f kernel flag. By doing this I haven't messed with the one in S/L/E. You might notice the USB 3.0 card under new parts yet it is discontinued. We found it locally (new) in a mom and pop store. When I made the Multicast screenshot we did not have that card but the GenericUSBXHCI.kext will work. The pictures below show an EVGA GTX 560. We have replaced that with a PNY GT 610 because of the Nvidia 500 cards will cause freezes in Mavericks. The 610 may not be a powerful card but is working great so far. Pro Tools seems to only use 50% of the GPU at most under load. No plans for a more powerful GPU at this time.




Notes Specific To Pro Tools:

Even though it works, I turned off Speedstep and manually set the multiplier to max (23) because it performed better. The frequency was dropping even under load from Pro Tools. When running Windows Avid reccomends turning speedstep off and turns out it was better for this too. To do this I turned off all C State reporting in the BIOS and removed the Generate C & P States boot flags.

Mavericks vs Yosemite for Pro Tools

Pro Tools runs equally well on both. My only real issue with Yosemite is that the Avid Core Audio driver will not play system audio. Pulling up Pro Tools every time to play audio is a pain so I'll stick to Mavericks. The Syba USB 3.0 card is great for getting our backups finished up quicker but the mounting is hit or miss in Yosemite. However, drives mount just fine in Mavericks. Below you can see the temperatures during an offline bounce. This session has 48 audio tracks and submixes for each group of instruments. Not every insert is in use but it does contain some very CPU intensive plugins like Slate Digital's VCC and VTM on all audio tracks, FG-X, and Izotope Ozone 5's limiter as well with the IRC III setting.



This computer is so stable it isn't funny. Previously, we were using an Asus P9X79 Pro and Intel 3630k OCed to 4.5 GHz. The speed is similar, but this build does not crash or freeze. If I forgot to mention some info you need please let me know.

 

[audioguyjosh]

Bump because I'm done editing the build post. Replies should not be deleted anymore (I hope).

 

[sbit38]

Hi, Thanks for sharing. I set up the exact same machine last month but didn't get a chance to do any real testing.

My setup has similar GB score, but there are a couple of things that aren't working quite right yet:

1. I have no turbo boost. Both CPUs maxes out at 3.06GHz. Not that I will need it since it is already approaching what I got on P9X79 + 4930K, but much cooler. However, it would be nice to have turbo.

2. Computer doesn't shutdown; instead of shutting down, it restarts.

Have you experiences the same thing? Workarounds? What is your BIOS setup?

Additional note: I have added USB3 and Firewire 800. They are recognized in the system profile, but I haven't tested their stability.

One thing I haven't gotten to work is SATA3. Does anyone have any suggestions on bootable PCI-e SATA3 for this motherboard?

 

[audioguyjosh]

Sorry for not checking in sooner to answer this.

There is no Turbo on this build. The motherboard doesn't have that option. The Power Management can throttle the processor speed down to save power but you will not get the clock over 3.06 GHz. Technically mine shows 3.07 GHz.

In regards to the Shutdown/Reboot problem, please see the posted picture above of the multibeast options. You need to install EveOreboot to make this build shutdown properly.

This rig has been running for a few months now and it is such a pleasure to work on. I have not experienced any trouble, whatsoever.

 

[sbit38]

Thank you, and sorry I haven't been checking in either.

Fixed the shutdown problem (same as you suggested), and it is working great (I am on 10.10.3). My only complaint now is the fan noise. I am using supermicro heatsink/fan, and the noise is noticeably higher. The CPU spacing does limit options, but I will try your setup when I have a chance.

Thanks again for the writeup!

 

[audioguyjosh]

I can't say enough good things about that Cooler Master Hyper T4 coolers we used and it got even better when we switched to the listed Cooler Master Storm Stryker case because the whole system breathes better, even the hard drives temperatures went down. Actually, our WD Sentinel NAS makes more noise than this build.

 

[bonefsh64]

Hey there! AWESOME BUILD. I'm looking to build one exactly like it, also for heavy pro tools use. Quick questions would be, which revision of the X8DAL-I did you use? Do i need to use that exact one? Also does the "SL" serial on the x5675s matter? I'm seeing SLBYL readily available on ebay. Thanks again for the inspiration and and thorough post!

 

[zonar1982]

I have the X8DTI-F with dual X5650 cpus.

But they are capped at 2.66 Ghz according to HWmonitor (x20 on the multiplier). They do drop down to 1.6 Ghz on idle)

Did anyone ever get turbo boost to work with these CPUs?

K.

 

[audioguyjosh]

Hey there! AWESOME BUILD. I'm looking to build one exactly like it, also for heavy pro tools use. Quick questions would be, which revision of the X8DAL-I did you use? Do i need to use that exact one? Also does the "SL" serial on the x5675s matter? I'm seeing SLBYL readily available on ebay. Thanks again for the inspiration and and thorough post!

I'm pretty sure all of those processors are labeled SLBYL. You can see the link below from the Intel website on this processor.

http://ark.intel.com/m/products/525...-3_06-GHz-6_40-GTs-Intel-QPI#@product/pcnmdds

For the motherboard, I'm sorry but I don't remember what revision I used or if there are any revisions at all for this board. If you are referring to the O or B those are just an identifier of the motherboard coming from individual packaging or from originally being part of a bulk pack. Mine was from a bulk pack but was still sealed and had never been used. I think I caught one when it was only $190 so you can get a good deal if your vigilant.

 

[kingkong89]

Hi,

Have you try updating to El Captain using clover? I'm using X8DAH/Xeon 5690x2,but not able to get thu to the boot screen...