Building an Affordable "Skulltrail" System

[Rob Williams]

Apples require proprietary hardware for the mostpart, though it's not as bad as it used to be. Nowadays, you can pick up a Mac and install your own memory and a new CPU... and even have a wider GPU selection. But, Apple still doesn't offer up the motherboards to system builders, and likely never will. Apple overprices everything as is, and all of their systems sell well. There is no reason for them to open up their hardware like that.

It would be nice, but I can't see it happening soon. Even if it did happen, the markup would likely outweigh the benefit.

 

[Unregistered]

it would be interesting to buy 2xXeon E5410 and a Skulltrail mobo for example,instead of buying a QX9650 and an X38 motherboard.
2 very important problems arise in this situation:
1)the Skulltrail needs ECC regged ram
2)a lot of apps are not designed for running with 4 cores,8 cores would be overkill.Instead of folding and video coding,for gaming the 8 core rig is no good at all,you cannot take advantage of it.

First I have to say that you caught my interest wth this article,

However I would like to see an answer to the questions above since I'm like many other not fully aware of the true benefits you can get from a machine like this.
So where would you benefit from having the 8 cores ?

 

[Rob Williams]

First I have to say that you caught my interest wth this article,

However I would like to see an answer to the questions above since I'm like many other not fully aware of the true benefits you can get from a machine like this.
So where would you benefit from having the 8 cores ?

Hi there. You would benefit from this page:

http://techgage.com/article/intel_skulltrail_enthusiast_platform_preview/2

In a sense, if you have to ask, you don't really need the power. It's designed to be an ultimate machine that can handle anything, and also be the ultimate multi-tasker.

 

[ronaldshoemaker]

HEAT SINK PROBLEM ON THE D5400SX

-----

 

[ronaldshoemaker]

D5400XS HEAT SINK PROBLEM

I AM BUILDING A SUPER GAMER USING THE D5400XS MD WITH 2-E5420'S. I HAVE A PROBLEM, WITH THE HEAT SINK INSTALLATION ON THIS BOARD. INTEL "LGA771" HEAT SINK'S WILL NOT INSTALL ON THE "D5400SX". THE MB HOLE PATTERN DOES NOT LINE UP WITH THE HS PATTERN.

WAS THERE A KIT THAT CAME WITH YOUR MD, TO MOUNT THESE HEAT SINKS? CAN YOU TELL ME HOW YOU WOULD GO ABOUT, INSTALLING THESE LGA771'S HEAT SINKS?

I KNOW YOUR ARE USING A DIFFERENT COOLING ARRANGEMENT, IN YOUR BUILD! INTEL KEEPS JURKING ME AROUND ON THIS ISSUE.

MY DISTRIBUTER IS UNWILLING TO LOOK INSIDE HIS STOCK TO SEE IF THERE IS A KIT. ALL THE KIT'S ARE SEALED.

I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MUCH TROUBLE THIS HAS CAUSED ME!! I CAN'T START PUTTING MY COMPUTER TOGETHER, UNTIL THIS PROBLEM IS SOLVED![/QUOTE]

 

[Syran]

I AM BUILDING A SUPER GAMER USING THE D5400XS MD WITH 2-E5420'S. I HAVE A PROBLEM, WITH THE HEAT SINK INSTALLATION ON THIS BOARD. INTEL "LGA771" HEAT SINK'S WILL NOT INSTALL ON THE "D5400SX". THE MB HOLE PATTERN DOES NOT LINE UP WITH THE HS PATTERN.

WAS THERE A KIT THAT CAME WITH YOUR MD, TO MOUNT THESE HEAT SINKS? CAN YOU TELL ME HOW YOU WOULD GO ABOUT, INSTALLING THESE LGA771'S HEAT SINKS?

I KNOW YOUR ARE USING A DIFFERENT COOLING ARRANGEMENT, IN YOUR BUILD! INTEL KEEPS JURKING ME AROUND ON THIS ISSUE.

MY DISTRIBUTER IS UNWILLING TO LOOK INSIDE HIS STOCK TO SEE IF THERE IS A KIT. ALL THE KIT'S ARE SEALED.

I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW MUCH TROUBLE THIS HAS CAUSED ME!! I CAN'T START PUTTING MY COMPUTER TOGETHER, UNTIL THIS PROBLEM IS SOLVED!

On page 3 he covers it, he's using aftermarket coolers, Zalman 9700s to be exact. They run from as low as $50 upwards to the $80 range.

 

[Greg King]

On page 3 he covers it, he's using aftermarket coolers, Zalman 9700s to be exact. They run from as low as $50 upwards to the $80 range.

Good find. Welcome to the forums Syran.

You too Ronald

 

[Rob Williams]

WAS THERE A KIT THAT CAME WITH YOUR MD, TO MOUNT THESE HEAT SINKS? CAN YOU TELL ME HOW YOU WOULD GO ABOUT, INSTALLING THESE LGA771'S HEAT SINKS?

I did not receive stock coolers with these CPUs, and to be honest, I have no idea what the stock coolers even look like. That said, I recommend after-market coolers, such as the Zalman 9700's that I used in the review.

I do admit that the D5400XS board has a few issues, and that I was unable to use all four screw-holes in order to mount the cooler. Instead, I had to use two corners (since for some reason, the board has things in the way. This shouldn't be a problem for ALL coolers, though). Using the two corners, though, the cooler was very stable and worked just as well.

 

[Syran]

I noticed that Anandtech also used them:

Interesting to me that one faces up, and the other faces towards the inside; I guess that's a benefit of building on a bench vs. in a case.

 

[ronaldshoemaker]

intel fans used on my super gamer

THANK'S FOR GETTING BACK TO ME!

I AM NOT GOING TO USE THE STOCK HS THAT CAME WITH MY PROCESSORS.

I HAVE (2) "INTEL", 39267-002 MCH FAN'S, THAT I WANT TO INSTALL ON THE "D5400SX" MB. THE FAN'S HAVE THE SAME BASE PATTERN AS THE STOCK HS. THE PATTERN DOESN'T EVEN COME CLOSE TO THE BOARD LAYOUT!

I DID NOT USE THE "ZALMAN'S" BECAUSE OF THEIR WEIGHT.

I AM USING THE "SILVERSTONE" TJ10 TOWER WITH THEIR DA1200 POWER SUPPLY (1200W).

THERE HAS TO BE AN ADAPTER KIT, THAT MOUNTS ON TOP OF THE MB, TO CAPTURE THIS HS PATTERN AND PROVIDING INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL STANDOFF'S ON THE MD MOUNTING PLATE TO CARRY THE ABOVE HS LOAD.

 

[Rob Williams]

I don't know what to tell you... you are using heatsinks that didn't come with the processors, so there was never any guarantee that they would fit.

If they don't fit, they don't fit. Pick up the 9700 LED in all their weighted glory, or contact Intel support and see if there is an adapter available (I doubt there is).

 

[ronaldshoemaker]

the passive heat sinks did come in the same package as the e5420's.

intel is not responding.

anyone using this mb and processor will have the same problem.

i am going to give up on this problem. i can't find any answer.

 

[Unregistered]

non-FBDIMM support

Anyone know if the Supermicro X7DCA mobos can be overclocked using the e5420's? The mobo manual states that you can set the internal freq multiplier if the CPU supports it. Are the e5420s overclockable off the bat?

 

[Oz]

RTFM

Hi Ronald,

Probably this is a typical case of RTFM. On page 37 of the mainboard's manual is says "The mounting holes are designed to accommodate standard LGA775 heat sinks even though this board has LGA771 processor sockets". I found this before purchasing the mainboard and coolers by reading the manual.

But, I have got another question for the readers of this forum. I trying to find low-noise coolers the equip my system with AND that will fit in the case. The system will be:
- Intel D5400SX mainboard.
- 2 x Xeon 5420.
- 2 x ASUS 8800GT 512MB graphics (SLI).
- 8GB FB dimm (4 x 2GB).
- 4 x Samsung 750GB 7200rpm 32MB SATA disks.
- 2 x SATA DVD-RW drive.
- Coolermast Cosmos S with M1000 powersupply and cooled HDD_bracket on bottom 3 5,25" positions.

Best regards,

Oz

I asume everybody knows RTFM.... (;-))

THANK'S FOR GETTING BACK TO ME!

I AM NOT GOING TO USE THE STOCK HS THAT CAME WITH MY PROCESSORS.

I HAVE (2) "INTEL", 39267-002 MCH FAN'S, THAT I WANT TO INSTALL ON THE "D5400SX" MB. THE FAN'S HAVE THE SAME BASE PATTERN AS THE STOCK HS. THE PATTERN DOESN'T EVEN COME CLOSE TO THE BOARD LAYOUT!

I DID NOT USE THE "ZALMAN'S" BECAUSE OF THEIR WEIGHT.

I AM USING THE "SILVERSTONE" TJ10 TOWER WITH THEIR DA1200 POWER SUPPLY (1200W).

THERE HAS TO BE AN ADAPTER KIT, THAT MOUNTS ON TOP OF THE MB, TO CAPTURE THIS HS PATTERN AND PROVIDING INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL STANDOFF'S ON THE MD MOUNTING PLATE TO CARRY THE ABOVE HS LOAD.

 

[Rob Williams]

Hmm, I wish I had a perfect idea for you, but I don't think I do. I assume no overclocking is going to be done, so even two large Thermalright passive coolers with low-noise 120mm fans might do the trick. I still think you'd want good airflow though, because these Quad-Cores will heat up after a while... and it's even more true when pairing two together.

You could always use the same coolers I'm using, the Zalman 9700LED. It keeps them at reasonable temperatures (I am not overclocking), though they are not exactly that quiet. I have a hard time telling just how loud they are, because the dual 8800GTS 512 cards in the rig here are -loud-, so it certainly overpowers the CPU coolers.

The Zalman 9700 includes a fan controller that can be mounted to the back of the chassis though, so you can always adjust the speeds that way. If you are doing heavy work, you could crank it up, and for a quiet evening, you could turn them down. I don't think those chips at stock speeds would have a serious problem with low-noise heatsinks.

 

[TGGProductions]

Building similar system

Hi there I read your article and I found it very informative since I have been looking at this system for quite some time now.

My system is being built as we speak, used for audio production in multi-core software environment:

2x Intel Xeon e5410 /w Zalman 9500LED Cooler
D5400XS (obviously)
2x Crucial DDR2 667 4gb ECC FBDIMM
2x 8800 GT Superclocked edition
2x WD Raptor 74gb 10k RAID-1
2x Seagate 500GB RAID-1
Ultra M998 eATX Case

Looking to overclock the Xeon's to a stable level. Since the fans I had selected are a few bucks less decided to go with them, since performance is basically the same.

I am just wondering what steps you needed to take to get these two cpu's stable at 2.8ghz? This is what I will want to do.

Thank you for your time, and the information needed to make the jump to this system!

Tim

 

[Hawke]

I've just ordered my Intel D5400SX motherboard and a Xeon 5430 (active) 2.66GHz CPU, I was also lucky to find a GeForce 9600 1Gb around £150-160, and two Western Digital 500Gb disks, and I only spent £1075, although I only orderd one Xeon, I will order the other one when I get my pay though, but there is one question I have to ask

Can the Intel D5400SX do USB boot because I will be using Windows XP Pro and RAIDing the two 500Gb HDD's requier floppie disks to instal during Windows XP installation, I have a USB external floppy disk drive

----------------------

I have this article to thank for educating me about the D5400SX Skulltrail having LGA-771 sockets and the idea of using Intel Xeons

 

[Markus]

Other motherboard alternatives

Rob --

Thanks for the very informative article. I've been looking to build a system like this but I'm struggling with the steep price of the Skulltrail board itself (not to mention several less-than-stellar performance reviews). The many available server boards, on the other hand, don't offer the bells and whistles I want.

So, my questions: any updates on the ASUS Z7S WS board? That one sounds like a good candidate and is now available for a better price than Intel's board. Also, do you know of any other dual-processor boards coming out that are aimed at the enthusiast market?

Thanks!

 

[Greg King]

Going with that Asus board will negate any plans you might have of going SLI. Only Intel licensed the NVIDIA chipsets to allow multi NVIDIA GPU setups.

Skulltrail is far more than a dual CPU solution, it's an entire platform. I don't know, nor have any inside information, but I can't see any new platforms coming out that will be comparable to Skulltrail.

Dual CPU boards in general have been geared towards the server market but Intel's own V8 machine proves that a killer gaming rig can be made out of off the shelf hardware but sadly, you wont be able to run SLI on any of it outside of Skulltrail.

 

[Markus]

Going with that Asus board will negate any plans you might have of going SLI.

Yup. That's the most obvious drawback to that particular board for sure. I wish there were more choices from other vendors, or newer boards (based on the same platform) from Intel that addressed some of the common complaints about the D5400XS (such as max memory limit).