[lowfat]

Now this worklog isn't entirely new. I've started and stopped this build twice before. Mostly due to me not having a need for a 16-core water cooled home theater PC

. I do however need a server w/ more PCIe slots than my current one. So instead of using the space for water cooling, I will be focusing on space for storage.

If you aren't familar w/ my last couple builds you can find pics here:
Big Lian Li

Forever Alone Server Edition

Pull it out of the closet and it mostly looks like this.



Reinstalled the air coolers so I could test to make sure the motherboard still works, which it does. The drive cages will need to be installed sideways as that is the only way they will fit.







Using a pair of Lian Li drive cages from my Black Pearl since they are rather nice. Had to trim off the stands.





I cut a big hole in the side panel to allow access to the drive cages as well as to let air through.





With the pieces reinstalled on the case . Next up will be cutting some aluminum to make a cover for this area.


This was done on the last work log. But I thought I should include pictures. I had cut a new clean floor cover as well as a clean drive cage cover.



.

 

[lowfat]

Today I nibbled 4 pieces of thin aluminum to clean up the visible drive cage area. 2 long pieces to cover the sides and then two other pieces to cover the top and the bottom. I used JBWeld to hold them in place. Will be sanding them before I paint it since some JBWeld did leak out.

 

[willemdoom]

Yesss, another lowfat build, and 2p, subbed!!

 

[lowfat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by willemdoom

Yesss, another lowfat build, and 2p, subbed!!

Haven't done much work since I've been watching Daredevil S2. However I did get the drive cages mounted in place. The rivets I bought are absolute junk. So I will be removing them and replacing them w/ better ones at some point. All the rivet heads will also be sanded and filled over for a cleaner look.

The SATA breakout cables came in the mail today.

@Spenning & dirty elf, I know you guys were curious about what happened w/ Mael. Well this is it.

 

[stl drifter]

@lowfat What processor's are those? Also what mother boards are you using?

 

[lowfat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stl drifter

@lowfat What processor's are those? Also what mother boards are you using?

Currently have engineering sample E5-2660s. But they have a few issues. Like no PCIe 3.0 and I can't ever update my bios. So a week or so ago I ordered a pair of E5-2670s from eBay. Price was too good.

The board is an Asus Z9PE-D8 WS.

 

[Cyb3r]

looking good lowfat!

how much did ya pay for the E5-2670's?

 

[lowfat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyb3r

looking good lowfat!

how much did ya pay for the E5-2670's?

$173USD shipped for the pair. They are crazy cheap on eBay right now.

 

[Cyb3r]

damn that's cheap sadly i can't spare any money atm so building a new fileserver will have to wait (my old one stayed in belgium before i moved to the usa

)

 

[Elyminator]

subbed for sure!

 

[stl drifter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowfat

Currently have engineering sample E5-2660s. But they have a few issues. Like no PCIe 3.0 and I can't ever update my bios. So a week or so ago I ordered a pair of E5-2670s from eBay. Price was too good.

The board is an Asus Z9PE-D8 WS.

Cool i got the same processors matched with a Asrock Rack EP2c602 board.

 

[lowfat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stl drifter

Cool i got the same processors matched with a Asrock Rack EP2c602 board.

That looks like a decent board. If I didn't already have a board I would likely grab it. I don't even mind the green.

My CPUs showed up the other day. Also I bought myself my first new photography toy in a few years. A real macro lens. A Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM.

The new CPUs

Macro of the IHS.

Macro of the bottom.

Order for MDPC-X sleeve from @Case Labs came in a week or so ago. Pretty impressed as it was my first order from them. Shipped within a few hours of ordering. I'm going to a multicoloured build so I plan on using all these colours. The dark wine/red at the end is the colour I dyed myself. Ended up being a tad dark but good enough.

Just a random pic of MDPC-X Grand Bleu.

A couple of pics of MDPC-X B Magic + Ranger Green. Love this combo.

The 256GB Samsung 950 Pro that will be used as the guest VM drive also showed up.

A macro for good measure.

And a few more random hardware macros.

Still on the hunt for rivets that aren't made in China. I've spent close to $50 on various rivets over the last few weeks and all were made in China and just trash. I miss my MDPC-X ones. Really hoping that Case Labs will stock MDPC-X hardware in the near future.

 

[maddangerous]

Subbed, nice build, nice pictures! Makes me feel bad about my sorry "photography skills" (just learning now..)

 

[lowfat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by maddangerous

Subbed, nice build, nice pictures! Makes me feel bad about my sorry "photography skills" (just learning now..)

Learn to use light properly and it will make the world of difference. Definitely the most important part of photography.

The last few days I have been working on the backside of the hard drive cage area. Was very tedious work with ridiculous amounts of filing. JB Welded on some thin pieces of aluminum to cover up all the nasty holes in the original drive cages. Like what I did on the front.







Popped open the boot drive for the system (Intel X25-E) to take a few macros.







Over the next few days I am going to have to learn how to do some 3d designing and there are a few things I need 3d printed to proceed.

 

[alltheGHz]

looks sweet, I'm looking to do something similar. gnarly job so far!

 

[catbuster]

Subbed

 

[Spenning]

Curious with where you're going with this. Will there be acrylic?

 

[lowfat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spenning

Curious with where you're going with this. Will there be acrylic?

Nope. Their won't be any watercooling at all. I watercooled my last server and it really was a waste. The CPUs aren't overclocked so they don't really get hot. And doing maintenance is a hassle. Any down time on the server and I lose my internet/network.

This time around I just want to build the cleanest air cooled server possible. There are some things I wanted to improve on after my Lian Li, so I'll be incorporating these ideas.

 

[dirty elf]

was wondering about this one... glad i found it

get an air gun or compressed air, does wonders for macro shots

 

[Duality92]

lowfat+dual 2670's=autosub.