# Dell Poweredge t610 into gaming pc



## rusststone1 (Jan 24, 2018)

I have been given possession of a Dell Poweredge t610 server. I would like to turn it into a gaming PC. At the very least, use it for rendering 3D animation.  I looked up the specs and here's the link. https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/server-poweredge-t610-specs-en.pdf

What are my possibilities


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## Mussels (Jan 24, 2018)

those specs dont say if the PSU(s) have any 6/8 pin PCI-E cables, but basically you should be able to slap a GPU in there and away you go.

Servers like that usually have more cores at lower clock speeds, which is not ideal for gaming, but it can be done.


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## rusststone1 (Jan 24, 2018)

Mussels said:


> those specs dont say if the PSU(s) have any 6/8 pin PCI-E cables, but basically you should be able to slap a GPU in there and away you go.
> 
> Servers like that usually have more cores at lower clock speeds, which is not ideal for gaming, but it can be done.



Thank you for your response. I will be picking it up tomorrow and will have that info for you. I noticed that it didn't seem to have wifi support. What would I have to do to have that work? Would I be able to replace the CPU's with CPU's more suited for gaming?


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## ShurikN (Jan 24, 2018)

Do you know the exact model of the CPU?


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## jboydgolfer (Jan 24, 2018)

they are normally good to add in a mid to high end GPU, as many often support some form of business class 3D rendering GPU, cabling on the other hand might not be so easy, as Dell is really cute with theyre specifications not being all too specific 

*Dell R710 T610 870 Watt Power Supply*

*Dell R710 T610 570 Watt Power Supply*


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## rusststone1 (Jan 24, 2018)

ShurikN said:


> Do you know the exact model of the CPU?


No. I will get it tomorrow and post that for you. Anything else should I provide to help?


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 24, 2018)

With the limitation of 8x PCIE slots on that motherboard, your GPU choices are likewise going to be limited. Getting a GTX 660 or 670 or an RX 460 or 470 are going to give you the best bang for your money. Anything better is going to be bottlenecked by the motherboard. As for a CPU, if it's already got an X5660, X5670 or X5675, you're going to be good. If anything slower, an X5680 would be a good upgrade and worth the $70ish you'll spend. As far as ram goes, if you have 9GB or more you'll be good. But if you've only got 6GB, you'll want to get upto 9GB or 12GB. Remember that you have triple channel ram access and you'll want to stay in multiples of 3 to get the most out that system.

But for free, you've got a great system for some gaming! And it's got some headroom for upgrades.

EDIT; a PCIE USB 3.0 card would be a good and inexpensive upgrade. If you're interested, I can give you links to products that I use in my clients systems.


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## Mussels (Jan 24, 2018)

To answer your questions:

1. USB wifi will work fine, if you cant add an internal one for some reason
2. You may be able to get better CPUs for gaming, but even the best gaming CPU for the server platform will likely be average, compared to a mainstream i5 CPU


To make it clear, yes you can turn  a server into a gaming PC... but its not going to be as good as a traditional gaming PC.



lexluthermiester said:


> With the limitation of 8x PCIE slots on that motherboard, your GPU choices are likewise going to be limited. Getting a GTX 660 or 670 or an RX 460 or 470 are going to give you the best bang for your money. Anything better is going to be bottlenecked by the motherboard.



A GTX 1080 has on average a 5% performance loss at 8x 2.0, that wont be an issue


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## ShurikN (Jan 24, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> No. I will get it tomorrow and post that for you. Anything else should I provide to help?


Asking because the CPU might actually be crap for gaming if you get the low frequency ones


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 24, 2018)

Mussels said:


> A GTX 1080 has on average a 5% performance loss at 8x 2.0, that wont be an issue


Just that little? I tested my GTX 770 in an 8x slot and it lost about 12%. I wonder what the difference might be..
EDIT; Read through that. Very interesting. Gonna have to do some more testing..


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## rusststone1 (Jan 25, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> With the limitation of 8x PCIE slots on that motherboard, your GPU choices are likewise going to be limited. Getting a GTX 660 or 670 or an RX 460 or 470 are going to give you the best bang for your money. Anything better is going to be bottlenecked by the motherboard. As for a CPU, if it's already got an X5660, X5670 or X5675, you're going to be good. If anything slower, an X5680 would be a good upgrade and worth the $70ish you'll spend. As far as ram goes, if you have 9GB or more you'll be good. But if you've only got 6GB, you'll want to get upto 9GB or 12GB. Remember that you have triple channel ram access and you'll want to stay in multiples of 3 to get the most out that system.
> 
> But for free, you've got a great system for some gaming! And it's got some headroom for upgrades.
> 
> EDIT; a PCIE USB 3.0 card would be a good and inexpensive upgrade. If you're interested, I can give you links to products that I use in my clients systems.


Yes I would be very  interested. Thank You!


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 25, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> Yes I would be very  interested. Thank You!


PCIE USB 3.0 card
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LZWC7TL
Xeon X5680
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00EMZSXCG
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SLBV5-Inte...ix-Core-AT80614005124AA-Processor/19241360698
GTX 670
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PNY-GTX670-2GB-PCIe-x16-Video-Card-HDMI-GDDR5-VCGGTX670XPB/292422632301

These are of course just suggestions.


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## Mussels (Jan 25, 2018)

all those parts get my tick of approval as well, although if his budget supports it a more powerful GPU would of course be a good idea


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 25, 2018)

Mussels said:


> all those parts get my tick of approval as well, although if his budget supports it a more powerful GPU would of course be a good idea


Good point. A GTX 770 4GB would be a great card for this system. But with prices so out of control right now, getting one for less than $200 is going to be dicey.


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## rusststone1 (Jan 27, 2018)

So here are some pics. It has one power supply of 570w. Don't see a place for gpu.


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## Mussels (Jan 27, 2018)

GPU would need to go into the x4 slot, you may need to modify the plastic at the back of the slot for that to work


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 27, 2018)

@rusststone1 So what CPU did you get with it?


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## rusststone1 (Jan 27, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> @rusststone1 So what CPU did you get with it?


This crappy one. 



On servermonkey I found some good priced refurbished ones. Xeon 3.0 for about $35.


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 27, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> This crappy one. View attachment 96436
> 
> On servermonkey I found some good priced refurbished ones. Xeon 3.0 for about $35.


That is literally the slowest 1366 CPU they made. Ebay is better, if you're in North America.
You can get a much better 6 core for about the same price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SLBV3-Inte...104382&hash=item2f144360d5:g:4hkAAOSwqaJaXlUt
Get two of them and you're good to go.


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## rusststone1 (Jan 27, 2018)

I'm looking at one of these http://www.servermonkey.com/processors/intel/intel-5600-series.html


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 27, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> I'm looking at one of these http://www.servermonkey.com/processors/intel/intel-5600-series.html


Are you happy with a single CPU or were you planning to go dual?
Either way, as long as shipping is reasonable, one or two of those quads are a good deal.
http://www.servermonkey.com/2-93-ghz-quad-core-intel-xeon-x5647-quad-core-12-mb-cache.html
The six core CPU's are the best bet to make the system go the distance for you. And they're a reasonable price, if you can or want to afford them.
http://www.servermonkey.com/2-66-ghz-hex-core-intel-xeon-processor-with-12mb-cache-x5650.html
But really, anything would be better than that dual-core.. 

EDIT; Just looked at those PCIE slots and none of them seem like they have the end open for mounting a normal sized GPU in them. Can you confirm? Might limit your GPU selection.


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## rusststone1 (Jan 27, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Are you happy with a single CPU or were you planning to go dual?
> Either way, as long as shipping is reasonable, one or two of those quads are a good deal.
> http://www.servermonkey.com/2-93-ghz-quad-core-intel-xeon-x5647-quad-core-12-mb-cache.html
> The six core CPU's are the best bet to make the system go the distance for you. And they're a reasonable price, if you can or want to afford them.
> ...


Looking at going with 2 of six core. Kinda a noob at this so what am I looking for specifically when looking at the slots? It does look like its going to be a tight fit for the GPU itself, but from eyeballing the slots with some of the pics I've seen online of GTX660 it looks like it fits. I'm at work right now, will upload a better pic of the slots when I get home this afternoon. About 5pm Eastcoast time.


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## Mussels (Jan 27, 2018)

the problem is that the connector on the GPU will hit the solid plastic end of the PCI-E slots

The very ghetto solution is to EXTREMELY CAREFULLY cut out the plastic at the end of the slot, so a GPU will fit in - i have done this before and had it work (its the same as how W1zzard has tested GPU's here at TPU with 1x/4x/8x bandwidth, by taping over the connectors on the GPU)

However even if the slot mod works, you still need to make sure the rest of the card doesnt physically contact anything, and that you meet the power requirements (6 pin/8 pin PCI-E power cables)


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## rusststone1 (Jan 27, 2018)

Mussels said:


> the problem is that the connector on the GPU will hit the solid plastic end of the PCI-E slots
> 
> The very ghetto solution is to EXTREMELY CAREFULLY cut out the plastic at the end of the slot, so a GPU will fit in - i have done this before and had it work (its the same as how W1zzard has tested GPU's here at TPU with 1x/4x/8x bandwidth, by taping over the connectors on the GPU)
> 
> However even if the slot mod works, you still need to make sure the rest of the card doesnt physically contact anything, and that you meet the power requirements (6 pin/8 pin PCI-E power cables)



I have one 570w power supply. A compartment for another one. Should I get it, or does it even work that way? Should I get a bigger power supply? What would you suggest? I plan on having only one 2TB hdd, and two six core CPUs in addition to the GPU if I can make the proper modifications. 

I may be getting ahead of myself here anyways. This is a server from work they had to replace because some port went bad on it. It was about 2 years ago so I am a bit fuzzie on the reason. I think it was an ethernet port. It does not have a power cord or hdd, so waiting on both of those to come in. So I haven't even been able to power it up to see whats going on. Worst case scenario, what if it has a bad motherboard. Do they make mother boards for this still? What should I consider getting. Money is a bit of a factor, but willing to spend what's necessary to get it going right.


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## phill (Jan 27, 2018)

Have something similar myself, but just using it as a back up data storage and a cancer cruncher as I'm swapping out the quads for some base X5650 CPUs, not the most efficient or fastest I suppose, but it serves the purpose 

With regards to the PCIe socket, what about using a riser card?  Saves having to damage it then, might that be an option?


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## rusststone1 (Jan 27, 2018)

Really good idea about riser card! Thanks


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 27, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> I have one 570w power supply. A compartment for another one.


If you're planning on going dual CPU and get a video card that requires it's own power connector, yes get the second power supply. Remember that they need to match, in wattage.


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## rusststone1 (Jan 27, 2018)

These are the PCI up close.


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 28, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> These are the PCI up close.


I'm betting that you'll be able to gently snap the middle section out of the end on the second one from the right with a pair of needle-nose pliers and put in a GPU. Be very careful though.


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## phill (Jan 28, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> Really good idea about riser card! Thanks



Most welcome   Sometimes I have good ideas lol


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## Mussels (Jan 28, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> I have one 570w power supply. A compartment for another one. Should I get it, or does it even work that way? Should I get a bigger power supply? What would you suggest? I plan on having only one 2TB hdd, and two six core CPUs in addition to the GPU if I can make the proper modifications.
> 
> I may be getting ahead of myself here anyways. This is a server from work they had to replace because some port went bad on it. It was about 2 years ago so I am a bit fuzzie on the reason. I think it was an ethernet port. It does not have a power cord or hdd, so waiting on both of those to come in. So I haven't even been able to power it up to see whats going on. Worst case scenario, what if it has a bad motherboard. Do they make mother boards for this still? What should I consider getting. Money is a bit of a factor, but willing to spend what's necessary to get it going right.



you cant just slap in a regular PSU to them, so it matters what cables the PSU has - you'll need to check that yourself and get back to us


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## rusststone1 (Jan 28, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> I'm betting that you'll be able to gently snap the middle section out of the end on second one from the right with a pair of needle-nose pliers and put in a GPU. Be very careful though.


What about a riser? That should help some maybe.


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 28, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> What about a riser? That should help some maybe.


A riser extender, while normally a good idea, has the same problem in that the PCIE connector for the extender is going to need to fit into a 16x physical slot or an 8x with the end open unless you can find one with an 8x connector on the end. And even if you can, where will the card fit in that chassis? It'll take great care, but the end of one of those 8x slots needs to be opened up.
I've taken the pic you uploaded and marked in red the weak points in the plastic where you want to use a razor and very gently cut down about 1mm. You only need to weaken the top for the rest to break away clean. Then with needle-nose pliers grip the spots in yellow and bend, not pull, down in the direction of the orange arrow. That is what I've done to open up 8x slots for video card use. The key is to be patient, take your time and be very careful.

EDIT; There is this; https://www.amazon.com/Water-Express-Riser-Flexible-Extension/dp/B00P26HFVO
But you'll still need to figure out where to put the card and how to route cables.

I personally would still break the plastic out. But again, only suggestions here.


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## rusststone1 (Jan 28, 2018)

I see what ur saying. I think after seeing the pic it would be best to do the surgey. Thanks for the help


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## lexluthermiester (Jan 28, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> I see what ur saying. I think after seeing the pic it would be best to do the surgey. Thanks for the help


YW, no worries. Good luck and show us how it works out.


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## rusststone1 (Mar 4, 2018)

Just want you all to know that I haven't forgotten to let you all know how it's going. It's going slow. Time and money really. Plus dumb mistakes not paying attention to the small details like ordering the wrong cpus and having to return them.

Main thing I am running into is power. I got a second 570w power supply but when I installed it , the computer wont work with it. I uninstall it and server works fine again. Second, I have no idea how to get power to a video card. The PCi slots only produce 25w but the suggested video cards need at least 120. The power supplies for the server don't have sockets I can plug a sata into or any sockets for that matter.


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## newtekie1 (Mar 4, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Then with needle-nose pliers grip the spots in yellow and bend, not pull, down in the direction of the orange arrow. That is what I've done to open up 8x slots for video card use. The key is to be patient, take your time and be very careful.



I've had better luck in the past doing this with a straight razor blade and just cutting the back out.

Of course, there is always the option of just cutting the PCI-E connector on the graphics card itself too...


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2018)

newtekie1 said:


> I've had better luck in the past doing this with a straight razor blade and just cutting the back out.


That requires a lot of force to be used and if you slip, down into the mobo it goes. The method described above has never failed. Have only done it half a dozen times but still.


newtekie1 said:


> Of course, there is always the option of just cutting the PCI-E connector on the graphics card itself too...


Oh good grief, I definitely would never do that... Keeping it simple is always best. The little piece of plastic on the end of the slot is the problem, removing it is the best option.


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## phill (Mar 4, 2018)

I'd grab a PCIe riser...  I'm sure that would be the easiest and safest option....


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## newtekie1 (Mar 4, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> That requires a lot of force to be used and if you slip, down into the mobo it goes. The method described above has never failed. Have only done it half a dozen times but still.



Not really.  If you use the right kind of razor blade and go slow it is controllable and won't slip.  If you use one of these it is extremely easy cut out the back of the slot without much effort.  It helps if you heat the blade too.



lexluthermiester said:


> Oh good grief, I definitely would never do that... Keeping it simple is always best. The little piece of plastic on the end of the slot is the problem, removing it is the best option.



I have in the past, it depends on what you care more about, the motherboard or the graphics card.  It's pretty simple, about a minute with a dremel and your done.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2018)

newtekie1 said:


> It helps if you heat the blade too.


Like with a blow-torch. That would make it much easier going all the way through.


newtekie1 said:


> I have in the past, it depends on what you care more about, the motherboard or the graphics card. It's pretty simple, about a minute with a dremel and your done.


Just cringed looking at that picture. On a cheap card, ok. On a nice card? Hell no.


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## rusststone1 (Mar 4, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Like with a blow-torch. That would make it much easier going all the way through.
> 
> Just cringed looking at that picture. On a cheap card, ok. On a nice card? Hell no.


How did you get power to the card. The t610 pci only have 25w.


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> How did you get power to the card. The t610 pci only have 25w.


Additional power is supplied through PCIe power cable connectors.


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## rusststone1 (Mar 4, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> Additional power is supplied through PCIe power cable connectors.


Where does the power come from. There are no sockets on the power supply


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## Assimilator (Mar 4, 2018)

rusststone1 said:


> Where does the power come from. There are no sockets on the power supply



Yeah, because these servers aren't designed for discrete graphics cards. You definitely aren't going to be able to install one that uses additional power connectors in there, because (according to my research) the T610's PSU backplane provides a grand total of 1 (one) SATA power connector and 1 (one) Molex power connector. That's it.

That means you cannot use a Molex-to-PCIe power adapter, because those take 2 Molex connectors and convert them to a single 6-pin PCIe connector. Yes, you can find such adapters that take a single Molex, but those are fire hazards waiting to happen. Yes, you could get a SATA-to-Molex adapter and then plug a Molex-to-PCIe into that contraption, but that's also a fire risk.

At best you could probably get away with a discrete GPU that uses only the PCIe bus for power, e.g. GTX 1050 - but you have stated that the PCIe slots provide only 25W instead of the 75W that the PCIe spec requires (interested to know where you got that figure), so that's not going to work either.

My advice: stop trying to shove a square peg into a round hole.


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## rusststone1 (Mar 4, 2018)

Assimilator said:


> Yeah, because these servers aren't designed for discrete graphics cards. You definitely aren't going to be able to install one that uses additional power connectors in there, because (according to my research) the T610's PSU backplane provides a grand total of 1 (one) SATA power connector and 1 (one) Molex power connector. That's it.
> 
> That means you cannot use a Molex-to-PCIe power adapter, because those take 2 Molex connectors and convert them to a single 6-pin PCIe connector. Yes, you can find such adapters that take a single Molex, but those are fire hazards waiting to happen. Yes, you could get a SATA-to-Molex adapter and then plug a Molex-to-PCIe into that contraption, but that's also a fire risk.
> 
> ...


Dell technical guide for thr t610


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 4, 2018)

Assimilator said:


> (interested to know where you got that figure)





rusststone1 said:


> Dell technical guide for thr t610


@Assimilator This ^ and also; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express
In the area talking about power it clearly states that 4x PCIe slots are limited to 25w. This is a known spec. However, adding or replacing the factory power supply with a more conventional one is not outside the realm of possibility.


Assimilator said:


> My advice: stop trying to shove a square peg into a round hole.


He's asking for help getting it working to it's maximum, not for advice on whether he should. Let's be helpful.


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## rusststone1 (Mar 5, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> This ^ and also; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express
> In the area talking about power it clearly states that 4x PCIe slots are limited to 25w. This is a known spec. However, adding or replacing the factory power supply with a more conventional one is not outside the realm of possibility.
> 
> He's asking for help getting it working to it's maximum, not for advice on whether he should. Let's be helpful.



Can someone translate this for me. I have a iomega rev 35gb drive and the power requirements for it are --- 5.0 +/- 0.25 V D.C., up to 1.2 amps continuous current-- . That does not seem like much power. I was hoping to use the sata from it for a gpu


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## Assimilator (Mar 5, 2018)

lexluthermiester said:


> @Assimilator This ^ and also; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express
> In the area talking about power it clearly states that 4x PCIe slots are limited to 25w. This is a known spec.



Incorrect. A PCIe slot provides up to 25W for "ordinary" cards and up to 75W for "high power" cards, like GPUs, that request it.



lexluthermiester said:


> However, adding or replacing the factory power supply with a more conventional one is not outside the realm of possibility.



Actually it is, because the motherboard of this server has Dell proprietary power connectors. Good f'n luck finding a pinout for those... and even if you did, you'd have to do the mother of all hack jobs to convert from standard ATX PSU connectors to those. In fact I'd be completely unsurprised if some of those pins use non-ATX voltages.



lexluthermiester said:


> He's asking for help getting it working to it's maximum, not for advice on whether he should. Let's be helpful.



Maxing out CPU and RAM is as far as this server is gonna go without a serious time/money/effort/blood/sweat/tears investment. Advising him not to save time and money by not making that investment, sounds pretty helpful to me. Or did the word get redefined while I wasn't looking?


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## Mussels (Mar 5, 2018)

are external GPU cages compatible with PCI-E x4 slots?

not something i've dealt with yet


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## Assimilator (Mar 5, 2018)

Mussels said:


> are external GPU cages compatible with PCI-E x4 slots?
> 
> not something i've dealt with yet



Nope. All eGPU enclosures currently available use Thunderbolt connectors and Thunderbolt requires a chip on the motherboard - it cannot be added via an expansion card.

The only possibility I can see for the OP is to get a PCIe riser and an additional external PSU.


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## rusststone1 (Mar 5, 2018)

Im gonna gocwith an external psu. Thats my best bet i think. I already have the riser


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## lexluthermiester (Mar 5, 2018)

Assimilator said:


> Incorrect. A PCIe slot provides up to 25W for "ordinary" cards and up to 75W for "high power" cards, like GPUs, that request it.


For PCIe 8x & 16x slot that is true, not for 4x and below.


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## rusststone1 (Mar 7, 2018)

Update on my progress. I have successfully installed the two new cpu 2.80ghz 6 core and they are working. Unfortunately even though I have two 570w psu it's not enough for the 5600 series and I need 870 so performance is downgraded some. I had to put settings to minimum until I get the 870. Due to my mistake I have had to dash my hopes for a decent gpu and had to settle for a nividia 710 2gb ddr3 card. Not the very good but will be able to do some games, but more importantly in the end the server will be better for the video editing that my daughter will be doing than her present laptop will do. I haven't gotten the gpu in the mail yet, but will update when I do. I installed windows 7 ultimate now I am in the process of upgrading to windows 8.1 pro. Not sure it will work but trying and right now setup is at 90% and no problems. You all have been very helpful in this endeavor. Thanks again.


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## Donokage (Oct 15, 2018)

Sorry if necro. I found this looking for a solution for a different problem and fondly recalled having to figure this out on my own so hopefully, this will help someone who needs it. Also, I used to work in tech support so if any of this seems like it should be obvious, I don't know what you know so I am assuming that you don't know anything. 

CPU:
You can put consumer grade CPUs in the sockets on this board. Anything that fits an LGA1366 socket will work. For my setup, I stuck with Xeons because I have an overly complex configuration with virtualization and thin clients and all kinds of extra nonsense that is beyond the scope of this topic (they're also stupid cheap). Throw some old i5s, or whatever you have lying around, in there and you should be fine.

RAM:
If you have one CPU don't stick RAM in the slots for the empty socket. It just won't work.
You shouldn't mix RAM types or capacities but if you must, match them in 3s. All 3 gray slots should be identical ram and all 3 black slots should match each other as well.
There is also a limit to how much you can do. I think it's something like 24 gigs of unregistered and 192 gigs of registered ram. I don't know of any home configuration that needs that much memory so if you think you will be affected by this, RTFM to save yourself a headache.

GPU:
There is a setting in the BIOS you will have to change if you want to use a discrete graphics card. While you're in there, you can also disable the onboard graphics with another setting if you want to. If you mess up and need to reset the BIOS settings, the jumpers are on the top of the board, behind the card plugged into PCIe slot 1.
You can stick an x16 card in the x8 slots if you remove the back like suggested in the thread. I used a soldering iron to melt the back out because I had one within arm's reach but I have been known to modify PCI cards instead. The process is arbitrary as long as you are careful not to damage anything. Cover exposed contacts with tape. It is also worth noting that although all of the PCIe slots are x8 in length, some of them do not have 8 rails so check which ones are which. I think the top 2 are x8 and the bottom 2 are actually x4 with x8 connectors.
I have a GTX 1050 TI powered by a 15 pin SATA Male to 6+2 PCIe Female adapter. There are a couple of free 15 pin SATA Female connectors on the rail that plugs into the DVD drive.
I also struggled for far too long with getting my card seated because there are little bits near the clips on the chassis that are intended to align the cards with the openings in the back. I had to bend one because my card takes up 2 slots.

Storage:
This thing has hot-swappable SAS ports in the front. You can plug SATA drives into SAS ports. You cannot plug SAS drives into SATA ports. Consider this when buying storage. 
I use 6 SAS drives in Raid 5, a solid state boot drive and a SATA HDD I pulled out of an external drive I found at Goodwill for $5.

Power:
If you leave one PSU unplugged, you will get errors on any server OS you install. Client OSs don't care. I have both plugged in in case one fails because of the aforementioned nonsense that is going on in mine. You can leave one unplugged and switch to it upon failure if you want to extend the life of your backup one. 

Network:
USB WiFi dongles work. Depending on your distro, you may have to get creative when installing drivers on a server OS. Consumer ones don't care. I use the integrated NIC and have both ports bonded. This is less system specific and more general advice but, if you are going to aggregate links, it has to be aggregated at both ends. Most consumer routers do not support this feature. Managed switches usually support this and unmanaged ones just don't care.

Audio:
Mine is handled by my graphics card and transmitted over HDMI. My speakers built into my monitor suck so I also have a USB audio adapter that plugs into some desktop speakers. You can use an audio card but, again, drivers for your OS may be a thing.

If there is anything I am missing here, I probably have no idea that it is actually a problem yet, so let me know and I'll get back to you in a year. I got so worked up with this I forgot what my problem was, to begin with.


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