Watch this video to find out how a Dell PowerEdge R720XD works as a normal workstation. If you have any questions, comments, etc., leave them down below!
grab a usb to ethernet adapter as well as a hdmi to ethernet extender and run the cables from your closet so you can have the zero latency feeling of being in front of the unit, but without the harsh fans or heat(had heat exhaustion from one before). I have 3 servers and I plan to buy more to fill out my cabinet. The problem is finding hardware that fits a modern GPU and powers it. You can work around this by simply running a second power supply and even a PCI riser as I have in the past. But I implore you, mount the card onto something that allows for airflow. I ran a "test" to see if I could get a GTX 970 connected to a Dell R410. Long story short, it ran amazingly with 2 cpus at 16 cores around 3.5 GHz. But I let the card get too hot during my extended test and the solder melted which wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't turned the unit back on before learning of the shorted solder joints. If you're going to mod your rig, make sure to focus on cooling options and be ready for an ugly as shit rig. Looks don't matter though when your pulling triple digit frames in AAA titles with cheap hardware.
Yes! If the result is what you want (as you say, good frame rates with cheap hardware), I don't think the setup itself matters. As you and other people have pointed out, I just need to focus on the cooling aspect of the server.
Thanks! Yeah, while it certainly doesn't work great because of the noise, I think if you can get the iDRAC interface to work to calm down the fans, it could absolutely be usable. Unfortunately, I can't get that to work, but if you end up figuring it out, let me know :)
@@thenetworkmystery I was wondering if we can completely do away with fans and provide some liquid cooling? My concern in doing that is if it complains that it can't find the fan. On another channel the guy placed a resistor on the + voltage line to keep the fan speed low.
@@badrinair I would guess the system wouldn't POST because it wouldn't detect any fans. Although I have NO knowledge of electronics, circuits, etc., so idk at all what the resistor deal is, but hey, if it works, it works!
Thank you for the video. Most servers can be used as workstations if you add appropriate GPUs. Sound is a problem, unless you place them far and make extensions of all cables needed. My worry is the electric bill. Servers are power guzzlers, but if you are either off the grid, or power is cheap, then all is good.
Yeah, the noise is really the only issue. I find that the performance of the 2x E5-2640 v2s are decent enough for most tasks, but the noise is just unbearable!!
I think it's more impressive that you got a server in the first place! I always wondered if a server could be used as a beefy PC if upgraded a little. Some fan mods or replacements and sound dampening should really help out with the noise, even with them running really fast.
Yeah!! Apparently, if you throw in 1100W PSUs the fans will ramp down to near idle, although I kinda don't believe it, but maybe I should test that. I also have an HP ProLiant DL380 G7 that also works okay as a workstation! I'm glad you found this video useful-maybe I should do a video on the ProLiant at some point :)
You will never get fans small enough to fit in a 2U server yet move enough air to cool enterprise grade cpu's to be silent at anything much past idle. Now 4U servers on the other hand can be VERY QUITE even at max load because 120mm fans don't have to run very fast to push a lot of air.
I use my DL380 Gen 9 server, with 256Gb of RAM, and 2xE5-2667v4 CPUs, as a workstation. I put a Soundblaster sound card, a USB 3.1 card and a Quadro M4000 GPU in it. There is a 32" Acer 2K monitor, with an HP DesignJet 125 plotter and a tabloid sized flatbed scanner attached to the USB card. I run MS Office Pro 2021, AutoDesk's AutoCAD 2011, Universe Sandbox, and Rule The Waves 2 on it in a Windows Server 2022 Standard environment. My favorite thing is to relax with Minesweeper. Oh yeah, it does a few server things too, like DNS resolves and file sharing. When it's not doing much, it is about as loud as the air conditioner in the window. When it is busy it is about as loud as the vacuum cleaner we have in our house.
My ProLiant is a completely different deal-that one seems to work a lot better than the PowerEdge, and it's a lot quieter, too. I'll have to install quieter fans in the PowerEdge, and then I can use it, even just as a general-purpose server.
I just acquired a Cisco UCS C240 M4 with a dozen 10TB, 12Gb/s SAS drives and two 120Gb SSD boot drives in it and want to try something like this. I got it for free as a broken unit, but I've just about got it running again. I'll have to see if I can pop in a GPU card and maybe a Sound Blaster card. It currently has only one CPU, but I may add a second if Windows 10 can handle that and if it makes any difference. Need to pump up the RAM though because it only has 16Gb. I'll bet if I try to run Crysis the fans will be screaming! Lol. I don't know much about servers, but I've built quite a few desktop PC's through the years (plus I've stayed at a Holiday Inn) so this will be a fun learning experience. My eventual goal for the beast is to make it a NAS and Plex server.
basically what I did. I see no point in doing VMs or anything like that as I run my poweredge r720 for plex and hosting steamcmd game servers. Its not loud - my 48 POE switch is louder than it. Only cost me 200$ for the server and it came with 120gb of ram. upgraded the cpus to dual E5-2690 V2's for 40$ and tossed a couple Quadro M2000 cards (40$ each) in there and now I just use it as a "workstation" that hosts plex, my blueiris security cameras, the game servers, and general web browsing / movie watching since its plugged in to my TV in my office (used mostly to view security cameras). Chucked an old Avermedia 4k capture card that I had lying around and now can use it to stream or record gameplay without breaking a sweat (hence the two Quadro cards). Price all in? $320 (not including harddrives - I already had 8x 6TBs so those didnt cost me anything for the server build). Basically is on par with a Ryzen 7 3700x system but with more cores/threads and way more ram.
@The Network Mystery ipmi works on the 2nd port in the back it has its own ipmi port you set up the ip static or dchp via the biso i have this very pc once done you can just log in via web browser no issue from any ystem and control off on fans w/e works the same on my spuer micro
I tried plugging into both one of the Ethernet ports and the IPMI (iDRAC) port, and it just doesn't work. I think it has to do with the web interface. I can ping the IPMI interface itself, but can't access the web interface. I should experiment more with this when I have the time
your fans you need ipmi and codes to manually edit and also to enable manual control of fans via command, and also set equally such as Low Medium High levels ( example 0x19 is 25%)
I have a r730 with a radeon pro and 2 tesla compute cards in it. I made a software that control the fans dynamically with temp and its very quiet (and cool, 30 to 50°C depending on load). It runs Win Server 2022 as the hyper-v host and desktop (workstation) and I've got many hyper-v instances running with server images and others. It idles at 300w and go to 700w when working hard but I don't care about that, electricity cost isn't a problem for me. I would recommend anyone that think he could maybe have a use for a server like these to get one.
If I can figure out a way to control the fans with IPMI (which has so far been unsuccessful), this server would would be very usable. I just haven't had the time to experiment.
@@thenetworkmystery this is how I did it, my software is just sending ipmitool commands according to the temp of my hotest card. When software start you send a ipmi command one time only to set fans on manual and then a timer check gpu temp and act accordingly
@@thenetworkmystery I'm not sure I can write code here but this is my c# command to set fans on manual var process = new Process { StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo { FileName = "cmd.exe", Arguments = "/c C:\\ipmitool_1.8.18-dellemc_p001\\ipmitool -I lanplus -4 -H myIDRACipaddress -U myusername -P mypassword -y myipmiencryptionkey raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00", UseShellExecute = false, CreateNoWindow = true } };
And this is the string you send to change the fan speed: "C:\\ipmitool_1.8.18-dellemc_p001\\ipmitool -I lanplus -4 -H myIDRACipaddress -U myusername -P mypassword -y myipmiencryptionkey raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x20" You just change the last 2 digits. 20 is my idle value. 64=100% so my heavy workload value is 0x37. If you cant code a software you can copy paste these in cmd if you extract your ipmitool in the same folder as me. Change is immediate. Server reboot put back fans on auto. Also, ipmi username, pass and key are to be set in your iDrac interface. **EDIT** Username and password is NOT your iDrac credentials, its ipmitools credentials you set IN iDrac.
@@wayneferguson14 That's so strange!! You have a GPU in there, no? How did you make them quiet down? Maybe I'll play around with this more when I have time
You have to wait for the post...then windows will show up on the other screen, I have Windows 11 Pro on mine and it shows up on the small screen until post is finished!
@@thenetworkmystery bro, im using HP Z6G4, thinking to tesla v100 card but it don't have vga outputs, so i must use other card together for conect to monitor?
This is cool, and exploration is fun and required in life but, this is the same as saying can I use a CAT 793D Dump Truck as my daily driver? Sure you can but is it worth it? Don't do this if your serious about buying a workstation. use the bits designed for it. If your screwing around learning something new knock yourself out. It is fun playing with server gear. Expensive, but fun.
:) Enable manual fan control: sudo ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x01 0x00 For example, to set the fan speed to 20%: sudo ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x14 For example, to set the fan speed to 22%: sudo ipmitool raw 0x30 0x30 0x02 0xff 0x16 ipmitool raw - send raw IPMI command 0x30 0x30 - IPMI class for fan control 0x02 - target fan 2 0xff - apply to all fans 0x16 - hex value for 22% speed The hex values from 0x00 to 0x64 (0 to 100 decimal) map to the percentage range for fan speeds. So 0x16 hex converts to 22 decimal, setting a 22% fan speed. To quickly summarize the key points: Use ipmitool raw for raw IPMI commands 0x30 0x30 class is for fan control Last hex byte sets the percentage (0x16 -> 22%) Monitor fan speed: sudo ipmitool sdr type fan Monitor temperature: sudo ipmitool sdr type temperature
There is something wrong here. My R720XD is whisper quiet running my blue Iris security cameras. At idle after boot, an R720XD should not be that loud, even with the stock fan curve. My server rack is in my office due to space constraints and I have no issues working next to my servers. If that graphics card is not on dells office list of supported cards that may be what is causing the fans to run faster than normal.
You are exactly right!! It is the GPU that’s causing the fan issue! APPARENTLY…if you get 1100W PSUs, it will quiet down the fans, although I’m not totally sure about that :)
I have the R730 with A5000 and the question is not about PSU wattage, it as about "Third-Party PCIe Card"; since server gear is validated to work with specific components and will by default use extra cooling for unknown hardware, for me the solution was to Disable Third-Party PCIe Card Default Cooling Response with ipmitool (but again, i am not using R720 but R730)@@thenetworkmystery googling that should it explain it more thoroghly
Je ne pense pas que le démarrage prenne TELLEMENT longtemps... bien que si vous l'allumez et l'éteignez plusieurs fois par jour, je peux voir à quel point cela peut devenir frustrant.
