Custom PC Based off Poweredge T620?

As a soon-to-be college student, money is tight, so reducing price and maximizing performance is essential for a person who will be using CAD on a near-daily basis and creating complex structures in programs such as CATIA and SolidWorks. These are the main reasons I am going with a server-based build.

Let me start off by saying that I think the whole premise is a little off-base.

1) A server is not the most cost-effective solution for performance-based needs in a PC for a "soon-to-be college student" for whom "money is tight". Workstation hardware is typically cheaper than server hardware.

2) Server hardware does not always lend itself to workstation usage. Servers are designed to run server software with server peripherals. There is no guaranteed that a client OS will run reliably on a server. There is no guarantee that any graphics card will work on a server, as they are rarely designed to use add-in graphics.

3) Configurations of OEM machines are NOT ideal for customization. Dell tests and validates hardware for use with specific devices and peripherals. Many devices are coded so as to improve and guarantee interoperation with other validated parts, which can leave a support/compatibility gap between these machines and third-party/unsupported hardware/software.

Go ahead and try it, and by all means, post your results for those that follow, but be prepared for things to not work as well or as reliably as you would expect from a workstation. If you want server-grade hardware for workstation use, look at the Precision workstations. Servers are designed to be servers, and some people end up disappointed when trying to adapt them to be used as versatile "computers".

Good luck!

I was just going to start my own thread asking, if the T620 motherboard (model 0658N7) is going to work with the E5-2670 as well, when I came across this thread. Too bad people ask questions and never come back to see if anyone replied... Anyhow, I am still going to ask. : )

Thanks,

G

So, I actually went ahead with the build, just not with this motherboard as I found a few complications with it. If I remember correctly, I think it says it doesn't support discrete graphics cards.

I wound up going with an Intel S2600CP4 with an E5-2680, but the prices for the E5-2670's have plummited, so I recommend snagging up two of those for $70 US each.

You can pick up one of those Intel boards for around $200, but I do recommend that you make sure the BIOS is at a relatively recent version as I skimped out on the one I got and I'm paying for it. When I head off to college this summer I'll try to see if there is anyone that can help me because I know jack squat about shell code and shell commands. If I Google my bios version, there are a total of 3 results.

If you have an updated bios from the last 3 years running windows 10 and everything else should be easy.

In addition, the RAM I have is from an old desktop build of mine and it works perfectly fine, so it seems the motherboard isn't too picky with RAM, but I still recommend picking up ECC REG RAM.

It also runs my R9 290x without a hitch, and is stable even when overclocked to 1120 MHz Core Clock.

You'll just have to get a USB to 3.5mm headphone jack, but I think you still have to with the T620.

If you have any further questions, just reply back and I'll get an e-mail.

FAQBytes

I have a similar project as the original post. I have a 29xx I replaced the original system board with T620  P/N 01016NP600-000-G and using the 29xx power and back plates. Cabling is all pretty straight forward except I can't find the pin out for PWR1 connector. It's 8 pin on the 620 and 20 pin on the 29xx. Everything I found says that the pin out is different from the standard EPS but it doesn't say how.