Posts Tagged ‘CG workstation’

Jan
06
2010

Building a New CG Workstation. Part 6

Fail!

No Power. Push the power button as much as you want and everything is dead-o. Yikes!

Don’t panic, I tell myself because here’s where one of the most important rules of problem solving with computers comes in: think the problem through logically, reduce the amount of variables to the problem until you have the fewest, then use the manual (or internet article) to re-check those variables.

Of course, I was nervous because even after building several computers it’s possible to make a mistake that will ruin the build. Now, I know that the power cord has power since it’s coming from the same outlet that I used for my previous computer and the new power cord looks fine. Sniffing around the PSU, I didn’t smell anything burnt. The inside of the case looks fine once I take the side panel off. Checking the power line from the PSU to the motherboard (2 of them) and they are both tight.  It seems like the problem is with the motherboard simply not getting the power it needs to boot since all the other hardware looks good right up to the motherboard.

Usually a motherboard will have a few small lights on the board which start up when you plug the power cord into the PSU. In fact, some have small LCD”s on them that give you post codes which, when checked in the manual, tell you what the problem is. Asus doesn’t have one of these, but there still should be some small lights on the board. So, I undid the power cord, made sure it was securely plugged into it’s own outlet, re-checked the switch, plugged it back in and…

Nothing. No Power to the motherboard.

Time to open the case back up and find out what the problem is. Got the monitor and all the rest detached and carried this (heavy) case over to the work-table to problem solve.

Page in Asus manual that refers to ATX Power connections

Page in Asus manual that refers to ATX Power connections

The first thing to do is to make sure that the two power plugs into the motherboard are correct and secure. For the Asus P6T, the motherboard manual states that there are two places where you attach power; one is a large 24-pin connector and the 2nd is a small 8-pin (12 volt) connector. No other sources of power (reduced variables).

The first connector is tight and looks good. The 2nd one…ah, it’s a 4-pin power connector, where the manual says:

“Do not forget to connect the 4-pin/8-pin EATX 12 volt power plug; otherwise the system will not boot”

Hmnn, it says 4-pin or 8-pin. If my memory is correct from my last build, it was an 8-pin connector, but when I look at the actual connector on the Asus motherboard there are only 4-pins available. I grab my little flashlight and look closer.

What the hell? There seems to be some sort of black cover over 4 other pins on the board. A quick google search on my laptop brings up the problem; Asus, without mentioning it in the manual, has placed a black cover over 4 of the pins. This must be the problem; the motherboard needs 8 pins in order to boot. So if I remove the black cover and plug in the 8-pin connector instead of the 4-pin, the system should boot.

Left side: closed pin. Right side: open 8 pin connector

Left side: closed pin. Right side: open 8 pin connector

It seems that because it was dark in this corner of the case, I was unable to see the dark cover on the 8-pin connector. Tricky getting it off, but a little work with a pencil and a pair of tweezers did it and you can see the full 8-pins in the above picture (right side). After plugging in the correct power connector and making sure the cable was snug behind the motherboard, I closed up the case and brought it back over to my PC table to re-attach the monitor, power cable, and all the rest. Fingers securely crossed this time.

YES! Power on and the machine is booting!

Bios for the Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard: changing boot order

Bios for the Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard: changing boot order

I think I’m taking back my thanks to Asus because of this odd omission in their manual. They should have stated that the “8-pin connector had 4 pins covered, if you need the other 4 pins remove the covering”. Strange that they’d have it there in the first place. I couldn’t find an answer after a bit of research.  Be that as it may, we are on to the last part of our new computer build:

Post Build Testing/Problem Solving

Actually, I left out a step before you test the computer; you have to adjust the bios and load in the operating system, in my case Windows 7 64-bit. The testing comes after you have loaded in the operating system.

The bios for a motherboard controls the basic in/out switches and levels for your computer. Think of it as what’s under the hood of your car. You interact with your car’s engine (the bios) by looking at the panels inside of your car, but the basic controls are under the hood. So it is with your computer.

Accessing the bios is pretty easy as you simply have to hold down a particular keyboard key when the motherboard logo flashes on the screen. You’ll see the note at the bottom of the screen to hold down the “delete” key to access bios. In my case, I have the American Megatrends bios which are excellent to work with.

Here’s how you provide basic info to the bios and set it up to load your Operating system from the CD rom. Once the computer starts booting, when you get to the logo screen you hit “delete” until the main menu for the bios appears. At this point you enter the date, time and check to see if the drives and your ram show up. Each bios topic division is at the top of the screen and you access each one by using the arrow keys and the enter key. Instructions are at the bottom of the screen.

The main bios topics for the Asus P6T Deluxe v2 are Main, AI Tweaker, Advanced, Power, Boot, Tools and Exit. The bios set up program is under the Main topic. Just use the down arrow keys to get to the section you want. All of the hard-drives, etc are listed here and their names and sizes, along with CD Rom drive, should appear here. Mine are all there, so I’m looking good.

Windows 7 64 bit OEM disc ready to install

Windows 7 64 bit OEM disc ready to install

Not much to change in the bios for simply loading in the operating system, but I do need to disable the floppy disk since I’m not using one. What I need to do know is to change the boot order so that the machine boots from the CD Rom 1st. This is pretty easy to do, so once that’s done I hit F10 (save and exit bios) and the system re-boots only this time it will start with the CD-Room with the Windows 7 disc ready to install.

Sure enough the Windows disc starts to load in files for the build and we are ready to install the operating system.

Windows 7 loading screen.

Windows 7 loading screen.

In the past, windows would take about 30-40 minutes to format the hard-drive and then load the operating system. In my system with the i7 920 CPU, it took about 15 minutes (or less because I didn’t expect it to be so fast and went to get a cup of coffee).

I decided not to use my old hard-drive as I was just going to have to load Windows XP back on to the drive at some point since I want to use my old computer as a render farm for Cinema 4D. So I bought a new Western Digital Caviar Black 640Gb drive and plugged it into the first Sata port on the motherboard. It’s unformatted, so Windows asks you if you want to partition the drive (create separate sections like a E drive or an F drive), I generally don’t like to partition my drives so I use the whole drive. Set Windows 7 to partition the drive and it took about 5 minutes. Amazing.

Oh, one little trick you should keep in mind when the Windows install wants to re-boot and continue: go back onto the bios and change the boot order again so that you are booting from the hard-drive you just formatted. Be careful that you pick the correct drive as I had two drives installed, one for the operating system and one for storage. You should be able to tell which drive is which by the size of the drive and the letters in front of the numerical values. In my case I have Western Digital 640Gb (WD) and a Seagate 1.5 Tb (SG) drives so it’s easy to tell them apart.

Now, when the system starts it will boot into the Windows 7 installation to finish up. And as I said it was the fastest install I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness.

Ah....that nice pastel Windows 7 desktop logo.

Ah....that nice pastel Windows 7 desktop logo.

From fear that my install was wonky to a Windows 7 desktop and a new CG workstation that is purring along very nicely. It’s really a good feeling to know that something you put together with care actually works. This is one of the reasons I build my own systems.

Side benefit from the case and the motherboard are the nice, simple lights inside the case. The RAM sticks (in green) are fascinating to watch as they blip blip blip along on the tops of the sticks according to how much you are using them. The important thing is that they work, but it’s pleasant to watch them especially at the end of a very long day putting this system together. Whew!

P1030111

Next up: Testing the build and adjusting air-flow. Finishing up.

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Jan
01
2010

Building a New CG Workstation. Part 4

Forgot to add the Graphics Card in the last post. One of the biggest parts of this workstation is the particular graphics card I’ll be using. Since my new rig is a hybrid (mix of traditional rendering and real-time render) the GPU is central to creating an effective workflow. I’ll be using the graphics card that comes with the Mach Studio Pro software which is an ATI FirePro v8750 workstation card. Normally, I’d be looking at a games oriented card like the ATI Radeon 5970 or the 5870, but Mach Studio Pro comes with the v8750 card and works at it’s absolute best with that card, so I’ll use it in this workstation. I’ll also be writing a review for the MSP software in January for Renderosity.com. My sincere thanks to StudioGPU (a great, hard-working company) and Ted Henning for providing the software and the graphics card for review.

The main difference between a workstation card and a standard GPU (except for the large price disparity) is in the drivers. The FirePro cards have drivers that are specifically designed for CG work and in this case the real-time rendering software Mach Studio Pro. While not quite as efficient as a gamer’s GPU, the FirePro card still works very well and should be able to handle all of my game related work at the higher end. I’ll be doing some testing in this area and will be publishing my results.

Graphics Card: ATI FirePro v8750

ATI FirePro v8750 Graphics Card

ATI FirePro v8750 Graphics Card

Assembling the Parts

The actual assembly of your computer is a slow and careful process, but not nearly as difficult as it seems. Many excellent youtube videos show a very detailed process (along with lots of good sites like this one), so I’m not going to go into specifics of how to put a new computer. But I will cover the overall steps you need to take and any problems I might encounter along the way. One good thing to have (in addition to basic tools) is another computer or laptop that has internet access. Being able to look something up on the net has saved my butt many times.

I began to build my own computers because I was ripped off by a bad computer dealer who sold me cheap parts and then vanished when I started to have problems. So, I tore the shit computer apart and researched every single component and discovered that I could buy the parts for a quarter of price I paid. Determined to build my own system, I picked up a copy of Upgrading and Repairing PC’s by Scott Meuller, which not only covered the process of building a new system in detail, but covered all of the technology as well. Highly recommended for new system builders (comes with DVD as well)

Basic toolset for computer build

Basic toolset for computer build

The basic tools you’ll need for a new computer build are mostly common sense items like philips-head screwdriver, tweezers, a clean cloth, etc. Two items might be new to a beginner: the anti-static wristband (to keep static electricity from damaging the computer circuits) and small tubes/cups to hold the variety of screws you’ll be using for the build. I also add a small flashlight which, because of my failing eyesight, comes in handy all the time as you work in dark corners of your case.  A clear area to work in free of distractions and plenty of light are also things you’ll need for the build

I can’t stress enough how important it is to read the motherboard manual before you begin to assemble the computer. Asus makes an excellent manual which goes over how to install the CPU and all the other parts on to the motherboard. Reading the manual in detail will keep you from making mistakes which could ruin your computer, so take the time to read the manual thoroughly before you begin.

Intel i7 920 CPU

Intel i7 920 CPU

The basic elements of a computer a fairly simple; a cpu, a motherboard, ram memory, a pc case, power unit and cd rom are all you need to start with. Once these items are assembled correctly, you’ll be able to load the operating system of your choice (in my case, Windows 7 64-bit).

The CPU I have chosen is an Intel i7 920 quad core. This cpu has a lot of head room and can easily be overclocked. It is also well documented and widely used by gamers and CG artists alike. Great care must be taken in handling the CPU, installing it on to the motherboard and in adding thermal grease to the cpu which will help the heat conductivity between the CPU and the heatsink.

The Asus p6T Deluxe motherboard makes it very easy to install the CPU. I usually remove the mobo and stand it on top of the box with the anti-static bag underneath in order to install the CPU with lots of room to negotiate. A simple lever releases the main device that secures the CPU into place. You then very carefully align the CPU so that it fits the socket and slowly lower it into place. Once done you re-secure the lever and proceed to adding thermal grease.

cpu interface on motherboard open and ready to install

cpu interface on motherboard open and ready to install

Much discussion on the net about which is the best way to add thermal grease, most opt for a small line of grease at roughly the center of the CPU, but I like to spread the grease around using the finger of a plastic glove (cleaned with alcohol first). The point of using thermal grease is to make sure it spreads evenly across the face of the CPU, this method allows you to do this. Important to make sure your gloved finger is clean and that the face of the CPU is clean as well.

Once this is done, I prepare the heatsink. I’m not using the provided stock Intel heatsink, but a custom one which cools better and makes overclocking much easier (overclocking makes your CPU run much hotter). I chose the Prolima Megahalems which are supposed to be easy to install.

Not.

Why do heat sink manufacturers make such awful manuals? The Prolima manual, while correct, is useless as it doesn’t show direction and it lacks detail. It took me a good hour just to make sure I knew what I was doing. This is why you need the net to do research if you are stuck. Prolima actually has a much better guide on their website which I wish I would have sought out sooner.

The problem came in figuring out how the the back-plate fits on to the rear of the motherboard. Since the heatsink is so large, you have to have a strong back-plate to keep the unit securely fastened to the motherboard. I couldn’t figure out which side of the back-plate fit on to the back of the Asus board. Finally, after finding a picture on the Prolima site, I was able to figure out the orientation and it installed fine. Still, most back-plates have a small adhesive pad which sticks to the back of the motherboard and holds it in place. The Prolima unit does not, or rather it does but apparently it’s only used for another type of CPU which was not the one I was using.

Scratch head several times.

Finally, after assembling the backplate and supporting clips separately, I understood how it worked (along with watching a few youtube vids) and got it attached to the motherboard pretty quickly. Another problem cropped up when I realized I hadn’t spread out the clamps which hold down the heatsink enough and had to re-install them again. But this was a minor problem.

Interestingly, this heat-sink requires that you add thermal grease to the metal head that sits on the CPU. Usually, you only put grease on the CPU. So, I used the finger in glove method again and added only the slightest cover of grease to the head. Once this was done it was a simple matter to install the heatsink and screw it down tight to the CPU and motherboard.

Attaching heatsink to CPU

Attaching heatsink to CPU

Another problem came up when I realized I hadn’t decided which fan orientation I wanted for the heatsink. You see, I’ll be adding a fan or two to the body of the heatsink to make it work more efficiently. I chose an upward orientation with the logic being that the fan will “push” air across the blades of the heatsink and into the fan on top of the case which is “pulling” hot air out of the case. Setting up the fan orientation requires you to change the direction of the heatsink fins, so it’s an important decision.

After the entire heatsink was installed, I added the 3 sticks of RAM to the board making sure to place them in the correct RAM slots (read the motherboard manual). You do this because it’s much easier to do it outside of the case. Now it’s time to place the motherboard into the case.

Motherboard, CPU, heatsink and RAM all installed.

Motherboard, CPU, heatsink and RAM all installed.

With the PC case on it’s back, the first thing you do is to install metal stand-0ff’s (eight of them) provided by the PC case manufacturer (Coolermaster HAF 932). This is done so that the motherboard sits up a bit from the metal backing of the case. If it sat on the metal it would short out. Once done, the faceplate for the side of the motherboard should be installed. I had a hard time figuring out how to do this as the faceplate provided by Coolermaster seemed much too small for the opening in the case. Another half hour spent checking the net and reading the HAF 932 manual (fairly well-written except on this part). Eventually, I realized that the faceplate needed to be installed on the “inside” of the case and not the outside. It snapped right in perfectly and slapped my forehead (‘doh!).

Placing the motherboard in the case is a little tricky as you don’t want to force anything or bend any of the clips on the faceplate, but with a little finesse it went in fine. Some corners of the board are hard to see and here’s where the little flashlight comes in handy. I try to be very, very careful with my screwdriver so as not to slip and damage any of the traces on the motherboard (bad, bad, bad).

using flashlight to screw in the mobo

using flashlight to screw in the mobo

Next up: Attaching the power, case headers and organizing the cables.

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Dec
29
2009

Building an New CG Workstation. Part 3

Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe, Version 2

Asus P6T Deluxe, Version 2 in box

Asus P6T Deluxe, Version 2 in box

The motherboard is usually the easiest component for me to choose for a new build because I’ve been using Asus boards for all but one of my builds and not only are they great performers, but they last and last if you take care of them. So when I read the Andandtech.com X58 motherboard roundup and discovered that the Asus P6T Deluxe won their Gold Editor’s Award I was all set to order. However, NewEgg (which had the best price and is very reliable) customer comments on the mobo made me think twice as the RMA (return merchandise) percentage for the board was at 15% and many of the recent Dec comments indicated there were a lot of bad boards being shipped (or damaged in transit).

This led me to about 3 weeks of study for alternative motherboards which in retrospect was worth the time spent because I discovered a lot about other competing boards and the companies that make them. Gigabyte and EVGA were the leading contenders and both make great boards. EVGA in particular is the only American mobo manufacturer which I found intriguing. Their customer service had very high ratings and the forums were excellent. Both the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 and the EVGA X58 SLI are superb boards. In fact, if you run Asus board at stock speed (2.66 Ghz) there is literally no difference between it and the other two boards. However, when you start overclocking, the Asus P6T Deluxe really shows it’s superiority in not only the ease of using the BIOS, but in how simple Asus has made overclocking this board using their TurboV windows-based application.  And there is plenty of clearance around the CPU for the large Megahalems heat-sink which I’ll be using.  The organization of the motherboard appealed to me as well. The main Sata ports weren’t going to be blocked by the huge ATI FirePro 8750 card which I’ll be using and the power efficiency of the board is perfect for this graphics card. Asus also has very good customer service and a decent warranty (3 years parts & labor) and they update their bios pretty regularly.

The version 2 part of the Asus P6T Deluxe board relates to the newest SAS hard-drives which have no moving parts (solid state and beau coup expensive). There were some problems with the first version of the board with the SAS controller, so they just removed it on version 2.

After almost buying the EVGA board, I ended up going for Asus P6T Deluxe and decided not to worry about the higher return rate. Some of that is just poor preparation by the computer builders and other factors like installation mistakes (not being grounded, etc). I’ve had faith in Asus and every board I’ve ordered from newegg has been good. Asus packages their products well (see pix) so there shouldn’t be a problem in shipping. If by some chance this board is a clinker, well, NewEgg has a very good return policy and I’ll just get another. Fingers crossed.

RAM Memory: Crucial 3-2GB DDR3 Ballistix PC3-12800 CL8, 1.65V TRACER GREEN W/XMP

Crucial DDR3 1600 6GB

Crucial DDR3 1600 6GB

Every build I’ve ever done has been with Mushkin memory. This Denver based company makes top notch RAM that performs perfectly over years and years. And their customer support is the best of any company I’ve ever dealt with. So why did I go with Crucial memory? Partly due to the Xbitlabs.com Triple-Channel Memory Round-Up article, but also because I simply got tired of looking for particular memory kits at the Mushkin site and finding them either discontinued or unavailable. Granted this was December, but I’ve never had that problem with Mushkin, but the Xbit article explained that the XMP profile which is part of the Crucial memory kit makes configuring RAM in an overclocked system much easier. Mushkin came in a close third in the article, but couldn’t find that memory brand at their site.

Further research on Crucial memory indicated that are a highly regarded memory company that uses quality Micron chips for their enthusiast brands like this one. And although Corsair memory seemed to be the preferred brand for the Asus P6T Deluxe mobo,  it was very hard to find the Corsair Dominator memory at reasonable prices. Moreover, the Crucial Ballistix series has low clearance  with it’s aluminum head-spreaders (no blocking a large heatsink like the Megahalems) and it has an unusual green LED that lights up on the top of the sticks to indicate it’s relative activity.

I liked these sticks and found ordering them at the Crucial site to easy. They arrived in 2 days and were well packed.

See the pretty lights as the RAM does it's thing

See the pretty lights as the RAM does it's thing

One oddity: the 3 stick kit I ordered is exactly as listed at the Xbit site (BL3Kit25664TG1508) which were listed as running at 1600, but when I received the sticks they had the exact same part number, but were listed as running at 12600, but I might be mis-reading the details. Re-reading the Xbit article it is clear this is the RAM kit they are reviewing, so it should work fine in my system.  Crucial has a nice compatibility checker at their site which gives you a nice overview of which Crucial memory types would work with the Asus P6T Deluxe motherboard.  Nice touch.

Sorry Mushkin.

Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower TX 750W

Thermaltake ToughPower XT 750W

Thermaltake ToughPower XT 750W

As with the RAM memory, Corsair was the PSU of choice for X58 mobo systems using the i7 920 CPU, but the 750 watt versions were all sold out at the major internet PC parts sites, so I went looking for another PSU with high ratings and a decent price. JohnnyGuru.com is THE site for power supply reviews. The tech folks at this site literally tear every PSU apart to make sure they are put together correctly as well as running well as a power supply. The author of the Thermaltake TP XT 750W review was Jeremy Schrag and after reading his thorough (and funny) review I had no doubt that the Thermaltake PSU was the one for me.

I was particularly concerned about power for the FirePro graphics card, but after double-checking at the ATI site and working out the power demands (plenty of sites to figure your power needs) for my new system, the requirements were well under 750watts and the Thermaltake has plenty of connectors for graphics cards. Plus, it’s a modular unit so I’ll only use the power cords I need. And best of all it’s on sale at NewEgg with a rebate.

Heatsink for CPU: Prolimatech Megahalems Rev B

Prolimatech Meghalems Rev B Heatsink

Prolimatech Meghalems Rev B Heatsink

Since I’ll be over-clocking the CPU, I’ll definitely need something better than the stock heatsink that comes with the i7 920 CPU. There are many excellent brands to choose from (Noctua and Thermalright), but it was the heat sink with the Star Trek sounding title that won me over. While other brands had slightly better cooling results, I was very impressed with how easy it was to install this heat sink.  Youtube had some excellent install/review vids in this heatsink that finally sold me on it. Price was good and it was in supply at most of the online sellers. The only caveat was that it didn’t come with a fan, so I ended up losing the money I saved on this heatsink since I had to buy two recommended fans (one to pull the other to push the air through the heatsink fins). Fortunately, FrozenCPU.com had a nice deal on the unit and I’ve always heard good things about this company, so I went ahead and ordered the Megahalems heatsink, two Yate-Loon 120mm fans and an extra applicator of Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste (for the CPU). Everything came within the week, nicely packed and now sitting on my kitchen table ready to be installed.

Of course, I’m hoping that this heatsink install will be a lot easier than the last one I did which turned out to be an hour and half of hell.  I think I made the right choice though.

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit OEM

OEM package Windows 7 Professional

OEM package Windows 7 Professional

I’ve followed the release of Windows 7, read reviews and checked the Cinema 4D and Mach Studio Pro sites and all of them say that Windows 7 64 bit is the way to go for a CG workstation. I had an opportunity to work with Windows 7 in my new Sony laptop and liked it very much. Although I was annoyed that Microsoft made it impossible to update Windows XP unless you re-install  (you have to re-install everything as the only real “upgrade” is through Vista), I liked the reviews and had nary a problem with my laptop. Seems they got this operating system right. And I definitely needed to upgrade to a 64 bit system since it allows you to have a huge amount of RAM which is very tasty for CG workstations like mine. I’ll start out with 6Gb DDR3, but will probably upgrade to 12Gb DDR3 in the spring.

My new CG workstation waiting to be assembled.

My new CG workstation waiting to be assembled.

So there you have it. All of the parts which took me about a month to research and choose. The main thing to keep in mind when you choose your PC parts is that they all work together (check the manufacturer’s website) and that the company you buy the parts from has a good RMA policy. I’ve been lucky in all of my builds and have never had to return a part, but there is always a first time.

I haven’t listed a hard-drive purchase or a CD rom purchase because I’ll be pulling these item from my current system. FYI, I use a 500gb Windows Black for my system drive and a Lite-On Blu Ray drive for my DVD/CD rom. I will be buying a large 1.5 Tb drive for storage once the sales start rolling in at Fry’s.

I recommend keeping a notebook which contains all of your receipts and notes on every part you’ve purchased (along with dates, etc). This will make it much easier for you in the future if you have to get this info for reference or returns. I also use the notebook to record any notes on the system build and to record the process of putting the system together. These kinds of details seem superfluous at first, but later when you need to troubleshoot a problem that might come up, your notes will come in handy.

Next Up: Assembling the Parts, or putting your new system together one piece at a time!

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