Solved! Help Verifying System Configuration/Motherboard Peripheral Support

Jan 13, 2022
52
1
11
Hello,

I plan on having a system builder (Velocity Micro) build a video/IP analysis system for my company worth approximately $75,000.00, and was hoping a few people could check my configuration to see if everything looks okay (as it's been 20 years since my last PC build and I'm worried that I might have overlooked/missed something).

If any parts are questionable/problematic (or you have other recommendations), please let me know.

Note: If this post is in the wrong forum, my apologies.

QA System.png

Motherboard: Asus Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI
CPU: Threadripper Pro 64 core 3995wx or 5995wx (depending on availability)
CPU Heatsink: Supermicro SNK-P0064AP4 (280W)
RAM: 512 GB of DDR4 ECC at 3200 (8 sticks of 64 GB)
PCIE (1): DekTec DTA-2179
PCIE (2): DekTec DTA-2110
PCIE (3): Aja Kona 5
PCIE (4): Mellanox MCX653106A-HDAT dual 100 Gbps / single 200 Gbps
PCIE (5):
Aja Kona 5
PCIE (6): Asus Hyper M.2 with 4x Seagate 530 4TB in RAID 0 (performance drive necessary for multiple 4K (1.5 gigabytes per second) and 8K (6 gigabytes per second) streams)
PCIE (7): Nvidia Quadro A6000 (48 GB of ECC)
M.2 to PCIE Extender (1): ADT-Link M.2 NGFF NVMe Key M Extender Cable to PCIE x16 Graphics Card Riser Adapter
M.2 to PCIE Extender (2): ADT-Link M.2 NGFF NVMe Key M Extender Cable to PCIE x16 Graphics Card Riser Adapter
M.2 to PCIE (1): Magewell Pro Capture HDMI 4K Plus LT
M.2 to PCIE (2): Magewell Pro Capture SDI 4K Plus
OS Drive: Seagate 530 4TB (Windows 11 Pro for Workstations or Windows Server 2022)
Long-term Storage Drive (1): Intel D5-P5316 SSDPF2NV153TZN1 U.2 15.36 TB
Long-term Storage Drive (2): Intel D5-P5316 SSDPF2NV153TZN1 U.2 15.36 TB
CD/DVD/Blu-Ray/MDisc Drive: ASUS BW-16D1HT
U.2 Drive Cage: Icy Dock ToughArmor MB699VP-B V2
SSD Drive Cage: Icy Dock ToughArmor MB998SP-B
Chassis: Supermicro SuperChassis 747BTQ-R2K04B
Chassis Upgrade (1): MCP-290-00059-0B 26.5" rack rails
Chassis Upgrade (2): MCP-290-74702-0N add-on Card Holder (11 slots)
Chassis Upgrade (3): MCP-220-00095-0B 3.5" system information OLED

My sincerest thanks,
Nelson
 
Jan 13, 2022
52
1
11
Not so sure about long term storage on an Intel QLC SSD. Better to have a weekly backup plan to tape or Blue-ray. HGST 18TB Helium drives could also work as an extra level of redundancy.

Hello Igor,

Initially I was planning on purchasing Intel's TLC SSD (Intel d7‑p5510 7.68 TB), but felt that the extra storage for the QLC was a good tradeoff for the (hopefully) slightly less endurance.

But now I'm starting to question whether that slightly less endurance, isn't a bit larger than I initially thought.

As for Blu-Ray backups, I agree (hence the Asus 16x).

As for spinning disks, I'm not sure if I can go that route, as my company deals with extremely large files (for 4K and 8K video), but it might be worth adding a few spinning disks, just in case.

Thank you,
Nelson
 
Jul 27, 2020
15,745
9,810
106
As for spinning disks, I'm not sure if I can go that route, as my company deals with extremely large files (for 4K and 8K video), but it might be worth adding a few spinning disks, just in case.
Just use the HDD(s) for cold storage. You never know. Sometimes you win the mechanical spinning rust lottery and ten years later, the HDD is still working with your data intact. I myself witnessed a 13 year old laptop parallel ATA HDD working great, with good SMART values indicating fine health.
 
Jan 13, 2022
52
1
11
Just use the HDD(s) for cold storage. You never know. Sometimes you win the mechanical spinning rust lottery and ten years later, the HDD is still working with your data intact. I myself witnessed a 13 year old laptop parallel ATA HDD working great, with good SMART values indicating fine health.

Hello Igor,

You make a good point; I'll look into adding some large Enterprise spinning disks.

Can I assume for Enterprise level redundancy, you recommend HGST/Western Digital HelioSeal's (or do you prefer a different brand of spinning disk)?

Thank you,
Nelson
 
Jul 27, 2020
15,745
9,810
106
Jan 13, 2022
52
1
11
I prefer HGST followed by Toshiba. Take a look at the Backblaze survey: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-2021/

Hello Igor,

Just curious what your thoughts were on the following changes (after our discussion).

1. Replace Intel D5-P5316 with Micron 9300 MAX 12.8 TB drives:

Though I lose some storage, and twice the read speed, I gain an endurance of 74.7PB (with the Micron):


...vs 10.78PB random and 51.85PB sequential (with the Intel):


2. Add the following 2 Western Digital Ultrastar DC HC550 18TB:


Thank you,
Nelson
 
Jan 13, 2022
52
1
11
I would prefer 4Kn sector format for the HDD but if availability is an issue, I suppose 512e is acceptable. The Micron SSD seems very good. Great 4K I/O specs and 3.5GB/s sequential should be enough for your purposes.

Hello Igor,

You brought up some great points.

Because of our discussion, I've replaced the Seagate 530 4TB (OS drive) with the Micron 9300 Max 12.8TB.

Though the 530 4TB is extremely fast, it's TBW is 5.1 PB, compared to Micron's 74.7 PB.

Furthermore, when it comes down to it, the OS drive needs to have extremely high endurance (as losing the OS would be catastrophic).

So in summation, I now only have 2 drives.

Micron 9300 Max 12.8TB = OS drive + long-term storage drive.
Hyper M.2 (with 4x Seagate 530 4TB in RAID 0) = Performance drive.

A big thanks for this discussion, as it greatly helped to increase the endurance of the storage for the system I'm building, plus decrease prices and simplify the setup.

The new configuration is below:

QA System - 2.png

Motherboard: Asus Pro WS WRX80E-SAGE SE WIFI
CPU: Threadripper Pro 64 core 3995wx or 5995wx (depending on availability)
CPU Heatsink: Supermicro SNK-P0064AP4 (280W)
RAM: 512 GB of DDR4 ECC at 3200 (8 sticks of 64 GB)
PCIE (1): DekTec DTA-2179
PCIE (2): DekTec DTA-2110
PCIE (3): Aja Kona 5
PCIE (4): Asus Hyper M.2 with 4x Seagate 530 4TB in RAID 0 (performance drive necessary for multiple 4K (1.5 gigabytes per second) and 8K (6 gigabytes per second) streams)
PCIE (5): Aja Kona 5
PCIE (6): Mellanox MCX653106A-HDAT dual 100 Gbps / single 200 Gbps
PCIE (7): Nvidia Quadro A6000 (48 GB of ECC)
M.2 to PCIE Extender (1): ADT-Link M.2 NGFF NVMe Key M Extender Cable to PCIE x16 Graphics Card Riser Adapter
M.2 to PCIE Extender (2): ADT-Link M.2 NGFF NVMe Key M Extender Cable to PCIE x16 Graphics Card Riser Adapter
M.2 to PCIE (1): Magewell Pro Capture HDMI 4K Plus LT
M.2 to PCIE (2): Magewell Pro Capture SDI 4K Plus
OS Drive: Micron 9300 Max 12.8TB
Long-term Storage Drive (1): Intel D5-P5316 SSDPF2NV153TZN1 U.2 15.36 TB
Long-term Storage Drive (2): Intel D5-P5316 SSDPF2NV153TZN1 U.2 15.36 TB
CD/DVD/Blu-Ray/MDisc Drive: ASUS BW-16D1HT
Chassis: Supermicro SuperChassis 747BTQ-R2K04B
Chassis Upgrade (1): MCP-290-00059-0B 26.5" rack rails
Chassis Upgrade (2): MCP-290-74702-0N add-on Card Holder (11 slots)
Chassis Upgrade (3): MCP-220-00095-0B 3.5" system information LCD

Thank you for all your help,
Nelson
 
  • Like
Reactions: igor_kavinski
Jan 13, 2022
52
1
11
I would prefer 4Kn sector format for the HDD but if availability is an issue, I suppose 512e is acceptable. The Micron SSD seems very good. Great 4K I/O specs and 3.5GB/s sequential should be enough for your purposes.

Hello Igor,

One last question, between the Micron 9300 Max:


...and Kioxia CM6-V:


...do you have a strong preference for the CM6-V?

The price of both is nearly the same, but the problem (at least for me) with the CM6-V is that it's U.3 (not U.2), and my motherboard only has U.2 ports.

To get U.3 working, I'd need to use an adapter like the following:


...as well as another M.2 to PCIe 4.0 extender (all of which adds about $500.00 extra plus a lot more construction complexity), but delivers much higher IOPS and nearly double the write throughput.

I'm just not sure it's worth the hassle.

Thanks again,
Nelson