"The Office", an all in one workstation

[Bastiaan_NL]

For some time I've been playing with the idea of building a custom rack to house most of my Folding hardware.

After a few of us started working on their Folding workstation projects I figured it was time to pull the trigger and get to work. 

So here it is: the build log for "The Office", an all in one Folding@Home workstation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

List of hardware:
Motherboard: Asus WS X299 Sage/10G

Processor: Intel® Core™ i9-10900X

Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB

Processor cooling: Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB 360

Power Supply: Dual PSU, TBD.

Fans: TBD, 200mm fans.

PCI-e extensions: CoolerMaster 300mm

Graphics cards: Changes from time to time, currently: 3060, 3070Ti, 2080Super, 3080Ti.

 

List of parts: 

Aluminium profiles

Custom motherboard tray

Monitor mount

 

 

Updates:

1.  Building the frame and the motherboard tray
2.  Up and running
3.  Small updates and idea's
4.  Some drawings
5.  Random update with the current state of the system
6.  PSU box mockup 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Bastiaan_NL

[Bastiaan_NL]

Reserved.

[Bastiaan_NL]

Update 1: Building the frame and the motherboard tray.

 

This is the hardware I received, 20x20mm aluminium profiles in two sizes: 100cm and 40cm (39.4" and 15.75") and a few bags of hardware to connect everything.

 

This is the basic layout, every profile can be moved besides the 4 top corners.

 

I took apart my old CM690 for templates, the first one being the motherboard tray. I used a piece of 2mm sheet metal cut to 25x30cm and drilled/tapped holes for the standoffs. 

 

The finished motherboard tray and the graphics card mounting profile with threaded holes to secure the cards.

 

Passed the QC

 

The motherboard fits perfectly on the tray, and the tray is attached to the profiles with the same locks and hex bolts as the other profiles.

 

Looks empty, but when I'm done there should be five graphics cards, 2 PSU's, a monitor, keyboard and mouse on this frame. The monitor mount will be on the left, and once the final state has been reached the other standing profile will be cut down to the GPU mounting profile height. 

The tall frame makes it easy to work on, and I'll have some storage room under the frame. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[Avacado]

Love it! That sage is making me drool.

[Bastiaan_NL]

On 20/03/2021 at 21:56, Avacado said:

Love it! That sage is making me drool.

Thanks!  
Yeah, that sage is so pretty! It's twice as heavy as all the other the boards I've ever had, feels like a quality part. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[ENTERPRISE]

1 hour ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

Thanks!
Yeah, that sage is so pretty! It's twice as heavy as all the other the boards I've ever had, feels like a quality part. 

I am looking forward to firing up my Sage soon. Just purchased the AIO for testing to fire it all up and make sure everything is hunky dory.

 

Build is looking great so far bud. I like what you do with the extruded ally ! Do you design any of it on CAD for your cutlist ?

[Bastiaan_NL]

On 21/03/2021 at 12:51, ENTERPRISE said:

I am looking forward to firing up my Sage soon. Just purchased the AIO for testing to fire it all up and make sure everything is hunky dory.

 

Build is looking great so far bud. I like what you do with the extruded ally ! Do you design any of it on CAD for your cutlist ?

Thanks E, have fun with the testing!
Those profiles are so easy to work with! And the quality is outstanding, all the cuts are clean and perfectly flat.
I did some drawings but it didn't take long before I decided I needed to have the frame in front of me to visualize and design everything. There are just so many options for the layout, it's not easy to settle for one and go from there. So I took some measurements and just ordered a whole lot of extra profiles, turns out I need more of those 90° mounting brackets but I have enough profiles. I've spent more than 5 hours just looking at the rack, changing a few parts, trying to decide what'll work and what not. I even fell asleep in a chair looking at it

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[ENTERPRISE]

On 3/21/2021 at 2:02 PM, Bastiaan_NL said:

Thanks E, have fun with the testing!
Those profiles are so easy to work with! And the quality is outstanding, all the cuts are clean and perfectly flat.
I did some drawings but it didn't take long before I decided I needed to have the frame in front of me to visualize and design everything. There are just so many options for the layout, it's not easy to settle for one and go from there. So I took some measurements and just ordered a whole lot of extra profiles, turns out I need more of those 90° mounting brackets but I have enough profiles. I've spent more than 5 hours just looking at the rack, changing a few parts, trying to decide what'll work and what not. I even fell asleep in a chair looking at it

Nice. I get what you mean with visualizing a project, though with my experience on Solidworks I find it much easier to design and visualize on the PC and make it come to life haha. 

[Bastiaan_NL]

On 22/03/2021 at 18:51, ENTERPRISE said:

Nice. I get what you mean with visualizing a project, though with my experience on Solidworks I find it much easier to design and visualize on the PC and make it come to life haha. 

I'm sure that with a bit (lot) more experience it would have worked better, and would have saved me some materials. But it's not too bad, and I still have some things to build and I can always add an extra layer with those profiles  

 

On a side note, the system has been running strong for some time. With the 360AIO and folding on 12 threads the CPU stays under 40°C over ambient (57°C max) with fan and pump speed ranging from 50% at 40°C to 100% at 60°C and is at roughly 180kppd, just for testing though. 

Don't mind the mess, it was just for testing..

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[Avacado]

7 minutes ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

I'm sure that with a bit (lot) more experience it would have worked better, and would have saved me some materials. But it's not too bad, and I still have some things to build and I can always add an extra layer with those profiles

 

On a side note, the system has been running strong for some time. With the 360AIO and folding on 12 threads the CPU stays under 40°C over ambient (57°C max) with fan and pump speed ranging from 50% at 40°C to 100% at 60°C and is at roughly 180kppd, just for testing though. 

Don't mind the mess, it was just for testing..

There is a reason I have so much extra *, because I am always learning and always need some random part. Having extras on hand is never a bad thing. I still consider myself an average builder, even with all I have done. I think what you have made is top rate, don't doubt the creativity. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by Avacado

[Bastiaan_NL]

On 23/03/2021 at 18:58, Avacado said:

There is a reason I have so much extra *, because I am always learning and always need some random part. Having extras on hand is never a bad thing. I still consider myself an average builder, even with all I have done. I think what you have made is top rate, don't doubt the creativity. 

Thanks for the kind words! 
I do have a lot of extra stuff, most of it is fans and water cooling hardware. But it's always the same thing when I'm building a system, something is missing and I have to order more

 

3 black Noctua NF-A20 fans showed up a few days ago. I haven't had time to look at ways to mount them, work has taken most of my time (and building 2 systems for a coworker, plus selling him one of my systems and some hardware). I'm in need of a big PSU, would love to own an EVGA 1600W T2 but that doesn't seem to be easy right now... 

 

The system was online with 4 cards, of which 3 were using risers. 820W with 3 GPU's on an 850W PSU did work, but it did not make me feel comfortable for some reason.. At least I'm happy that it works, though I hate the dual PSU mess and inconvenience.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[Avacado]

3 hours ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

Thanks for the kind words! 
I do have a lot of extra stuff, most of it is fans and water cooling hardware. But it's always the same thing when I'm building a system, something is missing and I have to order more

 

3 black Noctua NF-A20 fans showed up a few days ago. I haven't had time to look at ways to mount them, work has taken most of my time (and building 2 systems for a coworker, plus selling him one of my systems and some hardware). I'm in need of a big PSU, would love to own an EVGA 1600W T2 but that doesn't seem to be easy right now... 

 

The system was online with 4 cards, of which 3 were using risers. 820W with 3 GPU's on an 850W PSU did work, but it did not make me feel comfortable for some reason.. At least I'm happy that it works, though I hate the dual PSU mess and inconvenience.

I understand the frustration. I use http://www.add2psu.com/ to eliminate the need for manually switching the 2nd PSU. It does add a 2nd 24pin and molex cable to the rig, but makes on and off much easier. The 1600w Superflower has served me well, they aren't cheap, but for the 450$ price tag it beats every other 1600w on the market. 

Edited April 11, 2021 by Avacado

[Bastiaan_NL]

On 11/04/2021 at 14:39, Avacado said:

I understand the frustration. I use http://www.add2psu.com/ to eliminate the need for manually switching the 2nd PSU. It does add a 2nd 24pin and molex cable to the rig, but makes on and off much easier. The 1600w Superflower has served me well, they aren't cheap, but for the 450$ price tag it beats every other 1600w on the market. 

I ordered the add2psu. There was one place selling it for €6,99, that's pretty cheap

 

As for the PSU's, I couldn't find the Superflower for sale but I did find out that it's basically the same as the  EVGA SuperNova. 

I can only find a few Silverstone and Be Quiet units available, so I'll use the dual 850's for now. 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[Avacado]

3 hours ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

I ordered the add2psu. There was one place selling it for €6,99, that's pretty cheap

 

As for the PSU's, I couldn't find the Superflower for sale but I did find out that it's basically the same as the  EVGA SuperNova. 

I can only find a few Silverstone and Be Quiet units available, so I'll use the dual 850's for now. 

Don't know the shipping from DE to Netherlands, but. 

 

https://www.caseking.de/super-flower-leadex-80-plus-titanium-netzteil-1600-watt-nesf-031.html

 

310 Euro here, but OOS, maybe pre-order?

 

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/super-flower-leadex-platinum-1600w-fully-modular-80-plus-platinum-power-supply-black-ca-030-sf.html

 

EU seller list from superflower site.

 

https://www.super-flower.com.tw/stronghold.php?area=16&lang=en

Edited April 11, 2021 by Avacado

[Bastiaan_NL]

Shipping from DE to NL is great, some orders show up in 48 hours or less after receiving the shipping confirmation! Sadly Caseking is also OOS, or better said in one of my favorite languages: "die Lieferzeit ist unbekannt". I'll keep an eye on them anyways, same as the Dutch webshops to see which one has stock first. 

There is no rush for now, once I find some time I'll have to fab up some brackets for the fans and radiator and figure out a more solid way to mount the monitor. After doing some modifications on the PCI-e mounting profile I lost a bit of strength in the monitor mount, for now I support it with an extra profile and some cable ties but that's not a good looking solution. I might have to weld an extra bracket or something.
 

[J7SC_Orion]

On 4/12/2021 at 10:53 AM, Bastiaan_NL said:

Shipping from DE to NL is great, some orders show up in 48 hours or less after receiving the shipping confirmation! Sadly Caseking is also OOS, or better said in one of my favorite languages: "die Lieferzeit ist unbekannt". I'll keep an eye on them anyways, same as the Dutch webshops to see which one has stock first. 

There is no rush for now, once I find some time I'll have to fab up some brackets for the fans and radiator and figure out a more solid way to mount the monitor. After doing some modifications on the PCI-e mounting profile I lost a bit of strength in the monitor mount, for now I support it with an extra profile and some cable ties but that's not a good looking solution. I might have to weld an extra bracket or something.
 

  

I grew up in Europe and get a kick out of "die Lieferzeit ist unbekannt"

 

...in fact, I check caseking.de weekly to compare to some of the bigger Canadian retailers (Memoryexpress, Newegg.ca, CanadaComputers) ..."unbekannt" seems to equate with 'out of stock' in caseking's thinking...technically, when they had stock of the same item, it would say 'lagernd', but when sold out, they got amnesia again... 

[Bastiaan_NL]

Where did you grow up in Europe if I might ask? 

It is kinda funny indeed. "Unbekannt" is the same as the Dutch "onbekend" which translates to "unknown". But it feels like they mean that they don't have a clue if it will ever be in stock again. 

I spend a lot of my time in Germany for work, and I like to be there. The language shows a lot of resemblance with our language, making it easy but complicated at the same time. There are words which are spelled and pronounced exactly the same but have a different meaning. 

[J7SC_Orion]

5 minutes ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

Where did you grow up in Europe if I might ask? 

It is kinda funny indeed. "Unbekannt" is the same as the Dutch "onbekend" which translates to "unknown". But it feels like they mean that they don't have a clue if it will ever be in stock again. 

I spend a lot of my time in Germany for work, and I like to be there. The language shows a lot of resemblance with our language, making it easy but complicated at the same time. There are words which are spelled and pronounced exactly the same but have a different meaning. 

 

...my family tree is Dutch / German but I grew up in Germany...

[Bastiaan_NL]

The progress on this build is a bit slow, because it has been running without any problem for some time. 
As I'm using the system I get an idea of what I need to change or improve. 

 

 

So first of all, I've lowered the lower level 4cm to create a bit more room. The extensions are long enough for every slot on the upper level, so why not?

I am running out of profiles and hardware, though I ordered a lot more than I needed for the initial build. So I guess I'll have to order more..

As I'm slowly progressing with this build I realized that it's pretty heavy to lift the system (doh..), so a set of caster wheels might not be a bad idea. 

 

I've not been able to find the perfect PSU, so for now I'm still using the pair of 850w PSU's. I want to mount them in a tray below the lower level, hanging like this:

 

For that I'll have to make a bracket that'll fit 2 PSU's side by side, with a few holes to secure them with screws. Something like a cable tray wouldn't be a bad idea either if I want to make it look somewhat decent. 

 

The AIO radiator will need a bracket too, it is hanging on one of the profiles right now. It's a perfect fit between the frame, almost like it was on purpose

 

One of the last purchases was 3 extra CoolerMaster PCIe extension cables. There are currently 4 GPU's in the system, and with the Tesla M40 that'll soon be 5. Once I have a decent PSU and the GPU shortage is over I would like to change at least the 1650 super for something 30xx and maybe the 1660ti too. At least I have all the extensions I need for that, and they are all the same.

 

And since I have enough extensions I upgraded the 1650 super to the penthouse which will improve the airflow over the motherboard and it'll look a bit more occupied on the upper level of the system.

 

That's it for now. More idea's in my head, and a lot to do to make that happen. 

 

 

[J7SC_Orion]

3 hours ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

The progress on this build is a bit slow, because it has been running without any problem for some time. 
As I'm using the system I get an idea of what I need to change or improve. 

 

 

So first of all, I've lowered the lower level 4cm to create a bit more room. The extensions are long enough for every slot on the upper level, so why not?

I am running out of profiles and hardware, though I ordered a lot more than I needed for the initial build. So I guess I'll have to order more..

As I'm slowly progressing with this build I realized that it's pretty heavy to lift the system (doh..), so a set of caster wheels might not be a bad idea. 

 

I've not been able to find the perfect PSU, so for now I'm still using the pair of 850w PSU's. I want to mount them in a tray below the lower level, hanging like this:

 

For that I'll have to make a bracket that'll fit 2 PSU's side by side, with a few holes to secure them with screws. Something like a cable tray wouldn't be a bad idea either if I want to make it look somewhat decent. 

 

The AIO radiator will need a bracket too, it is hanging on one of the profiles right now. It's a perfect fit between the frame, almost like it was on purpose

 

One of the last purchases was 3 extra CoolerMaster PCIe extension cables. There are currently 4 GPU's in the system, and with the Tesla M40 that'll soon be 5. Once I have a decent PSU and the GPU shortage is over I would like to change at least the 1650 super for something 30xx and maybe the 1660ti too. At least I have all the extensions I need for that, and they are all the same.

 

And since I have enough extensions I upgraded the 1650 super to the penthouse which will improve the airflow over the motherboard and it'll look a bit more occupied on the upper level of the system.

 

That's it for now. More idea's in my head, and a lot to do to make that happen. 

 

 

 

...you're running out of room for the wine bottles, though 

 

...re. PSU custom brackets, I have used the steel strapping below w/ great success. It's just pliable enough to shape, but will then hold its shape, whether PSU or even heavy under-mount rads.

 

 

  

...used it here as well

 

  

  

...steel straps painted black since then, of course...

 

 

 

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by J7SC_Orion

[Bastiaan_NL]

On 15/05/2021 at 23:03, J7SC_Orion said:

...you're running out of room for the wine bottles, though 

 

...re. PSU custom brackets, I have used the steel strapping below w/ great success. It's just pliable enough to shape, but will then hold its shape, whether PSU or even heavy under-mount rads.

I still have room for around 40 bottles, should be enough for a week or 2

The steel strapping is an option, but I have access to aluminium diamond plates. If I sandblast that to lose the shine it should look about the same as the profiles, and I can make a mounting plate for other hardware too like the little fan hub, the power button and the add2psu. 

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[Bastiaan_NL]

And an other little update, I decided to draw the PSU box and the radiator mounting plate. (All that to make @ENTERPRISE happy )

I'll see if I can get this made from normal aluminium instead of diamond plate. I'm not sure if I'll like the diamond pattern.. And hopefully our 'metal' shop can cut this with a laser, would save me a lot of time!

So first the radiator panel. I decided to mount the power button on the PSU box, so nobody can press it by accident. 

 

And here is the PSU box. It'll fit 2 PSU's, a hole on top and 2 holes in the back for the cables. I've used a common size for grommets, so I can just insert those and make it look clean. 

The open side will remain open, it's on the back anyways. That's the only way to install the PSU's after welding the box. I might have to extend the box a bit after looking at the size of the PSU I want (was not expecting it to be 225mm )

Between the PSU's is a hole for the power button I am using, which is in the previous post. I might weld the box myself, not much experience with aluminium but maybe a fun project to try it again.

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL

[J7SC_Orion]

...^ noice - soon, you're out-competing builds like the one below   (though definitely choose different GPU blocks  , and add more serial D5s)

   

 

[ENTERPRISE]

44 minutes ago, Bastiaan_NL said:

And an other little update, I decided to draw the PSU box and the radiator mounting plate. (All that to make @ENTERPRISE happy )

I'll see if I can get this made from normal aluminium instead of diamond plate. I'm not sure if I'll like the diamond pattern.. And hopefully our 'metal' shop can cut this with a laser, would save me a lot of time!

So first the radiator panel. I decided to mount the power button on the PSU box, so nobody can press it by accident. 

 

And here is the PSU box. It'll fit 2 PSU's, a hole on top and 2 holes in the back for the cables. I've used a common size for grommets, so I can just insert those and make it look clean. 

The open side will remain open, it's on the back anyways. That's the only way to install the PSU's after welding the box. I might have to extend the box a bit after looking at the size of the PSU I want (was not expecting it to be 225mm )

Between the PSU's is a hole for the power button I am using, which is in the previous post. I might weld the box myself, not much experience with aluminium but maybe a fun project to try it again.

 

 

That is awesome man, that looks to be a half height version of the CFP case almost. Well played for using Solidworks haha, I have been satisfied...wait that sounds weird. 

[Bastiaan_NL]

On 16/05/2021 at 20:40, J7SC_Orion said:

...^ noice - soon, you're out-competing builds like the one below   (though definitely choose different GPU blocks  , and add more serial D5s)

I feel sorry for that pump, that's a lot of restriction to overcome! 
But that PSU on the other hand, I know a way better system it should go in...  

 

On 16/05/2021 at 21:20, ENTERPRISE said:

That is awesome man, that looks to be a half height version of the CFP case almost. Well played for using Solidworks haha, I have been satisfied...wait that sounds weird. 

Haha, don't worry. We all have things that make us "happy"

I was using DesignSpark, not sure if that uses the same engine as Solidworks but it gets the job done. After using it for several hours I still don't feel comfortable using it, might have to do with my lack of experience with 3d drawing.

It looks way bigger on the drawing than it actually is, the dimensions are 10x30x43.5cm (I updated the design to fit the longer PSU after posting the images). 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Bastiaan_NL