Dual Xeon E5520 Server
The background to this build was that i needed to be able to use virtualization on a larger scale and the Core2Duo server i had was inadequate for this purpose. My first thought was to use an i7 setup but i wanted more than 4 cores(i was going to use it for video processing as well) and looking at the upcoming 6core CPUs i realized it would be around the same investment or even more expensive than getting a dual CPU setup. Below is a list of the primary hardware components i used along with some unboxing images.
| Motherboard | Supermicro X8DTi-F-O |
| Raidcard | LSI MegaRaid SAS 9260-8i |
| Raidcard BBU | LSI MegaRAID LSIiBBU07 for 8880EM2/9260/9280 |
| RAM | Kingston ValueRam 12GB(2 * KVR1333D3E9SK3/6GI) |
| CPU:s | Intel Quad-Core Xeon E5520 * 2 / 2.26 GHz processor |
| PSU | Corsair HX1000W |
| Noise absorber | Be-Quiet Noise Absorber Kit Big Tower |
| CPU Heat sinks | SuperMicro 4U CPU Active Cooler (SNK-P0040AP4) |
| Chassi | Lian Li PC-A70FB |
Installation
This was a very easy build which went smooth and without issues. I really like the screw mountings for the CPU HSFs. Its almost impossible to fail. The BeQuiet Noise absorber was very solid and weighed a lot more than previous absorber kits that i have used in the past. Though it seems like the glue could be improved since i had some issues later on having to reapply them to the chassi in some places. The chassi-fans were a little louder than i had hoped(the loudest fans ive ever seen mounted on a Lian-Li chassi). Though for the price, which was a factor for me in this choice, they are ok, and since i do not sit beside the server anyway it doesnt really matter. I have added some installation images below accompanied by some IPMI screenshots of the LSI 9260 WebBIOS.
