Yes, it’s a milestone. Office 7.0 (beta 3, by now) is officially done, functional, installed, running, and ready for action.
I’m not going to make any final “beauty” shots of the current state because there’s not much point in doing that until the other half of the office completes the current ensemble and that won’t be for quite a number of months yet. I’ll just have to make do with this setup in the meantime. And yes, you can imagine it’s painful and under-powered and under-monitored, and boy am I missing the extra pixels… not. 🙂
I’m quite happy with the 3 x 2560 x 1600, actually. But of course, the office won’t be complete until it’s complete. And besides, my camera gear is all in The Netherlands anyway, so there’s no point in trying to create perfect RAW shots and then editing them for a final “beauty” pass.
I didn’t take shots of other parts of the office since nothing has changed there but if you want to see then anyway I refer you to the other Office 7.0 beta blog posts and images.
There’s a server, a workstation, a second workstation, a Mac Pro, the MacBook Air, and the Clevo laptop. That should be enough for the intermediate stages of getting up and running. The three Lian-Li cases look nice together and all have watercooling for the CPU’s. ATI 6970 Eyefinity cards take care of the two workstations, each of them hooked to the 3 x 30 inch Dell U3011 monitors using StarTech DisplayPort switches to allow for an extra set of DisplayPort ports on each monitor. The server is hooked up via DVI connection (and also capable of doing 2560×1200) while the Mac Pro is using 3 x DVI where one of those is run from a mini DisplayPort port via an Apple converter that turns it into full dual-link DVI.
All the PC hardware has been built, tested, and tuned by Computers USA in case you have failed to notice my previous blog post about my new dealer here.
Things are going well here in Oakley. I got my work authorization a few weeks ago. Which was a huge surprise because it came 10 weeks before the government said it would. Also, the last of my “burdens of development life” is now luckily no longer an issue, leaving me free to get involved in new fun projects. In fact, I am talking to some interested parties about some real interesting top secret “stealth projects”.
Oh, I was going to post some pictures, right? Right! Here they are…
Wow things have moved on!! Looking Well Smart, Loving the trademark blue! This brings a new meaning to multi monitors. Cant wait to see the old office integrated with the new one.
Hi,
I really like your office, you are The Man ;-). I am your big fan for years.
Please, post specification of your new workstations and server.
I am really curious and waiting for months for some more technical detail O:-).
Thank you very mutch.
Mark
The specs are not really all that impressive, though. I only bought the new systems since I need some stuff before I can get the other office consolidated (and upgraded/replaced, etc.) and finish the “full” office.
Server (ESXi):
Lian-Li PC-P80 Case (all fans fitted)
SuperMicro X8SAX Motherboard
24GB (6 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 RAM
LG CDRW-DVD+RW
Cooler Master Silent Pro M1000, 1000W PSU
Corsair H100 Hydro Liquid CPU Cooler
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9265-8i SGL Controller
LSI Battery Backup Controller
Simple 1GB ATI Graphics Card (MSI, I believe)
1 x OCZ 60GB Agility 3 SSD MCL 525/475 6Gbps
8 x Hitachi 2TB Deskstar 7K3000 6Gbps HD’s
2 x IcyDock MB454SPF-B RAID Backplanes
Workstation 1:
Lian-Li PC-P80 Case (all fans fitted)
ASUS Rampage III Extreme Motherboard
Core i7 3.46Ghz 990X
24GB (6 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 RAM
LG CDRW-DVD+RW
Cooler Master Silent Pro 850W PSU
Corsair H100 Hydro Liquid CPU Cooler
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9265-8i SGL Controller
LSI Battery Backup Controller
ASUS EAH6970 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5 2GB DDR5 (ATI/Eyefinity)
1 x OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 480GB SSD
6 x Hitachi 1TB Deskstar 7K3000 6Gbps HD’s
2 x IcyDock MB454SPF-B RAID Backplanes
Workstation 2:
Lian-Li PC-P80 Case (all fans fitted)
ASUS P6T WS Pro Motherboard
Core i7 3.46Ghz 990X
24GB (6 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 RAM
LG CDRW-DVD+RW
Cooler Master Silent Pro M1000, 1000W PSU
Corsair H100 Hydro Liquid CPU Cooler
LSI MegaRAID SAS 9265-8i SGL Controller
LSI Battery Backup Controller
ASUS EAH6970 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5 2GB DDR5 (ATI/Eyefinity)
1 x Intel 510 Series 250GB SSD
8 x Hitachi 2TB Deskstar 7K3000 6Gbps HD’s
2 x IcyDock MB454SPF-B RAID Backplanes
Apple 12C Mac Pro:
2 x 2.93Ghz “Westmere” CPU’s
64GB RAM (from OWC)
4 x 3TB Hitachi HD’s
2 x OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 480GB SSD (RAID 0)
2 x ATI Radeon 5770 1GB Graphics Cards
1 x Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI Converter
1 x 12TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro QX2 RAID5
Other new stuff to make this office work:
1 x APC Smart-UPS 2200VA (20amp “beast”)
2 x APC Backup-UPS 1500VA UPS’es
2 x HP Procurve 24-port Gigabit Switches
1 x D-Link DSR-500 Dual-WAN Router
1 x Linksys Router (hacked with DD-WRT)
2 x Behringer RX1602 16-Input (RX 1602) Line mixers
1 x Behringer DEQ1024 Equalizer
1 x Behringer DEQ2496 Equalizer
1 x Behringer AMP800 Headphone Amplifier
1 x 5.1 Logitech Speakers
2 x Power Switches
3 x Dell 30″ U3011 Monitors (2560×1600 each)
3 x StarTech 2 x DisplayPort Switch boxes
And of course, lots and lots of Cat6 UTP cables, DVI cables, DisplayPort cables, USB cables, USB Extender cables, Power cables, a bunch of extra external HD’s for backups and double backups, a NeatWorks scanner, some new keyboard and Logitech Performance MX mice, etc. and a massive portable AC unit in addition ot the central AC. 🙂
impressive!
Hi i was wondering how you mounted the H100 cooler in the case?
I myself have a Lian-Li PC-P80B Case, is your PC-P80 case a ‘B’ or a ‘N’ ?
If it is either of the two, how did you manage to mount the cooler?
I am basically building a new system now and am wanting to use the H100. It has two 120mm fans, so I am finding it hard to see how the cooler fits inside nicely in the Lian-Li PC-P80B, since there is only one 140mm fan on top and one 120mm fan on the back.
The Lian-Li PC-P80N has two 140mm fans on the top and one 120mm fans on the back.
I have also thought about changing to a Lian-Li PC-P80N to mount the H100 on the top nicely, but even then I will still need to mod because of the different fan size’s. of course unless I mount it to the back where the 120mm fan is, but then i thought it will be in the way of the gfx I/O ports.
A picture would be nice 🙂 cheers
You’re right about the H100 not really fitting in there. We came to this conclusion a little after the fact but the guys that built my machines managed to make it fit well enough by zip-tying it to the top bars of the case.
There is a part of the H100 that angles a bit downward and extends into the upper drive bay but since there’s nothing there it didn’t matter much.
In retrospect I should’ve gone for a smaller model but the H100 still does a really nice job the way it was fitted in the first machine so I decided to have them do the same for the other two as well.
If you’re concerned about making a perfect fit, then definitely, no, the H100 and P80 (I think they are B models, not N) won’t fit properly.
Cheers for the help.
I will look into this option for mounting it in the PC-P80B.
Personally I want to use the H100 rather than the H80 and also since the H100 does a nice job in this case.
Your opinion is most valued, due to your experience with this equipment.
Thanks again.
“The specs are not really all that impressive, though” hahaha i know too many people who would to have at least the less powerfull of your machines, anyway my main Workstation is a i7 @2.66 (not oced) with 12 gig RAM and almost 2.5 Tb storage, an HP dv6000 and a HP DV7 lappies, something we have in common is a Linksys wireless router bundled with DD-WRT firmware wich rocks!!! but im looking to upgrade it to other DD-WRT capable Cisco router, cheers.
LOL! Well, ok. What I should’ve written is that they’re not as impressive as the specs of some of the machines in the 6.0 Office back on the other continent. In particular the “Pentane” workstation with 3 x nVidia C2070’s to provide some CUDA power. 🙂
It’s the D-Link DSR-500 I’m using for the actual internet routing. The LinkSys with DD-WRT is what I use to play/test some things with and to provide a “WiFi backdoor” directly into the LAN.
How hot does the room get on an average day?
Not all that hot, really. I have central air conditioning in the house as well as an additional 12.000 BTU portable air conditioner to deal with the heat out here in this area. Of course, it can get a little noisy with that running. 🙂
Stefan,
I’m looking into buying a portable AC unit for my home office. Could you tell me what model you currently have? I want to make sure I get one that will actually cool my equipment. I’ve read many reviews going either way with portable AC units so I figured I would see what your experiences and opinions are.
Thanks in advance.
Zig
It’s an LG 12000 BTU model. But don’t buy what I bought simply because I bought it. Getting a good fitting AC can be quite involved and you need to look at a lot of details like the size of the room it needs to cool, how long the hose is and whether you can extend it or not and if you can’t extend it whether the system will work or whether the extension will make it run less efficient (which means you need a bigger model to make up for the difference), etc.
Also, you have to make sure you have enough fuses/circuits to handle an AC because those things suck power like crazy. Anywhere from 900 to 2000 Watt is not uncommon.
I had to go for a portable unit because window units and wall units wouldn’t work out with the layout of the office. A split unit also wouldn’t work too well since it would require some additional work to get that installed. So a portable one was the only option and it had to have a long enough hose (which it didn’t) so I had to extend that myself with some ductape and diameter converters to get more “tubing” on there to get it out the window from the bathroom that is at the back of the office.
Hey Stefan,
Looking good!!!
Nice specs of the new machines! :p
Bye
Wilko
Hey Stefan,
with all that equipment I wonder what set of Logitech-speakers you have. Is it the Z5500?
Ha! You’ll be shocked… It’s a Z506. Cheap, simple, effective. I considered the Z906 and larger sets but the reality is that I normally use my headphones. And the Sennheiser HD800 is a $1500 item which I sense is going to continue to produce a better and clearer sound than any Logitech speaker set. 🙂
so you don’t name your workstations stupid names anymore?
Of course I still name machines. Greek mythology, this time. 🙂
I’m insanely, obsessively, in love with the new setup.
Great job with this office as usual!
I hope you will have a lot of fun with it 😉
Hey Stefan,
I was just wondering, what are the noise levels like?
It’s not too bad. The water cooling uses some fans and there’s a few in the front of the main systems, etc. so there definitely is some fan noise. These things are not completely noise-free. However, the thing that really produces more noise than anything combined is the additional portable A/C unit. 🙂
hello stefan,
is the first time I write on your blog, really compliments for your office!
when new updates are no longer beta?
Early next year when I complete things. 🙂
I’m interested in your desk, you can bear the weight of so much equipment, if you can please tell me, the table which brand or where I could buy this?
If you’re referring to the desks in the pictures on this page (office 7.0, still a work in progress), the desks are several combinations of the IKEA Galant line of office desks. They hold up a lot of weight. Not as good as my other desks in the other (6.0) office but certainly stable and strong enough.
You are building our dream .
When your office(7.0) will be completed
Really exciting~
the Ikea desk can buy in my country.
but I like office (6.0) desk better.
haha~
Thank you for your answer
Hopefully the 7.0 version will be complete and done somewhere Jan/Feb 2013.
The IKEA Galant desks are fine. Much easier to create curves and extensions than with the Projekta desks from offices 3.0 to 6.0. Unfortunately, Projekta has stopped making those desks many years ago.