@vizport
power consumption:
Two years ago we had to do some power consumption tests in the old office to exactly split the consumers. I don't have the exact numbers anymore but I remember that the 3990K setup (ASUS - Rampage, Geforce Quadro 4000) needed more than the setup with the 62xx Quad Opterons (Supermicro MB, Geforce Quadro FX1800) in idle mode. I was very surprised about that but I know that the Opterons are very efficient compared to Intel servers, regarding power consumption - it is one of their big advantages.
If I don't overclock I only need a common 850 Watt PSU...
configuration:
Render Node (in the cellar
)
- Supermicro Mainboard -
615 Euro
- 4x Opteron 62xx ES (4x 16C) - ebay - 4x 230 Euro -
920 Euro
- 4x Dynatron A6 CPU cooler - 4x 35 Euro -
140 Euro
- 32GB (16x) DDR3 - 1333MHz -
240 Euro
- nvidia Quadro FX1800 - ebay but new -
60 Euro
- 120 GB SSD -
60 Euro
- LEPA G 1600W PSU -
220 Euro
- Xigmatek Elysium (Case) -
200 Euro
makes 2455 Euro
Workstation
- nvidia Quadro 4000 instead of nvidia Quadro FX1800 - ebay -
300 Euro
- 4x Noctua NH-U12 instead of Dynatron A6 - 4x 55 Euro -
220 Euro
makes 2775 Euro
...and looks like this:
I only use air cooling - the temperatures under several hours of heavy load / using Maxwell

are around 60°C...
This is the Mainboard that I'm using:
http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/motherb ... QGi_-F.cfm
it allows up to 1TB RAM...