PAX 
Dual-CPU, Dual-PSU Insane System at PAX East 2012 [Photos]
Dual-CPU, Dual-PSU Insane System at PAX East 2012 [Photos]
09 April 2012
Last Updated on 09 April 2012
Heart-stopping is the word that comes to mind. We could see the red pulse of this behemoth, dual-Xeon CPU, dual-PSU system clearly from many booths away at PAX East (full coverage here); the Rosewill custom build, as commissioned by BS Mods, was something to kill for. I'll let the photos do the talking:
The system's specs look a little something like this:
| Case | Rosewill Blackhawk-ULTRA |
| Motherboard | EVGA SR-3 (Prototype) |
| CPU | Intel Xeon E5-2620 x2 |
| CPU Cooler | Zalman CNPS20LQ x2 |
| VGA | EVGA GeForce GTX680 x2 |
| Memory | 48GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600MHz (4GBx12) |
| HDD/SSD | Kingston SH100S3/120GB x2 |
| PSU | Rosewill LIGHTNING-1300W 80 Plus Gold x2 |
You know, normal.
Rosewill worked with case modding company BS Mods to pull off a custom-painted Blackhawk Ultra case, packed with, from what we were told, one of the very first EVGA SR-3 dual-CPU boards. The case itself has support for enterprise servers, and as such was found packed with two 1300W PSUs. EVGA's SR-3 motherboard was filled to the top with 12x4GB Kingston HyperX memory modules (48GB total), 2xGTX680s, 2xZalman CNPS20LQ liquid coolers, and some killer fast SSDs. It's quite a different story from Rosewill's new budget R5 case (which is incredible for those looking to spend less than $90 on an enclosure).
The entire system, we estimate, would cost in the range of $4000 to build for a consumer, not counting the price of the custom paint itself.
Have any questions about this setup? Post your comments below and we'll get 'em answered!
-Steve
Comments (10)
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2013-01-06 14:37:54 | Keith S - Where are the CD/DVD drives?
How would you install software on this rig with a basic CD drive?
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2012-04-11 15:41:37 | Simon - Awesome
this is a super machine wow.
for those that ask 2 PSU, well in the server world and if you manage to create a gaming serverlike set up 2 psu are for redundancy, that means that if by some kind of problem one PSU fails you have the 2nd one to cover with this you can ensure full capacity and well gaming time, i happen to have a server like setup in my home for gamming and that is the reason for dual PSU, in my country there are ltos of electrical blackouts, ups and downs in voltage that can really harm you system i also have it covered with a APC 1500VA power suply/source protector but since you cannot count all the times on the battery or that the resistance in the UPS will support the ups in voltage you need additional protection. of course server like setup have a particular interesting bridge between the PSU to ensure constant the redundancy
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josh jones wrote:its cool and all but generally speaking most games dont even go past 4 cores and the type of processor these contain arent even for gaming. a single overclocked quad-core processor could easily beat this if it had the same 2 gpu's in it. and im assuming because of the amount of memory slots he is filling up that the ram speeds/timings are also sub par.
It's an enthusiast/dev/server build that was built to show off for a convention, it's not meant to be the most efficient gaming PC you've ever seen.
Just appreciate the hardware for what it is.
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2012-04-11 15:03:22 | josh jones - well...
its cool and all but generally speaking most games dont even go past 4 cores and the type of processor these contain arent even for gaming. a single overclocked quad-core processor could easily beat this if it had the same 2 gpu's in it. and im assuming because of the amount of memory slots he is filling up that the ram speeds/timings are also sub par.
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Deault wrote:I don't get it, why 2 PSU?
Realistically? Just for fun. The second one isn't serving much purpose beyond looking awesome. It does give the potential to have a pretty strong server or enthusiast rig, though.
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2012-04-10 16:34:59 | codes
Insides look all dusty.
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noname wrote:are there any benchmarks values from this?
I'll get in touch with Rosewill and see if they have anything they can share. It's a great machine for an enthusiast and anyone using production tools, but of course, it's a bit on the "overkill" side for gaming (most games will barely utilize 2-4 cores, much less 2 CPUs!).
Great question, hopefully I can get an answer... although I think they primarily built it as a show system.
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It's a demo system for a convention - it doesn't need them. Also, USB keys and digital downloads are replacing optical media for software installations.