# Anything to be aware of building a "server" VEP machine?



## merlinhimself (Nov 30, 2018)

I've looked into it a bit and love the price of building a powerful PC Server component VEP Slave. After realizing VEP running kontakts doesnt require crazy fast cores, or generally crazy fast ram, I really would like to build one. However I wanted to find out any problems people have encountered with this type of build, what to do or avoid etc.


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## JohnG (Nov 30, 2018)

someone warned me off it, saying they draw a lot of power, require a lot of cooling, and are very loud because of the fans you need.

No idea if that's true but maybe check those issues.

The other reason is that "regular" PCs have gotten so incredibly powerful these days.


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## T-LeffoH (Nov 30, 2018)

I would stick with a slave PC using regular PCs; the power consumption/cooling/noise issues on a server JohnG mentions would be problematic.

Just the power consumption alone on a server would be generally double that of a standard PC. I use two slave PCs right now which almost use less power than my Mac DAW machine.

I can't envision any major upside to using a server machine.


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## merlinhimself (Dec 6, 2018)

To me the upside is the price for cores. I had drawn out a 20core(overkill) 128gb server slave costing about 2300. I'd definitely downsize those specs as the cores are just overkill.


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## Damarus (Dec 6, 2018)

eBay has some great 'build your own' servers for good pricing. 

Unless you have a machine room away from you, I would say it's not worth the noise. Server fans are loudd


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## T-LeffoH (Dec 6, 2018)

The only other suggestion that comes to mind is serviceability.

I tend to err away from custom builds and toward brandname PCs for VE-Pro machines as warranty and on-site service repair are readily available options at point of purchase from manufacturers.

In my experience, that alone has been a godsend with longer-term cost savings & upkeep.


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## maestro2be (Dec 6, 2018)

I have run a huge dell poweredge for years with no issue at all. 6 NVME drives, 192GB RAM and 64 cores. Here would be a few things to consider that I face every day:

1. They run super hot. It will literally raise the temp in the entire room almost enough to make you sweat. So make sure it's in another room.
2. The noise is extremely intrusive so be sure it's in another room.
3. It takes quite some time to boot up, so turn it on and come back in 15 minutes. Then launch your VEP Pro template, and come back again in 15 more minutes .
4. If you need to do repairs on it and you don't have one under warranty your personal comfort level and technical expertise will be put to test.
5. They aren't the most video card friendly machines.
6. They don't typically support running Windows 10 so you will need some experience in running a server OS and hope it supports all of your software you plan to run on it.
7. My electric bill went up noticeably from using this server as it has 2 1,000 watt power supplies.

There's some things to think about but for me overall, it has been stable as a rock once up and running. Just have to get used to the super long reboot times when necessary.

Hope that helps.


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## some12b (Dec 15, 2018)

maestro2be said:


> I have run a huge dell poweredge for years with no issue at all. 6 NVME drives, 192GB RAM and 64 cores. Here would be a few things to consider that I face every day:
> 
> 1. They run super hot. It will literally raise the temp in the entire room almost enough to make you sweat. So make sure it's in another room.
> 2. The noise is extremely intrusive so be sure it's in another room.
> ...



Yeah that's the type of computer that you have in separate room, sealed as best you can and with temperature controled by AC. But it's a great rig


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## Kony (Dec 15, 2018)

merlinhimself said:


> However I wanted to find out any problems people have encountered with this type of build, what to do or avoid etc.


Whatever you do, don't let this guy near it....


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