mgsvr

Hi guys, just an update: I live in Houston, TX due to last week's storm my mobo has not arrived yet. Should be here this week. However, I do get a reply back from ASRock. They didn't provide the link to their partners ASI or Ma Labs, but I will go buy the OCULINK at Supermicro based on @trurl 's successful build anyway. Just need to test the mobo first before I do any more purchase.

Thank you. I've been taking advices from @Hoopster and @mgutt on my own topic. Hoopster directed me to your post too. Which Ram did you actually went for back then? I tried to get the Micron (Crucial) from NewEgg but they cancelled my order a bit later due to being out of stock. I then get the Timetec Hynix. If you went for the Hynix it would be awesome to hear your experience. I always use Crucial on all my computers, and this is the first time I go with another brand.

Sadly NewEgg cancelled my Micron ram. They listed as in stock but after I ordered they cancelled. I went with Amazon's Timetec Hynix as you sugggested to trurl's build Timetec Hynix IC 16GB DDR4 2400MHz PC4-19200 Unbuffered ECC 1.2V CL17 2Rx8 Dual Rank 288 Pin UDIMM

Hi @trurl Sorry to bring up old post, but I am about to build with a similar spec to yours. Mine is also a ASRock C246 WSI Do you need to set any jumper on the mobo when you plug the OCuLINK? I searched everywhere and it seems only Supermicro has it. https://store.supermicro.com/supermicro-50cm-oculink-to-4-sata-cable-cbl-sast-0933.html

I placed an order for all the parts already including the Y splitter cables. Hopefully the board I get from Amazon has a P2.10 BIOS otherwise I do not know if I can even able get into the BIOS with the 9th gen i3. I did shoot an email to ASRock to ask about that scenario.

My case has 3 fans in the front blowing directly to the HDDs. You gave me an idea. Maybe I should have one fan uses power from the PSU connect to a throttle adapter, then daisy chain the other two? That leave 3 Mobo fan headers open, one for CPU + the other two. EDITED: Never mind, I just did my research. Noctua said one low noise adapter per fan. We should not do for more than one.

Ok thank you. I was using the BIOS Smart Fan setting since 2015 then I found out about "ipmi fan" plugin like last year. The plugin control the fan way better than the BIOS. Maybe nowadays ASRock has a better BIOS than back then. Hopefully the Y splitter will not exceed the header voltage nor cause burn out. Going to order now: ASRock C246 WSI Intel Core i3-9100 Micron MTA18ASF2G72AZ2G6E2 16GB DDR4 2666Mhz ECC UDIMM 2Rx8 Noctua NA-SYC1 chromax.red, 4-Pin Y-Cables I will just buy one stick of Micron 16GB Ram for now since I do not have the budget. I still need to source for the OCuLINK cable (trurl's link from another post), that one is a pain. I also send ASRack an email to see if they have any recommendation for the OCuLINK.

@Hoopster and @mgutt, Since the C246 only support 3x Fan headers, I plan to buy 4 pin Y fan splitter by Noctua. I will install 3 of them splitters because my case have 6 fans right now (CPU and 5x PWM Noctua fans). CPU and one of the fans will share one header. On my previous setup I have this Unraid plugin "ipmi fan" that spins up the fans based on the thermostat. Now the C246 doesn't have IPMI, will the plugin able to control the fans somehow?

Hi @mgutt, so I read your topic. On the #1, that's for the 24 Pin to 4 Pin power adapter for the whole motherboard you talked about earlier. As for the #2 8 Pin for the CPU. I look back on my PSU, I think it does support 8 PIN.

@mgutt I think I will go with the ASRock C246. The Gigabyte is no longer in stock every where in USA. @Hoopster Thank you for the link. It's very useful as Trurl listed all the links to the component. The info and link in that you posted regarding Crucial no longer sell ECC ram. That's very sad to hear because all my computer devices I use Crucial as memory. I will try to stick with their brand. You posted the link to Micron (which linked with Crucial) it's not in the ASRock memory QVL, but it will work fine, correct? I have the below with NewEgg. https://www.newegg.com/p/1B4-00SK-002F1 I will buy the Intel Core i3-9100 from Amazon. I wanted the i3-9300 but it's not available any where. It has 8MB cache vs the 6MB from 9100. Not sure if that matters. I will also get the OCuLINK from trurl's link.

Yes, C246 haha. I have not buy it yet, it's still in my Amazon cart. I will look into that Gigabyte board. Glad you mentioned about the ATX power connector. My 2015 Seasonic PSU is modular and has the 24 pin type. I noticed that ASRock has the newer type power connectors and I do not know if my PSU even has those. I guess not (sorry I wasn't able to open my case to check yet). You're right, I'd try to avoid using adapter. I also look into this Asus P11C-I, it's a m-ITX with support up to 6x Sata. Do you know anything relate to it and whether it will work with Intel iGPU and quick sync? Plex is the most important to me.

Hi @mgutt. Yes, I only able to go for m-ITX due to the case I currently have. It's actually a really nice NAS case I bought back in 2015. It's a Lian Li Q26B that can hold 10 drives. I know I'm limiting myself seeing other mobo forms with better specs and options, but I can't part from the case. Thanks for letting me know about the TDP and temp. I think I will go with tthe i3 9100 for $150 as the 9350K is almost $200. Hi @Hoopster, I'm going to buy the ASRock C236 WSI off Amazon and email the ASRock support as well. I will ask them about OCuLINK cable and BIOS. Thanks for letting me know about BIOS. Hopefully I will get a board with a newer version so the i3 9100 will work on it.

Wow, that is so nice about the socketed BIOS. Where do you usually buy your components? I usually buy from NewEgg when it comes to PC parts, and I don't know if their stock is old or new batch (regarding the BIOS version). I read your other post that your newer ASRock does HTML5 IPMI now. My failed board, ASRock E3C224D4I-14S, has that old Java IPMI. Since I use a Mac, the board won't even allow me to download the JViewer file. I'm not sure why it. I even used Chrome to do it but the file always get corrupted. Then I took out my 10 years old Windows laptop (with hard drive), changed a lot of Internet Explorer security options and added the ip address to Java option. It finally let me download, but then Java won't run the JViewer file due to a new security thing in the latest Java program. I googled and have to edit this Java file code. Finally I get to run JViewer, booted and saw the BIOS. I did a restart a couple times but the board remain in "System Initializing..." and never boot into BIOS again. Sorry to brag about my experience. I'd love to get that new ASRock IPMI again but due to the price I cannot. Plus, reading from your post that it needs a special BIOS in order for IPMI and iGPU Quick Sync to work.

Thank you, @Hoopster. I haven't post in this forum for many years, and I didn't know this tagging feature exists now! LOL Yes, I did read the topic from @mgutt last night and your many other posts. I think a Core i3 will be great since I only need Plex and one Windows 10 VM. Those two were what I used with my previous setup. After looking at new builds, I learned about this new tech called Quick Sync! Also learned that not to the "F" version of the CPU as it doesn't have the iGPU. I think I will buy the newer i3-9100 or i3-9300 (over the older i3-8xxx?) with around 65 watt usage. The K version is 91 watt. On ASRack website, it indicates the i3-9xxx needs BIOS P2.10. After I installed the CPU and boot, I can flash the board to P2.10, correct? I still have my Seasonic PSU, and Noctua fans from my previous setup. I just need to buy the new DDR4 Ram, Intel Core i3 CPU, Asrock C246 WSI + that OCuLINK cable.

Hi Hoopster, I went through the forum and read many of posts, but still need your advise on this. Recently my 2015 Asrock server mobo + Xeon v3 died on me, and now I am looking for a new m-ITX mobo. My main goal is to build for Plex + Quick Sync. I only do 1 stream (1080P and 4K) since only myself use Plex. No transcoding needed as most of my client devices can be direct played. It seems you have a lot of experience with ASRock. Do you think ASRock C246 WSI + Intel i3 (support ECC ram and lower budget than Xeon) work with what I am looking for? I'd love to get a Xeon cpu but I do not have the budget right now. However, I think ECC is very important to me because of the data I have. Thank you!