Motherboard for my needs (and my situation) - suggestions ?

[elgatobavaria]

Hi guys,
as written above i need some help finding a motherboard that fits for my needs. Honestly iam not sure if a change is really a good decision. But maybe a discussion can help me to find out.

My current situation:
- Motherboard: ASUS P11C-I (mini-ITX)
- Case: Fractal 304 (mini-ITX)
- CPU: I7 9700 ( No ECC support ) ---> The i7 9700 replaced a 9100 because of the performance with VM
- RAM: 16 GB ECC Ram ( I do not really need ECC )
- VM: WIN10 for Gaming / Working CAD

- GPU: 3060 TI

What are my needs / what would be great:
- Reuse of my CPU (socket 1151) / Case 
- Low power consumption when idle - ~40W max -  ( i know the GPU can not really "low power" )
- GBit ETH
- Min 4x SATA 6Gb with the possibility to make 6xSata 6Gb (via adapter card etc.)
- RAM with enough speed for gaming and no ECC ( P11C only support 2666 Mhz)
- Good IMMO Groups for the VM  + if possible IMMO groups for USB Ports, too
- USB Header for front USB
- If possible thunderbolt ?
- In a price range what can be afforded

A already saw in some forum entries suggestions for motherboards, but most of the time the context was NAS only (Sata > 4 or 6) without VM.
Would be great if i can discuss with somebody here. 

EDIT: Trigger for this post was that 16GB ram is not enough and i do not need ECC RAM

Best regards,
Mathias

Edited January 7, 2022 by elgatobavaria

[Hoopster]

16 minutes ago, elgatobavaria said:

motherboard that fits for my needs

It looks like the ASRock Rack C246 WSI could meet your needs.  It supports the i7-9700 and supports ECC and non-ECC RAM up to 64MB total with 32GB UDIMMS.  It has 4 SATA ports on the motherboard but supports 4 more (for a total of 8 SATA ports) via an OCuLink cable.

 

This motherboard does not have a thunderbolt connector.

[elgatobavaria]

10 minutes ago, Hoopster said:

It looks like the ASRock Rack C246 WSI could meet your needs.  It supports the i7-9700 and supports ECC and non-ECC RAM up to 64MB total with 32GB UDIMMS.  It has 4 SATA ports on the motherboard but supports 4 more (for a total of 8 SATA ports) via an OCuLink cable.

 

This motherboard does not have a thunderbolt connector.

This Mobo was not on my list yet, thank you. On the P11C-I there is one more thing i am annoyed of, the iGPU of the CPU is not routed and can not be used.
How is the behaviour on the ASROCK Rack C246 WSI ? Do you have any experience with this board ?
In common do you prefer mobos with 'C" chipset and why should i use this kind of chipset in my case ?

So many questions ....  Sorry but i want to learn as much as i can 🙂.
Thunderbold is only "nice to have"

Edited January 7, 2022 by elgatobavaria

[Hoopster]

1 minute ago, elgatobavaria said:

How is the behaviour on the ASROCK Rack C246 WSI ? Do you have any experience with this board ?

I used its predecessor the C236 WSI for years.  It had 8 SATA ports on the motherboard.  I am currently using the mATX version of this board the E3C246D4U in my main unRAID server with a Xeon E-2288G processor and 64GB ECC RAM.

 

3 minutes ago, elgatobavaria said:

In common do you prefer mobos with 'C" chipset and why should i use this kind of chipset in my case ?

The CXXX chipsets are the "server/workstation" chipsets which support Xeon entry level processors (in addition to Core i3, 5, 7, 9 and Pentium and Celeron) and ECC RAM.  If you don't need this, you can look for a board with a consumer ZX90 chipset.

 

5 minutes ago, elgatobavaria said:

iGPU of the CPU is not routed and can not be used

On the C236 WSI, there was setting to enable the iGPU and I used it for Plex and HandBrake transcoding.  The C246 WSI also has this setting I believe.  I am using the iGPU in my Xeon E-2288G on the E2C246D4U motherboard.

 

 

[elgatobavaria]

31 minutes ago, Hoopster said:

The CXXX chipsets are the "server/workstation" chipsets which support Xeon entry level processors (in addition to Core i3, 5, 7, 9 and Pentium and Celeron) and ECC RAM.  If you don't need this, you can look for a board with a consumer ZX90 chipset.

Regarding to the specs of the Asus P11C-I the i7 CPU i use at the moment is not supported --> Link to spec ..> But its working so everythig is fine 🙂
Why especially the Zx90 series ? I thought the Z-series is only usefully if i plan to overclock RAM / CPU ?

 

34 minutes ago, Hoopster said:

On the C236 WSI, there was setting to enable the iGPU and I used it for Plex and HandBrake transcoding.  The C246 WSI also has this setting I believe.  I am using the iGPU in my Xeon E-2288G on the E2C246D4U motherboard

Good to know, thank you for the info . The spec sheet only says "GPU Controller - CPU pGFX"  and i do not know what this means.

[Hoopster]

1 hour ago, elgatobavaria said:

The spec sheet only says "GPU Controller - CPU pGFX"

That means the board supports the CPU integrated PXXX graphics.  In my case that is the P630 graphics on the CPU.  Generally, if a motherboard includes video out ports, it is designed to support CPU integrated graphics.  I have a desktop PC with an AM4 AMD socket and it includes an HDMI output.  It supports the integrated graphics in the Ryzen 7 5700G CPU I am using with that board.

 

1 hour ago, elgatobavaria said:

Why especially the Zx90 series ?

Sometimes the higher end Z chipsets support more SATA or USB ports or a higher revision of PCIe or USB.  If you can find a motherboard with an HXXX series chipset that has what you need, no need to pay more for ZXXX.

Edited January 7, 2022 by Hoopster

[elgatobavaria]

48 minutes ago, Hoopster said:

That means the board supports the CPU integrated PXXX graphics.  In my case that is the P630 graphics on the CPU.  Generally, if a motherboard includes video out ports, it is designed to support CPU integrated graphics.  I have a desktop PC with an AM4 AMD socket and it includes an HDMI output.  It supports the integrated graphics in the Ryzen 7 5700G CPU I am using with that board.

 

Sometimes the higher end Z chipsets support more SATA or USB ports or a higher revision of PCIe or USB.  If you can find a motherboard with an HXXX series chipset that has what you need, no need to pay more for ZXXX.

 

Great ! Thank you for the information. I will go searching for the things we discussed.

[elgatobavaria]

Update 🙂. I was looking on newegg and partpicker for a mainboard what i think can fit my needs. The result so far is the MSI MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC . 
There are only two things what i think is not optimal:
1. Second M2 slot is on the backside
2. I need no wifi --> So maybe the power consumption of the board is a little bit high 

If i understand everything correct to get more SATA ports i can use the m.2 slot on the top of the mobo for a pcie to SATA adapter ?
I cant find any test of this board what is discussing about power consumption or immo groups 🙂 . Everything is about overclocking 🔥 ...
Update again: Power consumption of a system with this board

Edited January 9, 2022 by elgatobavaria

[Hoopster]

2 hours ago, elgatobavaria said:

to get more SATA ports i can use the m.2 slot on the top of the mobo for a pcie to SATA adapter ?

Something like this perhaps.

[elgatobavaria]

15 hours ago, Hoopster said:

Something like this perhaps.

I thought about this kind of thing, too. But in the datasheets of some mainboards there is a mark "m.2 for wifi" and i do not know if this kind of adapter is working on them.
Maybe the length of the slot is only not enough...

Edited January 10, 2022 by elgatobavaria

[Hoopster]

On 1/9/2022 at 9:27 AM, elgatobavaria said:

to get more SATA ports

You could also go with  one of the PCIe SATA controllers recommended in this forum discussion.

 

I am using a Dell H310 (8 SATA ports via forward breakout cables) cross-flashed to IT mode firmware.

Edited January 10, 2022 by Hoopster

[elgatobavaria]

2 hours ago, Hoopster said:

You could also go with  one of the PCIe SATA controllers recommended in this forum discussion.

 

I am using a Dell H310 (8 SATA ports via forward breakout cables) cross-flashed to IT mode firmware.

Good to know about this adapters. But my PCIe slot is used by GPU. At the moment 4 HDDs are enough for me. But when i invest in something i want to get sure that its save for the adaptive for the future :-).