Upgrade advise: X10SLM-F-B with E3-1220 V3

[starknetwork]

It's time for an upgrade, I have been running my current setup for about 5 years and I would like to upgrade my Motherboard,Processor and RAM.

Requirements are:

  IPMI - This is a must

  VMs - I want to be able to run virtual machines in Xen, Passthrough for graphics cards would be a bonus.

 

I'm in the UK and my budget is ~£500

I am currently looking at the following:

- CPU :  Intel Xeon E3-1220 v3 ~£155 (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-xeon-e3-1220-v3-s-1150-haswell-quad-core-31ghz-base-35ghz-turbo-8mb-cache-80w-retail)

- Motherboard:  Supermicro MBD-X10SLM-F-B ~£140 (http://www.xcase.co.uk/component-parts/supermicro-motherboards/supermicro-mbd-x10slm-f-b-socket-1150-e3-xeon-v3-i3-micro-atx.html)

- RAM: Kingston KVR1333D3E9SK2/16G 16GB 1333MHz CL9 DDR3 ValueRAM ECC Memory Kit ~£120 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-KVR1333D3E9SK2-16G-1333MHz-ValueRAM/dp/B0064R7LH8/)

 

I am hoping I don't need to upgrade my psu (Corsair VX-450W)

 

Questions:

- Will the Kingston Value Ram work with the Supermicro motherboard?

- Does the CPU/Motherboard support passthrough with Xen (ie if I want to create an xbmc VM)?

- Will my existing PSU (corsair VX-450W) work with the Motherboard/CPU?

 

My existing setup:

- Case: CoolerMaster Centurion 590

- PSU: 450W Corsair VX450W Power Supply

- MB: Biostar TA690G AM2

- RAM: 4GB

- CPU: AMD Athlon 64 LE-1620 CPU

- Controller: AOC-SASLP-MV8

- Drives: 12 assorted drives, mostly low power (20TB usable space)

 

Any thoughts, comments or recommendations?

 

Thanks, Jake

 

[PeterB]

I would suggest that you consider upgrading the cpu to a 1230.  The 1220 doesn't offer hyperthreading, and hence only the four physical cores.  The 1230 offers eight virtual cores, which should provide greater flexibility in configuring VMs.

[peter_sm]

Excuse me for jumping in, I'm going to upgrade my CPU, is the 1230 better than Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz ?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[BobPhoenix]

Excuse me for jumping in, I'm going to upgrade my CPU, is the 1230 better than Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz ?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

The 1230 doesn't have built-in Video the i7-3770 does.  So if you are using a headless server and/or IPMI you might want to consider a Xeon.  Passmark for i7 3770 (3.4 Ghz) is 9419 and the Xeon 1230 v2 is 8882 but if you go for a Xeon 1240 v2 is 9361 and is a comparable speed processor to the i7 3770.  Sorry should have looked up v3 since that was what was talked about above your post - however i7 3770 is v2 not v3 I think.  A Xeon 1230 v3 is 9556 so faster than the i7 3770 v2.

[Chris Pollard]

I'm using the same board and CPU in one of my builds,  I would also say go for the 1230 for the extra hyperthreading.

[starknetwork]

Good point about hyper threading, if I can find somewhere that stocks it in UK, will go for that.

 

How picky are supermicro boards with memory, will the kingston 1333 ECC value ram work?

 

 

[mrow]

Kingston Value RAM will work, however, 1333 is slower than the chip is capable of. Get 1600. Price should be very close or the same.

[starknetwork]

Kingston Value RAM will work, however, 1333 is slower than the chip is capable of. Get 1600. Price should be very close or the same.

 

Thanks, I'll keep looking for 1600, but everything I have found so far in UK is quite a bit more expensive.