Hi

 

I just want to know if I have a quad core processor , and I want to run a vm and assign all 4 cores to the vm and gpu passthrough (980ti) , will I still be able to run additional vms + docker apps? Does unraid share the cpu resources or dedicate all 4 assigned cores to only one specific vm? My thought process then would get a 6 core CPU and have 2 cores spare for other things I want the system to do.

 

Regards

 

The cores aren't exclusive -- you can assign them to a VM and they'll still be used for other things.

 

Ok ,I got confused because the video that linus did on youtube about 2 gaming machines on 1 pc , he assigned dedicated separate cores to each vm . So to confirm what you have said , the CPU resources are shared as how many hypervisors do.

Ok I have been doing some research on my new build . I have decided to go with Xeon instead of i7. Can someone verify this will be fine for unraid and advise any modifications. Bear in mind I have a budget around $1600

 

Purpose

- Gaming Rig + Media Server (Plex,Couchpotato,Sickbeard,Sab,etc) + Couple of VMs Dev

 

PC Specs

 

CPU

Intel Xeon E3-1246 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor

Motherboard

Supermicro X10SLL-F Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Memory

Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ECC Unbuffered

Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ECC Unbuffered

Storage

ADATA 60GB SSD (CACHE) - Spare Drive I had lying around

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Parity)

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Data Disk 1)

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Data Disk 2)

Video Card

MSI GTX 980Ti (Gaming VM GPU Pass Through)

Chassis

Standard mATX Chassis (not important)

PSU

Corsair CX500 PSU

Looks fine except for the PSU ... I do NOT recommend using the low-end CX series Corsairs.  Corsair is fine, but use one of their high-quality units.  I only use TX, HX, & AX units.

 

thanks garycase , i will update the PSU with your recommendation.

garycase

 

I saw you mentioned in other post (https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=44230.15).

 

"The main point I was making above is that if you're going to use non-ECC RAM in an unbuffered system it's a far better choice to only install 2 RAM modules.    If you install 4 modules, the address and data bus signaling waveforms are significantly degraded, which notably increases the likelihood of random memory errors [This is true in any unbuffered system -- but at least in those with ECC those added errors will be corrected]"

 

I know you were targeting this on "non ecc" system. but for my planned build which is going to be ecc , is having 4x 8GB ECC Ram a bad idea vs 2x 16GB ECC Ram?

When you're using unbuffered modules, it's always better to use 2 instead of 4, due to the degradation of the waveforms caused by the bus loading.    That's why virtually all high-end servers use buffered modules, which effectively eliminate the waveform degradation by only applying one load per module instead of one load per chip (typically 16-18 loads per module).

 

You can see the impact by watching item #10 here:  http://www.xlrq.com/stacks/corsair/153707/index.html

 

 

Having said that, note that it's far less of an issue with ECC modules, since any single-bit error will automatically be corrected.

 

The specific answer to your question is that 2 x 16GB would definitely be preferable to 4 x 8GB, but the cost of that is VERY high -- and with ECC I'd just go with 4 x 8GB.

The specific answer to your question is that 2 x 16GB would definitely be preferable to 4 x 8GB, but the cost of that is VERY high -- and with ECC I'd just go with 4 x 8GB.

The fact that 16GB DIMMs are not supported, that's a really high cost (besides being dual rank, and thus putting the same load as 4 single rank DIMM, a total waste of money).

 

The Xeon 1200 series does not support ACS so you would need to run with the ACS override option when virtualizing. I have the Supermicro X10SL7-F and it put my graphics card in with my storage controller. My machine works fine, but there is a chance I could get some corruption. I am in process of upgrading to a Xeon 2600 series.

 

If you are doing a new build, it might be a good idea to check out what impact on your budget it would be to move up to one of the processors listed in this blog:

http://vfio.blogspot.com/2015/10/intel-processors-with-acs-support.html

Here's my build -

 

ASRock extreme 4 - $139 AR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157543

 

32GB (2 X 16GB) ECC DDR4 memory (Samsung) bought from ebay for $185 shipped (says new, but as long as it works I don't care)

 

E5 CPU 2620 V3 (production version) - $250 used from ebay

 

I will soon have a very nice Xeon 1276 / SuperMicro X10SL7-F / 16GB ECC RAM combo up for sale

Hi bhinkle50

 

I am reconsidering going the E5 26xx route , but that CPU you mentioned I checked and on Intel Website it says it only supports (DDR1600/1866) , what memory are you planning to use ,can you send me the link?

It's near impossible to find 1600/1866 DDR4 ECC memory. Pretty much all the big server OEMs equip with 2166 memory as it's become the standard. It might be a bit of a risk, but I think it's pretty small since every single OEM server I found with a 2620 v3 came with 2166 memory.

Hi bhinkle50

 

I agree with you and thank you for mentioning about the E3 chips issues with ACS , i was not aware of that. Ok below is my revised build , can you please look through and advise of any modifications..

 

PC Specs

 

CPU

Intel Xeon E5-2620 V3 2.4GHz 6-Core Processor

Intel BXRTS2011AC CPU Cooler

Motherboard

ASRock Fatal1ty X99M Killer Micro ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard

Memory

Crucial 16GB (1 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ECC

Crucial 16GB (1 x 16GB) Registered DDR4-2133 Memory ECC

Storage

ADATA 60GB SSD (CACHE) - Spare Drive I had lying around

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Parity)

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Data Disk 1)

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Data Disk 2)

Video Card

EVGA GeForce 8400 GS 1GB Video Card (unraid)

MSI GTX 980Ti (Gaming VM GPU Pass Through)

Chassis

Standard mATX Chassis (not important)

PSU

Corsair HX650 PSU

That is an excellent set of choices -- a much better system than the one you initially proposed.

 

Looks fine except for the PSU ... I do NOT recommend using the low-end CX series Corsairs.  Corsair is fine, but use one of their high-quality units.  I only use TX, HX, & AX units.

 

What specifically did you not like about the CX500?  I just purchased one from newegg for 25$ after rebate for my new build.

 

Edit: Added my build specs.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1241 V3 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $294.64)

Motherboard: Supermicro X10SL7-F Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (Purchased For $249.99)

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (Purchased For $127.48)

Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $83.75)

Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $83.75)

Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $83.75)

Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $83.75)

Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $105.00)

Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $105.00)

Case: Antec Nine Hundred ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $79.99)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $24.99)

Other: SanDisk Cruzer Fit CZ33 16GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive- SDCZ33-016G-B35 ($4.99)

Other: LimeTech Single unRAID® Server Plus Registration key ($89.00)

Other: iStarUSA BPN-DE110SS-BLUE 1x5.25" to 1x3.5" SATA/SAS 6.0Gb/s Trayless Hot-Swap Cage - Blue Handle (Purchased For $4.99)

Other: iStarUSA BPN-DE110SS-RED 1x5.25" to 1x3.5" SATA/SAS 6.0Gb/s Trayless Hot-Swap Cage - Red Handle (Purchased For $4.99)

Other: iStarUSA BPN-DE340SS-BLACK 3x5.25" to 4x3.5" SAS/SATA 6.0 Gb/s Trayless Hot-Swap Cage - Black Handle (Purchased For $19.99)

Total: $1446.05

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-05 17:12 EST-0500

I've seen several systems that would not boot reliably with the CX500 => the timing of its "Power Good" signal is often out of spec;  and the regulation is not as precise as with the higher-end Corsair units.

 

As with all low-end equipment, there are tradeoffs in the design to keep the price down; and these seem to be the result of those tradeoffs for the CX series units.    If they work okay for you, they're fine -- but if you're using one and get sporadic and unexplained issues, it's one of the first things I'd change (to a higher quality unit).

 

thanks garycase

 

I will begin ordering my parts today and update with build log. 

 

Hi garycase

 

I will be using this machine to run esxi for a month or two for a lab before using it as full blown lab. do you know if this board is compatible with esxi ? And on this topic aswell , i should have no issues running unRAID 6.1 on this board correct?

I don't know if the board works on ESXI or not.  I don't see any AsRock boards on the VMware compatibility matrix, but that doesn't mean it won't work -- only that it's not a certified board.

 

I do know that most folks using E5 series Xeons are using motherboards with Cxxx server-oriented chipsets rather than the X99 based boards like the AsRock.  (I would as well if I was going to build an E5 series machine)

 

As for UnRAID ... bhinkle50 indicated in Reply #10 that he's using this board, so I assume that's a good indication that it works with UnRAID v6.    Perhaps he can also confirm whether or not it boots okay into ESXI  (certainly simple enough to try).

 

thanks garycase

 

im now thinking if I should fork out an extra 100$ and get the Supermicro X10SRA-F-O instead. What do you think? Then I will have support to run esxi for testing and unraid will work perfectly correct?

Just wanted to clarify, that I haven't fired my new build up yet as I'm waiting on my RAM. If you can upgrade to a C612 setup, I would highly recommend it as well. I am essentially using this X99 board to get me through until I upgrade to a dual processor setup. I just couldn't justify the cost until after I have sold my existing MB/CPU/RAM combo that's why I am going for the absolute cheapest X99 board I could find.

 

Also, I do not run ESXI, I just run 6.1 Unraid and leverage Docker and KVM utilities built in.

 

I should have my RAM in by Wed and I will post an update for you if you are still waiting, but I'm highly confident the X99 will work but am 100% certain that the Supermicro you listed will work for your purposes.

Many thanks bhinkle50

 

Ok so now for the last change . This is my final setup. I am about to bite the bullet and purchase my parts  . I will be purchasing my GPU probably End of Jan next year and mess around with GPU-Pass Through. For now I just want to be future proofed when I need to bump up on the performance side of things. Please let me know of any issues or advise on my build.

 

PC Specs

 

CPU

Intel Xeon E5-2620 V3 2.4GHz 6-Core Processor

SUPERMICRO SNK-P0050AP4 Heatsink for Supermicro X9DR3-F Motherboard (UPDATE , Changed Heatsink to Compatible one for this M.Board)

Motherboard

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SRA-F-O ATX Server Motherboard Single Socket R3 (LGA 2011) Intel C612

Memory

SAMSUNG 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Server Memory Model M393A2G40DB0-CPB

SAMSUNG 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Server Memory Model M393A2G40DB0-CPB

Storage

ADATA 60GB SSD (CACHE) - Spare Drive I had lying around

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Parity)

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Data Disk 1)

Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Data Disk 2)

Chassis

Standard ATX Chassis (not important)

PSU

Corsair HX650 PSU

That's a much better choice for your motherboard -- that's the exact board I'd use.

 

 

All parts ordered..  .. will update once items has been received (2 weeks time - Shipping Outside US) if everything works ...