February 6, 201610 yr Found this http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Xeon/E5-2670_motherboards.html Maybe there is an cheap good MB in the list? //Peter
February 6, 201610 yr These E5's are amazing deals => you can build an entire system for what a new 8-core E5 chip would cost you !! Just be certain you're getting a chip with vt-d support, as there are quite a few on e-bay that do NOT have this.
February 6, 201610 yr Found some ASUS MB, maybe these are a good for E5-2670 ? http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-ASUS/P9X79_WS.html http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-ASUS/P9X79-E_WS.html http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131798 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131971 Review http://www.servethehome.com/asus-p9x79-ws-x79-lga-2011-sandy-bridgee-workstation-motherboard-review/ http://www.servethehome.com/asus-p9x79-e-ws-review-awesome-workstation-motherboard/ //Peter
February 6, 201610 yr I'd look for boards with Cxxx chipsets instead of X79. If you're going to use this class of processor, I'd think you'd want registered ECC memory, which the X79 boards don't support.
February 6, 201610 yr Author Keep in mind that 2011 boards are rare enough that you could buy something which works today and look for something you really want for the next couple of months and then simply sell the other one again.
February 6, 201610 yr I ordered 2 CPUs , in case of ordering dual cpu MB. What MB are you referring too ?
February 6, 201610 yr I ordered dual as well. Haven't ordered a board yet, but leaning towards the ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16. 16 dimms, 4 ethernet, ipmi, 5 pci-e slots, 14 sata. I'm tempted by the version with 10gbit networking, but price premium is too much, plus I'd have to upgrade most of my network hardware, plus I have no driving reason for it other than to have it ;-)
February 6, 201610 yr Keep in mind that 2011 boards are rare enough that you could buy something which works today and look for something you really want for the next couple of months and then simply sell the other one again. Same thing happened with X58 westmere Xeons. Those started flooding ebay and all the used X58 boards shot up in price.
February 6, 201610 yr I ordered dual as well. Haven't ordered a board yet, but leaning towards the ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16. 16 dimms, 4 ethernet, ipmi, 5 pci-e slots, 14 sata. I'm tempted by the version with 10gbit networking, but price premium is too much, plus I'd have to upgrade most of my network hardware, plus I have no driving reason for it other than to have it ;-) I have the ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 and fired it up yesterday after receiving two e5-2670's that were snatched from ebay. Easy to setup and all seems good so far on Memtests.
February 6, 201610 yr My only hesitation with going duals is that now the cost starts to go up. Single I can get mb, cpu, and ram for less than $500. Duals you are looking to add another $200 easily.
February 6, 201610 yr I have the ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 and fired it up yesterday after receiving two e5-2670's that were snatched from ebay. Easy to setup and all seems good so far on Memtests. That's great news! What cooler is that? Is it the Supermicro SNK-P0048AP4 with quieter fans? How's the noise and Temps? Also, any idea what kind of wattage your server is using idle and under load? :-)
February 6, 201610 yr plus I have no driving reason for it other than to have it ;-) That's more than sufficient reason! Any special requirements for PSUs if running dual CPUs? What extra motherboard power connectors would be required?
February 6, 201610 yr Found a good deal for this MB in Sweden. I will have 2 PCIe card (GPU & SATA) that all, GPU is for VM. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131886 Any comments ? //Peter
February 6, 201610 yr Also, any idea what kind of wattage your server is using idle and under load? :-) These guys suggest a dual cpu system idles at 200w, but that is with a PNY Quadro 4000 graphics card. We won't be needing that. http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/2157206/dual-intel-xeon-e5-2670s http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2012/03/06/intel-xeon-e5-2670-review/7
February 6, 201610 yr Found a good deal for this MB in Sweden. I will have 2 PCIe card (GPU & SATA) that all, GPU is for VM. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131886 Any comments ? //Peter My thoughts: PROS 1. Asus is generally a good name. 2. ATX form factor so it will fit in most cases - Many of the dual boards I've looked at are 13x12, so you need a big case to fit it. 3. Comes with Asus' IPMI (in the form of a daughter card) - Note: Based on a review. The write-up on Newegg makes no mention of the daughter card... 4. 5 PCI-e slots (Though I believe not all can be used simultaneously?... Not sure on this one) CONS 1. Supports 8 dimms max. Maybe not an issue, but limits maximum ram options... 2. Only has 6 sata ports on-board. Not terrible, but most other dual boards I've looked at have 10 to 18 drive capacity on-board 3. Almost 50% of the reviews on newegg.com have a 1-star review. Were it me, if your case has the space and the price was similar, I would get the ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 board I mentioned above. Just my humble opinion
February 6, 201610 yr The Asus board looks fine, and the ATX form factor may be a big plus, depending on whether or not your case can hold the EATX size of the AsRock. Reading through the negative reviews on Newegg, it seems they are all trying to use the board with unbuffered RAM instead of registered modules. While the Asus spec does say this board will work with either, I can't imagine why you'd want unbuffered modules with a pair of E5 CPUs !! And the reviews where folks are using registered modules are all very good. All 5 PCIe slots should be usable with no problem ... there are plenty of PCIe lanes available to support this on a 2011 system. Note that there is some interaction that results in reduced speeds when certains pairs of slots are both in use (clearly shown in the spec). I think that "only" supporting 8 memory modules isn't likely to be a significant issue Agree, however, that the AsRock board would be a better choice if your case supports the EATX form factor, due primarily to the 14 SATA ports (the 8 additional memory slots may/may not be something you care about).
February 6, 201610 yr That's more than sufficient reason! Must. Resist... Any special requirements for PSUs if running dual CPUs? What extra motherboard power connectors would be required? Excellent question! I didn't consider this until you asked. It looks like my Corsair TX750 V2 750W only has one 12v 8-pin CPU cable. How does one go about powering both cpu sockets? An adapter from a sata cable?
February 6, 201610 yr Reading through the negative reviews on Newegg, it seems they are all trying to use the board with unbuffered RAM instead of registered modules. While the Asus spec does say this board will work with either, I can't imagine why you'd want unbuffered modules with a pair of E5 CPUs !! And the reviews where folks are using registered modules are all very good. Excellent point! I think that "only" supporting 8 memory modules isn't likely to be a significant issue Agreed. The only time I could see it being a sticking point is if someone already has 8 x 4GB sticks from an existing build and wants to go to 64GB (32GB per cpu), or if they find a great deal on 4GB modules. It *is* a bit cheaper to go 16 x 4GB modules than 8 x 8GB (Though I wouldn't do it).
February 6, 201610 yr Here's my parts list: 1. NORCO RPC-4220 4U Rackmount Server Chassis 2. ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 SSI EEB Server 3. Intel Xeon e5-2670 (2 cpu's from ebay @ $65 each) 4. Kingston 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1600. (x2) starting with 16GB per CPU 5. Corsair Power Supply RM1000 6. Supermicro AOC - SAS2LP-MV8 Rev 1.00 (motherboard itself has plenty of Sata ports though) (x2) 7. 3ware CBL-SFF8087-05M 1 unit of 0.5m Multi-lane Internal (SFF-8087) Serial ATA cable (x4) 8. Noctua NH-U9DXi4 90mm SSO2 CPU Cooler (x2). Runs very cool and is low profile enough not to come close to Norco cover. I haven't checked power usage but I do believe it idles around 200W. Honestly I'm not personally concerned with power usage now since recently installing a 6.85KWh Solar System. I'm feeding the grid an average of about 10.5KW daily on a nearly all electric house. There's 6 case fans and 4 Noctua cooler fans, and of course the power supply fan. The unit is humming along, and I mean humming. Not as quiet as my NZXT H2 tower.
February 6, 201610 yr ... How does one go about powering both cpu sockets? An adapter from a sata cable? The best choice, of course, is to use a power supply with dual EPS connectors [e.g. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139083 ] But one of these splitters will work as long as the total power demand doesn't exceed the power-handling capacity of the wire gauge used for the EPS connection from the power supply: http://www.amazon.com/Motherboard-Supply-Y-Splitter-Adapter-Sleeved/dp/B0094PBKN8
February 6, 201610 yr Garycase Just to be sure , I have these memory in my server now. http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/bls2kit4g3d1609ds1s00 Is it OK to use them on the asus board ASUS Z9PA-D8 ?
February 6, 201610 yr Garycase Just to be sure , I have these memory in my server now. http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/bls2kit4g3d1609ds1s00 Is it OK to use them on the asus board ASUS Z9PA-D8 ? Those are unbuffered modules ... which are what a lot of folks had problems with. The board's specs DO say it will work with unbuffered modules; but I'd not recommend it. Buffered (registered) modules are FAR better.
February 6, 201610 yr I haven't checked power usage but I do believe it idles around 200W. Honestly I'm not personally concerned with power usage now since recently installing a 6.85KWh Solar System. I'm feeding the grid an average of about 10.5KW daily on a nearly all electric house. The cost of that Solar system would have made it imperative to get the server for almost free... I don't want to see pictures of your server. Show me pictures of your solar system. LOL How many decades of feeding the grid will it take to payback the solar install?
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