Motherboard Recommendation

[ekim]

I've been through tons of threads on here and I can't seem to find a consensus or a recommendation.

 

I have been using UnRaid for a few years now and I am looking to upgrade my current server. At the moment my install of UnRaid just runs a few dockets (Couchpotato, Sonaar, NZBget etc.) and streams media to a LibreElec box hooked up to my TV.

 

I am looking to upgrade my server to hold a lot more drives and also potentially to be able to VM a gaming PC at the same time. I have just bought a Lian Li D8000 case and am getting it setup so I can simply slot in a new hard drive when I need add a new drive and don't have to fiddle around plugging cables in etc. To that end I am planning on buying three Dell Perc H310 cards and have everything wired up and ready to go. To that end I need a board that can support three of the cards and have room to add a graphics card in too.

 

I am not committed to getting any specific CPU, but prefer Intel. Would like to get a 6 core minimum CPU. My current set up is:

 

MOBO: ASRock B75 Pro3-M (8 Drives connected)

CPU: Intel Celeron G1610

RAM: Crucial 4GB DDR3 Kit

PSU: Seasonic X-Series 650w

CASE: Fractal R3

 

STORAGE:

Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 (3 Drives connected)

10 * WD Red 3tb (1 * Parity, 8 * Data, 1 * Spare)

1 * WD Black 500gb (Cache)

 

Moving to:

 

CPU: (Intel 6 cores minimum)

RAM: 32GB minimum (potentially ECC if I can stretch the budget)

PSU: Keep what I have for now

CASE: Lian Li D8000

 

STORAGE:

Dell Perc H310 * 3

20 * WD Red (2 * Parity, 17 * Data, 1 * Spare) (This will take a while to get to).

1 * WD Black 500gb (cache)

1 * SSD for Gaming VM.

 

 

 

[tdallen]

Hmm, I don't know this space all that well, but I think your requirements can only be met by a few motherboards, typically from Supermicro or ASRock Rack.  The PCIex requirements for x16/x8/x8/x8 plus 6+ cores make me look at LGA2011 motherboards like:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157557

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182958

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182962

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182959

 

And either Xeon or Core i7 Extreme Edition processors.

[ekim]

Thanks for the quick response.

 

Will take a look through those and see what I can get in the UK.

 

What would be worth bearing in mind to make this an easier find? I found a lot of motherboard with more than 4 x16 PCIex slots. Do the H310's not work well in x16 slots?

[tdallen]

You have to be careful that the board and CPU can actually support all slots being used at the same time.  You're going to want all three H310s working in x8 mode (x4 might be sufficient) and the graphics card in full x16 mode.  Here's an example of what to watch out for from an MSI consumer board:

 

4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots, support up to 3-way mode
- 1-way mode: x16/ x0/ x0/ x0
- 2-way mode: x16/ x16/ x0/ x0*, x16/ x8/ x0/ x0**
- 3-way mode: x16/ x16/ x0/ x8*, x8/ x8/ x8/ x0**

* For the CPU that supports 40 PCIe lanes
** For the CPU that supports 28 PCIe lanes

 

That board has 4 PCIex 3.0 slots, but only 3 can be active at once and you're limited as to how they are going to work.  So you're looking at LGA2011 boards for 6 core support and to get the number of active PCIex lanes that you need to support 3 SATA controllers and a GPU.  If you don't need 6 cores then you have a lot more options with new Skylake boards that support the DMI 3.0.

[ekim]

Ah I see, wasn't aware of that. Nothing is ever simple!

 

In terms of the cores I thought 6 would be ideal as I could dedicate 4 to the gaming VM and then have 2 left over for UnRaid.

[tdallen]

If you want 6 full cores then you're looking at LGA2011 boards.  If hyperthreaded cores are sufficient then a Skylake LGA1151 board with a Core i7 or Xeon E3 4cpu/8vcpu would give you more options and probably save some money.

[ekim]

Ok, think I am closing in on this now.

 

I am looking at:

 

Gigabyte X99-SLI

i7 5820k

 

I have been thinking about the slots - I don't need three H310s as I'd have some SATA ports on the motherboard that I can use (hadn't thought of that previously!).

 

I can picking up the motherboard and cpu second hand at the moment. Is there anything I need to think about before I do so? As far as I can tell the board does support Vt-d

 

[tdallen]

I know that people have used that combination successfully for unRAID.  You might want to search the forums, though, while results have been good I think I've also seen a couple of posts with quirky behavior.  The specs on the CPU and board would definitely accomplish your goals.

 

Search from the main page ( http://lime-technology.com/forum/ ) to include all forums.

[ekim]

Just read through the thread you mentioned.

 

My gut instinct is to get the CPU but then look for an alternate motherboard which is more throughly tested/used.

 

Is there a recommended X99 board a lot of people use?

[garycase]

I wouldn't use an X99 board.    For what you're going to spend on this server, I'd spend just a bit more and use server-grade components ... a server class chipset and an E5 series Xeon.

 

Either of these boards would work very nicely:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182959

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157557

 

... and both of them support ALL of the PCIe x16 slots being used simultaneously.  They also both have IPMI, so there's no need for a dedicated monitor, keyboard, or mouse for the server.

 

With the server-grade chipset you can use registered RAM, which will both improve your memory's reliability but also allow you to install FAR more RAM should you decide to "grow" your system in the future.

 

An E5-1650v3 would be a good processor choice -- 6 cores with hyperthreading to support 12 threads and plenty of CPU "horsepower" (PassMark 13471).

 

[ekim]

The E5-1650v3 is a tempting prospect but is significantly more expensive than the i7 5820k

 

I can get the i7 for £250 second hand - the E5 I'm looking at around £600 new from my quick look online.

 

I'd love to go server grade on everything but it just blows my budget out of the water.

 

One thing I am not sure on, and could save me a fair chunk of cash, is how many cores I'd need to pass to a gaming VM.

 

I'd been assuming I'd need to pass four cores. With hyper threading could I get away with passing four threads instead or would that not be powerful enough?

 

If I could go with four threads rather than cores I could look potentially look at an E5-1620k instead for example.

 

[garycase]

An E5-1620v3 would be fine -- 4 hyperthreaded cores; PassMark of 9684, and ~ half the price of a 1650v3

 

[morti]

The non Server CPUs struggle with pcie lanes Not only for the Motherboard choices, but the lane Count on the cpu aswell. You get 28 lanes on that 5820 total. Your gpu probably is fine with x8 but still that would Account for 32 lanes with the sata Controllers which you got 3 of?

 

Xeon e5 would be the way to Go in my recomendation. 40 lanes, or Double that with Dual CPUs. The lanes from the chipset Can help but i would want to have some headroom if i Go for a new Server in the firstplace. Speaking bout used Hardware, did you Check the used Market of older xeon e5? I spent less then 1000€ on a 32 thread 128gb machine and even came Out with a plus selling the Hardware i did Not need ansmore due to virtualization.

[Muntic0re]

Skylake Z170 and B150 LGA1151 are not bad