May 3, 20179 yr Looking for a new board / Processor combo, but struggling to find something. I'm actually fairly flexible on the processor, so I'm trying to focus on the board. (Something comparable to a recent i5 is more than sufficient - not planning on Plex transcoding as this is handled by another machine) I'm after a single-socket board with IMPI and a handful of PCIe slots (2x H200's, with a 3rd for future use, plus possibly a quad Gigabit NIC). My case supports E-ATX (and even HPTX), so size isn't an issue. I was looking to spend in the region of £200, but everything I find which has IMPI looks to be 350-400 (I've checked out MSI, Asus etc), and has and endless list of features I don't really need. Just making my way through the supermicro boards, but it's a bit of a minefield, with limited vendors (in the UK) The only option I've found so far is the ASRock E3-C224, which I might then pair up with an E3-1220v3. It ticks most of the boxes, including price, but is a little light on both RAM slots and PCIe slots for an ATX board - not a show-stopper, but if there's something else I should consider, I'd love to know! Edited May 3, 20179 yr by extrobe
May 3, 20179 yr A probable reason why you are having trouble finding an inexpensive board with the number of PCIe slots you require is the cheaper Intel chipsets have only a limited number of PCIe lanes available and thus a limited number of PCIe slots. In the case of the Asrock C224 board you linked, the C224 chipset is limited to a total of 8 PCIe lanes. So one slot in use will run at best at x8 and two slots in use run both at x4 and would also disable the third. Obviously this board would severely limit your H200's which run in x8. You want to find which chipset has enough lanes to support your needs first, eg C236 has 20 PCIe lanes. Then find boards with that chipset and other features you need.
May 3, 20179 yr Author 15 minutes ago, TripKnot said: A probable reason why you are having trouble finding an inexpensive board with the number of PCIe slots you require is the cheaper Intel chipsets have only a limited number of PCIe lanes available and thus a limited number of PCIe slots. In the case of the Asrock C224 board you linked, the C224 chipset is limited to a total of 8 PCIe lanes. So one slot in use will run at best at x8 and two slots in use run both at x4 and would also disable the third. Obviously this board would severely limit your H200's which run in x8. You want to find which chipset has enough lanes to support your needs first, eg C236 has 20 PCIe lanes. Then find boards with that chipset and other features you need. Thanks for the info TripKnot - I'd completely overlooked that - and you're right, that's going to leave me struggling. Surprised it's as low as 8 though - ouch. Oh well, back to searching
May 4, 20179 yr Author Well, the only other board I could find that meets the need is the Asus X99-WS/IPMI - and it's a lot of money; and coupled with the need for a more recent/more expensive processor, and having to buy DDR4 ram (I have plenty of DDR3 floating around!), this is going to hurt. That said, I managed to find a 'new' (pulled from new system) E5-2603v3 for £130 (£260+ for new new), and 16gb of ram isn't going to break the bank either. So I could get the cheaper board, and replace both it, the processor & RAM in a year or 2, or suck up the £400 and get the X99-WS/IPMI now. As I say - this is going to hurt Edited May 4, 20179 yr by extrobe
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