Reuse RAM in new build?

[RockDawg]

My system currently consists of:

 

Xeon E3-1230 v2

Supermicro X9SCM-F-O LGA1155

32GB Super Talent DDR3-1333 ECC Micron Chip

 

I am considering:

2 x Xeon E5-2670 v1 or v2

Asrock EP2C602

 

Both boards take DDR3 RAM.  Am I OK to reuse the the DDR-1333 RAM in the new system rather than the DDR-1866 it can take?  I mean I know it will work but am I sacrificing much of anything by doing so?  What about the quad channel support on the new board?  I just need to fill all four slots to make that work, right?

 

Also, If you have any other suggestion for the system, speak up.  I'm open to any suggestions.

Edited July 4, 2018 by RockDawg

[SSD]

Hey @RockDawg -

 

I remember you from the old days!

 

Here are my thoughts.

 

Might want to do a quick check to see if the RAM is compatible. Look at the RAM model number to see if it is on the MB Memory QVL. Or reach out to Super Talent to confirm compatibility. With dual CPU boards, you add memory for each CPU. Not sure 32G will be enough. You might look to have 32G per CPU (total of 64G).

Looks like 4 of the SATA ports are driven from a Marvell controller, which might not play nice with unRAID. Double check if that chipset is affected by the unRAID incompatibility. Add on controllers like the LSI SAS9201-8i can provide extra ports if you need them, so this is far from a deal killer, but you might look to see if there is a similar motherboard that uses a different controller chip.

 

I upgraded about 6 months ago and to a 12 core i9 7920x. Didn't look seriously at the Xeon E5 options (maybe should have). My CPU runs at 4.5GHz (all cores driven), but has been delidded to be able to dissipate heat and allow it to run at full speed when running all cores. Although only 12 cores compared to dual E5s 16 or 20, each is nearly 2x as fast as the E5-2670 cores, so might eek out a little faster benchmark. Single core performance is a lot faster on the i9. But you are quadrupling or more the power of your current server, and if like me, this is an investment for the future and you are buying power well in excess of current need, with an eye towards a long lifetime. My cost was certainly higher, as I had to replace the RAM and MB. CPU was pricey (although I got a great deal doing a low ball "Make an offer" on the professionally delidded CPU on eBay). The Xeons also supports ECC, while the i9 does not. Can't speak to electrical and heat, but have to believe the E5s would draw more power, produce more heat and generate more noise. Depending on your case and physical server install location, these may or may not be concerns.

 

But all in all the dual Xeon looks like a great upgrade, at a very attractive price point. ??

 

Good luck with the update!

 

SSD

 

[RockDawg]

11 hours ago, SSD said:

Hey @RockDawg -

 

I remember you from the old days!

 

Here are my thoughts.

 

Might want to do a quick check to see if the RAM is compatible. Look at the RAM model number to see if it is on the MB Memory QVL. Or reach out to Super Talent to confirm compatibility. With dual CPU boards, you add memory for each CPU. Not sure 32G will be enough. You might look to have 32G per CPU (total of 64G).

Looks like 4 of the SATA ports are driven from a Marvell controller, which might not play nice with unRAID. Double check if that chipset is affected by the unRAID incompatibility. Add on controllers like the LSI SAS9201-8i can provide extra ports if you need them, so this is far from a deal killer, but you might look to see if there is a similar motherboard that uses a different controller chip.

 

I upgraded about 6 months ago and to a 12 core i9 7920x. Didn't look seriously at the Xeon E5 options (maybe should have). My CPU runs at 4.5GHz (all cores driven), but has been delidded to be able to dissipate heat and allow it to run at full speed when running all cores. Although only 12 cores compared to dual E5s 16 or 20, each is nearly 2x as fast as the E5-2670 cores, so might eek out a little faster benchmark. Single core performance is a lot faster on the i9. But you are quadrupling or more the power of your current server, and if like me, this is an investment for the future and you are buying power well in excess of current need, with an eye towards a long lifetime. My cost was certainly higher, as I had to replace the RAM and MB. CPU was pricey (although I got a great deal doing a low ball "Make an offer" on the professionally delidded CPU on eBay). The Xeons also supports ECC, while the i9 does not. Can't speak to electrical and heat, but have to believe the E5s would draw more power, produce more heat and generate more noise. Depending on your case and physical server install location, these may or may not be concerns.

 

But all in all the dual Xeon looks like a great upgrade, at a very attractive price point. ??

 

Good luck with the update!

 

SSD

 

 

Yeah, I've been around since 2005 IIRC.  Not as active onhere as I used to be, but I have been using unRAID every day since!  I don't keep up to date on the tech like I used to either.  Hence the questions.

 

I checked out Asrock's RAM compatibility chart and they aren't listed but I know that doesn't mean they won't work. I was just asking about the speed (1333 vs 1866) and if re-using my old RAM @ 1333 (assuming it's compatible) would have any real world impact vs 1866 RAM.  I'm assuming it doesn;t but I just want to be sure.  I know each CPU needs RAM and what I would like to do is reuse my 32GB for one and add another 32GB for the other CPU to start.  With RAM being fairly pricey I would rather reuse than replace if I can.

 

I already have 2 - LSI 9201s that I would use in the new system for all my array drives.  I only use 2 other drives (cache drive and 1 unassigned device drive for docker containers) so those would both go on the Intel SATA3 ports on the mobo.

 

That i9-7920X sounds awesome.  My current system works fine for my usage today.  It's never been run at full capacity that I've ever seen but when I read about these i5-2670s  and their price vs. performance I got the bug to upgrade (want not need).  I don't do any gaming at all on my system.  Just file sharing and 13 Docker containers.  One of them is Emby and I figured the more horsepower for concurrent transcoding the better.  I am assuming it will be able to utilize all the additional cores.  Definitely and eye towards the future in mind and I've always been a bang-for-the-buck kind of guy.

 

I'm not really worried about additional power or heat.  My system is in a server rack in the basement which is already pretty cool and some additional fan noise (if needed) won't be a problem.

 

Thanks for your feedback!  I truly appreciate it.