Heh, sorry, I probably didn't explain myself well enough, I was basically saying if I go with a core i3 I still have to buy ECC memory anyway, but I wont be able to use the ECC functionality, so I was just wondering whether the ECC functionality justified me spending nearly double on the CPU.

I measured power consumption with a Kill a Watt. At idle with all drives spun down it was at 48W. This is with a G6950 CPU, 550W 80+ Corsair PSU, IPMI enabled and a AOC-SASLP-MV8 card.

In the end i decided if i was buying server class motherboard and memory anyway, i might as well get the most out of them, so went for:

 

• x3430 http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel-Xeon-X3430-S1156-24-GHz-25-GT-s-DMI-8MB-Cache-18x-Ratio-95W-Retail
  
• 4GB Memory http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/4GB-Hynix-ServerMemory-DDR3-PC3-8500-(1066MHz)-240-Pin-Registered-CAS-7-7-7
  

spasszeit, you have been running this for a while now, any ideas on what your typical CPU temperatures are?  I put it all together last night (not started the array yet, the 4 in 3 fan is a 3 pin and there are only 4 pin headers on the motherboard), used the stock HSF that came with the 3430 just want to know what i should be expecting, so i know when to hit the panic button if i need to, lol.

spasszeit, you have been running this for a while now, any ideas on what your typical CPU temperatures are?  I put it all together last night (not started the array yet, the 4 in 3 fan is a 3 pin and there are only 4 pin headers on the motherboard), used the stock HSF that came with the 3430 just want to know what i should be expecting, so i know when to hit the panic button if i need to, lol.

 

Congrats on finishing off your build. Enjoy it.

Since SM's measurement of CPU temps is strange - all it says 'low' under PC health tab in IPMI dashboard,

the only other way I can check the temps is in Unmenu. Here you go:

coretemp-isa-0000

Adapter: ISA adapter

Core 0:      +35.0 C  (high = +84.0 C, crit = +100.0 C)  

 

coretemp-isa-0001

Adapter: ISA adapter

Core 1:      +33.0 C  (high = +84.0 C, crit = +100.0 C)  

 

coretemp-isa-0002

Adapter: ISA adapter

Core 2:      +35.0 C  (high = +84.0 C, crit = +100.0 C)  

 

coretemp-isa-0003

Adapter: ISA adapter

Core 3:      +32.0 C  (high = +84.0 C, crit = +100.0 C)

 

The ambient temps are about 22-24 C I would guess. I am using stock HSF as well. Front of case has 2x 120mm intake fans,

and rear has 2x 80mm exhaust fans.

I, on the other hand, have had my share of problems with standard RAM sticks on my first unRaid built on P5BVM-DO.

Still not sure what went wrong there. All of a sudden I started seeing numerous errors in the log, system freezes, etc.

Eventually I narrowed the problem down to RAM, and ended up exchanging it, but running only one stick as with two sticks

of new RAM the system wouldn't boot. Took me two weeks to get the server stable and problem free. But from what I

see on the forums the issues I experienced are very uncommon.

 

..I am also looking into employing this board and since I've had my personal share of experience

with supermicro boards being picky about the RAM selection..here's a discussions about

some working combinations: Supermicro X8SIL-F compatible RAM

spasszeit, you have been running this for a while now, any ideas on what your typical CPU temperatures are?  I put it all together last night (not started the array yet, the 4 in 3 fan is a 3 pin and there are only 4 pin headers on the motherboard), used the stock HSF that came with the 3430 just want to know what i should be expecting, so i know when to hit the panic button if i need to, lol.

 

Does this mean if I use the Supermicro board I will have trouble finding fans that will work with the board?

spasszeit, you have been running this for a while now, any ideas on what your typical CPU temperatures are?  I put it all together last night (not started the array yet, the 4 in 3 fan is a 3 pin and there are only 4 pin headers on the motherboard), used the stock HSF that came with the 3430 just want to know what i should be expecting, so i know when to hit the panic button if i need to, lol.

 

Does this mean if I use the Supermicro board I will have trouble finding fans that will work with the board?

3 pin fans will work with the board, you just will not be able to control the fan speed. 4 pin fans are available to purchase, so the answer to your question is no you will not have problems finding fans.

spasszeit, you have been running this for a while now, any ideas on what your typical CPU temperatures are?  I put it all together last night (not started the array yet, the 4 in 3 fan is a 3 pin and there are only 4 pin headers on the motherboard), used the stock HSF that came with the 3430 just want to know what i should be expecting, so i know when to hit the panic button if i need to, lol.

 

Does this mean if I use the Supermicro board I will have trouble finding fans that will work with the board?

3 pin fans will work with the board, you just will not be able to control the fan speed. 4 pin fans are available to purchase, so the answer to your question is no you will not have problems finding fans.

Ok thanks. Sorry for the dumb question just didn't know since first build. Thanks again

spasszeit, you have been running this for a while now, any ideas on what your typical CPU temperatures are?  I put it all together last night (not started the array yet, the 4 in 3 fan is a 3 pin and there are only 4 pin headers on the motherboard), used the stock HSF that came with the 3430 just want to know what i should be expecting, so i know when to hit the panic button if i need to, lol.

 

Does this mean if I use the Supermicro board I will have trouble finding fans that will work with the board?

3 pin fans will work with the board, you just will not be able to control the fan speed. 4 pin fans are available to purchase, so the answer to your question is no you will not have problems finding fans.

Ok thanks. Sorry for the dumb question just didn't know since first build. Thanks again

No worries, there are no dumb questions> I hope I did not come off rude, that was not my intention.

 

Burt

No worries, there are no dumb questions> I hope I did not come off rude, that was not my intention.

 

Burt

 

You didn't just bad habits from some nasty forums. 

This community thrives on sharing of information.  You will see heated debates sometimes about theoretical issues, mostly, but I have yet to see a thread devolve into the 9th level of Hell like I've seen other places.

[...]

Motherboard specs:

 

Supermicro X8SIL-F - http://www.supermicro.com/xeon_3400/Motherboard/X8SIL.cfm?IPMI=Y

 

1. Intel® Xeon® X3400 / L3400 series,

   Core™ i3 & Pretium® processors

   with LGA 1156 socket

2. Intel® 3420 Chipset

3. Up to 32GB DDR3 1333/1066/800MHz

   ECC Registered DIMM / 16GB

   Unbuffered DIMM

4. Dual Intel® 82574L Gigabit Ethernet

   Controllers

5. 6x SATA (3 Gbps) Ports

   RAID 0, 1, 5, 10

6. 2 (x8) PCI-Express 2.0,

   1 (x4) PCI-Express (using x8 slot),

   1 32-bit PCI slot

7. Integrated IPMI 2.0 with KVM and

   Dedicated LAN

8. 7x USB (2 rear, 1 on-board, 2 headers)

 

Since the board has passed level 1 and level 2 already, this might not

be worthwhile...but some BIOS settings seem to be dangerous...so just in case...

 

I am running this board with a Xeon L3426 CPU

and haven't tried unRAID on it (yet).

There are some issues with these Intel NICs and the e1000e driver/module

across all major distros, currently as it seems (like here).

 

I tried some of them and had connectivity dropping on me during high/heavy load.

ESXi 4.1 even completely froze the box on me, while Lenny, RHEL6, Lucid and FC14

just lost connections (ethx-if state counter showing trillions of errors).

RHEL6 and FC14 finally got stable after I installed using a USB-NIC and applied all updates.

 

Finally I came across this solution, here,

where it is stated that one should disable "Active State Power Management" in the BIOS.

I think, I might have activated this BIOS option myself and the disabled state might be the standard setting.

After reverting the BIOS setting, the NICs are stable now.

I am just curios how this maybe will affect S3 modes/capabilities.

this board looks great, thanks to the op for doing the testing

Since the board has passed level 1 and level 2 already, this might not

be worthwhile...but some BIOS settings seem to be dangerous...so just in case...

 

I am running this board with a Xeon L3426 CPU

and haven't tried unRAID on it (yet).

There are some issues with these Intel NICs and the e1000e driver/module

across all major distros, currently as it seems (like here).

 

I tried some of them and had connectivity dropping on me during high/heavy load.

ESXi 4.1 even completely froze the box on me, while Lenny, RHEL6, Lucid and FC14

just lost connections (ethx-if state counter showing trillions of errors).

RHEL6 and FC14 finally got stable after I installed using a USB-NIC and applied all updates.

 

Finally I came across this solution, here,

where it is stated that one should disable "Active State Power Management" in the BIOS.

I think, I might have activated this BIOS option myself and the disabled state might be the standard setting.

After reverting the BIOS setting, the NICs are stable now.

I am just curios how this maybe will affect S3 modes/capabilities.

 

This is good to know I will have to be careful of that. After much thought I have decided to purchase this board and its on its way. My question is how do I update the drivers and BIOS for this board when I get it? Do I need to connect an optical drive to start? Load the updated BIOS and drivers onto a USB drive? Since this is my first build I'm thinking trying to load anything from the start using the IPMI 2.0 with KVM might be a bit much all at once.

[...]

After much thought I have decided to purchase this board and its on its way. My question is how do I update the drivers and BIOS for this board when I get it? Do I need to connect an optical drive to start? Load the updated BIOS and drivers onto a USB drive? Since this is my first build I'm thinking trying to load anything from the start using the IPMI 2.0 with KVM might be a bit much all at once.

 

I do not think that there will be a need for an update. My board came with the latest drivers anyway.

If you plan to use it with additional LSI controllers, be aware of the fact that their (LSI) latest "WebBios"

setup is not compatible with the "USB mouse" which is used for/during IPMI sessions.

 

In general, Supermicro BIOS updates are made for application from withon DOS.

I have prepared a USB pendrive for that.

In theory you could use a Floppy IMG or a cdrom ISO and do everything remotely,

but you'll have to put the drivers/BIOS files into these first.

If you have physical access, a USB pendrive is more hassle-free, I'd think.

I do not think that there will be a need for an update. My board came with the latest drivers anyway.

If you plan to use it with additional LSI controllers, be aware of the fact that their (LSI) latest "WebBios"

setup is not compatible with the "USB mouse" which is used for/during IPMI sessions.

 

In general, Supermicro BIOS updates are made for application from withon DOS.

I have prepared a USB pendrive for that.

In theory you could use a Floppy IMG or a cdrom ISO and do everything remotely,

but you'll have to put the drivers/BIOS files into these first.

If you have physical access, a USB pendrive is more hassle-free, I'd think.

 

Thanks Ford Perfect. I was asking about updating because in spasszeit's first post it had talked about the USB keyboard not working and Supermicro saying to update. I somehow failed to see his/her post below that saying that it was not longer a problem. It is good to know I shouldn't need to update the BIOS. Are LSI controllers the PCI-e cards that add additional SATA ports?

[...]

Are LSI controllers the PCI-e cards that add additional SATA ports?

 

Yes, LSI is producing chipsets and PCIe controllers for RAID (SAS/SATA).

Other Brands use OEM versions or build their own design upon them.

 

But I think I might have pushed you into the wrong direction with that information.

These LSI are RAID controllers, which you do not need in unRAID.

Therefore they are not (or only partly) supported  in the standard unRAID kernel.

You'd better not worry about that, if you're not looking into building a customized setup.

 

If you want to add more ports, have a look into the wiki and the supported hardware list, here.

 

[...]

Are LSI controllers the PCI-e cards that add additional SATA ports?

 

Yes, LSI is producing chipsets and PCIe controllers for RAID (SAS/SATA).

Other Brands use OEM versions or build their own design upon them.

 

But I think I might have pushed you into the wrong direction with that information.

These LSI are RAID controllers, which you do not need in unRAID.

Therefore they are not (or only partly) supported  in the standard unRAID kernel.

You'd better not worry about that, if you're not looking into building a customized setup.

 

If you want to add more ports, have a look into the wiki and the supported hardware list, here.

 

 

You didn't lead me in the wrong direction just trying to understand the lingo.  So the bootable cd that says it has windows and linux drivers on it, I do not need to run? Just checking since I'm working on the build now.

 

[...]

Are LSI controllers the PCI-e cards that add additional SATA ports?

 

Yes, LSI is producing chipsets and PCIe controllers for RAID (SAS/SATA).

Other Brands use OEM versions or build their own design upon them.

 

But I think I might have pushed you into the wrong direction with that information.

These LSI are RAID controllers, which you do not need in unRAID.

Therefore they are not (or only partly) supported  in the standard unRAID kernel.

You'd better not worry about that, if you're not looking into building a customized setup.

 

If you want to add more ports, have a look into the wiki and the supported hardware list, here.

 

 

You didn't lead me in the wrong direction just trying to understand the lingo.  So the bootable cd that says it has windows and linux drivers on it, I do not need to run? Just checking since I'm working on the build now.

 

That is correct you do not need to run the CD

Which of the 5 fan headers is the one for the cpu fan? Or does it not matter? Since the manual says the fans will run at full by default. Also with just two sticks of ram you use the blue slots, since they are channel 1 correct?

 

 

Looking at the manual it does not specify one for the CPU fan. I would personally hook it up to fan 1, just so it is easy to remember when you are looking at fan speeds. I wish I could be more help, but I went with a passive heat sink.

Looking at the manual it does not specify one for the CPU fan. I would personally hook it up to fan 1, just so it is easy to remember when you are looking at fan speeds. I wish I could be more help, but I went with a passive heat sink.

 

Thanks, it doesn't reach fan 1 so I had to put it at fan 5. For connecting the front header ports I don't need the IEEE 1394 connector because the board doesn't support firewire and I don't need the HD Audio or the AC'97 connectors because there is no onboard audio, correct? If I'm reading this right when I connect the power button, power led, and HDD led to the JF1 Header pins, pin 1 is the positive side.  I have the 590 case and the +/- sides are not labeled on these connectors, I'm assuming the white wire is the ground since it is the same for all three connectors.

Looking at the manual it does not specify one for the CPU fan. I would personally hook it up to fan 1, just so it is easy to remember when you are looking at fan speeds. I wish I could be more help, but I went with a passive heat sink.

 

Thanks, it doesn't reach fan 1 so I had to put it at fan 5. For connecting the front header ports I don't need the IEEE 1394 connector because the board doesn't support firewire and I don't need the HD Audio or the AC'97 connectors because there is no onboard audio, correct? If I'm reading this right when I connect the power button, power led, and HDD led to the JF1 Header pins, pin 1 is the positive side.  I have the 590 case and the +/- sides are not labeled on these connectors, I'm assuming the white wire is the ground since it is the same for all three connectors.

You are correct on motherboard pin 1 is power and pin 2 is ground. I am not sure of the other wire's color I am assuming red.  Typically red is power and white/black is ground. Case manufactures do not have a universal color specification for their wiring.

Are there any settings I need to change in the BIOS besides setting USB to boot device and disabling others, turn off quick boot so it's possible to use IMPI to get into the BIOS remotely, change IDE drives to SATA drives, and turn on AHCI mode.

I know this question is a bit off topic but I can boot into Unraid with out any HDD's connected to the motherboard correct? Once I'm done looking around I can shutdown and then connect the HDDs to add next time turn on?