Looking for upgrade options

[Xyler94]

Hello,

 

Currently I have a 4 core Xeon CPU powering my unRaid setup, but I'd love to upgrade the core count to at least 8.

 

My current system:

Intel Xeon E3-1245 V5 (Skylake based Xeon) 4 core 8 thread.

Asus P10 WS Motherboard

32 GB (4x 8gb) Kingston ECC DDR4 UDIMM memory.

 

I'd need a CPU which supports ECC UDIMM, and just looking for suggestions. looking to upgrade CPU, which will need new motherboard too.

 

Price isn't much of an issue, but cheaper is always better hehe.

[tdallen]

Hi - most upgrade options will require RDIMMs...  

[Hoopster]

On 7/27/2018 at 8:54 AM, Xyler94 said:

Hello,

 

Currently I have a 4 core Xeon CPU powering my unRaid setup, but I'd love to upgrade the core count to at least 8.

 

My current system:

Intel Xeon E3-1245 V5 (Skylake based Xeon) 4 core 8 thread.

Asus P10 WS Motherboard

32 GB (4x 8gb) Kingston ECC DDR4 UDIMM memory.

 

I'd need a CPU which supports ECC UDIMM, and just looking for suggestions. looking to upgrade CPU, which will need new motherboard too.

 

Price isn't much of an issue, but cheaper is always better hehe.

 

The recently-announced ASRock Rack C246M WS motherboard supporting the Intel Xeon E-2100 processors is the next step up from your current gear.  The E-2100 processors are based on the Coffee Lake architecture and are socket 1151 chips (not compatible with your current motherboard) and have 6 core/12 threads if that is enough of a step up for you.  The board/processor also will support your current ECC unbuffered RAM. E-2100 chips should ship this quarter.

 

http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C246M WS#Specifications

 

If you don't mind moving away from Xeon and ECC RAM, there is also the recently-announced Intel i9-9900K which will have 8 cores/16 threads (but is unlikely to support ECC RAM) and hit 4.7/5GHZ speeds.  No specified shipping date yet.  What I want is a Xeon based on that architecture and supporting ECC RAM.  I have the same processor as you do currently (E3-1245 v5), but, I don't think going to the E-2100 is a big enough jump for me to justify upgrading just yet.

 

With current hardware, your best 8-core options are Ryzen chips unless you want to go higher-end Xeon.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Hoopster

[uldise]

5 hours ago, Hoopster said:

With current hardware, your best 8-core options are Ryzen chips unless you want to go higher-end Xeon

or dual CPU combo  in that case you can still reuse your RAM, but will need new mobo and CPUs..

[Xyler94]

14 hours ago, Hoopster said:

 

The recently-announced ASRock Rack C246M WS motherboard supporting the Intel Xeon E-2100 processors is the next step up from your current gear.  The E-2100 processors are based on the Coffee Lake architecture and are socket 1151 chips (not compatible with your current motherboard) and have 6 core/12 threads if that is enough of a step up for you.  The board/processor also will support your current ECC unbuffered RAM. E-2100 chips should ship this quarter.

 

http://www.asrockrack.com/general/productdetail.asp?Model=C246M WS#Specifications

 

If you don't mind moving away from Xeon and ECC RAM, there is also the recently-announced Intel i9-9900K which will have 8 cores/16 threads (but is unlikely to support ECC RAM) and hit 4.7/5GHZ speeds.  No specified shipping date yet.  What I want is a Xeon based on that architecture and supporting ECC RAM.  I have the same processor as you do currently (E3-1245 v5), but, I don't think going to the E-2100 is a big enough jump for me to justify upgrading just yet.

 

With current hardware, your best 8-core options are Ryzen chips unless you want to go higher-end Xeon.

 

I was just avoiding the possibility of buying new RAM (32 GB of RAM today is super expensive)

 

6 cores would be enough, I'm hanging on with 4 cores, just would love to dedicate more if needs be. 

 

I don't think ECC is needed for me, but I already bought the RAM, so buying new sticks is not something I'd want. I was thinking Ryzen too, I'm not set on Intel only, I'd just need a board and a Ryzen chip that supports the ram.

 

[Hoopster]

3 hours ago, Xyler94 said:

 

I was just avoiding the possibility of buying new RAM (32 GB of RAM today is super expensive)

 

Yes, DDR4 RAM these days is very expensive.  Fortunately, I got 32GB ECC UDIMM for my current system in late 2016 before prices went crazy high.  I paid $160 for all 32GB.  You can't even get 16GB DDR4 for that now.

 

I have read a few articles recently predicting RAM prices will plummet in 2019.  Hopefully, that is true and it happens early in the year.  That would make a lot of upgrade options more attractive.

 

The advantage to the ASRock board I mentioned (I think ASUS has announced some C246 boards as well) is that it will support your current RAM.  Many Ryzen chips/boards do support ECC RAM but, I am not sure if registered ECC RAM is required or if they will support your unbuffered ECC RAM.

[Xyler94]

On 7/30/2018 at 5:14 PM, Hoopster said:

 

Yes, DDR4 RAM these days is very expensive.  Fortunately, I got 32GB ECC UDIMM for my current system in late 2016 before prices went crazy high.  I paid $160 for all 32GB.  You can't even get 16GB DDR4 for that now.

 

I have read a few articles recently predicting RAM prices will plummet in 2019.  Hopefully, that is true and it happens early in the year.  That would make a lot of upgrade options more attractive.

 

The advantage to the ASRock board I mentioned (I think ASUS has announced some C246 boards as well) is that it will support your current RAM.  Many Ryzen chips/boards do support ECC RAM but, I am not sure if registered ECC RAM is required or if they will support your unbuffered ECC RAM.

 

I guess at this point, I'd need to ask Asus/ASrock/AMD themselves if it will support my RAM for this use. I'm sure they'll be the best to ask. 

 

And here's hoping RAM prices drop. I'm sick of being ripped off by these prices when trying to buy RAM, especially here in Canada hehe