Xeon Build Advise


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I received a Xeon e5-2670 and was wondering if getting a compatible motherboard would be worth it, I would like to have something future proof for a couple years while spending the least amount.
Current thoughts were running unraid with the e5-2670 and a win10 gaming vm with gpu passthrough.
I may also run a couple docker containers, plex not included. 
I've seen that the ryzen cpu mobo combos are becoming more popular and wasn't sure if i should just save my money for a ryzen purchase instead.

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I'm currently also looking into a similar setup.
From what i gather, the e5-2670 should be a fine match for a casual gaming VM while running a few docker containers and so on.

There's a lot of supermicro boards on ebay that might tick of some boxes. Though, I don't currently know how easy they are to work with, regarding IMMOU groupings.

You could go down a cpu tier and put the savings towards a dual socket mobo. Thats what I'm hoping for. :D
 

I've also pondered about getting a Ryzen system, but I'd be needing pcie lanes for multiple gaming VMs. But for your current use case a ryzen build might not be a bad bet. But i'd only go that way if you can find it at good price with rebates and what not.

 

Here's a link for some further inspiration. You should especially checkout the "CPU comparison sheet"
https://www.serverbuilds.net/

JDM_WAAAT have made some cool videos and builds that you could use, if you havn't already looked into this community.

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4 hours ago, BoboRalph said:

I'm currently also looking into a similar setup.
From what i gather, the e5-2670 should be a fine match for a casual gaming VM while running a few docker containers and so on.

There's a lot of supermicro boards on ebay that might tick of some boxes. Though, I don't currently know how easy they are to work with, regarding IMMOU groupings.

You could go down a cpu tier and put the savings towards a dual socket mobo. Thats what I'm hoping for. :D
 

I've also pondered about getting a Ryzen system, but I'd be needing pcie lanes for multiple gaming VMs. But for your current use case a ryzen build might not be a bad bet. But i'd only go that way if you can find it at good price with rebates and what not.

 

Here's a link for some further inspiration. You should especially checkout the "CPU comparison sheet"
https://www.serverbuilds.net/

JDM_WAAAT have made some cool videos and builds that you could use, if you havn't already looked into this community.

I was not aware of this site but it definitely caught my interest. I'm extremely excited about the idea of getting this board since I believe I have everything else I would need, rosewill case, hard drives,ssd, psu,  possibly have a stash of compatible ram, and added 10gb port and onboard sas is a nice bonus . Thanks!!

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2 hours ago, hasselltech said:

I was not aware of this site but it definitely caught my interest. I'm extremely excited about the idea of getting this board since I believe I have everything else I would need, rosewill case, hard drives,ssd, psu,  possibly have a stash of compatible ram, and added 10gb port and onboard sas is a nice bonus . Thanks!!

Glad the link might help. I stumbled upon the site a week ago and now I'm trawling through it.
As StevenD said above, maybe you could go with the single socket Supermicro board. It still allows you to grow a bit later by getting another cpu. It has a lot of features too without it having a VERY big footprint.

 

What other components do you currently have?

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7 hours ago, BoboRalph said:

Glad the link might help. I stumbled upon the site a week ago and now I'm trawling through it.
As StevenD said above, maybe you could go with the single socket Supermicro board. It still allows you to grow a bit later by getting another cpu. It has a lot of features too without it having a VERY big footprint.

 

What other components do you currently have?

RSV-L4000 rosewill case which supports e-atx, I may have a power supply or two sitting in a storage container in the basement, some extra fans and a noctua cpu cooler(Noctua NH-U9S which fits in the case ). A couple hot swap drive cages(RSV-L4000), a couple 3tb hdd's, a couple memory models which i believe are compatible(possibly 64gb worth), a 1060 however may consider getting a refurbished higher end card if price is right or warranty is included,  so i think  about halfway there.  

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44 minutes ago, hasselltech said:

 

RSV-L4000 rosewill case which supports e-atx, I may have a power supply or two sitting in a storage container in the basement, some extra fans and a noctua cpu cooler(Noctua NH-U9S which fits in the case ). A couple hot swap drive cages(RSV-L4000), a couple 3tb hdd's, a couple memory models which i believe are compatible(possibly 64gb worth), a 1060 however may consider getting a refurbished higher end card if price is right or warranty is included,  so i think  about halfway there.  

That's a nice case! Good airflow and easy to build in. I didn't know the Noctuas fit in the case, but that's also a great choice!

 

Back to the mobo question.

 

I'm looking at the Supermicro boards because i like the combination of features and the many configurations.
I know how that some boards have unfavorable IOMMU groupings, with regards to virtualization and gaming I/O, so you have to tke that into about.

If you can decide for specific features you need, then maybe we can get closer to a specific board you should be looking for.
What about budget?

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55 minutes ago, BoboRalph said:

That's a nice case! Good airflow and easy to build in. I didn't know the Noctuas fit in the case, but that's also a great choice!

 

Back to the mobo question.

 

I'm looking at the Supermicro boards because i like the combination of features and the many configurations.
I know how that some boards have unfavorable IOMMU groupings, with regards to virtualization and gaming I/O, so you have to tke that into about.

If you can decide for specific features you need, then maybe we can get closer to a specific board you should be looking for.
What about budget?

Yea i've seen some complaints with vt-d and virtualization on the supermicro boards however I'm not sure if it was a specific model,just random issues, or firmware update needed.   Features I would want would be a couple sata 3 ports, mini sas 2 ports works for me as well, not ddr4 as it appears to be expensive, virtualization and vt-d support, 64GB+ memory, 10 gbe and dual socket is a bonus as I have another server with dual 10gbe ports and second socket would give me ability to expand if I want to increase compute for more virtualization. Lastly I wanted pcie gen 3 slots,  which the board has and the x4 slots should fit my needs for throughput leaving the x8 and x16 available for gpu and another device.  
I think the board on the link you provided meets my needs but i'll verify that I do have the compatible ram and spend another day looking into the board as I just found out if I want to use e5 v2 i may need to update the bios in order for it to work and that i'll have to flash it mode on the onboard lsi. Though jonp's comment does make me feel uneasy about going with gigabyte as I've never used any of their products.

would prefer something less than $300, ideally under $200 .

Edited by hasselltech
forgot to include budget
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  • 1 month later...

Thanks guys. I've decided to go with the Gigabyte board and everything appears to be well so far. 

my build is as follows:
Rosewell case

M/B: GIGABYTE GA-7PESH2 Version 00000001 

BIOS: GIGABYTE Version R17. Dated: 06/26/2018

CPU: Intel® Xeon® CPU E5-2690 0 @ 2.90GHz

2 x ADATA_SU800 for Cache and 2 x Seagate Sas ST6000NM0034 from amazon, ~$90 with 1 year warranty and getting write speed of about 200MBs

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