Advice on TR Mobo with future upgradeability


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EDIT:  This thread has restarted here

 

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Howdy folks!  My MSI K9A2 Platinum has worked like a champ for a little over a decade now.  We're talking 24/7 file serving with a VM or two on the side. Lately I've continued to add more VMs and some Dockers - Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, Taultulli, DelugeVPN, Jackett, pihole, etc.  The latest edition of Live DVR and a few extra users are pushing it to the limits.  I've had the max of 8GB RAM for most of the time.  I recently upgraded the original Phenom II from x4 to an x6 1090T.  But it is tapped out for upgrades.  And with no IOMMU / GPU passthrough, I can't really use the VM as a daily driver (which is currently a primary goal).

 

So I'm looking for the replacements. My thinking is that I can buy a decent Mobo now with a medium CPU and RAM amount.  In the future, I can incrementally upgrade both as their prices drop.  I considered some of the SuperMicro 24 bay Xeon servers flooding the market, but I currently have several 8GB drives and I can contain things to stay around the 8-9 drives total (a couple of 2TB I can ugrade over time). Plus, while many of these offer high thread count, speed isn't super without breaking the bank very easily.

 

That brings me to Threadripper.  3rd Gen will be released next month (Nov 2019), which means a price drop across the board.

 

I'm looking at entry right now of something like a 1st Gen 1920x (12 Core) which is about $270. I could go 1900 (8core) at $160 - but, well, I'm avoiding bottom of the barrel just cause (but by all means - feel free to up sell me).  32GB RAM (2x16) is about $160. I'm thinking those will hold me over a couple of years and then things like 3rd gen will be super cheap, right? (okay, might upgrade the RAM sooner for plex ram transcoding, etc.)  Regardless - it requires a rock solid Motherboard.

 

I'm currently considering this MSI X399 board weighing in at about $350. Why? High rating on Newegg, 8 Sata, PCI gen 3 (for later HBA perhaps), and, well, MSI has done well by me.

 

That said - any better recommendations for a mobo? Something you think will last and be available for upcoming Threadripper power requirements, etc.? I know there are some that have issues. Just don't have hour to devote to the topic (and I know many of you already have the gouge).

 

My budget? Above puts me close to $900 with a noctua cooler ($60) and a newer 5 drive rack (to replace my SATA 1 Supermicro version).

 

So please pour your wisdom into me. If I can get the mobo solid, I can build around it. 

 

Many thanks, in advance!

KermitJr

Edited by KermitJr
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A few pointers:

  • Threadripper is quad channel. You should have it in your budget to run 4 sticks of RAM. If having to pick between 4x16GB standard speed vs 2x16GB high speed for similar price, always pick the former (unless the achievable high speed is close to doubling the standard speed).
  • You should wait out to see if 3rd gen TR will be backwards compatible before making that assumption. Cuz it may not.
  • When I was considering mobo for my build, I arrived on the Gigabyte X399 for one single feature - the ability to pick which PCIe slot as primary for Unraid to boot with. That means I can use the middle slow PCIe2.0 slot for a cheapo GPU dedicated to Unraid and avoid having to deal with passing through primary GPU (e.g. error code 43, reset issues etc.) or waste a PCIx16 slot.
    • The gotcha is that for whatever reasons (probably kernel related), ACS Override would cause severe lags with my VM for any Unraid version after 6.5.3. Hence, I had to reconfigure a few things to avoid needing ACS Override.
      • I can't tell if the lag is Gigabyte specific or X399 specific or X399 + 2990WX specific.
    • In case you wonder, the non-ACS IOMMU grouping is like this (same line = same group). Note: it's very likely that all the TR motherboard will have similar if not exactly the same grouping.
      • SATA, USB 3.1, LAN, Wifi, 3rd PCIe slot (2.0), 5th PCIe slot (3.0 x8), bottom right (2280) M.2 slot
      • 4th PCIe slot (x16)
      • 1st USB 3.0 controller
      • SATA (I'm guessing for the M.2 SATA), Mobo sound card
      • Both 22110 M.2 slots, 2nd PCIe slot (x8)
      • 1st PCIe slot (x16)
      • 2nd USB 3.0 controller

 

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Thanks testdasi.  That's a solid enough recommendation to swing me to Gigabyte. And guess I'll have to go with 4x16 for the RAM. Oh well.

 

That said, if gen 3 TR is moving to a different socket, does that bring Ryzen back into the picture for me? Or do I just spring for a Gen 3 Threadripper and buy some future compatibility later?

 

Anyone have thoughts on that aspect of things? I clearly need to do a bit more research, but I'm grateful for you inputs.

 

Thanks,

Kermit

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/27/2019 at 8:09 PM, KermitJr said:

That said, if gen 3 TR is moving to a different socket, does that bring Ryzen back into the picture for me? Or do I just spring for a Gen 3 Threadripper and buy some future compatibility later?

 

Anyone have thoughts on that aspect of things? I clearly need to do a bit more research, but I'm grateful for you inputs.

 

 

 

 

I am going to be building a new server this winter so I can turn my current server into a VR gamer in the living room. Also, I really want a threadripper server.

 

I am trying to justify the cost bump to third gen over second with upgrades in mind, but that is a steep, steep hill—not a bump. I can get a 2920 for $299US or a 2950 for $599 and a X399 board for $350. Basically, I can build out the second gen for the cost of the third gen chip. I looked at a 3950X but because one of the goals of the new build is multiple GPU passthrough, I want ALL the PCI lanes and that leaves me with threadripper.

 

I have upgraded the chip on my current server all of once in 8 years of service. So, maybe I'm focusing on the wrong metric. I'm all ears for advice.

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