Gigabyte GA-EP45T-USB3P Motherboard

[dschock]

I just started using UnRaid today on an old test server and absolutely LOVE it.  I want to move my 6TB movie library to a new server using UnRaid.  I've tried to research the motherboard requirements and found that some Gigabyte MBs have an issue with HPA.  I would like to get the GA-EP45T-USB3P as it has 8 sata ports and is available at microcenter (I'm an impulse buyer ).  I saw the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P on the compatibility list but it's no longer available at newegg.  Does anyone know if the GA-EP45T-USB3P is compatible?  What the best approach to check this MB.  I'm a newbie today so take it easy on me if I'm out of line.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

dave

 

[prostuff1]

I just started using UnRaid today on an old test server and absolutely LOVE it.  I want to move my 6TB movie library to a new server using UnRaid.  I've tried to research the motherboard requirements and found that some Gigabyte MBs have an issue with HPA.  I would like to get the GA-EP45T-USB3P as it has 8 sata ports and is available at microcenter (I'm an impulse buyer ).  I saw the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P on the compatibility list but it's no longer available at newegg.   Does anyone know if the GA-EP45T-USB3P is compatible?  What the best approach to check this MB.  I'm a newbie today so take it easy on me if I'm out of line.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

dave

 

 

A general rule of thumb is to check the chipset (northbridge and southbridge) along with with NIC that is on the motherboard.  If those are on the Hardware Compatibility Page then the board will likely work just fine.

 

Since the board you mention has 8 SATA port also check the embedded SATA controller for those extra ports.

[Johnm]

A bit of an old topic. Has anyone else tried using this board?

 

I found one of these in my spare parts bin with 16 gigs of ram and Q9550 on it. With 8 on board sata (even if only the 6 primary work) and 2x SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 cards and shove this in my second 4224. Use the pile of 1 & 1.5 TB drives i have collecting dust. This would save me a huge hunk of change by recycling old stuff.

 

It would not be the greenest unraid server. Possibly overkill CPU and RAM wise considering this is a back up of back ups.... cant ever have enough data redundancy when its important. I guess I could downgrade the CPU and ram with other junk laying about to something more reasonable.

 

my thought was to put a second license on this board and use it just for back ups of my primary unraid box. have it boot once a week (bios clock or WOL packet) and run a script to back up my main unRAID and then power off once completed.

 

 

What inforomation would be helpful?

 

CPU 1.Support for an Intel Core™ 2 Extreme processor/ Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processor/Intel Core™ 2 Duo processor/ Intel® Pentium® processor Extreme Edition/Intel® Pentium® D processor/ Intel® Pentium® 4 processor Extreme Edition/Intel® Pentium® 4 processor/ Intel® Celeron® processor in the LGA 775 package (Refer to CPU support list for more information)

2.L2 cache varies with CPU

 

Front Side Bus 1.1600/1333/1066/800 MHz FSB

 

Chipset 1.North Bridge: Intel® P45 Express Chipset

2.South Bridge: Intel® ICH10R

 

Memory 1.4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory

2.Dual channel memory architecture

3.Support for DDR3 2200+/1333/1066/800 MHz memory modules

(Refer to Memory support list for more information)

Audio 1.Realtek ALC889 codec

2.High Definition Audio

3.2/4/5.1/7.1-channel

4.Support for Dolby Home Theater

5.Support for S/PDIF In/Out

6.Support for CD In

 

LAN 1.1 x Realtek 8111D chips (10/100/1000 Mbit)

 

Expansion Slots 1.1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (Note 1)

2.1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (The PCIEx16 and PCIEx8 slots support ATI CrossFireX technology and conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

3.3 x PCI Express x1 slot

4.2 x PCI slots

 

Multi-Graphics Technology 1.Support for ATI CrossFireX™ technology

 

Storage Interface Chipset:

1.6x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2_0, SATA2_1, SATA2_2, SATA2_3, SATA2_4, SATA2_5) supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices

2.Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:

1.1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices

2.2 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1) supporting up to 2 SATA 3Gb/s devices

3.Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD

iTE IT8718 chip:

1.1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive

 

USB South Bridge:

1.Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (Note 2) (8 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

NEC D720200F1 chip:

1.Up to 2 USB 3.0 ports on the back panel

* USB 3.0 10x performance is a maximum theoretical value. Actual performance may vary by system configuration.  

IEEE 1394a 1.T.I. TSB43AB23 chip

2.Up to 3 IEEE 1394a ports (2 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header

 

The GIGABYTE SATA2 chip controller is a Jmicron JMB363. It looks like that would work with unRAID. if not, I can get a monoprice card if needed.

 

i would probably get an Intel gigabit NIC card for it. That should perform better then the  Realtek Card .

 

****

I Should mention that the default setting for  'Save a copy of BIOS to HDD'  is Disabled. I assume this  eliminates the HPA issue.

[prostuff1]

It should be fine to use.  Try it out with the spare parts that you have and if it does not work report back here.

[sacretagent]

jmb363 works fine

i even have 2 drives on my esata port on that controller with a port multiplicator

no issues at all ....

 

so only look for the gigabyte HPA thing can be set to be turned off as default and you can start building

[Rajahal]

For a once-per-week overnight backup I don't see why an Intel NIC would really be of any benefit, but hey, it is your money