Advice on building Xeon workstation

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LarryS

New Member
Aug 16, 2019
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Your Advice please

Well, Folks, big M is kicking us Win7 folk into the new-fangled age. Current mobo has no Win10 drivers, So, I am planning to get a new system (I'll keep my Noctua case fans, Enermax platinum PSU, and Antec case.



I use my system for writing software (Eclipse - Java/PostgreSql), as a database and web server, some video editing, and general Office applications. I want a reliable machine that will reliably last us a decade.

Please comment on whether following perform well over time



I'm looking at the

Xeon E-2186G 12M-cache Coffee Lake 3.7/4.7GHz 6core. with integrated graphics (UHD P630G)

LGA 1151 revision 2,

4slots (2channels total) DDR4 2666MHZ(fixed rate) ECC UDIMM (Unbuffered)

Intel® Xeon® E-2186G Processor (12M Cache, up to 4.70 GHz) Product Specifications

It's fast (most important feature), has enough cores, and uses ECC memory, which I prefer.



1) Any comments on this CPU good or bad?

--



Possible motherboard choices (Bias: My Asus Z8NAD6C worked well for the past ten years, but Asus is so-so for tech support):

Asus WS C246 Pro WS C246 PRO | Servers & Workstations | ASUS USA

SuperMicro C246 LGA1151 4X DDR4 2666MHZ

Gigabyte C246 Xeon (c246-WU4, MW32-SP0 and MW22-SE0)



2) Your thoughts on best mobo?

--



Memory:



My top choices are Kingston, Crucial and Patriot.



2x Kingston 8GB KSM26ES8/8ME

2x Kingston 16GB Server Premier KSM26ED8/16ME

or



2x Crucial CT16G4WFD8266 Crucial 16GB DDR4-2666 ECC UDIMM | CT16G4WFD8266 | Crucial.com (Crucial only reports on compatibility for whole systems)



3) Your pick for memory?

--

SSD (What do y'all think of the 3D XPoint? is it much faster (for single drive setups) and sufficiently reliable?

I've had several Crucial, they've all served me well.

Choices:

Intel Optane SSD 900P 280GB, 1/2 Height PCIe x4, 20nm, 3D XPoint Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSDPED1D280GASX Uses 3D XPoint $250

Intel Optane SSD 900P Series - 280GB, 2.5in PCIe x4, 20nm, 3D XPoint Solid State Drive (SSD) - SSDPE21D280GAM3 - Newegg.com



or else, a regular M.2 or SATA. such as:

NVMe SSD Crucial P1 500GB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD - CT500P1SSD8

Crucial P1 500GB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD - CT500P1SSD8 - Newegg.com



there's also the Intel H10.



4) SSD suggestion?



Thank you in advance --Larry
 

Deslok

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Jul 15, 2015
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Are you buying these used or new? Is dual socket used an option? How much storage do you need for video editing and application storage? Which antec case are you using(so we can make sure motherboards fit) and what software are you using for editing, would a gpu accelerate it at all?
 

LarryS

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Aug 16, 2019
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Strictly new. Single socket. Antec P183 = standard ATX, Enermax Platimax 750W, Most important is compile speed for software builds.
 

Evan

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Jan 6, 2016
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I would say a very balanced workstation build, The only thing I would question is optane drive, I have no idea if it would be a huge help or not, possibly it could really help with compiles of code that your using.
Maybe you have to try and report back to us :)

As a 2nd or even only drive i would probably go for a 500G/1TB fast NVMe SSD, since you only need 1 or 2 drives may as will skip SATA.
 

ReturnedSword

Active Member
Jun 15, 2018
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Optane is questionable in your use case. Optane helps mostly in low latency random read/write, and compiling will be mostly sequential. Perhaps go with the HP EX950 2TB NVMe? They are cheap as chips. At Samsung's prices for the 970 Evo Plus you can almost get 2 EX950 for the price of one 970 Evo Plus.

Have you considered the AMD Ryzen 3000? ASUS has the Pro WS X570-ACE. This motherboard has official ECC support when paired with a non-APU Ryzen. Let's say a Ryzen 9 3900X, or the Ryzen 9 3950X that will be released next month. Ryzen 3000 kicks the crap out of Intel's equivalents such as here.
 

Deslok

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Jul 15, 2015
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If you're planing for the future and considering the cost of optane it seems silly to not consider the E-2288G it's the only 8c16t coffee lake xeon.
Intel® Xeon® E-2288G Processor (16M Cache, 3.70 GHz) Product Specifications


Motherboard wise, I would strongly consider the Asrock Rack C246 WS, it's the only one orienting the memory in line with airflow instead of across it that's still full ATX
AsRock Rack C246 WS ATX Server Motherboard - Newegg.com

SSD wise optane might be flashy but they're right for both compiles and video editing you want fast sequential so any good m.2 NVMe should do, skip the intel 660p and micron P1 they're QLC good for long term storage but not as fast as most other NVMe devices.
 

ullbeking

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
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Optane is REALLY overdoing it. Why not just get an HP Z800 series second hand 2p Xeon workstation, and you're done!
 

Stephan

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Apr 21, 2017
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How about noise tolerance? Good luck getting a Z800 anywhere near "silent". It will work cheap as a server if situated in another room, but for a desktop I wouldn't dare touch it.

Personally I use an E3 1275v6 built for total silence. Planning for 10 years is also hard. Shoot for 6-8.

IGP yes/no depends on your choice of monitor. Large 4k panels usually demand DP 1.4 hence dedicated AMD/NVidia solution.

Does it have to be Intel? These days I would rather choose a Ryzen with ECC. Intel needs to be punished a little for all those chip security flaws.

A board like ASRock B450 Pro4 (90-MXB8B0-A0UAYZ) with CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3400G, 4x 3.70GHz, boxed (YD3400C5FHBOX). Provided 4 cores 8 threads is enough which your use case suggests. If not, you can skip all the IGP stuff and get a Zen2 Ryzen with a dedicated GPU. Board ASRock X470 Taichi Ultimate (90-MXB7H0-A0UAYZ) and CPU AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, 8x 3.60GHz, boxed (100-100000071BOX).

For RAM I tend to choose Samsung, but given there are not many ECC-capable RAM chip makers left, anything should work. Your KSM26ED8/16ME should work pretty much everywhere because they are sold/used so abundantly.

For SSD anything NVMe from Samsung or Intel with decent power loss protection (PLP). Date of manufacture moderately decent if you really want a lot of IOPS (2018+).

No idea about Optane, with NVMe and your workload it makes no sense. If you are building a build server for LineageOS with massively parallel I/O requirements for compilation, it might.
 

ullbeking

Active Member
Jul 28, 2017
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How about noise tolerance? Good luck getting a Z800 anywhere near "silent". It will work cheap as a server if situated in another room, but for a desktop I wouldn't dare touch it.

Personally I use an E3 1275v6 built for total silence. Planning for 10 years is also hard. Shoot for 6-8.
I had the (apparently incorrect) understanding that the HP Z-series are extremely quiet. Near-silence is very important to me, especially when building a home server that will go in the living room.

Is there a model or series of Z-workstations that would be work well as a quiet home server?
  • A single CPU with 6-12 cores would be the sweet spot.
  • Remote out-of-band management is necessary (IPMI).
  • Quietness to the point of near-silence is essential. Dampening of acoustic vibrations would be very good if the chassis includes this.
Is this realistic?
 

hceuterpe

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May 22, 2019
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I recently bought the Supermicro C246 motherboard with IPMI. Loving it so far. Oddly I even bought an i9 9900k which I realize isn't the target CPU segment for it. Either way runs great for me.
 

Deslok

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Jul 15, 2015
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I recently bought the Supermicro C246 motherboard with IPMI. Loving it so far. Oddly I even bought an i9 9900k which I realize isn't the target CPU segment for it. Either way runs great for me.
Well had you told us you were willing to give up ECC memory I'd have suggested the SUPERMICRO SuperO MBD-C9Z390-CGW-O or SUPERMICRO SuperO MBD-C9Z390-PGW-O since both pack the AQC107(not my favorite but 10gig lan included is great)
:p
 

ullbeking

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Jul 28, 2017
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I recently bought the Supermicro C246 motherboard with IPMI. Loving it so far.
Which model did you get? I couldn't find it in your thread. Did you get a board from this table? https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/#1151 I assume you chose a standard form factor such as micro-ATX or ATX.

Oddly I even bought an i9 9900k which I realize isn't the target CPU segment for it. Either way runs great for me.
This is full of awesome!! Also, why did you choose an i9-9900k instead of a Xeon E-2200?
 

hceuterpe

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May 22, 2019
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Please keep in mind I'm not the OP:confused::D

X11SCA-F is model. Specifically I was looking for more SATA ports but more so IPMI which none of the Z390 boards seemed to have. Also Z390 definitely has components which do not have drivers for Windows Server 2019. I needed VROC SATA/RST Enterprise instead of just RST.

I already purchased three Mellanox ConnectX3 Pro cards when I upgraded to 10GbE so built in 10GbE wasn't a huge seller for me.

I had a very hard time finding E-22XXG CPUs. Also I've never felt the need for ECC memory, hence why I bought the i9.
 

Deslok

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Jul 15, 2015
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Please keep in mind I'm not the OP:confused::D

X11SCA-F is model. Specifically I was looking for more SATA ports but more so IPMI which none of the Z390 boards seemed to have. Also Z390 definitely has components which do not have drivers for Windows Server 2019. I needed VROC SATA/RST Enterprise instead of just RST.

I already purchased three Mellanox ConnectX3 Pro cards when I upgraded to 10GbE so built in 10GbE wasn't a huge seller for me.

I had a very hard time finding E-22XXG CPUs. Also I've never felt the need for ECC memory, hence why I bought the i9.
100% saw the notice and thought the op had made a choice

I wonder if supermicros SIMLP AOC IPMI works on any of the Z370/Z390 boards they have.

How is the 9900k running in that? I've read supermicro is stricter on it's power usage and doesn't let it get quite as far out of hand as some of the more "gaming" focused boards can.
 

lhibou

Member
Jun 12, 2019
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Following with interest :) Actually just came to this subforum to post a similar request for advice. My i7 workstation from 2014 has started to go kaput.

Looking forward to hearing what route you go and how the build works out, LarryS.