2696 v2 for $16.50. 2697 v2 for $25 or less

[UhClem]

i've got 8 dimms installed, not sure on the bios version. i have 2 of the 3 z440's updated to the latest bios and they all have the same issue.

Thanks. (Assuming that is "8 dimms installed" in one z440,) at least that is not as dire as my recollection. Though annoying, it's better than a flat-out F-U (& $pend more$).

And, since you actually bought Barebones Z440(s) from PCSP, did each of those PCSP z440s come with 2 HDD trays? (despite there being no HDDs)
[my z440 was from a different (one-off) reseller; my z4g4 barebones were from PCSP, and did have 2 trays each]

 

[NachoCDN]

Thanks. (Assuming that is "8 dimms installed" in one z440,) at least that is not as dire as my recollection. Though annoying, it's better than a flat-out F-U (& $pend more$).

And, since you actually bought Barebones Z440(s) from PCSP, did each of those PCSP z440s come with 2 HDD trays? (despite there being no HDDs)
[my z440 was from a different (one-off) reseller; my z4g4 barebones were from PCSP, and did have 2 trays each]

yes in all three cases, the 2 HDD Trays were present.

 

[zachj]

It’s worth pointing out that VMware have outright dropped support for haswell (v3) xeons and has slated both broadwell (v4) xeons and Skylake xeons for deprecation.

You can still get around this with boot flags so you’re not currently prevented from using vSphere on the hardware being discussed in this thread—in fact the z420/620/820 and z440/640/840 and z4/6/8 G4 are fabulous vSphere hosts.

But I do think this highlights the degree to which the industry is trying to run away from intel 14nm as fast as it possibly can…

Interestingly VMware have not yet slated any generation of AMD Epyc (not even Naples) for deprecation.

VMware makes these decisions based on what the hardware vendors themselves are dropping from support; what intel and AMD do so too does VMware. That’s what explains why Naples isn’t deprecated but Skylake is.

 

[BackupProphet]

Just use QEMU/KVM, I really don't understand the obsession around VMWare. It like using horse and cart when you have cars. It was great 20 years ago, but its time to migrate.

 

[zachj]

I for one think the ease of installation and the ease of use for vSphere are far and away better than KVM/Qemu. Perhaps once you get KVM/Qemu installed they’re easy enough for the basic use case but I don’t think they’re as beginner friendly as vSphere. God forbid you want to do any sort of PCIe device pass through vSphere is leaps and bounds easier.

I’ll grant you there’s stuff I can’t do with vSphere (ex: spoof the device ID of a passed through device) that I can do with KVM/Qemu.

But you’re simply not going to succeed in convincing me that vSphere isn’t the more mature product. And of course it damn well should be because it’s got 20+ years and tens of billions of dollars invested in it.

 

[BackupProphet]

What is easy is very subjective. I prefer configuring my VM's with CLI because I think that is easier. ChatGPT4 (paid version) helps me when I have questions.

If you like VMWare, that is good for you. But there is no question about which platform is best documented, and cheapest and supports most hardware.

 

[wildpig1234]

so what does everyone use as a cheap gfx card with their 2011 test rigs nowaday? I use nvidia k420. about $10 each but wondering if there's something even cheaper that is at least dx12 compatible pcie card.

 

[Fritz]

so what does everyone use as a cheap gfx card with their 2011 test rigs nowaday? I use nvidia k420. about $10 each but wondering if there's something even cheaper that is at least dx12 compatible pcie card.

I dunno, $10 is pretty cheap.

 

[wildpig1234]

I dunno, $10 is pretty cheap.

Was hoping for something even cheaper that also have at least one DP 1.2 (4K60hz) and one DVI-D so i can use with my older monitors. It also has 1GB video ram. Not bad for $10 right?

What i found out is that a lot of time, when you use the onboard vga (for example on my asus Z10 MB), the cpu benchmark goes down a bit compared to if you have a separate video card plugged in.

 

[Fritz]

If you find something cheaper be sure to post it. I'm sure others would be interested too.

 

[nexox]

They're closer to $30 and you'll need an adapter for DVI, but the Radeon WX2100 will do 4k/60 over displayport, without drawing much power.

 

[wildpig1234]

They're closer to $30 and you'll need an adapter for DVI, but the Radeon WX2100 will do 4k/60 over displayport, without drawing much power.

Thats def a big step up from k420. But i think i will probably stick to the k420 because it has the dvi output to support older analog vga monitor. The cards with only DP has no support for vga analog monitors.

 

[nexox]

I have some cheap DP-VGA adapter, seems to work, but I also made sure to get an LCD with both VGA and DVI input for my server closet.

 

[Fritz]

I have only one monitor that has a DP input but I have a drawer full of adapters that cover the rest.

 

[unphased]

2680v4 seems like an example of something to breathe some more life into my X99 Sabertooth that has a 5820k in it.

Edit: yowza! 2699v3 at $38 this might be my ticket! Tripling the core count without dropping down to 2ghz is nothing to sniff at. Glad I waited, im positive just a few years ago these chips were multiple hundreds of bucks.

 

[wildpig1234]

2680v4 seems like an example of something to breathe some more life into my X99 Sabertooth that has a 5820k in it.

Edit: yowza! 2699v3 at $38 this might be my ticket! Tripling the core count without dropping down to 2ghz is nothing to sniff at. Glad I waited, im positive just a few years ago these chips were multiple hundreds of bucks.

2699v3 is about 60% faster than 2696 v2 in multi core and 10% faster in single core so not bad!

 

[unphased]

2699v3 is about 60% faster than 2696 v2 in multi core and 10% faster in single core so not bad!

Man I got to reading threads about how there are hacks out there to unlock full core max turbo on many of these x99 setups... I actually have two x99 boards collecting dust, I'll have to look into this stuff.

 

[wildpig1234]

Man I got to reading threads about how there are hacks out there to unlock full core max turbo on many of these x99 setups... I actually have two x99 boards collecting dust, I'll have to look into this stuff.

It's easier to do on MB like asus or supermicro. I think dell, hp, and lenovo probably lock down their MB.

 

[zachj]

Major OEMs digitally sign their bios so anything that calls for a bios edit is impossible—at least not without a bios programmer.

I was able to overclock my z420 (the E5-1600 series are unlocked) using an EFI driver I wrote; things like turbo tables can be changed using EFI drivers even when the BIOS options are hidden in the GUI.

 

[wildpig1234]

2680v4 seems like an example of something to breathe some more life into my X99 Sabertooth that has a 5820k in it.

Edit: yowza! 2699v3 at $38 this might be my ticket! Tripling the core count without dropping down to 2ghz is nothing to sniff at. Glad I waited, im positive just a few years ago these chips were multiple hundreds of bucks.

I bought two of the 2699v3 for a total of $64 so now i have the fastest v3 cpu also . Still quite a bargain. you can't find better multicore score of dual 2699v3 for cheaper in any new intel or amd cpu!