ASUS Z10PA-D8 - Dual Socket 2011-3

[gb00s]

Which PCIe socket are you using with the adapter?

 

[cktm57]

PCIE2

 

[fishrman]

Hello,

Can the asmb8 be replaced by asmb9 ? or maybe asmb10? I have seen asmb9 in quite a good price.. I would like to get html5 support and not the JavaPain...

 

[RolloZ170]

ASMB10-iKVM Manual says:

System requirements:
- ASUS server motherboards with Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) connector
- LAN (RJ-45) port fo rserver management

there is a ASMB8 connector an a dedicated LAN port on the Z10PA-D8

further in the Manual:
see www.asus.com for an updated list of server motherboards that support the ASMB10 iKVM

but i have not found anything there...

 

[fishrman]

but i have not found anything there...

Thanks for your reply.
Exactly. I have been doing a google research before putting the question on the forum, but found no info on this being replaceable.
I hardly believe no one tried replacing these

 

[fishrman]

One more question... I am a new owner of the z10pa-d8....
Has anybody of you tried installing two Noctuas NH-U12S or two NH-U14S. Will they fit a two CPU config ?

 

[RTM]

Hello,

Can the asmb8 be replaced by asmb9 ? or maybe asmb10? I have seen asmb9 in quite a good price.. I would like to get html5 support and not the JavaPain...

I don't want to go on record to say that it can't be done, but I do believe it is very unlikely to work.

As I recall the ASMB modules are really just the small flash chips to hold the firmware for the BMC controller which is on the motherboard itself (including DRAM for the BMC).

Asus do not make the software for the BMC themselves, rather they rely on a 3rd party (probably AMI) to make the firmware, which in turn is usually updated when using a new generation BMC controllers (ASMB8 appears to be for Aspeed AST2400, ASMB9 for AST2500 and ASMB10 for AST2600).
As you can't exactly update the BMC itself, I doubt a newer firmware would work on an older BMC, for one because older BMC's are slower and often have less RAM attached.

If you have skills, then perhaps you could have a look at porting openbmc to your motherboard, but I am not sure they even implement KVM, so perhaps that is not even useful (would be pretty cool though ).

 

[heromode]

I bought one of these for 100 EUR back in the days of the OP, only now got to power it up first time, with one E5-2680v4 attached.

First boot success, everything seems fine. I'm only in BIOS now, no boot device or anything else attached. I have 2nd 2680v4 waiting to be installed, but quick question,

I have a Corsair RM550x attached. The mobo has TWO EATX 8-pin connector's, but the PSU has only one 8 pin output + cable. The manual says:

"DO NOT forget to connect the 24+8+8 power plugs when using 105W or above CPU; otherwise the system will not boot up"

The 2680v4 is a 120W TDP CPU. Am i gonna need a better PSU? Just asking quickly, i won't have time to test with 2nd CPU tonight, just the fact it boots on first try is great news for me..

 

[RolloZ170]

The 2680v4 is a 120W TDP CPU. Am i gonna need a better PSU?

should be enough if you don't want to attach any good GPU Card.
if the two 8pin are interconnected only one 8Pin is enough but all connectors have to be ideal then.
Note: not all 550 PSU will be good enough, but the the Corsair is.

 

[heromode]

should be enough if you don't want to attach any good GPU Card.
if the two 8pin are interconnected only one 8Pin is enough but all connectors have to be ideal then.
Note: not all 550 PSU will be good enough, but the the Corsair is.

Thx for reply.

Ah the two connectors are parallel, got it. Manual says "Minimum requirement of ATX power supply 1) 500W 2) All +12V output > 20A"

I might add a Quadro P2000/2200 later to play with KVM passthrough or some kind of VM to client graphics encoded streaming, or whatever, but now i realize the 2nd 8-pin connector is just for more current. Will monitor with Kill-A-Watt etc.

Again humble thanks for the fast reply. I'm happy and surprised it just booted without a hitch first time. Have it installed in a BeQuiet pure base 500 desktop case with 2x BeQuiet Dark rock slim coolers. Gonna be a pretty compact 28 core system (i'll disable HT because real men only need real cores)

 

[RolloZ170]

Ah the two connectors are parallel, got it.

"if" only if they interconnected, means you have to make sure ok ?
if you have a 8 pin that can be slitted in two 4pin, put one in the first 8pin and the second in the other 8pin of the motherboard.

 

[gb00s]

All of my boards populated with 2 CPU's did not boot with one 8-pin connected only. I had to use both connectors. Even populated with two 2630L's.

 

[RolloZ170]

All of my boards populated with 2 CPU's did not boot with one 8-pin connected only. I had to use both connectors. Even populated with two 2630L's.

you can expected that as usual. but in the manual:

 

[gb00s]

I know. Therefore I mentioned that nothing worked for me with one 8-pin only. And his PSU has one 8-pin only. Usually everything > E5 2630v4 shall not work.

Sometimes I had lick with bios 3202 to get things going not working with bios 3801.

 

[RolloZ170]

Usually everything > E5 2630v4 shall not work.

the cables of the Corsair can deliver easy 7A per wire. 4 x 7A x 12V =336Watts - should be enough.

 

[heromode]

All of my boards populated with 2 CPU's did not boot with one 8-pin connected only. I had to use both connectors. Even populated with two 2630L's.

I only have 1 CPU attached atm. But there's no extra cable with the PSU that fits, only GPU cables with 6+2 pins.. so to do it 'right' do i need a new PSU, or is there some hack to use the GPU cables etc?

 

[RolloZ170]

But there's no extra cable with the PSU that fits, only GPU cables with 6+2 pins.

you need just a second EPS cable, the PCIe connector on the PSU is the same. Both CPU & PCIe are at the same +12V Rail.
second you can change the GPU 6+2 to a EPS one, but the extractor Tool and the miniFit connector costs more than a Cable.
but then you don't have a cable for a GPU.

 

[heromode]

you need just a second EPS cable, the PCIe connector on the PSU is the same. Both CPU & PCIe are at the same +12V Rail.
second you can change the GPU 6+2 to a EPS one, but the extractor Tool and the miniFit connector costs more than a Cable.
but then you don't have a cable for a GPU.

Great, thanks for help. I do have a Corsair RM750 in another box that doesn't need that much power, just checked and it doesn't come with a EPS cable either, but it would be better to use a 750 for this system, so i'll be ordering a EPS cable then i guess.. and switch out the PSU to a 750

First look, 2€ from covid locked down china, 12€ from Germany.. Great another 10€ wasted if i want it fast

Edit oh @RolloZ170 already posted a link, thankyou.

 

[heromode]

Many thanks to @RolloZ170 for help with the EPS cable.

Next challenge will be the boot drive. I have a Samsung PM991 Nvme 2242 drive, which at first test doesn't show up in boot options, which was kinda expected. I know the issue is the UEFI bios doesn't have the code to see nvme boot drives.

There are BIOS Mods , or boot from USB (no thanks), or just get a SATA drive.

This is bios version 3202. Any recommendations for best option?

edit: oh the Bios is old, but 3107 has "1. Support ASUS NVMe devices display in post screen." in list of changes.. hmm

blah blah found out the mobo supports booting from nvme just fine. Thanks to the helpful folks on win-raid.com

UPDATE: I've not been able to see the PM991 Nvme drive at all yet, no matter the CSM, AHCI settings, and also nothing in Debian 11 Live.

This leads me to believe the 1x pcie lane from the 2242 slot is routed to the 2nd CPU. While that might seem trivial, it means that if i install the OS onto that drive, i won't later be able to remove the 2nd CPU in case i don't need the capacity and want to save on power and heat etc, not without reinstalling everything onto a SATA drive.

That little issue is really bugging me atm, i'm thinking i should just order a 2242 SATA drive and be done with it, but even the prices of those has nearly doubled recently according to a quick market scan, for a 128GB the older ones with less IOPS are 30€, newer faster ones almost 60€! Doesn't seem like much, but when you need like 3 thousand other components and cables, it all adds up.

I haven't installed the 2nd CPU yet to confirm, because it might make the system unbootable without the EPS cable, and i wanna use the system to upgrade firmware on my LSI3008 LSI SAS9300-8i controller, and also check out the stats and fw of the used DC P3700's i got from an ebay seller while i wait for the cable..

 

[gb00s]

I had the NVMe's working with 1 populated CPU socket only. But if something in your eSATA bios settings is disabled, NVMe will be disabled.

I would like to check it but I sold all of my Z10PA-D8s on eBay now. Don't be too desperate updating bios on these boards. 3202 is the last bios w/o spectre or meltdown microcode updates but is flaky sometimes. 3802 was the most stable bios in my opinion.

If you populate the board with different hardware, please reset it. Otherwise you may experience lots of 'weird' issues. I also had weird bios issues with Z10PE-D16 boards. Not sure if this is an Asus bios issue per se. The only Asus board I don't find issues with is the Z10PR-D16. Maybe it has something to do with the different PCIe design.