Asus Z10PE-D8 WS/D16 WS successor?

[Michael Dimech]

Basically what's written in the title. I was curious since I intend to build a dual-socket low powered storage server sometime in the future, and with all of these new Broadwell-E motherboards coming out, I was curious if the Xeon E5-26xxv4 would get some dedicated server motherboards.

So is there any news on what, presumably, would be the Asus Z11-PE D8 WS/D16 WS?

 

[Patrick]

I would expect the ASUS Z10PE-D8 WS to have updated BIOS for V4 chips. Most vendors are using the same motherboards just with updated BIOS.

If you are looking for a low power storage server, there are probably better options that cost a lot less.

 

[Venturi]

this is complicated

the z10ped8 and d16, despite bios updates and assurances - are NOT compatible with v4 unless they were manufactured AFTER Nov 1, 2015.

I went through 4 motherboards before asus finally admitted it.

I ended up using the super micro x10drg-q

 

[RobertFontaine]

Interesting. Do you have the revision number of the asus board... or is there a place to check board number with manufacture date?
I have been suffering with SM rma and now challenges getting my X9DRG to post my 2 cpu's. I had been seriously thinking about giving up on SM and trying Asus.

 

[Peanuthead]

I have been suffering with SM rma and now challenges getting my X9DRG to post my 2 cpu's.

Robert, shoot me a message with the details of your issue. I'm not sure I can help, but I will if I can.

 

[Venturi]

make sure your running the latest bios

i have a few beta bioses that are new, if you let me know which one you have and I'll tell you if I have more recent and possibly PM it to you

also
make sure the extra 4 pin cpu connector has power at the top of the board, not an option

 

[wildpig1234]

Why is ASUS Z10PE-D16 cheaper than Z10PE-D8? D16 has a lot more memory slots so you can use cheaper ram chips so why is that MB actually cheaper?

why would anyone want to buy D8 instead? is it because of that additional PCI-e x16?

are these good boards to use QS chips? any particular problem with sleep or crash? thinking about building a dual e5-2686 v3

 

[Peanuthead]

Perhaps because the D8 is an ATX format. That is why someone would choose that over the D16. I have no issues with ES or QS chips.

 

[wildpig1234]

Perhaps because the D8 is an ATX format. That is why someone would choose that over the D16. I have no issues with ES or QS chips.

Asus lists both A16 and A8 as EEB. are they mistaken?

 

[Peanuthead]

The Z10PA-D8 is ATX (what I presume you meant. If you are referring to the Z10PE-D8 WS then that is EEB format. The Z10PE-D8 WS has audio, etc. since it is a workstation board. The Z10PE-D16 is a server board. Why is the pricing the why it is? Ask Asus or the vendor. Who really knows.

 

[Venturi]

The reason why the z10ped8 is more is because it is 4-way sli or 4-way crossfire, it has Gen 3 7x2x16x slots for accommodating the cards
THAT is why there is pricing and layout difference. AND that is also why it has less ram and why it has a larger cooling solution for the onboard chipset.

Hope that helps

 

[wildpig1234]

Google cheapest price $540

Google cheapest price $470

both are EEB WS boards. A8 has 7 pcie x16 (but only up 4 can be x16 when all are occupied?) but only 8 ram slots. A16 has 6 pcie x16 (of which 2 are x8 electrical) but 16 ram slots

As far as i can tell the only advantage of A8 is the extra pcie as well as the arrangement of the topmost pcie allowing for a full size card in that slot whereas in A16, the topmost slot is blocked by the ram slot so you can't put a full size card there hence limiting the A16 board to 5 full size pcie cards or 3 double slot gfx or tesla cards compared to being able to put 7 full size cards or 4 double slot gfx or tesla cards in the A8 board....

Unless you really going to run 4 way sli or tesla or have the need for 7 full size pcie slots, it seems like A16 is a better deal since it's not only at least $70 cheaper but the saving in ram will be substantial if you plan to get to 64 or 128gb ram.

 

[wildpig1234]

Seems like the price of DDR4 ram is around $70-80/16GB and $35/8gb module on ebay? anyone got a better price?

 

[TLN]

Z10PA-D8 - ATX
Z10PE-D8 WS - workstatin board
Z10PE-D16 - Server board
Z10PE-D16 WS - workstation board.

PA or PE - ATX or EATX(SSI-EEB)
D8 or D16 - number of slots.
WS boards are pricey because of Workstation extras.

 

[wildpig1234]

can these use regular DDR4 ram with the e5-2600 v3 cpu or is ecc mandatory? the saving between ecc and non ecc for ddr4 is not as much as ddr3 so I would rather buy something I can also use on a regular MB later too...

 

[biorpg]

I actually own both the Z10PE-D8 WS and Z10PE-D16 WS, so I can break down the differences for you.
The following assumes that both CPU sockets are used. Do not get either of these boards if you are only going to socket a single CPU.

PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots:
D8 has 7 slots: Odd numbered slots all run at x16 and the even numbered slots run at x8. This allows for 4-way SLI or Crossfire.
D16 has 6 slots: As stated above the first slot can't accommodate most full sized GPUs due to the position of the CPU socket behind it. However, ASUS took this into account and so slots 1 and 3 run at x8, while slots 2, 4, 5 and 6 run at x16. This allows for 3-way SLI or Crossfire while leaving the x8 slot 1 available for any card that doesn't extend too far beyond the slot's latch.
(Theoretically, the D16 could support 4-way SLI if you had single-slot width GPUs.)

USB:
D8: 6 USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel and two headers on the board that offer 2 additional ports each for a total of 10 USB 3.0 ports.
2 USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel and two headers on the board that offer 2 additional ports each for a total of 6 USB 2.0 ports.
D16: 4 USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel and only a single header on the board that offers 2 additional ports for a total of 6 USB 3.0 ports.
4 USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel and only a single header on the board that offers 2 additional ports for a total of 6 USB 2.0 ports.

Storage:
D8: 4 SATA 6Gb/s plus 4 SSATA 6Gb/s ports plus two additional pairs of SATA 6Gb/s ports that can either be used as 4 standard ports or as 2 10GB/s ports that offer the same old standard SATA devices a higher transfer rate. The M.2 slot is 32Gb/s PCI-E Gen3 x4.
D16: 6 SATA 6Gb/s plus 4 SSATA 6Gb/s ports. The M.2 slot is 10Gb/s PCI-E Gen2 x2 and shares bandwidth with SSATA port 4.

Memory:
D8: 8 slots. 512GB max.
D16: 16 slots. 1024GB max.
Both boards support RDIMMs (ECC ram) only.

CPU: (I mention this only because it's how I ended up with both boards.)
D8: Xeon E5-2689 v4 is not on the list of supported CPUs for this board. It works with only one socketed, but it will not run this model in both sockets. (I think it's due to the E5-2689 v4 consuming 165W each.)
D16: Xeon E5-2689 v4 is on the list of supported CPUs for this board and functions with them in both sockets.

BMC:
D8: There is a header on the board to allow for the addition of a separately purchased ASMB8-iKVM chip to allow for remote management features.
D16: ASMB8-iKVM is integrated with the board, and offers a third RJ45 (ethernet) port on the back panel dedicated to its remote management functions.

 

[wildpig1234]

I got an open box Z10PE-D16 WS for $350 which is very decent price but ram are now so expensive. $105/16GB. also e5-2686 v3 are now like 550-600 each...

 

[Dylan Pedro]

I actually own both the Z10PE-D8 WS and Z10PE-D16 WS, so I can break down the differences for you.
The following assumes that both CPU sockets are used. Do not get either of these boards if you are only going to socket a single CPU.

PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots:
D8 has 7 slots: Odd numbered slots all run at x16 and the even numbered slots run at x8. This allows for 4-way SLI or Crossfire.
D16 has 6 slots: As stated above the first slot can't accommodate most full sized GPUs due to the position of the CPU socket behind it. However, ASUS took this into account and so slots 1 and 3 run at x8, while slots 2, 4, 5 and 6 run at x16. This allows for 3-way SLI or Crossfire while leaving the x8 slot 1 available for any card that doesn't extend too far beyond the slot's latch.
(Theoretically, the D16 could support 4-way SLI if you had single-slot width GPUs.)

USB:
D8: 6 USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel and two headers on the board that offer 2 additional ports each for a total of 10 USB 3.0 ports.
2 USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel and two headers on the board that offer 2 additional ports each for a total of 6 USB 2.0 ports.
D16: 4 USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel and only a single header on the board that offers 2 additional ports for a total of 6 USB 3.0 ports.
4 USB 2.0 ports on the rear panel and only a single header on the board that offers 2 additional ports for a total of 6 USB 2.0 ports.

Storage:
D8: 4 SATA 6Gb/s plus 4 SSATA 6Gb/s ports plus two additional pairs of SATA 6Gb/s ports that can either be used as 4 standard ports or as 2 10GB/s ports that offer the same old standard SATA devices a higher transfer rate. The M.2 slot is 32Gb/s PCI-E Gen3 x4.
D16: 6 SATA 6Gb/s plus 4 SSATA 6Gb/s ports. The M.2 slot is 10Gb/s PCI-E Gen2 x2 and shares bandwidth with SSATA port 4.

Memory:
D8: 8 slots. 512GB max.
D16: 16 slots. 1024GB max.
Both boards support RDIMMs (ECC ram) only.

CPU: (I mention this only because it's how I ended up with both boards.)
D8: Xeon E5-2689 v4 is not on the list of supported CPUs for this board. It works with only one socketed, but it will not run this model in both sockets. (I think it's due to the E5-2689 v4 consuming 165W each.)
D16: Xeon E5-2689 v4 is on the list of supported CPUs for this board and functions with them in both sockets.

BMC:
D8: There is a header on the board to allow for the addition of a separately purchased ASMB8-iKVM chip to allow for remote management features.
D16: ASMB8-iKVM is integrated with the board, and offers a third RJ45 (ethernet) port on the back panel dedicated to its remote management functions.

Thank you for the extended specifications list.

So apart from more USB ports, and more PCI slots and less RAM slots, is there any reason why one would choose the Z10PE-D8 WS over the Z10PE-D16 WS?

Is the D16 a better board than the D8 or do they both serve different purposes?

 

[wildpig1234]

Thank you for the extended specifications list.

So apart from more USB ports, and more PCI slots and less RAM slots, is there any reason why one would choose the Z10PE-D8 WS over the Z10PE-D16 WS?

Is the D16 a better board than the D8 or do they both serve different purposes?

They both have small pluses and minuses. and are both great board. If you don't have the need for 4 way sli, i would go with the d16. so you can load up with cheaper smaller size ram modules or be able to have higher total ram.... and if you are doing a server, d16 is better since bmc is ready right out of box..

i went with D16 myself for those reasons, since i didn't have any 4 sli need (which i feel that is the D8 only big advantage). . I even ran two ES QHUZ v4 so it has decent support for ES chips on the D16 i got...

 

[William]

Been running the D16 for years now with 2x E5-2699v3, 256GB DDR4, ASUS Strix 1080 Ti and Intel Optane 900P 480GB for OS.
Been working great, except the Audio went out. Now using a Sound Blaster Z which is MUCH better than the onboard sound.
I prefer the D16 over the D8 because of the extra memory slots. No real need to run SLI anymore, for me anyway.
This setup games very nice, runs VM's etc... all at once