Change to 2011-3 platform is it really worth it

[Rom4nz0 Crim1nal3]

Hello to everyone,

I'd appreciate your thoughts and opinions on switching to the 2011-3 platform.Is it really worth it at this point?
Maybe this has been addressed in the forums many times.If so please share some links.

A bit of history.
At the moment a have a rather small system with a Xeon E3 1245 v5 on a X11 Supermicro board with 32GB of Ram,a LSI raid controller and a 10gb nic.I'm planning on setting a ESXi for Lab purposes and the likes.Nothing too dramatic or resource demanding.I'm a bit concerned though that even if i double the ram simply it wont cut it.
So since the 3647 and the EPYC platforms are out of my reach pricewise i'm thinking on investing on the 2011-3 platform.
The plan is to get:

• A dual socket ATX board (unfortunately the chassis that i have atm cannot accommodate any EATX). On the other hand i'm not sure if a dual socket board is needed in my case so please enlighten me on this.

• Α couple of Xeons 2620V4 or a V3 variant.Please propose which version do you recommend.I 've seen that pricewise the V3 is more affordable but the V4 seems more suitable for my needs.
• All the ram i can get my hands on.

All the above seem really nice but is it really worth it spending the money on a platform that's nearly gone?

Thnx in advance for your time.

 

[RageBone]

I myself still like the platform, and would say that it is worth it.
I think the term "nearly gone" is a bit far fetched. Though I didn't check if Intel actually and officially EOLed everything on the platform.

Never the less, even if they did, it wouldn't change my point because I don't think it is worth it to buy anything around this platform in new condition, mainly because prices are often insane in those cases, making epyc and the other xeons the better choice.

So I guess them EOLing the platform would make things better on that front, so from that perspective, C612 / 2011-3 is very far from gone.

Look at all the people still using Nehalem and sandy / ivy LGA 2011-0 servers and what went on there.


But now to a more relevant problem.
The possible board that would fit two CPUs in a standard ATX form factor.

I myself have a spare Asus z10pa d8 but that is not working in dual socket mode, so nope nope nope.
And the other board I know of is a supermicro.

There might be plenty other that I don't know off, but finding and getting a board for a reasonable price might be challenging especially due to that.

 

[T_Minus]

"EOL" is relative if you're a huge enterprise with support contracts IMHO. I would venture a guess based on what I see that most SMB are actually using EOL hardware vs non-EOL. The same probably holds true for a lot of racks of gear at data centers too. Now, did they buy it EOL, probably not BUTTTT The E5 V3\4 generation is well worth it unless you need more compute density or want PCIE 4.0

 

[Rom4nz0 Crim1nal3]

A big thanks to both of you for taking the time to answer and apologies for the some what late response.

@RageBone
Well i do i agree that the term "nearly gone" is indeed a bit far fetched but what i had in mind (and i d like your opinions on this) was that:
Yet a still good performer,this platform now is two sockets behind meaning that by the time i decide it's time to shift the parts it would be a grand or so in the trashcan.You see where i'm from there's no community for enterprise parts just consumer so i'll end up practically giving them away. I'm already concerned wtf i'm gonna do with the existing platform.
Anyway that's highly debatable but let's look into the more interesting part.

I myself have a spare Asus z10pa d8 but that is not working in dual socket mode, so nope nope nope.
And the other board I know of is a supermicro.

What do you mean by that? Is there a problem with this board working with 2 cpus?That and the Supermicro caught my eye tbh.
Sorry but i've never built a system with 2 sockets so there might be something i'm missing.Do you think that if it's going to be ATX then it's better to be a single socket?

Which generation do you recommend V3 or V4.I found a descent used 2650V3 not ES/QS and a pair of 2620 V4 in a good price and i'm a bit confused.
To be honest guys i'm sooo pumped up about it

Thnx again

 

[RageBone]

Sorry I meant that I know two dual socket boards, the Asus z10pa d8, and a supermicro that I didn't know the number of.
Now I do, X10DRL I

The rambling about my Z10pa d8 was a bit out of place I guess, thought i'd mention that I have one and that I therefore have "first hand" experience with that.
Also mentioned it because i'm selling it rather cheap due to the mentioned defects that it can only work with one CPU and that i soldered around on it.
The "nope nope nope" was me realizing that you probably won't be interested though.
Left that in there anyway ...

So I hope that explains everything : )

EDIT: the SM X10DRL I has non standard Mounting holes. You might need to drill and tap new ones.

Edit : there also seems to be a similar supermicro X10DAL i, still non standard mounting.

The z10pa d8 has standard atx holes.

Edit: a small search later, there is also a Asrack one, EP2C612D8

And probably one from tyan and maybe maybe maybe on from gigabyte.

Edit: it is the Gigglebyte*, MD30 RS0.

 

[Marsh]

V3 is my choice , v3 cpu are on firesale now on ebay.

Retail 16 cores , 2.0ghz , turbo 2.9.0ghz ,v3 cpu was $80 each last month.

Single socket ATX system with 16 cores , 32 threads goes a long way.

add a bunch $25-$29 per 16gb DDR4 ram to get to 128gb , 8 ram x $25 = $200

 

[vanfawx]

I'm assuming you're talking about the e5-4667 v3 @Marsh ? I never saw them down to $80! That's amazing.

 

[Marsh]

Yep, those were retail cpu too.
Seller sold 82 CPU in that listing.

It was Best Offer. BIN price was like $134 each. Seller accepted $80 and I had 10% ebay buck to offset sales tax cost.

 

[T_Minus]

Yep, those were retail cpu too.
Seller sold 82 CPU in that listing.

It was Best Offer. BIN price was like $134 each. Seller accepted $80 and I had 10% ebay buck to offset sales tax cost.

Here I thought I did good 12 @ 100\ea lol still in my pile to test

 

[zer0sum]

V3 is my choice , v3 cpu are on firesale now on ebay.

Retail 16 cores , 2.0ghz , turbo 2.9.0ghz ,v3 cpu was $80 each last month.

Single socket ATX system with 16 cores , 32 threads goes a long way.

add a bunch $25-$29 per 16gb DDR4 ram to get to 128gb , 8 ram x $25 = $200

I'll play devils advocate for a moment

Is it really that much better than a v2 setup like this though?

• X9DR3-LN4F+, dual socket v1/v2 motherboard for ~$100
• 4 x 32gb of DDR3 ram for ~$100
• 2 x Xeon E5-2667, 8 cores / 16 threads, 3.3ghz base, 4ghz turbo , for ~$120 each

 

[T_Minus]

I'll play devils advocate for a moment

Is it really that much better than a v2 setup like this though?

• X9DR3-LN4F+, dual socket v1/v2 motherboard for ~$100
• 4 x 32gb of DDR3 ram for ~$100
• 2 x Xeon E5-2667, 8 cores / 16 threads, 3.3ghz base, 4ghz turbo , for ~$120 each

LOL.

2667 v2 was selling for $200+ each on average until November, when they sharply dropped to <$150.

$120 is not a reasonable expected price to pay, it's a very good deal price and an extremely rare one even recently. Those other prices are also considered extremely good. If that DDR3 was 1866 I'd say it's a great system esp @ that price


I'd also note that i don't run the same stuff on a 4667 v3 as I do a 266 v2\v3... so to me this is an apples to oranges comparison...

 

[Marsh]

I am interest in power cost saving between a single CPU vs dual CPU.

single E5-4667v3 Cinebench R15 is 2200 cb ( I ran this test myself )

Dual E5-2667v2 is 2500 cb
smartdroid`s Cinebench - R15 score: 2500 cb with a Xeon E5 2667 v2

Take the saving from E5-4667v3 ($100 each) vs dual E5-2667v2 ($120x2) = -$140
apply the $140 toward DDR4 ram.

 

[RageBone]

Going single socket would be pretty good for motherboard options.
Plenty around. If you don't need ipmi then any x99 board will do and those are seriously cheap.

 

[Wasmachineman_NL]

LOL.

2667 v2 was selling for $200+ each on average until November, when they sharply dropped to <$150

Man, if only the E5-16xx V2's dropped in price like that. I would love to do a RIVE/1680V2 open-loop build but prices are prohibiting me from doing it.

That, and finding a good (and not overpriced like hell) EATX water cooling case.

then again, the Ryzen 2600 I have in my main comp makes minced meat of Ivy Bridge Xeons for half the price.

 

[RageBone]

Man, if only the E5-16xx V2's dropped in price like that. I would love to do a RIVE/1680V2 open-loop build but prices are prohibiting me from doing it.

That, and finding a good (and not overpriced like hell) EATX water cooling case.

then again, the Ryzen 2600 I have in my main comp makes minced meat of Ivy Bridge Xeons for half the price.

RIVE isn't EATX in the sense of server boards.
It will basically fit any Case with a bit of space around the normal ATX mounting.

So all the good cases will work well, o11dynamic, fractal designs, NZXTs etc ...

 

[Wasmachineman_NL]

RIVE isn't EATX in the sense of server boards.
It will basically fit any Case with a bit of space around the normal ATX mounting.

So all the good cases will work well, o11dynamic, fractal designs, NZXTs etc ...

The Define R4 I have definitely won't properly fit a RIVE, it overlaps the cable management gutters, or whatever you call those.

Plus, building WC in a R4 ehhh no thanks.

 

[RageBone]

@Wasmachineman_NL
Well, you are right with the overlapping on the r4, but I still think that to be ok.
Another small thin, rive is x99 where as e5v2 is x79 and there are two 8c CPUs for the rive, the 1660v3 and 1680v3, that are much more common then the 1680v2.
All v4 are locked so i'll ignore those.

 

[Wasmachineman_NL]

@Wasmachineman_NL
Well, you are right with the overlapping on the r4, but I still think that to be ok.
Another small thin, rive is x99 where as e5v2 is x79 and there are two 8c CPUs for the rive, the 1660v3 and 1680v3, that are much more common then the 1680v2.
All v4 are locked so i'll ignore those.

RIVE is X79, RVE (=Rampage V Extreme) is X99.

 

[RageBone]

Ffff indeed my Bad.

 

[Rom4nz0 Crim1nal3]

Opinions for the below set ups

Supermicro-X10DRL-i-dual
2x-Intel-Xeon-E5-2690V3
32GB Hynix Ram

I do prefer Supermicro over ASUS but since RageBone said that
the SM X10DRL I and X10DAL has non standard Mounting holes that's a bit of problem.

Asus-Z10PA-D8-dual
2x-Intel-Xeon-E5-2690V3
32GB Hynix Ram