Cheap chinese x79 mobos

[bmacklin]

Anyone have any hands-on experience with these OEM motherboard with x79 chipset on eBay?

I like that they support registered memory which I have some lying around and are cheaper to buy. I also like that they come in M-ATX form factor for a smaller build.

The only question is longevity and whether they will last with 247 operation and for how long? So far I haven't found any "reviews" that's worth the time it takes to watch or read it.

Some people say they fail after 2 month or 6 months, but who knows? They LOOK like they could be pretty quality. I don't know enough about motherboard designs to know if the parts are good quality parts or not.

 

[pricklypunter]

Umm...a link might be helpful?

 

[MiniKnight]

Here's my rule: Run from crap.

If 2 of 10 are time sinks, it isn't worth it.

 

[bmacklin]

Umm...a link might be helpful?

Something like these:

intel x79 motherboard | eBay

 

[jammer45]

May not bad to give it a try but you can't expect much from some of these knock offs.

 

[TType85]

Anyone else try them? I have a parts sitting around that I could build a couple boxes for my nephews. They say it will take RDIMM and E5 (I have both sitting around). All I would need is the motherboard, a case, power supply and drive for each one.

 

[cheezehead]

Apparently it's also readily available on Amazon (and with reviews):

https://www.amazon.com/LGA2011-INTE...id=1504618541&sr=8-1&keywords=x79+motherboard

https://www.amazon.com/intel-proces...id=1504618541&sr=8-2&keywords=x79+motherboard

4.5/5 and 5/5 star reviews (7 reviews and 7 reviews).

It's actually made by Shenzhen Xinlizhi Technology Co., Ltd. Here's the actual link for the board (X79 2.4B ECC lga2011 8核16线程 强悍支持服务器主板-深圳市新力致科技有限公司).

 

[poutnik]

I have one of these motherboards, a Huanan X79 since June 2017, running 24/7. Have bought it because I had spare CPU and memory from HP Z420 I upgraded. Works without any problems. Obviously, no IPMI or other remote management.

 

[wildpig1234]

it's an oxymoron. people on here get xeon due to the ability to have lots of ram and a lot of pci-e slots, etc with power and size being less of concern.

I can understand m atx is for small size but why would 2011 and xeon want to be a pint size? it's not like it's a low power cpu for mini pc. This pint size so much limitation for power users.

doesn't quite make sense for any scenario.

 

[poutnik]

If I take SuperMicro as an example, there are quite a few motherboards that also do limit the number of PCIe slots, sometimes also limit RAM (although not that much). There must be lots of people for whom it makes sense. The Chinese are competitive with their price... And there is also a newer variant which has 3 full length PCIe x16 slots (at least 2slots apart for GPUs), one PCIe x8 and one PCIe x1... That one is advertised for gaming/mining...

 

[TType85]

it's an oxymoron. people on here get xeon due to the ability to have lots of ram and a lot of pci-e slots, etc with power and size being less of concern.

I can understand m atx is for small size but why would 2011 and xeon want to be a pint size? it's not like it's a low power cpu for mini pc. This pint size so much limitation for power users.

doesn't quite make sense for any scenario.

These boards, assuming they work well are good for putting together cheap systems using Xeons.
E5-2620 = $15
16GB Ram = $30
Mobo = $130

I wouldn't use them for my server, but as a cheap workstation, sure.

 

[TType85]

Any comments on overclocking it and whether the VRM's and mosfets need active cooling? I've seen some comments that say when overclocking active cooling is necessary.

From what I have seen it looks like max of 39 multiplier so not so great for OC.

 

[poutnik]

I do not overclock as I prefer the board to last longer...

 

[wildpig1234]

These boards, assuming they work well are good for putting together cheap systems using Xeons.
E5-2620 = $15
16GB Ram = $30
Mobo = $130

I wouldn't use them for my server, but as a cheap workstation, sure.

Adding in cost of case, video card, psu, hard drive and it goes to easily nearly $300 or even more. it's hard to have a "cheap" computer nowaday. it's easier to have a relatively "cheap" server, but "cheap low cost" computers not cheap

 

[TType85]

Adding in cost of case, video card, psu, hard drive and it goes to easily nearly $300 or even more. it's hard to have a "cheap" computer nowaday. it's easier to have a relatively "cheap" server, but "cheap low cost" computers not cheap

True. I have parts laying around though so for me, if the $130 x79 board works it comes out cheaper than doing anything else.

No matter the board/cpu/ram a GTX 1050 TI would be put in it plus a 240GB SSD. It makes a decent overall system that can game pretty well. If you wanted to deal with spinning rust and a non-gaming card you can lop off around $160 of the prices below, even more on the i3 since it has a iGPU.

Cheap Case $28
Micro Center - Computers and Electronics
240GB SSD $90
Micro Center - Computers and Electronics
GTX 1050Ti $150
Micro Center - Computers and Electronics

$268 for the stuff that won't change between systems.

X79
$268 Misc components
$130 Motherboard
$70 E5-1620 V2
$30 16GB DDR3 ECC
= $498

R3-1200
$268 Misc components
$90 ASRock B350
$109 R3-1200
$129 16GB DDR4-2400
= $596

i3-6100
$268 Misc components
$70 ASRock Z170
$109 i3-6100
$129 16GB DDR4-2400
= $576

How the CPU's compare:
PassMark - CPU Performance Comparison

Performance wise the E5-1620 V2 is the overall winner, i3 is a slight bit faster in single core but the fact there are only two cores starts being a hindrance pretty quick. DDR4 is the killer here.

 

[wildpig1234]

you forgot a psu cost. that's another $40+ lol...

being able to save on ddr3 is great. i think this MB needs to come down to below $100.

what kind of ram stick can you use? 16gb or 32gb sticks or only 8gb sticks?

i might even lower this by using gtx 950 instead. wondering how much performance drop that would be for $

 

[TType85]

you forgot a psu cost. that's another $40+ lol...

being able to save on ddr3 is great. i think this MB needs to come down to below $100.

what kind of ram stick can you use? 16gb or 32gb sticks or only 8gb sticks?

i might even lower this by using gtx 950 instead. wondering how much performance drop that would be for $

Check the link, 400W PSU included. Would I use this PSU on a high end system? No. I have 5-6 of these cases I have built for friends low end systems and have yet to have a failure.

If the MB was below $100 it would be 100% a deal. Not sure on the ram, one youtube video the guy had 64GB so I assume 16GB sticks work.

The GTX950 would work but the 1050 ti is a hell of a card for the price.

 

[wildpig1234]

i like the gtx 950 since it has more video outputs up to 3 dp1.2 and 1 hdmi 2 and 1 dvi compared to 1050..

400w is pretty close to the limit for running these systems.... not sure if thats enough for mining like poutnik said

but $30 is cheap for a case with psu included.

i probably would pay a little more for this one:

NEW Intel X79 Motherboard LGA 2011 ATX DDR3 or ECC / REG USB 3.0 SLI WiFi + OC | eBay

has more ram slots and pci-e

 

[wildpig1234]

depend on how much storage you really need, i was thinking of going down to 128GB and upgrade to e5-1650 v1 for just slightly more than 1620v2 but gives you significantly more threaded performance. but e5-1650 v1 is not on that cpu list for that board so i wonder if it will support it.

 

[TType85]

my guess is the v1's would work. I will probably pick one of these up and see how it goes. The traditional x79 retail boards are over $200 and don't take rdimm's