ES Xeon Discussion

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masterdeejay

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Feb 7, 2020
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have you tried with other Retail V4 ?
Nope, but my asrock x99 and z440 (both latest stock bios) have the same pcie lane issues with both aws cpus (asrock x99 pcie lane for nvme not working, only an old video card works at pcie 1.0, hp z440 only works on the first 1x slot that comes from the Pch)
Only old pcie 1.0 video cards works on both systems width this aws cpus.
There is no issues with v3 cpus.
 

masterdeejay

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Feb 7, 2020
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looks here 1.0 too right ?
View attachment 30125
anyway: it is eng.sample. QS but at OEMs you never know.
I think it is something with pcie mmio, tsx, vmx or some addressing issues. Dont think that pcie lanes are killed because low end, old cards are working (short addresses?)
So i start to disable cpu features. (Txt and vm features)
There was something with TXT(TSX) in that time (haswell and early broadwell cpus).
 

RolloZ170

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Apr 24, 2016
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There was something with TXT(TSX) in that time (haswell and early broadwell cpus).
early haswell, was disabled 3 month after launch in microcode. don't know about any issues with broadwell and TSX.
my theory:
A: hey intel ,we want cheap 16 core !
I: with full features ? no go.
A: we don't need PCIe lanes, or just some with low speed.
I: ok we can do this. if they are end of usage, and flood the ebay market they are unusual for most LOL.
 

masterdeejay

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Feb 7, 2020
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early haswell, was disabled 3 month after launch in microcode. don't know about any issues with broadwell and TSX.
my theory:
A: hey intel ,we want cheap 16 core !
I: with full features ? no go.
A: we don't need PCIe lanes, or just some with low speed.
I: ok we can do this. if they are end of usage, and flood the ebay market they are unusual for most LOL.
Interesting, but I don't think that would be the case. There is not any cpu in LGA2011 that crippled that way. They limited the ram freq, qpi links but not the pcie lanes.
I think it is something to do with a cpu feature like addressing pcie devices, or something with buggy virtualization.

In LGA2066 ok, there was a few limited pcie lane cpu (i5, and lower i7 cpus) but not in the LGA2011-3


I have a few things from amazon servers.
AMD Radeon Pro V540 Eng sample (dual navi12+HMB2)
there is a topic for this: AMD Radeon Pro v540 Research Thread
There is no windows driver for that card, and Amd dont want to help.
 

RolloZ170

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Apr 24, 2016
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@RolloZ170 do QVxx Ice Lakes boot on Tyan motherboards? Info on ICL ES seems sparse.
at supermicro x12 LGA4189 the microcodes are all there, but ICL ES stepping B0/C0 only run with unofficial BIOS 1.0
(except the X12DPi-N6 supports up to BIOS 1.1b)
ASRock Rack stopped support with actual BIOS too.

i have checked Tyan S5642AGMNRE
all microcodes are there 606A4,606A5,606A6, but at least ME/SPS is different
BIOS V100 SPS: 04.04.04.058 ES
BIOS V101 SPS: 04.04.04.202 no ES
BIOS V102 SPS: 04.04.04.301 no ES
, you have to stay with oldest BIOS.

edit:
stepping D0 ES like QWAS,QWAQ,QWAT,QWAP are still working
 

dsp8913

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Jan 22, 2018
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QY36 C2 X.XXGhz 105.0MB 56C 350W <- you need Debug BIOS. this stepping in not supported by Intel RC anymore.
Q0KG looks promising, Q0KS 2.0Ghz 36C 300W stepping E0, E0 currently supported by all stock BIOS (SM,Tyan, GB)

QYF? is D0
QY3? C2 is some chars earlier. the sequence is "0123456789ABCDEF...:"
Based off of information from a server supplier, Q0KG is a 52C/104T, 350W, E0 stepping CPU.
 
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JosefHrib

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Jul 25, 2023
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I can have for good price Intel Xeon Platinum 44cores LGA4677 QXP4. Seller wrote me that this processor is 100% working with motherboard Gigabyte MS33-AR0 with BIOS F01 and sended me this BIOS in zip file (server_mb_bios_MS33-AR0_F01.zip). Can be true that this CPU will on 100% works with this MB with this BIOS? And what if motherboard will have higher BIOS version can be easy downgraded to version F01?
 
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RolloZ170

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Apr 24, 2016
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I can have for good price Intel Xeon Platinum 44cores LGA4677 QXP4. Seller wrote me that this processor is 100% working with motherboard Gigabyte MS33-AR0 with BIOS F01 and sended me this BIOS in zip file (server_mb_bios_MS33-AR0_F01.zip). Can be true that this CPU will on 100% works with this MB with this BIOS? And what if motherboard will have higher BIOS version can be easy downgraded to version F01?
must be modded BIOS because F01 does not include stepping C microcode.
yes you can downgrade to F01.
but i not recommend to buy the QXP4 with full of bugs. you can never update BIOS.
QYF? are cheap today and works on MS33 up to BIOS F17,F19
 
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JosefHrib

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must be modded BIOS because F01 does not include stepping C microcode.
yes you can downgrade to F01.
but i not recommend to buy the QXP4 with full of bugs. you can never update BIOS.
QYF? are cheap today and works on MS33 up to BIOS F17
Hi, thanks for the good advices. I haven't seen any QYF piece yet. :(
 

sam55todd

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May 11, 2023
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As was explained by RolloZ170 (I had a very long enlightening discussion over pm with him) - Gigabyte LGA 4677 MBs do not restrict use of D0 stepping (like my supermicro does unfortunately)
earlier stepping ES CPUs are a very much gamble and very unlikely to work even on Gigabyte despite their liberal openness,

that's why QYF... are recommended from first ES/QS wave (since those are more towards QS spectrum, therefore aren't designed only for hardware but also for software compatibility developments) QV../QW../QX.. (not sure about Q1..) on a design range more towards pure ES samples with stepping (and functionality) not implemented on most retail boards (unless you're BIOS modding wizard).

As for availability of "cheap" versions - depends on your definition of "cheap", most prod versions are still being sold by 50% higher over Intel's "recommended" price.
There are plenty of cheap D0 stepping CPUs (as many users/sellers reporting - supported by Gigabyte boards), for instance ebay China-located items: 204381467422, 125995652712, 364324430741 (I've never bought from them, nor affiliated in any way) in $200-$250 range, while item 175826589225 from US is advertised as having E3 stepping (more retail grade) and theoretically (if it's really E3) should work on more boards (but it's more expensive - starting from $800+delivery, another question is about seller' reliability because of too few sales made and lack of feedback as seller).

Prod/retail CPUs have stepping E5 or S3.

There are production low-core Bronze CPUs available starting from around $600 and up, but Silver/Gold goes for $800~$1500.

Still waiting for market availability myself keeping an eye until something suitable starts being thrown into market hopefully at around $500 but above Dn stepping (again - compatibility with SuperMicro).

P.S. ohh, and of course reminder - ES/QS CPUs aren't designed for long-term life or stability, therefore it's on your own risk.
 
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Stephan

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Why contemplate such buggy silicon at all? Those chips are not worth 300 USD but (minus!) -5000 USD, because of all the time you'll be wasting trying to figure out why your VMs crash out of the blue. Unless you feel masochistic. To keep sane why not stick with tried and true x3xx Ice Lake or x2xx Cascade Lake generations...
 

RolloZ170

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hat's why QYF... are recommended from first ES/QS wave (since those are more towards QS spectrum, therefore aren't designed only for hardware but also for software compatibility developments) QV../QW../QX.. (not sure about Q1..)
SPR Q1xx are (mostly)E2/E3/S2 stepping QS or ES2 with prod.microcode
SPR-WS Q19x stepping E3
SPR Q2xx are E5/S3 stepping QS
 
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computably

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Anybody know if 8260 ES (QQ89) is compatible with Dell T7920 workstations? Seems like getting a whole barebones 7920 is literally the same price if not cheaper compared to other 12 DIMMs/socket lga3647 motherboards, but I can only find sellers claiming QQ89 is compatible with Dell mobos. (Same goes for Lenovo/HP workstations)
 

RolloZ170

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Anybody know if 8260 ES (QQ89) is compatible with Dell T7920 workstations?
yes, QQ89 is only TDP 165W / TDC 228A the microcode A0 50655 is there
but this MCU is not supported since 2019 by intel.
but I can only find sellers claiming QQ89 is compatible with Dell mobos. (Same goes for Lenovo/HP workstations)
HP lacks A0 microcode in later BIOS.
update: and Intel lacks A0 too
 
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