ES Xeon Discussion

[Alastair Hellard]

Hi all,

Looking at upgrading my old e5 v4 setup. I've got my eye on a pair of ES 3rd gen golds, and an SuperMicro X12DPI-N6. I have never forayed into the ES world before, and just wanted to check if this is a dumb consideration / this will work.

Seems to be quite a limited choice in the UK of 3rd gen components. Unless I am looking in the wrong place!

TIA

 

[RolloZ170]

I've got my eye on a pair of ES 3rd gen golds, and an SuperMicro X12DPI-N6. I have never forayed into the ES world before, and just wanted to check if this is a dumb consideration / this will work.

X12DPI-N6 ES support: only up to BIOS 1.1b
except you mean stepping D0 ES2.(shows step 6 in CPU-Z)

 

[Alastair Hellard]

X12DPI-N6 ES support: only up to BIOS 1.1b
except you mean stepping D0 ES2.(shows step 6 in CPU-Z)

Thanks. Unsure - the only info I can see is they are ES2 on the heatspreader.

 

[RolloZ170]

Thanks. Unsure - the only info I can see is they are ES2 on the heatspreader.

QDF ? QW?? or what ?
edit: ES2 is normaly not printed on the HS

 

[Alastair Hellard]

QDF ? QW?? or what ?
edit: ES2 is normaly not printed on the HS

Very hard to see on the image on the listing. I think it's QU but its not clear.

 

[RolloZ170]

Very hard to see on the image on the listing. I think it's QU but its not clear.

QU = bad. try QWAN,QWAT,QWAS,QWAQ,QWAP or avoid 3rd gen ES.

 

[Alastair Hellard]

Ah yes just seen in the listing they are QU98.

Thanks for the help - there don't seem to be many about so may need to think again.

EDIT:

Out of interest - as I know nothing about these things - what makes a certain type of ES bad? Just stability / quality etc? Still going to look elsewhere!!

 

[SDletmk]

rare one happens: there are Q0?? EV-QS models.

So in this case, the fact that it's a E1B is more important than that whether or not it's QY**, and it probably won't work on my Asrock? Then again, only 8 cores isn't that much of an improvement compared to the actual Xeon-W CPUs, especially considering it's an ES and $200.
Well, at least it's another letter code documented.

 

[RolloZ170]

the fact that it's a E1B is more important than that whether or not it's QY**, and it probably won't work on my Asrock?

Q071 is not working. others not tested.

Then again, only 8 cores isn't that much of an improvement compared to the actual Xeon-W CPUs, especially considering it's an ES and $200.

i have other R0 E1B: 32C Q077, and 20C Q075
you can try.

 

[painkoyo]

sorry for the repost,
I am still wondering if anyone has the F07 BIOS file for MS33-AR0. I intend to test something with it on my MS33-CPA.
Thank you.

 

[RolloZ170]

I am still wondering if anyone has the F07 BIOS file for MS33-AR0.

F01 and F10: nothing between sorry.
what do you trying ?

 

[sam55todd]

depends on the type of FW.
Root of Trust (RoT) only accepts BIOS signed with production cert/key. Test/Debug BIOS ( TESsd, STDsd) is not accepted and if flashed by SPI programmer restored by RoT system before POST.

not Root of Trust X1*SRA/X1*SWA BIOS can be modded as you want, some must be flashed with clamp and SPI programmer.

Although this information is rather for a different thread - recently I was looking into Supermicro' pictures of my X13DEI (making some upgrades for PCIe devices) and noticed JPFR1 / JPFR2 / JPFR3 / JPME1 / JPME2 jumpers which theoretically (looking into manuals of similar boards, but without much knowledge about firmware upgrade specifics, only read some header descriptions by others) would allow entering "Manufacturer" mode and skip PFR Function (Platform Firmware Resilience) as well as bypassing SPI flash security checks. (there are range of other undocumented jumpers/headers like JDB1 / JVRM1 / JVRM2 / JPL1 etc., but I think most of those are rather for other purposes like LAN control, debug, redirect PCH vs BMC for VRM readings and so on..)

 

[RolloZ170]

and noticed JPFR1 / JPFR2 / JPFR3 / JPME1 / JPME2 jumpers which theoretically (looking into manuals of similar boards, but without much knowledge about firmware upgrade specifics, only read some header descriptions by others) would allow entering "Manufacturer" mode and skip PFR Function (Platform Firmware Resilience) as well as bypassing SPI flash security checks.

"Manufacturer" mode, means the intel SPS/ME =Chipset Firmware (located in the BIOS chip)
JPFR1 is for CPLD debug.
the RoT functionality must avoid a firmware manipulation on the way from factory to the customer.
Disable PFR means the BIOS is not auto recovered if validation was failed.
Platform Firmware Resilience != Root of Trust

 

[painkoyo]

Hi,
I recently got a Q1WX, but when I install it on my MS33-CPA, the system won't power on. Other SPR-SP ES CPUs work fine on the same setup (BIOS version F01), so the issue seems specific to the Q1WX CPU.
Does anyone have information about this Q-SPEC (Q1WX) or know why it won't work? I strongly suspect that it is an ES from the Xeon W-2400 series.
Thanks for any help!

 

[RolloZ170]

I recently got a Q1WX, but when I install it on my MS33-CPA, the system won't power on.

even a with Xeon W-2400 the motherboard will power on but not POST.
defective CPU ?

 

[painkoyo]

defective CPU ?

Quite possible

 

[Phocks]

I'm running a MS73-HB1 and 2xQYFQ, and I haven't been able to get NVMe drives to work in the m.2 slots on the motherboard, they aren't recognised in the bios. I've tried an HP FX900 and a Samsung 970 evo. I'm using R07 bios (it didn't work on the 2023 factory bios either).
Using a PCIe to NVMe adapter works fine. Is there a setting I need to enable somewhere to get the slots on the motherboard working?

 

[gigge1234]

Hi everyone,

I’m running dual Xeon 8260 ES QQ89 processors on an Intel S2600WF motherboard.

The system boots fine, and all cores are correctly detected. Initially, it was very unstable, but after reading about the C-state issue, I disabled it, and now the system is stable.

However, I noticed there's no microcode in the BIOS.

Using lscpu, all features, including AVX-512, are detected and working. I also tested with Geekbench 6.

That said, Geekbench 6 identifies the CPUs as “Intel Pentium III,” and the CPU score is much lower than expected.

Another issue is the high idle power consumption—around 140W!

The microcode (50655) is missing from the BIOS. I managed to extract the correct microcode from a Supermicro BIOS file.

Has anyone successfully modified the BIOS for the S2600WF motherboard to include the missing microcode?

Thanks in advance!

 

[RolloZ170]

I’m running dual Xeon 8260 ES QQ89 processors on an Intel S2600WF motherboard.

However, I noticed there's no microcode in the BIOS.

intel removed A0 stepping. i wonder it still works.

The microcode (50655) is missing from the BIOS. I managed to extract the correct microcode from a Supermicro BIOS file.
Has anyone successfully modified the BIOS for the S2600WF motherboard to include the missing microcode?

BIOS is signed, Intel BIOS guard...
maybe use SPI flasher, read, modify and flash back,
i was not succeccfull with this, but gave not much time.

but linux and windows(KBxxxxnnnn) are able to update microcode.

 

[gigge1234]

intel removed A0 stepping. i wonder it still works.

BIOS is signed, Intel BIOS guard...
maybe use SPI flasher, read, modify and flash back,
i was not succeccfull with this, but gave not much time.

but linux and windows(KBxxxxnnnn) are able to update microcode.

I tried to load microcode in Linux, but no success.

bios dump via flashrom. Got a 64 MB file. i can open it in UEFITool NE and check structure.

i did a mod biod file and uploaded from BMC , i writes the bios , and i only did change the microcode.
Just learning about the fit table, need more time to make it work.

Looking at other projects like
LinuxBoot / S2600

i have spi hardware just in case. BMC flash haves allready saved me one time