ES Xeon Discussion
- Thread starter britinpdx
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Hi!
I've been here in read-only mode for a few years now. I've done a lot of bios mods and hw mods in desktops and also servers.
But i'm lack of knowledge about how Intel ME restricts CPU support.
My desire lately is building a 4th gen dual Xeon rig with some cheap D0 stepping ES CPUs.
But I come with 2nd gen Xeon experiences and it surprises me that Supermicro and Asrock boards no longer support early ES's.
WHAT IF I simply desolder the 256MB flash chip from the X13DEI/DAI board and write in an unsigned modded BIOS that contains ES microcodes with a programmer?
We should really find a solution, guys
Update: hmm I guess the first problem is that we cannot decrypt a signed BIOS to see its contents?
I've been here in read-only mode for a few years now. I've done a lot of bios mods and hw mods in desktops and also servers.
But i'm lack of knowledge about how Intel ME restricts CPU support.
My desire lately is building a 4th gen dual Xeon rig with some cheap D0 stepping ES CPUs.
But I come with 2nd gen Xeon experiences and it surprises me that Supermicro and Asrock boards no longer support early ES's.
WHAT IF I simply desolder the 256MB flash chip from the X13DEI/DAI board and write in an unsigned modded BIOS that contains ES microcodes with a programmer?
We should really find a solution, guys
Update: hmm I guess the first problem is that we cannot decrypt a signed BIOS to see its contents?
the BIOS is checked at every power up by RoT mechanism. if validation fails the BIOS is restored from Backup(flashdisk)
this prevents the whole system for modifying of FW even with physical access. if there is a way it will be closed soon.
there are some unofficial early BIOS for some X13 boards with D0 ES support. but you have to stay on old buggy BIOS forever.
it is not encrypted, it is signed with a Private Key (Cert,supermicro)
health checked with the Public Key.
there is a way for OEMs. you can sign the BIOS with your own cert key and provide the key to the SUM.efi to accept your OEM BIOS.
Afaik only supermicro can re-sign the BIOS.
you go with Gigabyte MS73-HBx, latest BIOS still support D0 ES.
i run QYFP,QYFQ and more on MS33-AR0 BIOS F19 i.e.
Yes I already learned that but I had bad experience with buggy GB boards from the LGA3647 era. Might give it a chance again.
BTW are there any blade form LGA4677 boards available? I converted some blades from previous generations to standalone operation.
check the step 4, E0 steppings, costs a little more but much better compatibility.
Q0KL i.e.
and did somebody test Asrock Spc741d8 if bios can be modded? (i know its single socket, but "very" cheap)
UPDATE2: With MC Extractor there are all ucodes 6F4, 6F5, 6F6, 6F8, so E0 earliest by stock BIOS, but can it be modded?
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What are the motherboard options now for the LGA4189 Ice Lake stepping C0 or stepping L0 ES CPUs? From this thread it appears that SuperMicro is a no go unless it's BIOS revision 1.0, except maybe X12DPi-N6 up to 1.1b? What about Gigabyte or ASUS?
I have an ASRock Rack SPCC621D8 and the C0/L0 ES CPUs work on BIOS 1.20 and 1.23, but nothing after that.
Looking for some guidance, thanks!
I have an ASRock Rack SPCC621D8 and the C0/L0 ES CPUs work on BIOS 1.20 and 1.23, but nothing after that.
Looking for some guidance, thanks!
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nonPRD stepping ES stopped working(not started by ME), but the microcodes are still there.
you can expect similar on SPC741 series.
there is only one way to find out !
i usualy buy motherboard and test/check this, but i am out after buying X13SEI, ASUS W790 and GB MS33-AR0 (buy and sell with loss of money)
as you can see on the ASRock Rack SPC621 series at some BIOS rev.
nonPRD stepping ES stopped working(not started by ME), but the microcodes are still there.
you can expect similar on SPC741 series.
there is only one way to find out !
i usualy buy motherboard and test/check this, but i am out after buying X13SEI, ASUS W790 and GB MS33-AR0 (buy and sell with loss of money)
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ASUS do not have retail LGA4189 boards???.
Gigabyte MU72 can run step 4/5 ES up to some BIOS.
i got a cheap QWAT($199usd), runs on X12SPM-LN4F BIOS 1.6. i can stop now thinking about BIOS versions.
have now QVM7 for sale
ICX ES QVM8 runs on Gigabyte MU72-SU0 and the latest bios F23.Gigabyte retains support for non-PRD steps
Should I use D0 ES to make it better?They're cheap now
Should I use D0 ES to make it better?They're cheap now
Thanks !
as expected but not proofed so far.
QVM8 (C0) ES2 is as good as (D0) ES2 but mostly more power.
but avoid ES1 ( B0/L0 step4 and C0 step 5 )
No!I just had a fatal screen freeze, the keyboard and mouse screen was unresponsive, the audio continued to play, and the bmc and OS logs didn't give me any reports after the reset
All bios is the default. They have been running normally for 48 hours,I'll try to find the problem before I return it
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and you are sure that's ES issue ? have seen many reports like this with retail processors.
I have never encountered such a problem with ICX ES, many people have told me that ICX es is good, but it is the most likely culprit
ICX ES1 are very bad. avoid them.
i know some with issues running ICX production units(retail) and supermicro X12 boards, so anything can happen.
if you want them to run on every motherboard step 6 D0 is your choice of course.
ES1 have the issue of loosing memory channels over time.
Very interesting, this es1 QV2G has been working for almost a year without problems (seller said),I'll replace it, all mem channels are good
Yes, anything can happen ,everything goes against the grain
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