help me find mobo: Xeon E3-12x0 V2 CPU with 3x PCIe 8x

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thethirdnut

New Member
Jul 17, 2012
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Hi All,

I have scoured usual suspects: Supermicro, Tyan, this and other sites, etc, but I can't seem to find the following:

Motherboard supporting new Xeon E3-12x0 V2 CPU's -AND- sporting 3x PCIe 8x slots...could be PCIe 2 or 3.

There are several that are kinda close, but not quite with one missing PCIe 8x slot.

I'm currently settled on the following:

- Norco 4224
- Supermicro X8SIA http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon3000/3400/X8SIA.cfm?IPMI=N
- 3 x IBM M1015 SAS HBA cards
- likely an i3-5x0 CPU

I'd prefer to go with something a little less long-in-the-tooth so to speak, but haven't found a diff mobo that does the trick. Plan to run FreeBSD 9 + ZFS ... also attempting to steer clear of SAS expanders due to possible issues with ZFS and smartctl - as I've heard in a couple places.

If anyone can suggest proper mobo an internet thumbs-up will come your way.

Thanks
 
Last edited:

cactus

Moderator
Jan 25, 2011
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CA
The E3 line only has 16 PCI-e lanes so you wont get 3 8x electrical slots. If you want to have 3 8x electrical you will have to move up to the E5 or use an older socket 1366 system.
 

mobilenvidia

Moderator
Sep 25, 2011
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New Zealand
You'll be wanting something like the ASRock Z77 Extreme9 board ?
5x PCIe 8x slots, it does all this from the original 16x PCIe lanes from the CPU and uses PCIe bridges to expand them out to more PCIe lanes.
It can take E3 Xeons (v2)
The i3 you refer to, is from the LGA1156 days that was 2 generations of i3 ago.

The E2-12xx v2 CPU's are LGA1155

The i3's are now also LGA1155 and are numbers 21xx

The ASRock board I mentioned above takes all LGA1155 CPUs Xeon and i3/i5/i7
 

ehorn

Active Member
Jun 21, 2012
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Hello thethirdnut,

Based on your chassis selection, I assume you are going with 3.5" mechanical drives? If so, then have you considered the X9SCM as a platform?

(8) mechanical drives will not saturate a PCIe 2.0-4X electrical lane. The X9SCM has (2) X8 and 2 (X4) PCIe 2.0 slots. All 4 are X8 physical and will accommodate the M1015's.

That MB would be more than capable of delivering full bandwidth for (24) 3.5" mechanical drives. Plus it accommodates the current gen of LGA1155 CPU's.

HTH. peace,
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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One reason this is so difficult is because the LGA 1155 platform does not have 24 PCIe lanes. Instead the LGA 1155 CPUs have sixteen lanes coming from the CPU.
 

thethirdnut

New Member
Jul 17, 2012
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Thank you all for the great feedback thus far - I appreciate it.

Was not previously aware of the E3-1200 V2 PCIe lane limitations...I've moved onto thinking about the E5-2600 series as Cactus suggested.

What would your folks opinion be of something like the following?

E5-2603
Supermicro X9SRA or X9SRL

I already own the Norco 4224 and will be running FreeBSD + ZFS. The IBM M1015 also seem to be a popular part to purchase.

Main Q I have is what would the approx idle power be for the proposed CPU + mobo? The little bit of successful googlefu seems to indicate it would be good ... 100 W idle or so. Anyone have any E5-2603 + mobo power consumption numbers?

Thanks again all.
 

thethirdnut

New Member
Jul 17, 2012
4
0
0
Hello thethirdnut,

Based on your chassis selection, I assume you are going with 3.5" mechanical drives? If so, then have you considered the X9SCM as a platform?

(8) mechanical drives will not saturate a PCIe 2.0-4X electrical lane. The X9SCM has (2) X8 and 2 (X4) PCIe 2.0 slots. All 4 are X8 physical and will accommodate the M1015's.

That MB would be more than capable of delivering full bandwidth for (24) 3.5" mechanical drives. Plus it accommodates the current gen of LGA1155 CPU's.

HTH. peace,
Interesting - so running an 8x part in an 4x lane won't violate some fundamental rule of the universe? People do this successfully?
 

ehorn

Active Member
Jun 21, 2012
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Interesting - so running an 8x part in an 4x lane won't violate some fundamental rule of the universe? People do this successfully?
lol... I am reminded of the Ghost Busters; "But I thought you said crossing the streams was bad...."

This is the very reason MB manufacturers build Physical slots which are greater than their electrical equivalents (i.e. 8X Physical slot/4X Electrical as is the case with the X9SCM and many other boards)... The one caveat is: "If the device can operate at the reduced electrical lanes" and most typically can. In the case of the M1015, the answer is; Yes it can.

HTH.

-peace,
 

thethirdnut

New Member
Jul 17, 2012
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Great - thanks again. :D

I just watched Ghostbusters this past weekend + never attempted running at non-stock speed...just figured card would not work.

Looks like there's a solution after all for the Xeon E3-1200 V2 - will close the thread soon...