Intel Xeon E5-2670 Deal and Price Tracking

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TType85

Active Member
Dec 22, 2014
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Garden Grove, CA
SR0KX is a C2 stepping which has VT-d enabled. SR0H8 is a C1 stepping. It depends on whether you need VT-d or not.
I was able to use VT-d no problem on C1 chips, there is an issue according to intel but I think there might have been a bios patch around it. I tested passing through multiple types of cards and it was fine.


EDIT: See this post Intel Xeon E5-2670 Deal and Price Tracking
 

wildpig1234

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2016
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I was able to use VT-d no problem on C1 chips, there is an issue according to intel but I think there might have been a bios patch around it. I tested passing through multiple types of cards and it was fine.


EDIT: See this post Intel Xeon E5-2670 Deal and Price Tracking
might be YMMV? I mean if it's detected in the latest bios then it might work? regardless, the price difference is so small that most people don't take chance and just get the C2 anyway...
 

TType85

Active Member
Dec 22, 2014
630
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Garden Grove, CA
I would also go for a C2 stepping. Usually the more revisions and newer stepping the more refined the processor is in general (although there are exceptions). Perhaps for the VT-d working with a C1 it may have been worked around with a bios update or patch. Natex sells the 2670 for $67 as well (C2/SR0KX).
I agree, at the same or close price go for the C2.
 

RobertFontaine

Active Member
Dec 17, 2015
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Winterpeg, Canuckistan
ProTip if you're buying from natex/ebay US and live in Canuckistan (especially Winterpeg) and are only an hour or less from the border (especially if they're not using the global shipping program on ebay that includes import fees already). It's much cheaper, often free to have them ship to Pembina Parcel Service in North Dakota or equivalent which is just past the U.S. Border (45 mins from Winterpeg). They charge you $5.00 to accept and hold your parcel and they email you when it arrives and give you like a month or so to pick it up. Depending on the value, Canada customs will collect gst+pst but no other duties on computers (though on sub-$100 items I've often just been waived through because they can't be bothered doing the paperwork). You also don't have to pay the big brokerage fees that canada post/ups/fedex add on and you'll have saved a LOT on the shipping costs because US>US shipping is usually very cheap. Not to mention that you can pick it up in like a week as opposed to waiting 2 to 3 weeks for canada post.
I have thought of doing that many times. Usually after having been raped by UPS for brokerage for more than the value of the package but have yet to take the drive.
 

Kevin

New Member
Aug 9, 2016
13
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Winnipeg, Canada
I have thought of doing that many times. Usually after having been raped by UPS for brokerage for more than the value of the package but have yet to take the drive.
I can usually do it in under 2 hours round trip including time at the border. pembinaparcel.com is who I use, they're open til 8PM weekdays, and they're open saturday & sunday. $5 per package (I pay US cash but I think they take canadian factoring in exchange). You just register one time on their website with name and email and they message you when your package arrives. For example I had a HP ml350 g6 shipped there from ebay, free shipping in USA, the shipping to Canada would have been something ridiculous like $200-300 because of the weight and just paid $5 to parcel service plus taxes at the border (which I would have had to pay anyway if it was shipped to me). When I bought ram from natex (only 4 sticks to fill out one of my machines) it was like $40 US and the border just waived me through because it's not worth their time to collect $6 in taxes. Before I started using it I would avoid buying a lot of stuff off ebay that was in the US because the shipping/brokerage killed any savings. Just use your name and their address for the ship to address, keep the bill to as your regular credit card address.
 

Triggerhappy

Member
Nov 18, 2012
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Roughly the same here Toronto - Niagara Falls NY but It feels too inefficient to drive 2 hours, pay $5-7 for a package, $4 for bridge tolls for $50 in product so I end up leaving stuff around for ages until it accumulates or I'm heading down there anyway. By then the customs guy never lets me through. Big ticket items is where this is worth it.

Full servers are great for this.

Recently bought a set of wheels + tires my local dealer wanted $8k CAD for. Bought from a us online parts store for $2200 USD + $100 shipping. Paid $300 at the border in tax and $15 pickup fees.
 

jrdnlc

Member
Jun 26, 2015
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Anyone have the Supermicro x9DA7 MB? I'm looking for good prices on ECC 1333/1600 RAM. The ones I've found are over $200
 

wildpig1234

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2016
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Anyone have the Supermicro x9DA7 MB? I'm looking for good prices on ECC 1333/1600 RAM. The ones I've found are over $200
what about that MB?

ram price seems to have gone up a little since a month ago. but if you troll ebay or check in the for sale forum here, you can still get 8gb modules for $10-11. 16gb modules will be around $30 each unless you get lucky. 32gb and 64gb ones are significantly more expensive but only if you plan on having like over 256gb ram
 

RobertFontaine

Active Member
Dec 17, 2015
663
148
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Winterpeg, Canuckistan
Motherboards depend on what you are using it for:
Server board
s2600CP2J

Hardcore geek that is willing to add transformers for power and piss about
Quanta Windmill

Workstation Sexy Time
Z9Pe-D8 WS (no deals here) - Slightly less sexy sm x9dai models.

So you have a pretty wide range depending on your networking, disk and pci expansion needs.
 

5mall5nail5

Active Member
Nov 16, 2015
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Hey all - got my Intel S2600CJ2 from Natex per this forum. So far so good. Updated the BIOS/etc to the latest BUT, when I go to update the FRU I want to change the vendor name/etc. It's in there as "Cypress" etc. I think it's some Rackable system SKU. Anyway, I go to reset that with the FRU/SDR tool on a USB and I get a few issues.

Firstly, I get "The FRU HEaders for System FRU and file FRU are not matching Do you want to continue?" I say yes. I enter a SN# (all numbers), I enter a chassis PN# (all letters), and then a chassis mfgr. name (all leters), and then it asks "Do you want to update the system info area of the FRU?" and I say yes and it states "Error: Unknown Error" then "FRUSDR Update Completed"

Everything else seems to be working - any ideas?
 

wildpig1234

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2016
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as long as you correctly entered all your chassic and cpu fan position I think you are ok. Proof is if you have solid green status light rather than blinking amber one.
 

5mall5nail5

Active Member
Nov 16, 2015
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as long as you correctly entered all your chassic and cpu fan position I think you are ok. Proof is if you have solid green status light rather than blinking amber one.
Yep so I have a solid green light. I did "FRUSDR /fru S2600cP.fru" which overwrites the FRU with the default. I rebooted, etc. and now my fans seem to be very slow (Noctua). The one CPU heatsink feels a bit warm to the touch. Sigh.
 

wildpig1234

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2016
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Download a utility like speedfan and see what the temperature sensor and fan speed reading is at idle and at substained stress.
 

5mall5nail5

Active Member
Nov 16, 2015
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Download a utility like speedfan and see what the temperature sensor and fan speed reading is at idle and at substained stress.
Yeah only issue is I am running diskless w/ ESXi. I'll figure something out. I'll tell ya though, the fans are way too slow. Maybe I am wrong.
 
Sep 22, 2015
62
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Hey all - got my Intel S2600CJ2 from Natex per this forum. So far so good. Updated the BIOS/etc to the latest BUT, when I go to update the FRU I want to change the vendor name/etc. It's in there as "Cypress" etc. I think it's some Rackable system SKU. Anyway, I go to reset that with the FRU/SDR tool on a USB and I get a few issues.

Firstly, I get "The FRU HEaders for System FRU and file FRU are not matching Do you want to continue?" I say yes. I enter a SN# (all numbers), I enter a chassis PN# (all letters), and then a chassis mfgr. name (all leters), and then it asks "Do you want to update the system info area of the FRU?" and I say yes and it states "Error: Unknown Error" then "FRUSDR Update Completed"

Everything else seems to be working - any ideas?
I ran into this exact problem. Forgive me, it was a while ago, but I solved it by following the directions for flashing the FRU clean. I believe you can use the same tool you already have. Once the FRU is overwritten, I was able to update it just fine.

I also ran into the issue with very slow fans. I solved it by hardwiring the fans (I didn't trust the fan controller, I did trust 12v off the power supply.) The noctua fans I had were quiet enough that they could run at full speed and not be bothersome.
 

5mall5nail5

Active Member
Nov 16, 2015
107
32
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I ran into this exact problem. Forgive me, it was a while ago, but I solved it by following the directions for flashing the FRU clean. I believe you can use the same tool you already have. Once the FRU is overwritten, I was able to update it just fine.

I also ran into the issue with very slow fans. I solved it by hardwiring the fans (I didn't trust the fan controller, I did trust 12v off the power supply.) The noctua fans I had were quiet enough that they could run at full speed and not be bothersome.
Yep - I had to issue a command to force the FRU. Once I did that all is well and can be updated. However, like you said, I don't have a ton of faith in the fan controller, however it's proven to be OK with "PWM additional" or whatever in the BIOS set to 50-55. This runs the CPU1/2 Noctua fans @ 1200RPM and then they still ramp to 1586 RPM when load goes up. I might hardwire though since like you mentioned the fans are pretty damned quiet either way.