Intel Xeon E5-2670 Deal and Price Tracking

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FozzieBear

New Member
Aug 24, 2015
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Yes, it works just fine. I just used impitool like this. I think I got these values from @whitey
Code:
ipmitool -I lanplus -U Admin -H 192.168.172.6 sensor | grep FAN
ipmitool -I lanplus -U Admin -H 192.168.172.6 sensor thresh FAN\ 1 lower 100 150 200
ipmitool -I lanplus -U Admin -H 192.168.172.6 sensor thresh FAN\ 2 lower 100 150 200
ipmitool -I lanplus -U Admin -H 192.168.172.6 sensor thresh FAN\ 3 lower 100 150 200
ipmitool -I lanplus -U Admin -H 192.168.172.6 sensor thresh FAN\ 4 lower 100 150 200
ipmitool -I lanplus -U Admin -H 192.168.172.6 sensor thresh FAN\ A lower 100 150 200
ipmitool -I lanplus -U Admin -H 192.168.172.6 sensor | grep FAN
That modifies the fan thresholds within the IPMI, but doesn't actually give control over the fan speed itself...just the alarming thresholds. I'm hoping to be able to directly set fan speed via PWM. I see some entries in the SuperMicro FAQ alluding to this being possible on some X8 and X10 systems via a raw query to the IPMI, as well as some folks having success manipulating it via the /sys/class/hwmon PWM entries.
 
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rubylaser

Active Member
Jan 4, 2013
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Michigan, USA
I just adjusted the fan mode to standard IPMI settings after adjusting the thresholds and my machine is extremely quiet and well cooled. What exactly are you trying to fix by manually setting PWM fan speeds?
 
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FozzieBear

New Member
Aug 24, 2015
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The default fan curves don't work well in my cooling setup. Idle is fine, but the standard profile lets temps get way too high before it begins to raise the fan speed. Hard disk temperature isn't accounted for in its fan speed selection also...So if the system is essentially idle from a CPU perspective, but the disks are getting thrashed from a scrub or what not, it'll never speed up the fans. Being able to manipulate the fan speed directly would allow me to monitor the disk temperatures as well as CPU\PCH\etc and throttle up\down the fans as needed.
 

rubylaser

Active Member
Jan 4, 2013
846
236
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Michigan, USA
The default fan curves don't work well in my cooling setup. Idle is fine, but the standard profile lets temps get way too high before it begins to raise the fan speed. Hard disk temperature isn't accounted for in its fan speed selection also...So if the system is essentially idle from a CPU perspective, but the disks are getting thrashed from a scrub or what not, it'll never speed up the fans. Being able to manipulate the fan speed directly would allow me to monitor the disk temperatures as well as CPU\PCH\etc and throttle up\down the fans as needed.
What case do you have these disks in? I have mine in a Norco 4224 and the disks stay in the upper 20C all the time. Have you seen these?

Super Micro Computer, Inc. - FAQ Entry
Fan Speeds on SuperMicro System via IPMI

You could parse the current temps via shell script and apply the fan settings accordingly. This seems like a tricky script to work the bugs out of without a lot of trial and error.
 

snclawson

Member
Feb 7, 2013
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Well, I've hit some partial success in coaxing my EVGA motherboard to turbo a bit more. It turns out that while the BIOS isn't setting up the MSRs quite right, it's leaving them unlocked (as is the SuperMicro for that matter), so you can happily modify them from Linux after boot.

The MSR that has the short and long term TDP limits is 0x610 (PKG_RAPL_POWER_LIMIT). The bit description is on page 57 of ``xeon-e5-1600-2600-vol-1-datasheet.pdf''. The first 32-bits are the long term TDP bits, the second are the short term bits. In those 32-bits, bits 0-14 are the Power Limit, bit 15 is the Power Limit Enable bit, bit 16 is the Clamp Mode bit (not sure what that does!), and 23-17 is the Control Time Window.

I was able to simply `rdmsr 0x610' on the SuperMicro and `wrmsr 0x610' that value on the EVGA and I was able to run mprime at full 3.0GHz turbo for increased time.

The default value of MSR 0x610 on the SuperMicro was 0x68450005a8398. This gives a short term TDP of 115W with a duration of 8.8s, with a long term TDP of 138W and a duration of 0.007812s according to the `power_gov' utility from Intel.

I played around a bit and found that a value of 0x685a0006484b0 shows as 150/180 with a short term control time of 281.6s. With that I can run mprime small FFTs at full turbo, with turbostat showing ~142W package power! It does drop back down to 115W in less than `281.6s', so not sure exactly what that value means, but it does run for longer than before, so it's doing something. =)

[update edit] (so as to not fill up the thread with these sorts of things!)

The max `over TDP' turbo time that I seem to be able to get is ~55s (from setting the update on turbostat to 1s and then running a small FFT mprime and counting them). So no running this thing at 142W all day, but still, at least I can get a real all-core turbo on this thing now, so I'm quite happy with that!

I did notice that in the xeon-e5 datasheet that it says that power limit 1 should be in a range of 250mS to 40S, so there probably is an internal register limit somewhere that's not letting it run much longer.

I did also run into some weirdness while testing these settings where my system would `hiccup' (freeze for a second, then come back, then freeze, etc.) under heavy load from mprime. Things would go back to normal once I stopped mprime. There was nothing in the logs either, and it was doing it without my mucking around with the MSRs! I tried all sorts of things (swapped out memory, tweaked voltages, reset the CMOS completely, etc.), but it seems that the culprit was that the EVGA BIOS defaults to Isochronous (ISOC) Mode enabled. Once I turned that off I haven't had the system hiccup again. The description from the BIOS is: ``Enabling the Isochronous Mode option reduces the credits available for memory traffic. For memory requests, this option reduces latency at the expense of throughput under heavy loads.''
 
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Boddy

Active Member
Oct 25, 2014
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yeah i second that, those who had a good / bad purchase. Rather pay a bit more for quality shipping
I was thinking it could benefit others too.

Hey people, feel free to give feedback on good/bad packaging/sellers in your experience, as it would help others out who are looking to buy some of these CPUs.

Many thanks
 

Boddy

Active Member
Oct 25, 2014
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NB. I emailed Deep Discount Servers regarding cost to ship 5 x CPUs to Australia (as advised in previous post),
DDS replied '$48.50 via flat rate box'.

So don't go with freight price shown on EBay listing of $124.59 for 1 x CPU or $244.23 for 5 x CPUs
FYI
 
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Rusty75

New Member
Feb 8, 2016
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NB. I emailed Deep Discount Servers regarding cost to ship 5 x CPUs to Australia (as advised in previous post),
DDS replied '$48.50 via flat rate box'.

So don't go with freight price shown on EBay listing of $124.59 for 1 x CPU or $244.23 for 5 x CPUs
FYI
re. shipping charges - an option might be to use an international shipping provider. I have great experiences with Shipito, allows you to use a seller's free US shipping to a US warehouse located in OR (no sales tax but requires paid subscription) or CA, in combination with really interesting international rates and more control over how you ship the package to your home address.
 
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Boddy

Active Member
Oct 25, 2014
772
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re. shipping charges - an option might be to use an international shipping provider. I have great experiences with Shipito, allows you to use a seller's free US shipping to a US warehouse located in OR (no sales tax but requires paid subscription) or CA, in combination with really interesting international rates and more control over how you ship the package to your home address.
I use 'Shipito' as well. Only problem is if you want insurance, they will need to take a photo.
I'm worried about electrostatic electricity if a zealous staff member decides to open up the clamshell and inadvertently touch the CPU. Who pays for damaged product if there is a middle man that has handled the package? (Though I'm trying to negotiate a procedure with Shipito re handling electrostatic goods.)

In this instance, for $48.50 I'd let the EBay seller send it to me as long as package is sturdy.
 

Davewolfs

Active Member
Aug 6, 2015
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I'm finally up and running! Ended up getting a Thermaltake F51. I was able to use the plastic standoffs and the board seems pretty secure with them. I had to use 5 total. Kinda perfect for me as I am only using 1 SSD. Being able to take out all the hard drive cages out and mount my SSD on rear made this super easy to work with.

This case is probably one of the smaller E-ATX caxes that I've seen and it is pretty quiet straight out of the box.
 
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Fritz

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2015
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I'm finally up and running! Ended up getting a Thermaltake F51. I was able to use the plastic standoffs and the board seems pretty secure with them. I had to use 5 total. Kinda perfect for me as I am only using 1 SSD. Being able to take out all the hard drive cages out and mount my SSD on rear made this super easy to work with.

This case is probably one of the smaller E-ATX caxes that I've seen and it is pretty quiet straight out of the box.
That's great. which holes lined up?
 

Davewolfs

Active Member
Aug 6, 2015
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Man this system runs nicely. Anyone using KVM with Windows. Wondering if its worth the trouble to set it up.
 

Rusty75

New Member
Feb 8, 2016
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I just bought this board on ebay for 139 usd:
Supermicro | Products | Motherboards | Xeon® Boards | X9DRFR

I also got 32 gb (8x4gb) pc3 ddr3 12800 dimms from Micron Technology, Inc. - MT18JDF51272PDZ-1G6K1FE.
Paid around 80$ for them.

Picked up a few SR0KX processors for $67.90 a piece from ebay seller esisoinc (he got some positive reviews on these cpus already and seems to be OK. He reassured me that each cpu is tested).

Any thoughts on this board/cpu/memory combination? It is primarily intended as overkill spec for the flight simulator game x-plane, and later for running several light server tasks.

Any compatibility issues etc that I should be 'looking forward' to?

Thanks

Ps any thoughs on a good power supply? I'd prefer something flat, that can handle dual 2670 and a dedicated GPU.
 
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Fritz

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2015
3,371
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I just bought this board on ebay for 139 usd:
Supermicro | Products | Motherboards | Xeon® Boards | X9DRFR

I also got 32 gb (8x4gb) pc3 ddr3 12800 dimms from Micron Technology, Inc. - MT18JDF51272PDZ-1G6K1FE.
Paid around 80$ for them.

Picked up a few SR0KX processors for $67.90 a piece from ebay seller esisoinc (he got some positive reviews on these cpus already and seems to be OK. He reassured me that each cpu is tested).

Any thoughts on this board/cpu/memory combination? It is primarily intended as overkill spec for the flight simulator game x-plane, and later for running several light server tasks.

Any compatibility issues etc that I should be 'looking forward' to?

Thanks

Ps any thoughs on a good power supply? I'd prefer something flat, that can handle dual 2670 and a dedicated GPU.
What case are you putting that MB into?
 

Rusty75

New Member
Feb 8, 2016
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What case are you putting that MB into?
Not sure yet, something as flat as possible, hoping to use a PCI riser card and lay the GPU flat on top of the board if possible. Alternatively I have a high quality custom made GPU riser cable available to put the GPU anywhere else.

So suggestions for a flat case would be welcome (I am not familiar with the server enclosures dimensions, only have a desktop at home). Suggestions for a PSU that is flat, as well :)

thanks