Inventec C202 Motherboards - 10Gbe and 4x SAS ports ~$20

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nerdalertdk

Fleet Admiral
Mar 9, 2017
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No, but I still intend to use the thing, I've just been really distracted by other projects.

Also, I need to buy some DDR3 ECC UDIMMs, and ram prices ATM are freaking stupid.

Yeah, lucky I have 32gb from my old server, might buy just because it so cheap
 

mikehunt114

New Member
Sep 19, 2017
23
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3
Careful, PC3-12800U is unbuffered non-ECC memory, aka regular RAM. Unbuffered ECC memory is usually designated with an "E". i.e. PC3-12800E.
 
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s0lid

Active Member
Feb 25, 2013
259
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Tampere, Finland
I've one of those LGA1150 boards with single SFP+ port and 2x SAS ports. Didn't post with i5 4570/4590 but works with Xeon 1230L v3 using both ECC and non-ECC udimm. Going to test with G3220 next weekend when one as I get a loaner from a friend this weekend.

Going to use that board on a tape backup machine either with low wattage xeon or pentium if the latter works.
 
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zack$

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2018
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Also got one of those together with an i3-4160t. Haven't reached yet but fingers-crossed, hope there is no issues with the i3.

From some pix, I think it comes with a LSI-2308 as opposed to the 2008 in fake name's board.

Wonder if the x8 slot does bifurcation?

I've one of those LGA1150 boards with single SFP+ port and 2x SAS ports. Didn't post with i5 4570/4590 but works with Xeon 1230L v3 using both ECC and non-ECC udimm. Going to test with G3220 next weekend when one as I get a loaner from a friend this weekend.

Going to use that board on a tape backup machine either with low wattage xeon or pentium if the latter works.
 

s0lid

Active Member
Feb 25, 2013
259
35
28
Tampere, Finland
G3220 boots with ECC UDIMM, I might have recalled wrong with the non-ECC part. Unlike the silkscreen says the HBA-controller is LSI2008.
 
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zack$

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2018
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So it doesn't boot with the i3-4160T. Will consider next options.

G3220 boots with ECC UDIMM, I might have recalled wrong with the non-ECC part. Unlike the silkscreen says the HBA-controller is LSI2008.
 

fake-name

Active Member
Feb 28, 2017
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So I'm back poking at this.

After some careful measurement and a bit of poking on digikey, I managed to actually figure out what the connector model number for the "FAN_SIG_CONN" connector on the motherboard is. I picked up connectors for both interfaces:
IMG_3010_s.jpg

At that point, the challenge was figuring out what the connections actually do. Poking with an oscilloscope and DMM yielded 8 apparent PWM outputs, 8 pins sitting at ~10.8V, and 4 grounds.

Since I assume there isn't a external controller that runs the fan, my guess was that the 8 mostly-high pins were supposed to be connected to the open-collector tachometer output on your common 4-wire computer fan. As such, I set up a signal generator to generate a fake ran signal, put a 2.2KΩ resistor in series so I wouldn't blow up anything if I were wrong (hopefully), and stuck that on the probable fan inputs:

IMG_3008_s.jpg

And Bam: IPMI is reporting the fan is no longer missing!

(This was supposed to be a screenshot of the IPMI interface, but apparently I can't hold two oscilloscope probes AND take a picture with my cell-phone at the same time)
IMG_3009_s.jpg
Anyways, the IPMI interface is reporting the fan running at 1200 RPM, and I can change the fan speed by adjusting the signal generator.

I also finally made a proper drawing of the hole locations:

2019-01-12 02_18_17-Clipboard.png
 

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fossxplorer

Active Member
Mar 17, 2016
554
97
28
Oslo, Norway
Damn! Wish I had an EL-skilled friend like you!

So I'm back poking at this.

After some careful measurement and a bit of poking on digikey, I managed to actually figure out what the connector model number for the "FAN_SIG_CONN" connector on the motherboard is. I picked up connectors for both interfaces:
View attachment 10157

At that point, the challenge was figuring out what the connections actually do. Poking with an oscilloscope and DMM yielded 8 apparent PWM outputs, 8 pins sitting at ~10.8V, and 4 grounds.

Since I assume there isn't a external controller that runs the fan, my guess was that the 8 mostly-high pins were supposed to be connected to the open-collector tachometer output on your common 4-wire computer fan. As such, I set up a signal generator to generate a fake ran signal, put a 2.2KΩ resistor in series so I wouldn't blow up anything if I were wrong (hopefully), and stuck that on the probable fan inputs:

View attachment 10158

And Bam: IPMI is reporting the fan is no longer missing!

(This was supposed to be a screenshot of the IPMI interface, but apparently I can't hold two oscilloscope probes AND take a picture with my cell-phone at the same time)
View attachment 10156
Anyways, the IPMI interface is reporting the fan running at 1200 RPM, and I can change the fan speed by adjusting the signal generator.

I also finally made a proper drawing of the hole locations:

View attachment 10160
 

fake-name

Active Member
Feb 28, 2017
180
144
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73
IT'S HAPPENING

DSC00902_s.jpg

Boards came in. I managed to be completely boneheaded while designing AND assembling them. I managed to mirror the pin-1 location of the small connector (P1). Fortunately, I was able to wire the cable to fix the layout without issue. It'd be a nasty trap if someone was building one without carefully checking the wiring, but considering the one I built will probably be the only one ever built, I think I can ignore that.

I also somehow put all 8 of the fan headers on backwards initially, despite the fact that I even put giant white bars on the silkscreen to show the correct orientation. It was easy enough to fix, but annoying enough. I guess I didn't have enough caffeine when I was doing assembly.

(Assembly, with headers on backwards)
DSC00906_s.jpg

Anyways, the end-result works nicely:
DSC00908_s.jpg

I get 3-wire-fan RPM feedback, and 4-wire fan speed control for all 5 channels the BMC is configured to support.

Interestingly, the actual hardware has 8 channels of PWM output/tachometer feedback. The last 3 channels are wired up mostly because it seemed silly to not place them, but unless I actually need more then 5 channels (and can figure out how to convince the BMC to report them, it doesn't at the moment), they'll probably never be used.