LGA 1700 Alder Lake "Servers"

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rootshell

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Jan 10, 2021
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Still waiting for a reseller to actually have one to buy... or even be listed for that matter. Wondering on the timing...
 

nabsltd

Active Member
Jan 26, 2022
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I'm waiting for a board that supports Alder Lake CPU, plus ECC RAM, but does not have a slot for "backward compatibility" to a standard that is 29 years old (plain old PCI).
 

unwind-protect

Active Member
Mar 7, 2016
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Boston
Disappointing that Supermicro seem to plan no variants with DDR4. 128 GB of DDR5 ECC will probably make this financially less competitive.
 

zer0sum

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2013
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Disappointing that Supermicro seem to plan no variants with DDR4. 128 GB of DDR5 ECC will probably make this financially less competitive.
Looks like it's going to be a while before I replace my Xeon v3/v4 systems with their crappy old 40 PCIe lanes :D
 
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RolloZ170

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Apr 24, 2016
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I'm waiting for a board that supports Alder Lake CPU, plus ECC RAM, but does not have a slot for "backward compatibility" to a standard that is 29 years old (plain old PCI).
you can desolder the PCI slot or just ignore em. there is no processor PCIe lane stolen for it.
 
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RolloZ170

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Apr 24, 2016
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The real gripe here is that there should be another PCIe slot here instead of the PCI slot.
and the x8 only x4 instead then ? where to get the PCIe lanes ?
some need PCI hardware that is accessible at lower adresses like 80 hex.
impossible at PCIexpress Cards.
 
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Stephan

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Apr 21, 2017
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Availability of everything out of China can be very poor, just look at all the new Q1 2022 lockdowns they are initiating. This includes ports, read stuck containers. Less supply with some given demand, higher price of course. But I don't see those boards sell for 900.

Another interesting question is how about IOMMU groups of Alder Lake with W680?

And another question is, are those x4 slots on X13SAE-F indeed x1-only from chipset, or are they Gen 3 PCIe x4?
 
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nabsltd

Active Member
Jan 26, 2022
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and the x8 only x4 instead then ? where to get the PCIe lanes ?
Between the processor and the chipset, there are plenty of PCIe lanes, but every motherboard manufacturer so far is choosing to use the reference design with all PCIe slots coming from the processor and none from the chipset.
The Supermicro X11SRA I just bought has a PCIe 3.0 x4 slot that is connected to the chipset, which gives you x16/x16/x8/x4 slots. Plenty for a GPU and two storage cards (HBA, M.2 carrier, etc.) and some other card.
 

nabsltd

Active Member
Jan 26, 2022
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And another question is, are those x4 slots on X13SAE-F indeed x1-only from chipset, or are they Gen 3 PCIe x4?
The block diagram in the manual says yes, they are only PCIe 3.0 x1. With the x8 DMI 4.0 connecting the CPU and PCH, you really aren't going to bottleneck much, so I'm a little puzzled why the PCH doesn't have more PCIe connectivity. And, if you do bottleneck, it's likely the 2x M.2 on the PCH or maybe a PCI 5.0 x8 HBA. All the rest of the hardware hanging off the PCH barely makes a dent compared to those.
good question, also are the 16x slots really PCI-E 5.0?
The two x16 form-factor slots are PCIe 5.0, but share 16 lanes, so you get x16 or x8/x8. This would make a great base for a storage server with 2x HBA that use PCIe 5.0 x8 slots, and on-CPU video. Each HBA could handle 4x M.2 or U.2 at PCI 4.0 x4 speeds, so 10x NVME total (plus one for boot). You could use the on-board SATA for spinning capacity.
 

rootshell

Member
Jan 10, 2021
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thinking about pulling the trigger but can't find any DDR5 ECC for sale
If you find a deal on RAM, let me know. Close to pulling the trigger myself. Their Tested Memory List is pretty barren, I can't even find their listed ECC stick for sale, and DDR5 ECC is pretty rare overall to start with.
 

Weapon

Active Member
Oct 19, 2013
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I can't find any DDR5 ECC anywhere at any price. The closest I've come is the model numbers posted by RolloZ170 here. If I get the board, I'll probably just do some general testing with non-ECC RAM until the ECC sticks are available.