Need help choosing scrap-price Xeons for Supermicro X9DRi

[mattaw]

Good morning all,

Just recently upgraded from Dual Opteron 6380's to a Supermicro X9DRi-LN4F+ rev 1.10 [thanks j_h_o] with DDR3 and two sockets for $100.

I run a few containers, but mostly ZFS filer in the Supermicro 846 case with 40GBE ethernet serving iSCSI.

DDR3 I spent $20 on getting 64GB, but the X9 came with two Xeon 2630 V1's.

The board (Supermicro | Products | Motherboards | Xeon® Boards | X9DRi-LN4F+) will take E5-2xxx and E5-4xxx v1 and v2's up to 130W.

I am currently quite lost in the 25+ choices out there for Xeons, and the very wide prices on eBay. Got any advice on any "unloved" but powerful cheap Xeons for my usecase? Any real turkeys to avoid?

M

 

[j_h_o]

What revision board do you have? There should be a sticker on it.

I think rev 1.20+ is required for E5v2 CPUs.

 

[mattaw]

oh no, however there are so many slightly different versions out there of the X9DRxxx:
SUPERMICRO MOTHERBOARD X9DRi-LN4F+ Rev 1.10

 

[mattaw]

Just for kicks I bought two E5-2609v2 for $10.70 shipped so I can be 100% disappointed

 

[gregsachs]

A few months ago 2650v2 seemed to be the sweet spot of $$$ vs performance, I got a pair shipped for $75 or so.

 

[mattaw]

Thanks! Both for $75, vs. $150?

 

[gregsachs]

Thanks! Both for $75, vs. $150?

yes, exactly. took a few weeks of watching for listings with make offer and putting in offers.
Make sure you have updated to the latest bios before swapping cpus.

 

[Spartacus]

I have a pair of them, however with the lockdown going on I wont be able to make it to the office.
Could hit ya up to work out something when all the virus stuff gets wrapped up hopefully if you don't find any before then.

 

[mattaw]

Thank you very much! IN is going into a statewide lockdown beginning Wednesday so I suspect those $5 v2 I ordered for testing will not arrive as planned either. Weird times these.

 

[mattaw]

Sigh, just tested with throwaway V2's and definitely I have an old board revision. Oh well.

 

[Markess]

Sigh, just tested with throwaway V2's and definitely I have an old board revision. Oh well.

I don't have that board, but had another X9D models. Did you update to the most recent BIOS with the v1 CPUs installed before you tried the V2s? Most X9 Dual Processor boards needed BIOS v3.0 or better to work with V2 CPUs.

 

[Spartacus]

I have some 2407 v1s I could probably send ya for $5-7 (whatever shipping is) if you need it for a update

 

[Markess]

I have some 2407 v1s I could probably send ya for $5-7 (whatever shipping is) if you need it for a update

From the OP, it looked like the board came with a pair of E5-2630 v1.

 

[Spartacus]

Ah didnt bother reading back up that far again nvm!

 

[mattaw]

Thank you both so much @Markess & @Spartacus. I took the idea you suggested and for $10 on ebay scored two E5-2709v2's and the result of the test is what I reported - failed to boot.

With no published ECO changes that could be applied, despite me having a pretty good SMT rework capability I don't even know where to start! I wish I knew a forum with some supermicro insiders to ask.

I was looking at some E5-4650's on ebay which look to be the best for this motherboard (assuming they work in dual socket, which I am still researching). A new MB looks like $150, which I guess is a good price for the board, but if I want to spend that I would probably actually buy much more modern.

 

[Markess]

Just to clarify, you never verified the exact board revision based on the silkscreen markings on the baord itself? You concluded you have an old revision board because the v2 CPUs didn't work?

But, you never mention which version BIOS its running? Even with the proper hardware version, you can't run v2 CPUs without BIOS version 3.0 or higher.

So, if your motherboard isn't on BIOS version 3.0 or higher, its an easy fix to try before you give up. Current version on the Supermicro website is 3.3.

E5-46xx will work fine if you want to go that route.

 

[Spartacus]

^+1 The 4000 series can work in single, dual, or quad configurations, and try the bios update first!
That said the 2650 v2s are pretty solid too and about 80$ for 2 of them.

I agree for $150 you can pick up a v3/v4 motherboard (would be single socket though~see the X10SRH-CF thread).
The cpus are a little pricier but that single CPU can get a reasonable amount of compute for substantially less power (I usually recommend the e5-2660 v3 10c/20t for about 80$ also).
The heavy price jump is when it comes to ram, that same 64gb in ddr4 will set you back about $180 +- depending on stick size combination.

 

[mattaw]

Yeah @Markess, I checked the PCB revision on the silk screen and mentioned it in the first post its 1.10. BIOS is 3.3. Apparently you could have sent the board in for an ECO under warranty but obviously that hasn't been applied (or it would boot).

I'll skip the upgrade to X10, ddr4, that is getting to rich for me, I like trash price hardware

 

[zack$]

I'll skip the upgrade to X10, ddr4, that is getting to rich for me, I like trash price hardware

This was my view as well last year...But ddr4 and E-5 v3 prices have really come down.You can get the lowest v3 part for $9.00 and 16GB ddr4 comes in at $35 a stick if you really look (cheaper would be a great deal). There have also been a couple deals on SM X10 MBs around and other boards as well (like the ASRock rack D1541D4U-2O8R that went for $179 brand new last Christmas).

The funniest thing is, sometimes prices actually increase. I saw that with Xeon v2s last year where the prices skyrocketed. IMHO, I don't understand how some v2 parts are still as pricey as they are now. But on the other hand, I still have an E5-2697 v2 that has more than enough CPU power for what I'm throwing at it at times.