Need help understanding installation (CPU and Memory) for SUPERMICRO MBD-X12STH-LN4F-O

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jbonifacejr

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Jun 20, 2024
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I did some research because I want to learn. I see that the board supports PC2400. I am taking your advice and looking for a (two) v4 CPUs to put on it. I am concerned though because I am not sure about how licensing works. I have Server 2019 Standard 16 Core retail version. I am seeing these Matched Pair Intel Xeon E5-2690 V4 E5-2680 V4 E5-2660 V4 E5-2650V4 LGA2011-3 CPU | eBay (the E5 2680 v4) and they are (AFAIK) 14 core. I am guessing what I need is two CPUs with 8 cores each, so I guess those won't work. Am I correct? Should I be looking for 8-core CPUs at 2.4 Ghz?

I'm sorry if my continued discussion is annoying. I'm really trying to understand and learn. You are not wasting your time. I bought the barebones chassis you recommended. Should be here in about 5-8 days.
 

nexox

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May 3, 2023
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The 16 core license is a bit of a limitation, but there are CPUs that will work for you, probably designed mostly for just that sort of situation. Intel has a pretty good page that lists everything in a particular generation and lets you compare the specs: Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v4 Family Product Specifications (you want the 26xx CPUs.)

The fastest option is the E5-2667 V4, but that's still sort of in demand and you could get the 6 core (slightly higher clock speed) E5-2643 V4 for half the price. Here's the Intel ark comparison between those two and the v3 CPUs included with your system: Intel product specifications

Edit: I guess I didn't look closely enough at the prices, with shipping, because no seller with a low price has two, the 2643 is not really much of a savings over the 2667.
 
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nexox

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Note: it's probably already been done, but you need to update the BIOS to some minimum version to support the V4 Xeons. You should be able to do that via IPMI, if it tells you the system isn't licensed, just search for the method to generate your own license key, it's trivially simple.
 

jbonifacejr

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Jun 20, 2024
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In this case, I will just get 2133 memory and eventually buy or build a new system that is more up to date. I don't want to be dealing with BIOS updates, etc.

I appreciate your help. I'll check back in after I get everything up and running.
 
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nexox

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The BIOS update is really quite simple, you can't even really mess it up because even if everything goes horribly wrong you won't touch the BMC (the system that provides IPMI) so you can just flash again. For around $60 (for two E5-2667 V4 cpus) and 30 minutes of work you can get probably 2-3x more performance, plus a bit lower idle power consumption.
 
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jbonifacejr

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Jun 20, 2024
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I'm worried because I don't know what IPMI is. I started reading about it, and it doesn't sound like anything I have ever heard of. Updating the BIOS on my desktop is as simple as plugging in a USB drive. It doesn't sound like it is that easy on a server, or am I missing something?
 

nexox

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IPMI is a remote management system that runs in a separate little computer on the motherboard, even while your actual system is powered off. It comes with a web interface, allows you to interact with the video/keyboard/mouse in a browser window, power on/off, and upload a BIOS file, among other things. You can do the USB thing too but I find that to be harder than the browser method, for one thing you can install it while your machine is up and running in your regular OS, or while it won't boot because you installed CPUs that aren't supported by the current BIOS.
 

j_h_o

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Apr 21, 2015
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+1 to upgrading to E5v4, I had sent some suggestions about that before. And yes, it's not complicated/hard.

RAM: If you have some other memory you were considering, feel free to post stuff, happy to help you select stuff.

BIOS updates on these systems are actually straightforward, and you can upgrade the BIOS even if the system is not booting, via IPMI.

Connect a network cable to the separate IPMI network port (usually just next to the USB ports), and it'll pull DHCP. Access that IP, and login (ADMIN/ADMIN, usually, for a machine of this vintage) then you can update the IPMI and BIOS from the website. You can also see monitor/screen and have keyboard/mouse control via the same browser connection, so you don't need to connect a VGA monitor, physical keyboard or mouse to the system.
 

j_h_o

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Apr 21, 2015
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Did you get SAS drives?

The system is wired right now for SATA. If you can stick to SATA SSDs/spinners, that would be ideal. Intel S3610, S3700 etc are getting old, but they might be a good place for you to start, for now.