New Motherboard - ASUS Pro WS B850M-ACE SE

[Phence]

Saw this new motherboard, looks interesting for a home server.
- IPMI
- 1x MCIO SFF-TA-1016 4i (PCIe 5.0 x4)
- 1x Mini SAS HD SFF-8643 (PCIe 3.0 x4)

https://geizhals.de/asus-pro-ws-b850m-ace-se-90mb1mn0-m0eay0-a3631526.html

Nice to see some love for this market.

 

[Wasmachineman_NL]

mATX, gaaay. This in ATX form factor with PCIe x4 and x1 slots would be THE board for me.

Also, do note that the second PCIe slot on this board is only PCIe 4.0 x4!

 

[Phence]

mATX, gaaay. This in ATX form factor with PCIe x4 and x1 slots would be THE board for me.

I know it's not perfect, but this sector is experiencing a drought ( in terms of new products) so we are happy to receive anything at this point in time...

Everything eNtErPrIsE and AI is receiving all the attention these days.

 

[Wasmachineman_NL]

I know it's not perfect, but this sector is experiencing a drought ( in terms of new products) so we are happy to receive anything at this point in time...

Everything eNtErPrIsE and AI is receiving all the attention these days.

The X870E Apex unironically is the closest board that meets my desires (3x M.2, PCIe x1 for my X-Fi Titanium plus that x4 slot I can do jank shit with like U.2 Optane), and that's a XOC board.

 

[TrashMaster]

I will be testing it with my 4565p and 2x64g@5600 stick setup, comparing with the supermicro h13sae-mf board I am running currently. Curious if anyone else has gotten it first though.

 

[splifingate]

View attachment 46068

I will be testing it with my 4565p and 2x64g@5600 stick setup, comparing with the supermicro h13sae-mf board I am running currently. Curious if anyone else has gotten it first though.

Just ordered the Pro WS B850M-ACE SE. Will pair it with the same.

Arrives tmrw.

I like the idea of the H13SAE, but the MF is frustrating.

 

[TrashMaster]

Just ordered the Pro WS B850M-ACE SE. Will pair it with the same.

Arrives tmrw.

I like the idea of the H13SAE, but the MF is frustrating.

Hope yours works out better than mine.

First board was DOA, second board has no sound so i was forced to buy a cheap soundblaster for it. Asus support is less than worthless.

 

[splifingate]

great.

Did you try linux with it?

 

[TrashMaster]

did not, windows workstation on these for me. I was going to load linux on the supermicro board with a 9700x now that its no longer in use.

 

[splifingate]

hmm . . . thanks to your excellent reports, I may cancel the order...

 

[TrashMaster]

hmm . . . thanks to your excellent reports, I may cancel the order...

Amazon returns are quick and painless give it a shot and maybe you will get lucky. I might swap mine for a third one if asus support doesnt get back to me next week.

 

[splifingate]

Amazon returns are quick and painless give it a shot and maybe you will get lucky. I might swap mine for a third one if asus support doesnt get back to me next week.

Aye! I pulled it via AMZN

Warts-and-all . . . how does the ACE compare to the MF?

I can't get my 4000 ADA SFF to actually work on the MF, and I'm reluctant to drop 4-figures to prove that it's the card--rather than the MF--that's not working to-spec (dubious about the functionality of the MF PHY).

*sigh*

I am, however, willing to drop 4-figures into a card that actually works with a MB I should actually be able to afford

 

[TrashMaster]

Aye! I pulled it via AMZN

Warts-and-all . . . how does the ACE compare to the MF?

I can't get my 4000 ADA SFF to actually work on the MF, and I'm reluctant to drop 4-figures to prove that it's the card--rather than the MF--that's not working to-spec (dubious about the functionality of the MF PHY).

*sigh*

I am, however, willing to drop 4-figures into a card that actually works with a MB I should actually be able to afford

The MF is a MF'r. I am trying to install ubuntu server 24 on it right now and its bios+boot setup with the screen output only working on vga until the os loads reminds me of how infuriating it is and why i bought the asus to replace it lol

Plus the lack of fan control in stupidmicro BMC and complete inability to just shut it off and pass it through to the os drove me crazy.

The asus ace board is nicer (when it works) the bios is normal, the bmc is good, the fan control is excellent, and video output switches seamlessly to give me the bios via hdmi. The BMC video on these things is bleh compared to the nicer w790-sage board, I havent been able to get simultaneous output from bmc video and hdmi on integrated graphics and dont know if thats 'expected' or jank.

 

[splifingate]

Appreciate the feedback.

I'll give it a try, for the MF comparison

 

[Culbrelai]

The X870E Apex unironically is the closest board that meets my desires (3x M.2, PCIe x1 for my X-Fi Titanium plus that x4 slot I can do jank shit with like U.2 Optane), and that's a XOC board.

wow. I’ve never met anyone still using an XFi titanium. I’m currently still using a 2009ish? Xfi Fatal1ty Platinum (the one with the 5.25 bay). Its in my threadripper build, lol. Awesome to see.

but yeah, the pcie slot layouts and configuratioms of desktop motherboards is super annoying and lackluster, even compared to am4. I hate resource conflicts.

 

[Wasmachineman_NL]

wow. I’ve never met anyone still using an XFi titanium. I’m currently still using a 2009ish? Xfi Fatal1ty Platinum (the one with the 5.25 bay). Its in my threadripper build, lol. Awesome to see.

but yeah, the pcie slot layouts and configuratioms of desktop motherboards is super annoying and lackluster, even compared to am4. I hate resource conflicts.

I got fed up of onboard audio having such shit loudness equalization so I bought a used X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty years ago.

 

[twin_savage]

Plus the lack of fan control in stupidmicro BMC and complete inability to just shut it off and pass it through to the os drove me crazy.

The IPMI fan control on this board is almost useless; I had to buy a separate fan controller to be able to get the fidelity I wanted.
The one bright side to a separate fan controller is that it doesn't blast the fans 100% during reboot which pretty much all server motherboards are guilty of.

I saw a new BMC firmware came out a couple of days ago; I haven't tried it yet to see if it improves the fan situation but I doubt it will.

 

[newborn2010]

The IPMI fan control on this board is almost useless; I had to buy a separate fan controller to be able to get the fidelity I wanted.
The one bright side to a separate fan controller is that it doesn't blast the fans 100% during reboot which pretty much all server motherboards are guilty of.

I saw a new BMC firmware came out a couple of days ago; I haven't tried it yet to see if it improves the fan situation but I doubt it will.

Hello, where did you get BMC firmware? The official website currently only has the BIOS firmware available. I've been using this motherboard for a few days and haven't encountered any problems yet. Its support for large memory modules is excellent (192G 6000C30 RAM easily achieved).

 

[TrashMaster]

Hello, where did you get BMC firmware? The official website currently only has the BIOS firmware available. I've been using this motherboard for a few days and haven't encountered any problems yet. Its support for large memory modules is excellent (192G 6000C30 RAM easily achieved).

Firmware Resources | Support

Firmware Resources | Support Download Supermicro resource.

www.supermicro.com

 

[newborn2010]

Firmware Resources | Support

Firmware Resources | Support Download Supermicro resource.

www.supermicro.com

Aren't we discussing ASUS Pro WS B850M-ACE SE?