Platform choice help. 2nd Gen Epyc vs Intel ?

[Allan74]

I could really use some help from those that are familiar with Intel CPUs/Motherboards NEWER than LGA2011. My product knowledge basically ends there.
I am looking for a single socket ATX motherboard + CPU for a basic Custom/Homebuilt 4U that won't break the bank.

The current frontrunner dominating the 'Epyc Motherboard' search term seems to be the Supermicro H11SL-i.
In regards to a CPU, I will likely grab the best deal 2nd Gen 'P' sku 7302p (16core/32thread) + 16GB x 4 Sticks/64GB of ECC REG to start.

The Supermicro H11SL-i can be had for around $200 USD Used on Ebay. The 7302p starts @ $140 USD.

Can anyone tell me if there is an Intel setup that can compete with the above on either price or performance/watt ? (used market of course).

thanks in advance,
Allan

 

[dnb]

Can anyone tell me if there is an Intel setup that can compete with the above on either price or performance/watt ? (used market of course)

In my opinion there is no alternative. With h12ssl, you get the opportunity to install top-end Milan processors when they get cheaper.

Whatever processors come out in the future, you will always have enough 7763 for a home machine. The only thing that can stop you is the failure of the board and the inability to buy a good replacement copy in the distant future.

The only controversial assumption in your plans is the purchase of a board that was in use. In my case, one of the h12ssl-c boards had dead network interfaces. But at least it turned on. If you are slipped a board with a killed BMC, you will not be able to prove that it is not your fault.

The other aspect is that you need to have at least one more spare board that definitely works. These boards are very delicate, you can judge this from the forum posts. In addition, one cannot exclude one's own mistake when handling the board (an awkward movement with a screwdriver, a pci-device that fell on a bmc, etc.). Otherwise, you lose the entire expensive setup, which cannot be used without spare board.

 

[TType85]

I went with a 7402P / EPYCD8 combo. I couldn't find a Xeon Scalable in the same price range that was any faster for the price.

 

[Allan74]

The other aspect is that you need to have at least one more spare board that definitely works. These boards are very delicate, you can judge this from the forum posts. In addition, one cannot exclude one's own mistake when handling the board (an awkward movement with a screwdriver, a pci-device that fell on a bmc, etc.). Otherwise, you lose the entire expensive setup, which cannot be used without spare board.

Yes, the delicate nature of the boards has me a bit concerned, so I will have to be careful with whatever I choose. I just don't want to resort to the easy backup plan which is just grabbing a V3/4 LGA2011 box from the Recyclers for now.

 

[nexox]

I don't know that I would recommend such a choice, but I looked at this recently and ended up going with a Supermicro X11DPL-i with a couple Xeon Gold 6132s, because the ASRock is only really cheap when shipped from China, which isn't something I like to do with expensive purchases, plus I am pretty familiar with Supermicro hardware.

 

[ano]

h12 + 2nd gen epic = <3

 

[Allan74]

I don't know that I would recommend such a choice, but I looked at this recently and ended up going with a Supermicro X11DPL-i with a couple Xeon Gold 6132s, because the ASRock is only really cheap when shipped from China, which isn't something I like to do with expensive purchases, plus I am pretty familiar with Supermicro hardware.

I was actually looking at some LGA 3647 stuff, as the Gold (and even a few Platinum) CPUs seem to be dirt cheap. The Motherboards on the other hand are a bit steep.
Alternatively, if I could find some decent priced DDR4 ECC UDIMM's, I would just use my existing Ryzen9 3950x on it's current board (MSI X570 ACE) and simply grab a PiKVM for it. Unfortunately, trying to search Ebay for ECC UDIMM's sucks, as nearly every seller lists regular UDIMM's as NON-ECC, completely screwing up search. Even the Ebay categories are messed up because of this. Oh well.

 

[sam55todd]

..as nearly every seller lists regular UDIMM's as NON-ECC, completely screwing up search. Even the Ebay categories are messed up because of this...

You can try to add "-non" without quotes as ending part of your search, it might help a lot.
I would probably even add -rdimm and even -2666 depending on your speed requirements, something like this:
ddr4 ecc -non -ddr3 -ddr2 -pc3 -pc2 -2133 -2400 -4gb -2gb -512mb -sodimm -laptop -notebook -rdimm -2666
with PC4 or 25600 instead of DDR4 to have different flavors of it.

Also there are a lot of questions about the future of DDR4, practically every decent new platform is already running on DDR5, therefore it's dead-end to reusing it with more powerful builds, although is understandable if price is low enough to compensate this.

 

[zac1]

I was actually looking at some LGA 3647 stuff, as the Gold (and even a few Platinum) CPUs seem to be dirt cheap. The Motherboards on the other hand are a bit steep.
Alternatively, if I could find some decent priced DDR4 ECC UDIMM's, I would just use my existing Ryzen9 3950x on it's current board (MSI X570 ACE) and simply grab a PiKVM for it. Unfortunately, trying to search Ebay for ECC UDIMM's sucks, as nearly every seller lists regular UDIMM's as NON-ECC, completely screwing up search. Even the Ebay categories are messed up because of this. Oh well.

Check Crucial.com. Best price I could find on 32GB ECC UDIMM. Coupon STOREMORE for 10% off.

 

[bayleyw]

What are you looking for? Dashing good looks? Many PCIe lanes? ECC mandatory? Rack-mountable? Low idle power? High performance?
The different requirements drive things in different directions, for example the H11SSL is a great choice to get many PCIe lanes but not very fast nor very efficient at idle. A Skylake Dell workstation will get you reliability, ECC, and PCIe lanes, but is neither rackmount nor customizable. A 7950X will get you the best performance on most tasks, but has limited IO and tops out at 192GB of very expensive UDIMMs.

You could consider the long-forgotten C422: Supermicro X11SRA-RF Workstation Motherboard - Intel C422 Chipset - Socket R4 | eBay which is the 4-channel version of C621 with reasonably cheap CPUs Intel Xeon W-2175 SR3W2 2.5GHz 14 Cores 140W LGA 2066 CPU Processor | eBay

 

[Allan74]

You can try to add "-non" without quotes as ending part of your search, it might help a lot.
I would probably even add -rdimm and even -2666 depending on your speed requirements, something like this:
ddr4 ecc -non -ddr3 -ddr2 -pc3 -pc2 -2133 -2400 -4gb -2gb -512mb -sodimm -laptop -notebook -rdimm -2666
with PC4 or 25600 instead of DDR4 to have different flavors of it.

Nice. I didn't realize there was so much search-fu involved in Ebay. This info will help me immensely in the future. THANKS.

What are you looking for? Dashing good looks? Many PCIe lanes? ECC mandatory? Rack-mountable? Low idle power? High performance?

I essentially want to build myself a homebrew Dell Compellant Controller Box to oversee all of my DAS and even ISCSI with multiple expansion slots, ECC Memory as a minimum, yes to IPMI, idle power will be important and multiple threads that can work when they need to.

You could consider the long-forgotten C422: Supermicro X11SRA-RF Workstation Motherboard - Intel C422 Chipset - Socket R4 | eBay which is the 4-channel version of C621 with reasonably cheap CPUs Intel Xeon W-2175 SR3W2 2.5GHz 14 Cores 140W LGA 2066 CPU Processor | eBay

That motherboard is clearly my new Front Runner. Inexpensive and checks off every box and makes RAM easier to find.
I can definitely work with 4 native slots and a pair of 4x lane U.2 ports.

thanks for all the info.

 

[Sean Ho]

Alternatively, if I could find some decent priced DDR4 ECC UDIMM's, I would just use my existing Ryzen9 3950x on it's current board (MSI X570 ACE) and simply grab a PiKVM for it. Unfortunately, trying to search Ebay for ECC UDIMM's sucks, as nearly every seller lists regular UDIMM's as NON-ECC, completely screwing up search. Even the Ebay categories are messed up because of this. Oh well.

FWIW I don't think your MSI X570 supports ECC reporting; regular desktop non-ECC UDIMM 3200 should be just fine, and is much cheaper than ECC UDIMM. For ECC to be useful and reported, you need support from the RAM, CPU, board, and OS.