So, I picked up an e7 8880v3 for 20$ on Newegg

[Ted Vitale]

So, I picked up an e7 8880v3 for 20$ on Newegg. Its a refurb, and I'm pretty sure it was mismarked, but I figured it was worth the 20$ risk, should the CPU be legit, and show up functioning (I'll get it in the mail today). That said, I have no way of testing it. I thought it would work as a render node, as I do 3D Rendering work, and an 18c/36t cpu would be a nice get for that price-point. The unfortunate part is, I can't find any information on if this will run on any consumer grade boards or single socket super micro boards. The most I've found is that it MIGHT work on an x79 board, but nobody has any definitive proof.

So, has anybody here experimented with the e7 series Xeons on consumer grade gear or single socket boards? I understand that's not what this cpu was intended for, but I figure it was worth a shot.

Thanks!

 

[Patrick]

E7's LGA2011 is a different version from the mainstream socket. Here are some photos https://www.servethehome.com/haswell-ep-ivy-bridge-ex-ivy-bridge-ep-sandy-bridge-ep/

You will not be able to use these in X79 or any Xeon E5 platforms as it is physically a different socket.

 

[Ted Vitale]

Great! Thanks for the quick response @Patrick That article is very helpful (I haven't gotten the CPU in the mail yet). Are you aware of any single socket applications for this chip? And if not, I have a very cheap CPU up for grabs lol.

 

[Ted Vitale]

Also, I apologize for my ignorance, I don't typically work with anything other than consumer grade server equipment and gaming gear and have found little information on this particular subject so far.

 

[Patrick]

I know there are plenty of 4-socket solutions that support E7's. Those are probably the cheapest. I am not sure if they will work with only one CPU.

Systems like this are:
DELL POWEREDGE R930 CTO RACK SERVER 4 X POWER SUPPLY 4 X HEAT SINK w/ RAIL KIT 658759245113 | eBay
Fujtisu Primergy RX4770 M2 0M 0CPU CTO Rack Server S26361-K1503-V200 | eBay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HPE-PROLIANT-DL580-G9-GEN9-SERVER-no-ram-no-hdd-no-cpu/263564840083

The R930 has heatsinks. You need to double check these systems work with a single CPU and that they have all of the memory risers and such.

 

[Ted Vitale]

Hmmmm, well, I think that might defeat the cost savings of this cpu, for me at least. I would probably be better off selling it and re-investing the money in a TR 2990wx build for a render node.

Thanks for all the great info on this @Patrick. Incredibly helpful!

 

[zir_blazer]

Xeons E7 series uses LGA 2011-2, not to be confused with the much more common LGA 2011 or 2011-3. I doubt Motherboards for them are cheap, nor I expect them to be anything remote to EATX compatible so that you can fit it in a standard case.

Something that I found extremely interesing is that both Ivy Bridge-EX, Haswell-EX and Broadwell-EX shares the same socket, and if I recall correctly, they also used the same dies than the highest core count one of their respective generations that were also used in Xeons E5. Point is, Haswell supposedly needed a new Socket (Both for consumer and HEDT/Xeon E5) because it had a new integrated Voltage Regulator, thus the power delivery circuity of Motherboards for Haswell was completely different. Yet, on LGA 2011-2, several first generation Ivy Bridge-EX Motherboards could happily work with a Haswell-EX with a Firmware upgrade, as somehow the Motherboard VRMs were bypassed. Makes you wonder if the whole "IVR needs a new socket" thing was a lame excuse to market segmentation so that people needed new Motherboards/Chipsets...

 

[Ted Vitale]

@zir-blazer, that is some incredibly helpful information, and you are correct in your assumption that motherboards are not cheap. I couldn't find anything less than a 4 socket server board. But its all for naught, because the New egg listing was for the 8880v3 but what they sent was a Xeon x3450 :/ I'm not terribly surprised, I'm still working to get the 8880v3 to experiment with, but I'm not sure that's in the cards anymore. I've certainly learned a lot in the research process though!

 

[nero243]

I accidently bought a xeon E7 8880 V4 (or more like i received the wrong CPU from a ebay seller, wanted a E7-4870 for my HP DL580 G7) and it's been a great paperweight so far. The R1 pinout is completly diffrent from the other R sockets. Intel provides pinouts on theire website, in the datasheets, for most sockets at least. Sadly the confusing and interesting ones are missing, like the 1356 for example. Would be funny to see a ivy bridge in a x58 lga1366 , like the good old times with lga771 xeons in lga775 mainboards.

The cheapest mainboard, for the E7 v3/4 comes at a price of 350€ (in the EU) and the only single socket mainboard i saw was for a blade type server with a proprietary connector. The only cheap way to get these E7s to work would be picking up a barebone server or something like that, but these things are rare since not many companies are switching out theire gear yet.

 

[Ted Vitale]

@nero243 Yeah, I was hoping to get it and experiment with it. That said, what they actually sent me was a refurbished Xeon x3450, which is actually worth about 20$, and they refunded me the cost of the CPU so, meh. Worth it on the off chance I actually got it, but oh well!

 

[nero243]

Even if you got one for that price, the only experiment that makes sense with these CPUs would be selling them at a win on ebay to the next guy who thinks he could put them in x99 or x79 mainboard.

 

[Ted Vitale]

Even if you got one for that price, the only experiment that makes sense with these CPUs would be selling them at a win on ebay to the next guy who thinks he could put them in x99 or x79 mainboard.

Absolutely the truth!

 

[wildpig1234]

There's a reason why the E7 parts are so cheap... because no one will buy these cpu since no one got a mb or sytem affordable to run them..... and the reason is that all these e7 systems are custom made high end stuffs since they are all at least 4 sockets so they never sell for cheap even after decomissioned....

So this is the situation you got: E7 cpu are cheap relative to their core counts, but systems are so expensive

e5-46xx cpu are not cheap because these can be used in any 2011 socket widely available so the cpu are not cheap but the 4 socket systems are

So in the end, there is really no cheap way to go 4 sockets.... that's just the way it is...