Yet another ASRock Rack X570D4U-2L2T build ( for ESXi and NAS-usage )

[iiseppi]

Just to address some more bugs here:

- SR-IOV is working with intial BIOS release v1.20 under ESXi7. With 1.28beta, SR-IOV is not working anymore (and also not with unreleased v1.30)

Dont know if this bug is also present in the public available BIOS version 1.20 or 1.28beta (i have access to the upcoming unreleased BIOS v1.30):

- Its not possible to configure tagged VLAN for onboard IPMI Management-Interface with BIOS v1.30. IPMI can only be used in untagged LAN. I will not test this issue with public 1.20 or 1.28beta.

Official BIOS version 1.30 is now released. Have you tested with it SR-IOV under ESXi7?

 

[Partofthesolution]

I compared both files on file content level with free file sync (the unreleased preview 1.30 vs. the official released 1.30). Both files are the same.

There is a 1.30b .zip on ASRocks FTP Server, but its password protected.

 

[iiseppi]

Ok. Will see does it bringing some correction to sr-iov...

 

[berndh]

Uh, i almost forgot...

Building the same kind of setup with the X570D4U and Ryzen 3600 (65W) with Noctua NH-L9a. Really enjoyed reading this topic.

One quick question: is the PSU not upside-down? The fans blowing hot air into the case instead of to the outside. There is a nice ventilation grill specifically for the PSU. With the current PSU setup that grille is blocked. I have the same BQ 400W PSU. I do realize there is not much space below the case when the feed are used, but these ventilation grille is there for a reason, right?

 

[Partofthesolution]

Yes, you are right. The PSU is installed upside down and there is a fan grille in the base plate, right under the installed PSU. The PSU Mount Area is pictured in the servethehome-review.


The reasons why i installed the PSU upside down are:
- As you mentioned, there is not much space under the base plate. Maybe its enough space for a good air flow for the first time. But i am not a big fan of this kind of drilled fan grille. I think sooner or later a drilled fan grille will be clogged with dust espacially if its located in the base plate and if your system is running in a home-environment in or next to rooms where people live.
- The second second reason why i installed the PSU upside down is: The PSU is generating additional airflow under the HDD-bays. This removes warm air to prevent a hotspot, which possibly could affect HDDs in the HDD-bay and possibly the areas of the mainboard which are located next to the PSU (Ram, and maybe the M.2 SSDs). Its not a problem for the PSU to transport warm air: My PSU can handle up to 500Watt. The average powerconsumption of my setup is at 70-80watt effective, so there is enough thermal budged left to operate the PSU in a safe condition. The fans of the PSU are running at low speed, which would not be the case if the PSU would have thermal problems, because they a temperature controlled.

 

[tuomi]

I am also missing the options to make the onboard SATA-Ports Hotplug-able. It seems, that ports can only be configured as normal AHCI-Ports or Raid-Ports. I installed Win10 to test Hotplug, but the test failed. Only drives which are attached since power on get initialized. It was possible to remove drives while win10 was running without any problems, but it was not possible to attache drives again or attache drives which were not connected at power on.
In my opinion, for a server-board, eSATA/Hotplug-option is mandatory. What do you think?

Yeah this is real eye-sore although it's not hard for me at least to time harddrive switches with eg. kernel updates requiring or similar.
However it really adds to the always on feeling of RAID when you actually CAN hotswap.

I really like your build which is very similar to mine as I got a hold of a CS381 on the cheap as well as a x570D4U-2t2l