Motherboard and System Reviews

Tom M
Tom M
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Ian&Steve C. wrote: Seconded

Ian&Steve C. wrote:

Seconded Keith on the EPYCD8, really nice for multi-GPU setups. I have 3 of these boards.

 

Asrock Rack EPYCD8

So what sized ram sticks are you two using?

Tom M

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
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Tom M wrote:Keith Myers

Tom M wrote:

Keith Myers wrote:

"Love" my ASUS Crosshair VII Hero motherboards.  I have four.

Really like my inexpensive Asrock Rack EPYCD8 server motherboard.

I may look at a Crosshair VII for a 3 gpu rig.

How much did the MB, Cpu, Ram (and anything else necessary) cost?

Tom M

ASUS C7H mobo - $270

AMD 2700X - $325

G.Skill DDR4 16GB 3200CL14 RAM - $250

 

Asrock Rack EPYDCD8 mobo - $380

Samsung DDR4 3200 ECC 64GB RAM - $300

AMD EPYC 7402P 24C/48T cpu - $1100 

 

Ian&Steve C.
Ian&Steve C.
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Tom M wrote:Ian&Steve C.

Tom M wrote:

Ian&Steve C. wrote:

Seconded Keith on the EPYCD8, really nice for multi-GPU setups. I have 3 of these boards.

 

Asrock Rack EPYCD8

So what sized ram sticks are you two using?

Tom M

I'm using 4x 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 ECC RDIMMs. can be pretty easily obtained from ebay for about $70/stick.

These boards are capable of 8-channel setup using 8-sticks, but there are cost/benefit reasons for only running 4 sticks:

  1. for the CPU projects I'm running (Universe, TN-Grid) the increased CPU memory bandwidth doesn't make a measurable performance improvement
  2. I don't need more than 64GB, no benefit to go to 128GB
  3. 8GB sticks do exist, but they aren't cheaper than comparable 16GB sticks, so no point.

 

My dual EPYC H11DSi system currently has all 16 memory slots populated running 8-channel with 256GB of memory. however, When I first installed it had only 128GB (4x16GB on each CPU). I only installed the rest to test them out to make sure everything works and verify there was no performance improvement. I plan to take the extra 8x16GB set back out to use in a non-BOINC system with a single EPYC and full 8-channel 128GB that can actually benefit from this.

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Tom M
Tom M
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Quote:Keith Myers wrote: Tom

Quote:

Keith Myers wrote:

Tom M wrote:

Really like my inexpensive Asrock Rack EPYCD8 server motherboard.

How much did the MB, Cpu, Ram (and anything else necessary) cost?

Asrock Rack EPYDCD8 mobo - $380

Samsung DDR4 3200 ECC 64GB RAM - $300

AMD EPYC 7402P 24C/48T cpu - $1100 

It sounds like I could sell my MSI X570, AMD 3900, 64 GB of ram from the 3950x, my MSI X470, and perhaps some of my non-Rx 5700 video cards and fund a 6-7 gpu Rx 5700 EPYDCD8 server.

Another issue is I have returned to being gunshy of Linux.  So the gain would be limited to what Windows 10 could do.

Tom M

 

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

Ian&Steve C.
Ian&Steve C.
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you could. I don't see any

you could. I don't see any reason that Windows should have an issue with that platform.

 

if you go that route, just make sure you get the right memory. read the memory specs carefully. you need ECC RDIMMs. you CANNOT use normal off the shelf consumer memory, which are non-ECC UDIMMs. EPYC Rome CPUs (EPYC 7002 series) are default 2933MHz, but can run at 3200MHz also. EPYC Milan (7003 series) are 3200MHz default. I bought all 3200MHz for my systems, but 2933MHz will work fine and might be a little cheaper.

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Keith Myers
Keith Myers
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You don't have to purchase

You don't have to purchase that expensive a cpu either if you can get by with fewer cores. 

An Epyc 7262 8C/16T Rome cpu is only $650 at retail outlets like Newegg and Amazon. 

Cheaper elsewhere for a little as $485

 

Tom M
Tom M
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An Asus X450-A II appears to

An Asus X450-A II appears to have the same issues as an MSI X470 Gaming Max

The short slots don't seem to work on either MB.  Plus the lower end long slot on the X470 doesn't work very well.

These are AM4 socket AMD motherboards.

The MSI X570 Pro has 2 long slots that have reliably run 2 gpus upto 5 gpus (with expansion card in 2nd long slot).  However the short slots seem to be iffy/bad.

On a positive NOTE!

An MSI B360-A Pro (Lga 1151, 8-9th gen) motherboard with 6 slots in currently driving 5 gpus one slot at a time.

Tom M

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

Tom M
Tom M
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Just got in an Asrock X570

Just got in an Asrock X570 Tahci yesterday afternoon.  I had a busy day and haven't gotten it out for preliminary testing till now.

This MB is important for two reasons.  It might be a 3 gpu on the MB solution.  And it is the target MB for migrating my "The Monolith" Amd 3950x and its other peripherals onto an open-air PC frame.

So far it has demonstrated the ability to run a GPU in the first long slot and the last long slot.  Something the MSI X470 Gaming Plus Mas (3 long MB slots) failed to do under Windows 10 and Linux.  

It has demonstrated the ability to run 3 GPUs under Windows 10.  It is actually running an Nvidia Gt710, a cranky Rx 5700, and a non-cranky Rx 580 at this time.  The X470 was able to boot and process E@H badly with 3 gpu cards installed after adding some command line parms to the Grub file.

After running it for a while the next step will be to install it in the Open Airframe and migrate everything but the MB from the Monolith case to that open-air MB.

Tom M

 

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

Tom M
Tom M
Joined: 2 Feb 06
Posts: 6506
Credit: 9617626691
RAC: 3437431

Tom M wrote:Just got in an

Tom M wrote:

Just got in an Asrock X570 Tahci yesterday afternoon.  I had a busy day and haven't gotten it out for preliminary testing till now.

==edit==

It has demonstrated the ability to run 3 GPUs under Windows 10.  It is actually running an Nvidia Gt710, a cranky Rx 5700, and a non-cranky Rx 580 at this time.  The X470 was able to boot and process E@H badly with 3 gpu cards installed after adding some command line parms to the Grub file.

Note to self.  The "order" that different sized air cooled gpus are put into the slots can become very important.

I upgraded the test to an Rx 5600 xt I am getting ready to sell, the Rx 5700 and the Rx 580.

And when I got ready to move the cards over to riser setups to confirm I had two good risers for the mining machine.  The Rx 5700 was very hot.

After examining things it looks like the fans of the Rx 580 would be tall enough to allow some open-air access if it was in the middle long slot.  And the Rx 5700 fan would be completely clear.

This might cool things down at least some.

I guess I will have to start examing water cooling for the 2nd/3rd long slots if I want to run 3 on this MB.

Tom M

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

Tom M
Tom M
Joined: 2 Feb 06
Posts: 6506
Credit: 9617626691
RAC: 3437431

OBTW, the Asrock X570 MB

OBTW, the Asrock X570 MB doesn't have a visible "Above 4G" in the Bios.

A Proud member of the O.F.A.  (Old Farts Association).  Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)  I want some more patience. RIGHT NOW!

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