10 disk transcoding build

[Davvo]

I think it will be fine, there is even a jumper for selecting iGPU or GPU priority.

 

[Etorix]

there is a standard VGA controller somewhere in the hardware of the board

Yes, inside the BMC.

 

[nabsltd]

I think it will be fine, there is even a jumper for selecting iGPU or GPU priority.

That's not what that jumper does. The iGPU cannot drive a monitor, and it might not work for transcoding in a VM:

Supermicro X12STH-LN4F & iGPU Passthrough & IPMI/BMC

Hi, is here someone with experience regarding the Supermicro X12 mainboards? I would like to use an Intel Xeon E-2356G CPU (with integrated GPU) on the Supermicro X12STH-LN4F and are wondering if it will be possible to forward the iGPU of the CPU via PCI passthrough to a VM (for video...

forums.servethehome.com

 

[Davvo]

That's not what that jumper does.

Yeah, I confused the jumper with a PCIe setting.

Show : VGA Enable/Disable, page 52

JPG1 allows you to enable or disable the VGA port using the onboard graphics controller.

Show : VGA Priority, page 87

Use this feature to select the active video type. The options are Onboard and Offboard.

Imho this means you can use the onboard graphic controller to drive a monitor, but that's just interpretation.

 

[nabsltd]

Imho this means you can use the onboard graphic controller to drive a monitor, but that's just interpretation.

And, it would be wrong.

Supermicro boards that support an iGPU to drive a monitor have the following sort of text in the numbered description of features:

• Intel UHD P630 graphic (For Xeon E-21xxG/E-22xxG series only)

None of the X12 boards (which support the E-23xxG Xeons) list that as a feature, and there are a decent number of pages around the Internet that also say it won't work. Just search for "X12STH iGPU".

But, those posts also show that there is a BIOS setting that allows you to enable the iGPU for render (and this setting is disabled by default), and it works to allow the bare-metal OS to use Quicksync. It might be possible to pass the iGPU through to a VM, but there is less information about that. I have found only one post that says that an LXC container does work with the iGPU, and none that show success with a true VM.

 

[Davvo]

On my X11SSL-F the VGA port is connected to the BMC chip as well and I was totally able to drive a monitor with the iGPU of the CPU. It also doesn't seem to have the lines about Intel graphics.

 

[Mooash]

Supermicro support have replied saying the motherboard supports using the iGPU for Quick Sync so looks like a solid choice.

 

[Etorix]

C2x6 chipset: can use iGPU to transcode
C2x2 chipset: no luck!