AMD Mini-ITX Builds?

[coatmaker618]

Looking into a mini-itx build and i'm struggling to find anything AMD. Is Intel pretty much the de facto choice for Mini-ITX builds or am I just missing boards somewhere?

It seems to me that Mini-itx & ECC together make it tricky to find much in the way of AMD, and even limits Intel choices significantly.

Appreciate the help!

 

[TheSmoker]

There are options from Gigabyte 4 sata ports), Asrock (6 sata ports) and MSI.
I think this one: http://www.asrock.com/mb/amd/fm2a88x-itx+/ is the most interesting.
Be mindful that it will not offer you ECC mem support.
I have a microatx build based on fm2+ cpu that i stress tested for 2 weeks before using. 1 week memtest and 1 week cpu testing using occt.

 

[coatmaker618]

Be mindful that it will not offer you ECC mem support.

That's exactly what worries me about that board. I've seen plenty of posts on this forum practically begging people to use ECC & just short of mocking them for not.

 

[TheSmoker]

True. Although if you proper test it, should be fine.

 

[jgreco]

Just short of mocking them?? Really? :)

 

[TheSmoker]

It will just work (TM) :P just do not give it sensitive data. ;)

 

[cyberjock]

It will just work (TM) :p just do not give it sensitive data. ;)

And then suddenly it will just not work(TM). And it will "just eat your pool"(TM) and "just eat your backups"(TM).

 

[TheSmoker]

Doomsday cyberjock :) hahahaha ;)

 

[jgreco]

This is your data when your memory fails:

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B8H29jU8Wrs


Really, we mainly mock people when they're furiously resisting the clues we're trying to give them.

 

[TheSmoker]

I vote for the crowbar one ;)

 

[cyberjock]

Doomsday cyberjock :) hahahaha ;)

You might call me that(and I get the joke) but the reality of it is that it is a mini-doomsday for the people that lose their data. I don't tell people to use ECC because I give a crap. I just don't like seeing uneducated people lose their data while simultaneously not even knowing why.

You build a RAIDZ3 and let disks fail without replacing them until you lose the pool, that's user error. Losing a pool because your non-ECC RAM went bad and you had no documentation warning you that it was so devastating... that's a project that didn't document the problem very well.

 

[TheSmoker]

I understand and that's why I made my comment in regards to ECC. Let's not blow this out of proportions. :)

 

[cyberjock]

I'm not blowing it out of "priportions". :)

 

[TheSmoker]

Thanks for the spellcheck. :D

 

[coatmaker618]

Just short of mocking them?? Really? :)

Didn't mean to sell ya short :p

 

[jgreco]

Okay, well, I'll let it pass this one time.

 

[coatmaker618]

So it's sounding like the answer to my question is that if you want:

1) ECC
2) Mini-ITX
3) AMD

you only get to choose two of those >_>

 

[coatmaker618]

Also, speaking of system memory....I've read in a few places that you need 1GB RAM / TB (min 8GB). But it's not clear if that's the usable drive space or total drive space.

What I mean is - I have 5x4TB drives that i'm putting in a Z3 pool, so the pool will have 20TB but only 8(ish) will be usable to me. Does this mean I could go with 16 GB (more than the 8) or would I need to go up to 32?

Hopefully this isn't going too off topic!

 

[jgreco]

No that is an intelligent question. I wrote the handbook text vaguely on purpose. 8GB is enough for stable operation up to pool sizes of 20+TB. But more memory is better. If you are tight on money the 8GB is OK for your proposed system. 20GB would give you a faster system. It is a rule of thumb that helps roughly approximate a guess at required RAM. Go bigger for better performance.

 

[joelmusicman]

So it's sounding like the answer to my question is that if you want:

1) ECC
2) Mini-ITX
3) AMD

you only get to choose two of those >_>

That was my experience too. I searched high and low, and eventually gave up and bought a proper Intel server board. Asrock E3C224D2I. So far it "just works..."