Motherboard memory compatibility

[BobBob76]

Different PCI-E expansion slots ;)

https://www.supermicro.com.tw/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X9SRL-F.cfm

https://www.supermicro.com.tw/products/motherboard/Xeon/C600/X9SRi-F.cfm

Thanks - I guess just amatter of preference/requirements in that case. I think I'll go for the SRi as it is a lot cheaper and I can get it in the EU - no import tax etc.

 

[Chris Moore]

Thanks - I guess just amatter of preference/requirements in that case. I think I'll go for the SRi as it is a lot cheaper and I can get it in the EU - no import tax etc.

I wouldn't say that. The SRi is intended to mount in a thin chassis where you can't have many PCIe slots due to not having room for them.
One of the reasons to use a Xeon E5 is all the PCIe lanes that the processor has so you can add more expansion cards to do more things with it.
By using that board, you are amputating your arm because you don't need it right now.

 

[BobBob76]

I wouldn't say that. The SRi is intended to mount in a thin chassis where you can't have many PCIe slots due to not having room for them.
One of the reasons to use a Xeon E5 is all the PCIe lanes that the processor has so you can add more expansion cards to do more things with it.
By using that board, you are amputating your arm because you don't need it right now.

No sign of any X9 motherboards on Fleabay right now here in the UK other than some dual CPU models. The two that stand out are:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Supermic...939332?hash=item4b3fbda104:g:D5sAAOSwZ3Baf3pY

and

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Supermic...905394?hash=item3f9849aef2:g:9KEAAOSwkBZanUgm

Both seem decent enough and give plenty of scope for future upgrades. Is there any reason to go for one over the other, the first one has SAS ports which i don't think I would use (I can connect SATA drives to them can't I?) but other than that....? Obviously the first one has more expansion slots but is there anything in particular that makes the second one a more obvious choice?

I'm seeing that the boards both have SCU sata ports - if I understand correctly these are high density SATA ports that allow me to add extra SATA drives? Oddly the cheaper board seems to have more of these?

£70 isn't a big deal but no point in spending it if it's for features that I might never use or are not compatible with FreeNas for some reason.