Xeon E3 v5 (Skylake) Asrock C236 boards (ECC support)

[eyeofmaat]

I emailed Asrock sales regarding Australian importer. they pointed me to wisp.net.au
Still waiting on my board to come. None of my regular PC suppliers could get this board for me.

I have paired this with an E3-1230v5. Kingston have compatible ram available too. My local PC store has ordered this. (https://www.kingston.com/en/memory/search?DeviceType=2&Mfr=ASR&Line=Motherboard&Model=93677)

This will be plenty fast enough for my needs. I could have even used the 1220v5 instead and saved $90.
My total cost without disks was $1278 ($960US)
If i went consumer grade i5, it was $300AU less. so overall ECC cost me $300.

Power consumption doesn't bother me. Ill be able to switch off my gaming PC now since it wont be serving my file or running Plex.
Even with the above setup, i'll be saving power.

I'm not going to hang around waiting for the "next thing" as i'll be constantly waiting. There is always something new coming.
By the time you wait to see if its compatible and reliable, there will be a new announcement and the wait continues..
I have no existing NAS (and no backups of my data!)

 

[Stux]

1230 is a great chip and is an i7 equivalent
1220 is an i5 with ECC

 

[ccssid]

1230 is a great chip and is an i7 equivalent
1220 is an i5 with ECC

Yes, have to agree...the 1230 is a wonderful chip and works very well with AsRock MB (c236)

 

[diskdiddler]

I emailed Asrock sales regarding Australian importer. they pointed me to wisp.net.au
Still waiting on my board to come. None of my regular PC suppliers could get this board for me.

I have paired this with an E3-1230v5. Kingston have compatible ram available too. My local PC store has ordered this. (https://www.kingston.com/en/memory/search?DeviceType=2&Mfr=ASR&Line=Motherboard&Model=93677)

This will be plenty fast enough for my needs. I could have even used the 1220v5 instead and saved $90.
My total cost without disks was $1278 ($960US)
If i went consumer grade i5, it was $300AU less. so overall ECC cost me $300.

Power consumption doesn't bother me. Ill be able to switch off my gaming PC now since it wont be serving my file or running Plex.
Even with the above setup, i'll be saving power.

I'm not going to hang around waiting for the "next thing" as i'll be constantly waiting. There is always something new coming.
By the time you wait to see if its compatible and reliable, there will be a new announcement and the wait continues..
I have no existing NAS (and no backups of my data!)

Can you give me a full rundown of the hardware you purchased? Case, board, ram, fans etc?
That's pricey :( but .......... I mean that's what it costs for a nice one.

I am really unhappy about googling and finding that VC1 decoding issue (single thread only) so some videos from Plex will run atrociously on lower end chips, regardless of how many cores. FFMpeg isn't fixed yet and I've found posts about this over 2 and 3 years old, I'm guessing it's not a priority.
I would really like that Denverton too, it sounds like nice hardware, I bet the 8 core model is under $800 AUD for board, CPU, cooler. (and a nice 8 SATA ITX board with ipmi at that...)

EDIT: one more thing, although it's irrational, it is annoying this thread is a year old, newer technology should be out from Intel - newer Xeons eventually. It seems annoying to buy the CPU now (without any price drop, very Intel typical) when a replacement at the same time could drop any time soon

 

[eyeofmaat]

Can you give me a full rundown of the hardware you purchased? Case, board, ram, fans etc?
That's pricey :( but .......... I mean that's what it costs for a nice one.

I am really unhappy about googling and finding that VC1 decoding issue (single thread only) so some videos from Plex will run atrociously on lower end chips, regardless of how many cores. FFMpeg isn't fixed yet and I've found posts about this over 2 and 3 years old, I'm guessing it's not a priority.
I would really like that Denverton too, it sounds like nice hardware, I bet the 8 core model is under $800 AUD for board, CPU, cooler. (and a nice 8 SATA ITX board with ipmi at that...)

EDIT: one more thing, although it's irrational, it is annoying this thread is a year old, newer technology should be out from Intel - newer Xeons eventually. It seems annoying to buy the CPU now (without any price drop, very Intel typical) when a replacement at the same time could drop any time soon

I was only willing to deal with stores that I could pick up from personally (I live in Sydney)
This was mwave and a local PC store. You might have luck finding cheaper prices.

Case: Fractal Node 304 -- $135 (already comes with fans in the case)
Motherboard: Asrock Rack C236 WSI -- $379
CPU: Xeon E3-1230v5 -- $395
Cooler: DeepCool Gamer Storm Gabriel -- $45 (i forgot this in my previous calculation)
RAM: Kingston KVR21E15D8/16 -- $220 (single 16GB stick; ill add another later)
PSU: Corsair RM550x (could use lower spec if you want; I couldn't find a lower watt RM series) -- $149

Since I don't have an existing NAS, I also needed
SSD: WD Green 120GB -- $69 (Ill get a 2nd later; use for Docker and VM)
3x WD Red 3TB -- $165 each (ill get 3 more later)

Then I bought a cheap UPS for $80. Ill need to test this more.
Because I was on a roll, I also bought a Managed Switch for $220 (for Link Aggregation and learning purpose. I might make some VLAN at home to keep the wife's PC away from the NAS. Ill need a VLAN aware router at some point to make it easier)

 

[Stux]

I think the fractal case fans don't support pwm.

Also you're aware of raidz1 issues and also the difficulty of expanding a 3way raidz1 to a 6way Raidz2 right?

 

[Stux]

(Bte it can be done using partitions and a lot of juggling)

 

[eyeofmaat]

I'm not sure about the case fans. They do have their own controller with a switch on the back (H/M/L speed)
I wont be plugging them into the Mobo. If they are loud or low quality, ill just buy replacements.

Regarding expanding, I was planning on backing up the data and nuking the volume. Setting up again with 6 disks (RaidZ2)
Ill have more money in June. for now, my existing single disks can hold the backup from the RaidZ1
Ill need 3 more reds, 1 more cheapo SSD and a backup drive (8TB or similar)

 

[Stux]

That's a good plan

 

[diskdiddler]

I've just done some morning googling and maybe I'm screwed, I don't know if it's a chipset limitation, or motherboard space limitation but I'm having a hard time finding a board with the following.
ITX
8 SATA (or more)
DDR4 ECC
ANY CPU (Xeon-E, Avonton, Denverton, Xeon-D)
At least 1x regular Gigabit connector.


I just hit up newegg and filtered server boards by ECC / ITX
https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007629 50001655 600009028 600016286&Manufactory=1655

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182964 Only 6 SATA
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182963 Only 6 SATA
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAB9455P9195 Only 6 SATA

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182851 Only 6 SATA (and SO-Dimm, way too many network ports, clearly for network appliances)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182855 See above
I could've sworn I found an 8 SATA based board

(5 minutes into writing post............)
Actually no, the original board I found for this thread, doh! - and it's not in that Newegg search for some reason?
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...9009&cm_re=C236_Asrock-_-13-599-009-_-Product
This forces me on to a higher power CPU :/ darn!
I really would like to see a replacement to the C236, purely from a "I'm going to pay this much damn money, make it modern!" standpoint.
https://ark.intel.com/products/90594/Intel-C236-Chipset <- On its way to 1.5 years old


EDIT:
One more thing, the Asrock isn't even on Asrocks page under server boards either?
http://www.asrockrack.com/general/products.asp#Server
Looks like it's classed as a workstation board, due to lack of IPMI?

 

[diskdiddler]

CPU: Xeon E3-1230v5 -- $395

One more thing, to my knowledge that has no GPU in the CPU like regular Intel chips, do you have a video card or does the Asrock have a simple one on the board?...
(I'm dying to know if that CPU you picked up works on there without a GPU to be honest, so let me know. Almost sure you need an Intel E3-12x5 V5)

 

[diskdiddler]

Sorry I'm using this thread as a thinking piece / scratch pad for future FreeNAS options, hopefully helps others.
I've done more googling, it /seems/ to me the Xeon D maxes out at 6 SATA ports (which is a shame, it seems a good product)
The Avoton Atom C2xxx stuff, while not supporting more, does seem to often come bundled with Marvel controllers (presumably which are supported /well/ by FreeNAS? since people do seem to use it) with 12 SATA ports.


So I'm kinda back where I started.
C236 with a fairly 'greedy' Xeon E CPU in it - that'll get me 8 SATA ports and ITX
The Avoton has 'bugs' which break things and it's not powerful enough according to some rumours, the C3xxx series Denverton, continues to sound very very interesting and a potential option.
Also the Xeon D v6 is coming soon, apparently, not much change but some, perhaps someone will make a board in ITX with 8 SATA ports.

Seems choosing the right board (AND getting ECC) continues to be difficult for FreeNAS


Finally a question for those smarter than me, if the Denverton IS a good option in 3 months, when will FreeBSD support it? Can FreeNAS10 be patched (easily) or does one need to wait until FreeNAS11?

 

[ccssid]

One more thing, to my knowledge that has no GPU in the CPU like regular Intel chips, do you have a video card or does the Asrock have a simple one on the board?...
(I'm dying to know if that CPU you picked up works on there without a GPU to be honest, so let me know. Almost sure you need an Intel E3-12x5 V5)

Correct. Need 1225 or 1245 if you want integrated gpu. I ran into this problem and had to install a cheap low powered video card in order to boot. I talked with tech at asrock and he told me I should have gone with either a 1225/1245 or a server motherboard......btw, I am very happy with my c236 ws. Has all the features I was looking for a performs like a champ. Found a gpu after rebate, I believe was only $10.00 and very low power draw

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

 

[diskdiddler]

Correct. Need 1225 or 1245 if you want integrated gpu. I ran into this problem and had to install a cheap low powered video card in order to boot. I talked with tech at asrock and he told me I should have gone with either a 1225/1245 or a server motherboard......btw, I am very happy with my c236 ws. Has all the features I was looking for a performs like a champ. Found a gpu after rebate, I believe was only $10.00 and very low power draw

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

Really only $10? What brand? I've found it hard to find one.

 

[ccssid]

Really only $10? What brand? I've found it hard to find one.

I found this at Newegg with a $20.00 rebate. Actually, come to think of it, I have not yet received the rebate. It has been about six weeks since Powercolor received my paperwork....we shall see.

1 x ($29.99) PowerColor Go! Green Radeon HD 5450 DirectX 11 AX5450 2GBK3-SHV7E 2GB 64-Bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Low Profile Video Card
$29.99

Subtotal: $29.99
Tax:

and the rebate:

Rebate Item: PowerColor HD5450 2GB
Rebate Item UPC number(s): 4715409185734
Rebate Reward : 20.00
Service Level Basic : 0.00
Final Reward : 20.00

 

[diskdiddler]

Ahh thank you, I actually have one of those here standalone. I hate the idea of chucking in a GPU but.......... if it allows me different CPU choices and price ranges.

 

[Stux]

Sorry I'm using this thread as a thinking piece / scratch pad for future FreeNAS options, hopefully helps others.
I've done more googling, it /seems/ to me the Xeon D maxes out at 6 SATA ports (which is a shame, it seems a good product)
The Avoton Atom C2xxx stuff, while not supporting more, does seem to often come bundled with Marvel controllers (presumably which are supported /well/ by FreeNAS? since people do seem to use it) with 12 SATA ports.


So I'm kinda back where I started.
C236 with a fairly 'greedy' Xeon E CPU in it - that'll get me 8 SATA ports and ITX
The Avoton has 'bugs' which break things and it's not powerful enough according to some rumours, the C3xxx series Denverton, continues to sound very very interesting and a potential option.
Also the Xeon D v6 is coming soon, apparently, not much change but some, perhaps someone will make a board in ITX with 8 SATA ports.

Seems choosing the right board (AND getting ECC) continues to be difficult for FreeNAS


Finally a question for those smarter than me, if the Denverton IS a good option in 3 months, when will FreeBSD support it? Can FreeNAS10 be patched (easily) or does one need to wait until FreeNAS11?

This is why I had specced out a Xeon D itx board + HBA for an 8 bay micro NAS with gigabit.

 

[diskdiddler]

Xeon D is embedded right, presumably always comes with video logic?

 

[Ericloewe]

Xeon D is embedded right, presumably always comes with video logic?

Not the CPU, but the motherboards that use it, yes.

 

[diskdiddler]

Thanks for your help, I'm leaning back to a Xeon D 1521 now (or, hopefully a replacement of this, some time this year perhaps,...)
(it would be HELLA good if the replacement to it supports 8 SATA rather than 6. Save me about $160)