I’m definitely no expert so this may be a dumb question but why under the Dual CPU recommendations is the E5-2650 the top of the line recommendation when the E5-2667 in Mid Range recommendation has the same # of cores, higher frequency & higher passmark score? It would seem the E5-2667 is the better CPU.
For those that are considering starting with a prebuilt but also want to upgrade the cpu in the future, the HP Z420, Z620 and Z820 models can support v1/v2, but not all machines can support both.
AFAIK, there is a cutoff in 2013 where they enabled v2 CPUs and systems before the cutoff can’t support v2 chips no matter what the bios says. For the Z820, system boards with PN 708464-001 or 618266-002 will not support v2 and boards with PN 708610-001 or 618266-004 will.
Also @JDM_WAAAT, thank you for all the work that you and the others put into this and the other guides. I’m almost completely new to this and they have been my go to references.
I am trying to build a server for labs (64GB RAM) and I am thinking of something like:
Processor: XEON E5-2650v2 (x2)
Motherboard: X9DRL-IF
PSU: EVGA 750 G +
Hard Drive: 120 GB SSD
Memory: this is my problem.
I went through the supermicro documentation and couldn’t find the memories listed.
I found the following memory (Hynix HMT42GR7MFR4A-H9), but I think its price is very high
I use this site for references and compatibilities. Keep in mind that this is a memory sales site and not the direct references from the manufacturers.
CPU:The 2696v2 is a OEM CPU, most boards won’t support them. I’ve heard good things about Lenovo/Dell boards supporting them though. You might wanna look at the 2680v2 (half price, 2 less cores, but officially supported) or 2697v2 (similar price? but fully supported)
RAM: I’d go with 4x16GB to take advantage of the quad-channel layout, unless you had a really great deal on those LRDIMMs. LRDIMMs also suffer from a speed reduction in some configs (check the Supermicro manual - memory section), so the 1866MHz may not shine through
PSU: Does it have dual 8-pin CPU cables?
Cooler: The X9DAi’s layout has both CPUs quite near each other. Are you mounting the 212s horizontally (ie exhaust up) or vertically (CPU1’s exhaust feeds into CPU2’s intake)? If the latter (and given the high TDP CPUs), temperatures may be a problem for the 2nd CPU - I suggest liquid cooling OR getting other coolers that can be mounted horizontally
It’s possible the original poster had a hardware revision that was incompatible, such as R1.00 when they needed R1.02 for V2 support. This is different than the BIOS revision.
Supermicro isn’t forthright with this information.
I have added more RAM, and filled out all the disk space. I now have 5x14TB disks + others. I am now running Proxmox VE and working on Ceph these days. This server has served me very well, no pun intended. I am using this as my primary “all-in-one” server and am planning on expanding past it to running multiple nodes. The 2.0 SNAFU is a great guide and still very much valid AFAIK. I’ve also added an RTX 3060 that I’m using for Mining/streaming/gaming. Hope that adds clarity. Best!
Sorry for the bump. I was going to upgrade the X9DRH-7TF I’m currently running with E5-2630v2 chips (which came with the board when I purchased a couple years ago) to the E5-2687W v2 SR19V
The board has firmware 3.0b currently, would I have any issues if I did so, the board came with E5-2630v2 and heat sinks and fan along with it. Would I need something beefier?