ECC Build X99 or server board?!

[spartan09]

Hi Everyone, I'm hoping you can help me make some decisions!

I'm building a home server and can't decide between the two builds – I've decided to go with ECC memory as I want to start getting serious about web/app development and want somewhere that I can host my projects as a dev environment. I've sort of convinced myself I need ECC but I know that the only people who really NEED it are banks, the scientific community payment platforms etc..

But I seem to have convinced myself I need/WANT ECC and I do like idea of stability (24/7 operation) so right now ECC is on the cards which makes my build about 200/300 more expensive as I need to get boards that support it and XEONs.

My main questions is should I go with the X99 (DDR4) or the P9D WS (DDR3) – both support ECC. The chips are on par, the E3 Xeon is slightly faster and has on board graphics – I'm not going to bother with a graphics card just yet if I go the P9D WS route – the E5 build needs a graphics card.

Here are the builds:

Build 1 DDR3 ECC

Asus P9D WS $349
Kingston 2x8GB $236
XEON 1246 v3 $406
Toshiba 4tb $189
Toshiba 4tb $197
Design R5 $159
Corsair 550W CSM $139
SSD Samsung 250gb $158

Total $1833

Build 2 DDR4 ECC
Asrock X99 Extreme 4 $299
Intel XEON E5-1620V3 3.50GHZ $418
Crucial 8GB RDIMM x 2 $343
Toshiba 4tb $189
Toshiba 4tb $197
Design R5 $159
Corsair 550W CSM $139
SSD Samsung 250gb $158
1G GT 740 Gigabyte GDDR5 $99
Total $2001

Anyway, all advice is welcome. I know I could go with a Z97 + Xeon 1246 v3 + 16GB of non ECC ram and I'd probably never complain but it wouldn't have ECC.

What do you think? Both machines will be pretty powerful and should keep me going for 3 to 5 years.

Thanks!

And I'll be running an ARCHLinux environment with a VM for Windows 7.

 

[bambiboom]

Hi Everyone, I'm hoping you can help me make some decisions!

I'm building a home server and can't decide between the two builds – I've decided to go with ECC memory as I want to start getting serious about web/app development and want somewhere that I can host my projects as a dev environment. I've sort of convinced myself I need ECC but I know that the only people who really NEED it are banks, the scientific community payment platforms etc..

But I seem to have convinced myself I need/WANT ECC and I do like idea of stability (24/7 operation) so right now ECC is on the cards which makes my build about 200/300 more expensive as I need to get boards that support it and XEONs.

My main questions is should I go with the X99 (DDR4) or the P9D WS (DDR3) – both support ECC. The chips are on par, the E3 Xeon is slightly faster and has on board graphics – I'm not going to bother with a graphics card just yet if I go the P9D WS route – the E5 build needs a graphics card.

Here are the builds:

Build 1 DDR3 ECC

Asus P9D WS $349
Kingston 2x8GB $236
XEON 1246 v3 $406
Toshiba 4tb $189
Toshiba 4tb $197
Design R5 $159
Corsair 550W CSM $139
SSD Samsung 250gb $158

Total $1833

Build 2 DDR4 ECC
Asrock X99 Extreme 4 $299
Intel XEON E5-1620V3 3.50GHZ $418
Crucial 8GB RDIMM x 2 $343
Toshiba 4tb $189
Toshiba 4tb $197
Design R5 $159
Corsair 550W CSM $139
SSD Samsung 250gb $158
1G GT 740 Gigabyte GDDR5 $99
Total $2001

Anyway, all advice is welcome. I know I could go with a Z97 + Xeon 1246 v3 + 16GB of non ECC ram and I'd probably never complain but it wouldn't have ECC.

What do you think? Both machines will be pretty powerful and should keep me going for 3 to 5 years.

Thanks!

And I'll be running an ARCHLinux environment with a VM for Windows 7.

spartan09,

In my view an LGA2011-3 system is going to suit your use better- double the memory bandwidth, nearly double the PCIe lanes of LGA1150 and more importantly, the CPU may be changed to one having up to 18-cores, making the system far more forward looking. These factors are important in a system in which multiple VM's require high performance in every subsystem.

As I use a variety of workstation programs in 2D and 3D CAD, but also simulation, animation, and have come near to Matlab use- would like to learn it at least, besides more cores, I've also been an adherent to ECC RAM and all six of the systems used here have it.

So, overall, my vote would be for the E5-1620 v3 system, and the ASRock Extreme 4 performs very well.

There is however, a very good alternative to the Extreme4. In results on Passmark Performance Test, searching E5-1650 v3 results the Extreme4 is used in the 10th highest rated system. I checked the E5-1650 v3 ratings because the four results with E5-1630 v3 were all Dell and HP's.

In these ratings, the Nos. 1, 2, and 6 system use a variant (slightly different slot arrangement) of :

Motherboard: Supermicro MBD-X10SRA-F , C612, up to 512GB ECC DDR4 2133, 4X PCIe x16 , 10X SATA 3 8X USB 3> $ 318

http://www.supermicro.nl/products/motherboard/xeon/c600/x10sra-f.cfm

This is a very quality, well-designed, and server quality motherboard by a firm that specializes in server and workstation motherboards. I've never used an ASRock motherboard and by reputation these are good, but in many of the top performing workstation system I see listed on Passmark, the Supermicro X10 is prominent for both single and dual CPU systems. The price is not substantially higher than the Extreme4 - about $20. Check that the features- PCIe slots, number of SATA 3 ports, and etc. are to your liking. This is suggested so as to provide perspective from the pure workstation side of the equation.

As for GPU, I'd recommend a good - but not extreme-workstation card, preferable for programs using viewports and visualization:

PNY NVIDIA Quadro K620 2GB DDR3 DVI/DisplayPort Low Profile PCI-Express Video Card > $162

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=PNY-K620G2#

I think you'll have a very good system for your use- the Xeon E5-1600-series have among the best cost /performance ratio of any CPU.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 /4.0GHz > 16GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K2200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 4918 > CPU= 13941 / 2D= 823 / 3D=3464 / Mem= 2669 / Disk= 4764]

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro 4000 (2GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB /WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card> Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1440)
[ Passmark system rating = 3339 / CPU = 9347 / 2D= 684 / 3D= 2030 / Mem= 1871 / Disk= 2234]

 

[spartan09]

Hi BambiBoom,

Thanks for your detailed reply. I really appreciate the effort. After your advice I'm definitely leaning towards the LGA 2011-3 build now and have started looking into the Supermicro board you recommended. I'm in Australia and the price of the Supermicro is about 430USD here compared to ~250USD for the AsRock Extreme 4 so it makes my build a bit too expensive - for some reason AsRock prices here seem to be in line with the prices in the US but if you go Supermicro/Asus etc the price difference really jumps up here. RAM is a bit more consistent but still more expensive. Intel chips are pretty consistent but there isn't as much choice for a consumer for XEON chips.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Asrock Extreme 4 X99 + E5 1230 v3 setup.

Thanks again for your advice!

 

[fifo1929]

Hi BambiBoom,

Right now I'm leaning towards the Asrock Extreme 4 X99 + E5 1230 v3 setup.

Hi spartan09,

You may not get to read this thread since it is a little dated, but if you do, since I too live in Australia, I have a couple of questions regarding the Asrock X99 Extreme4, assuming you went ahead and purchased it:

Q1. Are you happy with the motherboard?

Q2. Are you running a virtualised environment by any chance? If so, what are you using.

Any other comments would be appreciated.

Thanks