[SOLVED] Looking for a good CPU and Motherbard combo for Server 2016.

[Fluffythesheep]

Hi All, Looking for some help with choosing a Motheboard and CPU combo, i dont want to buy a prebuilt system with a XEON processor, want to build my own system. Every time i look into all the consumer boards they dont have driver support for server 2016. What are my options with this ? Does anyone have any suggestions on which board to go for with cpu, i was looking at something like an I5 6 core processor.

 

[Eximo]

You don't have to use a pre-built to get a Xeon processor or a non-consumer chipset...these are products readily available on the market through retailers.

If you are running an actual server, ECC memory is a good idea. i5s can't do that.

If you still want to stick with consumer CPUs, then Ryzen and Ryzen Pro (AM4) support ECC memory. Or you could bump it up a notch and go with a Threadripper (FM2) platform. That would get you quad channel memory.

Equivalent of a late model i5 would be the Xeon E-2126G or E-2226G , ~$255

Though you could easily get equivalents to the 6 core 12 thread or 8 cores and up. I believe that fits into the C246 chipset. (They no longer allow cross platform Xeons, so no dropping your coffeelake Xeon into a B365 chipset.

And of course Xeon's on the HEDT platform of X299 and LGA2066 sockets if you want serious server class equipment without actually buying a rack style board.