Socket 1155 ECC Consumer Motherboard? (willing to mod bios)

[bobthemailman]

Hey guys,

I am looking for a socket 1155 motherboard with ECC DDR3 & USB 3.0. The only boards I can find are all server boards and lack USB 3.0 as that industry is slow to adapt to the new standards. I'd get a PCI - express to usb 3.0 card for it but the express slots are precious to me.

Are there any decent 1155 motherboards that support both?

or

does anyone know of any bios mods to enable ECC?

 

[ko888]

The ASUS P8B WS has 2 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue) and supports 4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 1333/1066 Hz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory. Doesn't seem to be available through the usual vendors like newegg, tigerdirect, ncix, etc. anymore.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8B_WS/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004U5V7LM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=servecom-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=B004U5V7LM

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

Part of the problem with your question is that because of the integration of the memory on the processor; you have to have a processor that support ECC memory. The easiest way that you are going to get support for ECC in Socket 1155 is to use the Intel® S1200BTS which is a micro-ATX board that will support our Intel Xeon® E3-12XX processors and some Intel Core i3 processors. You can see a list of the supported processors on this board at http://ark.intel.com/products/53558/Intel-Server-Board-S1200BTS and additional information on the board.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast

 

[jaquith]

There's a little more to it, but I agree with the ASUS P8B WS which has been deactivated. The newer LGA 2011 Xeon Xeon E5-16XX CPUs and MOBOs are coming out soon, November - December 2011. You MUST use, for Intel, a Xeon CPU to utilize ECC!!!

I've built a couple of the following a short while back and to date zero-problems, and the onboard iGPU works fine.

Type Price Description Link
CPU 350 Intel Xeon E3-1275 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115085
MOBO 230 ASUS P8B WS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131725
RAM 96 Crucial UDIMM 2x4GB DDR3 1333 ECC CT2KIT51272BA1339 http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=P8B%20WS&Cat=RAM
SSD 210 OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS VTX3MI-25SAT3-120G 120GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706
HDD 60 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
HDD 60 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
PSU 116 CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650M http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139031
CASE 88 CM RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216
OS 140 Windows 7 Pro SP1 64-bit - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116992
ODD 26 ASUS 24X DVDR - Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Total $1,376

@ko888 Amazon link is good, and here's more stores -> http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GPEA_en___US371&gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=ASUS+P8B+WS#q=ASUS+P8B+WS&hl=en&rlz=1C1GPEA_en___US371&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=shop&ei=nQ-KTre5MceftweAuMXqDA&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=6&ved=0CCUQ_AUoBQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=691a37198296519b&biw=1400&bih=959

 

[wwest]

Part of the problem with your question is that because of the integration of the memory on the processor; you have to have a processor that support ECC memory. The easiest way that you are going to get support for ECC in Socket 1155 is to use the Intel® S1200BTS which is a micro-ATX board that will support our Intel Xeon® E3-12XX processors and some Intel Core i3 processors. You can see a list of the supported processors on this board at http://ark.intel.com/products/53558/Intel-Server-Board-S1200BTS and additional information on the board.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast

There are a myraid of methods for implementing ECC.

1. Within the dynamic refresh memory chip itself. But with no method of detecting correction failures.
2. With motherboard hardware and totally independent of X86. Again, no method of detecting correction failures.
3. Totally on the motherboard but with # of ECC corrections done and reportable via X86 processor interrupt/BIOS. Failed correction also handled via X86 interrupt/BIOS.
4. Partially on the motherboard
a.) Writing of ECC memory extension contents computed via motherboard hardware.
b.) Memory read checking of need for ECC correction detected by motherboard hardware.
c.) Via interrupt/BIOS, X86 processor computes and corrects memory cell contents
d.) Correction failure handled by X86 BIOS.

1, 2, Would still provide substandually improved system reliability, robustness, over non-ECC memories since non-correctable base memory contents would be rare in the extreme in comparison.

Obviously #3 would be the most desireable for server and certain so for mission critical applications such as is Strobe Data's PC Co-processor product series.

It would be my guess that the Xeon class, LGA-1155 for instance, motherboards make use of #3 and the X86 is only interrupted if the correction fails.

Can Christian Wood enlighten us?

 

[wwest]

Part of the problem with your question is that because of the integration of the memory on the processor; you have to have a processor that support ECC memory. The easiest way that you are going to get support for ECC in Socket 1155 is to use the Intel® S1200BTS which is a micro-ATX board that will support our Intel Xeon® E3-12XX processors and some Intel Core i3 processors. You can see a list of the supported processors on this board at http://ark.intel.com/products/53558/Intel-Server-Board-S1200BTS and additional information on the board.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast

"..you have to have a processor that support ECC memory.."

An absolute UNTRUTH...

This is why Intel and Supermicro/Asus differ on this issue. Intel wishes to sell the "high priced spread" XEON, when system ROBUSTNESS/RELIABILITY is of high profile, so they mislead the public (sounds like Romney?) and only admit the truth of this matter when "called out" by SuperMicro or ASUS...others?

 

[batpot]

Supermicro has a few 1155 ECC-supported boards, that are compatible with 2nd gen core i3 procs in addition to xeon.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001655%2040000302%20600136967&IsNodeId=1&name=LGA%201155