[SOLVED] What can I do with a asrock c2750d4i Server board?

[hacim229911]

I recently received an asrock c2750d4i server board for free and I would like to know how I can use it, Can I run windows 10 on the machine once the power is connected? or make a vpn/firewall? I would like to know how I can do these things or if there is anything else more interesting I can do with it.

 

[Eximo]

8 2013 Atom cores, so they won't be brilliantly fast.

Looks like it does support Server 2008 and 2012 and several versions of Unix/Linux. What you do with it once you have an OS on it is whatever you want really. Just another computer. 2012 is quite similar to Windows 10, but I know Windows 8.1 and 10 ask for a few CPU instructions that the CPU might not have. Drivers will be another issue. Won't hurt to try though.

As for what it was used for in industry, no idea. Firewall maybe. Or just light web hosts or something.

 

[hacim229911]

8 2013 Atom cores, so they won't be brilliantly fast.

Looks like it does support Server 2008 and 2012 and several versions of Unix/Linux. What you do with it once you have an OS on it is whatever you want really. Just another computer. 2012 is quite similar to Windows 10, but I know Windows 8.1 and 10 ask for a few CPU instructions that the CPU might not have. Drivers will be another issue. Won't hurt to try though.

As for what it was used for in industry, no idea. Firewall maybe. Or just light web hosts or something.

Do I need to connect a graphics card to it?, I already have a power supply for this, though I would like to make it a portable computer I can use for school with windows 10 installed, or would it be more wise to use linux? My question is: what should I do with it, make a firewall/vpn, install NAS on it, or put an OS such s windows or linux on it?

 

[Eximo]

It has onboard graphics. Have you not looked the board up at all?

This would make for a pretty awful portable, any cheap laptop from the last 7 or 8 years would be better. Not to mention needing VGA adapters.

This thing is intended for small jobs that don't require a lot of processing and to be extremely efficient, thus the Atom cores. Given the number of SATA ports, probably was designed as some form of inexpensive network storage.

All of those things require an OS to be installed. Even if that OS only has one job. FreeNAS is an OS. PFSense or something like it is an OS.

Windows will run on it, not entirely sure which Windows, but with 2012 on the list that would include Vista and Windows 7 certainly. Probably 8 as well. 8.1 and 10 I know start creeping into needing up to date instruction sets, which I mentioned before. Those Atom cores might make the cut though. Would have to track down the white papers on the CPU and the OS in question.

Linux can be made very light, but it is still an 8 core, even if they aren't going to be that fast, so I would think even full blown OS will run relatively well. Certainly better than the typical Atom based processor. But applications that rely on single core speed are not going to be impressive.

Depends on what you want to do with it. If you need Windows, be aware that most high end applications will run pretty slow. But word processing and other basic tasks will be fine. Games are pretty much out of the question unless we are talking pretty simple titles.

With its lack of video capabilities I would be hard pressed to find a use for it. I have an Atom stick computer from a few years back. It can just about manage Youtube at 720p and my old DOS games. My brother uses an identical one to stream live TV. But that one was designed for consumer use. This Avoton processor is for running something for probably years at a time, and it looks like the graphics are coming from the motherboard so not really sure how to judge that performance.

Appears to be some sort of ARM based management processor with included 2D graphics. Might not even be capable of typical graphics capabilities you are used to.

 

[hacim229911]

It has onboard graphics. Have you not looked the board up at all?

This would make for a pretty awful portable, any cheap laptop from the last 7 or 8 years would be better. Not to mention needing VGA adapters.

This thing is intended for small jobs that don't require a lot of processing and to be extremely efficient, thus the Atom cores. Given the number of SATA ports, probably was designed as some form of inexpensive network storage.

All of those things require an OS to be installed. Even if that OS only has one job. FreeNAS is an OS. PFSense or something like it is an OS.

Windows will run on it, not entirely sure which Windows, but with 2012 on the list that would include Vista and Windows 7 certainly. Probably 8 as well. 8.1 and 10 I know start creeping into needing up to date instruction sets, which I mentioned before. Those Atom cores might make the cut though. Would have to track down the white papers on the CPU and the OS in question.

Linux can be made very light, but it is still an 8 core, even if they aren't going to be that fast, so I would think even full blown OS will run relatively well. Certainly better than the typical Atom based processor. But applications that rely on single core speed are not going to be impressive.

Depends on what you want to do with it. If you need Windows, be aware that most high end applications will run pretty slow. But word processing and other basic tasks will be fine. Games are pretty much out of the question unless we are talking pretty simple titles.

With its lack of video capabilities I would be hard pressed to find a use for it. I have an Atom stick computer from a few years back. It can just about manage Youtube at 720p and my old DOS games. My brother uses an identical one to stream live TV. But that one was designed for consumer use. This Avoton processor is for running something for probably years at a time, and it looks like the graphics are coming from the motherboard so not really sure how to judge that performance.

Appears to be some sort of ARM based management processor with included 2D graphics. Might not even be capable of typical graphics capabilities you are used to.

I plan to use it for small school projects and to occasionally play the original doom, nothing much. Thank for this info, I have never had any kind of server board so I'm not experienced in the subject. thank you

 

[Eximo]

This isn't a typical server board, just FYI. Kind of a special case where a low power x86 solution is desired. Mini-ITX is not a 'server' standard. Designed more for small business I imagine.

In larger enterprises the typical boards would have Xeon or Opteron (And now Epyc) processors that are replaceable, and intended for U type rack mount applications. Or they will be Sparc, PowerPC, etc CPUs with hundreds of cores that run Unix. Windows is somewhat uncommon in the hosted application space. (Though it is what I spend most of my time on, but many manufacturing, engineering, and science applications tend to be made for Windows)

Finance, payroll, trade, banking, etc tend to only have Windows machines as clients, thoseroots can be traced back to mainframes. Graphics is usually PC, but that is more a recent thing as those used to be primarily done on proprietary platforms, usually RISC processors from Motorola and the like.