[Trexxit]

Really just looking to mess around with 32 cores and server stuff and i found some good deals. but i need a few questins answered.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-C6145-Server-Quad-Socket-G34-DDR3-AMD-Motherboard-DW8Y5-40N24-/181462183822?pt=Motherboards&hash=item2a3ffd2f8e
That is the motherboard I'm looking at. I think the form factor is proprietary but I'm not sure, used to standard ITX m-atx,atx and e atx. My understanding is there are pci-e lanes but they are different connectors or something. What are these called and where can I get them?I'm looking into putting at least a single gpu inside if i can. Next I need a case for this and suggestions just need it to hold up to 5 drives , but 1 is fine. help me out please?
P.S. I'm familiar with most general pc stuff but I'm not good with server terms, so please take it easy on me

 

[zanginator]

Don't even attempt to build with this board unless it is going into a Dell Poweredge C6145. (which is a 2U blade server)

The whole system is near enough propriety, with disk and power being handled by the blade chassis. As a result you will need the blade server chassis to make this board useful. Plus there are no PCI-e ports. They are on weird risers for this system as the intended market will only be using 10Gb or FC cards. Not large GPUs.

If you want to use the AMD G34 socket, your best bet is to look for Supermicro boards as they tend to be in the E-ATX form factor.

 

[DuckieHo]

First step of any server build..... what will you be building the server for and what are the requirements?

Next, what's your level of experience with either Windows Server or Linux?

Don't ever buy server hardware without defining what you want to do. You will generally end up wasting money and sometimes will not be able to accomplish what you need effectively.

 

[Trexxit]

Well I'm just getting hardware for the ****s and giggles of it. to mess around with this much power. Mainly cause its cheap for 32 cores. the board and cpus would cost me 150$ or so. Second Not allot of expierence with windows server but I use linux on my laptop as a daily driver so I'm pretty well known with it . and if it's going to cost me as much as some of those super micro boards do I don't think I'll be able to get into it, unless someone has some here for around the same price as this board, which i doubt. I've found the risers and with some modding to the bracket i could install a gpu but it's not sensible, guess im stuck, sadly, anyone have any other options?

 

[zanginator]

Look at dual socket 1366. You can get X5650's (or X5660's) at a decent price. This will get you to 24 threads and (usually) upto 192GB of RAM.

 

[Trexxit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zanginator

Look at dual socket 1366. You can get X5650's (or X5660's) at a decent price. This will get you to 24 threads and (usually) upto 192GB of RAM.

would that be cheaper than the quad socket dell and the 4 6128s(cost me about 170 after shipping)

 

[Nivacs]

As Zaginator said, that board is for a Dell server. It will not work outside of that chassis. The power and PCI connections are proprietary, there is no disk controller(it is an attached SAS Lund) Even the screw holes are designed to only fit the removable system board tray in that server. To make it work properly will cost many multiples of the buy in for processors and motherboard so unless you want a Dell server (and are willing to buy the whole thing) I would stay away from this

 

[Trexxit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nivacs

As Zaginator said, that board is for a Dell server. It will not work outside of that chassis. The power and PCI connections are proprietary, there is no disk controller(it is an attached SAS Lund) Even the screw holes are designed to only fit the removable system board tray in that server. To make it work properly will cost many multiples of the buy in for processors and motherboard so unless you want a Dell server (and are willing to buy the whole thing) I would stay away from this

Alrighty, ive decided if anything ill have to start out small on a dual 1366 board with dual quad cores but its a start

 

[DuckieHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trexxit

Alrighty, ive decided if anything ill have to start out small on a dual 1366 board with dual quad cores but its a start

Do you plan on writing software where NUMA-awareness matters?

 

[Brane2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by zanginator

Don't even attempt to build with this board unless it is going into a Dell Poweredge C6145. (which is a 2U blade server)

The whole system is near enough propriety, with disk and power being handled by the blade chassis. As a result you will need the blade server chassis to make this board useful. Plus there are no PCI-e ports. They are on weird risers for this system as the intended market will only be using 10Gb or FC cards. Not large GPUs.

If you want to use the AMD G34 socket, your best bet is to look for Supermicro boards as they tend to be in the E-ATX form factor.

I am contemplating using such board just as a CPU muscle on a network. If I manage to overcome PSU problem, would it be possible to boot such board from USB stick or network without extra HW ?

I intend to use it for heavy compiling and turn it on just when needed. IN such scenario such board would boot from USB stick ( minimal boot, just needed essentials) and then mount nfs4 shares from nearby fileserver. So, in theory, I should be able to do with just onboard peripherals ( VGA output, LANs, keyboard PS2, USB etc).

 

[Brane2]

And BTW, what's wrong with its PCIe connectors ? The look OK at first glance...

 

[Brane2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brane2

And BTW, what's wrong with its PCIe connectors ? The look OK at first glance...

Not that I can check in flesh - just judging by available photos...

 

[Merlin2]

Just in case someone is still interested...

I got one of these boards (Poweredge C6145 mainboard) and managed to use it. In the end, it's easy to get it working. It has no ATX connector but a proprietary power connector but it does not need Dell specific components. All it needs is +12V and +5V. I managed to run the board on a standard ATX power supply. There are several SAS connectors onboard so i just attached a SATA hard disk and it booted up. I will post more details in the next days.

Thorsten

 

[Liranan]

Keep us up to date.

 

[Bambam625]

definitely interested to hear how this ends up.

thinking about throwing together an OP server so i can host my own game servers.

 

[jakethesnake438]

Don't bother with a dell board, you will probably blow it up trying to power it.
You wont have working front panel power/reset/diag either.... Not fun to work on

Didn't read thread...

 

[dollner]

hum,
never posted before ---
however marlin2, if you get it to work and somehow prove it through a video and how to´s, that would be nice .
I dont have the cash to buy a supermicro . I wanna tackle a np-hard problem and break a world record on the diagonal Ramsey number R(5, 5) .
This will need lots of independent cpu's

I guess i will just buy the MB and sooner or later it will work .

 

[PoopsPoops]

Yes, I'm dubious of it too. On a Reddit thread he said he had to get a power distribution board (here ) and a backplane board (not on ebay ordered from Dell), http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/946/t/19669983 in addition to the PSU to finally get it working.

There was no quick way. I've still to read the technical manual to check out for sure how these parts are supposed to go together, but I haven't found any pinout or what to just wire an ATX to the motherboard's power connector.

Merlin2, tell us more if you really got this working.

 

[madLyfe]

you have that reddit thread handy?

 

[PoopsPoops]

Read all the comments:
https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/467pnk/unorthodox_poweredge_c6145_build/
He ends up buying the midplane connector HHR5H part - https://www.itcreations.com/view_product.asp?product_id=44954 which seems right as it has the mobo's power connector - it plugs into the mobo's power connector and looks like it has an ATX 24pin on it?

But then he buys a power distribution board, which I don't get - I don't see how those connect to the mobo and midplane part. The thing to check is whether the Dell PSU just plugs directly into the 24pins on the midplane connector? Maybe that's enough - either a dell psu or some pinout to rewire a standard ATX to it?

Interestingly a poster called Merlin2 also posted this story of rigging ATX power supply to the power connector on a servethehome thread and didn't follow up with details.
Some chance it's the puppet account of the ebayer selling these motherboards and this is actually possible.