Recommendation: dual 2011 v3 mobo

[zombie67]

It looks like there are several mobos with dual 2011 v3 sockets:


Gigabyte MD80-TM0 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100161257%20600288062%20600553802%2050001314&IsNodeId=1) ($660)
SuperMicro (has 2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100161257%20600288062%20600553802%2050001655&IsNodeId=1) starting at $340)
ASRock (4 versions (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100161257%20600288062%20600553802%2050128228&IsNodeId=1),starting at $360)
Asus Z10PE-D8 WS (http://smile.amazon.com/Memory-2011-3-Motherboard-Z10PE-D8-WS/dp/B00O1AXIHM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460316292&sr=8-1&keywords=Z10PE-D8+WS) ($579)


Any recommendations, or brands to stay away from? This would be a dedicated cruncher, 1 PCI-e slot is fine, so long as it fits a full length, dual-wide GPU.

[nanoprobe]

I had an Asus board. If you plan to use dual GPUs skip this one. The memory slots pretty much block the 2nd PCI-E slot for any decent size card. IE my R9-270X would not fit.

Also keep an eye out on the SM boards for open box sales. I bought 2 of the X10DAl-I-O boards for $275 each. $299 regular price.

[scole of TSBT]

How many GPUs you plan to put in it? Never mind. See you said 1 PCIe slot is ok. The Gigabyte and one of the Supermicro only had a single x16 speed PCIe slot. There were other slots but only x8 speed.

[nanoprobe]

How many GPUs you plan to put in it? Never mind. See you said 1 PCIe slot is ok. The Gigabyte and one of the Supermicro only had a single x16 speed PCIe slot. There were other slots but only x8 speed.
The X10DAl-I-O boards have 2 PCI-Ex16 slots. A 3rd can be run in x16 with certain BIOS settings. I use slots 1 and 3 for 2 cards for cooling purposes. Running 3 would make the middle card run pretty warm unless you water cool.

[zombie67]

After a bit more research, I narrowed it down to the following from each supplier:

ASRock EP2C612 WS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813599004), $360 @ Newegg
SUPERMICRO MBD-X10DRI (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182933), $410 @ Newegg
Asus Z10PA-D8 (http://www.asus.com/us/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/Z10PAD8/overview/), $460 @ Amazon
Gigabyte is out, since the only board on newegg is crazy expensive, and they don't seem to sell on amazon.

Thoughts? Any of these models or brands to avoid?

[nanoprobe]

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10DAL-I-O (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182967) $299 at Newegg

[zombie67]

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10DAL-I-O (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182967) $299 at Newegg

I skipped over that, because it does not say anything about v3, like the one I listed. Can V1 boards run V3 CPUs?

[nanoprobe]

From the specs listed. CPU Type Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v3 family (up to 160W TDP ) They will also run the V4 chips with a BIOS update but you need a V3 chip to update the BIOS first to get a V4 chip to run. Look for the Intel C612 chipset spec. That's the key.

[zombie67]

Look for the Intel C612 chipset spec. That's the key.

Ah! That makes it clear. Thanks!

[zombie67]

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10DAL-I-O (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182967) $299 at Newegg

Are you okay on the quality? There is a pretty harsh review on newegg. But reviews are generally bad, since happy people rarely do feedback.

[nanoprobe]

Are you okay on the quality? There is a pretty harsh review on newegg. But reviews are generally bad, since happy people rarely do feedback.
Both of mine have been rock solid so far. Maybe I should post a revue to up the ratings. :D

[John P. Myers]

Whether it's still true or not i'm not 100% sure but in the past SuperMicro has had very limited compatibility with GPUs (mainly due to BIOS so there was no way for you to fix it) whereas ASUS and Gigabyte worked with pretty much anything. May not be so bad now, but i do see the PCIe lanes are severly hamstringed on this board and you are required to use at least 1 GPU since this board has no onboard video like the ASUS and Gigabytes do.

Also this board has no SAS ports for your drives where ASUS and Gigabyte do. These ports use the same plugs as SATA and are 100% compatible (you can connect SATA to SAS, but not SAS to SATA )but offer double the bandwidth of SATA 3.

Edit: Not that you may need those extra features...just saying. Gigabyte did have some lower cost boards with those features around the $400 range but can't find any available anymore :/ The reason for the high price of the MD80-TM0 is the insane Intel X540-t2 ethernet controller which costs ~$300 to buy as a standalone on a PCIe card as it allows for 20 Gb/s total ethernet bandwidth - 10 times the bandwidth of the other boards..