Cheapest mobo for Xeon X5670

[Faisal A]

Hi,

I am building a pc on a very tight budget. I have found a really cheap Xeon for £20 and I am looking for a really cheap mobo to go with it. I do not need a lot of ram (2-4gb should be fine) and do not need a lot of features  (don't need gigabit ethernet, more than 4 ram slot, wifi, usb 3.0, and more than one pcie slot) therefore I do not want to spend more than £30. Does anybody know of a cheap mobo that meets my requirements ? Thanks for your help

[r2724r16]

17 minutes ago, Faisal A said:

therefore I do not want to spend more than £30. Does anybody know of a cheap mobo that meets my requirements ? Thanks for your help

X58 motherboards tend to be overpriced (since you can get really good Xeons for dirt cheap), so I don't think you'll easily find anything for ~£30. Those go for around £100 or more.

 

Also, this might be a good thread for you: 

 

[asand1]

Tech yes city and craft computers spotlighted some new motherboards from AliExpress that we're pretty cheap and technically not x58, but are made to work with lga1366 Xeons.

[Faisal A]

@asand1 I checked tech yes cities links, but everything had sold out

[asand1]

https://m.newegg.com/products/9SIAGKC9527218

[Akila_KuKu]

I think you will have to spend at least £55-60 on this.

[asand1]

Another option is an old workstation that uses lga1366 like a T3500 or Z800

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, asand1 said:

Another option is an old workstation that uses lga1366 like a T3500 or Z800

The research involved would be a little extensive, sometimes those OEM BIOSes can be picky about CPUs.

[Razor Blade]

As stated above, it's difficult to find X58 boards in your price range. You could go with a chinesium branded board at the 38-40 GBP mark off of Ebay... but searching for a used board might be your best bet at this point.

[Faisal A]

@asand1 @Crunchy Dragon would something like this be any ģood. It has dual sockets aswell. If I can't use the xeon what can I use ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProLiant-ML350-G6-Server-Motherboard-Dual-Socket-LGA-1366-461317-002/323782016139

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[Crunchy Dragon]

On 5/9/2019 at 5:42 AM, Faisal A said:

@asand1 @Crunchy Dragon would something like this be any ģood. It has dual sockets aswell. If I can't use the xeon what can I use ?

 

That board is for a rackmount server and will likely not fit in a consumer case.

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[asand1]

I would stay clear of server boards due to proprietary connectors and high fan speeds.

[Razor Blade]

On 5/9/2019 at 5:42 AM, Faisal A said:

@asand1 @Crunchy Dragon would something like this be any ģood. It has dual sockets aswell. If I can't use the xeon what can I use ?

 

All I can say is be very careful with old server boards... There can be countless pitfalls trying to adapt them to run with consumer gear. Proprietary front panel connections, onboard PDUs, proprietary CPU coolers, only certain supported CPUs, and restrictive proprietary firmware to name a few things. Please know what you're buying and all the restrictions that might come with it... Nothing worse than dropping money on a piece of hardware you can't use.

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[Bishop Crane]

Having done similar to this a few times, definitely don't use the ML350 motherboard
The first two (of many) issues you'll run into are;
First the size of it, it doesn't fit into any case except custom designed ones.
Second, the power, it has what I believe is a standard connector, plus an additional custom 16pin.

Newer server boards from manufacturers like HP, Dell, IBM, are even worse on the power front, as the connector is more like a slot connector.
If you really want to use a Xeon your best best for compatibility are Supermicro or Tyan motherboards.  But that will run you about £100 at a minimum.

For a single socket board you might get lucky with something like this at £45
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/X58-Lga-1366-Motherboard-Support-For-REG-ECC-Server-Memory-And-Xeon-Processo-2C7/303144539826?epid=16031669352&hash=item4694d296b2:g:330AAOSwkhtcztbY
But honestly, I have no idea what that is.  There are no markings and I don't recognise it in any way.  So it might be total garbage.

Also be aware any server motherboard is going to potentially be on the large size, especially if its dual socket.  Many are not ATX format!  So will not fit in the majority of cases.  Many of them will be custom or state an EEB format, which in on the most part is a custom format.

[Slayer3032]

If I recall, the HP Z400's are standard ATX. No idea if the front panel connectors or anything else is required to make it work. There's also the Dell XPS/Alienware motherboards which I think you can overclock but I'm not seeing anything attractive on ebay. I'd highly suggest to harass everyone you might know who could have old systems laying around, the best source of cheap X58 motherboards is going to be friends, family and people who don't know what they have.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-586968-001-Z400-Workstation-LGA1366-Motherboard-586766-002/382884615165

 

If you're just looking for dirt cheap, LGA1156 is much cheaper motherboard wise. Old prebuilts are also pretty cheap depending on your area, I've seen Haswell Optiplex's go for like $100 locally to me, Ivy Bridge i7 systems will still play games pretty well and DDR3 can be cheap if you buy used. If you just want a working system without a dedicated graphics card, SFF(small form factor) pre-builts are usually dirt cheap around like $100 for a working system. SFF graphics cards really aren't worth it and are worth a premium though so any money you save is going to be wasted on top of kneecapping performance.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Optiplex-7010-3rd-Generation-i5-Windows-10-Computer-with-8GB-RAM/123746520472

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[andreweddy]

first decent one on ebay in uk was this

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gigabyte-GA-X58A-UD3R-Motherboar-LGA-1366-Socket-B-Intel-X58/263571024593

 

some crap/cheap option here, hope it works out,

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DELL-XPS-435-DX58M01-Motherboard-LGA-1366-Intel-X58-R849J/273032236552

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUPERMICRO-C7X58-LGA-1366-ATX-Motherboard-DDR3-6-x-MEMORY-DIMM-2-x-PCIe-2-0-x16/233182632228

 

or cheap 40 - 60 quid chinese stuff, but cut down like on 2 dimm slots

 

hope helps

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[Faisal A]

@Slayer3032 @Bishop Crane Hi, I am reconsidering using the Xeons. Would this work and would they be any incompatibilities ?

[Slayer3032]

X5670 is a decent cpu, if you can find an X58 motherboard for a good price and enough cheap ddr3 for it then they're alright after an overclock.

 

I wouldn't bother unless you want to overclock them or find an ATX workstation/server board for dirt cheap.

[Bishop Crane]

So my previous advice on Xeon's still stands.
They're great, and a lot of the older xeons (LGA 775 and 1366) are very cheap, but getting together a fully compatible system is not.
If you look at a server motherboard, it becomes expensive, adding the word "server" to anything is almost worse than adding the word "gaming" to it!  Workstation motherboards have a similar issue.

However, that being said, there are three things to focus on when looking at a non-ATX motherboard for a Xeon

1 - Size, how big physically is it, and will it fit into your case, or any case other than the custom one for it.

2 - Power, does it take standard 20 or 24 pin power, does it have any additional non-standard power requirements.

3 - Connectivity, are things like the power switch, USB, memory, supplied by a standard connection

For just motherboards Tyan and Supermicro are some of the best for power and connectivity compatibility, but be aware of size.  Some of the more recognisable names supported Xeon's from the X5670 era but you need to check compatibility, and if it needs a specific bios version that will be an issue.

Your other option is to look at an old workstation that is missing its CPU, for the era you're looking at you want something like a Dell T3500 or HP Z600

Good luck!

[Faisal A]

@Slayer3032 @BishopCrane I do not mind a rackmount server so long as it does not look ugly. I just want a server for about £150, that does not look ugly, has a nice case, and has a decent xeon. I want one of those 2 socket ones, but the motherboards are too expensive. I can spend £70 max on the motherboard £25 on the CPU, £50 on the case. I want somenthing like a rackmount that converts a serve psu into an atx one but I do not know if that exists. I also have access to a HP GL350 G7 but I do not like the looks of that, and every time I upgrade parts, the sharp metal edes always cut my skin, and 2 of the PCI slots dont work

[Bishop Crane]

Being honest here, rack mount servers are not pretty.
I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but there are no eyes in a server room, so servers are functional, not pretty.
Those ones that aren't ugly will cost you a lot more than your budget.

You may be better with a tower than a server.

And if you want Dual Xeon's you'll really be stretching your budget.

You may get lucky on eBay etc with a collection only offer, as most people don't want to drive across country to pick up a server.

You could get an older socket 604 system, but realistically the performance of them is pretty terrible by comparison.

Here are a few options for you to consider;
Dell R710;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-PowerEdge-R710-2U-Rack-Mount-Server-Xeon-E5530-2-40GHz-8GB-RAM-2-5-3-5/173843821005

HP DL180 G6;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-ProLiant-DL180-G6-14x-LFF-3-5-HDD-2x-E5620-32GB-P410-512MB-2x-750W-Server/283501229105

Supermicro something;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SuperMicro-2x-Ten-Core-Xeon-E5-2600-V2-X9DRI-LN4F-CSE-815-Cheap-1U-Server-64GB/123793040404

 

Lenovo/IBM x3650;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-12-SFF-bay-ThinkServer-RD2201-x-2-53-E5640-8GB-RAM-aka-IBM-X3650-M3/183909687277

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[Faisal A]

@Bishop Crane What about this super micro mboard https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUPERMICRO-X8DTT-HEF-INTEL-LGA1366-DUAL-SOCKET-2026TT-DLRF-NODE-MOTHERBOARD/153595935902

 

I want something powerful and cheap as I also want to host a website

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm

[Bishop Crane]

On 8/11/2019 at 3:07 PM, Faisal A said:

@Bishop Crane What about this super micro mboard

 

I want something powerful and cheap as I also want to host a website

That's specifically designed for supermicro's own blade system, you cab basically squeeze 2 or 4 servers into the space of a single server.

Bad news is that not only will you have difficulty with a case for it, but its a proprietary power connector also.

Edited November 25, 2019 by LogicalDrm