Remember lga1366? Overclock a supermicro?

[Zoilus]

Okay so maybe not totally on the level of today's 64 core server chips... but LGA 1366 can still be pretty cool if you have the parts laying around.

So I got some stuff laying around..
Xeon x5670 pair
Xeon x5650 pair
couple lga1366 supermicro motherboards
handful of r9 290x video cards and a buncha cords n extra shit I'd need.

>The issue< I'm running into tho is I got these huge overkill 4-copper pipe cpu fans that I "know" are gona keep these cpus cool as a cucumber, but the problem I'm running into is that supermicro has next to zero options for any sort of overclocking in the bios menu. So while its great to be 52 under full load, I'm losing alot of max potential.

Is there some way to get around this? Cuz I know these x5670's can be pushed quite a bit on air, so I feel kinda silly building a system with them without overclocking them since they can get quite a large boost, 25-30% isn't unheard of.

For those who say "why not just get some other single socket motherboard that has the OC options" my response to that is that I need multiple high clock cores in order to run a particular program that lets me run more instances of itself based upon your core count, while still requiring a decent core speed, so a 1.4ghz with twice as many cores wouldn't work as well as the 3.0-4.0ghz with 12core/24 thread.

I mean yeah I could prob spend a couple grand and buy a ryzen setup n call it a day, but I already got this shit so I'd like to try and make it work since these are the same cpus mac pro towers used to use in their workstations, pretty sure dell/hp made workstations with these cpus too.

[Trevor87]

What might work is see if you can find some old 1366 boards around your area.

Or  sell the gear you have and use the money you make off it to a new system.  

[Zoilus]

I have two 1366 boards.

They are supermicro.

No supermicro or dual-socket (more than one cpu in same mobo) has overclocking options that I'm aware of.

When people normally overclock these, like when linus did it on his youtube video, was with a single socket motherboard that had a bunch of overclocking options.

So my question is if this can be done some other way, possibly by software instead? Cuz getting a dual-socket motherboard with overclocking bios just isn't a option as far as I'm aware and even if it was, its prob more than I wana spend on this project.

[Zoilus]

Maybe if there was a bios flash but even than it would only work with that exact mobo so I'm doubting theres one out there for mine.

Only option I can really think of is some sort of software overclocking.

[Ibanez343]

I only know of one overclocker friendly dual socket board out there, the EVGA SR-2.  I've seen one as low as $200, but it sometimes only detected 36GB of RAM with 40GB installed (which in my experience is somewhat common on X58 boards).  Besides setting an eBay watched search and playing a long waiting game be ready to spend $400.  I was watching a recent Gamers Nexus video with Buildzoid, and he was saying most server boards do not have overbuilt VRMs like most consumer boards.  Even if you find a way to overclock a non-overclockable server board, I doubt you'd get far.  Honestly with all of the IPC improvements over the past 10 years, I'd say your best bet is to buy newer hardware, even if you end up with less threads you may end up with the same performance.  I'll link an example SR-2 listing below

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-270-WS-W555-A2-Classified-SR-2-Dual-LGA1366-Xeon-Intel/303216067451?hash=item469916037b:g:7KYAAOSwQtxdIite

[Zoilus]

I mean I've heard of things like that too.

but thats not what I'm asking here.

I know its possible to overclock via software.

I want to know how and if I can apply it to this situation.

[zogthegreat]

Hi Zoilus,

 

As a general rule, server MB's go for stability vs performance. Having said that, you could try the Supermicro SuperO Booster Software. Even if your MB isn't covered on their list of supported boards, give it a try.

 

https://www.supero.com/product-series

[Jarsky]

If you want to overclock dual LGA1366's, then you're going to need the EVGA Classified SR-2: https://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-Classified-Super-Record-2-SR-2-Dual-LGA1366-motherboard-7x-PCIE-slots/283752140650

No workstation/server board supports overclocking of these chips, or has suitable VRMs to do so.