Dual Socket mATX Motherboard

[AV Techy]

Hello Everyone,

 

Context

I have recently been thinking of moving my current mATX components into a different style mATX case (just for fun).

 

However I am in the middle of organizing a really nice mod for the current case that I really want to do, but if I move to a different case then it would go to waist (I want the best of both worlds) - so the current case needs something awesome to match it IMO.

 

So I was thinking I could build a dual socket workstation style PC inside (something around 12 - 16 true cores in total), partially out of interest and for fun but also to significantly reduce rendering times (potentially, I'll look into this a little more with the programs I use).

 

Question

So basically my question is, are mATX dual socket motherboards an okay/good idea. I know they exist, and I know they work, but has anyone got any specific knowledge or experience with them? And following that any tips?

 

FYI: This is going to be a second Used/eBay air cooled build to keep the costs down (relativity) so I would be looking at older socket/CPU generations.

 

I will be grateful for any support and assistance,

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Alex

[Loagster]

This would be interesting.

 

The only problem that I could see is that you might not get as much performance as you expect. I'm also just not sure if there are any mATX dual socket boards out there.

 

If I had the money, though, I would do it (personally).

[PCGal]

16 minutes ago, Aloe Vera said:

Hello Everyone,

 

Context

I have recently been thinking of moving my current mATX components into a different style mATX case (just for fun).

 

However I am in the middle of organizing a really nice mod for the current case that I really want to do, but if I move to a different case then it would go to waist (I want the best of both worlds) - so the current case needs something awesome to match it IMO.

 

So I was thinking I could build a dual socket workstation style PC inside (something around 12 - 16 true cores in total), partially out of interest and for fun but also to significantly reduce rendering times (potentially, I'll look into this a little more with the programs I use).

 

Question

So basically my question is, are mATX dual socket motherboards an okay/good idea. I know they exist, and I know they work, but has anyone got any specific knowledge or experience with them? And following that any tips?

 

FYI: This is going to be a second Used/eBay air cooled build to keep the costs down (relativity) so I would be looking at older socket/CPU generations.

 

I will be grateful for any support and assistance,

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Alex

I think this is a cool idea, but for a board im almost certain that you're going to be looking at server hardware. That seems to be the only drawback. I doubt there are consumer dual socket mATX boards. 

[AV Techy]

25 minutes ago, Loagster said:

This would be interesting.

 

The only problem that I could see is that you might not get as much performance as you expect. I'm also just not sure if there are any mATX dual socket boards out there.

 

If I had the money, though, I would do it (personally).

They do exist, but I have zero experience with then... so far.

 

As far as I know rendering applications can utilize many more cores than typical gaming loads, as far as I can work if there where quadruple the cores and half the speed there would be some benefit (only if the programs can use all those cores...).

 

I'm hyping myself up so much I don't think I can avoid doing it now haha.

 

Thanks for the response, we'll see what happens...

[Damascus]

Why not get a 1700? mATX boards are common and cheap and while its not 12-16 cores the 8 cores r7 have do run faster than old xeons

[AV Techy]

19 minutes ago, PCGal said:

I think this is a cool idea, but for a board im almost certain that you're going to be looking at server hardware. That seems to be the only drawback. I doubt there are consumer dual socket mATX boards. 

Yeah server hardware is the only truly affordable way to go for 12-16 cores, the i7 extreme series CPU's are so expensive!

 

At the moment I'm looking into Xeon processors, not very fast but you can get a pair around 3.00 GHz for around £75. So there is hope, at least we have that...

 

But on the note of the motherboard that is something that will cost more than the CPUs as far as I can work out. I think it'll be about £100 - £150 (somewhere around that region). And then there's the RAM to consider - this is going to get interesting!

[AV Techy]

2 minutes ago, Damascus said:

Why not get a 1700? mATX boards are common and cheap and while its not 12-16 cores the 8 cores r7 have do run faster than old xeons

That's a good shout, once I get a working specification of components for a dual socket system I will compare it to the cost of the various Ryzen systems that could be configured.

 

This is kind of a cost saving exercise but also a learning exercise, and there's a lot more for me to learn through a server system build as far as I can tell. Not that I know a lot about standard consumer systems, but I know I know a lot less about server builds - if you get what I mean...

 

But it's a great suggestion, thanks for the idea!

[DnFx91]

dual socket LGA1150 / 1151 is something that really should exist, i've wanted it for years.

[iRileyx]

4 minutes ago, Aloe Vera said:

 

The Ryzen idea is something you should consider, just as an example on Cinebench, this is my 1600 at stock, vs 2x x5650's also at stock. Though those xeons are quite old, like 2010 old.

 

 

If you were to get a 1700, no doubt it'd beat almost all 12 core xeon set ups.

[AV Techy]

Unfortunately I can't see the image as I am in work - but I'll be checking it out later!

 

It will be interesting to see what the price/performance is between the two systems is though, also an important figure. There's so much "food for thought"!

 

Ryzen is definitely on my mind, it's a great way to go for standalone productivity workstations like this build idea.

 

Thanks for the info!

[AV Techy]

Just as an update to the Dual Socket mATX Motherboard search - it's not going well.

 

Basically the only ones I can find are brand new in america and cost $500 (I'm in the UK btw), and I was aiming for second hand way lower cost.

 

I'm going to keep looking regardless, this needs to happen!

 

If anyone has any suggestions or leads and are gracious enough to post a link on this thread, that would be awesome and I would be eternally grateful!