budget "x89" motherboards any good?

[herb]

so recently i set out on the mission to build a cluster of minecraft servers for me and my friends. i dont want to break the bank and so i started looking for super cheap multicore cpu's. i stumbled upon philscomputerlab's video about the "x89" Chinese motherboard. these motherboards can hold 16 core cpus and max 32gb ram. that means i could make 8 dual core servers with 4 gb of ram each for ~$150.

 

without a doubt this has great value, but will it be any good? im planning on getting an opteron 6380. this cpu has piledriver cores which were slightly faster than the bulldozer predecessor. if i do this will the cpu be fas enough or should i get less more modern cores??

 

P.S. i dont actually NEED 8 servers i would probably only realistically use 3 but since minecraft servers can use up to 3 cores (however most of the time they only use 2) im still opting for more cores.

 

what ever thoughts you have please feel free to share.

[jaslion]

Wait opeterons. Oooh boi do not even attempt that those things are beyond slow. Like those are low power fx cores that stuff is just bad. Don't even try it. That 16 core machine can get beaten by todays low end cpu's easily. It's also gonna be a terrible minecraft server cpu as you need good single core performance for that and those opterons by far do not have that at all.

 

So don't get it it's horrible

[Radium_Angel]

11 minutes ago, herb said:

"x89" Chinese motherboard.

You mean the x79 or the x99 motherboards?

[Tristerin]

Yeah Ill be getting one of these boards soon from Aliexpress to cheap to pass up for the fun to be had. 

 

But very slow, like...other platforms for a bit more that would serve you better imho - being that I hear minecraft is mostly single core.  

 

The real problem with those boards is that the SATA and PCIe slots are NOT guaranteed to arrive as pictured.  I.E. they are going to be SATA II (sata ports), almost 100% chance PCIe 2.0 not 3.0 - with chance of 1.0.  Ive spoken with these folks online.  

 

Also there seems to be quite the Russian forum about these boards, I dont think there is anything WRONG with them persay, but as someone who looks at these often enough to buy for fun, Id go with x58 or x79 platform for a bit more monies and better performance.

[Tristerin]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

You mean the x79 or the x99 motherboards?

No he means x89, check out x89 Opteron on Aliexpress.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, Tristerin said:

No he means x89, check out x89 Opteron on Aliexpress.

Oh, had no idea the Chinese had turned their sights onto the AMD line.

Learn something new every day....

[herb]

1 hour ago, Tristerin said:

But very slow, like...other platforms for a bit more that would serve you better imho - being that I hear minecraft is mostly single core. 

running a server isnt very single core anymore. every single major version update has made servers more and more multi core. they still cant utilize more than 3 cores but even on piledriver 3 cores is probably plenty.... right?

 

i know that piledriver was basically a 5% increase off of bulldozer and its pretty slow, but opterons were also designed to do work and running a server is most likely work that these cpu's can handle.

[Tristerin]

11 minutes ago, herb said:

running a server isnt very single core anymore. every single major version update has made servers more and more multi core. they still cant utilize more than 3 cores but even on piledriver 3 cores is probably plenty.... right?

 

i know that piledriver was basically a 5% increase off of bulldozer and its pretty slow, but opterons were also designed to do work and running a server is most likely work that these cpu's can handle.

"isnt very" is key here.  Still highly reliant on single core - however Im only speaking from someone who reads, not participates in these things.  I was apart of a discussion last week about this, and how the last major update even made FX 8 series CPU's near impossible to run a Minecraft server with more than a few people on.  

 

So seeing as these boards and CPU's I believe you are looking at (Opteron 6276 16c/16t) I would say it depends on the load of people - but I am only speaking on a subject I have no personal experience in.  Take it with a grain of salt.

 

Either way I think they are neat, likely work just fine as a computer (huge Russian scene with these and overclocking the piss out of them) and are quite inexpensive.

 

I know Linus did a video with one of these types of boards, and ran into alot of compatibility issues - thats the reason I havent bought one yet is, I honestly dont have time to MAKE it work vs just buying something a little more expensive that works out of the box for my needs.

[Radium_Angel]

@Tristerin

@herb

 

This might be amusing to you

 

 

[Tristerin]

14 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

@Tristerin

@herb

 

This might be amusing to you

 

 

I cant see the video on the network I am on - any details you could elaborate on?   Or title and Ill look up the video on my phone

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, Tristerin said:

I cant see the video on the network I am on - any details you could elaborate on?   Or title and Ill look up the video on my phone

Very bad system, terrible BIOS options, worst Cinebench scores ever (outdone by a 3rd gen Intel dual-core laptop CPU) constant hard lock/crashes trying games.

Plus 140watts of power needed, non-standard board size (not mATX) and the list goes on.

 

Just watched Phil's ComputerLab video on it, and he didn't have the hard lock issues, and was altogether more kind to the system (also looked like a different brand of g34 mobo, perhaps they'd solved the beta run isasues)

 

[Tristerin]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

Very bad system, terrible BIOS options, worst Cinebench scores ever (outdone by a 3rd gen Intel dual-core laptop CPU) constant hard lock/crashes trying games.

Plus 140watts of power needed, non-standard board size (not mATX) and the list goes on.

 

Just watched Phil's ComputerLab video on it, and he didn't have the hard lock issues, and was altogether more kind to the system (also looked like a different brand of g34 mobo, perhaps they'd solved the beta run isasues)

 

Oh yeah, I recommend getting in with the Ruskies if you get one of these boards, they are a big deal over there in terms of affordability and performance.  (to get past all of the quirkiness about the board)

 

And yes on the board size on these in particular they are longer in width than mATX so have to be leery of the case you get.  

 

These are the reasons I dont just buy one.  I WANT one, to tinker with, understand etc, and for the price its a no brainer (for me) in terms of value of learning vs cost of buying - but I honestly DO NOT have the time to learn it lol.

[Radium_Angel]

Just now, Tristerin said:

Oh yeah, I recommend getting in with the Ruskies if you get one of these boards, they are a big deal over there in terms of affordability and performance.  (to get past all of the quirkiness about the board)

 

And yes on the board size on these in particular they are longer in width than mATX so have to be leery of the case you get.  

 

These are the reasons I dont just buy one.  I WANT one, to tinker with, understand etc, and for the price its a no brainer (for me) in terms of value of learning vs cost of buying - but I honestly DO NOT have the time to learn it lol.

I love quirky, forgotten, just plain weird hardware as well and I know the Russians are big with these and the x79/x99 systems the main thing holding me back is buying from AliExpress....it just has PROBLEMS written all over it.

[herb]

im gonna buy it anyway because it will be a lot of fun to mess around with. plus who doesn't want to say that their home server has 16 cores? they might be slow but the $ per core is insane!!

[Tristerin]

32 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I love quirky, forgotten, just plain weird hardware as well and I know the Russians are big with these and the x79/x99 systems the main thing holding me back is buying from AliExpress....it just has PROBLEMS written all over it.

I have had no issues with Aliexpress tbh, I order less from them now because the things Im interested in doing have timeframes that I cant wait for the boat from China to make.  What typically happens with "free shipping" on Aliexpress/etc is that they wait with their packages on the dock, if a boat has room in a cargo container its UBER cheap to ship.  If they dont have room they continue to hold the package until something super cheap comes along (empty container on a boat).

 

The only time I had a seller try to pull the wool on me - which was pictures of radiators with the barb fittings brazed on, I bought a few and received radiators that were threaded.  I priced out aluminum chrome covered barbed fittings, and the agreement I reached with Aliexpress and seller was the cost of me ordering these stateside from Ebay would be refunded, which is what they and I did.

 

Other than that, everything I get from Aliexpress is as advertised (mostly water cooling supplies - pumps, blocks, reservoirs, tubing, rads) - I cant say Ive actually ordered something with a PCB from them.  Though I want to (x58 or x79 technically Id rather have but those Opteron systems are freaking cheap lol)

[Radium_Angel]

3 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

Id rather have but those Opteron systems are freaking cheap lol)

Fair enough, do you have a link on AE for one you'd buy, if you could?

[Tristerin]

5 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Fair enough, do you have a link on AE for one you'd buy, if you could?

Yeah when I was looking last week I was going to get this and some ECC ram (16gb) for sub $120 in total

 

Dat heat sink tho...lol

 

X89 Set Combo For AMD Motherboard G34 Socket with AMD Opteron 6276 CPU+ CPU Fan support DDR3 Memory SATA2 USB 3.0|Motherboards| - AliExpress

[whm1974]

Are these boards used or NIB? I would very cautious about buying used motherboards with outdated chipsets and Processors.

[herb]

16 hours ago, whm1974 said:

Are these boards used or NIB? I would very cautious about buying used motherboards with outdated chipsets and Processors.

no, they are all brand new recycled boards. i know the word "recycled" sounds bad, but besides minor differences between boards and crooked solder joints (sometimes) these are 100% functional and super cheap motherboards. you not going to get the same features as a retail board from the same era but since 16gb ddr3 ecc dimms are dirt cheap, you dont need 8 dimm slots!!

[whm1974]

3 hours ago, herb said:

no, they are all brand new recycled boards. i know the word "recycled" sounds bad, but besides minor differences between boards and crooked solder joints (sometimes) these are 100% functional and super cheap motherboards. you not going to get the same features as a retail board from the same era but since 16gb ddr3 ecc dimms are dirt cheap, you dont need 8 dimm slots!!

This might be a silly question, but We can assume that the CPUs for these boards are all used? But are there Fabs in China and other places in Asia that produces older x86-64 Processors?

[herb]

On 2/11/2021 at 11:22 AM, whm1974 said:

This might be a silly question, but We can assume that the CPUs for these boards are all used? But are there Fabs in China and other places in Asia that produces older x86-64 Processors?

if you look at the listing for these combos, they specifically mention that the CPUs and RAM are used and that they are only providing a limited 1 year warranty for the cpu and ram. whether they will actually honor the warranty is unknown but when it comes to the cpu and ram it is all legit.