Will windows server 2016 work with amd threadripper?

[dalekphalm]

14 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Oh, I never said running non server quality parts for a server that needs reliable uptime was a good idea. I'm not that stupid. I run Server 2012 R2 on my main rig. I know what kinds of odd quirks you can run into. I'm saying Server 2016 should boot on non server hardware, as that's what the OP was asking. Whether or not the machine they're trying to get Server 2016 on is a good idea, that's different. 

True. But that's already been answered. Actually, by you from the looks if it

 

Never the less, that build the OP has (I know it was not him, but another IT person in his company) is goddamn stupid for a business. What a waste of money. For the cost of a HEDT system like that, you could get a decent and more reliable server.

 

Anyway, I apologize if I misinterpreted your other post.

 

FYI, here's the build, in CAD - $3000 (without OS):

Spoiler

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  ($1090.28 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($127.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X399 AORUS Gaming 7 ATX TR4 Motherboard  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: Kingston - FURY 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($419.99 @ Memory Express)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($297.35 @ shopRBC)
Storage: Seagate - IronWolf 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($158.99 @ PC-Canada)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GT 710 1GB Video Card  ($55.00)
Case: Cooler Master - HAF XB EVO ATX Desktop Case  ($114.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: Thermaltake - Toughpower DPS G 1050W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($282.99 @ PC-Canada)
Total: $3047.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-27 09:52 EST-0500

 

 

For $3000 CAD, you can get a decent starter server. Sure it probably won't be quite as high spec as this, but it'll have the more important things of an actual server: Dual redundant PSU, etc.

 

Not to mention there's a lot of waste here. If they REALLY needed to "save money" by buying HEDT parts instead of Server parts or a real server, they could have trimmed so much fat, and probably saved $500-$1000 on the build.

[ProjectBox153]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

True. But that's already been answered. Actually, by you from the looks if it

 

Never the less, that build the OP has (I know it was not him, but another IT person in his company) is goddamn stupid for a business. What a waste of money. For the cost of a HEDT system like that, you could get a decent and more reliable server.

 

Anyway, I apologize if I misinterpreted your other post.

 

FYI, here's the build, in CAD - $3000 (without OS):

  Reveal hidden contents

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Threadripper 1950X 3.4GHz 16-Core Processor  ($1090.28 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($127.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - X399 AORUS Gaming 7 ATX TR4 Motherboard  ($499.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: Kingston - FURY 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($419.99 @ Memory Express)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($297.35 @ shopRBC)
Storage: Seagate - IronWolf 4TB 3.5" 5900RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($158.99 @ PC-Canada)
Video Card: Asus - GeForce GT 710 1GB Video Card  ($55.00)
Case: Cooler Master - HAF XB EVO ATX Desktop Case  ($114.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: Thermaltake - Toughpower DPS G 1050W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($282.99 @ PC-Canada)
Total: $3047.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-01-27 09:52 EST-0500

 

 

 

Yeah, that was a giant waste of money. On a somewhat unrelated note, that has to be the lowest end GPU paired with a Threadripper. My post about the Core 2 Duo machine was just to clarify that Server 2016 CAN run on non server-grade hardware. It shouldn't be done though. 

[dalekphalm]

6 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Yeah, that was a giant waste of money. On a somewhat unrelated note, that has to be the lowest end GPU paired with a Threadripper. My post about the Core 2 Duo machine was just to clarify that Server 2016 CAN run on non server-grade hardware. It shouldn't be done though. 

Heh well to be fair, most servers don't need any significant amount of GPU power anyway, and since they bought a Threadripper, which has no iGPU (nor Motherboard GPU), they would of course have to get a low end shitty GPU to go with it.

 

But hey, at least they didn't throw in a 1080 Ti "just because".

[ProjectBox153]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

Heh well to be fair, most servers don't need any significant amount of GPU power anyway, and since they bought a Threadripper, which has no iGPU (nor Motherboard GPU), they would of course have to get a low end shitty GPU to go with it.

 

But hey, at least they didn't throw in a 1080 Ti "just because".

I wouldn't be surprised if some systems built like that to be servers were outfitted with 1080 Ti's and such. 

[agello24]

threadripper is not the server chip, epic is.  all of the amd ryzen TR, EPIc all have ecc turned on. the TR comes from the epic lots. so if you CAN run it on the chips and want to, do so! when your running servers, your not just going to run 1 for a small business.

[NTDaws]

You need to install it from a CD, not a USB Drive. Not all bios (for whatever reason) support doing a USB install for Windows Server

[dalekphalm]

15 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

You need to install it from a CD, not a USB Drive. Not all bios (for whatever reason) support doing a USB install for Windows Server

It would be incredibly unlikely for that to be a problem though.

 

Sure it's technically possible, but I've installed Windows Server onto all kinds of ungodly bad hardware via USB. In Fact, I haven't used a CD to install Server since the 2k3 days.

 

Never once had an issue with USB. Though sometimes you might need to try a few different ports (Front panel ones in particular are often finicky).

[NTDaws]

35 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

It would be incredibly unlikely for that to be a problem though.

 

Sure it's technically possible, but I've installed Windows Server onto all kinds of ungodly bad hardware via USB. In Fact, I haven't used a CD to install Server since the 2k3 days.

 

Never once had an issue with USB. Though sometimes you might need to try a few different ports (Front panel ones in particular are often finicky).

I was gonna expand but my fingers broke down

[dalekphalm]

16 minutes ago, Being Delirious said:

I was gonna expand but my fingers broke down

No worries lol

[Jeynarra]

First of all - HIS Build is stupid. This is something I would expect in a gaming machine or maybe semi-pro workstation, but not an productive environment.

 

BUT Threadripper as a Server IS actually ok and works without problems. You can actually get prebuild Servers with Threadripper, ECC RAM, redundant power supplies, enterprise support and what not. The only downside right now is, that there is no "real" server board with IPMI and less LED. Anyway, his mainboard is IMHO actually fine for a 24/7 usage and it's actually even better in some parts, because the gaming boards today have in most cases even higher quality parts then the server boards.

If we would talk about Intel, I would never use the i9 as a server in a productive environment, but TR is something different.

 

The difference between Epyc and TR is only in max. specs, not functionality. Both CPU's have the same functions like AVX enabled. What is different and might decide, if TR is for you or not as a server:

 

- 128 GB ECC RAM vs. 2 TB ECC RAM

- QUAD vs. OCTO Channel

- 64 vs. 128 PCIe lanes

- Only one socket possible, not two.

- Only 16 cores instead of max. 32

- TR has higher clocks then any epyc

 

AFAIK there is no "server functionality" missing in TR, someone correct me if it is.

 

So depending on the use case, TR might make more sense then Epyc or Intel Xeon. Sure, a company with 250 ppl and a cluster needs a real server from one vendor, but a small one might actually be better of with a TR.

 

Just an example from us:

We need to change one of our servers soon (age) and will go for TR. Just a quick summary - at least 64 GB ECC RAM, redundant power supply, iKVM (have that anyway, would prefer IPMI), AIR Cooler, 2 or 3 HE case, M2 Raid 1 or 10, SAS Raid Card + HDD's (already have them)... and all from an official server builder. Not HP, but at least I get enterprise support.

 

We will run HyperV 2012 R2 on it with 2-3 VM (2xRemote Desktop Server for around 15 ppl, ERP Server) and we need TR for the ERP Server mainly. Our ERP Software sucks a bit, because it's only single threaded. Can optimize that a bit with starting more server apps, but still - higher clock = better. Epyc has "lower" clocks then TR, same goes for Intel.

 

The total server with 5 years support will be around 3500€, Epyc with 24 cores (highest clocked CPU) and more or less the same stuff would be around 5k, Intel with almost the same core count / clock like TR would be around 6k with a 6154 Xeon Gold. Prices are from around dec. last year. Also I didn't count in the meltdown fix (that will bring Intels performance down in any Virtual Environment). For Data Protection reasons, we use HyperV Replica on the ERP System anyway, so if the board might fail, I don't really care Also I already talked with the server supplier and if there will be a TR server board, I'm free to change it in my server, just need to document it and send pictures. That also won't change my support - only if the board fails of course.

[mill3000]

For install turn of the option for IMMOU I think it's called. It's part of the vm stuff. That will let you install Windows Server.

[ProjectBox153]

9 minutes ago, mill3000 said:

For install turn of the option for IMMOU I think it's called. It's part of the vm stuff. That will let you install Windows Server.

I don't think that's necessary to use Windows Server.

[Ericarthurc]

I have a Windows 2016 server with a ryzen cpu; runs great! Been running for over a year now! I know its not thread ripper but similar build from AMD.

[leadeater]