ASRock Rack has created the first AM4 socket server boards, X470D4U, X470D4U2-2T

Dutch_Master · May 8, 2022, 7:50am

Yeah, I noticed in the early part of this thread

Anyway, the 4500 is part of AMDs effort to cash as much silicon as they can while demand is high, the R3 4100 and R5 4500 are essentially 4000 series APUs with their GPU parts disabled. See the Wiki page. I think these are only available as tray-units, so an additional cooler is required anyway. I have the Cooler Master A30 in mind, pretty small and fits within the socket footprint, so sufficient clearance to the RAM slot next to it, I reckon. Given the server resides in an “ancient” Antec 3U server enclosure with several 120mm case fans, airflow (=cooling) will probably suffice, especially as I don’t intend to run the system 24/7 (that’s where the IPMI comes in handy) or for heavy workloads (where the EPYC based 3151 SoC shines).

As for DDR4, that’s going nowhere any time fast. DDR5 is still in the “early adoption” phase, meaning prices are high, availability not the best and current performance levels leave the early adopters with sub-par memory once manufacturers optimize their DDR5 fabrication processes to reach the higher clock speeds specified for DDR5. Also, AMD has yet to release their DDR5 platform, so expect a surge in pricing then. I suspect DDR4 will remain available for current price levels for at least another 12-18 months. In fact, once DDR5 takes off, I expect a price drop for DDR4 as vendors clear out their inventory/stocks. But what do i know, I only bought my first PC over 2 decades ago for my 28th b-day (yeah, showing my age here ) I might be able to stretch my budget this month and get 2x 16GB instead. My desktop is running 2x 8GB ATM, I may swap these out for the 16GB sticks. Again, not really needed for the workload, but still nice to have.

I’m aware of the limitations the NVMe links on the board have, but it leaves SATA ports free for storage disks. I plan on an 1TB NVMe drive, with 128GB for the OS, 786MB for cache (for the RAID6) and the remainder for wear-leveling. I know strictly speaking I won’t need that, but it’ll improve the lifespan of the device I reckon. PSU will be another ancient Antec device, but it should be server grade anyway (it had 5yrs warranty, long expired though). Besides, Antec Europe HQ is in the next city, so getting some isn’t too difficult

nixxda · May 10, 2022, 7:33am

Interesting! I am trying to do about the same but cant use slot #4 and #6 at the same time! As soon as I plug in the second card both stop working. No matter what bifurcated configuration I use! And, believe me I tried all possible configurations!-/

(Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2 expansion card plugged in to slot#4 at the moment )
Anything else you do to get this working?

nopeitynope · May 14, 2022, 4:43am

@Dutch_Master my system has been running 24/7 since May 2019, think I’ve restarted it maybe 20 - 30 times and it’s been fine. Soon to get a much needed RAM and CPU upgrade.

I like the board, the only stupid thing is the non standard AMD socket, how they placed it a few millimeters to close to the RAM. First BIOS’s were kinda clunky as well but seem to be good for the most part now, not that I’ve upgraded since P3.50 & 2.20.00 BMC .

On another note.

How does one go about getting IOMMU working for Proxmox?

Was following the guide for Pci passthrough but when I get up to verifiying IOMMU is enabled this is what I get:

[email protected]:~# dmesg | grep -e DMAR -e IOMMU
[    0.234733] pci 0000:00:00.2: AMD-Vi: IOMMU performance counters supported
[    0.239535] pci 0000:00:00.2: AMD-Vi: Found IOMMU cap 0x40
[    0.239785] perf/amd_iommu: Detected AMD IOMMU #0 (2 banks, 4 counters/bank).

The Proxmox guide says it should be something like “DMAR: IOMMU enabled”.

For the sake of sanity can someone tell me what BIOS settings should be changed? I think I got them all but I want to be sure. Assume I’m doing this from scratch .

Edit, You guys also see in the new Level1Techs video that @wendell finally has one of one of these boards .

mihawk90 · May 14, 2022, 4:09pm

I think he’s had one for a bit (pretty sure i heard him talk about it before), just never did a video on it.