I need help with parts selection. I am trying to build a mini ITX system for GPU passthrough. I am hoping to have ECC as I would be able to use ZFS as well.
These are my requirements:
2x GPUs(1 iGPU+dedicated GPU), would like to pair iGPU with Nvidia card for passthrough
ECC is preferable
mini ITX. As small footprint as possible
The issue I am facing is that AM4 APU platform does not support ECC. While ASRock Rack > X570D4I-2T is an option, it is an expensive motherboard and I will need to pair it with expensive ECC SODIMMs. Also I would not be able to use the host system when doing passthrough as the iGPU will not support 4K. Also cooler support, finding memory from QVL is a bit sketchy.
These are my rough parts list for non-ECC system(amount in Canadian Dollars pre-tax):
Which looks like a better option? Is there any other option here? I tried exploring getting Ryzen 7 4750G from Ebay. That looks like a great option but ECC support from motherboard vendors for it looks sketchy.
Sorry, you are correct. I wrongly assumed that, since the 4xxxG supports it, 5xxxG should too, but that motherboard support for ECC was scarce among ITX offerings in any case.
Anyway, don’t get too hung up on ECC memory, my company did some calculations and came up with the chances of RAM errors happening on desktop computers / workstations was once per year and a worst-case of two-three hours lost in productivity (best case was application crash and a loss of 15 minutes of productivity). It isn’t worthless but way overhyped for what it is.
For mission critical servers ECC is a must-have, but for workstation it is a nice-to-have.
Unfortunately with Zen+/2/3 APUs you only get ECC when getting a “PRO” SKU, look for a “50” at the end of the APU model number, for example 4750G.
As far as I know the best APU for AM4 with ECC is the 5750G which is unfortunately extremely rare on eBay et al. - AMD is not releasing the PRO APUs on the retail market.
(Zen 3 APUs seem to not be getting the 3D cache performance bump as the last AM4 Zen 3+ (?) CPUs will be getting this holiday season)
Might be much easier to get a Zen 2 4750G. Still a solid option, about as fast as a 3700X.
Sadly, the APUs are locked down power envelope-wise, they’ll never go above 88 Watts PPT
Power lock isn’t an issue for me, I like low TDP parts. The issue is that even if I manage to find the processor, it’s hard to know if ECC would work with it as that is upto the motherboard manufacturer and the documentation about ECC working on the Pro APUs with non-OEM motherboards is sparse.
That’s what I am warming upto. Doesn’t look like there is viable alternative here without coughing up for the Asrock Rack motherboard. Even with that there are compromises.
This case should support dual GPU with a M.2 riser which will goto the chipsets x4 pcie lane. That way I can have something like NVS510 for the display on Linux and dedicated GPU for Windows VM. Could IOMMU groupings be an issue with something like this? Also I’m not sure I can get a M.2 SSD without getting bottlenecked by throughput.
Pardon me asking, but if you are going to go bifurb anyway, why not pair an mATX B550 with a Sliger Cerberus mATX or perhaps an mITX Sliger SM560 + bifurb riser? You could also go with the SM580, put in one single slot watercooled card bifurbed with one regular card, but that is a lot more hassle.
Specs for the various cases (mm for measurements, volume in liters):
