I want to build an Epyc Workstation built on AsRock Rack ROMED8-2T, this motherboard meets my desired PCIe 4.x support I am looking for.
I want to start with a used CPU and memory in this build, trying to get the most bang for the buck.
Also looking for a good channel to purchase this MB through, as it seems to only available from some rather strange special order sites only.
My goal with this build is to not spend more than 2000 US dollars on this (not including GPU’s).
I am not looking for a system that will break any benchmarks but the more cores I can get for my money the better.
My thought for the CPU was to spend about 900ish on it and around 500 on memory (hoping to get around 64gb to 128gb)
This is for fun and profit, I have GPU’s that I will be using in this for rendering and SAS controller for storage along with a 1600 watt PSU.
Any pointers on the used market pieces would be helpful.
BTW, if anyone thinks that this board is not a good fit, and knows of another EPYC board that has PCIe 4.0 on it, please let me know.
How soon do you need this workstation? PCIe 4.0 adoption seems VERY SLOW in the enterprise. My speculation is the board makers are skipping 4.0 and working on either 5.0 or 6.0 which are both “approved and waiting” by the pci-sig.
Where did you find good deal on a used Rome cpu? They seem really new to have any sort of inventory in the used market already.
This is a personal project, so time really is not a big deal.
The used CPU’s I have seen for a SP3 have gone for around 900
AMD EPYC 7601 32-Core 2.20GHz 64MB 180W Processor * Pulled * Cost for that is 763.
AMD EPYC ROME ZS1406E2VJUG5 64-core ES 1.4GHz 256MB Socket SP3 Server Processor for 849.
AMD EPYC Rome 7302 16-Core 3.0GHz SP3 155W Server Processor 100-100000043WOF is $1079
The issue is I am not 100 on whether or not it is compatible, it seems to be but my knowledge on Epcy CPU’s is light.
We won’t have the ASRock Rack ROMED8-2T till end of March.
The current price for the board is set at $655; however, it could increase by ASRock Rack.
We were told the board was at engineering sample stage 2 weeks ago and they told us the
price could go up by $20.
So I suspect this may end up being later due to all of the manufacturing delays outside of the US.
Hmm
@morats did you just get lucky? I read the EPYCD8-2T is hit-or-miss with the required firmware for Rome. Does the board have BIOS flashback, or I read support can send you the proper chips to insert into a socket on the board if you get the wrong one. Just wondering if you faced any of those challenges.
Also @wendell actually recommended going with a board specifically designed for Rome to me in another thread even though I don’t need PCIE4.0 so I assumed there would be compatibility issues. So I guess the recommendation might be to wait for ROMED8-2T or TYAN S8030 board etc.
That Tyan S8030 appears to have 5 PCIE4x16 (3-double-spaced & 2 single-spaced). I don’t see in the manual that you lose any of them upon using other connectors (like M.2), and one version of that board as 2x10GB + 2x1GB ethernet + BMC which seems pretty great.
The ROMED8-2T has 7 PCIE4x16 (single spaced) but cannibalizes 1 of them to support miniSAS/Oculink/M.2 connections. (described as: PCIE2: Gen4 x16 link or Gen4x8 link+2x M.2+2x miniSASHD or no PCIE slot +2x OCulink+2xM.2+2x miniSASHD(by jumper)).
You are right about the onboard, but I also think it has PCIE4x8 via the slimSAS connectors to 4 NVME drives as well.
My guess is they are there just for boot drives, and there would be diminishing returns for an OS drive going from PCIE3.0 to PCIE4.0.
But having all those PCIE4 slots and SlimSAS you could definitely add some video editing worthy fast storage cards or w/e. I’ll be booting off one of those PCIE3 M.2 slots and have 1-2 SATA SSD’s and 6 spinning rust drives on my max-1GBe network so it’s still overkill in every category for me atm.