I know, the typical recommendation is not to try to build a workstation around a server board. But currently 7003 series CPUs are available for a really good price. I was able to snatch two 7763.
My goal: A workstation for many purposes. Will try to use consumer RTX 4090 GPUs with it.
Ideally running Windows 11 Pro WS because of various software I need
What is the best board you would choose?
I only found those 4
Supermicro Motherboard MBD-H12DSI-NT6-B
TYAN S8253GM4NE-2T
GIGABYTE MZ72-HB0 Server
ASRock Rack ROME2D16 2T
All have their pro’s and cons. The ASRock Rack seems to be somewhat hard to get these days.
But with the given parameters, for more “desktop like” builds, which would you suggest?
Drivers may be a concern. So - proven known-good is a value, too.
What cooling solution would you choose? Custom Loop Water-cooled?
I would plan to get the biggest case I can get and add large case fans, too.
Now I did a lot of digging…
it seems that for a “Workstation” use at home, the ASRock Rack or Tyan boards may be more suitable because their networking interface plays nicer with consumer grade multigig speeds (X550 can do nBase-T, so 2.5 and 5.0 GBe should work, the broadcom chipsets are 10GBe, 1GBe or bust).
The heatsinks on the VRMs on the Tyan board seem a little less promissing, also the NVMe connectivity is a bit more clunky there.
Downside is that the ASRock is an EEB Board, so case compatibility needs to be looked at as for the mounting holes.
The Gigabyte seems to follow the ASRock as to the NVMe-Friendliness, followed by the Supermicro, with the Tyan being the clunkiest with the need of adapters. They also have a (weird) riser card to get access to more PCIe connectivity.
For a networking buffs the Tyan is pretty cool with dual 10GBe and dual 1GBe interfaces, even though no nBase-T support.
Now, the ASRock seems to be difficult to find in the US right now. Not sure what’s going on there.
As of driversupport/bios/updates it seems Gigabyte and AsRock seem to be more consistent, Supermicro seems to be lagging behind and Tyan, some things have not been updated for a while.
Hope somebody else has some opinions or insights, too
