I have a Intel win 11 pro box running as a file and media server, Emby, and now I have ordered 10gb network equipment for the home, incl a dual HPE x710-DA2 NIC for thhe server. It is a socket 1700 board w 32GB DDR5, and I wanted to upgrade the CPU alone, but with Intels issues, I am reconsidering selling it while it has value and replacing it with an AMD motherboard and an AM5 CPU or one of the two low-end Epyc, also on AM5. As I have little experience with AMD, I need a place to start esp with the otherboard, as have little uses for LEDs and all the other gamer things. It will not be used for gaming, and as it resides in a converted G5 case with 6 SATA disks and a passive PSU, low idling power and power efficiency under load are key. Its on 24/7.
The server runs headless, but I am using CPUs with iGPU, for management, and would like the same of new AMD mobo/cpu combo.
I don’t need it right now, but can buy the things when they are cheap/discounted in the coming months (BF) or January.
That depends.
Value wise I think the 7900 non-X or possibly the 9900X is best bang-for-buck for a home server. Good power footprint and a ton of cores to work with.
However, you really do not need even half of that capacity for a home server, unless you are doing something extraordinarily resource heavy computing. A 7600 is more than enough for a file server, and yes it does have an iGPU.
If you need more Ooomph in the decoding department, an Intel Arc 310 is a great addition. other than that, unless you are trying to do a ton more than a media server, your current setup should be good to go.
Last but not least, you need to consider if you want to get stuff like IPMI and ECC support. Since you are already sporting an LGA1700 socket, there is zero point in replacing to an AM5 system at this point. The CPU is not your bottleneck in a media server.
Take a look at the 7500f, might be cheaper than the 7600 and it’s still plenty for a file server.
Agree. The original plan was to get a newer socket 1700 CPU like a 14600 for the mobo this BF, and keep it around for some years. However, my main concern is using one of the troubled gens of Intel CPUs for this purpose, eg running for years 24/7, where it can corrupt the data. They say it’s 600K and above, but do we know the full scale of the problems? Am I confident in Intels customer response? Not really. So one alternative is to wait for a non-RL/newer RL 1700 cpus, the other, to change to AMD and get peace of mind. So the server’s CPU is not maxed out in any way as of today, nor is that the driver for an upgrade.
EDIT:
Do the AM5 Epyc also have gpus?
Also leaving Intel means access to more WS/light server-type boards.
I was looking at this for a possible motherboard and agree with Wendell on most of the things, but its from jan 23,and they did find any. 
Perhaps time for a AMD home-file server build video, if a fitting AM5 motherbord has been marketed since.
Both ATX and mATX could be interesting. The server nics are typically 8x.
EPYC 4004’s rebadged Zen 4 so bears RDNA2 cores on the IO die. From what I can tell they’re enabled but seldom discussed. Minimum idle power would be 8000 series APUs, though, 8000 Pro if this is an ECC build.
B650 Tomahawk, B650 Edge, X670E Pro RS, X670E Taichi. AM5 boards tend to limited SATA.
I’ll offer a descending option here. If you want an AM5 server, then buy/build one. AMD now offer the Eypc 4004 series that are designed for this express purpose.
Remember that the LGA1700 also house 12th gen Intel, so you could just downgrade to a 12400 or something if reliability is your main concern. 
That is the most budget friendly solution I can think of, but if you have the money for AM5 then just get the AM5, I wouldn’t but peace of mind is definitely worth it.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Yes, a 12xxx would be the cheapest alternative. Thinking about it, I have one in the HTPC and I could retire it to the server. Don’t ask why I did not think of it. Having thought about it. If the issue is fixed, I can also get a 14600K if they come on sale later, and use it for either. Price: 250€ at the current price, hopefully lower when then new arrives/BF or zero.
Having seen some of the recent Zen reviews, the 14600K is no slouch either. I’m not much for the neutered AL parts, as they seem to be less efficient.
The HPE x710 NIC, that arrives this week is pcie 8x 3.0. It’s seems a bit unclear if the current motherboard can split the lanes from the GPU slot, but else I will have to put it there for the time being.
When I got the MSI 790 it was for its SATA ports.
3x PCI-E x16 slot
1x PCI-E x1 slot
PCI_E1 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x16 (From CPU)
PCI_E2 Gen PCIe 3.0 supports up to x1 (From Chipset)
PCI_E3 Gen PCIe 4.0 supports up to x4 (From Chipset)
PCI_E4 Gen PCIe 3.0 supports up to x1 (From Chipset)
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-Z790-P/Specification
If I upgrade it, it should be ready to saturate a dual 25 NIC. Converting the HDs to SSDs is a desire, but price-wise, I don’t think that will happen in the next couple of years. I have 60TB of storage on 8 sata disks, so four 16TB SSDs at 1200€. Not today.
If I should change it, I’d like to get a W680-like motherboard if such exists for AM5.
With an M.2 to SATA it can get the SATA ports I need. I’d like it to have more pcie slots, but it will work as it is for my need, but not have the expansion option.
However, the 650 Asrock steel legend is economically attractive at 200€ incl VAT. There is a Taichi Lite at 300€ with 1 PCIe 5.0 x16, 1 PCIe 4.0 x16.
I would be nice if they had broken those into more 8x slots or had a by 8 slot below, so they could share. Who needs 2 16x slots?
Other boards that could be of interest?
7500f is 6 cores 160€, 7600 is 6 cores & 210€, 7700 is 230€ with 8 cores Zen4. The Epyc 4124P costs 200€ and has 4 zen cores. 6 cores for 260€ with the 4244. 6 zen 5 with 9600x for 300€, to give some round idea and then possible diff in cache pr core and clock.
Of these the 7700 would seem a goo option in both power eff and cores or what do you think/what would you recommend/choose?
x8/x8 PEG bifurcation wouldn’t be much use if it required x8 GPUs.
From what’s been written so far, 8600G seems plenty.
ProArt X670E-CREATOR. Can do x8/x8 with the slots. Supports ECC as well. And has 10GbE. But it’s not cheap. And you already have the 10Gb nic.
I don’t need to game, just enough to give it an HDMI out for management. Gaming cores will draw power?
I did some research yesterday, and there is a spreadsheet on Reddit with all AMD AM5 motherboards to locate the cheapest with bifurcation of the 5x16 slot.
There is this, but the specs seem unclear and it cost 100€ more.
It appears the X670 MSI at 450€ could it. Link below. The X850 version of this board does not appear to support 8x5.0.
There is also an Asus, but the MSI has 6 SATA and 4 M.2, so better connectivity. MSIs spec sheets suck, as they seem to have been edited by a marketeer, but they have copy pasted the important parts on the website.
3x PCI-E x16 slot
• Supports x16/x0/x4 or x8/x8/x4 (For Ryzen™ 9000 and 7000 Series processors)
• Supports x8/x0/x4(For Ryzen™ 7 8700G and Ryzen™ 5 8600G processors)
• Supports x4/x0/x4 (For Ryzen™ 5 8500G processor)
PCI_E1 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x16 (From CPU)
PCI_E2 Gen PCIe 5.0 supports up to x8 (From CPU)
PCI_E3 Gen PCIe 4.0 supports up to x4 (From Chipset)
So 2 8x 5.0 slots from CPU and one 4.0 x4 from the chipset.
For storage:
4x M.2
M.2_1 Source (From CPU) supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices
M.2_2 Source (From CPU) supports up to PCIe 5.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices
M.2_3 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 , supports 22110/2280/2260 devices
M.2_4 Source (From Chipset) supports up to PCIe 4.0 x4 , supports 2280/2260 devices
6x SATA 6G
This motherboard appears to have a lot of 5.0 lanes. 24 to be precise. It does not say anything about them being shared…
I wonder if a M.2 5.0 x4 to PCIE-slot 8x 4.0 or similar exists somewhere?
Guess that is the closest, that is also reasonably priced. Supports ECC, if I want to go the way later.
I would like to hear some more inputs on which cpu to choose? I have no AI or gaming needs for this rig, only video/HDMI/DP for management.
7500f is 6 cores 160€, 7600 is 6 cores & 210€, 7700 is 230€ with 8 cores Zen4. The Epyc 4124P costs 200€ and has 4 zen cores. 6 cores for 260€ with the 4244. 6 zen 5 with 9600x for 300€, to give some round idea and then possible diff in cache pr core and clock.
Of these the 7700 would seem a goo option in both power eff and cores or what do you think/what would you recommend/choose?
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-X670E-CARBON-WIFI/Specification
Ok, so the options boil down to six choices. The 7500F mentioned here lacks an iGPU and you specifically requested it, so that is out the window. As for the other five, I will use geizhalz for pricing info:
| CPU | Price | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| AMD Ryzen 5 8500G | €132 | Strong enough for both CPU and transcoding tasks, but no ECC support and no PCIe 5.0. |
| AMD Epyc 4124P | €161 | 4c8t Epyc in AM5 form factor. Being a server CPU this might serve you quite a bit better. |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600 | €187 | The iGPU is substantially worse than the 8500G, but everything else is much better. |
| AMD Epyc 4244P | €252 | 6c12t Epyc, again, server CPU but way overkill for this |
| AMD Ryzen 5 9600X | €282 | Newer generation with better power budget but much more expensive |
Hope that gives some perspective. I would go with either the 7600 or 4124P but your call, they are all pretty equivalent in performance and power draw.
X870E Taichi Lite. X670E Taichi might also be a bit less than the Carbon. ASRock seems to have switched production to X870E Taichi but there’ll probably still be some X670Es in stock for a bit. No chipset slots, though.
All AM5 boards support PEG bifurcation down to x4/x4/x4/x4 unless the manufacturer cripples the AGESA option out of their BIOS’s menus. It’s the PCIe 5.0 switch to route x8/x8 to two slots (or x8/x4/M.2 or x8/M.2/M.2) that costs.
Nothing you’re considering here’s going to match 45 W active and 2.3 W sleep and 18 dB(A)‘s under 3.5s’ noise floor.
Inflexible, sure, but to go back to the OP, there’s a prioritization to be made:
Yes, today they may be, but by carefully choosing parts, PSUs, fans, and drives, I have been doing that much much longer, say at least ten years. Today it is much better, and provides many of the things I have had windows and remote desktop do for years. I also use for more than the NAS services, thou it also has grown in capability, compared to 5 years ago.
So it’s not of interest here for this tread.
Just to make it clear if I have been unclear: I don’t want a NAS nor does it cover my needs. Maybe it can today, but I don’t want to find out, as I have some that work for me. You do you. Thank you. Back to the topic.
Thx for the info. On the CPU, the 7700 is 214€ now. what do you think about that one?
Do AMDs CPU coexists, or is it all moved to the new 9000 lineup?
I also wonder if AMD will release non-x versions in January, as they seem to have with the 7000s series. Eg a 9700.
Don’t know about the igpu, nor have I been able to find much about those in the Epyc 4004.
For my use case, the server is in my living room, and if it can play 4k HDR at 60Hz it adds value, as I may retire the HTPC box to the bedroom, and it already is coupled to the AVR by HDMI.
All Intel CPUs without a igpu are designated F. So a 14600K has a igpu and a 14600KF does not. Don’t know if there are similar things for AMD.
I reside 3m away from the server box, which again resides in a semi-closed cupboard. It’s silent and uses 15-20w in idle from the wall with mech HDs powered down. Passive high efficiency at low wattage PSU, and 120 3 low speed Noctua fans. All in a modded ATX G5 case that has high wife-approval, which is needed, as I cannot move the box to a different location.
It also sports 6 SATA drives, mostly WD Red - non pro, as those are practically silent a few meters away in decoupled trays. This it was already 10 years ago, so much before all the fancy stuff.
I have an older macair and beside the HTPC, no stationary computer, so the server also doubles as win box, and with remote desktop, I can do other tasks , such as transcoding, handbrake, and I still have a DVD/CD/BR USB for it. So I use it for many other things, without really thinking about it. 95% of its time its a media server, but its only 5% but those are very important.
So far with a 1Gb network, it has rarely been overworked and the Raptor Lake cores are quite efficient in turning energy into network output, and idle translating into an overall low energy use. So low I do not care if I save a few watts more. Now I can install a dual 10GB nic x710 for 170€ really low power, without having to wonder about its support by the NAS OS, and I can update the firmware on the card, with the same box.
I a windows guy because I grew up with it, and Linux and all these virtual machines are later, so I never learned about it when I was younger. Today I know how to solve stuff on windows and how to keep it secure. The other thing would require me that I spend time on it to see if it can provide me with the same functionality and flexibility as my current solution. Why should I if the current setup does what I want, and for most of its time has been ahead of the NAS boxes on everything?
So I do me, you do you.
I am surprised the 870 Lite is at the almost same price.
I’ll put it on the list. They are less attractive than a W680/880 board for Intel, due to all the OC stuff. Lets hope someone make a WS/server board with the 870 with bifurcation of the 16x slot.
