Recommendations for a dual-socket motherboard

Hey all,

In the next few months, I'm going to be building a dual-socket E5-2670 build, but I have no idea what to do as far as the motherboard goes. I'm familiar with desktop equipment, but when we step into workstation/server grade stuff, I'm lost. From what I understand, these CPU's need the C602 chipset. Not sure if you can dual-socket X99.

Ideally I'd like to have the following:

  • 6ish sata ports (2, 3 doesn't matter, my NVMe will be on pcie)
  • at least 2 pcie x16 spread so that I can put air-cooled GPU's in them.
  • either dual-gigabit or single 10gig onboard. no broadcom if possible.
  • USB ports. type-c can be added via PCIE, but I need at least 4 USB 2.0. USB3.0 is preferred obviously.

I don't really know what to expect as far as price goes. I've done a little cursory searching for the C602 chipset and realized that I was out of my depth. With that in mind, I'm expecting it to cost around $600 for the motherboard, but if I don't have to spend that much, I'd be happy. If it goes over, I'm fine with that too, I'll just push the build back. This isn't a time sensitive build. I've already got the 2670's sitting on my desk, but that's mostly just to lock in the price that I got them for. $65/ea

They're beautiful, by the way.

Everything else is sorted out, I'm going to be using mostly spare (or pulled from active duty) parts lying around:

  • 4x WD Red 3tb
  • 2x NVMe intel 480GB ssd
  • 1x EVGA Supernova 1000 G1
  • 1x R9 380
  • 1x GTX 660 ti (possibly upgrading to a RX 480 if the performance is right)
  • 4x 8GB DDR3 1866MHz

Haven't decided on a case yet. I've got an 800D that I can use, but if I need to buy another one to fit the motherboard, I'm fine with that.

I used a ASRock EP2C602-4L/D16 for my second E5-2670 build and it works well. Has almost everything under the sun. I got it from newegg for $330 then they went and upped the price. The MB comes in and out of stock, I set an alert to notofy me when in stock and got one.

As for a case the 800d is a nice case, I ended up getting a Corsair Air 540, it doesnt natively fit a SSI EEB form factor but nothing a drill cant fix. I like the case as its really easy to build in.

The Asus Z9PE-D8 WS might be worth a look
https://www.asus.com/au/Motherboards/Z9PED8_WS/

Those cpu's are socket 2011 - NOT 2011-3 so def no x99

I've had my eye on this one for a while now. Good luck with the project

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-z10pe-d8-ws-intel-x99-socket-2011-ddr4-eeb-dual-socket-workstation-motherboard-mb-633-as.html