Rumor 28 core ITX from ASRock Rack EPC621D4I-2M

VegetableStu

Shrink Ray Wielder
Aug 18, 2016
1,949
2,619
i wish they did THAT for PCIe on ITX boards, LOL ,_, (although that might be impossible for PCIe4 now...)
 

Elerek

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jul 17, 2017
228
165
Wait pcie4 won't allow rising of an m.2 slot?
It absolutely still supports that. It's just harder because the increased bandwidth means timings are more important. A short cable might work just fine, a long one will need signal repeater chips.
However the devices will still work regardless, it can just downspec to pcie gen 3. It's all backwards compatible.
 

Windfall

Shrink Ray Wielder
SFFn Staff
Nov 14, 2017
2,117
1,582
It absolutely still supports that. It's just harder because the increased bandwidth means timings are more important. A short cable might work just fine, a long one will need signal repeater chips.
However the devices will still work regardless, it can just downspec to pcie gen 3. It's all backwards compatible.
Thank goodness.
 

jpmomo

Trash Compacter
Feb 23, 2018
38
51
My latest project is using this mb. xeon 8176 (q spec as es versions did not work). 2 x 1TB 970 evo plus. mellanox connectx-5 (2x100Gbps) which uses x16 on the pci bus. if both ports are running at line rate, the pci bus becomes a bottleneck. I have other nics that will swap when needed (2x25, 2x40, 4x10). this server does not need a discreet gpu as I will be using both the ilo port and the onboard vga when needed. test fit into a standard s4m but will customize for the final build. for cooling, seeing if I can get away with a combo of dynatron b4a and a couple of noctua a9x14 fans! use case is for a specialized traffic generator appliance. next we need to see if the folks from asrock rack can fit the 64c epyc into a mini-itx! that mb should support pcie 4.0 which would provide enough bw for the 2x100Gbps nic and this nic is already 4.0 compliant.
 

SystmSix

Minimal Tinkerer
New User
Jun 5, 2019
3
0
Can you elaborate where you bought it? I have contacted a vendor but they said they wont have them in the states till end of september. At the moment I need one now for a server build.....
 

Obakemono

Trash Compacter
Jan 20, 2019
49
33
I can comfirm that PCIe 4.0 and a riser cable will not work (current non 4.0 cables). I have the evolv shift and the riser cable will not run 4.0 period. I have to force the slot to run at 3.0 to use my PC.

O
 

Elerek

Cable-Tie Ninja
Jul 17, 2017
228
165
I can comfirm that PCIe 4.0 and a riser cable will not work (current non 4.0 cables). I have the evolv shift and the riser cable will not run 4.0 period. I have to force the slot to run at 3.0 to use my PC.

O

I wouldn't say that means all cables are out, my wife had to force pcie 2 with the shift's cable to get her pc to boot. I think it's just a poor quality cable. I tried using it with my mb and gpu and it booted but at pcie 3 x8, I had to go to pcie 2 to get all 16 lanes to work.
 

Obakemono

Trash Compacter
Jan 20, 2019
49
33
I wouldn't say that means all cables are out, my wife had to force pcie 2 with the shift's cable to get her pc to boot. I think it's just a poor quality cable. I tried using it with my mb and gpu and it booted but at pcie 3 x8, I had to go to pcie 2 to get all 16 lanes to work.
Yes, the cable in the shift (the old one, it seems there is a new one out for the case) is not the best. Once you fold it over to a shape it has to stay that way, as I found out the hard way.

O
 

jpmomo

Trash Compacter
Feb 23, 2018
38
51
Can you elaborate where you bought it? I have contacted a vendor but they said they wont have them in the states till end of september. At the moment I need one now for a server build.....
worked with asrock rack folks directly as we are prototyping a new device and needed to validate a few metrics.
 
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rcradiator

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Feb 23, 2018
117
79
Damn, now I want to do an Ncase build with this board, an engineering sample/quality sample 28 core, and a Noctua 92mm LGA3647 tower cooler. ES/QS 28 core cpus go up for $800-1200 on ebay and this board costs $420, so the cpu+motherboard combo comes up to $1200-1600. That's not bad considering that this would be the most overkill itx setup ever. This would make for a nice 12L Blender render rig that would destroy every other possible itx setup in multithread applications, whether it's the 10980XE+X299 or 3950X+X570. Only hiccups I can forsee is possible incompatibiity of ES/QS chips with motherboard depending on how old the sample is (make sure your seller accepts returns), as well as possibly requiring an ATX psu as an SFX psu might be overwhelmed by the 28 core. Too bad I can't justify such a niche, expensive, and overkill setup right now, as this would be an interesting system to tinker with.
 

VegetableStu

Shrink Ray Wielder
Aug 18, 2016
1,949
2,619
asrock replied to a redditor that they have no plans for an mATX TRX40 board, so that's out of the window

i'm most likely be getting an ATX board next week
 

rokabeka

network packet manipulator
Jul 9, 2016
248
268
...ES/QS 28 core cpus go up for $800-1200 on ebay and this board costs $420, so the cpu+motherboard combo comes up to $1200-1600...
I have 2 different ES's and I want to test them. hope to see them starting up even if they are 'only' 20 cores :D gold 6138
but that $420 still makes me wait as I run 14 core broadwells now and they are pretty decent even if they just go up to 1.9Ghz (all core) and 2.1GHz.
edit: ohyeah, the point is if they start up then I will have at least one to sell below the ebay prices :)
 

jpmomo

Trash Compacter
Feb 23, 2018
38
51
to kick it up a notch, the next project is a 64c (epyc rome not TR) pcie 4.0 beast in a relatively sff. it is based on a proprietary mb from supermicro that I plan on having another custom build from Josh. The mb is appox. the size of the s4m so it will be a real challange to fit into that ff. Never say Never!!!