Motherboard recommendation for LGA 1366/2011

[justjosh]

Hi all,

I'm trying to build two machines for different purposes. I have some spare L5640s (LGA 1366) and E5-2670s (LGA2011) chips that I would like to utilize.

Machine 1 - Simple offsite backup machine:
1. No need for large computing power so L5640 might be sufficient. Single/Dual CPU.
2. 8 drives now, will scale up to 16 in the future.
3. At least 8 slots for ECC.

Machine 2 - Will run VMs:
1. Dual CPU, preferably something that will support E5 V2s in the future.
2. 8 drives.
3. At least 8 slots ECC.

Would like board recommendations from your experience fitting these specifications.

I am also considering building on a R720 but I'm worried about the RAID card not playing well with ZFS and the inability to hotswap parts in the future for upgrades or servicing.

Opinions and thoughts greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Turgin]

You didn't mention any form factor requirements but dual CPU is almost certainly going to be at least EATX. Used Supermicro boards from eBay is the way to go in my experience.

I suggest you go to Supermicro's website and look under Motherboards -> Previous Gen to find one that suits your needs. I would stay away from the ones with built-in audio as those are usually workstation boards but they would no doubt work fine. Also, look for models with an "F" on the end as this signifies the board has IPMI.

I had good luck with my X8DT6-F for dual socket 1366. It has a built-in SAS2008 chipset which can be flashed to the needed IT mode and worked great with FreeNAS baremetal and also as PCI passthrough to a FreeNAS guest.

I recently acquired an X9DR3-F for cheap which is replacing one of my X9SRL-F ESXi hosts and I am very happy with it.

One thing on the used X9 market is it is possible to get an early revision that may not support v2 CPUs. I have never had an issue with this but I know some have. A quick <insert search engine choice> search should lead to help in figuring out how to tell if the seller provides closeups of the board in question.

Hope this helps.