On Thursday, 6 June 2024 04:54:41 BST Dale wrote: > I was digging around Ebay. Ran up on a used combo and then had a crazy > idea. I found a ASUS B550-plus AC-HES mobo that is AM4. I took that > idea and started building a combo with new parts. CPU, Ryzen 7 5800X > and my little 4 port video card if CPU has no video support. AMD says > it does.
The Ryzen 7 5800X has 8 CPU cores, but no graphics cores: https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/desktops/ryzen/5000-series/amd-ryzen-7-5800x.html If you take a look at the manual for the MoBo you'll see the 5000/3000 series CPUs will be able to support up to four PCIe Gen 4 SSDs on the top PCIe x16 slot, if you install e.g. a Hyper M.2 x16 expansion card: https://www.asus.com/uk/motherboards-components/motherboards/accessories/ hyper-m-2-x16-card-v2/ but the same PCIe x16 slot will only be able to support up to three PCIe Gen 3 SSDs with an expansion card, if you installed a Ryzen 5000/3000 G-Series processor which has the integrated graphics cores. > The mobo has three PCIe X1 slots and a X4 slot. Actually it is more complicated, because bandwidth is shared across the PCIe x16 slots: https://www.asus.com/motherboards-components/motherboards/prime/prime-b550-plus-ac-hes/ It has four PCIe x16 slots (the top being the PCIe Gen 4 and the rest PCIe Gen 3), but if any of the bottom 3 slots are occupied, the top slot will *only* run in x1 instead of x4 mode. So you'll end up with four PCIe x16 slots, all running in x1 mode. In addition, if you decide to plug in a NVMe card in the second M.2 port, then 2 out of the 6 SATA ports will be disabled - their bandwidth eaten up by the second M.2 port. > A SAS card > would work just slower than when in X8 slot but the little PCIe 10 or 12 > port cards would work fine. Gives me 30 drives total at least on the > cards plus the four on the mobo, two goes away with using one of the > PCIe slots most likely. Bifurcation I think they call it when they > share roadways. I can't find a PCIe x8 slot on the above MoBo ... :-/ > My thinking. Build above now. In a year, or two, I can build either > the rig I was working on a lot cheaper or a even newer rig that is even > faster if say AM6 socket CPUs have arrived. Then the rig above with > some hard drive options can become the new NAS box. I can then move > some drives out of the main rig, newer one a year or so down the road, > and not need so many PCIe slots in the main rig, hopefully anyway. I > may even warm up to the idea of using USB for hard drives. I'm > surprised hard drives don't come with USB connections instead of SATA > already. > > The only downside, the NAS box will have to run 24/7 as well. Then I > have two puters running all the time. To offset that, the combo above > does pull a lot less power than my current rig. Not a huge difference > but fair amount. Odds are the build a year or so down the road will > also pull less power than current rig. I could end up with same amount > of power usage or less, even with two running instead of one. > > I said it was a crazy idea. LOL This time tho, I'm sort of planning > ahead instead of just coming up with a temporary fix all the time. This > is also a little cheaper but still faster. Another big thing, newer as > well. My current rig is about 10 or 11 years old. It may run another 5 > or so years but could go out anytime. At least I'll have a newer rig > not likely to let the smoke out. Plus have a path to a more sane > setup. I just need to get one of those chia harvester cases that holds > 40 or so hard drives. ROFLMBO > > Dale > > :-) :-) I think it was mentioned, but for your assumed requirements I suggest you take a look at refurbished workstations, or tower servers. They are designed to run 24-7, can host a huge number of drives, have obscenely large amounts of quad/octa channel RAM (ECC too), come with the full variety of expansion options, disk caddies and adapters, receive OEM BIOS updates for ever and a day and seek to minimise power consumption. They won't scream their head off in GHz, but more than compensate with multiple cores, dual CPUs, and more than enough PCIe lanes. I seems to me you are currently looking to buy the equivalent of a Ferrari in terms of speed and technology, but intend to load it with rubble and use it as if it were a truck. I'm exaggerating here, only to make a point. It ought to be better overall if you buy a tool designed for the job you intend to use it.
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