Asrock E3C224D2i

S

Siba

Limp Gawd
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Dec 28, 2012
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Asrock E3C224D2i

Does this motherboard require ECC ram, or would it be fine to go with regular DDR3 for something like a PFSense router build?

I'm currently debating between an i5 4590s or E3 12xx(L) v3 processor, but the E3 V3 L seems to be hard to find online
 
It's a bit confusing because the CPU support page lists CPUs that don't have ECC support (core i3, i5, i7). Is it possible to use ECC ram when the CPU doesn't support it?
 
If ecc is required, it would be the first SP board, that I have encountered that requires ECC, and since the memory controller is on the cpu...

Unless you're using pfsense in a commercial (huge) setting, you're beyond over kill with that board/cpu combo.
 
Take a look at any of the Supermicro boards. Almost all of them require unbuffered, ECC RAM.
 
Just an update, got VMWare 5.5u2 installed successfully on non-ecc ram for this board

CPU is i5 4590S, and no driver injection was required with an up to date download of 5.5u2
 
Congrats. Thanks for the update. Go figure on the non-ECC RAM part. Sure would be nice if Asrock stated that in their specs. :rolleyes:
 
avddreamr said:
Unless you're using pfsense in a commercial (huge) setting, you're beyond over kill with that board/cpu combo.
Click to expand...

Probably beyond overkill if I was only running pfsense, but I'd like to expand down the road with other VMs and it was rough to find an itx board with dual intel nic as well as aes-ni support on a processor to go with it

I'm having trouble getting the directpath i/o to work successfully.
When I set one of the onboard intel nics to directpath, it says they are available:

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Ldy7a1X.png[/IMG] (screenshot says its not marked for passthrough, but I set it for passthrough and reboot successfully before the below)

After a reboot, they say the same thing, but the guest VM shows it as 'not supported':

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/6a7Ng6M.png[/IMG]

Can anyone offer any advice as to what I'm doing wrong?


Edit: I also seem to have a problem with one cpu core always being pegged at 100% from just the host. The one VM sitting on it currently is hardly using any cycles, but the host will always bounce around a full core of usage. Googling shows that others have had issues with the IPMI firmware, but I'm on Asrock's latest 00.14.00 :(

 
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I just wanted to update that I found a solution for my particular scenario regarding one core always being utilized fully. This thread from 2013 helped:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1752974

Disabled VMWare IPMI from the Config -> Advanced settings -> VMKernel -> boot section

The flag to uncheck is "VMkernel.boot.ipmiEnabled"

Reboot the host after unchecking it, and my cpu load was no longer one full core used:



Hopefully this info is useful to someone else
 
peanuthead said:
Thank you, Captain Obvious. I was updated that it didn't need it and acknowledged it in post 8.
Click to expand...

Sorry Mr. Butt Hurt. Might be better to wait for those that own the board to chime in before relying on docs as a first responder.
 
Lol. My back side is just fine, thank you. I also called ASRock. Know your facts first before you speak. We can agree to disagree. If you want to take this further just pm me. I'm not going to hose this thread up.
 
peanuthead said:
Lol. My back side is just fine, thank you. I also called ASRock. Know your facts first before you speak. We can agree to disagree. If you want to take this further just pm me. I'm not going to hose this thread up.
Click to expand...

Huh? The "fact" is you said ECC is required. Sounds like you should have called them before you posted. Where in any of my posts am I disagreeing with you besides the fact ECC isn't required? Then you get 'tude with me as someone that further confirms ECC isn't required. The point is to clarify in this thread what works and what doesn't by facts. Edit your first reply so people don't get confused.

The fact is I own 4 of their mITX server boards, 2 of which are the 226 model so can speak from experience and fact.
 
I stated that ECC is required because that is what ASRock passed on to me. They couldn't guarantee any other RAM working on than what they had listed, hence my comment. My "know your facts" comment is know that I researched this further than the documentation. I am happy that you own the systems and came speak from experience. I am even further happier that Siba was able to research, correct and point the rest of us to his correction to get his one active core back down to where it needed to be. I do wish this information was around before I purchased a consumer mITX board for home duties, The idea of a headless, multi-NIC, IPMI included mITX without a soldered on CPU is great. There are not that may boards (I personally haven't found any) that have all of those check boxes. Most of those kinds of "server" boards are Atom based.

Moogoos, my original reply was too quickly. My reply was bad timing on my part. It rubbed me the wrong way for whatever reason and I am not able to explain that, so lets leave it there. My apologies to you.

As for everyone else, the board does NOT require ECC RAM despite what ASRock has on their site and may say. Moogoos, is this board picky with RAM or have you found it just works with whatever you throw at it?
 
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Siba, what RAM are you using in your board? I have the same board in front of me and it will not POST with known good desktop RAM. Once I place unbuffered, ECC RAM in it everything works fine.
 
Got this board, purchased the Kingston 8GB ECC on Asrock's QVL, tried a couple of different CPU's (including one on the supported list) but just can't get this bugger to post. Also tried non-ECC memory. I can access the IPMI, isn't telling me anything about why it isn't posting.

Any thoughts?
 
I had to use unbuffered ECC RAM. Maybe the bios is too old to handle the processor and needs to be flashed?
 
The Kingston ECC is unbuffered. I'm new to IPMI, but Console Redirection doesn't open, I've added the IP to Java security exceptions, no video, just nothing. No beep codes, no indications of anything. The cpu I got from you isn't on the list so I'm using a 4790 that is on Asrock's list. I also have tried non-ECC memory. Very flaky just getting the IPMI an IP address, lots of going around in circles.

Thinking I should have got the board from Newegg I was looking at instead of this one from ebay.
 
Instead of using IPMI do you get anything on the screen from a monitor? It takes my board a good 5-7 seconds before I even get video. I can send you a G1820 to test the board with or I'd be happy to test it with the RAM and processor I have here. My board also had a dirt old BIOS version too.
 
It's on the workbench, keyboard, mouse and monitor. The G1820 is ECC compatible and on Asrock's list, I'd appreciate borrowing it. If it works maybe I can update the BIOS and get one of the other cpu's working.
 
Sorry, I must have missed your question peanut. I am using 2 sticks of PNY XLR8 that I got cheap after rebate from some mcafee promotions on tigerdirect.

It's not absolutely perfectly stable, as there are times when it seems some VMs may hang or crash completely, but generally that kinda stuff happens around once a month. I'm not sure if ECC would fix that, as I have no clue as to why it happens in the first place.

Here's a link:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8045512&srkey=P56-4510
 
tec805 said:
The Kingston ECC is unbuffered. I'm new to IPMI, but Console Redirection doesn't open, I've added the IP to Java security exceptions, no video, just nothing. No beep codes, no indications of anything. The cpu I got from you isn't on the list so I'm using a 4790 that is on Asrock's list. I also have tried non-ECC memory. Very flaky just getting the IPMI an IP address, lots of going around in circles.

Thinking I should have got the board from Newegg I was looking at instead of this one from ebay.
Click to expand...
Have you got an i3 or e3 xeon avaliable to try it with? Afaik that board/chipset only supports i3/e3 chips.
 
bmh.01 said:
Have you got an i3 or e3 xeon avaliable to try it with? Afaik that board/chipset only supports i3/e3 chips.
Click to expand...

I have an i3 4160 that isn't on Asrock's list. I have a 4790 that is on the list, but it doesn't support EEC AFAIK. Peanut is sending me a little chip that is on the list and supports ECC, hopefully that will allow me to get it up and running, maybe update the bios and try the 4160 again.
 
Got a 3220, posted right away. Updated the bios, but then figured just keep the 3220 in there.

The IPMI works fine, except console redirection. I have a Supermicro that the java console just works, was hoping this would be the same but alas, not so. Google time!
 
William @ asrockamerica has offered multiple suggestions, but nothing that has resulted in making the remote console work. I think I'll just call it quits with remote, use this board for what was planned and call it a day. Maybe I'll sell it and get a Supermicro...
 
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