new motherboard selection help

[jbates58]

hi all.

i am looking for a new motherboard to replace me Gigabyte x79-UP5 board.

i think that this board is causing me some problems with my storage controllers. and it would be no surprise to me after my last gigabyte board and the pathetic service they offered with replacing it.

i used to have a GB x58-ud5, and it was rock solid til it had an issue with the temp and voltage sensing circuits and started to play up, then after a long and drawn out, 4+ months of sending me a new board, then it not working with my original storage controllers, and then me having to send it back to them with one of my controllers, and them guaranteeing me that it worked and sending me the board that they tested it with, to me changing to the x79 platform and having similar issues, i decided to upgrade my controllers.

so, now i use 3 IBM M1015 cards, and the x79 board. but i think that it may be causing me the drive disconnect issues that i am facing in my windows event viewer so am looking to replace i with a better quality product.

i have and want to utilize

• Intel 2011 I7-4820K
• 3 X Ibm M1015 Cards (In IT Mode)
• GTX 680
• Thermaltake 875W PSU
• Flexraid for drive pooling and parity

and it is used as my home server, and gaming system.

on the pc, i run the following

• Windows 7
• Plex Home Server
• Flexraid
• Used as a Backup server for phones tablets other computers etc...
• Various Games

there is also some stuff im probably forgetting, but it wont be important.

in the near future, this system will end up in a rack and used purely as a server, and i will get another 1366 board and then use that with the original I7-920 that i have and the GTX 680 and build my gaming pc from that. but for now i just want a solid board that works properly with no issues.

i am having trouble finding a board to suit my needs. i went looking at the intel and supermicro server boards, because from what i have read

• Gigabyte boards are utter crap and are know to have issues with the M1015 cards
• Asus boards are known to have issues with the M1015 cards
• Intel dont make a single socket 2011 board with the 3 8X PCIE lanes i need
• Supermicro done even make a single socket 2011 board

but the only board i have found that isnt gigabyte, and has the PCIE slots i need, is the P9X79-E WS

so im after anybodies experience with that board and running it with the M1015 cards attached.

or i am open to any other suggestions aswell.

Cheers & sorry for the long story.

Jason

 

[jbates58]

there is a person nearby to me, selling 3 IBM x3650 servers. one of them has 24GB ram. would it be worth buying it and then pulling the cpu and the ram and putting it in my system to upgrade it to a xeon with (im assuming) ECC ram? he is only wanting 450 for them, but i dont know if thats for one or the 3. the cpu's in them, from what i can gather are xeon E5-2600 chips, and he stated them at 2.2GHZ, so there are a few different options there.

and from what i can also gather, the cpu's alone are worth more than the $450, and same with the ram.

would it be worthwhile to grab one and then pull the parts out and upgrade mine?


alternativley, does a board exist that is similar to the ASUS P9A-I/C2550/4L / ASUS P9A-I/C2750/4L, that dosent have the problems associated with it? i ahve had a quick read on it, and it seems to be plagued with bios problems. having a small board with sas controllers integrated would be great. and i would happily go for that.


Jason