Motherboard Options

Hardware
1

Hi all, I picked up the HL15 with the power supply but without the motherboard. Looking for suggestions within these additional considerations:

  1. I have 22 memory chips at 16GB each that came out of a Dell R730 - spec says: 16gb 2rx4 pc4-2133p-rb0-10. Obviously there’s not going to be a board that can take all 22 of them, but would like to use as many as possible for as much RAM as possible.
  2. Onboard HBA would be nice, but not required, open to suggestions there. The cables I got from the backplane are * 4x SFF 8643 → SFF 8643
  3. I don’t have a CPU preference, something mid tier with lots of threads. Going to be running proxmox with the entire HBA passed through to a TruNAS VM.
  4. PCI - I do need at least one additional full size PCI lane for an NVIDIA TeslaM40 that I’ve got to pass through to my Jellyfin. Additional lanes (for HBA if needed).
  5. At least two onboard full size M.2 slots so I can RAID0 the proxmox install. I have a 4xbifrucation board but I don’t think I wanna use that.

Ideas or suggestions most welcome!

2

That would be a server/workstation board and ditto CPU.

Xeon, Threadripper, Epyc.

1 Like
3

Any specific suggestions? I was on pcpartpicker a bit ago and just awash with options.

4

Try https://chat.openai.com/ :slight_smile: - it’s not gonna do an amazing job, but will probably hallucinate something useful given your detailed requirements

5

I would suggest a different route, but your post does not share if what is your preference or why you would not use a similar motherboard.

As the previous people posted a server/workstation board would probably be idea. If you look at boards that have 2 CPU slots, then you would be able to use the majority of the memory chips. Here is a link to Tyan motherboards (using 2 CPUs): Intel Xeon Scalable dual-socket motherboards | TYAN Computer

Tyan motherboards are common within Supermicro servers

Hope this helps…

3 Likes
6

For motherboards look at these 2 that can take an EPYC Rome or Milan CPU

  • TYAN Tyan Tomcat HX S8030
  • Supermicro Supermicro H12SSL-i

With those cables you bought you could look at the LSI 9400 16i HBA which has 4 x SFF 8643 ports.
You probably want to RAID1 the Proxmox install not RAID0.

1 Like
7

I will install an erying (chinese) board with a laptop cpu to keep the power consumption as low as possible.

8

Good suggestion @davemcl

I have three Tyan motherboards (HL-15 will be my 4th). Two of the boards are part of my proxmox cluster. I have maxed out the memory (1 has a TB of RAM). The boards perform well given the application load I put on the server.

9

Amazing! Any concerns these fit in the case or work with the power supply?

10

The motherboards that come with the HL-15 are ATX size. I would check your motherboard specs to verify.

Hope that helps.

1 Like
11

I assume “extended atx” and “atx” are different things? I found a dual socket extended atx that might work but suspect extended means bigger haha

12

Correct, EATX is slightly larger than ATX.

motherboard-form-factor-size-sheet
motherboard-form-factor-size-sheet576×628 26.8 KB

(Picture is from tweakreviews.com and is not my own)

13

Hi All,

The HL156 does not support the E-ATX form factor

1 Like
14

… well sheeeeeetttttt… anyone need/want a x670 Aorus Master board? (if not, ill just return it saying it wont post to micro center under warranty…)

15

Edit to clarifiy my post is responding to @doodlemania statement

I have 22 memory chips at 16GB each that came out of a Dell R730 - spec says: 16gb 2rx4 pc4-2133p-rb0-10. Obviously there’s not going to be a board that can take all 22 of them, but would like to use as many as possible for as much RAM as possible.

I know this is a little late on this part of the topic, but I have a motherboard that has 24 memory slots (X9DR3-LN4F+ made by Supermicro). It is an older board that has 2 CPU sockets (Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2630 0 @ 2.30GHz).

I don’t search for the motherboards as I do not build as many customer desktop/servers for myself since 2006.

I found this motherboard and chasis from a random eBay search back in late 2020.

17

I edited my post to include a blockquote about doodlemania’s comment which I was responding.

1 Like
18

Hutch,
I am trying to find some more documentation on what sizes of motherboard are compatible with the HL15. Would the HL15 accommodate a SSI-CEB motherboard?

For instance the Gigabyte MC62-G40. It is 305W x 267D (mm) SSI-CEB

19

Hi @zigzag32 ,
Check out the topic here: Motherboard compatibility

@Lavavex put in a Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master (12in x 10.6in).

I guess the biggest problem will be making sure the standoff’s line up.

2 Likes
20

Another consideration is the front-facing connectors on the front of the board. The cables for those will go immediately under the fans. You will need to take the middle fan wall out to plug or unplug those connectors. It’s just a few screws, so not a big deal, but just something to be aware of.

1 Like
21

@daemon1001
Thanks for the information! It looks like the board used by @Lavavex is a very similar depth to the MC62-G40 (10.6"). So based on the photo and the fact that there is some space i think it will work. Aditionaly from all the information I have found online it looks like the standoff spacing for the specific bard and ATX are the same (minus the middle screw on the top and middle of the board.

1 Like