Is there an ASRock X79 Extreme11 equivalent for current(ish) boards?

[CheapMeat]

Mostly curious but any boards come close to the connectivity (slots, lanes, ports), power and quality of my favorite board (that maybe isn't server grade)?

 

[Shou Miko]

I don't think anything really comes close to a oversized featured consumer board maybe a server graded board but I think the Extreme11 was the top when talking about slots, lanes, ports and so on of the X79 era

 

[dark2099]

Maybe check out the ASUS WS series, they have a Z390 or X570 for modern options, otherwise probably going industrial/server grade.

 

[Shou Miko]

Maybe check out the ASUS WS series, they have a Z390 or X570 for modern options, otherwise probably going industrial/server grade.

You cannot compare HEDT platform (X58/X79/X99/X299) to customer platform that Z390/490 and X570 actually are.

 

[dark2099]

You cannot compare HEDT platform (X58/X79/X99/X299) to customer platform that Z390/490 and X570 actually are.

X79 is 8 PCIE lanes, CPUs for it were up to (not sure if all, and not going to check each) 40 lanes, for a total of 48, z390 plus CPU are 40 lanes. If I am understanding correctly, x580 and CPU are also 40 total lanes. When it comes to slots, would have to look more, but if he is only using 1-2 slots, either of those platforms will be more than sufficient. And for ports, goes the same, if hes using only the usual things, then once again both are fine.

 

[king of swag187]

X79 is 8 PCIE lanes, CPUs for it were up to (not sure if all, and not going to check each) 40 lanes, for a total of 48, z390 plus CPU are 40 lanes. If I am understanding correctly, x580 and CPU are also 40 total lanes. When it comes to slots, would have to look more, but if he is only using 1-2 slots, either of those platforms will be more than sufficient. And for ports, goes the same, if hes using only the usual things, then once again both are fine.

X79 is 40 lanes off the CPU, then 8 off the PCH (locked to x4 2.0 bandwidth). Modern Intel is 16 PCIE lanes off the CPU, then 24 off the chipset (locked to x4 3.0 bandwidth). Modern Ryzen is variable, but the mainstream chips have 20, a x16 link then a primary M.2 at x4, then an additional 16 off the chipset (locked to x8 3.0/x4 4.0 bandwidth).

If we're comparing performance here, either modern platform will easily pass X79 in anything you throw at it with the right cpu.

 

[jaggerwild]

At OP ASUS X79 ROG

 

[CheapMeat]

Keep in mind that the Extreme11 board has two PLX-switches. So although many chips have more inherent lanes now, there are less options consumer/prosumer board wise that have 7 full slots on ATX/EATX and have the PCIe lanes available for use. The Extreme11 can do: 7 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE3/PCIE4/PCIE5/PCIE6/PCIE7: x16/0/16/0/16/0/16 mode or x16/8/8/8/8/8/8 mode) (2 x PLX PEX8747 Bridges to support 4-Way SLI™ in Gen3 x16/16/16/16 mode). So that's the main difference. From what I've seen only a few EPIC boards have all 7 slots and x8 at least lanes or a few Intel server boards. And now most boards are giving up PCIe slots for M.2 ports in between. But I don't like this trend. In one x16 slot, I can add 4 NVMe drives. I don't mind NVMe M.2 slots in other parts of a board, near the PCH, near the DIMMs or even back. But it's rarer now to see ATX and EATX consumer HEDT boards really giving you full potential and when people discuss it, they just say SLI is dead, so what's the point. But I love all the slots, heck even almost bought 11 slot server boards because I love add-on cards. For SATA connectivity, the Extreme11 also has an LSI chip, for more drives. It's stuff like that makes it unique. I've looked a bit but haven't found anything yet to replace what I have board wise. I have two Extreme11s. CPU choice wise, there's so many amazing options now especially. But board wise, there are good boards but nothing quite there non-server wise (sadly I do love black PCBs). But then again, I haven't seen every board available out there. Maybe what I like it dead though and no one really wants that kind of board anymore. I love maxing out an EATX board though. The ultimate board for me but I wasn't able to get it was the EVGA X79 SR-X dual CPU board. I know ASUS has some interesting workstation boards but they're a few generations behind now, no?

 

[dark2099]

Keep in mind that the Extreme11 board has two PLX-switches. So although many chips have more inherent lanes now, there are less options consumer/prosumer board wise that have 7 full slots on ATX/EATX and have the PCIe lanes available for use. The Extreme11 can do: 7 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE3/PCIE4/PCIE5/PCIE6/PCIE7: x16/0/16/0/16/0/16 mode or x16/8/8/8/8/8/8 mode) (2 x PLX PEX8747 Bridges to support 4-Way SLI™ in Gen3 x16/16/16/16 mode). So that's the main difference. From what I've seen only a few EPIC boards have all 7 slots and x8 at least lanes or a few Intel server boards. And now most boards are giving up PCIe slots for M.2 ports in between. But I don't like this trend. In one x16 slot, I can add 4 NVMe drives. I don't mind NVMe M.2 slots in other parts of a board, near the PCH, near the DIMMs or even back. But it's rarer now to see ATX and EATX consumer HEDT boards really giving you full potential and when people discuss it, they just say SLI is dead, so what's the point. But I love all the slots, heck even almost bought 11 slot server boards because I love add-on cards. For SATA connectivity, the Extreme11 also has an LSI chip, for more drives. It's stuff like that makes it unique. I've looked a bit but haven't found anything yet to replace what I have board wise. I have two Extreme11s. CPU choice wise, there's so many amazing options now especially. But board wise, there are good boards but nothing quite there non-server wise (sadly I do love black PCBs). But then again, I haven't seen every board available out there. Maybe what I like it dead though and no one really wants that kind of board anymore. I love maxing out an EATX board though. The ultimate board for me but I wasn't able to get it was the EVGA X79 SR-X dual CPU board. I know ASUS has some interesting workstation boards but they're a few generations behind now, no?

What is your intended use for the system(s)? With SLI/Crossfire dead essentially, unless you go server grade, there likely isn't going to be anything in the consumer segment, and I doubt the HEDT segment either, that will have the amount of PCI-E slots you want. Finding a board with more than 6 SATA connections should be pretty easy. I feel like ports you should be able to find a solid option too.

 

[CheapMeat]

Mostly just fun. I have dual and quad NVMe M.2 cards (no bifurcation needed), 10Gbe cards, I love dual GPU cards and use them, I have SATA expansion cards, USB cards dedicated to SDR, interesting M.2 sticks cards for machine learning, a while lot. I'm in the process of having about 48 SATA 2.5" hotwap drives per chassis just because I love blinkenlights. I love playing with Folding@Home and similar projects, even mining for the heck of it. My Rosewill 4U cases (I have 6, different variants) are being modded to have an acrylic top window too. I like aesthetics a lot. I just haven't seen the right motherboard yet for me to move up to. I just enjoy hardware, homelabs, etc. I'm in medicine, not IT. Shame PLX switches seem to be dead on consumer boards and ATX and EATX in a way have become glorified mATX.

Although a few gen back, probably the closest I'll find (workstation): https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/motherboard/X11SPA-TF or the ASUS WS C621E Sage.

 

[dark2099]

Just poked through Newegg, but saw these, not sure what you had looked at yet.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813188199

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145153R

https://www.newegg.com/p/1JW-000C-007C9

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813145132

 

[thesmokingman]

Mostly curious but any boards come close to the connectivity (slots, lanes, ports), power and quality of my favorite board (that maybe isn't server grade)?

Today it's about the platform, though it was back then too so if you're really meaning whats HEDT today...

Threadripper TRX40. If you need more ram then the Lenovo P620.

Keep in mind that the Extreme11 board has two PLX-switches. So although many chips have more inherent lanes now, there are less options consumer/prosumer board wise that have 7 full slots on ATX/EATX and have the PCIe lanes available for use. The Extreme11 can do: 7 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (PCIE1/PCIE2/PCIE3/PCIE4/PCIE5/PCIE6/PCIE7: x16/0/16/0/16/0/16 mode or x16/8/8/8/8/8/8 mode) (2 x PLX PEX8747 Bridges to support 4-Way SLI™ in Gen3 x16/16/16/16 mode).

You're still stuck in the past man. That board is nothing today. It was hampered by lack of pcie lanes hence the ridiculous use of PLX switches. You should realize that using PLX switches doesn't mean more lanes, its a multiplexer. The lanes don't actually exist. Get a TR platform and you swim in lanes, real lanes! And with the right board you can get 4 right spaced lanes.

 

[CheapMeat]

I understand and know that I was sharing lanes but it allowed me to use all 7 slots the way I wanted. I was never truly 100% hammering everything in a slot at the same time to hamper usage. I don't want just 4 x16 slots. I'm not just putting 4 x GPUs. Seems like the closest boards are the ones nicely linked, like the ASUS Sage variants. I get lots of drive ports, PCIe slots, and everything else. I'm always reading about what AMD has available and there are more REAL lanes, but seems like boards are straight up glorified mATX, even for Intel. True ATX/EATX for consumers looks to be dying. So yeah, I'm stuck in the past. I can get way more cores, for relatively cheap, I can get higher per core performance, more RAM, etc. But I don't just want a gaming board, I can easily get plenty, and I don't want a server board that's usually meant for a 1U or 2U chassis (lame heatsinks because they expect brute force screamer fans). People keep saying they're better quality, yatta yatta (they tend to work in IT and only know those), and some are, but they're damn basic in many ways, ugly and not as feature rich the way I want usually (I look at SuperMicro and Ryan boards too). I'm always on Reddit r/homelab and see them and always on ebay, I can get used enterprise gear for cheap anytime too, but don't want it. Most people aren't talking about or personally owning something awesome like this: https://www.asus.com/uk/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/ESC8000-G4/
There as compromises, as usual. Guess I'm just old school and have to shell out for something maybe X299, so a bit better or around that or hope the DDR5, PCIe5 era brings something I like. Anyway, thanks for the responses.

 

[rtwjunkie]

X79 is 8 PCIE lanes, CPUs for it were up to (not sure if all, and not going to check each) 40 lanes, for a total of 48, z390 plus CPU are 40 lanes. If I am understanding correctly, x580 and CPU are also 40 total lanes. When it comes to slots, would have to look more, but if he is only using 1-2 slots, either of those platforms will be more than sufficient. And for ports, goes the same, if hes using only the usual things, then once again both are fine.

I’m pretty sure the HEDT and mainstream boards utilize those lanes differently. IIRC, aren’t the X79 and the like using dedicated lanes, which allows for peripheral cards and what not to be used without cutting into the GPU lanes like can and does happen on the mainstreams boards. So no, not similar or comparative.

 

[thesmokingman]

I understand and know that I was sharing lanes but it allowed me to use all 7 slots the way I wanted. I was never truly 100% hammering everything in a slot at the same time to hamper usage. I don't want just 4 x16 slots. I'm not just putting 4 x GPUs. Seems like the closest boards are the ones nicely linked, like the ASUS Sage variants. I get lots of drive ports, PCIe slots, and everything else. I'm always reading about what AMD has available and there are more REAL lanes, but seems like boards are straight up glorified mATX, even for Intel. True ATX/EATX for consumers looks to be dying. So yeah, I'm stuck in the past. I can get way more cores, for relatively cheap, I can get higher per core performance, more RAM, etc. But I don't just want a gaming board, I can easily get plenty, and I don't want a server board that's usually meant for a 1U or 2U chassis (lame heatsinks because they expect brute force screamer fans). People keep saying they're better quality, yatta yatta (they tend to work in IT and only know those), and some are, but they're damn basic in many ways, ugly and not as feature rich the way I want usually (I look at SuperMicro and Ryan boards too). I'm always on Reddit r/homelab and see them and always on ebay, I can get used enterprise gear for cheap anytime too, but don't want it. Most people aren't talking about or personally owning something awesome like this: https://www.asus.com/uk/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/ESC8000-G4/
There as compromises, as usual. Guess I'm just old school and have to shell out for something maybe X299, so a bit better or around that or hope the DDR5, PCIe5 era brings something I like. Anyway, thanks for the responses.

You don't state what cards you would use or what purpose, just what you want and want and want. The x79 Extreme 11 wasn't even a very good board, it was riddled with issues. Those PLX switches brought along with them a lot of latency.

 

[kapone32]

I understand and know that I was sharing lanes but it allowed me to use all 7 slots the way I wanted. I was never truly 100% hammering everything in a slot at the same time to hamper usage. I don't want just 4 x16 slots. I'm not just putting 4 x GPUs. Seems like the closest boards are the ones nicely linked, like the ASUS Sage variants. I get lots of drive ports, PCIe slots, and everything else. I'm always reading about what AMD has available and there are more REAL lanes, but seems like boards are straight up glorified mATX, even for Intel. True ATX/EATX for consumers looks to be dying. So yeah, I'm stuck in the past. I can get way more cores, for relatively cheap, I can get higher per core performance, more RAM, etc. But I don't just want a gaming board, I can easily get plenty, and I don't want a server board that's usually meant for a 1U or 2U chassis (lame heatsinks because they expect brute force screamer fans). People keep saying they're better quality, yatta yatta (they tend to work in IT and only know those), and some are, but they're damn basic in many ways, ugly and not as feature rich the way I want usually (I look at SuperMicro and Ryan boards too). I'm always on Reddit r/homelab and see them and always on ebay, I can get used enterprise gear for cheap anytime too, but don't want it. Most people aren't talking about or personally owning something awesome like this: https://www.asus.com/uk/Commercial-Servers-Workstations/ESC8000-G4/
There as compromises, as usual. Guess I'm just old school and have to shell out for something maybe X299, so a bit better or around that or hope the DDR5, PCIe5 era brings something I like. Anyway, thanks for the responses.

TRX40 has something crazy like 88 PCIe 4.0 lanes.

 

[CheapMeat]

Yeah I'm not saying the new CPUs and PCH are bad or anything. Lots of lanes! But I'm not seeing a consumer board I really love. The board is the issue for me.