Asus P9D-v and Xeon E3-1225V3

[slim pickens]

Today I ordered this combo from Newegg for a new server I'm building. I was interested in the mobo and Newegg listed this CPU as a combo deal with that board. The Asus website also states that the E3-1125V3 is compatible with the P9D-v.

However, after placing the order, I realized that the mobo already has built-in VGA graphics. I was caught off-guard by this since other boards supporting Haswell chips are meant to use the graphics built-in to the Haswell. I'm ok with using the built-in graphics on the motherboard, but does this mean the GPU on the Haswell will just be spinning cycles, burning electricity, and generating heat for no reason?

 

[zir_blazer]

That Motherboard got a C224 Chipset. Only the Workstation-oriented C226 allows you to use the Haswell integrated GPU. I don't know if by "use" refers only to the video output, or if on a C222/C224 access to the GPU is fully disabled and you can't use it for QuickSync nor OpenCL.
I suppose that it should be possible to disable the GPU from the BIOS or that it should be aggresively power gated by default to consume minimal or no extra power.

 

[slim pickens]

Thanks for the reply. Having skimmed through the motherboard manual, it doesn't appear there is a way to turn off the GPU on the die. However, your low power consumption theory seems plausible. Anybody else out there have input?

It seems strange that the C224 chipset doesn't support on-die graphics. Reconcile this for me:

1) Haswell processors are made by Intel.
2) One of the major features of Haswell is an improved on-die GPU.
3) The C224 chipset is made by Intel, specifically for the Haswell.
4) The C224 chipset does not support Haswell's on-die graphics

 

[zir_blazer]

When Sandy Bridge was released, you also had a few Chipsets that didn't allowed you to use the integrated GPU. On Haswell generation, that only happens with C222 and C224, so its progress if you ask me. These Chipsets are mean to be paired with a Xeon with no GPU (Like a E3-1220 V3).

C222 and C224 seems to be intended to be used in Servers that are going to be remote administered. At least Supermicro C222/C224 based Motherboards are usually equipped with an extra integrated NIC and GPU intended to be used for IPMI (NIC than that ASUS doesn't seems to have, unless it uses one of the Intel ones for that), so you can fully remote administer that Server from the time it boots, you can enter the BIOS remotely.