Question Free EPYC.... BUT see inside ** Updated, its not available anymore, see inside for why ** But I did get a 24 core EPYC

[Markfw]

OK, so I have a EPYC 32 core 7551 ES I will give away for shipping only to a DC member.

Here is the catch, and I doubt anyone will take me up on it, but you never know. The only motherboard/bios it will work on is a Gigabyte MZ31-AR0 (pretty sure thats it) and only on bios G0 (I have to verify that also, I have it)

And here is the kicker.... It only runs at ONE GHZ fully loaded in linux.

But a free 32 core CPU ? Well, we will see. I got suckered into this years ago, and it cost me $300 each for 2 CPUs and $650 for the motherboard, and the other one I bought is now out of commission , but it still works. If I could sell the motherboard, it might be worth it. I may ebay it and we will see.

Edit: I hate to say it, but I might have found a reason for someone to buy the motherboard (but I will put that on ebay) 5 PCI x16 slots, and 2 x8 slots, and all of them have a decent amount of lanes. Miners might jump at it.

Edit: here is the listing for the one I was using...Miners dream ? we will see.

GIGABYTE Socket SP3, AMD (MZ31AR0) Motherboard for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for GIGABYTE Socket SP3, AMD (MZ31AR0) Motherboard at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[Markfw]

Was playing around with settings to see if I could get the boot behavior to change. Disabling SMT gets me this far (but still crashes).

View attachment 44523

Thats windows 10 screen ? I have never gotten anywhere with windows 10 on these EPYC boxes, try Linux, cinnamon mint 19.2 or 20.

 

[burninatortech4]

I'm able to get it as far as the mint symbol with the black background. After this point it black screens and the board reboots and the process starts again. The only stable screen I can reach is the Mint boot menu. I'm able to examine the hardware info. I've tried boot in compatibility mode which causes some code to flash on the screen but eventually crashes and reboots.

 

[Markfw]

I'm able to get it as far as the mint symbol with the black background. After this point it black screens and the board reboots and the process starts again. The only stable screen I can reach is the Mint boot menu. I'm able to examine the hardware info. I've tried boot in compatibility mode which causes some code to flash on the screen but eventually crashes and reboots.

This is exactly why it requires that old gigabyte board, and the old bios. You see why you got it free....

 

[burninatortech4]

Fair enough. I went into this expecting an outcome like this. Would you like me to ship the processor back for further experimentation on your end? Or should I keep it as a memento to the technological innovation over at AMD?

 

[Icecold]

@burninatortech4 before you throw in the towel - what bios settings have you messed around with so far? I would try disabling all integrated peripherals (nic, etc.), disable all power saving, c-states, etc. and see if you have any better luck.

 

[Markfw]

Fair enough. I went into this expecting an outcome like this. Would you like me to ship the processor back for further experimentation on your end? Or should I keep it as a memento to the technological innovation over at AMD?

Do you want to keep trying ? And if not what motherboard is it, and for sale ? I don't have the patience for what Icecold is saying, but thats the type of thing to keep trying. Its the IO that is problematic.

 

[burninatortech4]

@burninatortech4 before you throw in the towel - what bios settings have you messed around with so far? I would try disabling all integrated peripherals (nic, etc.), disable all power saving, c-states, etc. and see if you have any better luck.

I'll have time to try a few more steps like that this evening. If it still doesn't work I'll have the following for sale:

1) Supermicro MBD-H11SSL-I-B (lacks Broadcom SAS controller)
2) Samsung 8GB 1Rx8 PC4-2400T-RD0-11-DC0

Both brand new.

 

[Markfw]

I'll have time to try a few more steps like that this evening. If it still doesn't work I'll have the following for sale:

1) Supermicro MBD-H11SSL-I-B (lacks Broadcom SAS controller)
2) Samsung 8GB 1Rx8 PC4-2400T-RD0-11-DC0

Both brand new.

PM me a price on the motherboard. All my EPYC memory is 16 gig 2666 sticks.

 

[StefanR5R]

So what if you use an USB attached storage device as boot device?
E.g. a SATA SSD behind an USB-SATA bridge.

 

[Icecold]

I also wonder if maybe it's just a bad stick of RAM. I've had plenty of RAM out of the box where 1 stick doesn't function 100% properly. Is that the only stick of RAM you have that is compatible? Is there only one slot the RAM will function in? if not, maybe try other slots? Could also see if a memtest usb will boot and run memtest.

I feel like the fact that it POSTs and detects the CPU properly, and gets as far as it does that there's got to be at least a decent shot at getting it working

 

[Markfw]

So what if you use an USB attached storage device as boot device?
E.g. a SATA SSD behind an USB-SATA bridge.

I got it to boo the linix mint USB ISO, but it won't run off that will it ?

Edit: @Icecold Its doing exactly what it did for me on my EPYCD8 motherboards, only the gigabyte motherboard with the G0 bios would work. I gave it away hoping somebody else knew A workaround.

@burninatortech4 , if you give up, give it to someone else here in DC that wants to try it, for $10 shipping like we did. No sense in shipping it back to me, then me shipping it out again.

 

[Icecold]

I got it to boo the linix mint USB ISO, but it won't run off that will it ?

Edit: @Icecold Its doing exactly what it did for me on my EPYCD8 motherboards, only the gigabyte motherboard with the G0 bios would work. I gave it away hoping somebody else knew A workaround.

@burninatortech4 , if you give up, give it to someone else here in DC that wants to try it, for $10 shipping like we did. No sense in shipping it back to me, then me shipping it out again.

You can create it as a 'persistent' usb, which will then keep all your settings and programs and everything after a reboot - https://www.debugpoint.com/2019/10/how-to-create-persistent-usb-ubuntu-linux-mint/

BOINC would most likely kill a flash drive after awhile due to task writes('m guessing), but a cheap SATA SSD with a USB adapter should work just fine.

 

[Markfw]

If he gives up, and you want to try, wherever this goes, I just want it used for TEAM Anandtech DC work. That sounds like a real possibility. I KNOW it booted fine, but would not install on a SATA HD or SSD or NVME drive. blue screen or lockup, just like what he is experiencing.

 

[Endgame124]

You can create it as a 'persistent' usb, which will then keep all your settings and programs and everything after a reboot - https://www.debugpoint.com/2019/10/how-to-create-persistent-usb-ubuntu-linux-mint/

BOINC would most likely kill a flash drive after awhile due to task writes('m guessing), but a cheap SATA SSD with a USB adapter should work just fine.

You could boot from USB and use network storage for the boinc directory. I do that with my raspberry pi’s.

 

[StefanR5R]

So what if you use an USB attached storage device as boot device?
E.g. a SATA SSD behind an USB-SATA bridge.

I got it to boo the linix mint USB ISO, but it won't run off that will it ?

What @Icecold and @Endgame124 said.

The various Linux distributions may have different support for less common storage layers for the (a) boot loader, (b) kernel and initial RAM disk (initrd), and (c) OS filesystems. But I haven't been following which distributions have what extent of support. For the lowest barrier of entry, there are of course many 'live' Linux images which work off of a USB stick.

 

[crashtech]

I'd try a live distro just for kicks. If it works, you could then try hooking up a HDD and see if the OS can access that once it is booted. If that works, a USB connected HDD could be used as a boot device, or if that fails, an SLC USB stick.

 

[burninatortech4]

I will try the live distro and/or disable some of the I/O in BIOS like you guys mentioned. I ended up not having time last night. I'll keep you all updated.

 

[burninatortech4]

Minor update. I was able to create a live USB and disable the following settings in BIOS



(The BIOS settings I assume) has changed the behavior negatively. It now gets locked on the Supermicro splash screen on the DXE--CPU Initialization step. I'm going to clear the CMOS and keep at it.

 

[Icecold]

I would try turning off SVM Mode. That's the virtualization setting on newer AMD processors, and I've read of issues on certain boards and CPU's with having that enabled. Unless you're running a BOINC project that requires Virtualbox, or using it for other VM stuff you won't need it.

 

[burninatortech4]

Any combination of disabling these features just makes the machine freeze on DXE--CPU initialization. Default gets me through but then I'm back to the same issues as my previous posts.

Edit: Yes I did disable SVM mode.

 

[Markfw]

Any combination of disabling these features just makes the machine freeze on DXE--CPU initialization. Default gets me through but then I'm back to the same issues as my previous posts.

Edit: Yes I did disable SVM mode.

BTW, its DOES work on that gigabyte motherboard with G0 bios. But that damn thing is $625 ! Of course if you get the CPU free, then its not as bad.

Anyway, I hope you succeed !!!

 

[burninatortech4]

I don't think I'm getting this chip working on this board. Anyone want to try it for themselves? Can ship.

 

[Markfw]

Question... I know the problem is in the IO stream. Sata, nvme and USB so far no good. What about an IDE card in the PCI slots ? I have one.

 

[StefanR5R]

If NVME doesn't boot, chances are slim that any other PCIe attached device would boot.

BTW, for NVME boot, Supermicro's AMI BIOS needs to be in UEFI boot mode, or Dual boot mode, but not Legacy boot mode — AFAIK. This setting is in the "Boot" tab, "Boot Mode Select" option.

 

[Markfw]

If NVME doesn't boot, chances are slim that any other PCIe attached device would boot.

BTW, for NVME boot, Supermicro's AMI BIOS needs to be in UEFI boot mode, or Dual boot mode, but not Legacy boot mode — AFAIK. This setting is in the "Boot" tab, "Boot Mode Select" option.

This card is PCI, not express... Any chance ? I will have it back next Friday. old artic cooler 360 AIO for the cooler (found it while cleaning out for AC install)

Edit: I just looked. NO EPYC board has any PCI slots, all PCI Express x16 or X8 or X4.

Edit 2: Ordered an x1 PCIE card to IDE.

This one

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com