Small FormFactor PC with 64 GB RAM

[thomasv123]

Hi Guys,

I am building a small LAB for my home. I currently have a shuttle PC
SZ77R5 - i7,32GB RAM,1TB SATA, 250 GB SSD. I have maxed out of Ram on this one and I need to build a new servers.

I am looking for the same form factor(mITX) but with 64 GB RAM support as RAM is a limiting criteria for me.

Shuttle has a max of 32 GB. What are the other options I can look at? The only criteria is it should be portable and a small form factor. I am running vSphere(esx) on my shuttle and would be looking to run the same on the new PC.

My first priority is definitely 64 GB support
Second priority - Shout support vSphere, although not critical.

Any suggestions welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Thomas.

 

[Topweasel]

Getting and finding 16GB Dimms is going to be the limiting factor. Reasonably your Shuttle is about the smallest system I have seen with 4 memory slots. Which is going to be the main holdup. Most mITX boards only support 2 sticks of memory. Maybe you could find a DTX board that had more (probably not since those you use cheaper chipsets then most ITX boards).

Even on a full desktop. You will only really see 4 slot boards as a limitation of the chipset. So again limited to 32GB.

The only reasonable non-server option is LGA 2011. But even then the one mATX mobo only has 4 memory slots.

The next option would be to go server where you could use ECC memory and get 16GB memory (need 4 slots, so mATX smallest) or 32GB memory (could let you get down to mITX). Good news is that most of the mITX server boards are Supermicro which should have loads of esxi support.

Edit: I take that back. The ITX boards that would work with a decent CPU are all using modified laptop chipsets with SO-DIMM slots and therefore limited to 32GB.

This limits you to mATX server solution. That doesn't mean it can't be small and easy to move around. But you aren't going to be able to pull off the shoebox setup of the Shuttle.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You can get 32GB DDR3 DIMMs, but you're looking at several hundred dollars apiece.

 

[Skott]

I dont think Shuttle mobos support more than 32GB. You need to go matx or atx to get above 32GB support I'm thinking.

 

[Zodiark1593]

I believe most consumer (read: non-server) chipsets limit you to 16-32 GB anyway, so even super-sized DIMMS won't help you in this regard.

 

[thomasv123]

Ok what is the smallest form factor I can get which supports a 64 GB Memory? What about the CPU?

I am looking for a portable system which can support upto 64 GB RAM.

Also can you suggest he best options for a 32 GB machine --- Backup plan in case I endup going with 32 instead of 64.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Ok what is the smallest form factor I can get which supports a 64 GB Memory? What about the CPU?

I am looking for a portable system which can support upto 64 GB RAM.

Also can you suggest he best options for a 32 GB machine --- Backup plan in case I endup going with 32 instead of 64.

You'll need a motherboard with 4 DIMM slots. That means mATX at this point. Or another Shuttle Z77R5 rig. (Which actually isn't a bad little rig, by the looks of it, and it's just about the smallest system w/ 4 DIMM slots.)

Small mATX case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811108065

Now, 16GB DIMMs are basically a server-only thing, which means spending craploads more money. (~$600 just for the RAM, looks like. Also, a lot of the lower end Xeons (E3 series) also only support 32GB of RAM.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820161580

So you'd probably end up with something like this:

http://www.neweggbusiness.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9B-13-182-246

But the CPU would, at the same time, probably be even slower than your current i7.

___

To be perfectly honest, I don't like any of your options for >32GBs of RAM, assuming you're worried about price and stuff. If you're not, well, hen just give up on the "portable" aspect and an LGA-2011 motherboard, E5 Xeon, and all the ram you can stuff in the slots is just one full ATX tower away.

 

[Topweasel]

Ok what is the smallest form factor I can get which supports a 64 GB Memory? What about the CPU?

I am looking for a portable system which can support upto 64 GB RAM.

Also can you suggest he best options for a 32 GB machine --- Backup plan in case I endup going with 32 instead of 64.

Aren't you already running it? That's an IB I7 right? There isn't any reason to go with a Haswell ITX setup there is almost no real performance advantage. For VM's getting more cores is can be very helpful. If that's a worry there is the 4930k and the mATX X79 Asus board.

The other option is to get a FX 8or9k system also in mATX. I love AMD and an 8k is a nice cheap way to get 8 usable cores. But really the 4930K (or the 3930k I got last year) is a much better solution. 12 Threads, blazing fast. Overall the 6 IB cores with HT will be faster in both single tasks and with several active VM's.

 

[LurchFrinky]

A quick check on newegg showed 16 uATX and 1 mITX motherboard with support for 64GB.
The bad news is they are all FM2, so you will be taking a step back with the processor.
That is, of course, if FM2 apus support ECC memory at all. For some reason I was thinking they did not.