Notes and observati&#111;ns &#111;n X99 Taichi build

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Topic: Notes and observations on X99 Taichi build
Posted: 02 Nov 2023 at 11:03pm

Thanks for sharing, seems the system served you well and still has more to give

goretsky

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Posted: 02 Nov 2023 at 2:38pm

Hello,

A final(?) update on the system after nearly seven years of service. Here is the current configuration:

The chassis and power supply remain unchanged from the initial build, a Fractal Design R4 case with a PC Power Cooling Mk 4 750W ATX PSU.

The system is being reprovisioned for use as a file server, with the M.2 NVMe SSD serving as the bootable OS drive, and the eight 2.5" 5.0 TB HDDs (4.65 TB after decimal to binary conversion, each) being configured for bulk storage. Using all eight HDDs with no resiliency would result in 37.2 TB of space, while using six for storage and two for parity would result in 27.9 TB of space.

The motherboard was upgraded to beta BIOS v1.82 without issue, identical to the v1.81 upgrade.

The machine is actually going to a friend for performing site-to-site backups of another friend's server. Because of this, the final operating system and RAID storage level (if any) are TBD.

All in all, the system has worked consistently and reliably over the past several years, just as a number of other workstations I have built based on ASRock motherboards.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

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Aryeh Goretsky, MVP (2004-2018), ZCSE

goretsky

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Posted: 01 Aug 2019 at 4:40pm

Hello,

A quick update: I installed the beta BIOS version 1.81 without issue.

After installation, I reset the BIOS (technically UEFI) firmware back to its default values, changed a few settings' values as needed, and was back up and running with no noticeable issues with stability or performance.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

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goretsky

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Posted: 29 May 2019 at 11:04am

Hello,

I have added an additional NVMe SSD to my ASRock X99 Taichi-based system, a 2TB [url=https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/consumer-ssds/660p-series/660p-series-2-tb-m-2-80mm-3d2.html]Intel 660P NVMe SSD[/url]. The drive was installed into the second M.2 slot, a process that took about three minutes in total, from the time I opened the case until the time it was closed and the machine booted up.

No problems were noted during installation, and the drive was formatted and is now hosting virtual machines that were previously installed on an internal hard disk drive.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

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goretsky

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Posted: 03 Feb 2019 at 6:35pm

Hello,

I have replaced the 480GB MyDigitalSSD BPX M.2280 NVMe SSD with the following:

500GB Samsung 960 EVO SSD, [url=https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/ssd-960-evo-m-2-500gb-mz-v6e500bw/] MZ-V6E500BW[/url]

This was not due to any problem with the 480GB MyDigitalSSD BPX NVMe SSD, but because the Samsung SSD became available from another computer build.

The contents of the 480GB MyDigitalSSD BPX NVMe SSD were cloned to the 500GB Samsung EVO SSD using a MyDigitalSSD [url=https://mydigitalssd.com/accessories.php]M2X External USB 3.1 Gen 2 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD Enclosure Adapter[/url] and the free version of Paramount Software's Macrium Reflect 7. There were no issues with the drive cloning process.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

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goretsky

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Posted: 21 Aug 2018 at 6:17pm

Hello,

I received an error when attempting to update my original post, so will add an addendum here.

I installed Version P1.80 of the ASRock X99 Taichi's new UEFI (BIOS) firmware to help mitigate some of the Spectre and Meltdown speculative execution variants.

No major changes in reliability or performance were noted after installation of the updated firmware.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

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Posted: 22 Feb 2017 at 12:15am

The TPM 2.0 Module's part number is "HA-TPM2-S". It's currently available at tigerdirect.com and aerocooler.com in the USA. I see a site it Canada and Italy as well showing it as being in stock.

goretsky

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Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 8:13pm

Hello,

Thank you for your kind words, WarDog.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

wardog wrote:

Aryeh, I was thrust into a time machine reading your "Twenty years before the mouse" article.

Thank you!

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Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 8:12pm

Hello,

First off, thank you for the detailed response!

The ASRock X99 Taichi I received came with printed versions of both the Quick Installation Guide and a Software Setup Guide. Is the latter available in PDF format? I did not see it when looking through the http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20Taichi/index.asp#Manual page, but it's certainly possible I missed it.

I appreciate your explaining the intricacies of the core-boosting technology. I do not use many intensive single-core, single-threaded processes that often so cannot imagine it having much effect on my workload. My real interest here was in getting rid of the Unknown Device in Device Manager, which has been done.

The Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility downloaded was v10.1.2.10, but I believe some additional updates were downloaded from the Windows Update Catalog for a few processor-specific features as well as some of the USB 2.0 controllers (v10.1.2.19). No problems noted, or any changes in behavior after the updated drivers were installed.

From a brief stint in the telecom hardware world, I know it can take a very long time to qualify components, and I certainly wasn't expecting there to be any problems with commodity hardware that uses industry-standard interfaces and protocols. It occurred to me that since none of the NVMe drives listed in the QVL used a Phison E7 controller, it might be nice to post that I got one working, so in case someone else stumbled into the forum they could be pointed at a post and told "it's not on the QVL, but someone used it without problems."

Since NVMe RAID is not available now, I guess I shall have to wait for an X299-based motherboard (or whatever the chipset is) in a few years.

I realize that ASRock has a very, very broad product portfolio, all the way from value-oriented up into workstation range, as well as a few aspirational products like the X99 Taichi, which I'm guessing are designed for a certain market segment (case-modders? over-clockers? gamers?) that I'm probably not a part of. I'm certainly not expecting anyone to go ahead and re-do the layout for the screening on the boards, but rather to provide some feedback for consideration in future designs. Given the wide range of motherboards I've found that ASRock offers, there's probably a product manager somewhere to whom it's applicable. I just wanted to provide some feedback since I couldn't imagine a product designer building a bunch of systems on desks at different heights, angles, etc., to determine what is and is not readable on the motherboard (at least, the one's I used to work with never did). It is extremely rare for most end-users to open a chassis up once the system is assembled, so in the greater scheme of things, it's probably not that important, but it is nice to mention how products are a little easier to assemble or service in such a competitive marketplace.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

parsec wrote:

goretsky, a few comments about your comments and observations about your ASRock X99 Taichi board.

The paper manual provided with ASRock boards are actually not the full manuals, but called a Quick Installation Guide on the cover. I don't have a paper copy of your board's manual/guide, but that is what the paper manual of a current ASRock board I have is titled. The paper manual is multi-lingual, and would be rather thick if it was the full manual for each language.

You can download the complete manual in pdf format from your board's information page, the Manual section, the User Manual file, here:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20Taichi/index.asp#Manual

The User Manual has an index and contains more information than the Quick Installation Guide, that you can also find on that page in pdf format.

The Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 feature is new, and unique to the Broadwell E HEDT processor models. It is not a replacement or improvement of the standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 feature. TBMT's purpose is to identify the best performing processor core, and operates it at an even higher frequency than the standard Turbo 2.0 boost frequency. That is only possible with processors that have "unlocked" core multipliers that supports over clocking, as all the Broadwell E 'K' processors do. That is why the TBMT option is in the over clocking section of the UEFI/BIOS.

Since your Xeon v4 processor cannot be over clocked, the TBMT feature is not supported. I believe the Intel Mangement Engine software for the X99 platform adds the TBMT feature (without driver) to the PC, although it could be said it should not do so when a processor that does not support it is being used. I imagine you installed the INF driver ver:10.1.2.10 files on your PC? I don't know if the IME software version should be different when a Xeon v4 processor is used, so the question remains if this is an Intel or ASRock oversight.

I found your Xeon E5 2620 v4 processor in the CPU Support List, but given all the entries it could be easy to miss:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20Taichi/index.asp#CPU

The Storage QVL is really unable to be all inclusive of every drive available. Any drive that uses a storage protocol supported by a mother board, such as SATA or NVMe, should work fine as long as the appropriate driver is installed. Windows 10 includes an "inbox" NVMe driver, and you will find an entry under Storage Controllers in Device Manager for the NVMe controller in your MyDigitalSSD drive. Since NVMe support is provided in all UEFI/BIOS versions for your board, it works as the OS drive.

RAID support for NVMe SSDs was introduced by Intel with their 100 series chipsets that support IRST RAID, and won't work with earlier chipset models.

X99 boards can be rather covered with components, although the X99 Taichi is much cleaner than most X99 boards. Including text labels for each connector is as much of a challenge as reading them, in the limited space available.

Thank you for posting your positive experience with the X99 Taichi board, a refreshing read for the forum moderators.

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Aryeh Goretsky, MVP (2004-2018), ZCSE

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