Question 1

I am looking to build a compact workstation using a mini-ITX MB.   Although this MB is listed as a server type, is there anything that would prevent it from being used as a workstation?  Will it work with Win 7 64 bit?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it will work just fine with Windows 7 64-bit. However if you are not buying this board for at least one of the server related features (ESXi compliant hardware, ECC memory, remote management, internal USB port for diskless system) then you are probably better off spending your money on a different motherboard and investing the savings on the CPU/GPU instead.

That being said I have been nothing but impressed with both the product and the manufacturer. The customer support was extremely responsive and thorough with the few questions I had for them. I would absolutely recommend this product if it meets your criteria.

Question 2

Which processor do you recommend for this as an at-home NAS?  Doesn't need to be super powerful.

Accepted Answer

I am using this motherboard with an i3 4130t for my FreeNAS installation.
It's got ecc support (highly recommended for FreeNAS), aes ni (for some added security if you use it), and it doesn't use much power (35W).

I usually only have a few users accessing it at any time, but I'm satisfied with it whether I'm hosting plex media, a game server on a vm, or just using it as a fileserver.

There may be something else out there now though (I bought this like 1.5 years ago).

Question 3

I have extra DDR2 memory from a recent installation. I know the specs say DDR3, but will this memory also work? Silly question, probably, but I feel I need to ask.

Accepted Answer

Absolutely not the 2 memory types are not interchangeable in anyway

Question 4

Does this card have graphics? I read on another site it depends on your processor.

I'm also considering getting a hardware raid controller ... or is on board good enough?

Accepted Answer

Yes this motherboard supports one vga port if your CPU has "processor graphics" listed on the Intel ARK web page (ie Intel® HD Graphics 4000). There are alternative Mini ITX motherboard choices that have true hardware raid controllers if you feel that it is needed. ESXi does not support software raid, but a lot of other installs you may be considering do. That being said i am running ESXi with napp-it to overcome the fact that ESXi does not natively support intel "fake raid" nor ZFS.

Question 5

Would this motherboard be compatible with this processor
Intel Xeon E3-1220 v5 SkyLake 3.0 GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1151 80W BX80662E31220V5 Server Processor
since it's Xeon E3-1200 series but v5 not v3? Thanks!

Accepted Answer

Due to the fact that the E3 series Xeon's are really i7's with ECC, you cannot look forward to socket compatibility between gernerations.

This board is a socket 1150. It will not work with a socket 1151 processor. Typically the processors are keyed entirely different per socket type.

Question 6

Will this board boot from an M.2 PCI-Express 3.0 Internal Solid State Drive?

Accepted Answer

Not without an adaptor to convert it to a sata interface connection.

Question 7

Can you use an IVB i3 processor with this, or do you need to have Haswell?

Accepted Answer

Ivybridge is socket LGA 1155, so no. You need an LGA 1150 processor.

Question 8

Hello, I just got my ASRock E3C226D2I Mini ITX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 and Intel Core i3-4160 Haswell Dual-Core 3.6 GHz LGA 1150. My only problem is that the CPU cooler fan is to tall to fit in the case I have. It looks like I need a low profile fan, cooler. Can someone recommend one that will fit that motherboard?  Kind regards, John

Accepted Answer

I have used the Dynatron K199 with this board in 1U cases and it has worked well as long as your TDP is not to high, i think they claim up to 95 Watt CPUs being supported but i think thats optimistic.. (you should be fine with a TDP of 54W)  Also, worth noting is that Tach doesn't report correctly. not an issue if you are just going to set it to 100% but if you want it to throttle smoothly you could have an issue.

Question 9

Can you use non-ecc DDR3 with this board?

Accepted Answer

you should be able too. the ECC is a part of the ram itself and the board would auto detect it. I used ECC because I used this to build a NAS. The ECC in the board description means that it supports ECC ram .

Question 10

What aftermarket cpu coolers are compatible with this board? Some of mobo components get in the way of 115x coolers.

Accepted Answer

I'm using Cooler Master 412 (which is pretty massive) without the fan with Noctua thermal paste in Fractal Node 304 on Intel Xeon E3-1230v2... VMware running NAS appliance, network security appliance and couple of test server instances... cpu never gets over 40C

Questions & Answers