Pre sales Z68 Extreme 7 question about PCIe slots

[TallGraham]

Hi



I am interested in buying the following item:


ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 Intel Z68 Socket 1155 Motherboard


I am building a somewhat monster of a Home NAS box so won't be using all the PCIe slots for graphics cards like most people would. I will only be using the onboard video (VGA connector).


Does anyone know if all the PCIe x16 sized slots can be used at the same time? I can't make much sense of the detail on the ASRock website when it refers to 1, 2, or 3 video cards.

The cards I want to put in them are:


1. Adaptec 5805 RAID (PCIe x8)
2. 2nd Adaptec 5805 RAID (PCIe x8)
3. Adaptec 6405 RAID (PCIe x4)
4. Intel Pro 1000 PT Quad Network Card (PCIe x4)
5. 2nd Intel Pro 1000 PT Quad Network Card (PCIe x4)

So I need all five slots to work at the same time, but only two need to run at x8 and the other three need to run at x4 speeds. I will only be running an Intel i3 2120T processor as this is for storage more than anything else and want to keep the power usage down as low as possible.

I have noticed quite a few posts here regarding certain cards not being recognised by the board. Has anyone out there got any of these cards running, or is doing anything quite as mad as I am trying to do?


I would be very grateful if you could advise me, or if you know of another motherboard with onboard VGA and that many PCIe x16 sized slots?




Many thanks in advance




Graham

[SaphireX]

Re: Pre sales Z68 Extreme 7 question about PCIe slots

Since this board is fairly Aug/Sep 2011 "new" I am not sure if anyone has tested the various cards that you have listed and it would be a pure guess on my part besides from a physical standpoint that they will fit since the psacing is good between slots-- but whether they are compatible with the Z68 chipset is another matter...
From what you listed in case you do not know:
1. the board does support onboard RAID on the Intel controller and if needed I think the ASMedia SATA controller could also be RAID-ed so using an Adaptec RAID Cards is essentially redundant and not really needed.
2. there are 2 gigabyte ports on the board that can be teamed
3. You could probably use any Intel network card but check the Intel site for compatibility issues if you want to setup an external network to a router and other devices using the onboard 2 ports as internal and teaming thru a router...

Just my thoughts

[TallGraham]

Re: Pre sales Z68 Extreme 7 question about PCIe slots

Hi SaphireX

I know what you are saying. Onboard RAID is software or "fake" RAID though. I already have all the Adaptec RAID cards. They run so much faster and better. Plus really do work through hardware failures.

Both the Intel PT Quad network cards I am going to use have 4 networks sockets each. One will drive an iSCSI connection to my Virtual Server Host and the other will be teamed to serve both data and media streaming to the rest of my network.

I did say it was a mad build

I do software development on the side and also infrastructure implementation so I am trying to construct an all-in-one solution. Almost there now. Just need to find a motherboard that can hold all the cards.

I am worried about all the boards I keep hearing that people have to return for replacement and the BIOS updates as well.

It's a lot of money to spend on a motherboard if I don't know the cards will all work together.


Graham

[SaphireX]

Re: Pre sales Z68 Extreme 7 question about PCIe slots

Ahhh! I SEE...yup there are definite advantages to a hardware based RAID controller since the cards usually have their own CPU onboard as well as some redundancy is cache-ing and backup...
Sounds like a pretty sophisticated network you are setting up iSCSI -- Surprised your not running Linux or maybe you are...
Like I said it would be surprising if anyone has tried any of your choices on this board to determine if they will work. The Z68 chipset is indeed a very different animal esp with the native IGU support. Physically the slots are spaced apart roughly the same as most upscale boards and if you skip installing a GPU you can take advantage of the IGU and still have loads of PCIe slots available...
As far as returns and UEFI/BIOS updates like all forums the folks with problems post seeking help while those that have no issues are "behind the curtain".
Have you thought about TYAN server boards?

Happy New Years
SaphireX