Gigabyte GA-7PESE4(fake?) w/ Engineering Sample. Questions..

[imanz90]

Hello Everyone,

Sorry the title is so confusing but I believe this is better suited for the motherboard forum but if not please let me know. I currently have a fully working system that is being used as one of my ESXi nodes for testing. It is using two Intel Xeon E5 - 2450 processors that happen to be engineering samples (the price was amazing). The system works without any issues, here are the specs:
Dual Xeon E5-2450
Asus Z9NA-6C motherboard
6 * 4GB DDR3 UDIMMS (24GB)
2 * 512GB SSD (for local content store rest on NAS)

I also have a video card on the way that I will be using (nvidia 680 hacked to either Tesla or Grid version). I recently came across a motherboard that was being sold as a Gigabyte-7PESE4 which I found fairly interesting as there are absolutely no traces of one ever mentioned on Gigabyte's website (I only see a 7PESE3).

Here are my questions:
1. Can anyone find a manual for a Gigabyte 7PESE3 or 7PESE4 because on their website I only see the manual for the IPMI.
2. The board has a 24PIN, two 8PIN and one 4 PIN for power, is this normal and do all need to be connected?
3. Is it possible that a good known CPU will work in one board but not another if it is an engineering sample? (It has been benchmarked and used under heavy loads for a bit without any problem).
4. From my understanding the only thing that could MAYBE make it not work is the microcode, is there a way this can be modified?

Any information on this board, or using a board with an intel ES would be helpful.

 

[pchealth 2]

Hello Everyone,

Sorry the title is so confusing but I believe this is better suited for the motherboard forum but if not please let me know. I currently have a fully working system that is being used as one of my ESXi nodes for testing. It is using two Intel Xeon E5 - 2450 processors that happen to be engineering samples (the price was amazing). The system works without any issues, here are the specs:
Dual Xeon E5-2450
Asus Z9NA-6C motherboard
6 * 4GB DDR3 UDIMMS (24GB)
2 * 512GB SSD (for local content store rest on NAS)

I also have a video card on the way that I will be using (nvidia 680 hacked to either Tesla or Grid version). I recently came across a motherboard that was being sold as a Gigabyte-7PESE4 which I found fairly interesting as there are absolutely no traces of one ever mentioned on Gigabyte's website (I only see a 7PESE3).

Here are my questions:
1. Can anyone find a manual for a Gigabyte 7PESE3 or 7PESE4 because on their website I only see the manual for the IPMI.
2. The board has a 24PIN, two 8PIN and one 4 PIN for power, is this normal and do all need to be connected?
3. Is it possible that a good known CPU will work in one board but not another if it is an engineering sample? (It has been benchmarked and used under heavy loads for a bit without any problem).
4. From my understanding the only thing that could MAYBE make it not work is the microcode, is there a way this can be modified?

Any information on this board, or using a board with an intel ES would be helpful.

I think you are using a server board not a desktop.
Gigabyte does have this motherboard.
Please check below link:
http://b2b.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4468#ov

 

[diredesire]

Yes, it's absolutely possible a "known good" CPU will work in one board and not the other. It is a 'microcode' issue, but it's not user serviceable. It's generally a fuse(d) bit in the factory. While the functionality to access and possibly (unlikely) burn these fuse(d) bits may be available, no end-user equipment would be able to do so. They do this on automated testers in the factory. Most times these bits are locked out, but all bets are off with an Engineering Sample CPU.

As far as how to fix this, you may be able to modify a BIOS to support the 'microcode' (processor ID). This isn't the easiest thing to do, and I'm not an expert in this domain, so you'd have to start googling around for more info. I'd also be wary of updating the BIOS on the board that is currently working with the CPUs. Older BIOS versions can support non-retail SKU processor IDs, and they can definitely be deprecated/removed in later versions.