5 ms·

1-3rd gen Epycs can be had super cheap, but the motherboards are expensive. Also not worth getting anything less than 3rd gen unless you're primarily buying th

1-3rd gen Epycs can be had super cheap, but the motherboards are expensive. Also not worth getting anything less than 3rd gen unless you're primarily buying them for the pcie lanes and ram capacity - a regular current gen consumer CPU with half - a quarter of the core count will outperform them in compute while consuming significantly less power.

justmarc 2y ago
Lots of great second hand hardware to be had on ebay. Even last gen used CPUs, as well as RAM, at much less than retail. However when you end up building a server quite often the motherboard + case is the cheap stuff, the CPUs are second in cost and the biggest expense can be the RAM.
jsheard 2y ago
When buying used Epycs you have to contend with them possibly being vendor-locked to a specific brand of motherboard as well. https://www.servethehome.com/amd-psb-vendor-locks-epyc-cpus-for-enhanced-security-at-a-cost/ https://www.servethehome.com/amd-psb-vendor-locks-epyc-cpus-...
- sph 2y ago
  They sell this vendor lock-in "feature" as enhanced security?
  - Uvix 2y ago
    Yes. It keeps the board from booting if the firmware is replaced with a version not signed by the board manufacturer (i.e. so an attacker can’t replace it with a version that does nefarious things). Preventing CPU reuse in other boards is just an (unintentional?) side effect.
    - kjs3 2y ago
      The cynic would say the security implications are the side effect, since selling more, new chips is the goal.
      - Uvix 2y ago
        If that was the goal then the CPU would fuse on first boot for any manufacturer’s board, rather than being fused only by Dell boards.
Tuna-Fish 2y ago
The reason for this is that CPU upgrades on the same board were/are very viable on SP3. Doing that on Intel platforms just wasn't done for basically ever, it was never worth it. But upgrade to Milan from Naples or Rome is very appealing. So SP3 CPUs are much more common used than the boards, simply because more of them were made. This is probably very bad for hobbyists, the boards are not going to get cheap until the entire platform is obsolete.

justmarc 2y ago

Lots of great second hand hardware to be had on ebay. Even last gen used CPUs, as well as RAM, at much less than retail. However when you end up building a server quite often the motherboard + case is the cheap stuff, the CPUs are second in cost and the biggest expense can be the RAM.

jsheard 2y ago

When buying used Epycs you have to contend with them possibly being vendor-locked to a specific brand of motherboard as well. https://www.servethehome.com/amd-psb-vendor-locks-epyc-cpus-for-enhanced-security-at-a-cost/ https://www.servethehome.com/amd-psb-vendor-locks-epyc-cpus-...

sph 2y ago
They sell this vendor lock-in "feature" as enhanced security?
- Uvix 2y ago
  Yes. It keeps the board from booting if the firmware is replaced with a version not signed by the board manufacturer (i.e. so an attacker can’t replace it with a version that does nefarious things). Preventing CPU reuse in other boards is just an (unintentional?) side effect.
  - kjs3 2y ago
    The cynic would say the security implications are the side effect, since selling more, new chips is the goal.
    - Uvix 2y ago
      If that was the goal then the CPU would fuse on first boot for any manufacturer’s board, rather than being fused only by Dell boards.

Tuna-Fish 2y ago

The reason for this is that CPU upgrades on the same board were/are very viable on SP3. Doing that on Intel platforms just wasn't done for basically ever, it was never worth it. But upgrade to Milan from Naples or Rome is very appealing. So SP3 CPUs are much more common used than the boards, simply because more of them were made. This is probably very bad for hobbyists, the boards are not going to get cheap until the entire platform is obsolete.