Downsides of using desktop board for server?

[d94]

Basically I'm considering the benefit of using:
gigabyte desktop board
i6700k
raid 1 Samsung m.2 sm951's
non ecc ddr4

vs

super-micro server board
Xeon e3-1231v3
Raid 1 Samsung 850 pro's
Ecc ddr3

 

[Automata]

Desktops generally aren't built with server-grade stability in mind, especially when it comes to memory. If this is for what I think it is for, you should be running ECC memory at the least.

 

[Mordachai]

What do you mean by "server"?

We use desktop boards for servers at my workplace - since they don't handle anything more demanding that the desktops do. We use them for file-server, low-use databases, and final code compilation for a very small office. If we were a larger organization I could see using real server hardware, but for a small operation with not much budget and serious underuse of the servers anyway... it's served us well for 15+ years.

 

[Woomack]

Personally I can say that desktop components are recently much higher quality than server. I mean stronger vrm, better thermal protection, additional fuses etc.
The main difference is that server boards have additional features like more detailed component checking while boot or additional management in BIOS or full ECC support.
ECC is not really required and I know many companies who are running on servers based on desktop boards without ECC for many years.
Actually all smaller 1 CPU servers are based on components nearly the same as standard office PC. Check Dell/Lenovo/HP offer based on Xeon 1000 v3 generation. With some exceptions all of them have standard chipset, Intel RAID and all other components from desktops.

Even if components are server grade then it doesn't mean that manufacturers tested it correctly. I had issues with Dell, IBM and Fujitsu servers that had stability issues caused by bad BIOS, options that were not working or design flaws. More issues were in 2 CPU series. Like last 2 weeks I was configuring server from Dell which was throwing cache errors from time to time. It actually passed internal tests in Dell with these errors .. how ? I don't know.

 

[Mordachai]

If I were running with a ton of RAM as a DB cache, I would prioritize ECC ram. Whether there are desktop boards that support ECC - ?

Say, 24GB of RAM for moderate to high use database access = ECC (and of course a UPS would be an absolute must).

 

[Mpegger]

Many ASRock consumer boards support Xeons with ECC ram, but it's up to you to figure out which board supports what. They do not document full CPU/ram support for most of their products, and calling them to ask is just as reliable as flipping a coin, as half the phone support would say yes, the other half would say no, in regards to Xeon/ECC support.

 

[NZKshatriya]

Many ASRock consumer boards support Xeons with ECC ram, but it's up to you to figure out which board supports what. They do not document full CPU/ram support for most of their products, and calling them to ask is just as reliable as flipping a coin, as half the phone support would say yes, the other half would say no, in regards to Xeon/ECC support.

Yeah, this Asrock looks like could be good dual purpose gaming/server.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157598

 

[EarthDog]

If I were running with a ton of RAM as a DB cache, I would prioritize ECC ram. Whether there are desktop boards that support ECC - ?

Say, 24GB of RAM for moderate to high use database access = ECC (and of course a UPS would be an absolute must).

You acn sort motherboards at newegg by the memory type, including ECC.

 

[bob4933]

What do you mean by "server"?
.

^^^