T110 II PowerEdge upgrade / maxing out options?

The computer I have had its service contract expired  nearly 10 years ago, don't ask.

Once again I am here with an old Dell with a broken motherboard (most likely). One of the USB ports was covered with bubble gum and the machine did not power on. The machine has 16GB of PC3L-10600. There is also a raid controller (PERC300? Does this one have low maximum disk size problem?) and a dual port Dell ethernet adapter 01p8d1. It has one full sized, two middle sized and one short PCIe slots. The motherboard version is 015HT9.  It has two sturdy USB ports for USB sticks on the motherboard.

I am not exactly thrilled with the expandability of this thing but I still would to build it to its full potential. Apparently, even with Ivy Bridge supported motherboard upgrade this beast can't break the 32GB  barrier because of CPU address space limitations.

I know that the motherboard is older version, without Ivy Bridge support, so with a broken USB port, it must go. What alternatives do I have? Is the T110 II a dead end of its line? Are there any out-of-box upgrade options for the motherboard, like compatible motherboards from later models? Do all the T110 II motherboard revisions have the same expandability? I know that there are at least PM2CW W6TWP 2TW3W and 15TH9 (the one I have) motherboards, but I don't know which ones support Ivy Bridge?

Did I get it right that Ivy Bridge motherboard + E5-1280/90V2 + 32GB RAM is the best this box can do?  And was there any special geeky server hardware compatible/made for these beast that would be worth looking for? Anything else I should know?