Opinions? X10SDV-TP8F as storage server/NAS

[alaricljs]

I want to break out storage into its own system to make my life easier. I'm struggling to find a solution that ticks all my boxes. Basically I want a mobo/cpu combo to site in a case I already have, possibly even using the RAM I have.

4+ RAM slots (I have ECC ddr4-2400 32GB sticks)
2+ PCIe x8 at least gen3
2 SFP+ NICs (or +1 PCIe x8, so 3+ slots)
4+ SATA
2+ m2 - nice to have, not required. could be on additional bifurcated PCIe slot(s)

I might virtualize or not, might be OMV/TrueNAS/???... but the primary use case is ZFS ~50TB and growing, served via NFS and Samba to end-user clients as well as other servers running jellyfin, NextCloud, and the like. ZFS feature wise it's using lz4 and zstd, also looking forward to checking out 'Fast DeDup'. I use send|recv replication to a separate box as my first level backup.

The X10SDV-TP8F looks nice, but the CPU is so weak and higher core count X10SDV models are priced through the roof in comparison. I haven't found anything newer that's available but found some drool worthy spec sheets. My fallback is leaving it on the i7-11700 it's already on and migrating the other workloads to something else. The CPU is more than enough, but the mobo sucks at power saving pulling 45w at idle (ASUS Z590-A Prime, some power settings just don't work).


Thoughts?

 

[nexox]

Is that 45W for the full system with drives and PCIe cards or have you tested with just the cpu/mobo/ram/boot disk/psu? If it's the whole system I don't think you're going to be able to improve much, and even if that's just the minimum set of components you're likely going to have to compromise on some of your requirements to save more than 5-10W. If you have the typically over-sized PSU then going to a lower power, high efficiency model could help more than swapping anything else.

 

[alaricljs]

That's naked. Same setup on a Gigabyte Z590 is known to get down to 16w with the right BIOS settings. The important ones for power are the ones borked in the Asus to the extent that you can set them, save them, reboot... and they're back to disabled without ever hitting an OS. Replacing the mobo w/ a comparable gigabyte would be nice, but that's $180 for just the mobo (Z590 Aorus Master). Comparable MSI doesn't exist.

 

[nexox]

$180 for a new board sounds like a decent choice if you're happy with everything else, though your electricity would need to be rather expensive for that to pay off - even at $0.5/kWh like I have here that would take 18 months. If you do really want to build a new system I would suggest going for SFP+ ports on a separate NIC, requiring them onboard really limits your options and increases the price a lot. The Xeon D chips on those X10SDV boards aren't really known for great idle power consumption, and the BMC for IPMI-equipped boards from that generation will draw 8-10W on its own, even while the system is powered off.

 

[alaricljs]

$180 for a new board sounds like a decent choice if you're happy with everything else, though your electricity would need to be rather expensive for that to pay off - even at $0.5/kWh like I have here that would take 18 months. If you do really want to build a new system I would suggest going for SFP+ ports on a separate NIC, requiring them onboard really limits your options and increases the price a lot. The Xeon D chips on those X10SDV boards aren't really known for great idle power consumption, and the BMC for IPMI-equipped boards from that generation will draw 8-10W on its own, even while the system is powered off.

The NIC is a good point, so updated OP to either dual SFP+ or +1 PCIe x8.

My power bill is complicated, but daaaang not $.50/kwh. Next month it'll even be .06/kwh cheaper. So it's why I don't want to go w/ just a motherboard. I'd be keeping the current system for a different purpose that idles less than my storage

 

[alaricljs]

the X10SDV just caught my eye because it's basically what I need, just not as nice as I want

 

[nexox]

I have looked at X10SDV boards often over the years but could never quite get over the price, your requirements for PCIe lanes are a little tricky for most low power/desktop systems though.

 

[alaricljs]

MB10-ES0, unobtainium... There was an embedded epyc board I forgot the name of, found one for like $2800...

 

[nexox]

Maybe an X11SRA with a low-TDP CPU, I'm not really clear what the idle power is like, but it's got all your slots and isn't extremely expensive.