Super cheap Supermicro Superserver! 1U w/ 8x 2.5" bay & X8DTL

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BackupProphet

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Jul 2, 2014
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I love these too! I've replaced all my servers home with these. From 5 old Athlon2 dual and quad cores to just two of these with dual L5630 which now runs all applications and I have with plenty of RAM left. The main reason I had so many of those old ones, was not CPU processing power, but lack of enough RAM. Databases and Java application uses a lot RAM. And 4GB Registered modules are so cheap these days, almost free :p

But even with the fans at full power, you cannot properly cool two 80w TDP cpu's. It just takes 15 minutes with number crunching before the rear CPU gets over 100 degrees and starts throttling. If I had a air shroud, or 3d printed one, that should cool two cpu's. Dual L5630 cpu's are fine, where the rear cpu tops around 80C in a room that is 25C. Anyway, its the chassis that is worth the 85 bucks, not the motherboard :) Any single CPU setup should be just fine and quiet!
 
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nthu9280

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Feb 3, 2016
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San Antonio, TX
I love these too! I've replaced all my servers home with these. From 5 old Athlon2 dual and quad cores to just two of these with dual L5630 which now runs all applications I have with plenty of RAM left. The main reason I had so many of those old ones, was not CPU processing power, but lack of enough RAM. Databases and Java application uses a lot RAM. And 4GB Registered modules are so cheap these days, almost free [emoji14]

But even with the fans at full power, you cannot properly cool two 80w TDP cpu's. It just takes 15 minutes with number crunching before the rear CPU gets over 100 degrees and starts throttling. If I had a air shroud, or 3d printed one, that should cool two cpu's. Dual L5630 cpu's are fine, where the rear cpu tops around 80C in a room that is 25C. Anyway, its the chassis that is worth the 85 bucks, not the motherboard :) Any single CPU setup should be just fine and quiet!
If you are just looking for chassis +ps, they have some starting at $39 w/ ultra scsi back plane

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 

Navy_BOFH

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Aug 2, 2013
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I am loving it right now - but my issue is now expansion! I want to put a 4xGBe PCIe card in there to bring up some LACP and run a pfSense VM while I'm doing everything - but I ALSO want to add a SAS card and buy a Lenovo SA120 DAS to put my 3.5" drives in. My thought is between the Supermicro, SA120, and a nice managed switch I can have a full home setup in a small 8u "shallow" rack and save myself some money versus buying a Xeon D setup I've been contemplating.

Has anyone gotten creative with adding multiple PCIe cards into this chassis or should I just throw the mobo in another chassis and save this 1u for another project?
 

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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You are still going to get hamstrung by the single expansion slot in the 1U form factor.
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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I put a Perc H310 in the only expansion slot. I'd love to have one more slot for a 10G card but don't really need it for what I'm using this server for. A standard 1U will give you 3 expansion slots.
 

JSchuricht

Active Member
Apr 4, 2011
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I am loving it right now - but my issue is now expansion! I want to put a 4xGBe PCIe card in there to bring up some LACP and run a pfSense VM while I'm doing everything - but I ALSO want to add a SAS card and buy a Lenovo SA120 DAS to put my 3.5" drives in. My thought is between the Supermicro, SA120, and a nice managed switch I can have a full home setup in a small 8u "shallow" rack and save myself some money versus buying a Xeon D setup I've been contemplating.

Has anyone gotten creative with adding multiple PCIe cards into this chassis or should I just throw the mobo in another chassis and save this 1u for another project?
I am working on a similar project. Using one of these cases with a slightly more modern mainboard, dual port 10Gb in the riser using a modified half height bracket and a SAS card located elsewhere in the chassis. The main hangup right now is the PCIe ribbon extension cable. The cheep one was causing all kinds of issues with the SAS card so now I have an expensive 3M extender on order.
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Good idea on the extension cable. Why didn't I think of that? o_O
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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If you are changing out the MB anyway there are a lot "safer" ways to do what you want - choose a MB with either the 10Gbe or SAS on board and then use the riser for the other one. Of choose a SM "UIO/MIO" motherboard and change out the back of the chassis to UIO to allow two add-on cards (the replacement window costs about $15-30 on eBay).

I've had poor results with the flex-riser approach. Note that most of them are not adequately shielded for PCIe 2.0/2.1 speeds and certainly not 3.0 (even the ones that claim to be).
 

mjt5282

New Member
Jul 18, 2015
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I was thinking about buying one of theses for my home rack - I would like to upgrade the motherboard and CPU to something more recent but I am worried about the lack of height on the 1U case. Is there a recommendation for a fast Intel proc + CPU fan? and SM motherboard recommendation?
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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The second one has arrived. It's pristine just like the first. Loaded Windows without a hitch and all is well. Still can't believe how quiet this thing is.
 

Navy_BOFH

Active Member
Aug 2, 2013
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I like the extender idea with some sort of mounting. I have been wanting to get this server started with some 4Tb 2.5" drives but remembered the limitation of the 1068E controller. So now I am back to using 2Tb drives or putting a new HBA in.
 

rjoancea

New Member
Apr 28, 2015
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The second one has arrived. It's pristine just like the first. Loaded Windows without a hitch and all is well. Still can't believe how quiet this thing is.
Curious - How quiet is quiet? I was assuming that 1u with this setup would be pretty intolerable...and definitely still audible behind a door into the next room. Is this noticeably better tho? Assuming @idle and 1p, not loaded.
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Sitting right next to it you can hear it. But it's not objectionably loud. Even after I installed 2 extra fans it's still quiet. When it's in the rack I can't hear it at all over the noise the LB6M makes. I also have a couple of full size 1U servers and they are different animals all together. Fire one of those up and it will dominate the room and drown out the LB4M.
 

abq

Active Member
May 23, 2015
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The second one has arrived. It's pristine just like the first. Loaded Windows without a hitch and all is well. Still can't believe how quiet this thing is.
I just got my X8DTL and added a $10 pair of L5630 CPUs, with some 6x8gb ECC. Works fine, but no USB boot option in the old 1.1b BIOS, and I have not successfully created a DOS bootable CD with BIOS R 2.1b. I read a link that said you cannot directly upgrade from 1.1b, but cannot find intermediate BIOS upgrade. ...Was your motherboard on BIOS 1.1b? Have you tried to upgrade to latest R 2.1b BIOS? How did you do it?!? Thanks Much
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Mine are on 2.0c. Haven't had any issues so not gonna upgrade. But I did DL the file just in case.
 

abq

Active Member
May 23, 2015
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Mine are on 2.0c. Haven't had any issues so not gonna upgrade. But I did DL the file just in case.
Thank You, glad to see you got more modern BIOS. Can I ask if BIOS 2.0c includes USB boot capability? ...now I wonder why I got such an old one. still looking for the required intermediate version of BIOS.
 
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