$350: Dell T40 w/ Xeon E-2224G, 8GB ECC, 1TB HDD, DVD-RW

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UhClem

just another Bozo on the bus
Jun 26, 2012
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Deal link: https://deals.dell.com/en-us/work/productdetail/3lag

Based on experience with the T30, and a perusal of the T40 product tech manual [Link: https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/poweredge-t40_owners-manual_en-us.pdf ],
here's a summary comparison of the Dell T30 vs T40:
(beyond the CPU socket/support)
Chipset: T30 uses C236 ; T40 uses C246 (cute numerology, huh?)

Memory: T30 uses UDIMMs ; T40 uses RDIMMs (so says the manual, but I'm skeptical)
Correction: Both T30 & T40 use UDIMMs; T30 BIOS throttles speed of ECC modules to 2133MHz; T40 ?

T40 is about 25% smaller (by volume).
T40: ~ 7" x 13" x 14"
T30: ~ 7" x 14" x 18"

T30: 4 x 3.5 drive bays (plus kluge space for 2-3 more)
T40: 3 x 3.5 drive bays (period!)

Video ports: T30: 2xDP + 1xHDMI ; T40: 2xDP (no HDMI)

USB3: both have 4 rear and 2 front, but 1 of the fronts on T40 is USB 3.1 Type-C
Addition: T30 ports are USB3.1 gen1 (5 GT/s) ; T40 ports are USB3.1 gen2 (10 GT/s) [cf: C246 datasheet] (awaiting confirmation re:T40)

Both have PCIe gen3 x16 + x4 +x4; and one PCI, but (minor) on T30 one of the PCIe x4 is x16 physical [other is x4 phys]; on T40 both x4 are x4 phys

M2 slot [PCIe x4 g3 nvme] : yes/maybe, BUT ... (and that's a big BUTT :) )
----
"You can lead a man to knowledge, but you can't make him think."
 
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Almighty

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This has embedded uhd 630 graphics, which makes it a great low cost Plex server with tons of hw transcoding streams.
 
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raiderj

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This has embedded uhd 630 graphics, which makes it a great low cost Plex server with tons of hw transcoding streams.
Any thoughts on adding a GPU to this setup for additional transcoding horsepower? I'm currently running Plex as a VM on a Xeon D board, which sadly doesn't allow passthrough.
 

Samir

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Nice find! According to the specs on the order page, even the t40 uses udimm.

The processor alone is $200 on ebay. The power supply is a bit skimpy at 300w, and the lack of any real raid or sas means you have to invest a bit, but this is dirt cheap for what it is, especially including shipping.

Great review right here on sth about it, which in the comments points out an interest fact about the unit being a twin of the 3630 workstation:
https://www.servethehome.com/dell-emc-poweredge-t40-tower-server-first-with-intel-xeon-e-2200/
 

Samir

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UhClem

just another Bozo on the bus
Jun 26, 2012
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Nice find! According to the specs on the order page, even the t40 uses udimm.
Yeah, I did see that, but I tend to "trust" (the competence [and integrity] of) engineers more than salesfolk.
[And ...in the old days ... 50 years ago at DEC (my first post-college job), the product engineers always proofread the manual for their product, and had to sign off for it. Long live The Mill (in memoriam).]
But that was then, and this is ... what it is ... hence I expressed my skepticism.
----
"You can't kiss the past's ass."
 

Samir

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Yeah, I did see that, but I tend to "trust" (the competence [and integrity] of) engineers more than salesfolk.
[And ...in the old days ... 50 years ago at DEC (my first post-college job), the product engineers always proofread the manual for their product, and had to sign off for it. Long live The Mill (in memoriam).]
But that was then, and this is ... what it is ... hence I expressed my skepticism.
----
"You can't kiss the past's ass."
I agree with you as well. The manual will always be more accurate than the marketing material. :D Probably why I read the manual of everything I'm planning on getting before I get it. ;)
 

nick9999

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May 3, 2019
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Nice deal, the T40 would be nice for a hypervisor imho. The smaller case make it difficult to integrate storage, so it is less of on all in one solution than the T30 was.

Anyway I would not trust that it takes RDIMM the Xeon E-2200 family only supports UDIMM, and since the memory controller is in the CPU there is nothing Dell can do to change that.

For details check the datasheet:
Intel® Xeon® E-2100 and E-2200 Processor Family Datasheet, Vol. 1
 

Terry Kennedy

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The thing you have to remember about Dell systems is that they come with support for what you order - if you order a system without an add-in video card, your power supply doesn't come with the PCIe power lead for the video card. Sometimes this sort of thing is trivial and inexpensive to fix with parts readily available on eBay, sometimes you have to pay Dell an exorbitant amount of money for factory parts.
 
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Samir

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Dell parts are pretty easy to find on ebay or through Dell. Finding the right part number on the other hand can be pretty tough. :D
 
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altmind

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Sep 23, 2018
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Thank you, thats a great deal. The cost of components alone seems to be over the sale price.

I'm perplexed that T40 have an old PCI. The thing 've been obsolete for 15 years.

The server seems to be so new, there are almost no reviews online and there's nothing about the motherboard "ipcfl-tb" on the internet.

Keep in mind that PCIe latching mechanism may have problems with multi-slot(double height) cards.

I also cannot verify if this m.2 slot supports nvme. Not a word about nvme in the manual.
 
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Almighty

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Thank you, thats a great deal. The cost of components alone seems to be over the sale price.

I'm perplexed that T40 have an old PCI. The thing 've been obsolete for 15 years.

The server seems to be so new, there are almost no reviews online and there's nothing about the motherboard "ipcfl-tb" on the internet.

Keep in mind that PCIe latching mechanism may have problems with multi-slot(double height) cards.

I also cannot verify if this m.2 slot supports nvme. Not a word about nvme in the manual.
The T40 BIOS doesn't support nvme, but apparently you can use an SPI programmer to flash a Precision 3630 bios. Details in the slickdeals forum. I have not tried that yet, still trying to get my $120 Amex credit for spending $600 on two of these before I open the boxes.
 
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Samir

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Thank you, thats a great deal. The cost of components alone seems to be over the sale price.

I'm perplexed that T40 have an old PCI. The thing 've been obsolete for 15 years.

The server seems to be so new, there are almost no reviews online and there's nothing about the motherboard "ipcfl-tb" on the internet.

Keep in mind that PCIe latching mechanism may have problems with multi-slot(double height) cards.

I also cannot verify if this m.2 slot supports nvme. Not a word about nvme in the manual.
One of the target markets for this server is older legacy installs that have PCI cards and serial devices (hence the serial port too).
 

texteditor

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Oct 8, 2019
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The T40 BIOS doesn't support nvme, but apparently you can use an SPI programmer to flash a Precision 3630 bios. Details in the slickdeals forum. I have not tried that yet, still trying to get my $120 Amex credit for spending $600 on two of these before I open the boxes.
It doesn't support NVMe, or doesn't support that particular slot? I'm pretty sure my T30 runs NVMe off the pcie cards, but now that I think about I'm not sure if I ever looked if the BIOS detected it (like, as a boot device)
 

Samir

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It doesn't support NVMe, or doesn't support that particular slot? I'm pretty sure my T30 runs NVMe off the pcie cards, but now that I think about I'm not sure if I ever looked if the BIOS detected it (like, as a boot device)
The T30 works depending on the bios version. It would be interesting if you're able to boot off a card, but not off the motherboard slot--then the same may apply to the T40.
 

altmind

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Sep 23, 2018
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Anyone got Dell precision 3630 bios bin file?

Upd:
https://files.catbox.moe/atqm7u.bin
Bios version 1.1.10
Mfg Date: 02/25/2019

Grab a "CH341A SPI" with SOP8 Test Clip
use the flashrom >v1.1, dont forget to clr cmos and do full power cycle.

sudo flashrom --programmer ch341a_spi -w bios.bin

nvme works.
 
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