Dell C1100 or HP DL 160 G6

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

RyC

Active Member
Oct 17, 2013
359
88
28
Hello everyone,

I'm looking to get another server for running ESXi, and thanks to this place, I've found out the Dell C1100's and HP DL 160 G6's are great deals on eBay right now. I think one seller has the exact same spec'd C1100's and DL 160's for the same price right now, and so I guess it turns into Dell vs HP.

The specs are:
2x L5520 Xeon
72GB RAM

on both the Dell and HP

I know the IPMI is different, but it's not that important to me. Also, the Dell case spins down the fans so it's decently quiet, but does the HP get quiet as well? So given that it's the same machine from different vendors, which would you prefer? I don't have experience working with either.

Thanks so much for your advice!
 

talsit

Member
Aug 8, 2013
112
20
18
I'd recommend the HP, most of the C1100's out there on E-bay are custom configured and it's very difficult to get much support for them. That being said, I have one of the custom configured C1100's and it's a great machine but most of the changes I want to do (add RAID card, reconfigure memory, etc) will be trial and error.
 

RyC

Active Member
Oct 17, 2013
359
88
28
Thanks for the info. When you say changes are trial and error, is it that the C1100 won't recognize certain expansion cards or more/less RAM?
 

talsit

Member
Aug 8, 2013
112
20
18
I've read of people having issues with expansion cards not working and everything seems to point to a BIOS problem. Flashing to a new BIOS on the custom configured C1100's is tricky and has resulted in bricked boards.

I haven't found a really good guide for configuring the memory. If I want to go with less than 72GB it will be trial and error until I stop getting error messages.

If there were a significant price difference, the Dell is a solid piece of equipment. All things being equal though, I'd probably take the HP.

FYI, my C1100 is also quiet enough to use in the home office. It sits between the desk and the wall and the noise isn't much more than the ambient noise in the room (vent fan in the window on low, another tower server and a desktop). Right now I have a VM running at 99-100% on 8 of 12 real cores (24 cores with HT). When I had two VMs running that load (16 cores) the sound was noticeable and acceptable for intermittent use, I wouldn't want it that loud all the time.
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
1,244
52
48
HP is like BMW. Dell is like Chevy.

no joke.

Brick the dl160 g6? Oh dear, $35 motherboard trashed.

I've never been able to brick one! lol.
 

cactus

Moderator
Jan 25, 2011
830
75
28
CA
HP is like BMW. Dell is like Chevy.

no joke.

Brick the dl160 g6? Oh dear, $35 motherboard trashed.

I've never been able to brick one! lol.
You must have never owned a German car, no way parts are that cheap...
 

talsit

Member
Aug 8, 2013
112
20
18
I'm running 5639's, 72GB of 'green' RAM, 1 SSD and 2-2TB spinners. At boot it's drawing 2.1 amps, idles around .5 amp and running 8 cores it's about .9 amps. I never did the wattage it's consuming (kind of scared to find out) I'll sit down and try to do that this weekend.
 

PersonalJ

Member
May 17, 2013
127
11
18
The Dell C1100s have a full featured bmc similar to an idrac enterprise feature set. The DL160 G6s would require an ilo license (or abuse trials as needed).
 

RyC

Active Member
Oct 17, 2013
359
88
28
Thanks, lurking around, I did find out the HP iLO requires a license for full functionality. However, considering the potential issues the C1100's have with custom BIOS/not being able to change RAM or add expansion cards makes me want to lean towards the HP.
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
1,244
52
48
You must have never owned a German car, no way parts are that cheap...
nobody owns a german car. That is a serious money pit. Lease, just like these servers.

Who wants a dl160 g6 motherboard? nobody.
 

RyC

Active Member
Oct 17, 2013
359
88
28
Heh heh. Thanks for the help. I may just go for the L5639's and 72 GB of RAM. Also the same price for a Dell or HP on eBay :D
 

MiniKnight

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2012
3,072
973
113
NYC
Heh heh. Thanks for the help. I may just go for the L5639's and 72 GB of RAM. Also the same price for a Dell or HP on eBay :D
I'm thinking about one now. ESXi 5.5 made these much more attractive since the 32GB limit was removed.
 

fnc1

Member
Sep 23, 2011
79
1
8
ive noticed these are both <800 on ebay right now, is anyone running esxi (and what version) on the HP? any hints or tips?
 

lmk

Member
Dec 11, 2013
128
20
18
ive noticed these are both <800 on ebay right now, is anyone running esxi (and what version) on the HP? any hints or tips?
see your other thread for my reply - DL160 G6 can run ESXi 5.5
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
1,244
52
48
I'd go with the dl160 G6, it is rather nice and it's easy to find lo100i keys :)
 

OBasel

Active Member
Dec 28, 2010
494
62
28
Wait does the HP DL160 G6 have ikvm then? I thought that is why the Dells were cheaper