Hey everyone,
Need a quick sanity check, or maybe a math check:
Which would be more cost effective platform for a SOHO SSD NAS/SAN attached to a 10G/40G switch via a Mellanox CX3: a used Broadwell platform with PCIe Gen3 drives (e.g. Intel P4510 or 905p, or Samsung 970 Evo Plus); or a used Rome platform with Gen3 or Gen4 drives (e.g. Intel P5510 or Samsung 980 Pro)?
I'd probably have 2-8 SSDs depending on price and size, but with the aim to have the lowest latency and max out bandwidth at the lowest cost.
By my math it makes sense to go with Broadwell because:
The only reason I said 10G/40G, is that I'm not sure if I'm going the 40G QSFP+ MSX6036 route and can successfully swap out the fans, or will have to settle for a cheap brocade or TP-Link SFP+ that runs quiet. I'm running Cat6 and OM3 through new conduits in the house so both will be fine.
Cheers,
Bryan
Need a quick sanity check, or maybe a math check:
Which would be more cost effective platform for a SOHO SSD NAS/SAN attached to a 10G/40G switch via a Mellanox CX3: a used Broadwell platform with PCIe Gen3 drives (e.g. Intel P4510 or 905p, or Samsung 970 Evo Plus); or a used Rome platform with Gen3 or Gen4 drives (e.g. Intel P5510 or Samsung 980 Pro)?
I'd probably have 2-8 SSDs depending on price and size, but with the aim to have the lowest latency and max out bandwidth at the lowest cost.
By my math it makes sense to go with Broadwell because:
- Unless I'm willing to bump up to 100G, a 2x P4510 drives will saturate a 40G link on read when in RAID 0 (or 4x when in RAID 10). Any new consumer PCIe Gen3 will be similar.
- A single Gen4 drive can saturate a 40G link.
- Rome is still prime tech because no Gen5 server platform is out yet; Rome has more PCIe Gen4 lanes than a cost comparable Intel platform; and Milan doesn't really offer a big value prop outside of compute. However, with Sapphire Rapids launching this year (2022), and Genoa early next year (2023), both with PCIe Gen5/DDR5, Rome servers will start to move to retirement in significant quantities starting late 2023, early 2024, and hence they should come down significantly in price in 20-24 months.
- Skylake and Cascade lake, just like Milan, only adds value in compute, and not in storage, namely all are PCIe G3, albiet only 2x 16 if 1 CPU, 3x x16 if using 2 CPUs.
- Ice Lake has PCIe Gen4, however cost wise, a storage focused Rome will be cheaper and more available second-hand (e.g 8c or 12c).
- Haswell and Broadwell DDR4 platforms are effectively the same cost second hand depending on the day (~$600 US)
- Most VMs either run on my network appliance, a M720q 8c/16t i5-8700 with a CX3, or on a Raspberry Pi node for network segmentation reasons (i.e. IOT, management network controllers, etc). Though do need a VM host for surveillance video analytics.
The only reason I said 10G/40G, is that I'm not sure if I'm going the 40G QSFP+ MSX6036 route and can successfully swap out the fans, or will have to settle for a cheap brocade or TP-Link SFP+ that runs quiet. I'm running Cat6 and OM3 through new conduits in the house so both will be fine.
Cheers,
Bryan