My new low wattage homelab esxi build

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Evan

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2016
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@kapone to think I usually put those psu in the bin when needing 800w & 1600w models
Before anybody asks don’t think I have any free now.
I realized they were not that hard to get working and there is a guy who mods them for you as well but was not aware they are quiet , only ever hear them in a 2u rack server that’s otherwise loud.
 

kapone

Well-Known Member
May 23, 2015
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I can show you how to mod them in about a minute, after which they work like regular ATX PSUs with no issues whatsover. Hacking them into a case is probably the more difficult part.

And yes, they are that quiet. :)
 
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markarr

Active Member
Oct 31, 2013
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I tested PicoPSUs, HDPlex, Supermicro and the HP 460w "platinum" power supplies, and the diference between the HP and the DC PSUs was <2w. Oddly enough, the Supermicro "platinum" power supplies were NOT that efficient.
What size was the Supermicro PSU?
 

Tooms

New Member
Nov 17, 2018
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Finish with the build with the hardware in the old Nokia IP440 case

Front view, ALL cables are connected on the front
01-front.jpg

top view of the case
02-front.jpg
 
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Tooms

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Nov 17, 2018
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Case half open
03-top.jpg


case full open with both disk tray.
front disk tray is not used do to big cpu cooler / small 80mm fan i mounted to cool the 10gbit chip and voltreg.
back disk tray (on right) is holding two SSD
04-top.jpg
 
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Tooms

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Nov 17, 2018
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120mm fan is mount on two pci slot breaket
05-top.jpg

92mm fan is mount in the old PSU slot(left) and two 80mm fan on the right
disk tray in center
06-back.jpg
 

Tooms

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Nov 17, 2018
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left: disk tray with 80mm fan for 10gbit chip and voltreg.
right: disk tray with two ssd
07-fanmount.jpg


DC2DC power supply HDplex 400W is mount in the case with sticky tape next to the mainboard connector
PSU 19v input is in an PCI slot braket in the front
08-psu.jpg
 

Tooms

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Nov 17, 2018
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Back side with the server case closed
09-backside.jpg

back side with the server pulled out some.
Note that ALL cable connections is in the front and nothing on the back side, so it is very easy to pull the server in/out
10-backside.jpg
 
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Tooms

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Nov 17, 2018
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yes it is working parfectly and is now fully done and in the rack and running with vm's from the old server, below you can see the temp and fans.


thinks i have learn sinces the buildlog/video..

* FAN limit was set to 100 for the low, but that is now changed to 0 for all fans except the CPU there is still 100.
with 0 it will still make an alert if one fan stop.

* 10gbe chip is the hottest
if you dont need the 10gbe on your setup then buy the board without as this chip is the the hottest and using extra wattages

* 10gbe chip stock Heatsink
because this chip is warm even with my 80mm fan over it, i will in the next build try to repleace or add more heatsink to help this better remove the heat and keep it cooler.... this is important because all the fan speed seems to be controlled from what is the hottest sensor on the board


I am in the process of building another server based on the same, but the CPU will be I7-7700T and i am thinking to maybe add an NVME SSD via an PCIe adaptor and that is for having faster CPU and datastore on my test/play server.

temp.JPG

fan.JPG


mrtg.JPG
mrtg2.jpg
mrtg3.jpgmrtg4.jpg
 

Deslok

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Jul 15, 2015
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deslok.dyndns.org
@Tooms interesting note on 10GBe is that fiber(SFP+) uses less power than 10GbaseT and produces less heat, if you want 10Gb and don't want heat/noise/power use SFP+(even if you use twinax cables since the systems are right next to eachother) For some extra fun look at the thermal images in these two reviews(Xeon-d 1540 and 1541 only differ with a 100mhz bump and some minor tweaks after a year but are otherwise apples to apples.
https://www.servethehome.com/gigabyte-mb10-ds3-review-mitx-xeon-d-sfp/
https://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-x10sdv-tln4f-review-platform/
 

Tooms

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Nov 17, 2018
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yes it is clear that the 10gbe rj45 is using much power, in my case the switch is rj45 so with that then it make best seen to keep using rj45.
but it an good idea to use the sfp+ with direct cable and then save´on the power.

as posted in the thread, i am building an new server with the same board and then an I7-7700T for my test esx server and i have thermal cam, so i will take some photos with it and share if i remember it..
but i am also upgrading/replacing some of the stock heatsink to better ones, so maybe the thermal images will be misleding.

Thanks
Thomas
 

Tooms

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Nov 17, 2018
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For the new server that i am buiding with the same board, i have hacked in some extra heatsink on to the stock one for 10Gbe chip and VRM, the NB chip got just an extra big heatsink.
the funny design of them is to have it in the case below the drives.

WIMG_0530.jpg

WIMG_0531.jpg
 

Tooms

New Member
Nov 17, 2018
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home lab in retro case.
build is finished but need to meter the wattages used.

top server - newest build (for test/play esx)
* Operating System/ Storage Platform: ESXi 6.7-update1
* CPU: Intel Core i7-7700T 2,90GHz
* Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSZ-TLN4F
* Chassis: Nokia IP440 firewall front mount case
* Drives: Samsung EVO860 1TB (for OS and VM), may add more later
* RAM: 64 GB DDR4
* Network: onboard intel 2x 1gbit + 2x 10gbit
* Power Supply: HDplex 400w, 400w output, 19v input DC-2-DC / laptop psu 19V
* Wattage idle: dont know yet, but guess around 20-25w
* Wattage 100%: dont know yet, but guess around 80-100w

Center server (test server for non vm testing)
* Operating System/ Storage Platform: Windows
* CPU: Intel Core i3-4160T
* Motherboard: Supermicro X10SLA-F
* Chassis: Nokia IP440 firewall front mount case
* Drives: Samsung EVO860 500GB
* RAM: 16 GB DDR3 ECC Ram
* Network: onboard intel 2x 1gbit + 2x 10gbit x540-T2
* Power Supply: HDplex 400w, 400w output, 19v input DC-2-DC / laptop psu 19V
* Wattage idle: dont know yet
* Wattage 100%: dont know yet

low server (home ESX with vm for home net)
* Operating System/ Storage Platform: ESXi 6.7-update1
* CPU: Intel Core i5-7600T 2,80GHz
* Motherboard: Supermicro X11SSZ-TLN4F
* Chassis: Nokia IP440 firewall front mount case
* Drives: Samsung EVO860 500GB (for OS and VM), may add more later
* RAM: 64 GB DDR4
* Network: onboard intel 2x 1gbit + 2x 10gbit
* Power Supply: HDplex 400w, 400w output, 19v input DC-2-DC / laptop psu 19V
* Wattage idle: 19.7w
* Wattage 100%: 77.9w

Homelab.jpg