Update: SOLD
Now that I have my new quad-CPU machine running well, it's time to sell its predecessor. It's been an amazingly solid machine and I hate to see it go, but it is time. I had planned to "part it out", but the members of this forum seem like exactly the kind of people who might appreciate it as it is.
In total you get 2 CPU slots, 16 RAM slots, 18 drive slots, 3 Ethernet ports, 22 SATA ports (16 SAS2/SATA3 ports plus 6 SATA2 ports), and three power supplies.
I ran CentOS on this machine for a while but mostly it's been a Windows 2008R2 machine with Hyper-V. If you haven't owned an AMD 6xxx CPU then prepare to be amazed by their performance and blown away by the price to performance ratio. The STREAM memory benchmark shows that this setup with two CPUs has 54,000MB/Second of memory bandwidth. Using a mix of the PIKE RAID card, the IBM M1015 RAID card, and two LSI 9200-8e RAID cards I've pushed over 5,000MB/Second in disk IO as measured by IOMeter - and there was plenty of headroom left*.
This machine is noisy like a server. When I ran it at my house I swapped out the fans with quiet ones, but I have re-used most of those and am including the original fans in this sale. I will include the two rear quiet fans that I was using since they haven't been repurposed; you'll get both sets.
If you build up this machine yourself, finding the best price for each part and buying the IBM RAID card used, you'll spend about $2,200 on this setup at current prices. The equivalent HP or Dell would cost you around $3,600. I'll sell for $800 or $725 if you don't need the IBM RAID card. If you want another CPU, they are available on eBay right now for no more than $150 since some supercomputer center decided to sell about 1,300 of them at once! Compare that price to what you'd spend on an Intel server CPU and you'll see what I mean about this machine being an incredible value.
Importantly, this machine has been rock solid the entire time that I've owned it. It quite simply has ***never*** crashed - not even once. Mostly this is due to the generally high quality of server gear, but we all know that certain machines are just special. For me, this has been one of those charmed machines. Even if you don't buy this machine, I highly recommend the KGPE-D16 motherboard and - for their price-performance - AMD 6xxx CPUs.
Buyer pays shipping, or you can pick it up if you can get to the SF Bay Area. Payment must be PayPal or cash.
See post below for some photos.
*In the first edit of this ad I quoted 10,000MB/Second, but I checked my notes and that was with 25 disks and my new server. I had only 13 SSD drives at the time of my last work with this server and saw 5,278MB/Second in IOMeter and Oracle database query performance of 3,637MB/Second, with no signs of losing linear scalability.
Now that I have my new quad-CPU machine running well, it's time to sell its predecessor. It's been an amazingly solid machine and I hate to see it go, but it is time. I had planned to "part it out", but the members of this forum seem like exactly the kind of people who might appreciate it as it is.
- Chassis: Norco RPC-3116. 3U rackmount with 18 drive bays plus DVD - 16 hot-swap 2.5"/3.5" drive trays plus 2 fixed-mount drive locations for 2.5" boot drives. This version comes with two rear panels - one for a standard desktop power supply and one for a mini-redundant power supply. See http://www.norcotek.com/RPC-3116.php Costs $320 new.
- DVD: I don't know the brand, but it's a slimline DVD with a black bezel that matches the case itself. Costs $10.
- Power Supply: Zippy R3G-6550P. This is a 650 Watt triple (2+1) redundant server power supply. Costs $429. 650 watts may not seem like much, but this machine will draw less than 400 watts fully stuffed with drives and running full tilt. Also, there is actually far more than 650 watts available with all three supplies running.
- Motherboard: Asus KGPE-D16. This is an over-the-top dual-CPU server motherboard with 8 SATA3 ports, 6 SATA2 ports, and 16 RAM slots. Uses AMD processors with 8,12, or 16 cores. Web-based control and KVM are included. Three Ethernet ports. See http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131643&Tpk=KGPE-D16 for details. Costs $430.
- CPU: AMD 6128 8-core processor. Add a second CPU if you need more power, which you won't need. Costs $280 new - which is a deal for 8 server cores.
- CPU Cooling: Dynatron A5 with 60mm four-pin fan control. Costs $35.
- CPU Cooling: I'm including a Supermicro heatsink for the second CPU in case you wish to expand. The second CPU is right next to the fans so a passive heatsink works best.
- RAM: Includes 16GB of DDR3 1333 ECC RAM (8 sticks of 2GB each) to get you started. You can add 8 more sticks or replace this ram with 4,8,or 16GB sticks for a total of up to 256GB RAM. Can also use DDR3 1600 Ram with the new AMD 16 core processors. Costs about $190.
- Hard drive. I'll include one 160GB 3.5" 7200 RPM boot drive with Windows 2008R2 installed so that you can verify that everything works. Worth $10 used.
- RAID card: Asus PIKE2008. This add-on board uses zero PCI slots and enables the eight onboard SAS2/SATA3 ports. Based on an LSI SAS2008 controller, boots with a unified firmware image when used with other compatible LSI cards and their OEM versions like the IBM M1015. Costs $140 and worth it.
- Second RAID card: IBM M1015 8-port SAS2/SATA3 card flashed to LSI in IR mode. Readily available on eBay for $75 used or as a server pull. These are great cards that can deliver 2,500MB/Second with SSD drives.
- Cables: Includes 8 SATA3 cables that connect the onboard SAS2/SATA3 ports to 8 of the drive bays, two SFF-8087 to 4xSATA cables to connect the LSI/Ibm RAID card to the other 8 drive bays, and two SATA2 cables to connect two of the onboard SATA2 ports to the two fixed-bay drive locations. Also includes cables for the DVD. I paid about $200 for these cables. Yikes!
In total you get 2 CPU slots, 16 RAM slots, 18 drive slots, 3 Ethernet ports, 22 SATA ports (16 SAS2/SATA3 ports plus 6 SATA2 ports), and three power supplies.
I ran CentOS on this machine for a while but mostly it's been a Windows 2008R2 machine with Hyper-V. If you haven't owned an AMD 6xxx CPU then prepare to be amazed by their performance and blown away by the price to performance ratio. The STREAM memory benchmark shows that this setup with two CPUs has 54,000MB/Second of memory bandwidth. Using a mix of the PIKE RAID card, the IBM M1015 RAID card, and two LSI 9200-8e RAID cards I've pushed over 5,000MB/Second in disk IO as measured by IOMeter - and there was plenty of headroom left*.
This machine is noisy like a server. When I ran it at my house I swapped out the fans with quiet ones, but I have re-used most of those and am including the original fans in this sale. I will include the two rear quiet fans that I was using since they haven't been repurposed; you'll get both sets.
If you build up this machine yourself, finding the best price for each part and buying the IBM RAID card used, you'll spend about $2,200 on this setup at current prices. The equivalent HP or Dell would cost you around $3,600. I'll sell for $800 or $725 if you don't need the IBM RAID card. If you want another CPU, they are available on eBay right now for no more than $150 since some supercomputer center decided to sell about 1,300 of them at once! Compare that price to what you'd spend on an Intel server CPU and you'll see what I mean about this machine being an incredible value.
Importantly, this machine has been rock solid the entire time that I've owned it. It quite simply has ***never*** crashed - not even once. Mostly this is due to the generally high quality of server gear, but we all know that certain machines are just special. For me, this has been one of those charmed machines. Even if you don't buy this machine, I highly recommend the KGPE-D16 motherboard and - for their price-performance - AMD 6xxx CPUs.
Buyer pays shipping, or you can pick it up if you can get to the SF Bay Area. Payment must be PayPal or cash.
See post below for some photos.
*In the first edit of this ad I quoted 10,000MB/Second, but I checked my notes and that was with 25 disks and my new server. I had only 13 SSD drives at the time of my last work with this server and saw 5,278MB/Second in IOMeter and Oracle database query performance of 3,637MB/Second, with no signs of losing linear scalability.
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