Need Help Buying 128GB Ram Server Low Power

[joogle]

Hi - I need to buy a server with 128gb ram to install a full suite ERP application for learning purposes. I don't have a separate room to host servers so this is meant for home, am looking for something quiet and less power consuming. I found some old models but I think they will be very power hungry.

Need suggestions which models to focus on when searching, budget is not high, really just want it so I can install and learn the ERP apps, so looking for best price.

Thanks!

 

[HellDiverUK]

I think you'd have to go with a E5 Xeon, or one of the Opteron boards.

 

[joogle]

Would those be like the R710 models or the HP 380 G6 types?

 

[joogle]

ive realized the #1 cost for me it seems it the DDR3 Ram.

Would it be better to purchase like a basic build and add the ram? I hear about Super Micro or SGI.... or get like a Poweredge or HP model.

Lastly, are there any low power / quiet servers that take DDR2 ram?

thanks

 

[OBasel]

Would those be like the R710 models or the HP 380 G6 types?

128GB you'd ideally want 2 CPUs with 8 DIMM slots each (=16 slots) * 8GB DIMMs and you'd have 128GB there. Or you could do 8x 16GB DIMMs costing more but you'd have an easy path to 128GB.

So Xeon E5-2600 series V1, V2 or V3 but V3 will be more expensive since you'd need DDR4 and new processors. V2 runs cooler but is newer so more expensive than V1.

Opteron 6100, 6200, 6300 is just cheaper and easy to get a 4 socket system if you want with massive RAM but you don't get sata 3, pcie 3 or anything like that.

I helped a friend build something similar to Patrick's and it is way quieter than his refrigerator https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/my-december-2013-workstation-build.2849/ so you don't really hear/ notice it in his apartment.

 

[joogle]

128GB you'd ideally want 2 CPUs with 8 DIMM slots each (=16 slots) * 8GB DIMMs and you'd have 128GB there. Or you could do 8x 16GB DIMMs costing more but you'd have an easy path to 128GB.

So Xeon E5-2600 series V1, V2 or V3 but V3 will be more expensive since you'd need DDR4 and new processors. V2 runs cooler but is newer so more expensive than V1.

Opteron 6100, 6200, 6300 is just cheaper and easy to get a 4 socket system if you want with massive RAM but you don't get sata 3, pcie 3 or anything like that.

I helped a friend build something similar to Patrick's and it is way quieter than his refrigerator https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/my-december-2013-workstation-build.2849/ so you don't really hear/ notice it in his apartment.

That build looks expensive, I'm definitely not exploring DDR4 options.

I've seen some good prices on like R900 servers on eBay but I think the power consumption will kill my bill and those things sound like jets.

I've seen some Dell Refurbished R710 models, but again those are costly.

I would like a tower ideally to be able to install the ERP apps and may extend my budget...hence need some suggestions.

Thanks

 

[OBasel]

That was expensive in 2013 but now much cheaper. You could get a dual socket motherboard, tower case, use CM Hyper 212's and you'd be very quiet. Look into supermicro X9D motherboards. Builtin kvm and popular here.

 

[joogle]

That was expensive in 2013 but now much cheaper. You could get a dual socket motherboard, tower case, use CM Hyper 212's and you'd be very quiet. Look into supermicro X9D motherboards. Builtin kvm and popular here.

Thank you for mentioning the supermicro x9d part, that helps to search. where is the best place to find ram for cheap?

 

[joogle]

Would building my own system be cheaper than buying something like this:

HP Proliant DL380 G6 Server 2X Quad Core X5560 2 80GHz 128GB RAM No HDD | eBay

This is expensive for me, but I realize price is higher due to DDR3 ram. I probably don't even know where i can fit this near or around my desk.

 

[markarr]

Not too bad of a price, your going to spend ~1000 on 128GB of ram if you buy it alone, so ~400 for the case, processors, and redundant powersupply.

It wont be the quietest thing in the world but if you don't plug any non hp cards in it shouldn't be too bad.

 

[NeverDie]

I'll toss this into the hat as an outlier: Supermicro H8QM3 2 Quad Socket 1207F Opteron 6 Core Ready Server Board | eBay

For $199, it's quad socket (so, up to four 6-core CPU's if so inclined), and you can fill it with cheaper DDR2 RAM even up to 256GB: Super Micro Computer, Inc. - Aplus Products | Motherboards | H8QM3-2

The best part: 6-core CPU's on Ebay are dirt cheap: around $10-$20 each.

The downside is that if you were to fully populate it, it might require a 1200 watt power supply. I wonder how much power it would use while idling? Perhaps a whole lot less? Anyhow, you could underpopulate it to get your 128GB, and so perhaps the worst-case power might be very-roughly half as much or maybe even less if you chose less powerful socket-F CPU choices also?

 

[Chuckleb]

You will need CPUs in order to fire up the RAM slots so you can only get by so far with leaving cores out. It is cheaper but the performance isn't really there, you are a few years out. It could work for testing but your task is probably not solely limited by ram, you need some speed as well.

 

[NeverDie]

You will need CPUs in order to fire up the RAM slots so you can only get by so far with leaving cores out. It is cheaper but the performance isn't really there, you are a few years out. It could work for testing but your task is probably not solely limited by ram, you need some speed as well.

Why are you confident "the performance isn't really there"? The OP said he wanted it for "learning purposes," which covers a lot of ground.

Admittedly, without knowing what tradeoffs the OP would actually make if presented with a forced choice, all we can do is spitball this.

 

[dba]

Hi - I need to buy a server with 128gb ram to install a full suite ERP application for learning purposes. I don't have a separate room to host servers so this is meant for home, am looking for something quiet and less power consuming. I found some old models but I think they will be very power hungry.

Need suggestions which models to focus on when searching, budget is not high, really just want it so I can install and learn the ERP apps, so looking for best price.

Thanks!

The big ERP suites like lots of RAM, but they will usually run just fine with less RAM in a learning environment with only one or two simultaneous users. That's important since RAM just may be your biggest cost. You might try a Linux box with 64GB or even 32GB of RAM and an SSD drive as your swap drive. If you can get your ERP suite to install - which might work right out of the box or might require editing some installer config files - then you are back in the realm of "normal" computers instead of dual-CPU rigs or expensive huge DIMMS.

If you can't get the ERP to install with less RAM, then set up some eBay searches for cheap RAM. Try to afford 16GB or 32GB sticks, which will give you more options for motherboards without requiring dual CPUs and/or noisy and power hungry rack-mount servers. Once you have your DDR3 ECC RAM, you can pick a server to run it in. If you have 16GB or 32GB DIMMS, you will have tons of options available to you.

A nice single-CPU workstation motherboard in a quiet desk-side case with quality fans is going to be the least beastly option to live with. Making that work, however, will require large DIMMs and/or getting by with less RAM.

But since you asked for specific models. If all else fails, these are great servers that are very cheap to buy on eBay (when they are available), and the AMD CPUs are darn near free. With 32 DIMM slots, you can reach 128GB of RAM using 4GB RAM sticks if you need to:
Super Micro Computer, Inc. - Products | A+ Servers | 2U | 2042G-72RF4
Here is one for $900 with chassis, motherboard, power supplies, cables, 48 cores of CPU, and two disks, but no RAM: Supermicro 2042G 6RF Server w H8QG6 F 4X 12 Core AMD 6234 2 4GHz No Mem 2X500GB | eBay
Warning: They are very loud and very power hungry!!

 

[Terabitdan]

I have a motherboard for sale in the For Sale Section that meets your needs. The only thing missing is a power supply. It's quiet and powerful, I used in in our house for about a year.

Dan