4 Node DP E5 V1/ V2 systems!

[Jeggs101]

I know a lot of people on here are looking for systems to take advantage of the cheap E5-2660 and E5-2670 processors.

$975 with 4 nodes and 16 DIMMs/ node 2.5" drives 2x PSUs - SuperMicro 2U Quad Node 2027TR-HTRF Server X9DRT-XF+ 2xPS Rail Kit

$999 with 4 nodes 8 DIMMs/ node 3.5" drive 2x PSUs - SuperMicro SYS-6027TR-HTRF 2U SuperServer BAREBONES

$1300 (+ a way bigger $150 shipping) with 4 nodes 16 DIMMs/ node 3.5" Dell C6220: DELL PowerEdge C6220 2U 4xNodes No CPU No Ram 12x3.5" BareBones CTO Cloud Server - it also looks to me like you'll need to get 12 drive trays for these.

Why am I posting these? I've been seeing single systems sell for in the $500-700 range recently. If you need more compute/ nodes and less storage, with today's even say ~70/ CPU these can be a better value.

$1000/ chassis (for the SM ones) / 4 nodes = $250/ node assuming you can get a slight BO discount to cover shipping for case, mobo, PSU.

Full 64GB node
$250/ node
$140 CPUs
8x8GB - RAM's real expensive right now so say $25/ module = $200

Total cost outfitted (no drives) $590.

If you made the same with a 1U or 2U that you spent $700 for the case, you'd be at $1040 for the single node.

Full 4x node configs are $2360 so it's not much more than buying 2x 1U/ 2U nodes but you get twice as many to play with.

I also like that these will be better on power since the power and cooling are shared.

 

[DaSaint]

@Jeggs101 do you know how loud the 6220 is compared to the 6100 series?

 

[Jeggs101]

@Jeggs101 do you know how loud the 6220 is compared to the 6100 series?

Not really. We have maybe 8-10 of them and they're in a loud datacenter. I mean it's still needing to cool 1200w in 2U.

 

[Churchill]

@Jeggs101 do you know how loud the 6220 is compared to the 6100 series?

These are incredibly loud, as loud as the 6100. Had some of these and they are best in a datacenter, basement, or somewhere remote to get away from the noise.

 

[MountainDew]

What's the noise level like for the SM servers mentioned by the OP?

 

[Churchill]

I ran 4 of those 2U supermicros and they were not whisper quiet, but they were a bit quieter than the Dells

 

[CreoleLakerFan]

This site really helps with willpower. With all these great deals floating around, I resisted the temptation to buy anything for a long time (well, a month or so).

 

[XxrazorxX]

If I was going to buy the 4 node SYS-6027TR-HTRF and wanted to give one of the nodes at least 8 sata drives, how could I do this?

 

[Churchill]

If I was going to buy the 4 node SYS-6027TR-HTRF and wanted to give one of the nodes at least 8 sata drives, how could I do this?

You can't,each node has a set amount of drives that are allocated for use. You either use them all or they sit unused. You can't reassign drives.

 

[Patrick]

If I was going to buy the 4 node SYS-6027TR-HTRF and wanted to give one of the nodes at least 8 sata drives, how could I do this?

Using a Dell C6220 my solution was to add a storage node as a separate box. I know that does not help but these are more for compute density than storage.

 

[XxrazorxX]

Thanks. Using the storage node seems like the only option.

 

[wardtj]

If I was going to buy the 4 node SYS-6027TR-HTRF and wanted to give one of the nodes at least 8 sata drives, how could I do this?

You could do it with Openstack using Cinder, Ceph and Rados. I think it could be done with Promox too. You'd have to create a VM and then assign storage across the cluster to it

I'd love one of these but the loudness would be very bothersome. I have had these on my watchlist since early January

Very tempting though!

 

[XxrazorxX]

I'm still thinking about this. What is an affordable storage node or sas expander. Also what riser card would I need? One of the nodes will be my nas running all of my backups, while another will be a dedicated gaming server. Not sure what I'll do with the other two.

Also how loud is the sys-6027tr-htrf?

 

[Riz]

Picked up one of the 24x2.5" ones, he accepted $900. I had to message him about it though as he mentioned 'not accepting any more offers'.

 

[Patrick]

At $900 that is an absolute steal, especially compared to people spending $225/ ea for those Intel boards with equivalent remote management.

 

[JayG30]

This thread is exactly what I'm trying to figure out right now.
Actually was looking at the exact 4 node 2027TR-HTRF a few weeks ago on ebay.

I'm looking to setup some Hyper-V servers. My thinking was pair a nice SuperMicro setup, E5-2670 deal, lots of RAM, and all enterprise SSD's. I'd also be using local storage so I'm thinking I will need to add a decent RAID card (my assumption is the onboard LSI without cache or BBU isn't going to cut it) and I also want to get 10GbE SFP+ (have some cheap cards around, don't know if you can convert FDR/QDR to SFP+ easily). So I think I need room for at least 2 pci-e cards unless someone thinking I can use built in options on a Supermicro 4 or 2 node offering.

Initially I was looking at some of these 4 node models because the price is really good but it seems like I won't be able to get a RAID card and SFP+ card in them. So I started trying to look at the 2 node Twin models instead, but having a hard time finding something worth while. Pricing seems higher, some only have 1 pci-e mini slot, some have fewer RAM slots, and so on.

Anyone have any advice?

EDIT: So doing some digging and it looks like Supermicro QDR/FDR is a QSFP interface and they use Mellanox. Mellanox won't support the "QSFP to SFP+ breakout cables". But it looks like Mellanox makes a QSFP to SFP+ adapter HERE for <$40. So I'm thinking I could potentially use this to take advantage of builtin networking on some of the Supermicro boards and only require 1 pci-e slot for a raid card, which might actually be doable in a 4 node chassis....? I think I'd still prefer the 2 node servers and have 2 of them over a single 4 node.

 

[hsben]

I bought one of the SuperMicro 2U Quad Node 2027TR-HTRF Server X9DRT-XF+ 2xPS Rail Kit. Got him to go to 800$+90$, did some GC churning from raise.com to target to ebay gift cards, so I was out of pocket about 10% less.

So far so good, loaded it up with ram and 2670s, but the thing is loud as shit. WAY louder than my C6100, I dont know if there fan settings I couldnt find in the bios, or I need to update the bios to get access to some.

 

[Riz]

I bought one of the SuperMicro 2U Quad Node 2027TR-HTRF Server X9DRT-XF+ 2xPS Rail Kit. Got him to go to 800$+90$, did some GC churning from raise.com to target to ebay gift cards, so I was out of pocket about 10% less.

So far so good, loaded it up with ram and 2670s, but the thing is loud as shit. WAY louder than my C6100, I dont know if there fan settings I couldnt find in the bios, or I need to update the bios to get access to some.

I picked up one too. It's been running smooth and without issues. Even nicer that it included heatsinks! I was planning on picking up another today, but he said he'll be out for a while.