Edit: Updated Build 3/26/2017
Thanks for all the helpful advice - this is shaping up nicely!
Build’s Name: Big RAM - Small Apartment
Operating System/ Storage Platform: Windows Server 2016 DC, Hyper-V VMs
CPU: 2x Xeon E5-2683 v3 ES/QS 2GHz 120W ($350 on ebay)
CPU Cooler: 2x Noctua NH-U14S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock EP2C612D16C-4L
Chassis: Fractal Design Define XL R2
Drives: 2x Samsung 850 EVO 2Tb SSD (boot and VMs)
2x WD Red 4Tb 5400 (mirrored, backups)
RAM: 16x Crucial 1x32Gb RDIMM 288-pin DDR4/2133
Video Card: MSI GTX 1060 GAMING X 6G
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME Platinum 1000W 80+ Platinum
Other Bits: Fan replacements, extra fan controller if needed
Usage Profile: SQL Server/IIS, load testing, performance tuning, high availability scenario testing
Other information…
{Expletive adjective} {expletive verb} {expletive adjective} RAM prices!!!!
I'd really prefer to go with the 64Gb LRDIMMs and get the headroom up to 1Tb, but I'm having a hard time with the 50% premium over the 32Gb sticks. Even so, I'll be buying the RAM in 128Gb stages over several months as I can afford more - I can mess with shared memory to the failover SQL Server VM to get some useful work done at lower RAM totals.
I'm somewhat concerned about getting ES/QS CPUs, but the price/performance ratio makes it worth the risk to me. Once I get closer to buying, I'll post details on the ES thread here and make sure that I improve my chances of getting a working pair.
Minor bits:
- Fractal Design support confirmed that the XL case works fine with an SSI EEB mobo, just need a couple of standoffs. I also like the look of the Phanteks Enthoo Pro, which looks like it can be just as quiet if I add some acoustifoam.
- The video card is for my wife's machine learning, will have to figure out how to pass it through to a VM
Now to save a little more money and do my research on CPU/GPU fans total CFM vs case fans CFM, verify the power supply needs, and remember that it isn't a laptop so I'll need a UPS if I care about graceful shutdowns.
Thoughts?
------------------------
Original post:
Help! This is my first build in a decade, since we moved from a large house to a small apartment and I switched to a laptop-only world. I haven't kept up with server hardware much in the interim, so I'm a bit at sea.
Build’s Name: Big RAM - Small Apartment
Operating System/ Storage Platform: Windows Server 2016 DC, Hyper-V VMs
CPU: 1 or 2 Xeon, 20-24 cores total
Motherboard: ASRock SSI EEB? (dual), X99? (single)
Chassis: ???
Drives: ???
RAM: 512Gb
Add-in Cards: None
Power Supply: ???
Other Bits:
Usage Profile: SQL Server/IIS, load testing, performance tuning, high availability scenario testing
Other information… I’ve been using my prior laptop as a home test bed for software development, but the venerable m18-x has finally given up the ghost. I live in a small NYC apartment and the laptop was been nice and quiet, but was also severely memory limited (32Gb).
I really need something that can do useful testing for a production system that runs on 4x 12-core (dual 6C Xeon E5 2640s)/128Gb RAM with 10GpE. Our DR environment runs fine on half the CPUs so I don’t need 48 cores, but there’s no getting around the memory requirements.
Noise is of some concern, since this will sit in a corner of the bedroom, but it also won’t being doing much while I’m asleep, so quiet at idle and under light workload is probably what I’m shooting for.
This is just the beginning so I have a bunch of questions:
Thanks for all the helpful advice - this is shaping up nicely!
Build’s Name: Big RAM - Small Apartment
Operating System/ Storage Platform: Windows Server 2016 DC, Hyper-V VMs
CPU: 2x Xeon E5-2683 v3 ES/QS 2GHz 120W ($350 on ebay)
CPU Cooler: 2x Noctua NH-U14S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock EP2C612D16C-4L
Chassis: Fractal Design Define XL R2
Drives: 2x Samsung 850 EVO 2Tb SSD (boot and VMs)
2x WD Red 4Tb 5400 (mirrored, backups)
RAM: 16x Crucial 1x32Gb RDIMM 288-pin DDR4/2133
Video Card: MSI GTX 1060 GAMING X 6G
Power Supply: SeaSonic PRIME Platinum 1000W 80+ Platinum
Other Bits: Fan replacements, extra fan controller if needed
Usage Profile: SQL Server/IIS, load testing, performance tuning, high availability scenario testing
Other information…
{Expletive adjective} {expletive verb} {expletive adjective} RAM prices!!!!
I'd really prefer to go with the 64Gb LRDIMMs and get the headroom up to 1Tb, but I'm having a hard time with the 50% premium over the 32Gb sticks. Even so, I'll be buying the RAM in 128Gb stages over several months as I can afford more - I can mess with shared memory to the failover SQL Server VM to get some useful work done at lower RAM totals.
I'm somewhat concerned about getting ES/QS CPUs, but the price/performance ratio makes it worth the risk to me. Once I get closer to buying, I'll post details on the ES thread here and make sure that I improve my chances of getting a working pair.
Minor bits:
- Fractal Design support confirmed that the XL case works fine with an SSI EEB mobo, just need a couple of standoffs. I also like the look of the Phanteks Enthoo Pro, which looks like it can be just as quiet if I add some acoustifoam.
- The video card is for my wife's machine learning, will have to figure out how to pass it through to a VM
Now to save a little more money and do my research on CPU/GPU fans total CFM vs case fans CFM, verify the power supply needs, and remember that it isn't a laptop so I'll need a UPS if I care about graceful shutdowns.
Thoughts?
------------------------
Original post:
Help! This is my first build in a decade, since we moved from a large house to a small apartment and I switched to a laptop-only world. I haven't kept up with server hardware much in the interim, so I'm a bit at sea.
Build’s Name: Big RAM - Small Apartment
Operating System/ Storage Platform: Windows Server 2016 DC, Hyper-V VMs
CPU: 1 or 2 Xeon, 20-24 cores total
Motherboard: ASRock SSI EEB? (dual), X99? (single)
Chassis: ???
Drives: ???
RAM: 512Gb
Add-in Cards: None
Power Supply: ???
Other Bits:
Usage Profile: SQL Server/IIS, load testing, performance tuning, high availability scenario testing
Other information… I’ve been using my prior laptop as a home test bed for software development, but the venerable m18-x has finally given up the ghost. I live in a small NYC apartment and the laptop was been nice and quiet, but was also severely memory limited (32Gb).
I really need something that can do useful testing for a production system that runs on 4x 12-core (dual 6C Xeon E5 2640s)/128Gb RAM with 10GpE. Our DR environment runs fine on half the CPUs so I don’t need 48 cores, but there’s no getting around the memory requirements.
Noise is of some concern, since this will sit in a corner of the bedroom, but it also won’t being doing much while I’m asleep, so quiet at idle and under light workload is probably what I’m shooting for.
This is just the beginning so I have a bunch of questions:
- Single, hi-core count CPU or dual with lower core counts each? The dual approach would give me some space for processing upgrade down the road if needed.
- How important are the newer Xeon revs (v3/v4)?
- 8x64Gb or 16x32Gb for the RAM? The 32’s leave room for a future upgrade, but is it useful?
- Large case with room for big slow fans, or a denser arrangement? Which is better for noise control and cooling? I’ve got room for a full tower, but smaller is nicer.
- Do I need NVMe or will SATA SSDs work? I’m mimicking 10GpE iSCSI to a 10K SAS spinning disk SAN so even a slow SSD has 2 orders of magnitude better iops, but I’m very interested in database tuning and don’t want to find myself bottlenecked on the I/O.
- I don’t currently have any monitor in the apartment – is it possible to do the setup and install with the server headless?
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