Budget platform for 256GB RAM?

[Weapon]

I'm currently using a X10SDV-4C-TLN2F for my primary TrueNAS system. It has been a great board/platform. Rock solid and inexpensive ($230 for board, CPU, and 2x 10Gb NIC). However, it maxes out at 128GB RAM. I'm looking to increase to 256GB RAM and the only options I'm seeing are a Xeon D 2100 series board with 4x DIMMs and 256GB support but 64GB DIMMs are double the cost per GB of 32GB DIMMs.

Or going with a full on E5-2600v3/v4 or Intel scalable that has more DIMM slots and would allow me to use 8x 32GB DIMMs but would have much higher power draw. And I'm not up to date on the motherboards/CPUs for those platforms so not sure there would even be a cost savings vs paying the premium for 64GB DIMMs.

Another option would be adding an entirely new system around the X10SDV-4C-TLN2F since I am currently using an expander JBOD chassis for some of the storage.

Any thoughts or advice?

 

[BlueFox]

TDP on 2011-3 CPUs is indeed higher, but Xeon-D 21xx is much higher than the Xeon-D 15xx series too. Boards and CPUs are fairly cheap for 2011-3. Xeon-D 21xx motherboards are unfortunately very pricey. You're going to be looking at close to $1k for one. Do you need ITX? If not, the slightly higher power usage of 2011-3 will be negligible in the long run in regards to cost. You will get considerably better performance too.

 

[Weapon]

There is a Xeon D 2123 board for $450 but the real downside is the RAM cost. I'm looking at $1300 for 256GB using 64GB DIMMs vs $590 for 256GB with 32GB DIMMs. Are the Intel Scalable platforms worth looking at over 2011-3? That's when I quit following that segment, have always hated the Silver/Gold/Platinum naming scheme.

The more I think about it, a second Xeon-D 15xx board is going to be hard to beat. I can get the board/CPU/NICs for $230 plus $300 for 128GB of RAM = ~$500 for the upgrade.

 

[BlueFox]

3647 systems are unfortunately not cheap yet. Maybe in another year. If you can live with a second system, a second X10SDV motherboard will likely be the cheapest option, assuming you don't need the best CPU performance.