Building a Server: Is LGA1366 Still sweet spot today for Power Consumption vs Cost?

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cgtechuk

Member
Dec 27, 2016
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DL380 G7 – 2 x L5640 (6-core @ 2.26GHz, 60W), 24gb (6 x 4gb DDR3), 6 x 2.5” SAS, 1 x HBA

- 24hr Avg usage 236W (Power regulator mode : Dynamic power)



DL380 Gen8 – 2 x E5-5670 (8-core @ 2.60GHz, 115W), 256gb (16 x 16gb DDR3) 2 x 2.5” SAS, 2 x HBA, 1 x 4-port 1G NIC

- 24hr Avg usage 178W (Power regulator mode : MAX (Static high))


This is a reasonably idle workload (G7 is stand alone running windows, Gen8 is running ESX) and last 24hrs is Sunday including evening until midday or so Monday.

Look at the extra memory in the 2011 system, that also adds some watts. Also windows is generally a better power saver than an ESX server.

Note that is the HP hardware , I really can't comment on white box stuff.
I do have blades all with 512gb ram on E5 v1,v3,v4 (no v2) config and all with same dual port 10g + 2 x dual port HBA i will check on when I get some time out of interest since that power usage will exclude fans and only the 2 x 300gb disks included so is about the closest you can get to same/same config.

Evan thanks for this I really appreciate it and it is certainly some interesting results! Is that at 230 V as we use 230V here but not sure that makes a difference with power wattage consumption given that all voltages are stepped down anyway. 115 Watts is not terrible at all and looks like a sweet spot, Its ML310e Gen 8 servers I am running at the moment but that is a figure I can live with and if I ran in single proc mode first then that would save even more. Interesting,..,.
 

Evan

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2016
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Yes, 230/240 volts, it's slightly more efficient but only 1-2% if that and only at some load factors.
115 watts... Depends on your point of view, at home less power consumed is better.

In datacenter also look at licence costs and how many VM's you can run in the ever increasing memory it's clear why it's better to replace early. In a lightly loaded situation capital cost has a bigger part to play in the discussion.
 

cgtechuk

Member
Dec 27, 2016
73
1
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Yes, 230/240 volts, it's slightly more efficient but only 1-2% if that and only at some load factors.
115 watts... Depends on your point of view, at home less power consumed is better.

In datacenter also look at licence costs and how many VM's you can run in the ever increasing memory it's clear why it's better to replace early. In a lightly loaded situation capital cost has a bigger part to play in the discussion.

If I am honest 115 Watts is still high for me as its for a homelab but on the flipside the return for that is pretty strong as in the processors and memory load, It would be potentially lower to begin with anyway given that Id be using one processor

I would say 20 VM's running on a host with 15 disks mounted to it and plex, Active Directory, FreeNas, PFSense etc
 

Rapturoso

Member
Jan 22, 2017
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What board do you run them with and is DDR4 cost pretty decent compared to DDR3?
Am I reading that right that the CPUs are nearly $1k each for a v4!! WOW , little out my price range :(
@cgtechuk I got my E5 2630 v4 ES2 QK3G retail stepping processors for $160 each in February. This is a steal. The savings allow for spending more on the motherboard, DDR4 RDIMM / LRDIMM.

Any LGA2011v3 board from Supermicro, Asrock or Asus will be totally fine and some motherboard bargains for the Xeon v3/v4 Haswell/Broadwell EP ES2/QS can be had from each brand. As I said, spending just a little more (nowhere near the $1k you state for the retail processors) on the whole system is highly recommended for the performance, economy and longevity of the system. It will pay off very quickly compared to older generations.

Xeon E5 v4 Broadwell EP will soon be last generation and people will be replacing their ES, QS and retail low to mid-range processors with the higher cores and clocks. You'll get an absolute bargain on E5 ES2 / QS processors and the boards are already starting to come down in price even from new. The savings you make can be spent on RDIMM or LDIMM DDR4 faster memory, which is what most should concentrate their attention on after getting a smacking deal on a quality used or new ES2/QS v4 Xeon.
 

cgtechuk

Member
Dec 27, 2016
73
1
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@cgtechuk I got my E5 2630 v4 ES2 QK3G retail stepping processors for $160 each in February. This is a steal. The savings allow for spending more on the motherboard, DDR4 RDIMM / LRDIMM.

Any LGA2011v3 board from Supermicro, Asrock or Asus will be totally fine and some motherboard bargains for the Xeon v3/v4 Haswell/Broadwell EP ES2/QS can be had from each brand. As I said, spending just a little more (nowhere near the $1k you state for the retail processors) on the whole system is highly recommended for the performance, economy and longevity of the system. It will pay off very quickly compared to older generations.

Xeon E5 v4 Broadwell EP will soon be last generation and people will be replacing their ES, QS and retail low to mid-range processors with the higher cores and clocks. You'll get an absolute bargain on E5 ES2 / QS processors and the boards are already starting to come down in price even from new. The savings you make can be spent on RDIMM or LDIMM DDR4 faster memory, which is what most should concentrate their attention on after getting a smacking deal on a quality used or new ES2/QS v4 Xeon.

Ahh that makes a bit more sense now lol, I see you are in the UK as well, Did you just do Ebay or somewhere else? you got any model numbers examples I can google until I figure out the SuperMicro naming convention
 

Diavuno

Active Member
I just moved a SM846 saw a board was in it... opened it up and bam 1366 SM 2P board with a stick-it note that says "working".
I think I have some 4C L cpus someplace I'll throw in there and power it up and get a reading, I wanted to think with 8x dimms it was around 180W idle with x5670s back when I ran it, def. was not low power idle like v2/v3/v4 systems do.
wow, my x8 systems are typically 120ish watts with no disks
 

DaveHope

New Member
Nov 26, 2015
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Following this thread with interest. Another UK user here torn between the E3v5 (due to increased memory capacity), single socket E5 v3/v4 (ES/QS) and even XeonD.

Struggling to find decent used SM prices in the UK. If anyone's looking to offload a setup feel free to PM me!
 

gbeirn

Member
Jun 23, 2016
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DL 380 G6.
96GB RAM, 2x L5630, 8x80GB SSDs.

Screenshot (4).png Screenshot (6).png

Power usage and server load in pictures.

Edit: I think mechanical SAS drives kill any power advantage by switching sockets.
 

cgtechuk

Member
Dec 27, 2016
73
1
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Hi all. Based on the advice on here I Took the plunge and put in an offer of 200 $ for a Gigabyte GA-7PESH2 from the USA before I boarded my flight for a holiday lol which I thought was a very good deal and by time I landed seen it was accepted. Nice. another 50 $ in import duty for me but never mind still think even that I got a good deal. Just need to sort some 16gb ddr3l sticks out now and order some processors. Thinking the l range and see how I go from there.

I even thought about a little itx board and putting the e3 low voltage chip and the 32gb udimm in it from the HP server as a little router firewall nas too. It's an expensive hobby lol
 

cgtechuk

Member
Dec 27, 2016
73
1
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Whilst I am here I am wondering if you guys can offer some more advice om CPU, I am on the hunt for an 2 x e5 V1/v2 chips for the motherboard I have just bought, I preferably want bang for buck so cheapest doesnt neccesarily mean suitable. I see there is an E5-2648L which is 10 core / 20 thread but only 1.8Ghz or the E5-2630L which is 10 Watts less and 6 Core / 12 thread 2.0Ghz. Something along those lines or I can pick up 2 x E5-2609s cheap but they are only 4 core / 4 thread and 70 watts.

I suppose the main point I have to ask is what is the difference between the V1 and V2 chips other than the price and slight speed differences?
 

Rapturoso

Member
Jan 22, 2017
44
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Ahh that makes a bit more sense now lol, I see you are in the UK as well, Did you just do Ebay or somewhere else? you got any model numbers examples I can google until I figure out the SuperMicro naming convention
I looked around eBay and AliExpress and ended up buying the CPUs from ebay from a seller in Texas. I was specifically looming for new ES2/QS processors and it paid off. The RAM was sourced here from a forum member and I made a good saving as it was previously used but perfectly fine. He made a profit on it as he bought it for less than I paid him for it but prices shot up for DDR4 RDIMM this year.

As for motherboards I only have experience of two out of the three manufacturers I mentioned.

Asrock Rack EP2C612D16-2L2T
Asus Z10PE D8 WS

The latter being the board I currently use. Supermicro do have some very nice boards but they are hard to find at a good price but when you do find them cheap they tend to seem too good to be true, so it's best snapping them up as soon as you stumble upon them either new and discounted or second hand. That said, I prefer the more workstation orientated boards, as they crossover features of general computing and server duties without an over abundance of server centric features that one would probably never utilise. SPF+ is nice to have, like on the Asrock Rack board I mentioned but mostly, home servers aren't going to utilise even a fraction of the bandwidth this provides.
 

cgtechuk

Member
Dec 27, 2016
73
1
8
I looked around eBay and AliExpress and ended up buying the CPUs from ebay from a seller in Texas. I was specifically looming for new ES2/QS processors and it paid off. The RAM was sourced here from a forum member and I made a good saving as it was previously used but perfectly fine. He made a profit on it as he bought it for less than I paid him for it but prices shot up for DDR4 RDIMM this year.

As for motherboards I only have experience of two out of the three manufacturers I mentioned.

Asrock Rack EP2C612D16-2L2T
Asus Z10PE D8 WS

The latter being the board I currently use. Supermicro do have some very nice boards but they are hard to find at a good price but when you do find them cheap they tend to seem too good to be true, so it's best snapping them up as soon as you stumble upon them either new and discounted or second hand. That said, I prefer the more workstation orientated boards, as they crossover features of general computing and server duties without an over abundance of server centric features that one would probably never utilise. SPF+ is nice to have, like on the Asrock Rack board I mentioned but mostly, home servers aren't going to utilise even a fraction of the bandwidth this provides.

Good reply there I hate having too much choice sometimes I'd have been looking gor months. One of the biggest stumbles I have is all the cheaper kit is in the USA and getting postage and customs to UK can kill savings. I figured I'd buy the gigabyte board for a similar reason you mention in that it is still semi workstation and now all out server. You did really well getting the stuff you did even if you look for the same things you have now the prices are a lot higher now just need to find some cpus now lol