[CN] Seeed studio reServer 4C/8T for $274.50

[true]

in this video they test truenas, can't be too different from to this, right?

 

[nrtc]

I am running the Reserver on ProxMox, which is also based on Linux. All is fine, except that I have lockups when using a second SSD in the PCIe port. I thought this was due to the R24SF extension cable, but I have the same problem when using the shielded K24MF cable or even a direct PCIe to M2 adapter. In all fairness though, others do not seem to report this problem.

In my experience, the positive things of this machine:
- nice build quality and relatively easy to work with (for instance, screws rather than plastic clips)
- more than enough compute and memory (max 64GB) for most home use cases
- low power consumption: slightly below 20W idle with 2x 20TB and 2x SSD

Downsides:
- cooling becomes a problem when stressing the machine with disks and SSDs (an exhaust fan on the top works wonders though)
- standard 60W power supply may be inefficient with disks and SSDs
- the B-key M.2 slot is rather useless, as it does not support SATA and NVME B-key SSDs are about to go extinct
- no ECC memory support

 

[zer0sum]

The reserver is 20-50% faster depending on what you're doing, has dual channel memory, can accept 64GB, has 2 m.2 slots, pcie expansion, external antenna connections for internal wifi, cell, or sdr cards, better build quality, a built in arduino coprocessor with i/o pins, and in my experience rock solid stability.

The r1 advantages are toolless drive caddies that you don't have to disassemble the chassis to swap drives, likely lower power consumption, and far cheaper, unless you can find the reserver on sale in which case the r1 is still less expensive.

I have two reservers, one is doing NVR duty running scrypted for four cameras. It runs at about 4% load recording 4 full bit rates streams and doing motion and object detection.

I don't have an r1, but do have another similarly specced n100 machine, that I could wedge a coral into. It ran at about 20% usage with the same load, but I'm pretty sure it could have been brought down some, as I was streaming onto a NAS connection, and hadn't properly gotten the igpu accelleration working.

Hope that helps a bit.

Thank you for such a detailed response! Really appreciate it!!

Bad news is, they just jacked up the prices massively

reServer - Compact Edge Server powered by 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i3 1125G4

reServer is based on an ODYSSEY X86 v2 board and powered by Intel® Core™ 11th Gen. i3 and Intel UHD Graphics 48EUs (400 - 1250 MHz), which delivers high CPU and AI performance for various applications. It has two high-speed 2.5-Gigabit Ethernet ports and supports hybrid connectivity including...

www.seeedstudio.com

 

[pppcx]

Thank you for such a detailed response! Really appreciate it!!

Bad news is, they just jacked up the prices massively

reServer - Compact Edge Server powered by 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i3 1125G4

reServer is based on an ODYSSEY X86 v2 board and powered by Intel® Core™ 11th Gen. i3 and Intel UHD Graphics 48EUs (400 - 1250 MHz), which delivers high CPU and AI performance for various applications. It has two high-speed 2.5-Gigabit Ethernet ports and supports hybrid connectivity including...

www.seeedstudio.com

View attachment 37186

the price just return to 270+usd

 

[laxweasel]

Not to resurrect this from the dead but I've had one of these running well for over 2 years now, no hiccups, great performance and power consumption. Just noticed they dropped the price to $250 from the US warehouse. I've used a WD SN520 in addition to an NVME thanks to the extra m.2 slot.

Makes a great NAS/Media Server/Converged lab.

 

[nrtc]

Not to resurrect this from the dead but I've had one of these running well for over 2 years now, no hiccups, great performance and power consumption. Just noticed they dropped the price to $250 from the US warehouse. I've used a WD SN520 in addition to an NVME thanks to the extra m.2 slot.

Makes a great NAS/Media Server/Converged lab.

Let me also provide an update in case it might help someone: I ended up with a B+M key to M-key adapter to install a recent SSD in the second m.2 slot. The exact model I used is the Jeyi M.2 NVMe Protector II, available for just a few bucks. I had to cut a hole in one of the plastic side panes (the one with the HDD guides), but luckily the metal casing fits without hitting the adapter, so when everything is mounted you don't see any difference from the outside. This means that the SSD only has 2 PCIe 3.0 lanes, but at least the system has been stable for me with this solution.

Secondly, I 3d-printed a version of the fan bracket that is available online that I modified to install 90x90x25mm fans (the version you can buy on Etsy only allows for 90x90x14mm). With an additional Noctua as exhaust fan the temperatures remain acceptable even over the hot summer.

That said, if I would be in the market for a comparable machine right now I would probably be more inclined to go for the AooStar WTR Pro.

 

[upalachango]

I have one of these with a pair of 14tb WD drives and it's been amazing. I haven't done any mods but keep thinking about it. Recently upgraded to 64gb of mem but even with 32gb it ran proxmox great with truenas scale and core virtualized. I don't run a ton of services but jellyfin and pihole have no problems. With the dual 2.5g networking this may become a virtualized router host too. It bogs down on Windows VM though, haven't tried a gui Linux but I imagine that's it's weak point especially if you aren't passing through the GPU in any manner.

I bought mine about two years ago too, right before a ton of nas products hit the scene. I've been super happy (especially for under $300) with if and styling is still way nicer than most 2 bay competitors. The expandability is hard to match with a pciex4 slot (limited by case to cursed usage though) and multiple nvme. The gen3.0x2 b key is perfect for some cheap optane slog. I may replace the Wi-Fi completely with a coral tpu at some point.

Overall I think this is a fantastic platform for a "home production" server where you aren't going to be experimenting much. A set it and forget appliance. It has a lot more potential than that with the built in Arduino and expansion; maybe become a prototype custom device. Mine was intended to be an affordable travel vault for redundant photo/video storage on long trips overseas. Styling wise it has all the aesthetics of a "data core" and I love it even if it mostly lives as media server at home.

Overall, if it fits your budget it's worth it as a NAS and lightweight LXC server. If you need more compute, aoostar with ryzen is probably better, though more plastic build. I've been thinking about grabbing a second unit as a backup or gift honestly. The build quality is just so nice.

 

[fossxplorer]

Nice to hear the feedback.

Did anyone experience issues with heavy writes with ZFS and this unit that is mentioned in this post? https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeServer/comments/oqpw5w
Everything looks pretty good however under heavy writes ZFS will keep failing one of the disk in the pool. After replacing the HDD twice now and the same problem occurs in different SATA ports I have now reached to seeed for support.

 

[laxweasel]

Nice to hear the feedback.

Did anyone experience issues with heavy writes with ZFS and this unit that is mentioned in this post?

Everything looks pretty good however under heavy writes ZFS will keep failing one of the disk in the pool. After replacing the HDD twice now and the same problem occurs in different SATA ports I have now reached to seeed for support.

FWIW I've had 2x old IronWolf NAS drives in a ZFS array both under Proxmox and plain Debian for the entire time I've had it and haven't had any issues.

Not sure what qualifies as heavy writes, but it has moved some media around just fine.