Considering upgrade from Intel/E5-2670v1 to SM/E5-2620v4

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Kybber

Active Member
May 27, 2016
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I am hoping to get some advice on whether to upgrade my server or not. A week ago I came across a crazy cheap offer for a complete Supermicro server with the following:
MB: SuperMicro X-10 DRL-i
CPU: Dual E5-2620v4 2.10GHz
RAM: 64GB (4*16GB, so 4 unused slots)
Disk controller: AOC-S3108L-H8IR RAID controller
Chassis: SuperMicro CSE-745BTQ tower
Disks: None

The server includes dual R1K28B-SQ PSUs, and was offered for a total price of less than USD 200 including freight. Knowing that I would be able to sell it for more than what I paid, I happily accepted the offer.

For the past couple of years I have been running the following system:
MB: Intel S2600CP2
CPU: Dual E5-2670v1 2.6GHz
RAM: 128GB DDR3
Disk controller: 2 x LSI 2008 SAS-2
Chassis: Supermicro 836
Disks: 2 x 400GB SSD + 12 x 4TB HD (SAS) of which half in Snapraid, half in RAID-Z2

My server runs Proxmox with 6 VMs and 8 CTs with typical usage of 13% CPU and 57GB RAM, according to Proxmox summary. Four PCI-E slots are occupied: 2 x LSI 2008, 1 x Intel dual 10Gbit/s NIC and 1 x dual-width graphics adapter for kids gaming via Steam link (barely in use, so can drop it if needed).

My question is: Should I replace my existing MB, CPU and RAM with those I just purchased and sell the remaining parts? Or should I keep what I have and resell everything I just bought?

Quick pro/con list for switching MB, CPU and RAM:
+ Newer everything, so should be no need to upgrade for a while.
+ IPMI, KVM over LAN included (sorely missed today, but I get by using a KVM in my rack)
+ Less power usage (2x85W TDP vs 2x115W TDP)
- Slower CPU
- Half amount of RAM
- Current usage and future expansion may be limited by the number of PCI-E slots (one of the three PCI-E x8 slots cannot be used if I add more RAM, and I may have problems fitting my gaming graphics adapter in there)

So: Is the upgrade worth the effort?
 
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nk215

Active Member
Oct 6, 2015
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Sell everything you just bought. especially when DDR4 is still hot.

As far as benchmark, the new setup doesn't get you any more performance. In fact it's even slightly slower. It gets you slightly better power usage but that's at 100% CPU utilization (85 vs 115 watts). At idle, the difference is smaller.

A significant % of your power usage came from the GPU, 10GB NIC, dual LSI-2008, and HDs. If you can consolidate all the HD to fewer more efficient HDs and eliminate one LSI-2008, you can more than offset for a difference in v1 and v2 CPUs power usage.

It's hard to go back to 64GB when you are at 128GB. Most likely you'll run into a memory limitation in the next few years vs CPU limitation.
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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If you want to upgrade to E5 v3\4 then you could sell your current CPU \ Motherboard \ RAM \ Chassis (and not needed AOC).
Then also sell the CPU: Dual E5-2620v4 2.10GHz and RAM: 64GB (4*16GB, so 4 unused slots)

And get higher performing E5 V3 (cheaper than V4 by a lot), and get 128GB DDR4 (cheap to do now).

No matter what though, V3 and DDR4 is going to cost more than E5 V1 \ DDR3.

If you don't want more power, less electric power, etc, then you could just sell your V1 CPU, all the new stuff, and get E5 V2 CPU.
ALTHOUGH in many instances E5 V2 is as much as E5 V3 right now :( So you may be better off with V3 :)
 

Kybber

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May 27, 2016
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Thanks a lot for your responses. I was hoping for a "yes, go ahead and upgrade asap - your life will be so much better after" kind of response, but no such luck ;)

I'm a bit confused though: nk215 indicates that DDR4 is expensive, while T_Minus says 128GB DDR4 is cheap. Or did I misunderstand? The modules included in the server are Hynix dr416l-hl01-er24. I find them on Ebay for USD150/ea + freight which means four additional modules will cost USD 675 + import taxes and VAT resulting in ~USD850. That's way too much.
 

poutnik

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Apr 3, 2013
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DDR4 are more expensive than DDR3, yet DDR4 is (way) cheaper than it was even relatively recently - I would understand that based on my observations and from both the comments.

I have also thought about upgrading from V1 CPUs to V3, but decided against. I did upgrade to V2 where I thought it would be worth it (decent 10 core cpu for relatively low investment) and wait for a good deal on some of the new AMD stuff where I need to be on the wave behind cutting edge :D

Jiri
 

T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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DDR4 RDIMM 32GB DIMMs is $70-$85 on eBay that's an amazing price considering 16GB was going for that recently.
 
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Kybber

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May 27, 2016
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Unfortunately the cheapest ECC REG modules are $120, and I would need to verify that they are compatible with the MB. Good thing is they're from China which means no import tax and no freight. Bad thing is they're from China.
 

StevenDTX

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Aug 17, 2016
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DDR4 RDIMM 32GB DIMMs is $70-$85 on eBay that's an amazing price considering 16GB was going for that recently.
Wow! Looks like I need to start looking at upgrading. The price of DDR4 has scared me away from upgrading any of my servers.
 
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T_Minus

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Feb 15, 2015
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Unfortunately the cheapest ECC REG modules are $120, and I would need to verify that they are compatible with the MB. Good thing is they're from China which means no import tax and no freight. Bad thing is they're from China.
No they're not.
I purchased them at $80\ea yesterday on ebay, and have for the last few months for that price or slightly less.
 

Kybber

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May 27, 2016
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Ah, you're correct. I changed/broadened my search and now find 32GB ECC REG modules that seem to be compatible with the board (according to memory.net) for around that price. Thanks! :)

So now all I have to do is make a decision on whether to make the switch or not...
 
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nk215

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Oct 6, 2015
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Read up on AMD Rome offer. I am holding onto my v2 setup (E5-2696v2 with 256Gb DDR3). The next upgrade would be Rome and not v3/v4.
 
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