Fujitsu TX1320 M3 - Cheap low power server (barebone)

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Bjorn Smith

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Sep 3, 2019
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So I have been fiddling for a while with tinkercad (I'm no engineer!) to "fix" this in the STL file and ended up with something that's actually working well enough for my needs.
When I receive the one I got 3d printed in Germany I might try yours for comparison - and I will print a batch of that which works best for me :) So thank you for sharing
 

richard.dzavoronok

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Jun 23, 2021
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I just received my v5 xeon. Works without issue.
My only note is that you need to wait few boot cycles. In my case I had to wait 4 cycles (boot until fujitsu logo, automatic reboot).
On the 5th time it detected 8 logical cores and did show "CPU ERORR - CPU CHANGED" (but happily continued to boot OS).
One BIOS check - save changes, and no more CPU error.
 
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joeribl

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I was wondering why Fujitsu put an i3 7100 on the list of accepted CPU but not an I5 7400 for instance. Then I noticed that the i3 7100 and 7300 have ECC support whereas the i5 no.
 

Rand__

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So,
have now deployed my 4 boxes (4 x 1245v6, 64G), replacing a single Xeon-W 3235 (12 Cores) w/ 192G.
Went from single ESXi running via nfs / TNC box to a 4 node vSan Cluster

As expected power levels remained about the same (+-10% ) but o/c I gained a lot of redundancy (and a few spare cores).
Downside is that I am now short on memory since I didnt take into consideration that vSAN is using like 16GB per host, so basically 25% of my total memory driving me right into overutilization (with ~160G in use) ... which means I am not particularly redundant after all.

Maybe I can reduce vsan memory utilization by moving to 280GB Optanes from the 480 i now have, have not looked into it. Or need a fifth node.. but dont have 64g extra memory...
Edit - yes -> vSAN Memory consumption - are you kidding me

Anyhow, the boxes are running fine albeit a bit hot,
1668530776321.png

but o/c that one is quite busy:)
1668531027621.png
 
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Rand__

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Dont think its a reason to worry...
Its down again now, so will be related to load. Maybe need to redo the thermal paste, but the cpu should be able to take it.
Maybe not the best idea in summer when the ambient temps are higher though;)
 
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Hahaburger

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Aug 26, 2022
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I was looking for a server with low power idle usage, after seeing this thread I got myself this server + G4560.

I could get 10 Watts idle power consumption while one SSD and one RAM stick is used with Ubuntu Server 20.04.
The weird thing I have seen with this server is: It seems it tries booting couple of times and fails(because I hear relays)
Finally it boots without any issue and there is no error message on iRMC, I wonder if I got somehow a faulty unit.

Out of curiosity I have tried also G4400 and G5500, I could not get any error message or anything but just a black screen.
I was not expecting G5500 to boot but I had high hopes with G4400. Maybe I should try updating the bios.
 

Bjorn Smith

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Out of curiosity I have tried also G4400 and G5500, I could not get any error message or anything but just a black screen.
I was not expecting G5500 to boot but I had high hopes with G4400. Maybe I should try updating the bios.
I think the Coofee Lake are simply too new and will probably never work - its a newer gen than the one the machines were specced for - then only reason we tried with the older gene is because the chipset supports the cpu and others have boards that use that chipset+cpu combo.

G4400 might work after a bios update - and who knows also the G5500.
 
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Hahaburger

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Aug 26, 2022
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I think the Coofee Lake are simply too new and will probably never work - its a newer gen than the one the machines were specced for - then only reason we tried with the older gene is because the chipset supports the cpu and others have boards that use that chipset+cpu combo.

G4400 might work after a bios update - and who knows also the G5500.
I have updated my bios from "V5.0.0.11 R1.18.0" to "V5.0.0.11 R1.33.0".
G4400 works now but G5500 does not.

Also the new bios increased the idle power usage from 10 to 12.5 Watts.

I wonder if bios mods would work for products like these servers for Coffee Lake CPUs :)
 

joeribl

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Jun 6, 2021
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I have updated my bios from "V5.0.0.11 R1.18.0" to "V5.0.0.11 R1.33.0".
G4400 works now but G5500 does not.

Also the new bios increased the idle power usage from 10 to 12.5 Watts.

I wonder if bios mods would work for products like these servers for Coffee Lake CPUs :)
There are reports that Asus and Asrock C236 boards work after biosmod. So in theory it should be possible.
 

richard.dzavoronok

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Jun 23, 2021
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There are reports that Asus and Asrock C236 boards work after biosmod. So in theory it should be possible.
It would be amazing to get any 6/8 cores ECC (Xeon E probably) enabled CPU working on that board, but I'm not into this kind of things. If you'll success, please share your experience :)
 

Bjorn Smith

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It would be amazing to get any 6/8 cores ECC (Xeon E probably) enabled CPU working on that board, but I'm not into this kind of things. If you'll success, please share your experience :)
I dont see why not any xeon e3 v6 should not just work. I know @Rand__ has used different E3's than what I am using and possibly some that are not on the supported list.
 

Bjorn Smith

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Anyone have ideas on how to get a SATADOM to work.
The motherboard has a SATA port maked "DOM" - but I do not see power anywhere, for my tiny innodisk power cables - and server does not detect the SATADOM if I just plug it in. I had hoped that it provided power in the port like supermicro does, but no dice.
 

joeribl

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Bjorn Smith

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He was talking about Coffeelake. So for instance E-2136 which is 6/12. People are doing mods for some Lenovo Tiny to enable Coffee Lake processors Lenovo M700/M900 BIOS mod to Coffee Lake CPUs but not on my planning.
I see - its crazy how you can just "modify" a bios to accept whole new generations - I would have thought it required extensive changes to a BIOS, since new generations possibly have new requirements to chipset and so forth.
 

richard.dzavoronok

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I see - its crazy how you can just "modify" a bios to accept whole new generations - I would have thought it required extensive changes to a BIOS, since new generations possibly have new requirements to chipset and so forth.
I did small research and indeed is not as simple as flashing new BIOS. For new generation CPUs you have to physically modify pins (tape over or something).
Anyway, that's not something I would want to run :)
But on 20 euro box with a lot of free time, could be nice hobby.
 

Bjorn Smith

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Regarding SATADOM - I have posted a message on the fujitsu forums, but in the mean time I have ordered 5 of these:

Which will enable me to power a SATADOM and have it sticking out the back - just like you would a USB stick - or alternatively I could just have it lying inside the chassis.

The point is that with this item I can use the MOLEX power connecter that is already there, and get my SATADOM's working, so I can have 1 SATADOM for OS disk, and the 4 hotswap slots for disks.

And for less than 3 EUR per delock item - I think its worth a try :)
 

Bjorn Smith

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I did small research and indeed is not as simple as flashing new BIOS. For new generation CPUs you have to physically modify pins (tape over or something).
Anyway, that's not something I would want to run :)
But on 20 euro box with a lot of free time, could be nice hobby.
Indeed that would be a fun hobby project :)