Home lab build Xeon-D

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Sergio

Member
Dec 17, 2015
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I would like to finally build a home lab this year, and I have some thoughts and doubts, probably somebody can give me advice.

I want to build a lab for tinkering, I don't have a right project in mind, but things such as KVM, Vmware, Xen,Proxmox,Openstack fit quite well. Being said that, here is the setup I came up with:
  • Xeon-D 1518 (Supermicro)
  • Chenbro SR30169 (I want to re-use a PSU Corsair HX620 )
  • 32Gb (a 32Gb vs 8Gb x 4)
  • 512Gb Samsung 950
For networking I have in mind the SG300-10. In my opinion this is a good start, but I have several doubts if it would be better to invest in a better processor (1541), however the increase of cores it really steeps up the price (almost twice). The above configuration is around 1300€.

What do you think?
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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If you want 32GB I would go with 2x 16GB so that you can add more RAM easily. If you are building a virtualization lab, at some point you will want more than 32GB. Going 2x 16GB allows you to simply add another 2x 16GB rather than having to remove 2 or 4 8GB modules when you upgrade.

The X10SDV-6C+-TLN4F that was used in the Xeon D-1528 benchmarks yesterday might be a good option. Pricing of that chip is between the D-1518 and D-1540/1541.
 

Sergio

Member
Dec 17, 2015
33
4
8
Is there any performance improvement of using 2x 16Gb vs 1x 32Gb? I read those benchmarks and you are right, is something between, I should probably go for that one. Thanks.
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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The Intel Xeon D-1500 series has a dual channel memory controller that can accept two DIMMs per channel. You generally want to have memory populating each channel at a minimum for full performance.
 

Sergio

Member
Dec 17, 2015
33
4
8
I had no idea it was that bad :-/ I guess I should wait and see if Supermicro provides its default case with the Xeon-D 1528. I actually found on-line the Supermicro's case but in my opinion quite expensive (~200€).

Thanks for this information, I should look for an alternative case.
 

izx

Active Member
Jan 17, 2016
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I actually found on-line the Supermicro's case but in my opinion quite expensive (~200€).
Do you mean the SC721TQ?

I would consider around USD 200 reasonable for a well made, well-cooled Mini-ITX chassis with 4 hotswap bays.

For your home lab experiments, are you likely to be using 4x 3.5" hard drives? If not, perhaps you can get decent Mini-ITX cases without the 4 hot-swap bays for cheaper. Alternatively, consider Flex-ITX or Micro-ATX cases with 4 hot-swap bays maybe?
 

Sergio

Member
Dec 17, 2015
33
4
8
Right, I didn't know the exact model. Yeah, I was considering those format as well, besides there are new Flex Xeon-D boards, but I guess for me the ITX size is really nice in case you want to add a second box. To be honest I don't think I will need the hotswap, but if it does come with the case I have the option there.

Ideally I would like to see a build from Supermicro with each of new boards, particularly the X10SDV-6C+-TLN4F. If the price does not go crazy of course, otherwise I will build it myself.

Thanks.