HP Microserver G10+ Alternative

[vgru]

Hi, can anyone recommend a cost-effective Microserver G10 Plus alternative, but with a better power supply? I would need ~30TB of space (after RAID10), so something where I can plug 4x 16TB or something similar. It needs to run Windows Server, so I am not looking for a NAS.

HP Microserver G10+ is great for its 4 bays, no need for caddys, and a relatively performant Xeon CPU. However, the PSU is very weak (180W), and there is only a single PCIe slot which I need to use for a certain GPS time clock, so no way to add an SSD.

So, is there anything similar which would give me:

• Microserver G10+ specs (at least 4 bays + a performant CPU like Xeon E-2224),
• Preferably a couple of free SATA slots or at least 2 PCIe slots for an SSD,
• Readily available disk caddys/trays (that's one neat thing about the Microserver).

I've searched the net for certain options but all the options I find are 3x the price of Microserver, with a worse CPU and require buying aftermarket HDD caddys from eBay. Perhaps a Supermicro solution would work, but I have no experience with their equipment and the configurations I've tried creating ended up not so cheap.

 

[BlueFox]

I don't see why you would have an issue with the PSU. 180W is more than adequate given the power requirements of the CPU options and 4 drives.

For Supermicro, you could get a 5029C-T (and use an M.2 SSD) or put whatever motherboard you'd like in a 721TQ-250B2 chassis.

 

[vgru]

I don't see why you would have an issue with the PSU. 180W is more than adequate given the power requirements of the CPU options and 4 drives.

Hi, thanks for the info, the Supermicro suggestion is basically exactly what I asked for. Seems like it would be in the similar price range, with support for a M.2 SSD, larger PSU, 4 HDD slots, 1xPCIe, up to 64GB RAM. Basically a slightly better Microserver.

I admit I wouldn't have given much thought to with this issue if it weren't for the detailed STH guide for the Microserver G10+, which concentrated quite a lot on the PSU when talking about CPU and HDD options. Granted, they were testing scenarios with a PCIe NIC (we'll use a GPS PCIe card in that slot though) and a couple of external SSDs, but this is how they phrased it:

If one looks to higher-power drives and wants to install a NIC, be careful. One technically has only around 70W to play with to meet the power budget of the HPE MSG10+’s 180W power brick in a worst-case scenario. Leaving 10% there is only 52W available and leaving 20%, as one would do to be “safe” on most circuits means there is only 34W.

Not sure how 10% of 70W equates to 52W, but then also this:

We tried 7200rpm 10TB HGST drives as well. While the MSG10+ can cool the drives, they will use over 40W of the power budget so we strongly suggest using 5400rpm Helium drives if possible. Another benefit is that using lower rpm Helium drives also lowers vibration in the chassis.

I really don't want to use 5400 rpm drives if it's not absolutely necessary.