HP S6500 and SL230s Gen8 - CRAZY deal

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frogtech

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2016
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So, anyone know if the rear fans on these can be changed out for quieter models? Basically replacing the fans in the assembly cage.
 

themelon

Member
Jan 26, 2016
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OK, I could not resist.

Hopefully they come with heatsinks but I don't care about the power supplies. I have plenty of them around here. It is still a bargain even if I have to put another $300 into heatsinks.

I hate this place. It is way to dangerous for my wallet when I come here....
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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What about the thread, taming the C6100? :D Stock fans replaced with quieter fans of the same dimensions.
I think with that mod you needed lower power CPUs if you wanted to run them at load.
 

Rain

Active Member
May 13, 2013
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What about the thread, taming the C6100? :D Stock fans replaced with quieter fans of the same dimensions.
With anything like this you really have to be prepared to dive in and tinker if "quiet" is what you're after and you plan on using enterprise-grade equipment in a home or small office setting. Set your expectations correctly (no, this probably can't live next to your TV!), be prepared to test & tinker, and have a backup plan (even if it means throwing it back on eBay) just in case you can't get it working the way you want.

I hate this place. It is way to dangerous for my wallet when I come here....
It's way too easy to get addicted to this stuff! The blinky lights look too cool! :p
 
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J Hart

Active Member
Apr 23, 2015
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I have one of these. There is a few things to worry about with them.

First they are HEAVY. Fully loaded the thing weighs in at about 300 pounds. The rails on it are static. The chassis and rails are designed to be put into the rack and never removed. Second, the chassis is the longest thing I've ever seen. They are easily 6 inches longer than anything else I have. The cable management sticks out 4 inches beyond the face. It didn't fit in the rack I was hoping to use them in.

The fans are big (about 2U sized fans) and they are fast and they are loud. Imagine the whiniest 1U fan and then turn up the sound to 11. The fans are shared between all nodes. If one node misbehaves or is absent, all the fans(power supplies and cooling go to max). The nodes don't have to be on, but the BMC for each node needs to communicate or the fans will go to the max. Likewise if one node ends up really loaded and starts heating up, the whole thing does start spinning up. However, even under maximum load, I never got the chassis to spin up to max like it does on boot.

Make sure they have the cables for the hard drives. Those cables are not standard on the nodes I have. There are some funky power connectors in there for the drives. Likewise the hard drive caddies are weird (and easily the most annoying thing in the machine) and expensive. If you need to pull a drive, you need to pull out the server.

These are the newer model from the one I have. You need a special cable to plug a monitor into it to do the initial setup of the ILOM module. I *think* the cable is the same as the Cisco breakout cable for their servers. Or get a half height video card, that can also work. Or maybe use a serial cable.
 

J Hart

Active Member
Apr 23, 2015
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Louder than c6100?
I have a c6100 right next to it and it is noticeably louder. For what it is worth, my meter is saying it is about 81 dB at full speed vs about 70 dB for the C6100 at boot. These measurements were taken from the front of the rack and behind would be louder.
 

Patriot

Moderator
Apr 18, 2011
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If you stick it at the bottom of the rack it can rest on both sides without rails.... they are that big.
You need the C7000 blades kvm dongle for monitor out.
When all nodes are health happy... they are still quite loud.... especially when you have them at full load.... but I kinda was dealing with gpu nodes. the SL270s not just the SL230s/250s.
 

frogtech

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Jan 4, 2016
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Seller responded, no PSUs.

edit: Seller messaged me back and said they do actually have heatsinks. Asking him about drive carriers and cables.
 
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frogtech

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Jan 4, 2016
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HP spare parts for S6500 chassis indicates power supplies of the same wattage and efficiency but two different part numbers and specifies them as "support for Gen8" and "support for Gen6/7". Does it really matter?

upload_2016-6-27_10-54-54.png
 

themelon

Member
Jan 26, 2016
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HP spare parts for S6500 chassis indicates power supplies of the same wattage and efficiency but two different part numbers and specifies them as "support for Gen8" and "support for Gen6/7". Does it really matter?

View attachment 2898

Hopefully it does not matter, I do not believe it does, as the ones I have are 511778-001. The specs on the two 750w models are the same.
 

themelon

Member
Jan 26, 2016
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If you stick it at the bottom of the rack it can rest on both sides without rails.... they are that big.
You need the C7000 blades kvm dongle for monitor out.
When all nodes are health happy... they are still quite loud.... especially when you have them at full load.... but I kinda was dealing with gpu nodes. the SL270s not just the SL230s/250s.

Since mine will not be going into a rack the plan is to build basically a plenum that has the front of the nodes exposed and a baffle at the back to help trap the noise with some larger, lower speed fans at the exit to minimize static pressure buildup. Sure, it will add allot to the length but mine will be sitting sideways on a 48"x18" shelf.

Also, here is the KVM console cable for a whopping $9:

HP 409496-001 Local I/O 416003-001 SPS-CA SUV Diagnostic Cable for C3000 C7000
 
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frogtech

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Jan 4, 2016
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Seller responded and said they don't come with the caddies or drive carriers. Guess we'll see if there's a misunderstanding on their end.
 
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raileon

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Jun 22, 2016
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Sounds like quieting this one down is going to be a whole project unto itself. I used active 1U heatsinks in an Asus 4 node 2u server I have and that helped a good amount. Will go that route at first before getting "creative".

Thanks for the updates frogtech! I figured about the psus but the no drive carriers is confusing. I thought the drive cage they listed would take care of that. Any word on iLO version?