Pros:
Now help me with the cons.
- These things are competitively priced vs an equivalent white-box with a HEDT/server board. They sometimes show up as open-box or refurbs for not much more money than the processor alone would cost.
- They top out at 30db and idle around 45 watts.
- The case expands to 8x LFF or 16x SFF.
- If one avoids the redundant/hotplug PS option they can get what appears to be a standard ATX supply that can be easily(?) replaced.
- iLO 5.
- Three year warranty from HPE
- ESXi 7.0 HCL
- FCLGA3647 socket with 2nd gen Xeon Scalable.
- 192GB RAM max.
- Can use my modest stash of retired Gen8 SAS drives.
Now help me with the cons.
- If this box is anything like the DL380 I had, it's persnickety about 3rd party hardware and will often throw alerts and adjust its fan RPM to "Boeing."
- If I use 3rd party drives I'll have to hunt down the Gen8+ carriers.
- If it dies out of warranty I'll be scouring eBay since an ATX or E-ATX board ain't gonna fit.
- My fat stash of DDR3 ECC won't work in it.
- There's a good chance those undercostly Amazon "off-roadmap" Xeons popping up in the aftermarket won't work since the highest TDP on the options list is only 110w.