Intel DC S3700 800GB $ 399

[Sergio]

I found this: Intel DC S3700 800GB Enterprise MLC SSD

After reading the Buyer's Guide to getting a used datacenter SSD inexpensively I thought to take a look. I still have to decide the SSD for my home lab. I think that probably a NVMe (Intel 750) used as a VM datastore will be much better, but I'm still evaluating options. Any hint? What do you think about this offer?

 

[Marsh]

Take a look at Patrick's forsale thread, buy his Fusion IO cards. Best bang for the buck for your homelab.

 

[zhoulander]

He counter offered @ 350

 

[Sergio]

What's the benefit of the Fusion IO vs Enterprise SSD/NVMe ?

I want to use them for a Xeon-D build that I'm planning , the only drawback I see with the Fusion-IO is that it would take the only PCIe on the board.

@zhoulander: for all the Fusion-IO is not a bad price... The problem is shipping to Europe and the import taxes though.

 

[zhoulander]

Sorry I meant he'll take $350 for the S3700 800GB in the ebay post you linked.

 

[Sergio]

Now I get it !! Does make sense, especially if you buy several.

 

[Fritz]

Bought one last month for $265. They can be had for less if you're patient.

 

[Sergio]

In fact I'm very patient, I'll keep looking, that's almost half price what I posted.

 

[T_Minus]

Def. will find better deals keep an eye out

 

[T_Minus]

What's the benefit of the Fusion IO vs Enterprise SSD/NVMe ?

I want to use them for a Xeon-D build that I'm planning , the only drawback I see with the Fusion-IO is that it would take the only PCIe on the board.

@zhoulander: for all the Fusion-IO is not a bad price... The problem is shipping to Europe and the import taxes though.

Fusion-IO is > SATA SSD in all regards except power usage. The SLC are great.
Fusion-IO vs. NVME -- Fusion-IO vs Intel 750... likely Fusion-IO wins on mixed work-load, endurance, longevity the 750 will be better for 'reads' and sequential but that's likely the limits. Fusion-IO vs intel Enterprise NVME... no Enterprise NVME no questions about that But Fusion-IO price, even SLC often is a fraction of 'deal' NVME, though often smaller in size. Depending on usage, IMHO there are use-cases for Enterprise SSD, Enterprise NVME, and Fusion-IO still today.

 

[Marsh]

Real life example usage for Fusion IO card
1 Fusion IO 640gb card, hosting my Rancher Docker cluster lab.
Windows 2012R2 function as Hyper-v host, Rancher HA Cluster consists of 4 Ubuntu VMs . Docker on top of 4 x Ubuntu VMs.
Boot my entire Rancher Docker HA cluster in 2-3 seconds. So fast that it doesn't feel like running on a single SSD.

Fusion IO card have write endurance in 5-10 PB range, all that performance for less than $150.

If I don't have multi TB Fusion IO in my spare bin, I would buy Patrick's Fusion IO card.

 

[xnoodle]

What's the difference between the $120 fusion-io 353gb cards on eBay and what Patrick has? Not threadcrapping, just wondering.

 

[dwright1542]

What's the difference between the $120 fusion-io 353gb cards on eBay and what Patrick has? Not threadcrapping, just wondering.

The 353's and the 320's really are the same card. The 320's have a longer lifespan since they have more reservation. In fact, you can reformat the 320's to 353's.

-D

 

[T_Minus]

The 353's and the 320's really are the same card. The 320's have a longer lifespan since they have more reservation. In fact, you can reformat the 320's to 353's.

-D

And vice-versa And the 353 is 'raw' so should be sized down to ~320 too

SLC > Performance than MLC in SSD and Fusion-IO, except Fusion-IO it's more noticeable.. and of course > endurance.

 

[Sergio]

@T_Minus really nice explanation, I guess everything depends on the use case, I like what I hear about the fusion but If I build the lab with Xeon-D the PCIe is very limiting.

@Marsh That's really awesome, so you only have in the Fusion-IO the 4 VMs, the Hyper-V boots from a different disk right? This is exactly what I want to build. Do you keep that data replicated in some way?