Low Power 10 Gigabit NVMe server?

[jtabc]

I have been using an HP Slimline 290-p0043w with a Mellanox Connect-X2 10 gigabit card to share a Samsung 970 Evo plus with my editing workstation (over the 10 gig connection) and 7 other render nodes (PCs built specifically for rendering 3D animations in parallel) over the gigabit connection. Although this works, there are enough small issues with the HP Slimline bothering me that I'm wondering if there's another simple alternative I'm overlooking.

Things I like about the HP Slimline:

• Very small (12 inches deep, 4 inches wide, 11 inches tall)
• Was very cheap (I think I got it for $160 in 2021)
• Can fit a 10 gigabit card into the top PCIe x16 slot
• Very low power consumption (9 watts without the Mellanox Connect X2 when idle, and 17 watts with the Connect-X2 when idle, even with an i7 8700 CPU)
• I was able to swap the G4900 Celeron with an i7 8700 (since I do some ffmpeg video encoding on this machine, this made a big difference, even with the 8700 power limited to prevent overheating)

Things I dislike:

• Only one M.2 slot (I would like to install two more M.2s into the system, but I can't)
• The M.2 does not run at full Gen 3 speeds (the 970 Evo Plus was getting half the speed in crystal disk mark compared to when I tested it on other motherboards).
  • This isn't a huge issue since I still get 1440 MB/s reads and 1700 MB/s writes, which is good enough for 10 gigabit.
• The second PCIe slot is only x1 physically (and the end is closed off, so you physically can't fit bigger cards into the slot either), so it's not useful for much.
• The gigabit LAN doesn't work fully; for some reason I can only read from it at 60 MB/s (no matter what OS I use, no matter the drivers, it's always is limited to 60 MB/s)
• Even after replacing the button cell battery on the motherboard, the system still does not keep time when powered off.

It's possible replacing the board could fix the last two issues, but for all I know all of these HP slimlines have those problems. The only way I'm aware of to get two more M.2s in here while keeping 10 gigabit would be to try something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Ethernet-Adapter-E10M20-T1-RJ-45/dp/B089RHK7CF
but that seems overpriced, and I don't know if it will work for sure with the HP on Windows 10.

I have also seen this, but it is far more than I need (I only need three M.2s, not 12) and it doesn't seem reasonable for the price:
ASUSTOR NAS - FS6712X

I'm wondering if I should just get that Synology adapter and try to replace the HP motherboard (they sell replacement boards, such as here), or if I should go for something totally different altogether.

Any suggestions?

 

[gaidin123]

Given the things you dislike about the current setup, you could look for an HP Elitedesk 800 G4 SFF chassis and migrate the i7-8700, RAM, and storage to it. You should be able to find a barebones one for under $100 and less if you are patient. The system specs are here and it has a PCIEv3 x16, x4, x1, x1, and 2 m.2 NVME slots. The chassis is a little taller than the HP slim 290 to accommodate the extra 2 x1 slots. If you really want something almost the same size I think you'd need the Prodesk 600 G4 SFF (specs) but that one has one m.2 slot and just x16 and x4 pcie slots.

That said, you can buy very cheap pcie nvme m.2 risers like a x1 to nvme, x4 to nvme, or a different x4 to nvme variant to fill out whatever pcie slots you don't use with more drives. This also would let you use the Prodesk 600 G4 SFF chassis and still get 2 x4 nvme drives and a full speed 10Gb link.

The idle power on both of these systems is similar to what you're seeing on the HP 290. The Elitedesk SFF just gives you more expansion options at the cost of chassis height and is a bit nicer to work in. They also both come with 80Plus platinum PSUs vs. the gold of the HP 290 and a bunch of 10Gb USB ports.

 

[ano]

enterprise nvme = power hogs

 

[casperghst42]

It's possible replacing the board could fix the last two issues, but for all I know all of these HP slimlines have those problems. The only way I'm aware of to get two more M.2s in here while keeping 10 gigabit would be to try something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Synology-Ethernet-Adapter-E10M20-T1-RJ-45/dp/B089RHK7CF
but that seems overpriced, and I don't know if it will work for sure with the HP on Windows 10.

I do think Patrick did a review of that adapter with the HP Mini Server G10 (??), while it works one have to remember that it is a x4 card, to get full 10GbE you need x2 which leaves you x1 for each NVME - that might be enough for you, but it is a limitation.

 

[mattventura]

You're probably looking at something with at least 16 PCIe lanes and a lower-power CPU. Any of the following combinations would work, though not necessarily with room to expand later:
1. 10GbE built in, an x8 slot, and an M.2 on board
2. 10GbE built in and an x16 slot
3. No onboard 10Gbe, at least one x4 and one x8 (or 3x4) and an M.2

You could try to squeeze more drives into the slots using a switch card, but that uses power itself.

 

[tinfoil3d]

If only you had a separate computer for all the hot pcie storage you can go with any 6-7th gen TMM junk and a cheapo Mellanox CX3 354(dual 40gbe, pcie 3 x8, so max pcie speed is 64gbps) that'll give you unlimited storage and relatively good speeds.

 

[jtabc]

Given the things you dislike about the current setup, you could look for an HP Elitedesk 800 G4 SFF chassis and migrate the i7-8700, RAM, and storage to it. You should be able to find a barebones one for under $100 and less if you are patient. The system specs are here and it has a PCIEv3 x16, x4, x1, x1, and 2 m.2 NVME slots. The chassis is a little taller than the HP slim 290 to accommodate the extra 2 x1 slots. If you really want something almost the same size I think you'd need the Prodesk 600 G4 SFF (specs) but that one has one m.2 slot and just x16 and x4 pcie slots.

That said, you can buy very cheap pcie nvme m.2 risers like a x1 to nvme, x4 to nvme, or a different x4 to nvme variant to fill out whatever pcie slots you don't use with more drives. This also would let you use the Prodesk 600 G4 SFF chassis and still get 2 x4 nvme drives and a full speed 10Gb link.

The idle power on both of these systems is similar to what you're seeing on the HP 290. The Elitedesk SFF just gives you more expansion options at the cost of chassis height and is a bit nicer to work in. They also both come with 80Plus platinum PSUs vs. the gold of the HP 290 and a bunch of 10Gb USB ports.

Great suggestion. I just found a barebones HP ELITEDESK 800 G4 SFF on Ebay for $35, free shipping with 30 day returns. No brainer to at least try it out and see if everything works as expected for that price.