Low Power Build Help

[MSF_Reaper]

I have been running out of space on my QNAP. I am going to sell it to my father and work on a server build. I was originally going to fire up the DL380 G5 and attach a DAS to it. I started to do the math and this system idles at 200W which puts my power usage at about $25+ a month, which isn't worth it. I have decided to spend the money to build something new, but there seem to be so many options my head is spinning.

I am looking to run ESXi on it and run the following VMs:
PFSense
Linux Server (Light load. runs any of my network downloaders like sbnzd)
Some form of OS for NAS (FreeNas. Nas4Free, OpenRaid)
I may in the future run a couple game servers for local LAN parties in the future.

I want to keep my budget hovering around $500 if possible.

I planned on putting the build in a Define case and using a couple of SSDs in Raid to install ESXi to and install VMs on.

I was thinking that 32GB of RAM would work alright in this use case but honestly have no clue.

What cpu+motherboard combo would people recommend? I would need to have ~4 GBe ports so that I could dedicate 2 to PFSense. I also have an intel NIC that I could use from the thinclient I have running PFSense currently and just pass that to the PFSense VM.

I would also probably need to fit an HBA SATA card and pass that to the NAS distro.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed,
Zack

 

[zer0sum]

Check on the pricing of E3-1260L which is a 4 core part with hyperthreading and runs at 45W - should be ~$160
Then for a motherboard you can go with a Supermicro X9SCI-LN4F which has quad lan via 82574L, and an IPMI port, and only costs ~$80
Your next requirement is ram, and this board can take 32 GB DDR3 ECC Un-Buffered memory (UDIMM), and the cost on that can be a bit high depending on how much you need.

Total cost should still be under $500

You don't have to get a motherboard with 4 lan ports, as you can also buy an Intel I350-T4 for under $50 off ebay.
It might use a little more power than an onboard solution, but it is only a ~5W tdp part.

 

[MSF_Reaper]

Thinking about dropping the NIC requirement and buying something from the PFSense people directly to support them. I am liking that series of Xeons. Might go to the 1275L for the extra clock speed just depends on whats available and prices.

Looking at SuperMicro motherboards now that might either be smaller or support usb3.0 (for external backup automated jobs)

 

[zer0sum]

I'm not sure the 1275Lv3 is the best value but it definitely has great clock speed
The 1265Lv2 is not far behind it and you can get a much cheaper package.

Here's a list of what I've been researching the last few days:

 

[MSF_Reaper]

That chart was awesome thank you so much. This is what I just bought to start:

Super Micro X9SCL+-F
Dell PERC H310
XEON E3-1265L v2

It ended up being ~$10 extra to go for the 1265l over the 1260l... which is equivalent to not catching the right seller on the 1260l to be honest haha.

It wasn't worth the extra expense in everything to try to get usb3. I basically just back up PCB design files and code for projects so the speed isn't make or break. Sometimes a friend might hand me an external to copy a lot of files to, but this can go overnight.

Now its case and powersupply time. I still can't decide if I should go with a rackmountable case over the Define. The define is nice and I could throw it on a shelf in the rack, but I do have an HP 10622 G2 rack and don't want to waste it on just my switch and old powered down servers haha. I need at least 8x 3.5" drives (12x is nicer for the future) and the 2x 2.5" SSDs) hmmmmmmm

 

[Marsh]

E3 CPU uses ECC UDIMM memory , I won't classified as "cheap memory" relative to memory for E5 CPU.

If you do not have ECC UDIMM on hand , please research ECC UDIMM cost first.

 

[T_Minus]

E3 CPU uses ECC UDIMM memory , I won't classified as "cheap memory" relative to memory for E5 CPU.

If you do not have ECC UDIMM on hand , please research ECC UDIMM cost first.

I was typing this exact reply glad I read down a bit... you won't find CHEAP UDIMM like RDIMM as @Marsh stated.

 

[zer0sum]

My bad on the memory...I've had some 32gb kits lying around forever and I forgot

 

[MSF_Reaper]

hmmmmm I will have to decide what to do. Not sure whether to suck it up and get the RAM or to try to cancel ebay items/relist them and try again.

 

[T_Minus]

The catch-22 / problem is that there are absolutely no low-cost E5 single CPU motherboards for V1/V2 (or V3/4 for that matter)... so you end up paying for a motherboard to get cheap RAM or you pay for RAM and get a cheap motherboard with E3 I'm on the lookout myself for E5 single CPU boards to power some high frequency E5s I got but it's just not worth it to put those together!!

My low power backup NAS is a E3-1220L V2 using UDIMM ECC I already have, and the $70 motherboard I also already had... this CPU is among my favorite for low power file server. While I did setup ESXI on it and play around I don't think it has the ooomph to run much more than a file server and a VM or 2 doing basic non-compute stuff...

 

[zer0sum]

The catch-22 / problem is that there are absolutely no low-cost E5 single CPU motherboards for V1/V2 (or V3/4 for that matter)... so you end up paying for a motherboard to get cheap RAM or you pay for RAM and get a cheap motherboard with E3 I'm on the lookout myself for E5 single CPU boards to power some high frequency E5s I got but it's just not worth it to put those together!!

My low power backup NAS is a E3-1220L V2 using UDIMM ECC I already have, and the $70 motherboard I also already had... this CPU is among my favorite for low power file server. While I did setup ESXI on it and play around I don't think it has the ooomph to run much more than a file server and a VM or 2 doing basic non-compute stuff...

The Intel S2600CP2J seems to be the cheapest option for a socket 2011 board.
It is limited in some ways compared to a Supermicro board, but it's only $175 (or ~$217 with IPMI module)
It is a dual processor board, but it might work for your needs?

 

[T_Minus]

I wouldn't consider that a "low power build" though, not even close.

 

[zer0sum]

Has anyone tried these low voltage Micron DDR3L‐1600 (PC3L-12800) UDIMMS for $40 per 8gb stick?

 

[Marsh]

MICRON 8GB PC3L-12800E ECC UNBUFFERED ULP MINI-UDIMM RAM MT18KBZS1G72AKZ-1G6E1ZE

If google ULP MINI-UDIMM ,
8GB (x72, ECC, DR) 244-Pin DDR3L ULP Mini-UDIMM - Micron
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...AsNq8OM5Q&sig2=TXh4iqF1M5fOxfgLzUjUBw&cad=rja

If google DDR3 pinout
http://buffalo.jp/products/b-solutions/oem/pdf/60026902-01.pdf
Mechanical Design and Pinout DDR3 240Pin UDIMM

244 pin vs 240 pin

 

[T_Minus]

Not sure where a Mini-UDIMM is used at all?

 

[MSF_Reaper]

Decided to just stick it and drop the money on the udimm. Its really only an extra $100-150 more than expected and that doesn't leave much back and forth when it comes to trying to go e5 with rdimm and stay small and correctly powered spec'd.

Now I am looking for what chassis to buy.

 

[Marsh]

How many drives ? what size of drives?
Rackmount ? tower?

 

[MSF_Reaper]

I would like to be able to put 10-12 3.5inch but I can only support the 8x on the card currently so that would be minimum. I would then need to fit 1 or 2 SSD inside somewhere.

I would rather have rackmount since I already have the rack and all, but I can just put it on a sliding drawer. Hot swap is cool and all, but not an absolute necessity.

 

[T_Minus]

Supermicro 846 is what I would go with (and I have many of them).

Affordable, 24x bays, SAS2 Backplane (make sure you find one that's not sas1) also if you don't need performance Expander backplane is fine, and you can use 1 controller.

You can mount SSD internal not in the hot-swap bays too.

 

[MSF_Reaper]

I ended up getting the rest of the parts over the course of the weekend.

So the whole buy ends up being:
(1x) Xeon E3-1265L V2
(1x) Supermicro X9SCL+-F
(1x) Dell PERC H310
(4x) 8GB ECC UDIMM
(2x) Intel SFF-8087 Breakout Cable
(1x) Norco RPC-2008
(1x) RL-26 Rail Kit
(1x) SeaSonic SS-400L2u 400w PSU
(1x) Kingston A400 120GB SSD
(2x) WD RED 3TB (already have 2 of these drives
(2x) NavePoint Rackmount Sliding Shelves (one for laptop sitting and one for modem, router, USB backup drive, etc)

Everything should be in by friday and the building can begin. I am super excited! Thanks everyone