Low Power ESXi Build (Blue Iris, Docker, etc.) - X12STH

[lilkeeney]

I have an 10 year old Supermicro X9SCL+-F with a Intel Xeon E3-1230 server that is a little long in the tooth and I am looking to upgrade. I would like a little more horse power and make it a little more energy efficient.

Here are my "requirements" at this time.

• Strong preference towards Supermicro
• IPMI
• 10GB LAN or a PCIe Slot to add a NIC
• PCIe Slot for a sound card (I know this is weird and a waste of a PCIe slot, but I have virtualized my whole home audio server. I could separate this out into a separate low powered device, but virtualizing it all together should be more energy efficient)
• Ability to add Google Coral device (USB is okay, but M.2 would be nice)
• M-ITX would be great, but I don't think it is possible if I want 2 PCIe slots. So M-ATX is fine. I will likely use a short depth 2U case if I have 2 PCIe cards.
• My processor and RAM needs are rather modest compared to what most of you all are running. 64GB should be more than sufficient for now.
• As I am hoping to have this in service for several years I am not as price conscious. I am fine spending a little more to get newer and more efficient technology.

I have been looking at the M11SDV-8CT-LN4F but would have to pick between 10GB networking and the PCIe audio card.

I was also looking at the new X12STH line with either a Xeon or Pentium CPU. It looks like it isn't quite available yet, but I am okay waiting a little bit.

It doesn't seem like either of these systems get a lot of attention in the forum here. I didn't know what people thought.

 

[RTM]

Is it a possibility to use a USB based sound card? nowadays there are many that are quite good, so using one may give you a greater amount of flexibility.

ESXi should support passing through a USB devices, but I have only found little discussion of people passing through USB sound cards with ESXi, mostly negative.

 

[zer0sum]

I know you said you loved SuperMicro, but the AsrockRack X470D4U is worth checking out!
It hits all your marks and you can pair it with a cheap Ryzen and have a future upgrade path to a 5950X

I just build a tiny server and it runs at ~38W

• Operating System: ESXi 6.7 with nvme hack
• Case: ZZAW C2 - 13.8L and 12.83 x 6.34 x 10.31 inches
• Mainboard: Asrock Rack X470D4U (MATX)
• CPU: Ryzen 5600X ( 6C / 12T)
• Cooler: Artic Liquid Freezer II 120mm AIO, top mounted exhaust
• Case Fan: Noctua 120mm as bottom intake
• Memory: 2 x 32GB UDIMMS
• PSU: Corsair SF450 SFX (80+ Gold certified)
• Boot drive: Sandisk USB (ESXi 6.7)
• Storage: AOC-SLG3-2M2 PCIe Add-On card, with an Intel 660p 2TB NVME and ADATA SX8200 1TB NVME
• Network: Mellanox CX3

 

[rootshell]

Do you need a GPU? Blue Iris benefits greatly from the Intel iGPU via Quick Sync. Looks like your current CPU doesn't support Quick Sync, but if you're planning to stick with BI, that may be consideration. Downside of the AMD path, be it Ryzen or EPYC - no iGPU and relatively high idle power consumption compared to Intel. I say this as someone with a 5900X in his PC, so not biased.

Xeon e-2300 & w-1300 series are probably your best options at the moment if an iGPU is required. Problem is that there's only 1 workstation MB on the market for the w-1300 series (it's a SM board), and while there's many more MB options for e-2300, it's also significantly more expensive than the W-series.

Alder Lake-S is another wait-and-see. It's a Core (PC) CPU, but has DDR5 w/ ECC, big.LITTLE arch possibly offers good power savings yet HP when needed, and has the latest iGPU. Just not sure if one of the server MB OEMs will integrate IPMI with it.

 

[zer0sum]

Do you need a GPU? Blue Iris benefits greatly from the Intel iGPU via Quick Sync. Looks like your current CPU doesn't support Quick Sync, but if you're planning to stick with BI, that may be consideration. Downside of the AMD path, be it Ryzen or EPYC - no iGPU and relatively high idle power consumption compared to Intel. I say this as someone with a 5900X in his PC, so not biased.

5600G and 5700G both have iGPU’s

and my 5600X idles at ~38w

 

[Ralph_IT]

...
I have been looking at the M11SDV-8CT-LN4F but would have to pick between 10GB networking and the PCIe audio card
...

No, you won't if you don't want to.
That motherboard supports PCIe bifurcation, either x8/x8 or x4/x4/x4/x4, and there are 2U SM riser cards that will suit you.
Maybe it's overcomplicate things, but to each his own.