Motherboard/CPU Advice for Simple File Server

[lastradapomegranate]

Well, my previous Gigabyte mobo did not work out since it requires two 8-pin 12v AUX power and one 6-pin 12v AUX power, and the PDB in my chassis only has one 8-pin and one (4+4)-pin.

Looking for recs on a new mobo/CPU combo, goal would be to use what I already have if possible and use less power at idle than my Dell R430 (~84-94W). This will be a simple file server, likely running OpenMediaVault or just some kind of base Linux distro + Cockpit and using md for software RAID, if any RAID at all.

I have:

• Supermicro SC826B/rev 1.2 with the BPN-SAS3-826EL1 expander backplane and rear 2.5" optional bays, 920W SQ PSUs, and the -8824 PDB.
• various DDR4 ECC RDIMMs that I would like to reuse, if possible.
• 2 SATA SSDs (in rear bays already), 2 SATA HDDs

Ideally, I would like to have:

• 10GBase-T x2, preferably built in to the motherboard as I understand it uses less power than a PCI card would (correct me if I'm wrong)
• ability to use DDR4 RDIMMs I already have
• ability to use backplane I already have, whether with a built in controller or via 9300-8i PCI card

After reading some other threads and trying to find a "low power" motherboard, it seems like I may have bought myself into a corner with the SAS3-EL1 backplane and ECC RDIMMs. I am not opposed to selling the RDIMMs and going with some ECC UDIMMs, as it seems like that opens up wayyyy more options for me when it comes to lower-power CPUs. Not sure if I should also consider switching out the backplane for an A backplane and just using SATA mobo ports, but that seems like kind of a pain, and I'd rather avoid it if possible.

 

[nexox]

The RDIMMs do kind of limit your options, I guess a Xeon D board like an X10SDV could work, but you'll be out of PCIe slots after you add the HBA, and cooling might get interesting in a 2U.

 

[lastradapomegranate]

The RDIMMs do kind of limit your options, I guess a Xeon D board like an X10SDV could work, but you'll be out of PCIe slots after you add the HBA, and cooling might get interesting in a 2U.

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been finding so far… I am probably going to end up selling the RDIMMs and go for ECC UDIMMs instead.
Cooling in an SC826 should be fine, no? It has the shroud and three 80mm fans for airflow.

 

[nexox]

Low profile heatsinks with a fan on top, like the X10SDV usually has, tend to not work so well with sideways airflow like you get in a 2U, you really want a cooler designed for 2U use.

Also you can probably save a few watts by running a single PWS-501P power supply rather than two 920s.

 

[lastradapomegranate]

Low profile heatsinks with a fan on top, like the X10SDV usually has, tend to not work so well with sideways airflow like you get in a 2U, you really want a cooler designed for 2U use.

Also you can probably save a few watts by running a single PWS-501P power supply rather than two 920s.

Ah, that makes sense. And good call on the PSUs, though I'm not quite to the point of counting individual watts like that to save electricity... power here is still pretty cheap, so I'm really just trying to not add another 100W continuous load is all.

 

[nexox]

Since PSU efficiency drops fast below about 20% load, going from dual 900W to single 500W was worth about 15-20W in my fileserver at idle, 10W saved over a single 920SQ - around here that's worth the $25 spent on a PSU. I just leave the other 920 installed but pulled out a bit so I can rapidly switch over to it in the unlikely event of a failure.

 

[lastradapomegranate]

Since PSU efficiency drops fast below about 20% load, going from dual 900W to single 500W was worth about 15-20W in my fileserver at idle, 10W saved over a single 920SQ - around here that's worth the $25 spent on a PSU. I just leave the other 920 installed but pulled out a bit so I can rapidly switch over to it in the unlikely event of a failure.

Wow, even on the platinum rated 920s? Damn, that’s worth a look for sure then. A single 500W wouldn’t have trouble spinning up a bunch of drives, like during a reboot, though?

 

[nexox]

Yeah Platinum only specifies efficiency down to the 20% load level, you need Titanium to get below that and so far I have only seen that on even higher capacity PSUs, so the 100W efficiency is still probably not great. Small Platinum rated is the way to go.

 

[nexox]

And the boot up thing is why most systems/HBAs support staggered spin up, but I have run a dozen 7200 RPM drives on even smaller PSUs in the past, without staggering, and with no problems.

 

[Bert]

How much disk capacity do you need? Supermicro sas3 expander itself is a big source of power consumption. Are you planning to do lots of high bandwidth I/O?

 

[lastradapomegranate]

Neat. Well I’ll have to try that out after I figure out what CPU/mobo/RAM to go with.

 

[lastradapomegranate]

How much disk capacity do you need? Supermicro sas3 expander itself is a big source of power consumption. Are you planning to do lots of high bandwidth I/O?

It was more of a future proofing thing, plus I found a good deal on the chassis. I don’t need lots of high bandwidth IO, it’s just got storing media. Right now I only have two disks, but I was planning to just buy more as-needed.

How much power consumption are we talking? I could see about selling it and buying an A backplane if that will be considerable power savings, however I’m not overly concerned with getting it as low as possible as long as it’s better than 100W, not inclusive of disks

 

[mattventura]

• 10GBase-T x2, preferably built in to the motherboard as I understand it uses less power than a PCI card would (correct me if I'm wrong)

It depends. Some CPUs like some of the Xeon-D series have a sort of built-in 10G which might be more efficient. Others just have a chipset that is basically the direct equivalent of a PCIe card. If the onboard chipset is very old and inefficient, a newer card might be more efficient. The real savings comes from switching from copper to DAC if that's a possibility.

 

[lastradapomegranate]

It depends. Some CPUs like some of the Xeon-D series have a sort of built-in 10G which might be more efficient. Others just have a chipset that is basically the direct equivalent of a PCIe card. If the onboard chipset is very old and inefficient, a newer card might be more efficient. The real savings comes from switching from copper to DAC if that's a possibility.

Darn, unfortunately not as I only have two 10 gig SFP ports on my switch and they’re both in use.

 

[BlueFox]

ASRock D1541D4U-2T8R? Has a modest, but low power CPU, supports RDIMMs, dual 10GbE, and integrated LSI SAS3 HBA. Still have a couple PCIe slots to work with too.

 

[lastradapomegranate]

ASRock D1541D4U-2T8R? Has a modest, but low power CPU, supports RDIMMs, dual 10GbE, and integrated LSI SAS3 HBA. Still have a couple PCIe slots to work with too.

Interesting, 8c/16t seems a tad overkill but with a 45W TDP, who cares I guess. Is the HSF swappable for a 2U heatsink?
I see it says supports "8xSAS3," but I assume that means 8 lanes, not 8 disks? It looks to have a pair of standard Mini SAS HD connectors.

 

[111alan]

I think some cheap E5-v3 or v4 will do. Just activate all C state options and turn off the unnecessary cores.

 

[Markess]

Well, my previous Gigabyte mobo did not work out since it requires two 8-pin 12v AUX power and one 6-pin 12v AUX power, and the PDB in my chassis only has one 8-pin and one (4+4)-pin.

Curious what motherboard that was?

Lot of Gigabyte Boards (and some others from various manufacturers) have multiple connectors to support high power draw CPUs with sustained high CPU usage situations, but they aren't necessarily required to all be connected at once for many use cases.

I've got several Gigabyte MF51-ES0 boards (LGA2066) with 140w TDP Xeon W-2135 CPUs with only one 8 pin, 12v, connector in use. The second 8 Pin and the 6 Pin are unused. This IS a supported configuration that hasn't been an issue with my use case (homelab with about ~80% being simple file storage).

Thought I'd mention it, given your use case seems to be "simple file server".

 

[lastradapomegranate]

Curious what motherboard that was?

Lot of Gigabyte Boards (and some others from various manufacturers) have multiple connectors to support high power draw CPUs and sustained high CPU usage situations, but they aren't necessarily required to all be connected at once for many use cases.

I've got several Gigabyte MF51-ES0 boards (LGA2066) with 140w TDP Xeon W-2135 CPUs with only a 8 pin, 12v, connector in use. The second 8 Pin and the 6 Pin are unused. This IS a supported configuration that hasn't been an issue with my use case (homelab with about ~80% being simple file storage).

Thought I'd mention it, given your use case seems to be "simple file server".

That same board and CPU, actually. My issue was the lack of a 6 pin PCI-E power connector to enable the PCI-E slots. I couldn’t get any add-in cards to work.

 

[BlueFox]

Interesting, 8c/16t seems a tad overkill but with a 45W TDP, who cares I guess. Is the HSF swappable for a 2U heatsink?
I see it says supports "8xSAS3," but I assume that means 8 lanes, not 8 disks? It looks to have a pair of standard Mini SAS HD connectors.

You won't need to swap heatsinks for a 2U chassis. It will work just fine with the existing one (mine were run in a Supermicro 2U chassis). Should you go down that route though, the heatsink is removable looking at one of my personal boards, though it's not standard (there really is no such thing for Xeon D), so you would need to find something that supports adjustable mounts.

Yes, 8 lanes, just like any other SAS HBA.