I've been waiting eons for the new 8 core coffee lake Xeons to become available and the E2278G is finally shipping so it's time for me to finalize the components needed for my latest server build and I could really use some help from the community.
This build will be to run ESXi 6.7U1 (I have a spare license) and replace an aging HP workstation running Windows 10 pro that runs a variety of services for my home including surveillance recording, Plex server, etc. The move to VMWare is something I have been anticipating for over a year as this will greatly simplify my life when it comes to starting up new things in the home, making backups, doing migrations, etc. I'm also greatly looking forward to being able to pass through the Intel GPU from the new CPU to a Plex VM for hardware transcoding of video.
My primary storage solution is a Synology NAS but I do want onboard storage for at least the boot drives of the hosts for performance and reliability reasons.
Right now I have the following components picked out;
Intel E2278G CPU.
Noctua NHL9x65 CPU cooler.
Supermicro X11SCA-F Motherboard.
32 or 64GB ECC RAM (Crucial or similar)
2X 1TB or similar Samsung Evo SSDs for boot volume.
There are a couple of components though I'm having trouble with.
I need a case and possibly need a decent power supply for it. I have an approximately 6-7 year old modular Corsair 750W power supply and I have an even older 500W Seasonic power supply. Will these older power supplies still work with a newer generation motherboard?
Should I use an M2 drive for my ESXI boot or is it a waste of money compared to just using a decent quality USB thumb drive?
I will need a RAID controller to run my primary RAID volume in RAID-1 for ESXI. I'm leaning towards a PERC H330 used or refurbished from eBay but perhaps there is a better option? Since I'm running RAID-1 primarily for fault tolerance for my boot volumes I don't need amazing RAID6 or RAID 10 performance.
I would prefer to build the system with a 10Gb NIC and I will add a 10Gb NIC to my Synology NAS for use as my scratch volume from ESXi. What's a good 10Gb NIC that won't break the bank?
And my final question..... can anyone recommend a decent 1U or 2U case that can handle installation of two expansion cards (RAID controller & NIC)? I'm really having a hard time with this one as it seems that everything under a few hundred dollars seem to get terrible reviews but I don't want to spend $500 just on a home server chasssis. My current box is workstation compact size and sits on a rack mount shelf. I don't have the space or inclination to put a massive tower in but also don't need a micro chassis.
Thanks for anyone's time who can offer some additional input on this!
This build will be to run ESXi 6.7U1 (I have a spare license) and replace an aging HP workstation running Windows 10 pro that runs a variety of services for my home including surveillance recording, Plex server, etc. The move to VMWare is something I have been anticipating for over a year as this will greatly simplify my life when it comes to starting up new things in the home, making backups, doing migrations, etc. I'm also greatly looking forward to being able to pass through the Intel GPU from the new CPU to a Plex VM for hardware transcoding of video.
My primary storage solution is a Synology NAS but I do want onboard storage for at least the boot drives of the hosts for performance and reliability reasons.
Right now I have the following components picked out;
Intel E2278G CPU.
Noctua NHL9x65 CPU cooler.
Supermicro X11SCA-F Motherboard.
32 or 64GB ECC RAM (Crucial or similar)
2X 1TB or similar Samsung Evo SSDs for boot volume.
There are a couple of components though I'm having trouble with.
I need a case and possibly need a decent power supply for it. I have an approximately 6-7 year old modular Corsair 750W power supply and I have an even older 500W Seasonic power supply. Will these older power supplies still work with a newer generation motherboard?
Should I use an M2 drive for my ESXI boot or is it a waste of money compared to just using a decent quality USB thumb drive?
I will need a RAID controller to run my primary RAID volume in RAID-1 for ESXI. I'm leaning towards a PERC H330 used or refurbished from eBay but perhaps there is a better option? Since I'm running RAID-1 primarily for fault tolerance for my boot volumes I don't need amazing RAID6 or RAID 10 performance.
I would prefer to build the system with a 10Gb NIC and I will add a 10Gb NIC to my Synology NAS for use as my scratch volume from ESXi. What's a good 10Gb NIC that won't break the bank?
And my final question..... can anyone recommend a decent 1U or 2U case that can handle installation of two expansion cards (RAID controller & NIC)? I'm really having a hard time with this one as it seems that everything under a few hundred dollars seem to get terrible reviews but I don't want to spend $500 just on a home server chasssis. My current box is workstation compact size and sits on a rack mount shelf. I don't have the space or inclination to put a massive tower in but also don't need a micro chassis.
Thanks for anyone's time who can offer some additional input on this!