Riverbed CX-770 $30BO

[Kelvarr]

Not sure why I didn't think of this before. I reversed the fans and it's so much better with the air duct guide.

foureight84@riverbed-cx-770:~$ sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +29.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +27.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +22.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +29.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +25.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

That's idle temp with 70f/21c ambient temperature. I don't actually have much load on the device so it's relatively quieter now. You can still hear the fans but it's not that bad. Plus this is more likely to keep the hard drives cooler, not that it matters much with SSDs.

So are the fans intake or exhaust? I just got a 570, and I plan on printing your shroud.

 

[foureight84]

So are the fans intake or exhaust? I just got a 570, and I plan on printing your shroud.

Those temps are from the fans reversed as intake. Also, as quiet as they get, they will get annoying over time. I had to move it out of my office to another room after a few days of trying to put up with it.

 

[mpj645]

i just got my CX770 , thanks a lot for all your great inputs ,finnally i make the system running and BMC accessable . But i found a problem which is the bmc version is quite old -released on 2014 ... by checking the offcial support page (see below link) it seems they have a very new released firmware . Is there anybody can get this . Many appercaition for this ..

SteelHead CX

support.riverbed.com

 

[foureight84]

i just got my CX770 , thanks a lot for all your great inputs ,finnally i make the system running and BMC accessable . But i found a problem which is the bmc version is quite old -released on 2014 ... by checking the offcial support page (see below link) it seems they have a very new released firmware . Is there anybody can get this . Many appercaition for this ..

SteelHead CX

support.riverbed.com

I believe that's the stock operating system that comes with the system. As far as I know, there isn't a newer bios than 4.6.5.4 (build 02/12/2014 19:05:01). There are also a few people talking about this on the netgate forums with confirmation of no newer firmware.

 

[blueturkey]

I recently got my hands on and CX-770 and installed opnsense on the SSD that came with it. Everything is working but i'm having an strange issue with it randomly hard rebooting. It almost like something is triggering a power cycle. The power LED on goes from blue or orange and back to blue. The only thing i changed in the BIOS was no bypass NICs and enabled hyper threading. Any suggestions what might be causing this?

 

[foureight84]

I recently got my hands on and CX-770 and installed opnsense on the SSD that came with it. Everything is working but i'm having an strange issue with it randomly hard rebooting. It almost like something is triggering a power cycle. The power LED on goes from blue or orange and back to blue. The only thing i changed in the BIOS was no bypass NICs and enabled hyper threading. Any suggestions what might be causing this?

Check your CPU temps and also run memtest.

 

[blueturkey]

Thats a good idea. I need to find a bootable memtest that will work over serial.

Any idea how i can check CPU temp in opnsense? The WebUI heath CPU temp report has no data and 'sysctl -a' does not return any temp values.

 

[noduck]

Regarding the unexpected reboots, is it possible you have a watchdog enabled? Don't remember if this is configured in the BIOS or the BMC.

 

[foureight84]

Thats a good idea. I need to find a bootable memtest that will work over serial.

Any idea how i can check CPU temp in opnsense? The WebUI heath CPU temp report has no data and 'sysctl -a' does not return any temp values.

That's strange. I remember OPN sense had my CPU temps on the dashboard widget. I don't recall if I had to install extra packages for that (currently not using OPNsense or PFSense). I believe memtest has a serial boot option.

 

[bigtroutpa]

Opnsense has a plugin to read the temps on all the cores of the cpu and dashboard widget as well

 

[noduck]

FYI, this PCIe to M.2 cable works for me to install an NVMe drive in the CX770: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TKYMQXZ?psc=1

Plug into the PCIe slot, bend cable down behind the CPU (it will not fit nicely), twist the cable 90 degrees halfway, and the M.2 module lands on top of the left drive (looking form the back of the device), close the lid on top.

Works, but not sure if this stable long term. Any suggestions for electric isolation but thermal conduction?

 

[Fritz]

They make cables and adapters for anything and everything.

 

[foureight84]

FYI, this PCIe to M.2 cable works for me to install an NVMe drive in the CX770: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TKYMQXZ?psc=1

Plug into the PCIe slot, bend cable down behind the CPU (it will not fit nicely), twist the cable 90 degrees halfway, and the M.2 module lands on top of the left drive (looking form the back of the device), close the lid on top.

Works, but not sure if this stable long term. Any suggestions for electric isolation but thermal conduction?

You could get an add on heatsink for the nvme drive with thermal pads. There are simple ones that use silicone bands to keep the heat sink in place.

You probably don't need to worry about the pcie cable, but if you want to go further then aluminum tape (or foil) the cable and then wrap kapton over that aluminum tape. Just make sure the kapton tape covers the aluminum completely to prevent shorts if it comes into contact with the motherboard.

 

[adgenet]

Just some notes about the bmc:
1. It has the infamous MEGATRANDS label on the card. (Thanks Patrick!)
2. The BMC alone accounts for approximately 3W of power at all times.
With 4x8GB RAM installed and idling in linux, I get 20.8W without the BMC card installed.
The system plugged in but powered off consumes 0.5W of power (without the bmc).
3. The Fan speed is higher with the BMC installed at all times, and does not ramp down as smoothly or as quickly as with it removed. Removing the bmc card will allow the fans to run at a lower speed when the system is idle.

Personal Conculsion: The bmc is borderline useless on these anyway so I recommend removing the card to save power and help with the noise a bit if you haven't already gone ahead and swapped fans.

 

[Faster7]

I've been watching for my next openwrt/pfsense machine, and this looks great for the money. Just have to be patient to snag one now--- and read up on some of their other models to see how they stack up. Specs on the xxxx- 755 look like... It'd have to be dirt cheap to be worth trying, and some are quite a bit slower than even that.

Thought this one was pretty funny:

 

[foureight84]

Just some notes about the bmc:
1. It has the infamous MEGATRANDS label on the card. (Thanks Patrick!)
2. The BMC alone accounts for approximately 3W of power at all times.
With 4x8GB RAM installed and idling in linux, I get 20.8W without the BMC card installed.
The system plugged in but powered off consumes 0.5W of power (without the bmc).
3. The Fan speed is higher with the BMC installed at all times, and does not ramp down as smoothly or as quickly as with it removed. Removing the bmc card will allow the fans to run at a lower speed when the system is idle.

Personal Conculsion: The bmc is borderline useless on these anyway so I recommend removing the card to save power and help with the noise a bit if you haven't already gone ahead and swapped fans.

Nice! Thank you for the work and sharing this info.

 

[matthewmdn]

Is it possible to run these with more than 4x8GB RAM sticks. I have some 32GB sticks (HMT84GR7MMR4A-H9 - SK Hynix 1x 32GB DDR3-1333 RDIMM PC3L-10600R Quad Rank x4 Module) for instance that are not showing up in BIOS. I get this is probably a stupid question, but it's been a while since I've been working with hardware, and I'm struggling to figure out what max compatible RAM is on this motherboard. I'm happy to update BIOS and try some stuff if anyone has leads....

These are great little pieces of hardware, and I'm using as Proxmox cluster node.

 

[foureight84]

Is it possible to run these with more than 4x8GB RAM sticks. I have some 32GB sticks (HMT84GR7MMR4A-H9 - SK Hynix 1x 32GB DDR3-1333 RDIMM PC3L-10600R Quad Rank x4 Module) for instance that are not showing up in BIOS. I get this is probably a stupid question, but it's been a while since I've been working with hardware, and I'm struggling to figure out what max compatible RAM is on this motherboard. I'm happy to update BIOS and try some stuff if anyone has leads....

These are great little pieces of hardware, and I'm using as Proxmox cluster node.

That wouldn't be possible since 32GB is a CPU limitation. https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon E3-1125C v2.html

 

[matthewmdn]

That wouldn't be possible since 32GB is a CPU limitation. https://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Intel-Xeon E3-1125C v2.html

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll have to find some other project for that RAM.

BTW I just tried these ARCTIC S4028-6K - 40x40x28 mm Fan, 250-6000 RPM, PWM Regulated, 4-pin Connector, 12 V DC - Black on amazon. They are super quiet at idle and i didn't realize it was still on sitting on my desk right next to my keyboard. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09S9WDKVT/ref=pe_386300_442618370_TE_dp_i1?th=1

 

[NachoCDN]

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll have to find some other project for that RAM.

BTW I just tried these ARCTIC S4028-6K - 40x40x28 mm Fan, 250-6000 RPM, PWM Regulated, 4-pin Connector, 12 V DC - Black on amazon. They are super quiet at idle and i didn't realize it was still on sitting on my desk right next to my keyboard. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09S9WDKVT/ref=pe_386300_442618370_TE_dp_i1?th=1

care to share your temps? this looks like a interesting upgrade, thanks for sharing!