S2600GL vs HP DL360p Motherboards

S2600GL or HPE 360p G8

  • S2600GL Based System

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sth2100

Member
Feb 22, 2022
53
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I have mostly been using HP G8 based systems throughout my vast 4 month experience (DL360p, DL360e, DL560), and an older Supermicro 8X based system. Now I have come across a S2600GL based system which from what I have researched is a generic Intel motherboard you'll typically find in some generic Intel based cases.

I like the idea of the more generic motherboard, case, psu, add-on modules, etc. But the question on my mind is if one "better" than the other? Better can be a matter of perspective. Until I get some rails in to properly run this unit in my rack do some performance testing, the only assumptions I can make currently is the following:
  • S2600GL Pros (so far): Generic components, likely easier IOMMU configuration for device pass-through on VM, decent driver support, support both v1 and v2 E5-2600 CPUs
  • DL360p G8 Pros: Components are more polished (case, riser boards, other components), parts are very cheap as they can only be used with HP, decent driver support, remote console is HTML5, support both v1 and v2 E5-2600 CPUs
  • S2600GL Cons (so far): Components not as polished (case has sharp edges), remote console is Java
  • DL360p G8 Cons: Proprietary parts, difficult/buggy IOMMO setup

People here have far more experience than I can ever hope to have, so from what you have seen, or maybe even personal performance tests that you have run, have you noticed if a S2600GL based system with the same CPU/RAM is better or worse than say a DL360p G8 system? Which would you prefer to run/support in your data center?
 

gregsachs

Active Member
Aug 14, 2018
559
192
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(disclaimer, no real experience with HP stuff)
Intel has all the updates readily available, while HP makes it more challenging. I've had a pair of intel s2600gl/gz boxes running for several years with no complaints. (GL and GZ are identical except one has 24 DIMMs, one has 16).
The mezzanine 10/40 GB cards are nice, and they just work for me except that the java console keeps getting harder and harder to get into as things get patched.
 

sth2100

Member
Feb 22, 2022
53
19
8
So far with my testing, the s2600gl is consuming about 30 more watts than the DL360p. The HP doesn't have the same CPUs currently, but have a few on order that should show up in a few days for me to swap out. Currently the Intel is running dual e5-2689, and those are rated at a higher wattage than what the HP is running. I doubt it's going to be a 30 watt difference, but I'm keeping all the notes as far as what each system is running to understand the comparison.

After a few days of playing with the Intel, I can clearly say the BMC is not very enjoyable. It's very limiting in what you can see and as Greg points out, the Java console is very frustrating. I would also point out that even though I have two SAS controllers in the Intel, it hasn't complained at all. (The HP systems always take a bit of hand-holding to get things like this setup) One other positive to point out - I zapped a SDRAM card by accident (very dry right now), which is the first time I've ever zapped any computer component in my life.. anyway, the bios detected the RAM was bad, marked it as failed and kept chugging along without issue. I would assume the HP would also do this, but never tried it.

Later today I'll give the IOMMU a try on the Intel board and see how well it plays with Proxmox device pass-through.
 

sth2100

Member
Feb 22, 2022
53
19
8
Setting up Proxmox on the s2600gl utilizing IOMMU to pass through a sas card was very straightforward. No issues at all, followed the standard guide and it all just worked.

On an HP G8 platform, this would have required several hoops to jump through to reach this point. I know of the hoops now, and can live with them, but it's not standard which is frustrating. So the out-of-the-box IOMMU support is a big win for the s2600GL.

The proper CPUs should be here in a few days to complete the power consumption comparison. Beyond that, I'll run some performance tests on the two platforms and see where they end up.