Supermicro Barebone Server Need Advice

[alex1002]

Good Day,
I need to put together a server on the cheap. This is what I came up with:
Server Barebone: SUPERMICRO SYS-5018R-M 1U Rackmount Server
CPU:Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3 Haswell-EP 3.5 GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 10MB L3 Cache LGA 2011-3 140W BX80644E51620V3 Server Processor
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 8GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Server Memory Model KVR21R15S4/8HA
will get 4 of these to give me 32gb.
Western Digital RE 2TB SATA3 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5in Internal Hard Drive
Plan to raid these in Raid10


Could anyone please tell me or anyone knows does this SuperMicro Server come with Trays?

Would you guys also guide me towards the new v4 xeon e3, instead of this E5 v3 based server?
In the contents it says : "3. 4x 3.5" Hot-swap SATA3 drive bays" not sure if this means its got space for 4x 3.5 drives or comes with trays for 4x3.5 drives.

 

[Patrick]

That server should come with trays.

If I can make a few suggestions:

• Swap for Samsung, SK.Hynix or Micron/ Crucial RAM
• 140W is possible to cool in that chassis, but that is a lot to cool in a 1U
• Haswell "V3" parts, especially E5-2600 V3 parts are getting cheaper since V4 parts are out. The E5-2620 V4 is 8C/ 16T and only an 85W TDP: Amazon.com: INTEL XEON 8 CORE PROCESSOR E5-2620V4 2.1GHZ 20MB SMART CACHE 8 GT/S QPI TDP 85W: Computers & Accessories which may be something to look at in the same price range.

Why are you thinking E5? Only 32GB and 4C is a sweet spot for the E3 line.

 

[Evan]

E5-2630Lv4 would also be a nice low power option but a bit more $$ for only 55w tdp

16gb ddr4 rdimm should be very cheap I would imagine (HP shipping server with 16gb dimms that get replaced for 32gb dimms and just the rdimm is more plentiful)

Without any doubt @Patrick advice on ram brands I would second as a good idea.

 

[imchipz]

Im running 1620v3 with 2 x 16GB kingston rdimms . Honestly they're fine, not sure why the above 2 posters (with all respect) would advise against it. I have heard of kingston changing models silently, however just ensuring you buy matching model numbers should address that?

 

[Patrick]

Im running 1620v3 with 2 x 16GB kingston rdimms . Honestly they're fine, not sure why the above 2 posters (with all respect) would advise against it. I have heard of kingston changing models silently, however just ensuring you buy matching model numbers should address that?

Kingston modules do sometimes run into issues. That server has Hynix, Micron and Samsung on the memory compatibility list (see here) while Kingston has no qualified modules. I have run into issues on other SM motherboards where Kingston modules have not worked. That is why I only buy Micron, SK.Hynix and Samsung for the lab at this point. Kingston usually works, but I have never had an issue with the big 3.

 

[alex1002]

Thanks for all the advice. I am thinking of getting this CPU E5-2620V4. The ram I found from Kingston website by selecting the motherboard model. Here in Canada I have a hard time finding ram other then crucial or kingston. I searched for Hynix, Micron and Samsung but cant seem to find them.
Another concern I have is that the SuperMicro Board that comes in this barebone may not support the V4 xeon without bios flash.
Reason for the e3 choice, is that cpus seems cheaper, also barebones, and this server would require more then 32gb.

Edit: I searched around for the E4v4 but all seems to be back ordered for two weeks and also very pricy!, Three times more then the cpu I picked. Since the TDP is too high for that 1u, can anyone recomend me an V3 cpu I can get now?

 

[Terry Kennedy]

Kingston modules do sometimes run into issues. That server has Hynix, Micron and Samsung on the memory compatibility list (see here) while Kingston has no qualified modules. I have run into issues on other SM motherboards where Kingston modules have not worked. That is why I only buy Micron, SK.Hynix and Samsung for the lab at this point. Kingston usually works, but I have never had an issue with the big 3.

For some of the more sophisticated modules of any given generation, Kingston may rebrand a top-tier* part. For example, the Kingston KVR1333D3D4R9S/8GHA is not on the Supermicro X8DTH-iF tested memory list, but it is actually a rebranded Hynix HMT31GR7AFR4C-H9 which is on the tested memory list.

Regarding Kingston changing specs on a module, they are actually pretty good about providing technical data sheets in PDF form. You can run them though Acrobat's "compare documents" tool to see what's changed. In the case of the KVR1333D3D4R9S/8GHA vs. /8GHB, the change was due to a newer die from Hynix.

* Back in the day, there were 3 major tiers of memory module manufacturers. The top tier were manufacturers who operated their own chip fab and also designed the module. This was the best guarantee of compatibility / performance, but the types of modules were limited to ones that the manufacturer could sell a lot of, and prices were usually the highest.

The middle tier consisted of companies that had a volume purchase agreement with one or more of the chip manufacturers, consulted with the manufacturer on design of the module, etc. This is where Kingston was. Compatibility and performance is good, and a larger variety of module types was generally available.

The bottom tier consisted of a number of different quality grades. There were companies that were close to middle-tier, but didn't have a volume purchase agreement with a chip manufacturer. Over on the other side of this "bargain basement" you could find modules that were built from "floor sweepings" - each of the memory chips on the module had a different date code, and some might even be from a different manufacturer**. Back when memory chips were expensive, some of these bottom feeders introduced fake parity (which they tried to rename to "logic" parity). These modules only stored bytes or multiples of bytes, but no parity data. When the system read from the module, a small chip (cheaper than the memory chip it replaced) would simply compute the parity and report the value to the host. Even if memory was totally corrupted, the parity was always correct.

** Even on a top- or middle-tier part, there might be 2 types of memory chips on the module. This was common back in the 72-bit module days - the chips for 64 bits were sometimes different from the chip for the last 8 bits (the parity bits). There are technical reasons for this, but they aren't relevant for this discussion.

 

[Paul Bommel]

Kingston modules do sometimes run into issues. That server has Hynix, Micron and Samsung on the memory compatibility list (see here) while Kingston has no qualified modules. I have run into issues on other SM motherboards where Kingston modules have not worked. That is why I only buy Micron, SK.Hynix and Samsung for the lab at this point. Kingston usually works, but I have never had an issue with the big 3.

Just some throughts:

- Kingston KVR21R15S4/8HA using Hynix H5AN4G4NAFR-TFC DRAM Part.
- H5AN4G4NAFR is listed as supported. (but only with another listed manufactorer part #, which is reasonable, because only pure module manufactorers are listed.)
- Kingston supports KVR21R15S4/8HA for Supermicro X10SRi-F
- https://www.validationlabs.com/webr..._KVR21R15S4-8HA_PC4-8GB-RDIMM_X10SRi-F_00.pdf

 

[Taco]

The ram I found from Kingston website by selecting the motherboard model. Here in Canada I have a hard time finding ram other then crucial or kingston. I searched for Hynix, Micron and Samsung but cant seem to find them.

Please be careful with Kingston's compatability list and verify with other people's builds.
I have one Super Micro board. Like you, I used Kingston's website, selected the correct motherboard model and ordered compatible ram based on that list. I tried two of Kingston's compatible RAM models, but neither was actually compatible.
Then I found a blogpost where someone used a specific Crucial model for this motherboard. That RAM was one I could find at a retailer, and that one did indeed work.

 

[alex1002]

I wanted to update everyone that I finanly the build system and its been running in my data center for a month. Thanks the ram advise. Supermicro told me Kingston was fine, but I learned the hard wat. Thanks I saw the posts here and purchase Crucial 16GB DDR4 ECC kits x2.

Due to the rush I had no choice then to get an Xeon E5 V3 6 core 1.6ghz cpu. That works fine for the needs.