Supermicro H8DCL-iF server build - first timer with servers

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lpallard

Member
Aug 17, 2013
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Hi guys! Just registered here to post on this forum for a new server build. I am very new to server equipment and I figured I would post on this forum since you guys seems to be a lot more knowledgeable than me!!

So the server's hardware will look like:

Supermicro H8DCL-iF motherboard
Supermicro Products: Aplus Motherboards H8DCL-iF

2X AMD Opteron 4334 CPU's

64GB DDR3 ECC Registered Kingston RAM KVR16R11D4K4/64 (its a kit of 4 16GB sticks).
Newegg.ca - Kingston 64GB (4 x 16GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Registered DDR3 1600 Server Memory DR x4 Model KVR16R11D4K4/64

CORSAIR HX Series HX1050 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V
Newegg.ca - CORSAIR HX Series HX1050 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready
Professional Seriesâ„¢ HX1050 — 80 PLUS® Silver Certified Modular Power Supply

2X Noctua NH-U9DO A3 Socket C32 CPU cooler
Newegg.ca - Noctua NH-U9DO A3 AMD Opteron, 4 Dual Heat-pipe SSO Bearing Quiet CPU Cooler

I have a few questions for you guys!

1. Power requirements

In the machine I will build, I will have up to 15 hard drives (10 SATA + 5 HDD enclosures requiring a 4 pin molex connectors). This mobo (H8DCL-iF) runs 2 Opterons which I will use as well. The mobo manual say:

A 24-pin main power supply connector(JPW1) and two 8-pin CPU/Memory PWR connectors (JPW2/JPW3) on the motherboard. These power connectors meet the SSI EPS 12V specification. In addition to the 24-pin ATX power connector, the 12V 8-pin CPU PWR connectors at JPW2 and JPW3 must also be connected to your power supply.
Like I said, the power supply I am looking into is the Corsair HX1050.

This PSU has 2X 4+4pin EPS12V connectors. Other than that, it has enough SATA and peripheral connectors for my machine, and offers 1050 Watts which should be PLENTY. Corsair confirmed this PSU would work with the Supermicro H8DCL-iF but the tech rep from Corsair didnt seem very used to server mobo's so I am taking their advice with a grain of salt....

Do you guys think this PSU will work? What about the 4+4pin EPS vs the 8pin EPS connectors, will it work? I hear Supermicro's mobos are very picky and fragile when it comes to power requirements. Either nothing works, or you fry it. Obviously I want to stand a chance that everything works well and not have to return the PSU for refund, or worst, fry the mobo and CPU's....

2. Memory

According to Kingston's compatibility page for the H8DCL-iF, only 3 16GB sticks are compatible with the H8DCL-iF.... Newegg carries one of them but its a lot more expensive to buy 4X 16GB sticks than a kit of 4X16GB... Newegg carries only 1 kit of 4X16, the KVR16R11D4K4/64. SO I have called Kingston's tech support and asked the tech rep to confirm this kit would work with my mobo. He confirmed. Do you guys see a problem with using this memory? I am a little bit confused with Supermicro's memory matrix available at Super Micro Computer, Inc. - Products | Motherboards | A+ Boards | Memory Support

Will it run at 1600 MHz?

3. CPU coolers

There is really a shortage of Socket C32 coolers on the market. The only one(s) that I could find and had a certain trust in their quality were the Noctua NH-U9DO A3 & NH-U12DO A3. The problem with these coolers is their size. They're HUGE! Luckily I already use a Lian-Li PC-A71F full tower case, so I think even the NH-U12DO A3 cooler would work but I may opt for the NH-U9DO because its a bit smaller... Other than these 2 coolers, are there any other reliable solutions out there? Couldn't really find anything that I trust as well as Noctua. There are no coolers with the fan mounted on top of the CPU like the factory coolers??

4. Storage & SATA3 (6Gbps) support

I made a mistake. I pulled the trigger too fast last week and purchased the CPU's thinking that the H8DCL-iF supported SATA3 (6Gbps) ports which it doesn't... I guess Ive looked at too many mobo's and hardware specs over the last month, and got confused.... Now I don't have to use that mobo but there are NO AMD options providing the SATA3 ports. My only solution would be to use one of the 5 PCI-E X8 slots and install a reliable (kinda) enterprise grade SATA3 cards (LSI perhaps?) and use that as SATA3 ports.

Eventually, I will install a good SSD drive to cache my SWAP and my MySQL databases.. I need SATA3 ports somewhere. Will using a PCI-E reliable expansion card prove itself useful and provide full 6Gbps support?? I suppose the bandwidth of PCI-E X8 is around 4000Mbps each way, so it should be enough for 6Gbps?

I'm sorry for the lengthy post.. I really need to clarify this so I can proceed with purchasing the parts.

If anyone has input, advice, remarks or otherwise anything useful , I'm all "ears" ;)

I appreciate your time and effort! Its very useful for me!

Thanks!!!
 
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mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
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so you bought all of this already? I was going to suggest return it all and get the L5639 server deal : ebay search L5639
 

lpallard

Member
Aug 17, 2013
276
11
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so you bought all of this already? I was going to suggest return it all and get the L5639 server deal : ebay search L5639
No, I haven't bought all of this already. Only the 2 processors. I can resell them if need be but I will lose some money..

Why are you suggesting the L5639? Is it because of price?
 
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lpallard

Member
Aug 17, 2013
276
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Jeez, I forgot to mention the most important part!!

I am upgrading an existing server!!! I already have the Lian-Li case, the 10 SATA HDD"s, the 5 HDD enclosures, etc...

That's why I am only looking for the basic components (CPU, mobo, PSU, RAM).

That may factor in your answers...

I'd be willing to sell everything except the HDD's, but I will lose lots of money since selling computer parts is never financially viable..

And oh, yes I will run Linux (Slackware64 or CentOS), but most likely Slackware64-14.0..
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
1,244
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seriously yes look at the L5639 on ebay.

Stupid deals like 2 6-core servers for $399-599 - brand name - with ram. Impossible pricing on those DL180 G6 due to the 15K that came off lease.

post up your parts and prices and we can compare ..
 

lpallard

Member
Aug 17, 2013
276
11
18
seriously yes look at the L5639 on ebay.

Stupid deals like 2 6-core servers for $399-599 - brand name - with ram. Impossible pricing on those DL180 G6 due to the 15K that came off lease.

post up your parts and prices and we can compare ..
SUPERMICRO MBD-H8DCL-IF-O ATX Server Motherboard Dual 1207-pin Socket C32 AMD SR5690 DDR3 1600/1333/1066

$329.99 CAD

Kingston 64GB (4 x 16GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ECC Registered Server Memory DR x4 Model KVR16R11D4K4/64

$683.99 CAD

2X AMD Opteron 4334 - OS4334WLU6KHK

$490.35 CAD

CORSAIR HX Series HX1050 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V

$209.99 CAD

2X Noctua NH-U9DO A3 AMD Opteron, 4 Dual Heat-pipe SSO Bearing Quiet CPU Cooler
$153.98

Total of $1,965CAD including shipping, taxes and everything else....

No shell shocker's prices on the newegg parts but I doubt they will be on sale anytime soon.

The ebay option is tempting but there are a few gotcha's..

1. I will have to sell the current case & hardware
2. There will be NO manufacturer's warranty
3. Equipment will be used/refurbished. Not a big deal but I prefer new (I've had too many bad lucks with used hardware)..
4. Most likely I will have to buy TWO servers on ebay: a server, and a storage server... How will the rack server's fit 15X 3.5in hard drives?

I did the calculation:

eBay option with server
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-PROLIANT-DL180-G6-2-x-L5520-2-26GHz-48GB-RAM-14-x-500GB-SATA-P410-RAILS-7TB-/121159909498?pt=COMP_EN_Servers&hash=item1c35b1807a
$1855CAD (incl. price + shipping)

Optionally rack
Used in local shops, I made a few calls, they would go for (42U):
approx. $200

What about noise? This machine will be in a room adjacent to my bedroom... Also heat? Electricity costs?

If you compare the eBay options with my setup, you need to find a server that has around 64GB RAM... The server above has "only" 48GB. Additionally, it has to carry 15X SATA HDD's

the $300-600 range servers are good but seems to have 8-16GB RAM and only space for 2-4 HDD's. Good for data processing and web hosting. I need LOTS of storage... Once you get to the 12+HDD with 48+GB RAM, you end up in the $1200-1600 range...

EDIT: I'm also thinking about it, while I really do appreciate your input (this is what I was hoping to get at first) that really doesn't answer my initial question: are the parts I was looking all compatible?
 
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Mike

Member
May 29, 2012
482
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EU
Looks alright, though the PSU seems a bit overkill to me (A rarely used term 'round here). Will it do any gpu computing in the future? Also have you looked into using multiple servers with cheaper hardware? It may be equally fast, use less power and be redundant.
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
1,244
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HP Proliant DL180 G6 Storage Server 2 x Six Core L5639 8GB RAM Rails 008835859909 | eBay

$399 - add your own drives- sleds are about $6 each. Holds 14 drives which is close enough. Has a raid controller for a few bucks more - he does custom configurations just ask. 48gb is cheap ($120) and two intel 6 core cpu's which are superior to AMD.


Rack servers make noise sure but you can always throw it in the garage.

The servers are hardcore solid and not a mashup of parts that have no guarantee to work together
 

Mike

Member
May 29, 2012
482
16
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EU
The L5639s are - by far - not superior and 2u's are not quiet enough for next-room kind of work. Throw the equally good supermicro stuff in a bigger rack chassis and enjoy it being whisper quiet. It's not like it won't fit in 42u's.
 

lpallard

Member
Aug 17, 2013
276
11
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$399 - add your own drives- sleds are about $6 each. Holds 14 drives which is close enough. Has a raid controller for a few bucks more - he does custom configurations just ask. 48gb is cheap ($120) and two intel 6 core cpu's which are superior to AMD.
Yeah but you forgot to mention the 500$ shipping cost!!!!!!

So its $1000 by the time the server is here..

Will it do any gpu computing in the future? Also have you looked into using multiple servers with cheaper hardware?
I am not planning GPU work anytime soon but it not impossible that I use that machine for Folding work.... I keep it calling server because it will run server software but really its more a decent multitasking machine..

The L5639s are - by far - not superior and 2u's are not quiet enough for next-room kind of work
Thanks for pointing that out. So the Opterons are decent CPU's?
 

Scout255

Member
Feb 12, 2013
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0
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For international shipping just email them for a quote. Ebay messes up the quote. Ebay showed $600 for a C6100 when I asked for a quote it was around 120ish to ship to Canada.
 

mrkrad

Well-Known Member
Oct 13, 2012
1,244
52
48
the $70 L5639 for the $$ those amd's are 2-3x more price each!

but yeah I hear you if you are building a desktop I hear you on the noise. dip it in mineral oil!