Supermicro SYS-E300-8D

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tenet

Member
May 4, 2015
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Hi tenet

I'm about to purchase two of the Supermicro SYS-E200-8D to build a vSphere 6 cluster for my home lab using iSCSI as storage on my existing Supermicro server.

Can you comment a bit more on the noise levels of the E300 that the fans make? Is it quiet enough to run one or two of these servers in a home environment? I plan on running mine in the corner of my lounge and sit about 3 metres from that corner where all the home lab gear will live!

I'm also curious what the noise levels are like when the server is under load! Can't find any info about this online. Tinkertry have great videos but there isn't enough info/detail yet out about these little servers.

Great post BTW!
Thanks. Sorry about the delay. Just had a disastrous two weeks where our primary circuit provider decided to cut our fiber over without notifying us.

You may have missed my post on the noise. Yes, it is loud and even at idle, the fans are too loud. I'm thinking of switching out the 40mm fans with lower RPM fans. The issue is that in a 20*C room, the CPU is still being reported at around 51*C.

And I've already contacted Noctua about it, they officially do not support putting their 40mm fans in a server environment.

For reference, info on the Nidec fan I plan to order: [W40S12BMA5-5*]| Nidec Corporation
 
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BSDguy

Member
Sep 22, 2014
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Thanks for the reply. Yeah, too loud for me. Not even considering the E200 servers anymore and I also contacted Noctua and they don't have any fans that will work.

I'll be placing an order in a couple weeks for the Supermicro SYS-5028D-TN4T as I think (from what I have read) its a very quiet server and thats what I am looking for. Also it has more options for migrating to VSAN in the future.

Had high hopes for the E200 server but noise is a big no no for me!
 

tenet

Member
May 4, 2015
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Thanks for the reply. Yeah, too loud for me. Not even considering the E200 servers anymore and I also contacted Noctua and they don't have any fans that will work.

I'll be placing an order in a couple weeks for the Supermicro SYS-5028D-TN4T as I think (from what I have read) its a very quiet server and thats what I am looking for. Also it has more options for migrating to VSAN in the future.

Had high hopes for the E200 server but noise is a big no no for me!
Yes, I would recommend that too. It's what I use as my FreeNAS server right now. It is practically inaudible.
 

BSDguy

Member
Sep 22, 2014
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[QUOTE="It is practically inaudible.[/QUOTE]

Thats exactly what I wanted to read!

I also like the fact that the SYS-5028D-TN4T can have up to 8 drives in it (6 SATA SSDs, one M2 and one PCIe SSD).

Just trying to find an affordable/compatible VSAN cache tier drive that is M2 or PCIe based!
 

tenet

Member
May 4, 2015
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It is practically inaudible.
Thats exactly what I wanted to read!

I also like the fact that the SYS-5028D-TN4T can have up to 8 drives in it (6 SATA SSDs, one M2 and one PCIe SSD).

Just trying to find an affordable/compatible VSAN cache tier drive that is M2 or PCIe based!
You may be disappointed on the 8 drive front. M2 and SATA 0 are shared.
 
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tenet

Member
May 4, 2015
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Just a final note on the noise. It became so unbearable that I finally broke down and bought a SNK-C0057AL heatsink. Wow! What a difference!

While it is still audible, it is much quieter. Primary fans spin roughly 2k slower, and more importantly, the CPU registers 12*C cooler! Totaly worth the money if noise is an issue for you on this system. I don't have my SPL meter, but those numbers tell me a lot even if my ears didn't already register it.
 

Netwerkz101

Active Member
Dec 27, 2015
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@tenet - So for clarity:

You originally had only a stock heat sink+ the 2 40mm fans @ up to 8500 RPM?
You only replace the heat sink with the Supermicro SNK-C0057A4L combo heat sink/fan and it's cooler(what temps on average??)
and quieter?

What I am interpreting from you is just adding active CPU cooling dropped the RPMs of the 40mm fans.
I have the same 57A4L in my system yet temps didn't improve for me sadly.
I also swapped our the aluminum heat sink for the CoolJag copper heatsink and still saw no changes in temps.

But yeah ... the 57A4L fan/heat sink combo is relatively quiet.
I got the RPMs up to 4500 before I said "ok thats getting loud now" - thats only in relation to my other server that are quiet ..
It really isn't that loud.

Glad you are finally happy though ...I am going to play with my setup a little more over the weekend.
 

tenet

Member
May 4, 2015
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@Netwerkz101 : Yes, it was bone stock.

I added the heatsink and moved one primary fan so that I had a [1 0 1] configuration. I'm running ESXi 6 with three VMs set to autostart (pfSense, Ubuntu server 14.04 LTS and Kubuntu 14.04 LTS)

Fan2: FAN-0065L4
Fan3: SNK-C0057A4L
FanB: FAN-0065L4

As for the current numbers:
CPU: 46*C (prev. 58*C)
System: 35*C (prev. 40*C)
All others are under 40*C

RPMS:
Fan2: 4.4K (prev. 6.6K)
Fan3: 2.7K
FanB: 4.6K (prev. 6.8K)

ETA: I also managed to squeeze in 5 flash based drives (2 SATADOM, 1 M.2, 1 MSATA, and one SATA)
 

bob0

New Member
Dec 23, 2016
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@tenet did you have to do anything special to install the C0057A4L? Did you have to remove the backplate?

I'm looking to do the same thing
 

Netwerkz101

Active Member
Dec 27, 2015
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@tenet did you have to do anything special to install the C0057A4L? Did you have to remove the backplate?

I'm looking to do the same thing

Not to answer for Tenet, but In my experience going from the stock passive
OEM Supermicro heatsink to the Supermicro C0057A4L did not require backplate removal.

The screws were the same size on both units unlike going from Supermicro to CoolJag (which had tiny screws and would not fit properly in the stock Supermicro backplate).

Reference:
Supermicro Xeon D / FCBGA 1667 Heatsink information

Supermicro Xeon D / FCBGA 1667 Heatsink information
 

whitey

Moderator
Jun 30, 2014
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This makes me want to jump ship again sell my Skull Canyon NUCs!! :) Must ....resist...urge....
DO IT...DO IT...DO IT! hahah

Someone w/ deeper pockets than I should do this anyways, 3-4 mode micro Xeon-D cluster setup...droolz
 

tenet

Member
May 4, 2015
41
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Sorry, the period between the holidays is when we do our maintenance, so no time to even glace here. And that damnable Murphy kicked in and we lost some drives on several web servers. Finally finished with all the rebuilding. *fingers crossed*

@tenet did you have to do anything special to install the C0057A4L? Did you have to remove the backplate?

I'm looking to do the same thing
Nope. Undo screws. Gently pry off. Install new heatsink (aligning fins so that air blows through them). Turn on.

@tenet, @Netwerkz101, How the hell did you remove the stock SNK-C0054L heatsink? Mine will not budge.
It is indeed stuck on tight. I removed mine with gentle but firm downward pressure on each screw. It's kind of hard to explain. The idea is to put pressure on one edge to force the opposite side to come loose. If you try to use your hands to remove it, you may bend the fins.

I will say that I did turn my CPU on to ensure it worked before attempting to remove the old heat sink. So as @Netwerkz101 said earlier, some heat may help loosen the heatsink more easily. No point in doing all the work if it didn't work in the first place. :D

I should mention that I've done this on several boards since. It is working great for me.
 

Netwerkz101

Active Member
Dec 27, 2015
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Well, it took a bit of time, but my friend finally provided me the riser board. I think it's an older revision, as there are fewer sections to snap off.

As you can see in the image, there are some real alignment issues.



Looking at the image I shared above from supermicro, it is clear to me that it won't fit on this bracket either. So, we are SOL until Supermicro shares a part number.

I'm also discovering that I've been spoiled with using virtualbox. There are things like moving VMs to other partitions that I can't do with the free version of ESXi. I guess my excitement to get ESXi running allowed me to gloss over that there is no web client or needing a managed version to move VMs between partitions. The solution to this is to move the physical folder via ssh, delete the VM in the vsphere client and create a new one using the old disk. Inelegant, klunky and a real turnoff for my first impression.
I didn't notice it before ... but the mismatch might have been due to a slightly different part number.
Supermicro SYS-E300-8D

Ignoring the Newegg pic (the MFG part # is right)... i'm staring at the part I linked to and it looks like it would have fit perfectly to that bracket.

RSC-RR1U-E8 ... will post a close-up pic of what I have if interested.