Supermicro X9SCI-LN4 in CSE-815 chassis - $82 shipped each

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J--

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Aug 13, 2016
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Supermicro 1U Server X9SCI-LN4F Barebones (Add Your CPU / Memory / Hard Drives) | eBay


LGA1155 machines are getting pretty inexpensive, this includes the 1U chassis, HSF, PSU, 4 caddies, + mobo. You can't throw a ton of cores in it to make a hyper-converged server, but Sandy/Ivy Bridge 1155 machines sip power pretty nicely. Not sure how performance/watt is compared to the Xeon-Ds, but I have an E3-1265L running pfsense and my NAS with 2 7200rpm and 2 SSDs, and it hums along in the high 30W/low 40W range.

It has quad GbE Intel NICs, and a 5th IPMI one as well, which works nicely for pfsense. Fans are PWM controlled too, so it's one of the quieter systems in my rack. They're on the CSE-815 chassis, which is current, so parts are plentiful. Single PSU only, and not hot-swappable though.

$49 each + $49 shipping, BUT the seller offers combined shipping that drops it $82 shipped for each if you order more than one. For some reason though, it doesn't continue dropping, I tried quantities from 2 to 100, and it all hovers around that same $80 shipped per unit range. They pack nicely in boxes specific for shipping 1U servers, which has pre-cutout foam and everything.

Unbuffered ECC DDR3 is still not cheap ($4-5/GB), but processors are pretty inexpensive. You could have a functioning server under $200 if you stick to dual core w/ 16GB RAM, quad core Xeons, add $50 or so.

I have four of these now, and all of them together consume less power than my other X10 dual Xeon setup. :)
 
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J--

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Aug 13, 2016
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Yeah, they're quieter than my 3U Supermicro CSE-836, which has the platinum PSUs.

At this price, I'm considering a few more just for the chassis alone. With the motherboard and PSU, $80 shipped seems like a steal for a modern-ish platform, not sure why they're not selling very quickly as compared to the Dell or HPs of similar vintage. Perhaps just unfamiliarity?

They decommissioned Softlayer servers, seems like they're all very well taken care of.
 
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DaveHope

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Nov 26, 2015
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Cracking deal. I run one of these with a 1220v2. Its practically silent and handles a dozen VMS with ease.

A few more PCIE slots would be useful.
 

J--

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@Marsh @DaveHope Yeah, the riser isn't dual sided, so you're limited to one PCIe x16 expansion slot. It's a regular mATX board, which means the board overhangs the PCIe area; the legacy PCI slot isn't actually usable at all.

Looking at what Supermicro offers, this is most certainly a custom Softlayer build. This is the only X9 board with quad GbE ports, which is probably the one feature they wanted. It happens to be mATX, hence the extra PCI slot that's on the board but you can't physically plug anything into. Still though, a 1U server is a 1U server; can't really expect too much?


I managed to pick up an X9SPU board for $30, which is a proprietary form factor that frees up the space underneath the PCIe area, allowing for full height dual slot PCIe cards, or a second card. The second card is on their proprietary UIO interface though, which is limited to what Supermicro offers. There's some 10GbE and 40GbE options there, and some SATA/SAS cards, but I'm guessing it's not cheap. Both require modifying the rear IO shield slightly, as this version of the chassis has only a single slot available for expansion.


Supermicro | Products | Motherboards | Xeon® Boards | X9SPU-F



This is the X9SCI-LN4 in the same chassis (i.e. what's sold here):

 
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J--

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Hmm, looking closer, there looks like there is a dual sided riser, with a third expansion slot to sneak in behind the CPU. Must investigate....
 

amalurk

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Nice find. The ad doesn't specify if a heatsink is included so I asked and seller replied that it is. Still haven't convinced myself though after seeing that even E3 V1 Xeons are still selling around $100, I was hoping they were half that.
 

talsit

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Aug 8, 2013
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I might have to do this... I have a on E3-1220V1 that looks so sad sitting on the shelf and 16GB of RAM collecting dust....
 

J--

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V1s are the better bargain, IMHO.

V2 gains 100 MHz for about $50 more each for each existing model number. Idle power consumption is within 2-3w peak load is where you see the difference between the 32 and 22mm lithography. For my use at least, that's not as big a deal.

If you want to go cheaper, core i3s are dual core hyperthreaded for $30-60, Pentiums (dual core, single thread) are $20-30, Celerons are about the same. Note you'll lose Vt-d, and AES-NI w/ non-Xeons, which supposedly help greatly with SSL/VPN/etc.
 

J--

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What's your broadband speed?

Only reason to go bigger would be to virtualize something else (maybe a NAS, pi-hole, Plex, etc.), and if you wanted to do VPN (inbound or outbound) and not be potentially CPU bound.
 

ViciousXUSMC

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Me, 150/150 for my broadband, and I do want power to do VPN and other potential packages.
But I am browsing ebay and think I am finding better "all in one" packages than this for a PFs build.

My top pick right now is this one: SuperMicro X8DTL-3F 1U Half Depth Server 2.5" SAS / SATA Homelab E5620 4Gb RAM | eBay and they gave me an offer of $120 w/ free ship.

That CPU is fairly high power with a low TDP compared to most of the other stuff I am seeing using older dual sockets
I only get 2 Ethernet ports but that is all I need.
 

J--

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Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if I recall correctly, it's a near miracle if Westmere machines idle under 70 watts, which means the incremental wattage at idle alone (+40w) would cost you +$40 for each year you have it on, likely more depending on where you live. :eek:

The gap to Sandy Bridge is rather huge because there was a big advance in idle power consumption by moving the memory controller into a single die on the CPU.

Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge was minimal (1-2w), Ivy Bridge to Haswell yielded another 10 watts or so.


Sandy Bridge seems to be a good spot for price/performance/power ratios if you're looking to buy now, Haswell servers still haven't hit eBay in bulk yet, given that Skylake rollout has been rather slow.
 
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Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Just to let people reading this thread know , there are cheap E3 v1 cpu out there on ebay.
My BO $40 per E3-1220 v1 cpu x 3 got accepted, cheaper than I3 cpu.

I may be ordering few SM barebones system now.

Thanks
 

fractal

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I should probably temper my praise of these motherboards with a bit of harsh reality. I have several of them that I purchased for file server / pfSense appliances. The issues I found are: they are kinda picky about the memory you feed them. I had trouble with the memory / processor from my lab machine which uses a supermicro x9scl-m. I tried multiple processors, e3-2020, i3-2100, g2020. None of them liked the memory in dual channel mode. Single stick worked fine. I eventually scrounged around my bins and found some older / slower memory that worked.

The other issue is the one that bothers me the most. There is no on-board type-a usb connector. This is something I "assumed" any supermicro board would have. So, my sandisc cruizer is sticking out the back of the box. This may be a better choice if I ever have to replace it. Alternately there is a power plug for a sata dom.

The system as listed on ebay with pretty much any processor that will fit it and a bit of memory will idle under 40 watts. I got one under 30 by removing a few fans and disabling unused motherboard peripherials (who needs a sound card in their router?).

I figure these boards are half the price and twice the power of a xeon-d board with equivalent functionality so for me are a stop-gap until prices drop. There is nothing in between that is a viable alternative.