Which processors are obsolete due to high power consumption?

[stonewall]

I am interested in experimenting with docker, Kubernetes, coin mining. I need a better platform to convert media files.

So I have been looking into systems from old server hardware to clusters made from single board computers.

Perhaps I have misunderstood.

What should I look at when thinking about second hand server parts? I noticed that boards with smaller fabrication processes have better power consumption.

 

[schmookeeg]

Personally -- I won't go older than 4th gen haswell core chips or xeon v3s anymore for power consumption reasons. I live in Oregon, our power is pretty cheap. Mainly I don't want to deal with the heat and noise that comes with high-watt chips.

that said, my lab is currently:

3 haswell i7s 4770T (Dell 9020 micros)
2 Xeon D-1541s (supermicro)
1 9900K desktop
1 Xeon 1270v5 server

For experimenting you could probably do with any of the above. RAM is more important than chips, IMO.

My 3 dell 9020s were exactly for playing with k8s and rancher as you describe. Cheap as chips, got them from ebay with 32gb ram and little SSDs, they do great.

$0.02

- Mike

 

[Spartus]

I would try to go with DDR4 generation stuff as suggested above like haswell+. But if you got yourself a pile of ddr3 for very cheap and you were more interested in running VMs than data processing (you said coin mining though), then I would still consider sandy bridge.

 

[stonewall]

Thanks for your posts. I appreciate the help.

There are quite a few youtube channels discussing the use of second hand xeon, and other, server chips for hobbiests and people wanting to put together a powerful rig on a budget. So far I haven't seen anyone who maintains a "scoreboard" showing which of these chips are best on various criteria; price, lower power consumption, L2/L3 cache (important for mining, and other things), etc.

On aliexpress they sell Chinese boards which people have been using to seat xeons. Some have serious problems, like only having a single channel for memory. But some are OK (typically dual channels for memory).

Thank you for mentioning that ram can be a bottleneck. Do you happen to know of a good guide to thinking through potential bottlenecks in a server?

Your Xeon D-1541s looks incredible, with 8 cores, and just 45w TDP. Sure enough, the fabrication process is 14 nm. I see that they are very expensive second hand, which makes sense. But I did see this cheaper offering of a board + 2 D-1541s for $395.

ASRock AK-D1541 Server motherboard with dual (2) Intel Xeon D-1541 CPU's

ASRock AK-D1541 Server motherboard with dual (2) Intel Xeon D-1541 CPU's | eBay

 

[Rain]

Your Xeon D-1541s looks incredible, with 8 cores, and just 45w TDP. Sure enough, the fabrication process is 14 nm. I see that they are very expensive second hand, which makes sense. But I did see this cheaper offering of a board + 2 D-1541s for $395.

ASRock AK-D1541 Server motherboard with dual (2) Intel Xeon D-1541 CPU's

ASRock AK-D1541 Server motherboard with dual (2) Intel Xeon D-1541 CPU's | eBay

For clarity, Xeon-D CPUs are soldered to the board; not socketed. They're generally more expensive because you're buying a "solution," one low-power board that fits all your needs, instead of buying a board with a load of PCIe slots that you can customize to your needs.

That dual Xeon-D board is actually two separate nodes/servers on one board. It's a custom solution ASRock likely manufactured for some specific application. There is actually a long thread about it here: https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/dual-xeon-d.27761/

As for power consumption in general: I'd mostly agree that, at this point, DDR4 and newer hardware is likely the best thing to purchase right now if you're also concerned about power consumption. Xeon v2s are getting cheaper and cheaper though, and DDR3 is fairly plentiful, so depending on use-case I still think there is some value there. Anything older will have considerably higher idle power consumption and shouldn't be considered at this point.

 

[stonewall]

I found a web site with stats on Xeons that has a helpful table at the bottom of the page showing chips with their stats including cores, power use, etc.

https://www.cpu-upgrade.com/CPUs/Intel/Xeon/E5-2676_v3.html

Looking at what is available second hand on Ali Express

Xeon E5 2673V3 12-CORES - USD $85.00

US $85.0 |E5 2673 V3 Original Intel Xeon E5 2673V3 12 CORES PROCESSOR E5 2673V3 2.4GHZ E5 2673 V3 LGA2011 3 used|CPUs| - AliExpress


Correct socket Motherboard which takes DDR4 ram - US $75.20

US $75.2 |HUANANZHI PC X99 motherboard slot LGA2011 3 USB3.0 NVME M.2 SSD support DDR4 REG ECC memory and Xeon E5 V3 V4 processor|Motherboards| - AliExpress

Or they have an assembled E5 2680v3 with 32GB of Ram and a Chinese motherboard for $297

US $297.5 30% OFF|X99 MG MotherBoard with E5 2680v3 CPU and 4*8GB DDR4 2400MHZ Memory NVME M.2 SSD Wifi Slot LGA2011 3 USB3.0 game board|Motherboards| - AliExpress

 

[MBastian]

If you just want to experiment and not make a profit with mining and especially if it is ok that your server is not running 24/7 I'd recommend you to build a budget Ivy Bridge system. I've a pretty much maxed out setup and it's drawing aprox 140W idle and stays well under 300W if I don't deliberately try to push it to max. If I don't need it I shut it down via the web interface. It idles at 3-4W.

Specs: 2x E5-2690v2 on an x9dri-ln4f, 256GB RAM, 2x Asus Hyper M.2 X16 (loaded with various NVMEs), 2x 5TB Fujitsu drives, Inno3d Nvidia 1650 single slot (Linux), Nvidia GTX1070 (Windows VM), Optane 905p and am USB 3.1 Card.

I use it as my all-in-one workstation and homelab, considering what I've paid for it and that even the fastest modern CPU is still "only" 60-70% faster per core I can live with a higher power bill and sit the DDR4 generation stuff out ... or get it for a bargain when it goes EOL.

 

[stonewall]

Does anyone use a Xeon Phi card in their labs? They are intriguing. I see 61 core offerings for $90 something.

If you just want to experiment and not make a profit with mining

Antminer S9 does 14.0 TH/s for $3000. I guess Xeon hardware is nowhere near competing with this mining efficiency.

I appreciate that Monero takes evasive action to shake ASIC miners.

I just checked out a mining profitability calculator. Even with specialised hardware you lose money. Am I missing something?

5 Best Bitcoin Mining Hardware ASIC Machines (2020 Rigs)

 

[MechKing]

I think the biggest one is the G34 architecture. A lot of people used it for Folding@Home before, but power is just not worth it these days..

Opteron 6100, 6200, and 6300 (still a bit relevant).