Question about Supermicro barebones servers

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Red Squirrel

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When I see a Barebones server on a site like Newegg, NCIX, Tigerdirect etc does it come with a cpu and ram, or is it strictly the motherboard and case? What about rails? Most of these sites seem to say it supports a certain type or amount of ram or cpu but does not mention anything about the cpu or ram itself. Just pricing them out at this point and trying to figure out if I should be adding cpu(s) and ram to the cart too. Some mention rails but some don't.

For example:

http://www./products/?sku=61210&vpn=SYS-5017C-MTRF&manufacture=SuperMicro

http://www./products/?sku=72130&vpn=SYS-6027R-3RF4+&manufacture=SuperMicro

http://www./products/?sku=70579&vpn=AS -1022TC-TF&manufacture=SuperMicro


(need to add n c i x .com to that link)
 
Broken links suck :) ----

Looks like you have to add your own CPU and memory to these.

Usually if a CPU is included you'll see the speed listed somewhere. Barebones "generally" means no CPU/HDD's or Memory so you always have to check the specs to see what's included.
 
Ok cool that's what I thought. So really these do end up a bit more expensive than a Dell server, but you save if you want lot of ram, cpu or disk space. (dell and other OEMs rape you on "extras").

I've been trying to decide between building a new server, or SAN, and then server later.
 
My company is a Dell platinum reseller.

I usually tend to buy the base system and then throw ram in it myself at a considerably cheaper cost.
 
What are you looking to accomplish? I'm sure there are plenty of tech heads that could make some recommendations for you as well.
 
Right now I have a white box core2quad server that I use for pretty much everything. Data storage, DNS, web, SQL, mail, development, VMs etc... all local stuff. The server is on it's last legs. Been acting funny ever since it got turned off for 4+ hours after a power outage last year. Ended up having to replace both backplanes, all the drives, and I STILL get the occasional weird IO related errors and a dmesg crash dump. It has cheapy PCI controllers and I can't find anything compatible with such an old system, but I'm pretty sure the controllers may be at fault.

Regardless it does keep chugging away. So I just have to decide for myself if I want to build a new one or continue to wait it out. Or build a SAN first, keep the existing server but move the drives to the SAN as a LUN (beauty of mdraid, this would be a piece of cake to do) then build a more powerful server later. The 2nd option is more fun and expandable (can add multiple servers and have failover etc), but also more expensive.

I'm mostly just thinking about it now, I still have to save up, and I may decide to build the server room walls/insulate/hvac/insulate etc and finish the basement before I put in new equipment.
 
I've purchased Supermicro barebones systems from Newegg and Provantage. The Supermicro stuff doesn't come with hard drives, memory or CPU, but does rails and anything else you would expect for a server.

You buy the memory (speed and amount), CPU (speed) and hard drives that you want for your system separately. The barebones box includes mounting rails, screws for everything, etc...
 
Is this the server i sent you ? i have a spare motherboard you can have for free ?

If it were me building or buying, dell.ca buy a R210 II they are cheap and nice..! Buy the cheapest config ie celleron cpu & low ram then buy the cpu & ram elsewhere..

And yes barebone from newegg / nci x need cpu & ram & hdd's..
 
Barebones is typically Case, Cooler, PowerSupply, and Motherboard. If the Barebones includes a motherboard that would include the CPU/APU, it will in the barebones as well.
 
dashpuppy said:
Is this the server i sent you ? i have a spare motherboard you can have for free ?

If it were me building or buying, dell.ca buy a R210 II they are cheap and nice..! Buy the cheapest config ie celleron cpu & low ram then buy the cpu & ram elsewhere..

And yes barebone from newegg / nci x need cpu & ram & hdd's..
Click to expand...

No it's a different one. The one I built around 5 years ago. Core2quad.

TBH I still did not use yours yet LOL. It's currently a spare in case my firewall dies. I've been meaning to just swap them but have not gotten around to it. My current firewall has a SCSI drive so if it fails the whole server is pretty much a write off.

And wait, I can add my own cpu/ram into Dells? I figured the ram/cpu would be proprietary to them so I can't just go buy one elsewhere. What about the hard drives? Idealy if I go the SAN route I'd want to just have a single SSD and lots of ram and cpu. So the 1U models would be perfect for that. Would it void the warranty though?
 
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Red Squirrel said:
No it's a different one. The one I built around 5 years ago. Core2quad.

TBH I still did not use yours yet LOL. It's currently a spare in case my firewall dies. I've been meaning to just swap them but have not gotten around to it. My current firewall has a SCSI drive so if it fails the whole server is pretty much a write off.

And wait, I can add my own cpu/ram into Dells? I figured the ram/cpu would be proprietary to them so I can't just go buy one elsewhere. What about the hard drives? Idealy if I go the SAN route I'd want to just have a single SSD and lots of ram and cpu. So the 1U models would be perfect for that. Would it void the warranty though?
Click to expand...

Just buy R210's with base config. Throw in your own ( supported cpu ) and ram POOF be done with it :) cheapest route :)

I thought about selling my R415 with dual quad amd's in it with redundant hotswap psu's and 3 years warantee left on it ( transferable )
 
corge said:
The Supermicro stuff doesn't come with hard drives, ..
Click to expand...

Depends on what model. I have bought SuperMicro 1U servers that did come with the CPU built into it. Typically it's just the smaller ones..like with Atom processors...but still, cannot just blanket term the claim that none come with a CPU.
 
dashpuppy said:
Just buy R210's with base config. Throw in your own ( supported cpu ) and ram POOF be done with it :) cheapest route :)

I thought about selling my R415 with dual quad amd's in it with redundant hotswap psu's and 3 years warantee left on it ( transferable )
Click to expand...

Good to know that works. So just any DDR3 ECC ram will do?

I know we had lot of trouble at work with the IBMs. We tried to add more ram and it took 4 orders of different ram before we finally had some that it would accept. As for CPU, I just have to match the socket?
 
Red Squirrel said:
Good to know that works. So just any DDR3 ECC ram will do?

I know we had lot of trouble at work with the IBMs. We tried to add more ram and it took 4 orders of different ram before we finally had some that it would accept. As for CPU, I just have to match the socket?
Click to expand...

kingston memory finder OR use ebay for memory, dell usually have hynex memory ( decent stuff different grades and types ) it's cheaper on ebay. As for the cpu, yup get the socket type, let me know what model yuo get and ill tell you what it supports with version of bios.

Id love to have 2 r210's BUt instead i have one r415..
 
Oh not planing to buy any time soon, just looking into it at this point. Pricing things out, pretty much. The R210's do seem like the cheapest way to go though at this point though. I can even get a 3.6 xeon as there seems to be a sale right now. So I'd probably just stick with that chip and just add more ram. Comes up to a bit over 1k. Very tempting. I consolidated my line of credit into my mortgage, so at least I will be debt free once that goes through and I sign off on it. So I can start saving up for whatever solution I decide to go with.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I consolidated my line of credit into my mortgage, so at least I will be debt free once that goes through and I sign off on it. So I can start saving up for whatever solution I decide to go with.
Click to expand...

Slightly off-topic, but... wut? How does consolidating debt result in a debt free Red Squirrel? (PM me a link if you want to take this to soapbox or genmay and explain it to me).


And, to keep this on-topic:

pNMLQ.jpg


850 GHz (1.7 THz logical) and ~640lbs. Or ~1.3 GHz per pound, for those of you concerned with weight to clock speed ratios.

f0c8K.png


I had a VAR install the RAM, CPU, HDD.
 
calebb said:
Slightly off-topic, but... wut? How does consolidating debt result in a debt free Red Squirrel? (PM me a link if you want to take this to soapbox or genmay and explain it to me).
Click to expand...

I'm technically not debt free, but I no longer have to commit all my spare money towards paying a credit line that was costing me ~$100/mo in interest. I can pay $100ish more on the mortgage and be way ahead of the game. Basically I just used the equity built in the last 3-4 years to pay it off, a slight increase of payment, and I still have the same amount of time left before the mortgage is paid off. I don't know the exact science behind it, the bank figured it all out for me. The money I was putting on the credit line can now go into my savings for a toy such as a server. Though I think I may do some work on the basement first.

Those multi node servers look nice, are those Supermicro? I know they do have some of those. Maybe in the future I'll look at that. Awesome for virtualization.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I'm technically not debt free, but I no longer have to commit all my spare money towards paying a credit line that was costing me ~$100/mo in interest. I can pay $100ish more on the mortgage and be way ahead of the game. Basically I just used the equity built in the last 3-4 years to pay it off, a slight increase of payment, and I still have the same amount of time left before the mortgage is paid off. I don't know the exact science behind it, the bank figured it all out for me. The money I was putting on the credit line can now go into my savings for a toy such as a server. Though I think I may do some work on the basement first.

Those multi node servers look nice, are those Supermicro? I know they do have some of those. Maybe in the future I'll look at that. Awesome for virtualization.
Click to expand...

Are you planning on going deaf ? They are loud lol.

I'll sell ya my dual quad dell r415 :)
 
Noise is not a factor, at least once I build the insulated server room walls/ceiling. Right now I have a couple screemer boxes I can hear throughout the house but it's ambient and can't hear it after a while.

Not ready to buy now but maybe in the next year or so.
 
calebb said:
Slightly off-topic, but... wut? How does consolidating debt result in a debt free Red Squirrel? (PM me a link if you want to take this to soapbox or genmay and explain it to me).


And, to keep this on-topic:

pNMLQ.jpg


850 GHz (1.7 THz logical) and ~640lbs. Or ~1.3 GHz per pound, for those of you concerned with weight to clock speed ratios.

f0c8K.png


I had a VAR install the RAM, CPU, HDD.
Click to expand...

And these boxes were still functional when you arrived at your destination or was it more of a gigantic lego? :p
 
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