NAS and ESXi Mobo/CPU/RAM Replacement options

Joined
Jun 24, 2016
Messages
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Hi All,

I'm about to spec out a replacement of the pro-consumer hardware I have been using in my home built NAS and Whitebox ESXi build, and I'm look for some recommendations on Intel Mobo's, CPU's and RAM.

Current Specs;

ESXi 6.5 Box
  1. Mobo:GA-990FX-UD5
  2. CPU: AMD FX Octocore 3Ghz
  3. Mem: 32GB DDR3 non-ECC
  4. Storage Controller: LSI 9211 - 4i card running 2 hardware mirrored old Gen SSD's in IR mode.
  5. Net: 3xQuadport Intel i350 NICS

Napp-IT Box
  1. Mobo:GA-990FX-UD5
  2. CPU: AMD FX Octocore 3Ghz
  3. Mem: 32GB DDR3 non-ECC
  4. Storage Controller: 3x LSI 9211 - 8i cards (in IT HBA mode) running 16*3Tb WD REDS (vdev1: Raid Z2 * 6 drives, vdev2: Raid Z2*10 drives) - 8 spare ports
  5. Net: 2xQuadport Intel i350 NICS
  • 4Gb/s Vswitch on both ESXi and Napp-IT for SAN data.
I'm looking to replace the Mobo, CPU and RAM with Enterprise class gear (all the other stuff I think will be fine for the moment), so would be looking for;

Mobo:
  • Supermicro Intel (ATX max physical size))
  • Socket 2011v3 (to give me growth room on the CPU)
  • Supports up to 1TB of DDR4 ECC memory (again to give me room to grow)
  • Enough PCIE Slots/Lanes to support my NIC and Storage controllers.
  • IPMI (inc dedicated port if possible)
CPU:
  • Intel Socket 2011v3 - At least as capable as my 8 Core AMD's
Memory:
  • At least 32Gb DDR4 ECC Memory (1*128Gb stick as a starter for each maybe - if the board has 8 memory slots)

The idea is to use the same set of hardware in both boxes to give me a scaleable platform.
Budget around £600 each, although I can flex that for the right spec.

Any recommendations, gratfully received!

Thanks

Jon
 
Ok,

So after some research (I'm no expert on Intel Boards or CPU's), I've come up with;
  • SuperMicro X10SRi-F - £271
  • Xeon E5-2620 v4 LGA2011 20mb cache 2.1 ghz 8 Core - £413
LRDIMMS are expensive so a standard RDIMM would seems sensible at the original 32Gb capacity;
  • 32GB DDR4 PC4-17000 2133MHz 288-pin RDIMM ECC Registered - £360
  • Grand Total £1044
Does this seem like a reasonable future proofed spec?

Cheers

Jon
 
If you are not opposed to used enterprise hardware you can do a E5 V2 setup for your original budget pretty easily. (prices are US Dollar)
X9SRL-F (new on newegg) $270
E5-2650 V2 (8-core, 2.6Ghz, ebay) $150
SuperMicro HSF $40
64GB Registered ECC DDR3 (ebay) $200

That gets you close to your original budget. The up side is you can get much more ram cheaper than the DDR4. The down side is it is older hardware. The V3/4 are a bit more energy efficient, offer more cores on the higher end SKU's and DDR4 ram might be able to move on to what ever replaces this system in the future. Both the V2 and V3/4 systems are dead end technology wise. Newer Xeons are on a different platform.
 
Thanks TType.

I've just found an E5 2670 v3 on Ebay uk for £190. 12 cores for that price! Just need to get a low profile cooler for it.
https://ark.intel.com/products/81709/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2670-v3-30M-Cache-2_30-GHz

Good news is it should work with the X10SRi-F, from what I can tell. (the HSF isn't available from any UK sellers on ebay)

That brings my cost down to £821 which is near the amount I was looking at and still allows some future proofing.
 
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