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mwolfod

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I am planning on building a home server based around the Supermicro 846 chassis, probably the 846TQ-R1200B. I would like to have 6gb/s capability and I believe, (though I'm not certain at this point), that the included backplane supports this.

I would also appreciate advice on mobo options. I had understood that there was SOME advantage to utilizing a SM mobo with a SM chassis, but cannot recall what specifically it was.

I will be running WHS 2011(no RAID), but understand I will need some sort of controller card (ARECA-1880x looks like it fits the bill) to connect the backplane to the mobo. I do have some confusion regarding how the whole backplane/port nomenclature works with these systems. Thus, I am not even sure how many controller cards I will need to service all 24 drives.

I appreciate any help and advice.

Sorry for the clueless newbieism.
 
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Supermicro boards are preferred in Supermicro chassis because you get monitoring of the power supply and a single connector for all the front panel stuff. If you are going with WHS, don't waste your money on an Areca card. The simplest thing would be to get the version of the chassis with the SAS expander (denoted by E16 instead of TQ in the model). This means you only need a basic SAS card (under $100) to hook up to the backplane and connect all 24 drives. You can also find built-in SAS on higher end motherboards, so you wouldn't even need a controller card. As for recommendations, that all depends on your budget and if you plan on running anything else apart from WHS on the system.
 
Thank you for the reply Blue Fox.

Yes, now I remember those specific advantages to the SM boards with the SM chassis.

No, I will be running nothing else on this server.

The idea of connecting the backplane directly to the MOBO, without a supplementary card is appealing.

Can you suggest a specific SM mobo that will allow me to do this and achieve SATA III (6gb/s)?

I will research this on my own, but I am unschooled in server terminology and am not sure exactly what I am looking for.

Thanks, again.
 
There are quite a few dual socket motherboards that will do it, but since you won't need anything quite that extravagant, the X8SI6-F comes to mind.
 
Ok, so it is simply that the BACKPLANE allows me to connect 24 HDDs to the normal SATA III mobo ports-no special MOBO configuration/components are required?

If I understand the math of the backplane correctly, I only need 2 (two) 6gb/s mobo ports to connect all 24 drives?

SM offers an E1, E16, and E24 version of the 846 chassis series. I like the E1 because it has redundant power supplies. However, it looks like the backplane on that model only supports 3gb/s.

I'll keep researching this, but the comparison feature on the SM site is.... ahem...less than optimal.

Thanks for the continued superlative assistance.
 
The entire 846 line has redundant power supplies (any Supermicro chassis model with 'R' before the power supply's wattage rating indicates this fact). The E16 model has a 6gbit SAS expander backplane. This allows you to hook up 24 drives from a single SAS port instead of requiring 24 individual SATA/SAS ports like the TQ models. While it doesn't require any special configurations, it does require that you obviously either have SAS on your motherboard or through an expansion card as it isn't entirely dependent on the backplane.
 
Holy cow. All 24 drives through a single SAS mobo port? So all I need then is an SM mobo that has a 6gb/s SAS port?

Regarding the chassis, SM's own site lists only the E1 as "redundant", so your info on the "R" designator is most valuable.

Regarding cabling, it doesn't look like HDD (SATA) to backplane cables are included in the chassis package, so I need to purchase those? I fear that may be another dumb question.

Thanks again.

Closing in on the proper way to go thanks to you!
 
Well, technically each port on the motherboard consists of 4 lanes, so not exactly one port, but it doesn't require more than a single cable. The only cable you'll need to hook up the motherboard I mentioned to the backplane on the chassis is a SFF-8087 cable (example). If you look through the manual on the 846 series, you'll see some technical drawings of the different backplanes towards the end if you want to see exactly what they look like (and their differences).
 
Yes the port/lane/drive terminology was what had me a bit confused (still does to some degree). For now I just want to make sure I have the proper hardware in place.

So, Ok just one cable from the backplane to the mobo, but I assume I'll need a separate 6gb/s sata-sas cable to connect each HDD to the backplane? Any advice in that area? I'm only familiar with sata-sata cables.

Regarding the earlier comment about the dual proc mobo, I'm not even sure when that is necessary. It seems to me the choke point in any server, or any PC would be the HDD anyway, so no, for my HomeServer needs a single proc would seem to be sufficient.

Thanks.
 
No cables-even better!

For the life of me I cannot detrmine the difference betweent the SM E16 and E26 series, except that the E26 has a DUAL expander backplane(?).

I am not sure what that means, or of course, if I need it.

Are there other differences that I am missing?

Continued thanks!
 
Yes, that is the only difference. SAS drives can have multiple ports (won't really go into the details of why as it won't matter to you at all), but this is not possible with SATA drives. I would stick with the E16 model as it won't benefit you at all (or be usable for that matter).
 
Ok thanks, and these immediate replies are REALLY super.

You mentioned the X8S16-F mobo kind of in passing, but at least a brief perusal of the SM array of single processor choices, indicates that this is the only one that offers 6 gb/s support through the SAS port.

At least, that is the only one I can find that explicitly states it as such.

I thought the 1366 socket might provide better performance than the 1156 socket of the X8S16-F, so I was looking for 6gb SAS capability in that line of mobos.

Thanks again!
 
Supermicro hasn't updated their 1366 line in a long time, so all the 1366 boards with SAS are 3gbit (dual 1366 motherboards notwithstanding). You'll probably be fine with a 1156 processor. I still have a Q6600 in my primary file server and it is more than adequate (though I do have a 12-core chip on my desk that I plan on replacing it with, but only to run a bunch of VMs).
 
Interesting, and more primo advice. Thanks.

I understand with the SM MOBOs they are very finicky about memory (and other components?), so I should stick with their TESTED memory sticks?

Within this tested RAM I don't suppose it makes too much difference (brands, etc), assuming identical specs?

Thanks again.
 
The 1156 server boards are a bit picky when using ECC RAM, but otherwise aren't too bad. Brand really shouldn't make a difference. I used these in a few of my previous 1156 Xeon systems (ECC registered won't work if you're using one of the Core series processors though): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139156

They're not really picky about other expansion cards from my experiences. No different than any other board with a similar chipset.
 
Thanks for your stalwart and timely assitance Blue Fox.

What may seem like child's play to you was very helpful to me. Although I am very knowlegeable about computers in general, serverland is aan area I am not very familiar with whatsoever.

Your guidance was immensely helpful and I do appreciate it.

Supermicro should pay you for your superb assistance in directing me to the proper components in their product line.

Thanks again.
 
No problem. I wish they paid me...I would settle for some free hardware too. :p
 
I hereby order SM to send you the SuperServer of your choice.

Hey, I'm a little confused on the memory issue.

With the SM X816-F mobo and a Xeon 3450 Quad 2.66, am I supposed to avoid Registered ECC memory? It seems like maybe it should be the other way around.

SM's site is, as usual, confusing...at least for me.

Thanks.
 
You can use ECC registered memory with the Xeon line. It's just the Core series that cannot use it (though you can still use ECC memory with them as long as it is unbuffered).
 
Ok. So it llooks like the processor I specified is NOT part of the Core series?

Sorry, to be so dense, but server procs are new to me.

Thanks!
 
Blue Fox said:
Well, Xeon processors are obviously part of the Xeon line.
Click to expand...

Of course. But sometimes the answers to seemingly dumb questions are not what one would expect.

Not being fully familiar with Intel's somewhat arbitrary processor naming conventions, I was unsure where, and in what way the "core" nomenclature was deployed; it is after all a "Quad Core" processor.

I appreciate all your help in this endeavor.
 
The Core naming is the branding. The current consumer line consists predominantly of the Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7.
 
I just wanted to back up the 1156 fickleness for RAM.

I had been using http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220423 in my 1366 board, and it has been working great, so I ordered some more for my 1156 board. New board wouldn't post with this ram in it. This ram is working fine in my 1366 system.

After some more research, I chose http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139141.

Both are 4gb dual rank reg/ecc, but one little spec that isn't always in the newegg description makes all the difference.
 
adi said:
I just wanted to back up the 1156 fickleness for RAM.

I had been using http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220423 in my 1366 board, and it has been working great, so I ordered some more for my 1156 board. New board wouldn't post with this ram in it. This ram is working fine in my 1366 system.

After some more research, I chose http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139141.

Both are 4gb dual rank reg/ecc, but one little spec that isn't always in the newegg description makes all the difference.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I am trying to make my way through all the various memory specs and trying to match them with the rather fickle requirements and variances of the SM Board.

Funny thing is, I had picked out the exact memory you linked to, and have it in my cart at New Egg.

Sooooooo, from what I have been able to figure from the SM memory charts on their site, that memory should be good in an initial config of two (2) 4 gb sticks? It also looks like that particular memory configuration allows you to use all the memory slots, or at least to max out the board to its full memory capacity?

Thanks for your assistance.
 
I have the Supermicro X8SIA-F-O, which is the same northbridge as the X8SI6. I'm running 4x4gb of the ram that I linked, and yes, I should be able to add 2 more someday to max out at 24gb of ram. 2 sticks of ram should work just fine.
 
OK, great. Thanks!

I plan on running this system using WHS 2011 on my Home Server.

What might I gain by adding MORE memory? The server will be used for conventional read and write server tasks with probably no more than 3 simultaneous users, though with the possible streaming capabilities (???) of WHS 2011, maybe additional capabilities.
 
Nothing really. Win7 and later do a decent job of caching CIFS transfers in RAM, but for home use 4-8gb would suffice. If you start adding more tasks, it might help though.

In my case I use ZFS, which loves ram.
 
mwolfod said:
Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I am trying to make my way through all the various memory specs and trying to match them with the rather fickle requirements and variances of the SM Board
Click to expand...
I have an SM board in my WHS, albeit running an core i3

the safest thing to do memory wise is ensure the memory you decide upon is on SM's approved memory list.

yup, it's somewhat limiting in choice, but potentially saves a lot of agro further along the line. for the record, i picked crucial memory for my X8SIL-F
 
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