First server build review needed!

[KAJINOFE]

Hello all,

I’m going to be building a server machine soon and wanted to get some opinion on the list of components that I’ll be putting together.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Everyday use (my only machine)
Multiple VMs at the same time (Windows 7/8/server, Linux)
Cisco network emulations: GNS3/IOU, VIRL, Nexus 1000v through nested ESXi on VMware workstation/player
Gaming (very light to none for now)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$3000

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
U.S.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU (buy 2)
Intel Xeon E5-2620 v2 Ivy Bridge-EP 2.1GHz 15MB L3 Cache LGA 2011 80W Server Processor BX80635E52620V2

CPU Heatsink/Fan (buy 2)
SUPERMICRO SNK-P0050AP4 Heatsink for Supermicro X9DR3-F Motherboard

Motherboard (buy 1)
SUPERMICRO MBD-X9DR3-F-O SSI EEB Server Motherboard Dual LGA 2011 DDR3 1600

SSD (buy 1)
SAMSUNG 850 Pro Series MZ-7KE512BW 2.5" 512GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

RAM (already have from old rig)
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9

Case (already have from old rig)
COOLER MASTER CM Stacker STC-T01-UWK Black/ Silver Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

PSU (already have from old rig)
IN WIN COMMANDER IRP-COM1200 1200W ATX 12V 2.3 / EPS 12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

GPU (already have from old rig)
EVGA 04G-P4-3673-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW+ 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1920 x 1080 (27in.), 1920 x 1200 (24in.)

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
SATA 6Gb/s (1-2), total of at least 8 SATA ports, 8+ DDR3 memory slots, goal is to get 128GB total in the future.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard

If you see any compatibility issues or have suggestions on alternatives, I’m all ears. Thanks!
P.S.: I'll be increasing the RAM soon but just not yet. (end goal is 128GB)

 

[Dangman]

It looks you're going to have to buy ECC Registered RAM for that motherboard and CPU as neither support regular DDR3 RAM like the ones you have now.

 

[Grebuloner]

Nice potential you're putting together there.

Here is my 2c of suggestions for you:

#1: RAM amount and compatibility warning: Your cooler choice and my replacement suggestion below, (or any other 92+ mm fan cooler), when used with the narrow socket ILM like your motherboard, are not tall enough to clear head spreaders that add height to memory (like your Vengeance). You can only use standard height or shorter modules. What you can do until you buy more memory (and a small reminder that you need at least 8 sticks to get the full performance from each CPU), is put 2 for each socket using the outer channels so that there is enough clearance*. *Warning: I haven't used this mobo so I don't know if that's supported, some can be finicky and require a stick in a certain slot before populating others.

#2: CPU coolers. More a suggestion, but some of the reviews on the supermicro ones say they can be pretty loud if loaded. I know they're more expensive, but perhaps consider the Noctua i4 server coolers which do a better job with much less noise; better warranty; and my favorite feature, free socket compatibility kits for life:
92 mm: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E1JGFA0/?tag=extension-kb-20
120 mm: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608043&cm_re=noctua-_-35-608-043-_-Product

It looks you're going to have to buy ECC Registered RAM for that motherboard and CPU as neither support regular DDR3 RAM like the ones you have now.

Not true! Both do in fact support vanilla DDR3:
CPU
Motherboard (from the MB QVL)

 

[Blue Fox]

Why aren't you going for 2011-3 boards/CPUs? Obviously you'd have to purchase new memory, but seeing as you only have 16gb now, you'd be presumably doing that regardless. Still well within the budget even with DDR4.

 

[Netwerkz101]

- The board the OP picked out supports up to 128GB of regular non-ecc memory
- Windows 7 x64bit mentioned... but cannot be "home" version for >16GB

Is dual processors a need or desire ?? I don't see "need" based on listed plans for use.
MB/CPUs = ~$1300

If you can do single processor ..save a ton and start populating memory slots via the following substitutes to your (OP) picks:


Motherboard:
============
1x) Supermicro X10SRI-F-O LGA2011
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X10SRF
~$276

Memory: (32GB to start)
=======
2x) Samsung DDR4-2133 16GB/2Gx72 ECC/REG CL15 Server Memory
http://www.superbiiz.com/desc.php?name=D42116G4S
~$385

Processor:
==========
1x) Intel Xeon E5-2620 v3 Six-Core 2.4GHz 8.0GT/s 15MB LGA 2011-v3
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E52620V3BX
~$410

 

[ToddW2]

Unless you're going dual CPU now or in the future I'd go with something like the E5-1650 v3 Six-Core that has a much higher standard clock, and turbo as well as memory bandwidth. And isn't much more than the E5-2620.

Also, I'd go for ECC RAM since you're having to buy new anyway if you go 2011-3 based.

I actually am putting together a very similar system E5-1650 & 64gb ECC DDR4 is what I ended up with, with room to add more RAM. I have no intentions of a dual CPU setup though, so single CPU board and proc. were always on my list. But I also knew I wanted a high clock speed, which IMHO you do too for your work.

 

[Dangman]

I stand corrected on the RAM.

 

[KAJINOFE]

Nice potential you're putting together there.

Here is my 2c of suggestions for you:

#1: RAM amount and compatibility warning: Your cooler choice and my replacement suggestion below, (or any other 92+ mm fan cooler), when used with the narrow socket ILM like your motherboard, are not tall enough to clear head spreaders that add height to memory (like your Vengeance). You can only use standard height or shorter modules. What you can do until you buy more memory (and a small reminder that you need at least 8 sticks to get the full performance from each CPU), is put 2 for each socket using the outer channels so that there is enough clearance*. *Warning: I haven't used this mobo so I don't know if that's supported, some can be finicky and require a stick in a certain slot before populating others.

#2: CPU coolers. More a suggestion, but some of the reviews on the supermicro ones say they can be pretty loud if loaded. I know they're more expensive, but perhaps consider the Noctua i4 server coolers which do a better job with much less noise; better warranty; and my favorite feature, free socket compatibility kits for life:
92 mm: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E1JGFA0/?tag=extension-kb-20
120 mm: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608043&cm_re=noctua-_-35-608-043-_-Product



Not true! Both do in fact support vanilla DDR3:
CPU
Motherboard (from the MB QVL)

I've checked the manual for this and the 4 slots that I have to put my initial Vengeance sticks are the blue slots so I think I should be good there, thanks so much for that tip! I've heard good things about Noctua fans and I'll be reading up on those a bit more and make a decision on the model I want.

Why aren't you going for 2011-3 boards/CPUs? Obviously you'd have to purchase new memory, but seeing as you only have 16gb now, you'd be presumably doing that regardless. Still well within the budget even with DDR4.

My ultimate goal for this machine is to get 2 CPUs (12 cores preferably) with 128GB of memory, and when I was doing some rough calculations the DDR4 sticks were a bit too much to fit my budget compared to DDR3. My main purpose for this machine is to spin up a few Windows/Linux VMs and a lot of router instances of Cisco IOS through GNS3/IOU, VIRL at the same time and be able to lab up complex routing designs and test it out. Also, I do have a future plan to integrate some other networking vendors' virtualized OS while running the Cisco ones.

- The board the OP picked out supports up to 128GB of regular non-ecc memory
- Windows 7 x64bit mentioned... but cannot be "home" version for >16GB

Is dual processors a need or desire ?? I don't see "need" based on listed plans for use.
MB/CPUs = ~$1300

If you can do single processor ..save a ton and start populating memory slots via the following substitutes to your (OP) picks:


Motherboard:
============
1x) Supermicro X10SRI-F-O LGA2011
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-X10SRF
~$276

Memory: (32GB to start)
=======
2x) Samsung DDR4-2133 16GB/2Gx72 ECC/REG CL15 Server Memory
http://www.superbiiz.com/desc.php?name=D42116G4S
~$385

Processor:
==========
1x) Intel Xeon E5-2620 v3 Six-Core 2.4GHz 8.0GT/s 15MB LGA 2011-v3
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=E52620V3BX
~$410

The dual processors setup is my safety net for future labbing possibilities where it might involve different networking vendors (F5, Juniper, Avaya, Arista, etc...) virtualization scenarios along with the Cisco routers running at the same time.
Sorry for the lack of info regarding my OS choice, the current OS that I have is Win 7 Pro but I just got the Server 2012 R2 Standard as an early birthday gift today! (had to convince the wife and justify the need this was not part of the budget for this server build project). I've updated the OP regarding the OS, thanks!

Unless you're going dual CPU now or in the future I'd go with something like the E5-1650 v3 Six-Core that has a much higher standard clock, and turbo as well as memory bandwidth. And isn't much more than the E5-2620.

Also, I'd go for ECC RAM since you're having to buy new anyway if you go 2011-3 based.

I actually am putting together a very similar system E5-1650 & 64gb ECC DDR4 is what I ended up with, with room to add more RAM. I have no intentions of a dual CPU setup though, so single CPU board and proc. were always on my list. But I also knew I wanted a high clock speed, which IMHO you do too for your work.

When it's time for me to buy new RAMs I'll most likely be going ECC RDIMMs, thanks for your input!