Home ESXi Build (Power Conscious)

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IT101

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So I am wanting to build a home ESXi whitebox. I don't really have the budget for an actual server, $400-500 max really. I know I could get a used server for that but I have to watch the power consumption. During the summer months my power company has Smart Hours and on hot days (very common in OK) power can jump up to .50 per kw/h.

What I am wanting to do with the build is run either Sophos UTM or pfSense firewall. So I want passthrough for the firewall to have dedicated NICs and a PCI wifi card for the firewall to become the WAP. I will also run a media server (Plex) so dedicated HDDs via passthrough would be nice too. And also run another machine or two when testing/playing but wont be running 24/7 like the firewall and Plex server.

I have ESXi running on a Dell XPS8300 with an i5 and 6GB RAM and it is just running Plex. It does not have passthrough so I can't run a firewall like I want.

Right now I have this as my current wishlist:
CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($93.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill AEGIS 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (FUTURE, right now I can use the RAM from the Dell machine)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Wireless Network Adapter: Intel 7260HMWDTX1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($58.95 @ Amazon)
NIC: Some quad port Intel NIC off ebay.
Total: $262.82

I am not hell-bent on getting the AMD CPU but it is so much cheaper than an i5 or i7.
If someone can prove to me the energy savings of Intel over AMD, I will find the extra cash.

Thank you in advance for the advice and info.
 
I made the list on pcpartpicker.com so it just included the prices when I exported the list to text.
I will do actual price shopping when I get the parts finalized. But I do see some nice bundles at microcenter. If those bundles are there when I buy, I will jump up to the 8 core AMD. thanks for the heads up.
 
Yeah the bundles are almost always around, as in it is almost a continual sale.
 
Get an Intel NUC Core i3.

You don't need Passthrough, but use VLAN Tagging. I have an HP Procurve 1800-8G that I set the PVID from the modem to, then I have that VLAN accessible on my ESXi host.
 
Get a mATX board to save power. I've been using the Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 boards and FX-6300 processor.

You can get the two for $89.99 after rebate from Microcenter.

While you can get an Intel CPU and motherboard that may use less power, the cost savings would take years to realize because of how much more expensive Intel is.
 
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Great. Thanks for the help Child. Do you know if the Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 allows for passthrough or IOMMU or VT-d....whatever they call it?

Also, I cant find a clear answer if the FX processors support it either?
 
Can you explain why you avoid it?
Do you know of any other way to let my firewall access a wifi card to create a WAP? The_Moves explanation is way over my head.
 
It's a pain in the butt and is best to avoid. Some like to use it to pass through storage to a VM to create virtualized shared storage, but, in the end, the headache isn't worth it. It's virtually ignored in the business world except in fringe cases.
 
Do you know of any other way to let my firewall access a wifi card to create a WAP?
 
Your initial setup looks like a good bet for what you want to do.
All FX processors support IOMMU and passthrough. The ASRock 970 also does.

I have a slightly similar setup I use as an All-In-One, that virtualises a ZFS storage app + 2 desktops. I have a lot more hardware in the box (2 high-range video cards for a start) so my idle power usage (~150W) is much higher than what you'd see with your setup:

- FX 8350 4ghz
- ASRock 970 Extreme 3
- 2 x Radeon 280x
- 32GB Ram
- 1 SAS HBA (IBM M1015)
- 4 HDs + 3 SSDs
- Intel CT 1000 network adapter
- 2 USB sound cards
- Seasonic 650W 80+ gold PSU

I guess you'd probably use ~50W or less with your setup so I don't think you'd get a lot more savings from an Intel setup especially if you want VT-d.
 
Thank you for the confirmation freebeerz. An idle around 50-60w which would be great.

I have a gaming rig that idles around 140w, she's a beast.
 
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