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Low power server solution

M

mocambo

n00b
Joined
Jul 22, 2012
Messages
10
Currently i'm looking for low power energy efficient absolutely fanless server components intended to run some web applications, OpenVPN gateway and email server.

First I considered to use some kind of ARM-based solution but i get stuck into perfomance problems with currently available ARM systems. (BTW first energy efficient ARM based servers will roll out at the end of this year by DELL). Then I looked at Atom based platforms but discarded idea due to lack of AES-NI. After that I found Xeon E3-1220LV2 processor with 17W TDP and that was exacly i'm looking for.

The best motherboard candidates below to this processor I've found are:
Supermicro X9SAE / X9SAE-V - not available yet
iEi IMBA-C2160 / IMB-C2160 - not available yet
Advantech AIMB-582 - not available yet
DFI CL630-CRM - not available yet

So only available thing is CPU itself.

What do you think, when combining E3-1220Lv2 + fanless PSU + fanless CPU cooler sink + 2x4Gb ECC + SSD + no graphics, is there possible to keep overall system power consumption below 20W ? What kind of PSU and CPU cooler you suggest me to use ?
 
20w - not a chance, a m/b alone will eat up more than that. and if you are going for something that low you will struggle for a decent psu, the smallest fanless supply i've seen is 400w
 
How about going ITX? You could get a decent motherboard, I'm not sure if it supports everything you need though. You could pair it with an Antec ISK case, it comes with a 65w fanless PSU so you're more than covered. I have one of these running my HTPC (E350 APU) and it's been rock solid. The only downside I can see is that it would have to be headless unless you want to invest in a low-profile PCI-E card since the chip you chose doesn't have onboard video.

Also, keep in mind that it likely won't draw more than 20w unless the CPU is under full load, that's just the maximum draw.
 
Thermite Paste said:
How about going ITX? You could get a decent motherboard, I'm not sure if it supports everything you need though. You could pair it with an Antec ISK case, it comes with a 65w fanless PSU so you're more than covered. I have one of these running my HTPC (E350 APU) and it's been rock solid. The only downside I can see is that it would have to be headless unless you want to invest in a low-profile PCI-E card since the chip you chose doesn't have onboard video.

Also, keep in mind that it likely won't draw more than 20w unless the CPU is under full load, that's just the maximum draw.
Click to expand...

Once I decided to use Xeon E3-1220LV2 CPU I think it's better to go server way. I mean using C216 chipset instead. This gives me also ECC feature.

For the moment the best solution I've found:
http://translate.google.com/transla...tp://www.oliospec.com/dt1546xeon.html&act=url

This system is quite olddated and lacks USB3, caused by ASUS µ-ATX mobo inside which uses older C204 chipset. Similar system w/C216 would be best for me.

Here I have read
http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-depot/2185459-xeon-e3-1220l-v2-ongoing-review.html
that simple fanless heatsink is well enough for E3-1220LV2.

If you have any criticism to this, please let me know.
 
I'm interested in this exact same config and same low power goal, though my budget is 30w idle. I want a micro atx board , not itx, (need minimum 6 sata + AMT + integrated usb3 ) and I cant fnd anything with c216.

I'm never buying Asus again after I saw the horrible quality of their WS "professional" boards in my last i7 build. SoI guess its just supermicro now? The bigger problem is my budget, which is only $500. This budget even has me exploring AMD options but nothing seems to fit.

The new Supermicroboard is full atx, which I'm not sure is a good choice for low power or compact box. I'm now considering Q77 as an alternative and what I will lose vs C216. Same problem with AMD, I want (I think) A85x fusion for maximum integration and there is zilch to be found.

So still no idea what I'm going to do.

Not sure if either option will allow cpu undervolting, or if that is even done now in these modern turbo times? I'm a bit behind as I only build every 3-4 years. For example I don't know if expensive 17w/35w cpus really idle at LOWER wattage than standard 45w/65w/80w cpus or are they all similar at idle? If close, I can save money because I only care about idle wattage, which is 95% state in my usage pattern. Within 4-5w is close. 9w is not.
I dont know if IGP hurts idle wattage by more than 2W so I really need to get a xeon without video? Or preferably I can get one with IGP and it doesnt lose much power running headless, or even bios dsabled?

And yes fanless suppllies under 400w do exist, Seasonic has an easy to find 300w fanless, which is still too high for such a low power server. Though I'd never go fanless myself. (A fun fact is that my seasonic x650 supply fan mostly stays off in my i7 920 box!)
You probably want a picopsu under 100w. Me, I will go with a normal 200-300w gold if I can fnd one, since I intend to add 5-10 hdds later
 
Please note that since the E1220Lv2 does not have integrated graphics, you have add an additional graphics adapter at least for the X9SAE/-V. I did not check the other boards. Alternatively you could get a board like the X9SCM-F, which has onboard graphics.
C216 based boards are basically made to be used in conjunction with processor graphics, however.
 
The i5 3470T has (almost?) all the Xeon features (AES, ECC, vPro, VT-d), but also integrated graphics and thus AMT support (not sure if the LV2 has AMT)
At 35W TDP your maximum power consumption may be higher, but on idle I doubt you will notice much. On the other hand the machine should be more responsive, and easier to debug, as you won't have to install a graphics card every time you want to edit the BIOS.

For the 17W CPU, I think you can get the system to 20W idle. Slightly more under load, but shouldn't significantly exceed 30W on the 12V line. Depends on the mainboard features you use. 50W PSU is probably optimum, if you can build one.
 
For now, the only available C216 motherboard offered by DFI for $280.

http://www.dfi.com.tw/products/Prod...d=9&subCategoryId=66&productDetailsPage=false

It contains some useless extras over others as Mini-PCIe slot, 3 display outputs. As I going to use E3-1220LV2 in so-called headless mode with AMT, these display outputs are waste of resources. I still dont know yet to buy it or leave it.

The best motherboard for my requirements seems to be iEi IMB-C2160 which is microATX, one useless VGA port, UEFI, AMT, 10xCOM. But not available yet.

My goal is to get as low energy consumtion as possible. Therefore 50W picoPSU is only option.
 
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