Should I buy a new or a used server

[Stux]

Does it matter that these items are not on SuperMicros list of supported memory?

It doesn’t matter if they work ;)

It does if they don’t :(

 

[Chris Moore]

If not any different will go with the cheaper one.

The difference is that one is newer production using smaller die chips, so it probably makes less heat and might even consume less power, but the difference will be minimal because the specified speed of the modules is the same.

Your system info shows you used 8GB sticks.

I have another system that I did buy 16GB modules for, but I have both of my personal FreeNAS systems using this model system board and both with all memory slots populated with 8GB sticks. At the time I made that decision, it was purely a financial one, because I was able to obtain the memory modules for a very attractive price. I will be satisfied with 64 GB of RAM in those two systems for some time, but when it comes time to upgrade, I will need to replace it all and I am not excited about that prospect.

Does it matter that these items are not on SuperMicros list of supported memory?

Supermicro can't test every possible kind of memory. Basically, this system board is able to use memory that is 1866 MHz, but this memory is slightly slower at 1600 MHz, because it saves money without sacrificing a lot of performance. It will work, but if you want to go with the tested memory, I can get you a link to that.

 

[Chris Moore]

The 1866MHz memory is only a little bit more expensive. This is the tested model:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SAMSUNG-16...3-M393B2G70QH0-CMA-Memory-Module/192647359159
It is listed on site Supermicro site, but under "See Archived List (EOL Memories)"

 

[NasKar]

Chris I appreciate your educational explanations. Got the memory for $35 a DIMM. All the parts are order except motherboard. Based on your prior links I think I should pay $179- $189 for it.

 

[NasKar]

@Chris Moore while waiting for my parts to arrive I've been reading the case and motherboard manuals to prepare for my build. I've come up with a few question that I hope you don't mind answering.
Connector #1 Is that for a video card power connector? It says motherboard only so I'm not sure.
Connector #2 Is that for 50 JPI2C1 Power Supply SMBus I2C Header? I'm guessing it monitors the health of the power supply?
Connector #3 Is that the 43 Front Panel Control Header connector?

Can you connect the heat sink fan to any fan header on the motherboard, I don't see one labeled as CPU fan header. There are 5 case fans + a CPU fan with 4 fan headers, a FANA (Thermal fan header for I/O add-on cards). So how do you hook them all up?

 

[Chris Moore]

Connector #1 Is that for a video card power connector? It says motherboard only so I'm not sure.

No, it is not the correct connector type for a video card. It is a system board power supply line for a second CPU. You could adapt it to a video card, but it should not work as is. That chassis must have had a dual processor system board installed previously, based on how the wires are bundled. Notice how there is a second white 8-Pin connector toward the fan wall. This one must have gone to the second socket and you should not need it, so you could bundle it up and leave it unused. The white one is the one you would want to use and it would connect to the system-board at the port numbered 51 on the illustration you have uploaded.

Connector #2 Is that for 50 JPI2C1 Power Supply SMBus I2C Header? I'm guessing it monitors the health of the power supply?

Absolutely. It gives you information on the supplies that are connected to the system including how much power each supply is providing.
This is the screen it would be on, but this server is not running a Supermicro power supply:

I will see if I can get you a screenshot from a board that has a supported supply so you can see, but it is for monitoring power supply health in the IPMI interface.

Connector #3 Is that the 43 Front Panel Control Header connector?

Yes, exactly. It has all the usual suspect front panel connections integrated into a single connector instead of a bunch of individual connections. It makes using a Supermicro board and chassis together very easy.

Can you connect the heat sink fan to any fan header on the motherboard, I don't see one labeled as CPU fan header. There are 5 case fans + a CPU fan with 4 fan headers, a FANA (Thermal fan header for I/O add-on cards). So how do you hook them all up?

The only fan I have connected to the system board is the CPU fan, which is connected to the header pointed to by arrow #48 on your illustration, FAN-1.
The FAN-A header is on a separate thermal zone from all the rest, and you should not connect the CPU fan there, it is for the cards in the expansion slots and will not ramp up based on CPU temperature the way the other four do. I have both a Chenbro and a Supermicro rack chassis and in both of them I have the drive cage fans connected to the drive backplane and they provide adequate airflow to keep the components in a valid temperature range. In the Supermicro chassis, that would have them running full-blast all the time, but I have made changes to slow them down. The Chenbro chassis has some logic in the drive backplane that controls the fan speed based on the drive temperature. The Supermicro chassis you are getting has a newer backplane than mine and I am hopeful that yours will idle the fans down like the Chenbro I have, but if it doesn't, and noise is an issue, you may want to take steps to slow the fans. That is going to depend on the default behavior of the chassis and your tolerance for the sound it makes. Let me know, there are options.
You can see the fan speeds in the IPMI interface like this:

 

[Chris Moore]

PS. I removed the rear fans from my systems. The ones, 'behind' the system board. I found that it didn't help the thermals and it made more fan noise.

 

[NasKar]

I didn't realize that there are fan headers on the backplane. Should the 3 fans that cool the HDDs be connected to the backplane headers? Looks like those header have 5 pins, 4 in a row with a fifth behind them. #6 in the diagram. If they connect to the backplane I don't understand why they were disconnected on the Ebay pictures as I wouldn't disconnect more that was necessary when selling something. Is an adapter needed to convert from 4 pin to 5 pin?

 

[Chris Moore]

Should the 3 fans that cool the HDDs be connected to the backplane headers?

I have my system connected that way and it works well enough for me.

Looks like those header have 5 pins, 4 in a row with a fifth behind them.

That is just a bad illustration. It is a regular 4-pin header. Here is a photo of one to see more clearly:

If they connect to the backplane I don't understand why they were disconnected on the Ebay pictures

It is possible that the previous owner had the fans run to the system board. Some people do, if they are using a passive (no fan) heatsync on the CPU, that way the temp of the CPU controls the airflow over the passive heatsync. I use an active (with fan) heatsync and the fan ramps up as needed to keep the CPU temp in check and the fans for the drive bays only need to keep the drive temp under control, which they do, without regard to the CPU.

 

[Chris Moore]

PS. You are doing great preparation by reading up on all this.

 

[NasKar]

PS. You are doing great preparation by reading up on all this.

I appreciate that. Some of the server stuff is different than that of a normal PC motherboard so I just needed to clarify some of it.

 

[NasKar]

Update:
Today I received the chassis. I want to plug the HDD fans into the backplane as previous discussed. After removing the fans I tried to connect the fan to the header but it's very difficult with large hands <G>. Is there a way to unscrew the metal plate that holds the fans to allow easier access to the backplane? Not sure if any of these screw would do it and the manual is not very helpful.

Do you recommend having the buzzer jumper enabled and Fan_Monitor_Disable closed or disabled on the backplane to allow the system to monitor the HDD fan speed?

 

[Chris Moore]

I was checking eBay today and this seller (from China) has these boards in stock:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/292765166154
They want too much, but you might try using the "Make Offer" button and see if they bite. I paid $189 each for the two that I bought, but I got mine around 9 months ago, on clearance, "new" from a vendor that was clearing out their inventory. I honestly don't know what they sold for at full retail, but I don't think you should have to pay that much for a used item.

Is there a way to unscrew the metal plate that holds the fans to allow easier access to the backplane?

The fan wall should be removable, but each model is slightly different. The screws you have marked as A and B look like two of the ones that need to come out, but on my system there are a lot more because the fan wall mounts to the power supply bracket on one side and attaches to the side wall on the other side. I did move the fan wall on my system to get to the backplane for the same reason.

Do you recommend having the buzzer jumper

I have it enabled. If you have that enabled, it will alert you if a fan stops. That could be good to know.

and Fan_Monitor_Disable closed or disabled on the backplane to allow the system to monitor the HDD fan speed?

My backplane doesn't have that feature, so I can't, but if I was able to monitor the fans on the backplane, I would.

 

[NasKar]

I was checking eBay today and this seller (from China) has these boards in stock:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/292765166154
They want too much, but you might try using the "Make Offer" button and see if they bite. I paid $189 each for the two that I bought, but I got mine around 9 months ago, on clearance, "new" from a vendor that was clearing out their inventory. I honestly don't know what they sold for at full retail, but I don't think you should have to pay that much for a used item.

I've seen that one and another from Israel for $299+59 shipping. I'll try to give a little more time and hopefully something shows up. Is there an alternataive that would work with my Heat sink narrow, RAM (Samsung 16GB RDIMM) preferably 8 slots, and CPU 2011 E5-2650V2?

 

[warllo]

@NasKar

You may want to have @Chris Moore double check this but from what I can tell this would fit the build.

Per Supermicro motherboard manual, "The X9SRL Motherboard Series uses the 'narrow' type"
Also compatible with e5-2600/1600 v2 processors.
And supports RDIMM memory.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-SuperM...4555?hash=item46827df90b:g:ZuIAAOSwIMtba3TO:r

Pretty decent price, plus has the make an offer option.

 

[NasKar]

@NasKar

You may want to have @Chris Moore double check this but from what I can tell this would fit the build.

Per Supermicro motherboard manual, "The X9SRL Motherboard Series uses the 'narrow' type"
Also compatible with e5-2600/1600 v2 processors.
And supports RDIMM memory.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-SuperM...4555?hash=item46827df90b:g:ZuIAAOSwIMtba3TO:r

Pretty decent price, plus has the make an offer option.

Thanks warllo but I think it doesn't have the IPMI that the -F version has, otherwise it's the same board. I think I would regret not having it.

 

[warllo]

Thanks warllo but I think it doesn't have the IPMI that the -F version has, otherwise it's the same board. I think I would regret not having it.

You are correct, it does lack the IPMI. Which is indeed very handy.

 

[NasKar]

Is it possible to get a dual processor MB and only use the one CPU for now. Are there any downsides to this MB? Would it work with my current parts collection?
Chassis Supermicro CSE-836BE16-R920B 3U Server Chassis 2x 920W 16-Bay BPN-SAS2-836EL1
CPU Intel Xeon SR1A8 2.6GHz 8-Core 20MB CPU processor E5-2650V2 V2
Memory M393B2G70QH0-YK0 Samsung 16GB PC3L-12800R DDR3-1600MHz ECC Registered Server Ram
Heatsink Fan Dynatron R27 3U CPU Cooler Fan for Intel Socket Narrow 2011 Intel Xeon Series

 

[Chris Moore]

Is it possible to get a dual processor MB and only use the one CPU for now. Are there any downsides to this MB? Would it work with my current parts collection?

It should work fine except that it has the square ILM for the heatsync. You could send the narrow ILM heatsync back and buy the square one. It is about the same price if I recall correctly. The only problem you would run into is that three of the PCIe slots are connected to the second processor slot, so they won't work unless you put a CPU in the second socket.

 

[Chris Moore]

It sometimes can be done, but not always and I wouldn't recommend it. This article does a pretty good job explaining why and is worth a read. https://www.servethehome.com/answered-cpu-dual-processor-motherboard/

The article also references a Super Micro x9drh as an example.

You could probably get a for sure answer by consulting the motherboard manual.

Totally different board, but similar issue. Here is the documentation for the board in question:
https://www.supermicro.com/manuals/motherboard/C606_602/MNL-1258.pdf