SuperMicro mATX Build

[Dismayed]

The Supermicro MBD-X11SCH-F-O looks like a good board for the Xeon E-2246G. So I've pulled the trigger and ordered everything that I need for the build.

 

[Dismayed]

I'd like to thank the forum members who helped out with advice and by pointing out resources that explained motherboard choices and such. The boxes are arriving, so I'll work on the build with my son during the holiday.

 

[Dismayed]

My son, who is home from college, and I took a stab at assembling our server. First try it failed to post, so we followed the directions on for the Supermicro board and got it to work (I suspect that one DIMM wasn't completely seated). After that the build went smoothly, and TrueNAS Core is up and running. We'll eventually cut over to TrueNAS Scale (my son is a Math/Comp Sci major and he'd rather play around with a Linux box).

Neither of us had ever assembled a computer before. But we muddled through it.

 

[joeschmuck]

Neither of us had ever assembled a computer before. But we muddled through it.

Something to be careful with is Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) which is basically static electricity and it can and will destroy your components. If it's dry where you live and static is an issue, wear a anti-static grounding wrist strap to protect your investment.

It sounds like you purchased components you feel comfortable with. Make sure you do a proper burn-in testing to ensure your system is rock solid, no minor issues. The RAM, CPU, Motherboard, Power Supply are solid. Also you want to find out if there is a problem right away after buying the parts so you could return them if there is a problem. If you do have a failure please open another thread and explain in horrible detail the problem.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your new system.

 

[Constantin]

ESD deserves a special mention. It’s a silent killer and it can happen instantly. Worse, sometimes the effects don’t manifest until later, when the appliance is stressed.

I relearned that lesson the hard way this year when I tried to resurrect my C2750D4I server. Granted, I went through 3 boards until I was finally sent a version 1.03 with the latest firmware and a burn in test at iXSystems, but in the process, 2 sticks of precious 16GB UDIMMs for the C2750D4I series bit the dust.

presumably, I had not been careful enough.

so now the backup server will feature but 48GB of RAM (I still had the four OEM sticks of 8GB each). The paid for memtest sniffled out the slightly damaged RAM like a truffle hound. One stick had occasional ECC errors popping during testing (corrected but why take the chance) while the other RAM stick was so far gone that the system would not post with it.

 

[Dismayed]

ESD deserves a special mention. It’s a silent killer and it can happen instantly. Worse, sometimes the effects don’t manifest until later, when the appliance is stressed.

I relearned that lesson the hard way this year when I tried to resurrect my C2750D4I server. Granted, I went through 3 boards until I was finally sent a version 1.03 with the latest firmware and a burn in test at iXSystems, but in the process, 2 sticks of precious 16GB UDIMMs for the C2750D4I series bit the dust.

presumably, I had not been careful enough.

so now the backup server will feature but 48GB of RAM (I still had the four OEM sticks of 8GB each). The paid for memtest sniffled out the slightly damaged RAM like a truffle hound. One stick had occasional ECC errors popping during testing (corrected but why take the chance) while the other RAM stick was so far gone that the system would not post with it.

We were careful about ESD. We wore grounded wrist straps and ran a humidifier because winter air in Boston can get pretty dry.

 

[Constantin]

Greetings from across the Charles! Hope you guys dug out from the latest storm. I was out there for nine hours shoveling everything from the yard to the cars in the street!

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

Ha! No snow northeast of you in the Atlantic. But 70 km/h winds gusting to 100...
And you don't have to shovel rain

 

[Dismayed]

Greetings from across the Charles! Hope you guys dug out from the latest storm. I was out there for nine hours shoveling everything from the yard to the cars in the street!

I have a new snowblower, now that my younger son is off to college!

 

[Constantin]

My children supported me morally by building a snow fort and pelting me with snow before retiring to the warm house.

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

I have a new snowblower

How do you change the dishwasher into a snowblower? Take the dish towel and replace it with a shovel...

 

[Dismayed]

The install and setup of TrueNAS was a breeze - because my 21 year old son dove right in and set it up. He also has Plex running and he's burned a number of our disks. He's promised to tutor me in the coming 1.5 weeks. After that he's back in college.