Choosing a SuperMicro X10*advice

[Void_]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice on choosing a SuperMicro X10* motherboard.
The plan is to start a freeNAS for filesharing and transcoding with 4 drives at first (preferably a small case too) and expanding later on.

I have a spare XEON E-1231v3 cpu so I'm planning on using that for this build.

At the moment I'm stuck choosing between the following boards:
- X10SLM+-F
- X10SLH-F
- X10SL7-F

I was planning on buying the x10sl7-f because of the on-board SAS controller at first but I read some stuff about the SAS heat-sink becoming very hot, this may be an issue because I do not think a small case would provide optimal cooling.

After that would come either the X10SLM+-F or the X10SLH-F (both are the same price here).
However those both have additional usb 3.0 ports and I read that there are some problems with usb3.0 and freeNAS.

So if anyone has any experience with either the x10sl7-f running hot or having problems with the x10slm/slh usb3.0 slots I would like to hear what you have to say or perhaps give some advice about other motherboards.

 

[Ericloewe]

I was planning on buying the x10sl7-f because of the on-board SAS controller at first but I read some stuff about the SAS heat-sink becoming very hot, this may be an issue because I do not think a small case would provide optimal cooling.

Unlikely to be an issue, given the airflow you need to cool hard drives anyway. A small fan would also help.

USB 3.0 is disabled by default in FreeNAS, but the ports will work fine as USB 2.0 - that's my experience.

 

[Void_]

Unlikely to be an issue, given the airflow you need to cool hard drives anyway. A small fan would also help.

USB 3.0 is disabled by default in FreeNAS, but the ports will work fine as USB 2.0 - that's my experience.

So would you recommend the X10SL7-F above the X10SLH-F?

 

[Ericloewe]

So would you recommend the X10SL7-F above the X10SLH-F?

If you're going to use more than six drives, probably.

The only catches are:

The LSI controller may require Supermicro-specific firmware (unconfirmed, nobody's risked their motherboard to test this yet).
Fewer USB 3.0 ports (not exactly much of a catch, is it?) and slower SATA (again, with 8 SAS2 ports, not a problem).

 

[Jailer]

The LSI controller may require Supermicro-specific drivers (unconfirmed, nobody's risked their motherboard to test this yet).

Care to expand on this a bit? First time I've heard this mentioned and I'm running this board.

 

[Ericloewe]

Care to expand on this a bit? First time I've heard this mentioned and I'm running this board.

Bah. Thanks for pointing that out. I meant Supermicro-specific firmware. Fixed in quoted post.

This is what I get for posting while sleepy.

 

[Jailer]

Ok that makes more sense now.

Heh, you aint talkin me into being the guinea pig. :p

 

[Void_]

Besides flashing the controller to IT mode, why would I need specific firmware?

 

[depasseg]

I'm running on an X10SRH-CLN4F, which has an LSI 3008. I flashed it using stock LSI IT firmware without issue. It's not exactly the same as the 2308 in the X10SL7-F, but it's a decent indicator.

 

[nick779]

Unlikely to be an issue, given the airflow you need to cool hard drives anyway. A small fan would also help.

USB 3.0 is disabled by default in FreeNAS, but the ports will work fine as USB 2.0 - that's my experience.

Just make sure to disable it in the BIOS. It took me a bit to figure that out.

 

[Void_]

Thanks for the advice everyone.
I think I'll be going for the X10SL7-F but since it will need proper cooling I'm not sure on what case to buy.

Any suggestions on that part are welcome too, I would prefer a micro/mini tower.
For that matter ,does anyone have any experience using the x10sl7 in a micro/mini tower?

 

[Ericloewe]

Just make sure to disable it in the BIOS. It took me a bit to figure that out.

Wha? That's not necessary. Maybe if you want to boot from a USB 3.0 device on a USB 3.0 port.

 

[Ericloewe]

I'm running on an X10SRH-CLN4F, which has an LSI 3008. I flashed it using stock LSI IT firmware without issue. It's not exactly the same as the 2308 in the X10SL7-F, but it's a decent indicator.

Thanks for the data point.

 

[nick779]

Wha? That's not necessary. Maybe if you want to boot from a USB 3.0 device on a USB 3.0 port.

My X10SLM+-F wouldnt boot the installer off of a USB 3.0 flash drive on a 3.0 port until I turned the support off.

 

[Sir.Robin]

I got two X10SL7. No problem with the heat/stability here... and one of them has had a pretty hot place to run at... disks hovering around 50+ celcius.

Very happy with them :)

 

[GrumpyBear]

... but since it will need proper cooling I'm not sure on what case to buy.

Any suggestions on that part are welcome too, I would prefer a micro/mini tower.
For that matter ,does anyone have any experience using the x10sl7 in a micro/mini tower?

I 'm burning in my system and am using the Fractal Design Define R4 which is a large mid tower. The Define Mini might suit your needs with 6 internal bays as it is a wide mini tower or the Node304 or 804 depending on your needs for anticipated final drive capacity.

It is a trade off between drive capacity and cooling. You want to keep your drives cool (as CyberDawg is fond of pointing out Google suggests 40 deg. C or cooler) which is easier with a less stuffed case and neatly tucked away cables. Weird form-factor cases also tend to have specific Power Supply requirements which may limit your ability to stuff a high quality power supply in them.

Sir Robin has the Define Mini which has 6 internal drive bays and 2 external bays. Take a look at the Build Pics Thread for some examples.

My R4 (8 internal bays) with the fans replaced with 4 x 120mm 4-wire PWM fans idling at 600rpm (requires IPMI tweak) is almost silent. Haven't gotten to the HDD and CPU stress tests yet to see the noise levels under high load though.