Deal or ripoff?

[kdragon75]

SuperMicro CSE-846 24 Bay SAS2 BP Server w/ X9DRi-F/2x 6 Core E5-2620 $480 USD Shipped
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So what do you think? I have an IBM LSI 2008 variant I'll be cross flashing replace the RAID card and at least 128GB of RAM to start. This will be setup as an ESXi/FreeNAS* box for my home lab. I hope to see reduced power consumption from my dual X5670 system with much more expandability. Ill end up with about 12 400GB SAS SSDs and 12 3TB SATA drives. likely setup as the following:

• 12 SSD striped mirrors - Performance
• 6 HDD striped mirrors - VM Bulk
• 6 HDD RAIDZ2 - Bulk data

EDIT: Looking at the numbers, I might just do a 12 drive striped mirror pool with the HDDs too.. I only lose 2.7 TB and gain lots of IO...

I know the E5-2620 CPUs are a bit anemic any they will be replaced in the coming months with something like the E5-2680 V2 for better power, clocks, and a few more cores. Once this is built, Ill likely keep some core VMs on here and all lab work will be nested.

I am just a little fuzzy on the backplane if anyone can chime in. Its the BPN-SAS2-846EL1 with three SAS connecters. I get the one in and one out but according to the doc, there are three connectors. I don't understand how/when # three would be used...

 

[Chris Moore]

This is a great system at a great price, but it might not be ideal for your proposed use.

I am just a little fuzzy on the backplane if anyone can chime in. Its the BPN-SAS2-846EL1 with three SAS connecters. I get the one in and one out but according to the doc, there are three connectors. I don't understand how/when # three would be used...

You can have 2 in for more IO bandwidth, using the two connectors that are closer together. If you go this route, you will want that.
For your plan, you might actually do better with two backplanes, one for the SSDs to one SAS controller and one for the HDDs to another SAS controller because the potential of the SSDs to have enough IO to "fill the pipe" on a SAS controller on their own and leave no room for the HDDs.
You could also use a TQ backplane like what is undoubtedly installed in this server where they use three SAS controllers to connect to the drives. Three controllers would not be needed with HDDs, because of the relatively low IOPS, but with SSDs having so much more potential, having them on a separate controller could prevent a bottleneck.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/UXS-Server...JBOD-FREENAS-2x-Sandy-Bridge-ZFS/132771936782

 

[kdragon75]

I did think about the bandwidth but with 8 6gb sas channels, I should be ok for the home lab. I won't be running any high io applications on here. I'm just looking for the capacity to move from jails to full VMs and have plenty of room for play.

 

[Chris Moore]

I did think about the bandwidth but with 8 6gb sas channels, I should be ok for the home lab. I won't be running any high io applications on here. I'm just looking for the capacity to move from jails to full VMs and have plenty of room for play.

If you are not worried about the bandwidth, that is a great chassis and I wold buy one like that if I didn't already have a couple other systems that are fully adequate to my purposes.