Dell FS12-NV7 value for money

[Trif55]

I've just been offered the below for around $220 is it worth it? If its not compatible with FreeNAS would it be a useful server for other workloads?:

Processor: 2x Opteron 2373 2.1GHz Quad-Core CPU Installed
Memory: 32GB (8x4GB) RAM Installed
Cards: Perc 6i RAID Controller Installed
12 Bays with Caddies (no drives)

For sale here:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-FS12-NV7-32Gb-RAM-Cloud-Server-VMWare-Ready-/351222338116

Some more details from the Dell forums on exactly what they are:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/servers/f/956/t/19457910

Where they identify this range as the likely motherboard:
http://b2b.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2658#sp

Thanks,

 

[L]

The 32GB of ram is worth 220. I actually just tried to buy one but am in the us.

I don't see the perc 6i on the list https://www.freebsd.org/releases/10.0R/hardware.html.. But I would run omni os on it in a heart beat.

Oops just found the perc.

 

[mjws00]

You are basically buying a case. Which isn't a bad price. The board is low clock-speed, nvidia chipset, realtek nics, The Perc 6i should be a 1068 or 1078 , likely a 2 TB limit, some potential to crossflash, but not a great choice as an hba. Overall not a particularly good FreeNAS match.

Give the board to Linda, sell her the ram for $150. Swap in decent mb/cpu/ram.... tweak the fans, enjoy. Doesn't look like that model is all proprietary sizes, risers, and odd garbage. But that is the risk with a smaller oem server. I didn't check on the backplane, possibly sas1, hopefully std 8087 connector likely fine.

It's not a bad choice as a heater, running a different OS. Nothing to stop you from just firing it up if your needs are very modest, and power/noise don't matter.

 

[Trif55]

Hmmm, that was my worry, $220 is cheap but it's still a lot for a heater! (I'd hoped it would idle reasonably nicely and someone mentioned 45db, is that loud?) I guessed it was DDR2 and had forgotten fewer cores, higher clock was recommended :-\
Would those caddies take sata drives? 2tb is also a bit of a pain for the future :-\

 

[mjws00]

I think most of the numbers I've seen are around 145w idle(?) vs < 50w on a Haswell. Basically you are paying for the backplane, caddies, and possibly some outdated large redundant power supplies. The psu's aren't listed so no way to tell for certain at a glance. Sata will be fine, and the backplane with a proper controller shouldn't hold you back with std HDD's.

It's not a bad way to buy a case. I got a GREAT deal on my Supermicro Chassis buying old gear. The Opteron is on the shelf along with the 24 port RAID controller. Very expensive gear in its day... but pretty useless now. With 32GB of RAM you are viable to test things, front-side bus may hurt ya, but hopefully you could still saturate 1Gbe. As long as you go in with your eyes open, no harm done if the fit is poor.

I can't vouch for noise on that model but most 2U servers with 12 drives need to move quite a bit of air to stay cool under load. So you'll hear the fans, especially if that Opteron is making heat.

 

[cyberjock]

I wouldn't buy it for that price. $100, maybe.

It's DDR2 memory I think, it's got a FSB, almost unusable NICs, etc. You'd be buying it for the chassis and that's about it.