Is this a good deal

[joncy92]

Hey guys I found this server and wondering if price is good?

£559 (~$778)

Supermicro X11SCH-F
Xeon E-2176G
sas 9361-16i
32 GB Ram


It comes in a slightly worn and marked rack

See image for other details

 

[jgreco]

Well, the 9361 isn't useful.

https://www.truenas.com/community/t...s-and-why-cant-i-use-a-raid-controller.81931/

 

[joncy92]

Well, the 9361 isn't useful.

https://www.truenas.com/community/t...s-and-why-cant-i-use-a-raid-controller.81931/

I have a Dell PERC h710 already so will probably sell the 9361 on

 

[jgreco]

The H710 is a 2108 based RAID controller as well, although I think I might have seen references to someone having figured out how to lobotomize them to run HBA firmware, something that I haven't tried, but doesn't shock me that it could be possible.

The H710 is *only* going to be acceptable if it shows up as an HBA running firmware 20.00.07.00-IT

 

[joncy92]

The H710 is a 2108 based RAID controller as well, although I think I might have seen references to someone having figured out how to lobotomize them to run HBA firmware, something that I haven't tried, but doesn't shock me that it could be possible.

The H710 is *only* going to be acceptable if it shows up as an HBA running firmware 20.00.07.00-IT

I've been using the h710 on my Dell t130 for a long while and it's worked fine in HBA mode. Can't remember if a flashed it but I think I updated it

Ignoring those parts - is the board, CPU and 2U chassis with 12 disk slots a good deal?

 

[jgreco]

Well, that's always been the problem with the non-HBA firmwares on the LSI boards, they "work" until they don't.

Whether or not the chassis and board is a good deal is mostly a matter of perspective. With the higher clock speed CPU, it would be good at SMB or other single-threaded tasks. The board, being a micro-ATX, has very limited expansion options. The chassis, which you didn't specify, doesn't seem to be a Supermicro, so it is hard to estimate value. 32GB of memory might be fine for home use.

 

[joncy92]

Is this CPU good for media server transcoding? Or is it too weak for that

 

[jgreco]

That'd be more of a question for the Plex folks, but I don't see anything obviously wrong with it.

 

[Spiceman]

The Xeon E-2176G gets a Passmark score of 13698. From the Plex website…

The Guideline
Very roughly speaking, for a single full-transcode of a video, the following PassMark score requirements are a good guideline for the following average source file:

• 4K HDR (50Mbps, 10-bit HEVC) file: 17000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
• 4K SDR (40Mbps, 8-bit HEVC) file: 12000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
• 1080p (10Mbps, H.264) file: 2000 PassMark score
• 720p (4Mbps, H.264) file: 1500 PassMark score

 

[joncy92]

That's decent then.
Thanks all

 

[ornias]

The Xeon E-2176G gets a Passmark score of 13698. From the Plex website…

The Guideline
Very roughly speaking, for a single full-transcode of a video, the following PassMark score requirements are a good guideline for the following average source file:

• 4K HDR (50Mbps, 10-bit HEVC) file: 17000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
• 4K SDR (40Mbps, 8-bit HEVC) file: 12000 PassMark score (being transcoded to 10Mbps 1080p)
• 1080p (10Mbps, H.264) file: 2000 PassMark score
• 720p (4Mbps, H.264) file: 1500 PassMark score

That does not take quicksync into account though, which this CPU supports ;-)

 

[joncy92]

Thanks for the replies. The chassis was some cheap Chinese shit so I sent it back

 

[Ericloewe]

The H710 is a 2108 based RAID controller as well, although I think I might have seen references to someone having figured out how to lobotomize them to run HBA firmware, something that I haven't tried, but doesn't shock me that it could be possible.

Cross-flashing Dell H310 & H710 Mini to IT Mode

You might remember fourlynx's guide on flashing the H310 Mini Mono to IT Mode - been working with him on coming up with a similar guide for all variations of the H710 Mini as well so you no longer have to pay 4x the card price to get one...

www.truenas.com

Introduction - Fohdeesha Docs

fohdeesha.com

Curiously enough, they will take the SAS2308 firmware.

 

[joncy92]

Cross-flashing Dell H310 & H710 Mini to IT Mode

You might remember fourlynx's guide on flashing the H310 Mini Mono to IT Mode - been working with him on coming up with a similar guide for all variations of the H710 Mini as well so you no longer have to pay 4x the card price to get one...

www.truenas.com

Introduction - Fohdeesha Docs

fohdeesha.com

Curiously enough, they will take the SAS2308 firmware.

I didn't have to do anything special to my H710 to run HBA mode. Just went into the Dell lifecycle manager and changed the config to the HBA mode. No special firmware or anything

 

[jgreco]

I didn't have to do anything special to my H710 to run HBA mode. Just went into the Dell lifecycle manager and changed the config to the HBA mode. No special firmware or anything

What driver and firmware version is it showing up as?

I have rarely seen a vendor-provided "HBA mode" that actually results in an HBA; it is usually just where they've bludgeoned out the RAID features of the RAID card but continue using the same firmware and driver as the RAID card. This is not actually a true HBA conversion. We really need the IT 20.00.07.00 SAS2308 firmware installed for correct operation.

Actually, just to be clear, there is exactly one case where this isn't true: if you have an LSI low-end RAID controller with the IR 20.00.07.00 firmware loaded, the IT firmware is just a stripped-down version of the IR firmware that excludes the RAID functionality -- as far as I can tell, it is 100% fine to use the IR cards. The reason we still suggest the IT firmware even in that case is because it is a bit faster.

Cross-flashing Dell H310 & H710 Mini to IT Mode

You might remember fourlynx's guide on flashing the H310 Mini Mono to IT Mode - been working with him on coming up with a similar guide for all variations of the H710 Mini as well so you no longer have to pay 4x the card price to get one...

www.truenas.com

Introduction - Fohdeesha Docs

fohdeesha.com

Curiously enough, they will take the SAS2308 firmware.

Not that curious, they're really all variations on the same hardware platform...

 

[joncy92]

What driver and firmware version is it showing up as?

I have rarely seen a vendor-provided "HBA mode" that actually results in an HBA; it is usually just where they've bludgeoned out the RAID features of the RAID card but continue using the same firmware and driver as the RAID card. This is not actually a true HBA conversion. We really need the IT 20.00.07.00 SAS2308 firmware installed for correct operation.

Actually, just to be clear, there is exactly one case where this isn't true: if you have an LSI low-end RAID controller with the IR 20.00.07.00 firmware loaded, the IT firmware is just a stripped-down version of the IR firmware that excludes the RAID functionality -- as far as I can tell, it is 100% fine to use the IR cards. The reason we still suggest the IT firmware even in that case is because it is a bit faster.



Not that curious, they're really all variations on the same hardware platform...

I don't use it currently as I recently built an entirely new system and using onboard SATA ports.
If I do make use of it on the future I'll let you know