Is this a good deal

joncy92

Explorer
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
69
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

SmartSelect_20210618-002243_eBay.jpg
 

jgreco

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
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

Explorer
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
69
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

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
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.
 

jgreco

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
That'd be more of a question for the Plex folks, but I don't see anything obviously wrong with it.
 

Spiceman

Dabbler
Joined
Oct 4, 2017
Messages
24
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
 

ornias

Wizard
Joined
Mar 6, 2020
Messages
1,458
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

Explorer
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
69
Thanks for the replies. The chassis was some cheap Chinese shit so I sent it back
 

Ericloewe

Server Wrangler
Moderator
Joined
Feb 15, 2014
Messages
20,175
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.

Curiously enough, they will take the SAS2308 firmware.
 

joncy92

Explorer
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
69

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

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
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.


Curiously enough, they will take the SAS2308 firmware.

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

joncy92

Explorer
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
69
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
 
Top