GeekGoneOld
Dabbler
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2015
- Messages
- 48
I have a very old AMD A4-3400 FN 11.3 U5 system that has served me well for years with occasional minor updates (case, disks etc.). It's time to retire the mobo and, maybe, a couple of other polishes.
Here's what I may keep:
Case: Full tower case with good cooling (drives always <30 degrees C)
PS: Thermaltake TR2 500 (probably best to replace?)
NIC: 2x Intel Gigabit CT Desktop adapter (Ok, not keeping these!)
Boot drives: 2x KINGSTON 120GB SSD (SA400S37120G) configured as mirror
Data drives: 6x WD Red 3T (WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0) configured as one vdev raidz2 (two on HBA)
SLOG: 2x INTEL S3500 120GB (SSDSC2BB08) configured as 8GB and mirrored (on HBA)
HBA: IBM M1015 in IT mode
Here is my use case:
File server to about 3 computers
NFS datastore for an ESXi system with multiple VMs
Plex running in a jail (3 concurrent users max, no 4k, occasional transcode)
Here are my constraints:
Don't care about noise.
Don't care about power
Willing to pay for value
5 year lifespan with room to add a moderate amount of extra load (more users? 4k?) with minor changes (processor?)
Reliable
Higher speed transfer to the ESXi machine (10G?)
IPMI (I often need to service remotely)
So I'm looking for mobo, processor and NIC advice and any other ideas.
Mobo
I don't want an X9 since the IPMI sux (as far as I've read). I'm skeptical about an X10 since they are older (my 5 year lifespan constraint!). That would likely lead to X11SSx or X11SCx. So I ask, is Coffee Lake a worthwhile step up from Sky Lake, recognizing that I don't want to waste money, but I have money to spend if there is a good purpose (5 yr).
Processor
SSx allows for Xeon E3 and Core i3 as possibles. SCx allows for E2100, E2200 and Core i3. There are SOOO many to choose from I can't really get a good feel for the "sweet spot" of performance/price even looking at passmark. I've gone CRAZY trying to follow Intel's outrageous overlap of offerings. I would like to choose something that I could upgrade if needed later (4k or whatever) but I think the 1151 platform seems to offer me that possibility whether it is SSx or SCx. I just don't want to find out that, say, I chose SSx and more cores/faster costs WAY more than SCx in two years.
NIC
So I keep hearing about the Chelsio NICs, but again, which one. It will be a point to point link to a matching NIC in the ESXi machine. I'm looking to get full benefit of 10GBE without bottleneck (e.g. from PCIe lane limits).
I'm not asking for the perfect solution (there isn't one), I just looking for a little guidance to avoid going down a "wrong" path or wasting money on poor choices.
Keith
Here's what I may keep:
Case: Full tower case with good cooling (drives always <30 degrees C)
PS: Thermaltake TR2 500 (probably best to replace?)
NIC: 2x Intel Gigabit CT Desktop adapter (Ok, not keeping these!)
Boot drives: 2x KINGSTON 120GB SSD (SA400S37120G) configured as mirror
Data drives: 6x WD Red 3T (WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0) configured as one vdev raidz2 (two on HBA)
SLOG: 2x INTEL S3500 120GB (SSDSC2BB08) configured as 8GB and mirrored (on HBA)
HBA: IBM M1015 in IT mode
Here is my use case:
File server to about 3 computers
NFS datastore for an ESXi system with multiple VMs
Plex running in a jail (3 concurrent users max, no 4k, occasional transcode)
Here are my constraints:
Don't care about noise.
Don't care about power
Willing to pay for value
5 year lifespan with room to add a moderate amount of extra load (more users? 4k?) with minor changes (processor?)
Reliable
Higher speed transfer to the ESXi machine (10G?)
IPMI (I often need to service remotely)
So I'm looking for mobo, processor and NIC advice and any other ideas.
Mobo
I don't want an X9 since the IPMI sux (as far as I've read). I'm skeptical about an X10 since they are older (my 5 year lifespan constraint!). That would likely lead to X11SSx or X11SCx. So I ask, is Coffee Lake a worthwhile step up from Sky Lake, recognizing that I don't want to waste money, but I have money to spend if there is a good purpose (5 yr).
Processor
SSx allows for Xeon E3 and Core i3 as possibles. SCx allows for E2100, E2200 and Core i3. There are SOOO many to choose from I can't really get a good feel for the "sweet spot" of performance/price even looking at passmark. I've gone CRAZY trying to follow Intel's outrageous overlap of offerings. I would like to choose something that I could upgrade if needed later (4k or whatever) but I think the 1151 platform seems to offer me that possibility whether it is SSx or SCx. I just don't want to find out that, say, I chose SSx and more cores/faster costs WAY more than SCx in two years.
NIC
So I keep hearing about the Chelsio NICs, but again, which one. It will be a point to point link to a matching NIC in the ESXi machine. I'm looking to get full benefit of 10GBE without bottleneck (e.g. from PCIe lane limits).
I'm not asking for the perfect solution (there isn't one), I just looking for a little guidance to avoid going down a "wrong" path or wasting money on poor choices.
Keith