R730xd issues / questions

[Dave Hob]

Hi all, thank you for all the support so far, you guys been very helpful and your feedback very much appreciated

I placed this project on hold with the busyness of the summer and now it's time to continue it.

Again the specs of the server I have

R730xd
128 GB Ram DDR4 ECC
2 x Intel Xeon E5-2630 v3
12x3.5" HDD caddies/tray
2 x 2.5" hdd caddies (in the back)

I did purchase the HBA card for this Dell H330 mini monolithic (=9300-8i) w/ P16 IT mode HBA330 ZFS FreeNAS unRAID - ebay link but though looks like it works as pass-through with ESXI the servers fan go out of control again when I insert this HBA card.

That being said it only adds to the frustration with this server so I have a few questions

1. did any of you guys experience the same issue with the fans going off like that with this HBA card? any solution?

2. should I consider selling this to purchase a supermicro 2u server? there are some on eBay, two versions, one coming with X10DRi-LN4+ and another with X10DRU-i+. Assuming the X10DRi-LN4+ is the better choice since extra PCIE slots. The Supermicro comes with PCI-E Card AOC-S3008L-8Le 12GB/s IT Mode HBA controller for Freenas/ UNRAID.

3. my R730xd comes with this memory HMA82GR7CJR8N-VK SK HYNIX 16GB (1X16GB) 2RX8 PC4-2666V DDR4 SERVER MEMORY - ebay link. The question is will this memory work with the X10DRi-LN4+ (memory specs on MB Registered ECC RDIMM, DDR4-2400MHz; Up to 3TB 3DS ECC LRDIMM, in 24 DIMM slots. In that case, I am thinking to use the memory from R730xd to the supermicro server, else the ones they sell on eBay come with PC4-2133 ECC REG

4. I already have a FREENAS setup for my backups so thinking for this to run as VM under ESXI either as main or backup to main. If my need is mainly a lot of video storage for final cut projects. With that in mind thinking to run it with SSD drives. I haven't used the SSD drives for storage yet, any recommendations for the drives to use? My pc is Z490 vision D with I9-10900k (Windows & hackintosh). Should I look at setting up for 10G nics? Basically, what do I need in order to be able to run 10G infrastructure?

There are more questions but maybe it's good to leave some out for later

Thank you again for all the support.

 

[Dave Hob]

Regarding the H330 mini flashed to IT mode, I made a new observation

If I start the server with no drives in the card the fans of the server run normal 3%. Once I insert a drive in they start spinning up at about 43% consistently without slowing down.

I would very much appreciate some help with this. I didn't realize the PowerEdge are so finicky to make them work for something like that.

Thank you in advance

 

[Dave Hob]

I did follow this tutorial to Set Third-Party PCIe Card Default Cooling Response Logic To Disabled

How To Disable The Third-Party PCIe Card Default Cooling Response On PowerEdge 13G Servers. | Dell US

but still same issue with inserting drives on this H330 mini flash to it mode.

 

[microserf]

I have the same issue with an R730xd that has an HBA330 mini (D/PN P2R3R). Twenty four empty drive bays in the front, two Dell branded SATA SSDs in the rear bays. Latest firmware, etcetera. No fan problem using the same configuration with Windows, haven't tried FreeBSD or Linux yet.

 

[ChrisRJ]

Regarding memory compatibility: Supermicro has pretty good information on what is supported, also for older boards. So checking out your "desired" board should give you that information

 

[Dave Hob]

Regarding memory compatibility: Supermicro has pretty good information on what is supported, also for older boards. So checking out your "desired" board should give you that information

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question

I clearly checked the MB specs and I even pasted the memory specs:

ECC RDIMM, DDR4-2400MHz; Up to 3TB 3DS ECC LRDIMM, in 24 DIMM slots

The memory I have and wondering if it would work with the Supermicro is:

HMA82GR7CJR8N-VK SK HYNIX 16GB (1X16GB) 2RX8 PC4-2666V DDR4 SERVER MEMORY

so was wondering if t would work since Supermicro specs DDR4-2400MHz and my memory is PC4-2666V DDR4

Thank you