SuperMicro alternatives - UK

[BobBob76]

Hi,

I've been keeping my eyes on UK ebay for SuperMicro motherboards and noticed that while in the US there seems to be plenty up for sale, here in the UK they are few and far between. Is there an alternative I can look for - ASRock seem to be popular but I get the feeling they are in the "If you can't get SuperMicro then they'll do the job but they're not really as good" camp.
There ae plenty of stockists of the boards new, it just seems there isn't much of a secondhand market.


Any suggestions please? I'm mostly looking for basic file sharing, a few jails and a bit of media streaming - nothing super fancy. Storage wise I'm looking for 20TB usable so a board(s) that allow for that level of capacity are ideal.

Much appreciated

 

[joeinaz]

Two questions; what is your budget? do you plan to do any virtualization? For a safe implementation of FreeNAS, look for board that supports ECC memory. Memory is where the cost can vary depending on whether you need DDR3 or DDR4 and or you choose RDIMMs or UDIMMs. The next big ticket item is the CPU. If you do just storage (no virtualization) and not a bunch of advanced storage functions, you can get by with a more modest CPU. The last thing to consider is the size of the motherboard. Certain "server" motherboards are "E-ATX" size and require a larger case.

Currently, there is a SuperMicro X8DA3 up for bid on eBay UK. It is a dual socket EATX board that supports lots of inexpensive DDR3 memory. I have a similar board and use it with a single E5600 series CPU. The challenge was finding the right cooler for the CPU. If you still need alternative solutions, you can look at Tyan who also makes "server" class motherboards.

If it were me, I would stick with SuperMicro if possible.

 

[BobBob76]

Hi - Thanks for this, helpful. I think it is the memory prices that are throwing me. I'm looking to upgrade my HP Microserver that is now 5 years old. I'm not looking to do virtualisation, some jails for CouchPotato and Headphones etc

I'll stick with SuperMicro I think - I'm wondering if I can make use of some old server memory I have - tons of it - PCL3-10600R ECC 8GB modules - enough to make up to 64GB. If I want to do that, how can I work back to find a SuperMicro motherbaord that will work with the memory I have? Is a board that support DD3 10600 sufficient or is it more precise than that?

Thank you.

 

[joeinaz]

What is the brand of your memory? Is your memory registered or unregistered? On the SuperMicro site you can search for or select a given motherboard and it will show what type of memory with work and there is also a section listing tested memory brands.

 

[BobBob76]

Hi - It's Dell/Hynix - HMT31GR7CFR4A-H9 T8 AD

So these are low powered and backwards compatible with the regualar powered modules. I'm not seeing them specifically on the SM website though.

Is it a case of going through every motherboard and checking to see if the memory is supported? I'm guessing that as these are older modules I'm probably best starting at the X9 motherboards?

Edit:

It's on their website but no clue as to which motherboard(s) it will work with...

http://www.supermicro.com/support/r...3&mtyp=37&id=3978B580CE47E1B2AEFE3F0B193206B2

 

[rangopango]

I've also been looking for cheap DDR3 ECC unbuffered memory and it's extremely expensive.